The Chesapeake in Focus

Transforming the Natural World

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences, Environmental Science, Nature, Environment, Environmental Conservation & Protection
Cover of the book The Chesapeake in Focus by Tom Pelton, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Tom Pelton ISBN: 9781421424767
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: March 21, 2018
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Tom Pelton
ISBN: 9781421424767
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: March 21, 2018
Imprint:
Language: English

When Captain John Smith arrived in Virginia in 1607, he discovered a paradise in the Chesapeake Bay. In the centuries that followed, the Bay changed vastly—and not for the better. European landowners and enslaved Africans slashed, burned, and cleared the surrounding forests to grow tobacco. Watermen overfished oysters, shad, and sturgeon, decimating these crucial species. Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond used its rivers as urban sewers. By the 1960s, the Chesapeake was dying.

A crossroads of life and culture, the Chesapeake straddles the North and the South, mixes salt water with fresh, and is home to about 18 million people and 3,600 species of animals and plants. Although recent cleanup efforts have improved its overall health, they have not been enough to save this national treasure. In The Chesapeake in Focus, award-winning writer Tom Pelton examines which environmental policies have worked and which have failed.

Based on Pelton’s extensive experience as a journalist and as the host of the public radio program The Environment in Focus, this sweeping book takes readers on a tour of the histories of the Chesapeake, as well as the ecological challenges faced by its major tributaries. It details the management of blue crabs, striped bass, and other delicious wildlife, profiles leaders and little-known characters involved in the restoration campaign, and warns of the dangers of anti-regulatory politics that threaten to reverse what has been accomplished. Looking to the future, Pelton offers a provocative vision of the hard steps that must be taken if we truly want to save the Bay.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When Captain John Smith arrived in Virginia in 1607, he discovered a paradise in the Chesapeake Bay. In the centuries that followed, the Bay changed vastly—and not for the better. European landowners and enslaved Africans slashed, burned, and cleared the surrounding forests to grow tobacco. Watermen overfished oysters, shad, and sturgeon, decimating these crucial species. Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond used its rivers as urban sewers. By the 1960s, the Chesapeake was dying.

A crossroads of life and culture, the Chesapeake straddles the North and the South, mixes salt water with fresh, and is home to about 18 million people and 3,600 species of animals and plants. Although recent cleanup efforts have improved its overall health, they have not been enough to save this national treasure. In The Chesapeake in Focus, award-winning writer Tom Pelton examines which environmental policies have worked and which have failed.

Based on Pelton’s extensive experience as a journalist and as the host of the public radio program The Environment in Focus, this sweeping book takes readers on a tour of the histories of the Chesapeake, as well as the ecological challenges faced by its major tributaries. It details the management of blue crabs, striped bass, and other delicious wildlife, profiles leaders and little-known characters involved in the restoration campaign, and warns of the dangers of anti-regulatory politics that threaten to reverse what has been accomplished. Looking to the future, Pelton offers a provocative vision of the hard steps that must be taken if we truly want to save the Bay.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Essential Readings in Medicine and Religion by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Global Perspectives on ADHD by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Lagomorphs by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Migration Ecology of Marine Fishes by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Democracy's Schools by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Baltimore by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book The Birth of the Past by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Nature's Calendar by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book The Philadelphia Country House by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Integrated Treatment for Mood and Substance Use Disorders by Tom Pelton
Cover of the book Taking to the Streets by Tom Pelton
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy