Thoreau Center Film Screening: The Wall

Friday, September 10
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability SF
Presented by Lou Ramirez

Join us for a premiere screening of the San Francisco Film Festival's The Wall, directed by Ricardo A. Martinez.

In 2006, the U.S. Congress passed The Secure Fence Act calling for the construction of 700 miles of fence along the U.S./Mexico border. Filmed over two years, The Wall documents the impact of constructing this border fence along the Southwest. From policy makers to citizens of border towns, the debate elevates as residents respond to having a fence built in their backyard. Nobody could have imagined how many problems the fence would create, from an excess of dead bodies to an increase in smuggling costs.

The San Francisco Latino Film Festival runs September 16 through September 28, 2010. Check local listings for screenings and the Cine+Mas website for more information: www.sflatinofilmfestival.com.

Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.

New Books - August

Just in time for you to plan your Labor Day weekend reading activities, here are some books added to the library collection in the past few months. Not travelling anywhere but want to imagine you are? Try Douglas H. Chadwick's Yellowstone to Yukon: a portrait of a 500,000 square mile region spanning from the U.S. to northern Canada with one of the most remarkable collections of wildlife in the world that is facing increasing challenges from an expanding human presence.

Also consider the books below, and don't forget to peruse our catalog at library.thoreau.org.

Tyche Hendricks. The Wind Doesn't Need a Passport: Stories from the U.S. - Mexico Borderlands. (2010)

Tyche Hendricks is an editor for The California Report on KQED Public Radio, and she reported on immigration and immigrant communities at the San Francisco Chronicle for many years. For this book, she traveled throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region, talking to cowboys, environmentalists, nurses, nuns, factory workers, and other ordinary people who live and work in this dynamic, complex, often misunderstood area. They share a deep sense of their history and culture, and their stories bring to life and bring understanding to heatedly debated issues of immigration, drug violence, trade, manufacturing, and more.

Peter H. Gleick. Bottled & Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. (2010)

Thirty billion plastic bottle of water are sold in a year in the United States alone, while billions of people around the world still lack access to safe water and sanitation. Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, examines the reasons behind the explosive worldwide growth of the bottled water industry in recent years and what it means for the future of drinking water, society, and the environment.

Julian Crandall Hollick. Ganga: A Journey Down the Ganges River. (2007)

Running from high in the Himalayas, through northern India, down to the sea, the Ganges for millions of Indians is not just a river but also a goddess. Hollick travels its length, exploring its mythology, ecology, economy, and the lives of the people who live along it, portraying a paradoxical relationship in which religious devotion goes hand in hand with increased ecological degradation and economic exploitation.

Cristina Eisenberg. The Wolf's Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity. (2010)

Based on her fieldwork with wolves and on research findings by other scientists around the world in recent decades, Eisenberg surveys the latest thinking on trophic cascades, or the effects created in an ecosystem when top-level predators or other keystone species are removed. Examples from Yellowstone, the Aleutian Islands, Amazon rain forests, and coral reefs show how such effects can be complex, wide-ranging, and unexpected with potentially catastrophic implications for local biodiversity. She also looks at how resource managers are using this knowledge to guide ecosystem recovery, including how it could be applied to move forward a vision of rewilding the North American continent.

Lane H. Kendig with Bret C. Keast. Community Character: Principles for Design and Planning. (2010)

The character of a community is what makes it unique, livable, and inviting. These elements can be difficult to define, yet are often what people want to preserve or to create when planning. Moving beyond simplistic measures of density and land use, the authors here provide a comprehensive system for planning and zoning communities that incorporates a wide range of measures to define character and that reflects the complexity of the interaction of the built environment with its social and economic functions.

Joe Romm. Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. (2010)

Climate expert, physicist, former official in the U.S. Department of Energy, and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Joe Romm draws from his influential blog, ClimateProgress.org, to discuss climate science, clean energy solutions, global warming politics, and how the mainstream media have failed in their coverage of these issues. Proposing technological and other measures to reach a low-carbon, low-oil, low-net-material use economy, he argues that any efforts to avert catastrophic global warming will ultimately require citizen action to bring public pressure to bear on governments that have historically been reluctant to act.

