Category: Environmental Studies

Underground Whales: An Excerpt of “Rendered Obsolete”

The following is an excerpt from Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling by Jamie L. Jones which is available now wherever books are sold. “Rendered Obsolete provides a compelling perspective on the history of whaling and how we understand energy consumption.” Hester Blum, Penn State University Underground Whales: An Energy Archaeology The Pennsylvania oil fields were full… Continue Reading Underground Whales: An Excerpt of “Rendered Obsolete”

The Arctic Refuge and the Power of Grassroots Visual Culture

On September 6, the Biden administration made a critical announcement about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, canceling the remaining oil and gas leases that had been auctioned off during the waning days of the Trump administration. The announcement marked a major win for environmental and Indigenous advocates, who have been fighting for decades to protect this land from fossil fuel… Continue Reading The Arctic Refuge and the Power of Grassroots Visual Culture

What to Read on World Oceans Day

Today is World Oceans Day. To celebrate we’ve compiled this reading list of some of our ocean related titles. Ribbon of Sand: The Amazing Convergence of the Ocean and the Outer Banks By John Alexander, James Lazell “Leaves the reader with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the forces of wind and water.”—Publishers Weekly “This is a guidebook to… Continue Reading What to Read on World Oceans Day

New This Week: “Country Capitalism”

Happy pub day to Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet by Bart Elmore, now available wherever books are sold! Country Capitalism is published under our Ferris & Ferris imprint. This engaging and important book reveals how five of today’s most influential global corporations developed from common roots in the US South and are implicated… Continue Reading New This Week: “Country Capitalism”

Celebrate Earth Day with These Books

Every year on April 22 we celebrate Earth day, which marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. This year, to celebrate, we’ve compiled a recommended reading list of some of our Environmental Studies titles for you to enjoy. Saving the Wild South: The Fight for Native Plants on the Brink of Extinction by Georgann… Continue Reading Celebrate Earth Day with These Books

Social Metabolisms: Precious Metal Mining and it’s Demands on Local Environments and People

The following is an excerpt from The Three Deaths of Cerro de San Pedro: Four Centuries of Extractivism in a Small Mexican Mining Town, by Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, available now wherever books are sold. Social Metabolisms As the rate and scale of precious metal mining increased with each cycle of extractivist mining, its demands on local environments and people rose proportionally.… Continue Reading Social Metabolisms: Precious Metal Mining and it’s Demands on Local Environments and People

Defending the Arctic Refuge: Introducing a Public History Website

Many thanks to NiCHE for allowing us to reblog this blog post by Finis Dunaway, author of Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice. You can explore the Defending the Arctic Refuge website here. If I were to tell you that in the 1980s a group of amateur activists in California put… Continue Reading Defending the Arctic Refuge: Introducing a Public History Website

“Black Faces, White Spaces” Now Available as an Audiobook

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney is now available as an audiobook from Audible, Libro.fm, and Kobo. . Praise for Black Faces, White Spaces: “Makes a clear case for the dominant culture’s habitual (though, sometimes unwitting) rejection of African Americans.”—Library Journal, starred review “Weaving scholarly analysis with interviews of… Continue Reading “Black Faces, White Spaces” Now Available as an Audiobook

Congratulations to 2022 Carnegie Fellows George Derek Musgrove and Monica M. White

Hearty congratulations to UNC Press authors Monica M. White, author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, and George Derek Musgrove, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, both part of the 2022 cohort of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. About the Carnegie Fellows: The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program provides philanthropic support… Continue Reading Congratulations to 2022 Carnegie Fellows George Derek Musgrove and Monica M. White

Detroit and Toxic Debt

Today marks eight years since the beginning of the ongoing Flint water contamination crisis. The following is an excerpt from Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit by Josiah Rector, officially on sale tomorrow wherever ebooks and books are sold. Between 2014 and 2019, the City of Detroit shut off water for over 141,000 residential accounts, denying more than… Continue Reading Detroit and Toxic Debt

The Epic Political Battle Over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Happy Earth Day 2022 The following excerpt is taken from Finis Dunaway’s Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice, winner the 2022 Spur Award for Contemporary Nonfiction by the Western Writers of America. I don’t make a habit of going to funerals, especially for people I’ve never met. So I feel a… Continue Reading The Epic Political Battle Over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

