Life itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions of dollars annually, and nothing could live without them. Yet growing human impacts on the environment are profoundly disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.'Nature's Services' brings together world-renowned scientists from a variety of disciplines to examine the character and value of ecosystem services, the damage that has been done to them, and the consequent implications for human society. Contributors including Paul R. Ehrlich, Donald Kennedy, Pamela A. Matson, Robert Costanza, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jane Lubchenco, Sandra Postel, and Norman Myers present a detailed synthesis of our current understanding of a suite of ecosystem services and a preliminary assessment of their economic value. Chapters consider: major services including climate regulation, soil fertility, pollination, and pest control philosophical and economic issues of valuation case studies of specific ecosystems and services implication of recent findings and steps that must be taken to address the most pressing concerns 'Nature's Services' represents one of the first efforts by scientists to provide an overview of the many benefits and services that nature offers to people and the extent to which we are all vitally dependent on those services. The book enhances our understanding of the value of the natural systems that surround us and can play an essential role in encouraging greater efforts to protect the earth's basiclife-support systems before it is too late.
Sandra Postel directs the independent Global Water Policy Project and lectures, writes, and consults on global water issues. In 2010 she was appointed Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. Sandra is co-creator of Change the Course, the national water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 US Water Prize for restoring billions of gallons of water to depleted rivers and wetlands.
During 2000-2008, Sandra was a visiting senior lecturer in Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College, and, late in that term, directed the college's Center for the Environment. From 1988 until 1994, she was vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute. Sandra is a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment and has been named one of the Scientific American 50, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology.
A leading authority and prolific author on international water issues, Sandra has been hailed for her "inspiring, innovative and practical approach" to promoting the preservation and sustainable use of freshwater. She is the author of
Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity (Island Press, 2017),
Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and
Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, chosen by
Choice magazine as a 1993 Outstanding Academic Book.
Last Oasis appears in eight languages and was the basis for a 1997 PBS documentary. Sandra's article "Troubled Waters" was selected for inclusion in the 2001 edition of
Best American Science and Nature Writing. She is also the co-author, with Brian Richter, of
Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature (Island Press 2003). Sandra co-founded and regularly contributes to National Geographic's freshwater blog,
Water Currents.
Sandra has authored more than 100 articles for popular and scholarly publications, including
Science,
Natural History,
Scientific American,
Foreign Policy,
Ecological Applications,
Technology Review,
Environmental Science and Technology,
International Wildlife, and
Water Alternatives. She has written some 20 op-ed features that have appeared in more than 30 newspapers in the United States and abroad, including the
New York Times, the
L.A. Times, and the
Washington Post. A frequent conference speaker and lecturer, she has also served as a commentator on CNN's Futurewatch, addressed the European Parliament on environmental issues, and appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, ABC's Nightline, and NPR's Science Friday. She also appears in the BBC's Planet Earth, Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour, and the National Geographic Channel's Breakthrough series.
Sandra is Water Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, and has served as advisor to the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the U.S. National Research Council, as well as to American Rivers. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Water Resources Association and on the editorial boards of Ecosystems, Water Policy, and Green Futures. She received a B.A. (summa cum laude) in geology and political science at Wittenberg University and an M.E.M. with emphasis on resource economics and policy at Duke University. Sandra has been awarded several honorary Doctor of Science degrees, as well as the Duke University School of Environment's Distinguished Alumni Award.
Until his death in 2010, Stephen H. Schneider was the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, professor of biology, and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
He served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.His research included modeling of the atmosphere, climate change, and "the relationship of biological systems to global climate change." Over the course of his career, his groundbreaking work helped draw public attention to the issue of climate change. He was the founder and editor of the journal
Climatic Change and authored or co-authored over 450 scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and book chapters, some 140 book reviews, editorials, published newspaper and magazine interviews and popularizations.
Stephen Buchmann is a pollination ecologist specializing in bees and their flowers. Buchmann is an adjunct professor with the departments of Entomology and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. A Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, he has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and ten books, including
The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives, and
The Forgotten Pollinators with Gary Paul Nabhan.
Buchmann is a frequent guest on many public media venues including NPR's
All Things Considered and
Science Friday. Reviews of his books have appeared in
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time and
Discover magazines and other national publications. He is an engaging public speaker on topics of flowers, pollinators, and the natural world. His many awards include the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, and an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book.