Thoreau Center Brown Bag: Environmental Activism in China

August 23, 2010
12:30pm - 1:30pm
Atlantic Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability

Green Camel Bell is a rare, officially registered grassroots environmental NGO in China. The scope of their work covers the entire Gansu Province and parts of Western China, and they are a very inspiring and effective organization. The founder of Green Camel Bell, Zhao Zhong was named Hero of the Environment in 2009 by Time for their work protecting the Yellow River. The organization has received numerous awards for their conservation work, which includes environmental education, river protection, eco-farming, promoting green commuting, earthquake reconstruction, and much more.

Ran Liping, GCB's Program officer, will give a presentation on their programs, their successful cases, and the challenges of doing of environmental work in China and in its western region specifically. She will give people an overview of environmental activism in China and also of her work with communities fighting water pollution in Gansu. After her presentation, it's Q&A and open discussion.

Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.

Exhibition: It's Our Nature

97th annual membership exhibition of California Society of Printmakers
at The Thoreau Center

Tuesday, Aug.10, 2010 thru Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

Opening Reception to be held Thursday, August 12, from 5pm-7pm Light refreshments

"It's Our Nature" is the title of the California Society of Printmakers annual membership show. The exhibition theme inspires works which may show nature as the external ecosystem in which we live or the inner nature of the individual artist or a combination of both. Each piece must include some hand-pulled print techniques, often in collaboration with the latest digital processes, thus forming an exciting mixture of 17th through 21st century systems.

Prints are small enough to be intensely personal, yet can be powerful enough to make a viewer feel strong emotion. The California Society of Printmakers is the oldest art organization west of the Mississippi, and its juried membership includes artists from all over the world. Its 100th year centennial will celebrated in 2012-13. Many of the artists will be present at the opening reception and will be happy to discuss their work with interested viewers.

About CSP-
The California Society of Printmakers is a non-profit arts organization which promotes the practice and appreciation of fine art printmaking, and is a focus of activity for print artists, helping to maintain the integrity and identity of the art of printmaking. It provides a home for artists interested in preserving traditional printmaking techniques as well as for artists interested in exploring new directions in printmaking. The CSP has a membership of approximately 300, and always welcomes new members.

Thoreau Center Brown Bag: "So, How was the U.S. Social Forum?"

USSF2010: Report Back
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2010
11:30-12:30pm
Atlantic Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability

Join us - Jane Lin, Crissy Vo Khuong, dom brassey - to learn why we went, how we participated, what inspired us, and how we feel changed, after convening with 20,000 activists in this historic city. 10-minute presentations and lots of time to discuss.

Learn more: http://organize.ussf2010.org/program


Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.

Thoreau Center Brown Bag: New Sector Alliance

Presenter: Liz McKenna
Thursday, August 5, 2:30 to 3:30
Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability

Need additional talent to achieve your goals? Join Liz McKenna of New Sector Alliance, Inc. for a discussion about the expansion of NewSector's flagship residency in Social Enterprise program in the Bay Area.

New Sector Alliance is expanding its flagship Residency in Social Enterprise program to the Bay Area. The program places top recent college graduates and young professionals ("Residents") in year-long, full-time positions at nonprofits. Residents are trained and supported by consultant advisors (from Accenture, Bain, Bridgespan, BCG, Booz, Deloitte, McKinsey, etc) and New Sector staff. They are partially subsidized so it costs eligible nonprofits $20K for a full-time hire for the year.

New Sector is currently lining up placement sites for their incoming class of Residents, who start in September. New Sector's Summer Fellows program is a condensed, ten-week version of the program available to Bay Area nonprofits for the summer.



Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.

Reading List: Parks and Recreation

How much can we use the natural environment without spoiling it? National parks and wilderness areas are an important part of America's natural and cultural heritage, preserving natural beauty and playing a critical role in environmental conservation. Around the world, protected areas and ecosystems are growing as destinations in people's travel plans through the expansion of the ecotourism industry. The extent to which human activity should be limited or encouraged in such areas is a complex debate reflecting a society's priorities and the trade-offs it is willing to make as it attempts to balance recreation, heritage, nature, and wilderness. The books in this reading list examine some of the latest thinking in these debates while also providing some guides with suggestions and inspirations for your own travel and recreational goals (some of them quite local).