2022 American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting

After two years away, UNC Press is excited to be exhibiting in-person at ASEH 2022 – we hope you’ll stop by our booth! And if you can’t join us in-person, please visit our virtual booth! And be sure to check out our Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges series. Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges publishes works of environmental history that explore the cross-border movements… Continue Reading 2022 American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting

The Song Remains (Mostly) the Same: Relicts of a Beautiful Sea, Eight Years Later

The following is a guest blog post by Christopher Norment, author of Relicts of a Beautiful Sea: Survival, Extinction, and Conservation in a Desert World. Along a tiny spring in a narrow canyon near Death Valley, seemingly against all odds, an Inyo Mountain slender salamander makes its home. “The desert,” writes conservation biologist Christopher Norment, “is defined by the absence… Continue Reading The Song Remains (Mostly) the Same: Relicts of a Beautiful Sea, Eight Years Later

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

As you may already now, February is Black History Month. The history of black people should be celebrated at all times, but in February, we shine an extra special light on it. Black History Month began as Negro History Week in February 1926, created by historian Carter G. Woodson. In 1976, the celebration was expanded to a month. We’ll be… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: Black Resistance

“Island Wildlife Reads: Saving the Wild South with Georgann Eubanks”, Author Georgann Eubanks speaks with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Last month, UNC Press author of Saving the Wild South Georgann Eubanks  sat with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation to discuss her book. The American South is famous for its astonishingly rich biodiversity. In this book, Georgann Eubanks takes a wondrous trek from Alabama to North Carolina to search out native plants that are endangered and wavering on the edge of erasure.… Continue Reading “Island Wildlife Reads: Saving the Wild South with Georgann Eubanks”, Author Georgann Eubanks speaks with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Author Book Events in the Time of Covid

The following is a guest blog post from Georgann Eubanks, author of Saving The Wild South: The Fight for Native Plants on the Brink of Extinction. The American South is famous for its astonishingly rich biodiversity. In this book, Georgann Eubanks takes a wondrous trek from Alabama to North Carolina to search out native plants that are endangered and wavering on the… Continue Reading Author Book Events in the Time of Covid

Staff Picks: 2021 UNC Press Holiday Gift Guide

We hope you’ve got your hot chocolate and eggnog ready for this winter season! Today we wanted to share some holiday gift recommendations from our staff. Don’t forget, we’re having a Holiday Sale too! Save 40% on any of these great stocking stuffers and all of our other UNC Press print books. You’ll also receive free shipping on orders of… Continue Reading Staff Picks: 2021 UNC Press Holiday Gift Guide

2021 Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting

Visit our virtual booth for the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. You can browse our new and recent titles, connect with editor Elaine Maisner, and learn more about our Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks Series. New Titles in Middle East Studies Afropolitan Projects: Redefining Blackness, Sexualities, and Culture from Houston to Accra Anima Adjepong Planetary Specters: Race, Migration, and… Continue Reading 2021 Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting

Saving The Wild South: Yadkin River Goldenrod and Heller’s Blazing Star

Happy tenth anniversary to University Press Week! This year’s Association of University Presses annual celebration, running from November 8-12, “welcomes all to ‘Keep UP’ with a decade of excellence and innovation.”  For UP Week’s annual blog tour, today’s specific theme, Innovate/Collaborate, today’s bloggers describe an innovation or a collaboration in the last decade that they are particularly proud of or that will provide a model for… Continue Reading Saving The Wild South: Yadkin River Goldenrod and Heller’s Blazing Star

Authors Georgann Eubanks and Cynthia Kaufman in Conversation at the Southern Festival of Books

Last month, UNC Press author of Saving the Wild South Georgann Eubanks and Cynthia Kaufman held a conversation for the 33rd annual Southern Festival of Books. Georgann and Cynthia share how to preserve disappearing fauna and take a more active role in combating climate change at the local level. Climate change headlines tell of devastating floods and wildfires, but there… Continue Reading Authors Georgann Eubanks and Cynthia Kaufman in Conversation at the Southern Festival of Books