Environment

Imagine a world without bees. Not only would it be less colorful - with fewer wildflowers and flowering plants - it would be less fruitful as well. A world without bees would mean a world where the food supply would be significantly diminished. Global bee researcher Laurence Packer estimates that bees are responsible for 1/3 of our food supply.

Buzz About Bees offers an in-depth look at an endangered and vital part of the natural world. Accompanying information about the history, social structure and science behind the world of bees and honey are conservation activities to make the world a place where hives of bees can thrive.

Reviews
"Buzz About Bees is a great overview of all things apiarian. Pick up this book and it engages you with a true/false quiz about what you and your students may or may not know about bees. […] If you can navigate the BEE-wildering array of apiarian puns, this is a great introduction to all things bees." — NSTA

"With punny titles such as 'UnBEE-lievable Body Parts' and 'Let Me BEE: I'm BUZZ-y Working', Buzz About Bees takes an upbeat, yet serious, approach to its topic... Absorbing, cheerful, and easy to read." Recommended. — CM Magazine

Educator Information
Recommended ages: 10-13.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: BEE-N THERE, DONE THAT
- BEE-ing Worthy of Royal Status
- Take Your Medicine: Drink Your Honey
- Recipe for Soothing a STING-ing Throat

Chapter 2: THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX
- UnBEE-lievable Body Parts
- Classifying Bee Bodies
- To BEE or Not to BEE

Chapter 3: BEE-ING TOGETHER
- Social Bees
- Nests or Hives
- BEE-ing the Queen
- Honeybees
- Honey: Liquid Gold
- Keeping BUZZ-y

Chapter 4: BEE-ING ALONE
- BEE-autiful Homes
- Living BEE-side Each Other
- BEE-fore I Leave You
- Getting BEE-gger: Life Cycle of a Bee

Chapter 5: BEES OF THE WORLD, DISPERSE!
- Bee Mobility
- Invasive Pests
- Killer Bees
- Leave Me BEE Game
- The BEE’s Knees
- BEE a Researcher
- Let Me BEE: I’m BUZZ-y Working
- BEE-ing a Beekeeper
- A SWEET Life

Chapter 6: STINGING EFFECTS ON THE WORLD
- BEE-hind the Eight Ball
- BEE-coming Extinct
- What’s the BUZZ?
- BEE the Change the World Needs

Glossary
Index
Further Reading
Photo Credits

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 10.00" | colour photographs, colour illustrations, index, glossary, further reading

Explore the fascinating world of Nunavut’s diverse rocks and minerals in this richly visual, informative book.

Through beautiful photographs and a broad range of information—with absorbing “Did You Know?” facts to accompany every account—readers will learn about the appearances, traditional and modern uses, and environments of eastern Arctic rocks and minerals. Covered in this book is everything from diamond to granite, from the most precious to the most common stone. 

Readers will learn about rocks and minerals, as well as how their use has been important to the survival of the Inuit.

Far from a barren land of ice and snow, this book will introduce readers to the vibrant natural life of Nunavut through its distinct geology.

Additional Information
242 pages | 6.50" x 9.00"

Short-listed for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Banff Mountain Book Award and winner of the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction.

With Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway proposal nearing approval, supertankers loaded with two million barrels of bitumen each may soon join herring, humpbacks and salmon on their annual migration through the tumultuous waters off British Columbia's Central Coast -- a place no oil tanker has been before. The contentious project has aroused intense opposition, pitting local First Nations, a majority of British Columbia's urban population, and environmental groups across the country against an international consortium led by Enbridge and backed by a federal government determined to make Canada an "energy superpower."

Arno Kopecky sails into the controversy aboard a forty-one-foot cutter for a closer look at a legendary region with a knife at its throat. Without any prior sailing experience, Kopecky and his sailing companion -- photographer Ilja Herb -- struggle to keep afloat as they make their way through a volatile labyrinth of fjords, inlets, and evergreen islands known as the Great Bear Rainforest. This amphibious ecosystem is among the last great wildernesses on earth, housing a quarter of the world's temperate rainforest and a thriving ocean environment that together host forty per cent more biomass per hectare than the Amazon. But as Kopecky soon discovers, the politics of Big Oil and First Nations can be every bit as treacherous to navigate as the shifting currents and hidden reefs for which the Northern Gateway tanker route is known.

In this rich evocation of ecology, culture, and history, Kopecky meditates on the line between impartial reportage and environmental activism, ultimately arguing that there are some places oil tankers should never go.

Caution: Includes some profanity and use of marijuana.

