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Inventing for the environment / edited by Arthur Molella and Joyce Bedi.
- Format:
- Book
- Series:
- Lemelson Center studies in invention and innovation.
- Lemelson Center studies in invention and innovation
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Technological innovations--Environmental aspects.
- Technological innovations.
- Technology--Environmental aspects.
- Technology.
- Ecology.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xix, 398 p. ) ill., plans ;
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press in association with Lemelson Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., ©2003.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Essays by historians and practioners on how invention can benefit the environment.This ambitious book describes the many ways in which invention affects the environment (here defined broadly to include all forms of interaction between humans and nature). The book starts with nature itself and then leads readers to examine the built environment and then specific technologies in areas such as public health and energy.Each part focuses on a single environmental issue. Topics range widely, from the role of innovation in urban landscapes to the relationship among technological innovation, public health, and the environment. Each part features an essay by a historian, an essay by a practitioner, and a "portrait of innovation" describing an individual whose work has made a difference. The mixture of historians and practitioners is critical because statements about the environment inevitably measure present and future conditions against those of the past. Early in the industrial revolution, smoke stacks were symbols of prosperity; at its end they were regarded as signs of pollution. Historical examples can also lead to the rediscovery of an old technology, as in the revival of straw bale construction. As it explores the history of invention for the environment, the book suggests many new ways to put the past to use for the common good.
- Contents:
- On nature and technology. Tempered dreams / Richard White ; The tool that is more : an inquiry into fire, the original Promethean invention / Stephen J. Pyne
- What role does innovation play in urban landscapes? Inventing nature in Washington, D.C. / Timothy Davis ; Bioliteracy, bioparks, urban natural history, and enhancing urban environments / Michael H. Robinson ; Portrait of innovation : Jon C. Coe / Martha Davidson
- How do innovations in city planning shape the environment? Environmental planning for national regeneration : techno-cities in New Deal America and Nazi Germany / Arthur Molella and Robert Kargon ; Prospects and retrospect : the city of Hundertwasser and Soleri / Harry Rand, with a statement by Paolo Soleri ; Portrait of innovation : Erick Valle / Martha Davidson
- How do innovations in architecture affect the environment? Straw-bale building : using an old technology to preserve the environment / Kathryn Henderson ; The Wimberley house of healing / Marley Porter ; Portrait of innovation : David Hertz / Martha Davidson
- How are technological innovation, public health, and the environment related? How bad theory can lead to good technology : water supply and sewerage in the age of miasmas / Martin V. Melosi ; Clean water for the world / Ashok Gadgil ; Portrait of innovation : Devra Lee Davis / Martha Davidson
- How can innovations in alternative energy sources affect the environment? Reducing automobile emissions in southern California : the dance of public policies and technological fixes / Rudi Volti ; Negawatts, hypercars, and natural capitalism / Amory Lovins ; Portrait of innovation : Subhendu Guha / Martha Davidson
- How are the principles of industrial ecology applied to benefit the environment? Industrial ecology and the transformation of corporate environmental management : a business historian's perspective / Christine Meisner Rosen ; Industrial ecology / Braden Allenby ; Portrait of innovation : Robert H. Socolow / Martha Davidson
- Conclusion : The new environmentalism / Roderick Nash, with Martha Davidson.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
- OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
- ISBN:
- 0-262-28009-4
- 0-585-48086-9
- OCLC:
- 53955975
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