Jerome Pohlen. (2008). Progressive Nation: A Travel Guide with 400+ Inspiring Landmarks and Left Turns.

Looking to try new travel destinations that will expand your knowledge of American history and politics? This guide covers over four-hundred museums, landmarks, organizations, and other historic sites that mark the individuals, events, and accomplishments of the progressive movement. Including such locations as: Henry David Thoreau's jail cell in Concord, Harvey Milk's camera shop, the Rachel Carson Homestead, Johnny Appleseed's first nursery, the site of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago, and the courthouse where Susan B. Anthony went on trial for attempting to vote.

Jean Rusmore. (1995). The Bay Area Ridge Trail: Ridgetop Adventures Above San Francisco Bay.

Published in cooperation with the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, this is a guide to completed segments of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, an unparalleled opportunity for hikers, equestrians, and bicyclists to experience magnificent views, visit important cultural heritage sites, and explore firsthand our area's diverse ecosystems. Over 325 miles of the trail are open and protected for future generations, and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council and its volunteers and supporters are working hard to fill in the gaps to complete the 550+ mile loop overlooking San Francisco Bay. Look for updates on their website.

Martha Honey. (2008). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?

By the co-founder and Co-Director of the Center for Responsible Travel, this book is a comprehensive survey of the past and present of the ecotourism industry. Marketed aggressively as a panacea promoting development in poor countries while protecting ecosystems and promoting environmental awareness, “green” travel is in reality a complex endeavor presenting unique challenges in different places and communities around the world. Honey's analysis shows that with care, it can support natural and cultural conservation, social and economic development, and local empowerment. See also Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice, edited by Martha Honey.

Hal K. Rothman. (2004). The New Urban Park: Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Civic Environmentalism.

When it was established in 1972, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) embodied a new vision of what parkland in America should be. Whereas the traditional goal had been protecting large scenic natural areas, the National Park Service was transitioning to managing urban parks that combined conservation with recreational access and responded to a broad range of interests in a rapidly changing public. Rothman traces the history of the GGNRA from its creation, through its expansion and changing identity over the years, to the highly political struggle over obtaining the Presidio and converting it into a park, detailing how the National Park Service has worked to respond to its different constituencies while navigating the tension between use and preservation.

David N. Cole & Laurie Yung, eds. (2010). Beyond Naturalness: Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change.

Historically, in the United States, the guiding principle for the management of park and wilderness areas has been the concept of naturalness, that is, preserving “natural” conditions by protecting land from development and exploitation. But park goals and purposes have diversified over time in response to changing values and the range of new challenges facing protected areas including climate change, invasive species, and habitat fragmentation. This collection argues that naturalness as a goal is inadequate to today's challenges because of its inherent ambiguity, and it offers alternative concepts and innovative management strategies that represent the latest in ecological thought.

Robert E. Manning (2007). Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons Without Tragedy.

Since the early 1990s, Professor Robert E. Manning of the University of Vermont has been working with the National Park Service to address the issue of carrying capacity: how much and what kind of use could be accommodated in the national parks without spoiling what we find valuable about them? This work presents findings from this program of natural and social science research, describing approaches for defining and measuring carrying capacity and analyzing the effectiveness of options for managing carrying capacity. It includes a series of case studies from eight diverse units of the U.S. National Park System, and an additional case study that explores how the conceptual foundations of carrying capacity are being applied in an increasing number of fields to address the growing urgency of sustainability.

Dave Glowacz (Mr. Bike). (2004). Urban Biker's Tricks & Trips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle.

Is bicycling your recreation of choice? This guide presents tips on cycling in the urban environment from Mr. Bike, a bike instructor with the League of American Bicyclists and frequent contributor to Bicycling magazine. Learn what to do about a sore butt, how to keep your helmet from messing up your hair, and how to keep your bike from ever getting stolen. With pictures.