This laminated guide features twenty-six native trees commonly found from Alaska to Oregon, providing common and Latin names accompanied by colour photographs of identifying features such as bark, leaves or needles, flowers, cones, seeds and fruit. Information on identification, range and an illustration of each tree's silhouette make it a snap to distinguish a shore pine from a western white pine or a trembling aspen from a paper birch. Also included are traditional uses and other interesting tree facts and lore. For example, did you know that yellow cedar can live up to 5,000 years? Or that the bigleaf maple flowers are edible? Next time you go for a hike, pay attention to the forest and the trees with one of these laminated guides slipped into your back pocket or backpack.

Additional Information
2 pages | 37.00" x 9.00" | color photographs and illustrations | pamphlet 

Tsawalk, or “one,” expresses the Nuu-chah-nulth view that all living things – human, plant, and animal – form part of an integrated whole brought into harmony through constant negotiation and mutual respect. In this book, Umeek argues that contemporary environmental and political crises and the ongoing plight of indigenous peoples reflect a world out of balance, a world in which Western approaches for sustainable living are not working. Nuu-chah-nulth principles of recognition, consent, and continuity, by contrast, hold the promise of bringing greater harmony, where all life forms are treated with respect and accorded formal constitutional recognition.

Additional Information
220 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

In December 2002 members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation blocked a logging road to impede the movement of timber industry trucks and equipment within their traditional territory. The Grassy Narrows blockade went on to become the longest-standing protest of its type in Canadian history. The story of the blockade is a story of convergences. It takes place where cultural, political, and environmental dimensions of Indigenous activism intersect; where history combines with current challenges and future aspirations to inspire direct action. In Strong Hearts, Native Lands, Anna J. Willow demonstrates that Indigenous people decisions to take environmentally protective action cannot be understood apart from political or cultural concerns. By recounting how and why one Anishinaabe community was able to take a stand against the industrial logging that threatens their land-based subsistence and way of life, Willow offers a more complex and more constructive understanding of human-environment relationships. Grassy Narrows activists have long been part of a network of supporters that extends across North America and beyond. This book shows how the blockade realized those connections, making this community? efforts a model and inspiration for other Indigenous groups, environmentalists, and social justice advocates.

Like the other books in the First Nations Series for Young Readers, this book offers ten short and engaging biographies of First Nations/Native activists who advocate not only for the environment but for Native rights. Their stories are full of highs and lows, triumphs and setbacks. Environmental trailblazers, these men and women are role models for children everywhere.

The men and women profiled here are united by their work to protect the environment and to support indigenous rights. Their stories take us from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to the Black Mesa in Arizona.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo uses her passion to stop oil extraction in Alberta’s tar sands.
Winona LaDuke is a voice for reclaiming Native lands, advocating renewable energy resources, and protecting Native cultures.
Clayton Thomas-Muller is a dynamic advocate for indigenous self-determination and campaigner against tar sands extraction.
Ben Powless brings his youthful energy and skills to addressing climate change issues.
Tom Goldtooth protects sacred sites and organizes global direct-action campaigns for the environment.
Grace Thorpe is a grandmother who dedicated her retirement years to keeping Native reservations from becoming nuclear waste dumps.
Sarah James is a voice from northern Alaska defending the Porcupine caribou herd and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Enei Begaye & Evon Peter are married activists who work as a team on environmental issues and sustainable strategies for Native people.
Klee Benally uses the media to empower Native communities in their fight for environmental justice.
Teague Allston works to ensure a tribal voice is heard in Washington DC.

Reviews
"These short biographies of environmentalists are sure to engage a whole classroom of readers. From the focus on a particular environmental crisis, to a description of each person's native heritage, to the writing style and level, the stories are accessible to readers young and old." — Canadian Teacher Magazine, March 2012

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the First Nations Series for Young Readers. Each book is a collection of biographies of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women and men who are leaders in their fields of work, in their art, and in their communities. For ages 9-14.

Additional Information
128 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

"What the world needs today is a good dose of Indigenous realism," says Native American scholar Daniel Wildcat in this thoughtful, forward-looking treatise. The Native response to the environmental crisis facing our planet, Red Alert! seeks to debunk the modern myths that humankind is the center of creation and that it exerts control over the natural world.

Taking a hard look at the biggest problem that we face today-the damaging way we live on this earth-Wildcat draws upon ancient Native American wisdom and nature-centered beliefs to advocate a modern strategy to combat global warming. Inspiring and insightful, Red Alert! is a stirring call to action.

Additional Information
128 pages | 5.10" x 8.10"

This introductory field guide is designed for the beach explorer, the boater, the skin diver, and the scuba diver. Rick has limited its contents to the most common species, which can be seen from, or along, the seashore, or in the shallows. It's easy-to-spot features will guide the beginner into the wonderful world of the western seashore.

Additional Information
48 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | coloured photos throughout.