San Antonio College Library

"What's the connection between a platter of jumbo shrimp, murdered fishermen, impoverished coastal communities, and disastrous hurricanes? Mangroves. Many people have never heard of these salt-water forests, but for those who depend on their riches, mangroves are indispensable. They are natural storm barriers, home to innumerable exotic creatures--from crab-eating vipers to man-eating tigers--and provide livelihoods to millions of coastal dwellers....

Rainforests have long been recognized as hotspots of biodiversity--but they are crucial for our planet in other surprising ways. Not only do these fascinating ecosystems thrive in rainy regions, they create rain themselves, and this moisture is spread around the globe. Rainforests across the world have a powerful and concrete impact, reaching as far as America's Great Plains and central Europe. In Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines,...

This is the story of good intentions gone wrong. It begins in 1945 with a pledge to end poverty through a newly created international banking institution. Staffed by the most talented economists from the best universities, the World Bank embarked on this task with the self-assurance only technicians isolated from reality can possess. Fifty years later, the gap between the rich and the underdeveloped nations is wider than ever, thanks in no small part...