Wildfire and Americans: How to Save Lives, Property, and Your Tax Dollars

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An important book every taxpayer should read

Good Proposals for Reducing Wildfires!

Wildfire and Americans: How to Save Lives, Property, and Your Tax Dollars
Roger G. Kennedy
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0809065819
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Book Description

Three years after Roger Kennedy retired as director of the National Park Service, from his Santa Fe home he watched as the Cerro Grande Fire moved across the Pajarito Plateau and into Los Alamos. Two hundred and thirty-five homes were destroyed, more than 45,000 acres of forest were burned, and the nation’s nuclear laboratories were threatened; even before the embers had died a blame game erupted. Kennedy’s career as a public servant, which encompasses appointments under five presidential administrations, convinced him that the tragedy would produce scapegoats and misinformation, and leave American lives at risk. That was unacceptable, even unforgivable.

Wildfire and Americans is a passionate, deeply informed appeal that we acknowledge wildfire not as a fire problem but as a people problem. Americans are in the wrong places, damningly because they were encouraged to settle there. Politicians, scientists, and CEOs acting out of patriotism, hubris, and greed have
placed their fellow countrymen in harm’s way. And now, with global warming, we inhabit a landscape that has become much more dangerous. Grounded in the conviction that we owe a duty to our environment and our fellow man, Wildfire and Americans is more than a depiction of policies gone terribly awry. It is a plea to acknowledge the mercy we owe nature and mankind.

Customer Reviews:

An important book every taxpayer should read.......2006-10-20

The book is a real trailblazer on the subject of wildfire and its high costs in lives, property, and money. Kennedy frames his argument as an attempt to incite a "taxpayer revolt" on the subject, based on a long list of government policies, regulations, and subsidies encouraging people to build homes and businesses in areas with high risk of being destroyed by wildfires.

He cites the interest deduction for home mortgages, mortgage insurance, publicly financed infrastructure supporting residential developments, roads, real property taxes, and the high cost of suppressing wildfires now exceeding $2 billion annually. He notes in particular the rebuilding of homes in fire-prone areas, sometimes on multiple occasions, paid for by insurance whose costs are borne by "the rest of us."

Kennedy begins with the description of the May 2000 fire that began as a controlled burn at Bandelier National Monument. The National Park Service was wrongfully given much of the blame for a fire that ultimately burned some 18,000 acres, including 235 houses in Los Alamos, N.M. Los Alamos was a city of more than 12,000 people planned by scientists and engineers who gave every consideration to its security from spies, but none to the fact the city is "set in a firetrap."

Kennedy notes that: "In the last half century about one-fifth of the American people have moved into flame zones," ill informed of the natural risks and encouraged by governmental and business policies.

One of the author's principal recommendations involves the development of a National Flame Zone Atlas that "would show graduated degrees of danger, from low probability of big fires to high." Parts of such an Atlas exist now in disparate locations. An Atlas, revised regularly to reflect the dynamics of weather, vegetation, and population, could help reduce fire losses and steer public and private efforts to reduce flammable materials, such as the slash and debris from commercial logging and vegetation close to at-risk homes, businesses, and whole towns.

He identifies a fire-industrial complex, similar to the military-industrial complex to which President Eisenhower referred in his farewell address that has a self-serving set of reasons to maintain the status quo. Fighting wildfire is very big business these days! That industry will (and does) lobby against reforms that could reduce fire losses through changes in regulations affecting insurance, infrastructure investments, roads and highways, and land use planning. Kennedy asserts that: "Not an acre of land has changed hands in the last half century without a part of the price being paid by another taxpayer."

Good Proposals for Reducing Wildfires!.......2006-07-31

Thousands of people are moving unwarned into fire-prone areas every day - encouraged to do so by taxpayer subsidies (federally insured mortgages, roads, and insurance rates kept artificially low by regulators). Seven of the nine most fire-endangered states are also among those gaining the most in population. Meanwhile wildfires have doubled in frequency and in the size of areas burned. Meanwhile, Global Warning is likely to considerably expand the area of fire-prone forests.

