Environmental Disasters (Disasters Up Close)
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Environmental Disasters (Disasters Up Close)
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From School Library Journal
Grade 4–6—These books share a similar format: concepts in science and engineering are complemented with historical case studies. Captioned, full-page color photographs reveal the enormity of such incidents as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the space shuttle Challenger explosion. Though the content is comparable to that of other volumes, including those in the "Earth Watch" (Sea-to-Sea) and "Natural Disasters" series (Smart Apple Media), these works excel in providing source notes, bibliographies, and even a list of relevant places to visit. The historical scenarios are presented in chronological order, and time lines summarize each volume for convenient reference. Both include relatively recent events, such as the 2003 Columbia tragedy. They also encompass a global perspective, from the 1930s American dust bowl to a 2005 chemical plant explosion in Jilin, China; likewise a sense of tragedy is equally palpable for lost Western astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. In certain places sentences seem vague or choppy, and Space details more hard data than Environmental. However, the overall effect of the titles conveys the seriousness of the issues presented, and the struggles will attract readers. Great updates.—Jeff Meyer, Slater Public Library, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Although this entry in the Disasters Up Close series opens with an inadequate definition of environmental disasters as those that “affect the natural world” (a criterion that could apply to avalanches as easily as the Exxon Valdez), readers will quickly get the point as the authors cite tragedy after tragedy arising from human carelessness—primarily oil spills and toxic leaks, from Love Canal to China’s 2005 factory explosion. Throughout, high-quality photos anchor the book’s boldly designed pages and bolster the somewhat thin main text, which occasionally feels like filler between the attention-grabbing case studies. These underscore the horror of experiencing an environmental disaster through sourced quotations from witnesses, such as a Bhopal, India, chemical-spill surivivor who recalled feeling as if “somebody had filled our bodies up with red chilies.” Though not using as much detail as the book’s cover image (oil-sodden penguins) implies, the authors address animal rescue and cleanup: Dawn dish soap, apparently, works best on fur and feathers. This offers many possibilities for environment-oriented reports, and a solid bibliography and a resource list to point students forward. Grades 4-7. --Jennifer Mattson
07/05/2010
In the 20th Century, the earth has been periodically ravished chemical spills, oil spills, nuclear reactor accidents, etc. - have devastated human, animal and plant life not to mention the earth itself. The writing team of Michael and Mary Woods take a sobering look at some environmental disasters in this 2008 Lerner Publications release. Part of that publisher's 'Disasters Up Close,' the book is aimed at readers 9-12.
The disasters covered include the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the Dust Bowl, Minamata, the Torrey Canyon spill, Three Mile Island, Cherno the deserted streets of Cherno are positively haunting. There are a number of shots of oil-soaked birds that underline the impact such disasters can have.
In short, ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS is a comprehensive and nicely-illustrated summary for younger readers. Like other books in the series, it will be helpful in report-writing. Recommended.
25/04/2009
There are many different kinds of environmental disasters, some of which could have been prevented. In this book the authors say that "many environmental disasters happen because of human error." In Jilin, China factory workers failed to shut off a valve. The result was an explosion resulting in a large scale evacuation. People died and 100 tons of poison ended up in the Songhua River.
This book tells us what environmental disasters are, their causes, where they tend to occur, how we measure their impacts, how people can help, and a chapter on how scientists envision our future. Some, such as oil spills are familiar. Others, like the killer London fog, are more unusual and not many people remember it. It was so bad that "people could not see their hands in front of their faces." Worse, yet, there was a shortage of coffins for the 4,000 people who died. From Chernobyl, to Exxon Valdez, Love Canal and more there are many examples of environmental disasters.
This book was well done and the coverage sobering, but not horrific. It was interesting with many first hand accounts backed up with scientific explanation and statistics. There are numerous sidebars, a disaster zone map, a timeline, glossary, index and additional recommended books, films and websites. Did you know that when a bird is coated in oil it can actually freeze to death?
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