• The Art of Mapping on the Run discusses the impact of human activities on physically altering the planet, requiring increasingly frequent redrawing of atlases. “Some scientists focused on global environmental change say it is no surprise that atlases, in essence, are becoming autobiographical, reflecting the reality that the physical Earth is increasingly what the human species makes of it.” 09/08/2007

The World Without Us

August 31st, 2007 | Comments (0) |

I just ordered a book entitled The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, an “enthralling tour of the world of tomorrow [which] explores what little will remain of ancient times while anticipating, often poetically, what a planet without us would be like.”

The book and its author have been getting a lot of press lately, and not just because envisioning the future of the planet sans humanity is a fascinating topic for a book. Weisman even appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart recently.

Even if you’re not inclined to buy the book, the book’s website has a lot of cool multimedia that you can mess around with, including two videos: the first is a video slideshow of New York City without humans over the course of 15,000 years (I am immediately thinking about I Am Legend); and the second is an animation entitled Your House Without You.

Anyway, if you’re interested in learning more about the book, Salon has a great review. I hope to write a review when I am finished with it as well.

| Books, Environment | 431No comments yet »http://www.jakebouma.com/2007/08/31/the-world-without-us/The+World+Without+Us2007-08-31+21%3A54%3A37Jake

• Pork Barrel: Political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents or campaign contributors. Green Pork: New term describing the appropriation of government money to projects headed by campaign contributors which combat global warming. 08/20/2007
• Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie The 11th Hour (IMDb) is a powerful documentary which makes the case that our way of life is totally at odds with the sustainability of our planet. “It tells us the truth that nobody wants to hear: that human beings, especially greedy corporate executives and their politician cronies, are responsible for putting our planet in serious danger. If things don’t change soon, life on Earth may not survive.” 08/19/2007