Kennedy's primary focus is the 2000 Los Alamos area fire that arose from a controlled burn that took off with unexpected winds, leading to about 450 burned houses and underserved scapegoating of the officials in charge. A second example is the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire in N.E. Arizona that burned 460,000 acres. Even before the fire was out, the state's Governor Hull and Senator Kyl were blaming it on "environmental wackos" that had blocked logging that would have removed much of the fire load. Reality, however, is that two-thirds of the fire took place within already heavily logged areas on the Apache Reservation, the environmental lawsuit only involved about 5% of the total area burned, a major reason the fire grew so large was delays in initially fighting it, as well as poor utilization of available volunteered privately-owned equipment, and that the Forest Service had already concluded that "timber harvest . . . has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity." (Kennedy was its former director.) Furthermore, only 17% of wildfires have started on federal land.

Kennedy recommends creating a "fire atlas" that would depict the fire danger in non-urban areas - it could be used by potential homeowners for more informed sitings, and by insurance agencies to more accurately reflect hazards.

Customer Reviews:

Helpful as an overview.......2007-09-14

Our homeschooled seventh grader found this book engaging as an overview of the period, especially when taken in context with other works, especially Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, a child's-eye, heart-wrenching account of the worst years; the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; and the Dust Bowl songs of Woody Guthrie. The strongest point is that the book contains some excellent black and white photos that we hadn't seen elsewhere.

The Irish Potato Famine (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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The Irish Potato Famine (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Carole S. Gallagher
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791069109

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of 1911 (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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Winner of the NYPL "Best Books for the Teen Age" Award

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of 1911 (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Gina DeAngelis
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0791052672

Customer Reviews:

Winner of the NYPL "Best Books for the Teen Age" Award.......2002-01-14

This is an excellent history of the disastrous 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory. Included in the account is carefully researched background information on labor and workplace regulations in the U.S. during the era of the fire. The author also adds a look at contemporary labor problems, and includes a cautionary chapter about why similar tragedies have occurred in recent years. A fine book, written for teens but interesting for adults as well.

Nuclear Submarine Disasters (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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Nuclear Submarine Disasters (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Christopher Higgins
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0791063291

The Apollo 1 and Challenger Disasters (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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The Apollo 1 and Challenger Disasters (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Gina De Angelis
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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ASIN: 0791057836

The Waco Siege (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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The Waco Siege (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Marylou Morano Kjelle
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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Binding: Library Binding

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The Munich Olympics (Great Disasters, Reforms and Ramifications)

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The Munich Olympics (Great Disasters, Reforms and Ramifications)
Hal Marcovitz
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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A good introduction for children...

The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Charles J. Shields
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 079106915X

Customer Reviews:

A good introduction for children..........2002-03-04

If you want to introduce children to the history of the first attack on the World Trade Center which occurred in 1993, this book should be your first choice. While not a scholarly account of the attack, this book gives the necessary details of the who, when, how, and why of this terrorist attack. Highly recommended for children!

Bhopal (Great Disasters, Reforms and Ramifications)

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Bhopal (Great Disasters, Reforms and Ramifications)
John Riddle
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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The Black Death (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)

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The Black Death (Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications)
Tracee de Hahn
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0791063267

Book Description

Interest in oceanography and marine biology and the relevance of those fields to global environmental issues creates a demand for authoritative reviews that summarize recent research. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review has catered to this demand since its foundation, by the late Harold Barnes, more than 35 years ago. It is an annual consideration of basic areas of marine research; it returns to certain topics when appropriate in future volumes and adds new topics as they arise. The favorable reception accorded to all the volumes shows that the series is fulfilling a very real need: both reviews and sales have been gratifying. The 39th volume follows closely the objectives and style of the earlier volumes, continuing to regard marine sciences-in all their various aspects-as a unit. This edition adds commentary on bioturbation, seagrass beds and other topics. The series is an essential reference text for research workers and students in all fields of marine science, so it finds a place in not only the libraries of marine stations and institutes but also universities. It consistently ranks among the highest in the marine biology category of the citation indices compiled by the Institute for Scientific Education.

