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Did you know that cars can run on french-fry grease or that human poop can be used to provide power to classrooms? Kids in Mexico help light up their houses by playing soccer, and in the Philippines, pop-bottle skylights are improving the quality of life for thousands of families. Brilliant! is about what happens when you harness the power of imagination and innovation: the world changes for the better! Full of examples of unusual (and often peculiar)...
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Kids all over the world help collect seeds, weed gardens, milk goats and herd ducks. From a balcony garden with pots of lettuce to a farm with hundreds of cows, kids can pitch in to bring the best and freshest products to their families' tables-and to market. Loaded with accessible information about the many facets of farming, Down to Earth takes a close look at everything from what an egg carton tells you to why genetic diversity matters-even to...
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In the developed world, if you want a drink of water you just turn on a tap or open a bottle. But for millions of families worldwide, finding clean water is a daily challenge, and kids are often the ones responsible for carrying water to their homes. Every Last Drop looks at why the world's water resources are at risk and how communities around the world are finding innovative ways to quench their thirst and water their crops. Maybe you're not ready...
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Pedal It! celebrates the humble bicycle-from the very first boneshakers to the sleek racing bikes of today, from handlebars to spokes to gear sprockets-and shows you why and how bikes can make the world a better place. Not only can bikes be used to power computers and generators, they can also reduce pollution, promote wellness and get a package across a crowded city-fast! Informative but not didactic, Pedal It! encourages young readers to be part...
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A roof, a door, some windows, a floor. All houses have them, but not all houses are alike. Some have wings (airplane homes), some have wheels (Romany vardoes), some float; some are made of straw, some of snow and ice. Some are enormous, some are tiny; some are permanent and some are temporary. But all are home. Take Shelter explores the way people live all over the world and beyond-from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from an underground house in Las...
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"Humans have always generated garbage, whether it's a chewed-on bone or a broken cell phone. Our landfills are overflowing, but with some creative thinking, stuff we once threw away can become a collection of valuable resources just waiting to be harvested. [This book] digs deep into the history of garbage, from Minoan trash pits to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and uncovers some of the many innovative ways people all over the world are dealing...
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Whether they live alone or together, in a hive or in a hole in the ground, bees do some of the most important work on the planet: pollinating plants. What's the Buzz? celebrates the magic of bees-from swarming to dancing to making honey-and encourages readers to do their part to keep the hives alive.
All over the world, bee colonies are dwindling, but everyone can do something to help save the bees, from buying local honey to growing a bee-friendly...
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Most of us see trees every day, and too often we take them for granted. Trees provide us with everything from food, fuel and shelter to oxygen and filtered water. Deep Roots celebrates the central role trees play in our lives, no matter where we live. Each chapter in Deep Roots focuses on a basic element-water, air, fire and earth-and explores the many ways in which we need trees to keep our planet healthy and livable. From making rain to producing...
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Until a few hundred years ago, people were embarrassed to buy bread in a store. Families took pride in making almost everything they owned. These days, many people take pride in buying as much as possible! New clothes, a speedier bicycle, the latest phone. If we've got money, someone can sell us a product that will supposedly make our lives better. But each year, humanity uses resources equivalent to nearly one and a half Earths, and we're still not...
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Fair trade is not about spending more money or buying more stuff. It's about helping producers in developing countries get a fair price for their goods. In A Fair Deal: Shopping for Social Justice, Kari Jones provides a history of trade, explaining what makes trade systems unfair and what we can do about it. By examining ways in which our global trade systems value some people over others, the book illustrates areas in which fair trade practices can...
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All the food you eat, whether it's an apple or a steak or a chocolate-coated cricket, has a story. Let's Eat uncovers the secret lives of our groceries, exploring alternative-and sometimes bizarre-farm technology and touring gardens up high on corporate rooftops and down low in military-style bunkers beneath city streets.
Packed with interesting and sometimes startling facts on agriculture around the world, Let's Eat reveals everything from the size...
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Better Together explores how people gather in groups of all kinds to fulfill the basic human need for companionship. From the smallest units of parents, siblings and friends to global organizations that try to build on a foundation of common human experience to meet their goals, people working together are a powerful force for change. Too often, we look at someone and see all the ways we are different. People all around the world come together to...
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We're all connected to the ocean, and the ocean to us. The ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe; it feeds us, creates our weather and provides us with water. But we haven't been as kind to the ocean in return. The problems are many: pollution, overfishing, rising seas and acid waters. What can be done? Don't despair; take action. Dive In! explores our intimate connection with the ocean and provides every reader with an achievable set of actions...
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Going wild. We don't see it as a good thing. And why would we? For most of our time on earth, humanity has been running from lions and other wilderness dangers. We've worked hard to make our local landscapes as safe and convenient as possible. Sometimes that's meant paving over areas that might burst into weeds. Other times, we've dammed rivers for electricity or irrigation. But now pollution, climate change and disruptions to the water cycle are...
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There are almost eight billion people alive today. Having that many people in the world puts pressure on both social and natural resources, and we have to ask ourselves difficult questions like, What is our fair share? And how do we share more equitably? Ours to Share starts by giving an overview of human population growth, from the time when there were only a few hundred thousand people until now. The book goes on to examine some of the inequities...
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Chemical World: Science in Our Daily Lives explores some of the materials-all of which are made of basic chemical elements-that humans use or come into contact with in their day-to-day lives. Some of these chemicals are naturally occurring-clay, mercury, and lead. Others have been synthesized by chemists during the past 150 years and used in a bewildering array of products ranging from roof shingles to toothpaste. Many chemical inventions, as well...
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Every day more of the world's forests disappear. Trees are cleared for agriculture, lost in wildfires and harvested for the valuable products they supply. Called the lungs of the planet, forests play a critical role in climate moderation. What happens when they're gone? Are replanting and afforestation efforts helping?
In If A Tree Falls: The Global Impact of Deforestation, author Nikki Tate gives an accessible and balanced look at forest practices...
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Did you know that lamps can be powered by glowing bacteria instead of electricity? That gloves designed like gecko feet let people climb straight up glass walls? Or, that kids are finding ways to make compostable plastic out of banana peels? Biomimicry, the scientific term for when we learn from and copy nature, is a revolutionary way to look, to nature for answers to environmental problems, such as, climate change.
In Design Like Nature, young readers...
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Plants, animals, insects and fish are moving in. Invasive species threaten local ecosystems and the planet's biodiversity, but are they all as bad as we think they are? In Nature Out of Balance: How Invasive Species Are Changing the Planet author Merrie-Ellen Wilcox, profiles all-star invasive species around the world, starting in her own neighborhood, and warns that humans are the most invasive species of all. We find out how and why species become...
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Do you know your watershed address? We all have one, whether we live high up in a mountain, on an inland prairie or near the coast. A watershed is an area of land that channels rain and snowmelt into streams, rivers and oceans. Our lives are deeply, intertwined with land and water, and all the connections between them. Day-to-day activities-like brushing our teeth, eating a meal, getting a ride in a car or even using an electronic device-have consequence...
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