The Mexican -- United States border represents much more than the meeting place of two nations. Our border communities are often a line of first defense -- absorbing the complex economic, environmental and social impacts of globalization that ripple through the region. In many ways, our success or failure in finding solutions for the environmental, social and economic issues that plague the region may well define our ability to meet similar challenges thousands of miles from the border zone. Border residents face the environmental security concerns posed by water scarcity and transboundary air pollution; the planning and infrastructure needs of an exploding population; the debilitating effects of inadequate sanitary and health facilities; and the crippling cycle of widespread poverty. Yet, with its manifold problems, the border area remains an area of great dynamism and hope -- a multicultural laboratory of experimentation and grass-roots problem-solving. Indeed, as North America moves towards a more integrated economy, citizen action at the local level is pushing governments to adapt to the driving forces in the border area by creating new institutional arrangements and improving old ones. If there is one defining feature of this ground-up push for more responsive transboundary policies and institutions, it is a departure from the closed, formalistic models of the past to a more open, transparent and participatory model of international interaction.

Featuring information on the best hotels, restaurants, sights, festivals, parts, and driving tours available throughout the entire country, Fodor's USA 1992 is the most comprehensive guide of its kind.

Packed with travel information, including listings, deals, and insider tips: CANDID LISTINGS of hundreds of places to eat, sleep, drink, and dance. RELIABLE MAPS of cities, regions, parks, and transportation. All-new THEMED ITINERARIES take you from coast to coast. The INSIDE SCOOP on the best bars, clubs, festivals, and live entertainment. Brand-new AMERICANA COVERAGE highlighting the unique American experience. Thrilling OPPORTUNITIES to study, work, or volunteer. Tips on getting the most out of THE GREAT OUTDOORS.

Mary Jo O’Rear rounds out her coastal bend trilogy with a deep and engaging look at the prehistory and history of the Texas barrier islands. In Barrier to the Bays, O’Rear captures the deep time of the islands (Mustang, Padre, and San José), the bays (Aransas, Corpus Christi, Copano, Redfish, and Nueces), and Aransas Pass. From the earliest human settlements to the twentieth century, O’Rear explores the complex interplay between people and economies struggling to survive in a region dominated by indifferent forces of nature. Barrier to the Bays opens with the natural formation and development of the barrier isles and the arrival of Native Americans, Spanish castaways, French explorers, and Catholic missionaries. European settlements on the mainland eventually led to rich commercial development of the area and its bounty as ranching, fishing, and transportation took hold. By the early twentieth century, the people of the Coastal Bend began wrestling with a new drive to create deep-water harbors along the coastline in the face of the ever-present hurricane threat. O’Rear shows that by World War II the region had settled into a kind of “practicality” as tourists and traders took their place among the denizens of the islands and bays. In addition to the stories of familiar historical figures, Barrier to the Bays stresses the importance of technology in the settlement and development of the region. “Nothing could have been achieved among the barriers and bays of the Coastal Bend without the right tools.” O’Rear underscores the importance of properly designed sailing vessels and the centrality of navigation technology as an integral part of the barrier isle story.

This text explores the natural history of Texas and more than 2900 springs in 183 Texas counties. It also includes an in-depth discussion of the general characteristics of springs - their physical and prehistoric settings, their historical significance, and their associated flora and fauna.

The last five years have been marked by rapid technological and analytical developments in the study of shore processes and in the comprehension of shore deposits and forms, and shoreline change over time. These developments have generated a considerable body of literature in a wide range of professional journals, thus illustrating the cross-disciplinary nature of shore processes and the palaeo-environmental dimension of shore change. The justification of the book lies in bringing together these developments using an objective approach that synthesises current advances, technical progress in the analysis of shores and shore processes, contradictory interpretations, and potential advances using future-generation developments in techniques. The book provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art presentation of shore processes and deposits across ranges of wave energy and tide-range environments, sediment supply and textural conditions, sea-level change, exceptional events and longer-term climate change, based on the most recently published literature in the marine sciences. The book insists on the nested time and spatial scales through which are inter-linked shore processes and deposits, thus providing a better understanding of the way shores change over time. The approach is thus cross-disciplinary, and gap-bridging between processes and deposits, between analytical techniques, and between timescales. The audience is from graduate level upwards, and the book is intended as a comprehensive reference source for professionals in a wide range of coastal science fields (geologists, sedimentologists, geomorphologists, oceanographers, engineers, managers, archaeologists...).* Aimed at graduates and specialists interested in coastal science* Presents background research, recent developments and future trends* Written by a leading scholar and industry expert