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Resources, Conservation & Recycling, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Degradation of Kraft lignin by using hemin and hydrogen peroxide was investigated to produce phenolic compounds. The degradation products were identified using spectroscopic methods and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). 2-Methoxyphenol, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillin, and vanillic acid were produced. Their polymerisation products were used as synthetic tanning agents for tanning collagen. Polymerised 2-methoxyphenol can increase the hydrothermal stability of collagen, like a conventional syntan, through hydrogen bonding interactions between the polymers and the protein. These products have potential to be used as raw materials for tanning of animal skins and other industries, such as chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and perfumery industries. Therefore, this can add value to the industrial byproduct (Kraft lignin), often considered a waste, and reduce its environmental impact. Leather tanning reactions between collagen and dihydroxynaphthalenes (DHNs) and oxazolidine have also been investigated, using hide powder and sheepskin pickled pelt. This investigation showed that some DHNs have a tanning effect on collagen. The measurement of combined and cross-linked DHNs on collagen showed that 30-40% of 1,6- and 2,6-DHNs were fixed through covalent bonding. Shrinkage temperature of the leather changed little after the non combined DHNs had been removed from the leather, indicating that the high stability of the combination tanned leather comes from the covalent bonding formed between DHNs and collagen through oxazolidine. This work indicates that Kraft lignin degradation products could be used as new and innovative agents for leather production in a way that opens up new markets and reduces environmental pollution.

Acids, Bases, and the Chemistry of the Covalent Bond

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Acids, Bases, and the Chemistry of the Covalent Bond
Vander Werf
Manufacturer: Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IXPN3S

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Acids, Bases, and the Chemistry of the Covalent Bond
Calvin A. Vanderwerf
Manufacturer: Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBXJOG

Book Description

The book presents innovative methods for the solution of multibody descriptor models. It emphasizes the interdependence of modeling and numerical solution of the arising system of differential-algebraic equations (DAE). Here, it is shown that modifications of non-stiff ODE-solvers are very effective for a large class of multibody systems. In particular, implicit methods are found to dovetail optimally with the linearly implicit structure of the model equations, allowing an inverse dynamics approach for their solution. Furthermore, the book stresses the importance of software development in scientific computing and thus presents a complete example of an interdisciplinary problem solution for an important field of application from technical mechanics.

Customer Reviews:

Not Quite What One Would Expect.......2002-02-07

While the book contained an enormous amount of useful information and is elagantly written, it missed the mark on providing useful, "here's how you do it..", numerical methods and algorithms for MBS as the title implies. Since the book originated from lecture notes, it was assumed there would be a few simple examples of MBS which would be solved, in detail, using different methods to illustrate various techniques and formulations. The Chapter on software engineering, I feel, is completely out of place. Again, a useful view but not necessary within the topic of MBS and in the context of this book. To the extent software engineering is discussed, it's best left to a book explicitily on software engineering. It's between too much and not enough. In my opinion, this book would be most useful as a reference to individuals who already have an intimate knowledge of MBS and numerical methods and not to individuals with knowledge in mechanics and software seeking to learn practical formulations and numerical methods for MBS. For the price of the book, I was quite dissapointed amount of useful, "hands on" material. On a positive note, the book does cover many topics in numerical methods (e.g. integrators, contraints..) with great detail. The book is very well written, easy to read, and it apparent that great deal of effort was made to provide elegant formulas and consise notation.

Book Description

Thoreau's classic essays on the virtues of self-reliance and individual freedom have had relevance for every generation for more than a century. They remain high on required reading lists for students across the country.

Customer Reviews:

Book cover commercialization?.......2007-09-23

A previous reviewer asked what Thoreau might think of how society has developed commercially since he wrote this book. I have to also wonder what he would think of the ridiculous (in my opinion) and jingoistic cover of this current edition? The person who chose the cover design should have read the book. The cover is offensive, given the ideas the book contains. Penguin should be ashamed.

Amazon Purchases August 9, 2007.......2007-08-09

This is a classic novel. It's value as literature speaks for itself.
I received the product in the condition advertised, in two days.
I am completely satisfied with the purchase and service.

He heard a different drummer- The sun is but a morning star.......2006-01-15

Thoreau is more than simply a writer who produced a great American classic. He exemplified the idea which perhaps as much as any other has come to be at the heart of the American creed. "If a man does not keep pace to his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Throreau when he went into the woods of Walden Pond on July 4, 1845 , a journey in solitude which would last just two years and two months, was the archetypal American individualist. He was the man 'doing his own thing' living in accordance with what only he could know was right for himself. This idea of 'radical individualism' has become part of the American common faith. Its abuses are legion and may be disastrous, but it also has brought about not simply 'better mousetraps' but a whole vast world of innovations and innovators, the like of which Mankind has never known before.

Thoreau as he writes in his introduction went to the woods to explore not simply the natural world, the outdoors he so much loved. He went to the woods to truly go more deeply into and know himself. As he says in his introduction:

" I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me."

Thoreau in that enigmatic, epigrammatic aphoristic style, he shared with his great mentor and fellow pioneering poet- philosopher, Emerson connects the world within with the world without , connects the Concord woods with the Cosmos . He creates a work in 'Walden' of singular beauty and of its own special economy and principles in thought.

Thoreau was too an abolitionist, an opponent of the Mexican war, a civil disobedient who refused to pay the poll tax-, a pioneer
whose followers would include Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

But in his close looking at the world of nature and the world of himself he was first a great explorer of life and reality going out alone in his own way- however geographically close he may have been to home.

His words and his wisdom waken us even today to the hope of new and better worlds i.e. he also embodied the spirit of a great American optimism.

The great individual teaches us even in dark hours to find new worlds in ourselves outside our own darknesses. " There are new worlds yet to be born" he writes, " The sun is but a morning star"

Isolate, Nonconformist.......2003-10-14

Thoreau lived for two years and two months at Walden Pond. He said the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation. Henry Thoreau asked hard questions.

He related that when the Masschusetts Bay Colony was founded, earthen houses were built. They were convenient and suitable and they had the advantage of putting everyone in a position of equality and not making the poorer inhabitants feel discouraged. It distressed Thoreau that a good deal of the money spent for shelter and dress was for show, uneconomical.

He farmed organically because he was only a squatter. He found that by working for about six weeks he could meet all of the annual expenses of living. He claimed that memorable events transpired in the morning.

Thoreau went to the woods because he wished to live deliberately. The sounds of the railroad penetrated the woods. Visitors were frequent during three seasons. In the wintertime basically he had only himself for company and some of the animals.

In any season, the woods were surprisingly dark at night. Because he had no helpers or animals to assist him in cultivating the fields he felt that he ws more intimate with the beans in his beanfield. Songs have suggested that husbandry is a sacred art.

The scenery of Walden was on a humble scale. The first ice was especially interesting. He reported seeing fox, jays, chickadees, and red squirrels in the the winter.

In CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE he asserts that in a government that imprisons unjustly, the place of a just man is in prison. Thoreau underwent an overnight jail stay when he failed to pay a poll tax.

Ho hum.......2003-07-21

Isn't it a little bit incongruous to desire to detach yourself from society, seeking self-reliance, and then write a book about it? Just an observation...

While Thoreau is a curious individual - sort of a poor-man's G.K. Chesterton - he always seems to come up short. The Virtue of Civil Disobedience reads more like self-satire than a serious attempt at political philosophy. And while Walden is rich and fulfilling, it is ultimately just a vehicle for Thoreau to make baseless claims predicated upon his treasury of tidbits and odd knowledge.

Had Thoreau been blessed with living in the modern world, he could have just written "Living by a Pond on Your Own For Dummies" and saved himself (and us) a lot of trouble.

Instead of "Civil Disobedience," I recommend anything by Lysander Spooner (particularly "No Treason")

Instead of "Walden" I recommend "Two Years Before the Mast." It's both more relevant than Walden, and a heck of a lot Closer To Nature.

Average customer rating:
Walden or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry D. Thoreau
Manufacturer: Harper & Row, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L386E8

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Walden or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: A Signet Classic/ New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HEEYX8

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WALDEN OR LIFE IN THE WOODS AND ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Manufacturer: NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSWFIS

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Walden or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: A Signet Classic/ New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NPPJU8

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Walden or Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: A Mentor Book/ New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NPXMVG

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Walden or Life in the Woods: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

Manufacturer: Collier Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HWBU8C

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Walden or, Life in the Woods and on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry D. Thoreau
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L3VHL2

Average customer rating:
Walden or, Life in the Woods and on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VDT340

Average customer rating:
Walden or, Life in the Woods and on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L3O1HE

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