An uncompromising wake-up call. Joy White tells uncomfortable truths and blows apart our understanding of racism, crime and policing in our inner-cities. Since the 1980s, austerity, gentrification and structural racism have wreaked havoc on inner-city communities, widening inequality and entrenching poverty. In Terraformed, Joy White offers an insiders view of Forest Gate -- an urban neighbourhood in London -- analysing how these issues affect the black youth of today. Connecting the dots between music, politics and the built environment, it centres on the lived experiences of black youth who have had it all: huge student debt, invisible homelessness, custodial sentences, electronic tagging, surveillance, arrest, police brutality, issues with health and well-being, and of course, loss. Part ethnography, part memoir, Terraformed uses the history of Newham, London as an example of inner-city life across the globe and considers how young black lives are affected by racism, capitalism and austerity.

The word ‘‘terraforming’’ conjures up many exotic images and p- hapsevenwildemotions,butatitscoreitencapsulatestheideathat worldscanbechangedbydirecthumanaction.Theultimateaimof terraforming is to alter a hostile planetary environment into one that is Earth-like, and eventually upon the surface of the new and vibrant world that you or I could walk freely about and explore. It is not entirely clear that this high goal of terraforming can ever be achieved, however, and consequently throughout much of thisbooktheterraformingideasthatarediscussedwillapplytothe goal of making just some fraction of a world habitable. In other cases,theterraformingdescribedmightbeaimedatmakingaworld habitablenotforhumansbutforsomepotentialfoodsourcethat,of course, could be consumed by humans. The many icy moons that reside within the Solar System, for example, may never be ideal locationsforhumanhabitation,buttheypresentthegreatpotential for conversion into enormous hydroponic food-producing centers. The idea of transforming alien worlds has long been a literary backdrop for science fiction writers, and many a make-believe planet has succumbed to the actions of direct manipulation and the indomitable grinding of colossal machines. Indeed, there is something both liberating and humbling about the notion of tra- forming another world; it is the quintessential eucatastrophy espoused by J. R. R. Tolkien, the catastrophe that ultimately brings about a better world. When oxygen was first copiously produced by cyanobacterial activity on the Earth some three billion years ago, it was an act of extreme chemical pollution and a eucatastrophy. The original life-nurturing atmosphere was (eventually) changed f- ever, but an atmosphere that could support advanced life forms came about.

TERRAFORMING MARS This book provides a thorough scientific review of how Mars might eventually be colonized, industrialized, and transformed into a world better suited to human habitation. The idea of terraforming Mars has, in recent times, become a topic of intense scientific interest and great public debate. Stimulated in part by the contemporary imperative to begin geoengineering Earth, as a means to combat global climate change, the terraforming of Mars will work to make its presently hostile environment more suitable to life—especially human life. Geoengineering and terraforming, at their core, have the same goal—that is to enhance (or revive) the ability of a specific environment to support human life, society, and industry. The chapters in this text, written by experts in their respective fields, are accordingly in resonance with the important, and ongoing discussions concerning the human stewardship of global climate systems. In this sense, the text is both timely and relevant and will cover issues relating to topics that will only grow in their relevance in future decades. The notion of terraforming Mars is not a new one, as such, and it has long played as the background narrative in many science fiction novels. This book, however, deals exclusively with what is physically possible, and what might conceivably be put into actual practice within the next several human generations. Audience Researchers in planetary science, astronomy, astrobiology, space engineering, architecture, ethics, as well as members of the space industry.

Over 7 billion people depend on plants for healthy, productive, secure lives, but few of us stop to consider the origin of the plant kingdom that turned the world green and made our lives possible. And as the human population continues to escalate, our survival depends on how we treat the plant kingdom and the soils that sustain it. Understanding the evolutionary history of our land floras, the story of how plant life emerged from water and conquered the continents to dominate the planet, is fundamental to our own existence. In Making Eden David Beerling reveals the hidden history of Earth's sun-shot greenery, and considers its future prospects as we farm the planet to feed the world. Describing the early plant pioneers and their close, symbiotic relationship with fungi, he examines the central role plants play in both ecosystems and the regulation of climate. As threats to plant biodiversity mount today, Beerling discusses the resultant implications for food security and climate change, and how these can be avoided. Drawing on the latest exciting scientific findings, including Beerling's own field work in the UK, North America, and New Zealand, and his experimental research programmes over the past decade, this is an exciting new take on how plants greened the continents.

This book is about planetary engineering, i.e., the conscious role in planetary habitability. It includes geo-engineering - options for the artificial maintenance of our own world as a habitable and civilized planet, but more prominently terraforming - the creation of global biospheres on such planets as Mars and Venus. .

Humankind's first contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial species was not friendly. Because their star, a dying red dwarf, would soon fail to provide life-supporting warmth, a distant alien species recognized Earth, a planet similar to their world, perfect for their needs. In preparation for the move to Earth, the highly intelligent entities implemented a cleverly devised nanobot attack in an attempt to eradicate all life on Earth. They planned to follow the attack by sending a detachment to terraform the planet and assure all life on Earth was eliminated by the time they arrived. At least that was their plan. Fortunately, they didn't recognize the resolve of the human species to survive. While enlisting the extraordinary talents of a gifted physicist, the first attack was thwarted, but the aliens were not deterred. They had no choice. It was move or perish. With the immediate threat eliminated, Earth's scientist searched for the origin of the sinister nanobots and learned they came from a planet called Gliese 581-d that was more than twenty light-years away. They began to study the giant, water-covered planet and its weak, red dwarf star. A ten year study via the Hubble Space Telescope showed little change, and then one day, scientist were shocked to see a mammoth flotilla of alien spaceships assemble near the distant planet and set out on a course that would bring them to Earth. But, because Gliese 581-d was so far away, the scientist weren't too concerned. Even if the alien ships could travel at light-speed, it was decided it would be over two decades before they arrived. Because Einstein predicted nothing other than a photon can travel at light-speed, a theory later proven with the discovery of the Higgs Field, the flotilla wasn't expected to arrive in this century unless they could construct a stable wormhole, something no one believed they could. However, as a precaution, the world leaders decided to keep a close eye on the mammoth flotilla, code named Target One, and begin working on countermeasures should Target One arrive. They assumed they will have developed more advanced technology, and would be able to repel any future attacks. Should Target One show up in Earth's space earlier than expected, it would be a battle between the might of the greater numbered humans and their determination, against the superior technology of the lesser numbered aliens, and the outcome could not be determined. That was ten years ago, and in episode two, the surveillance continues . . .

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Darrow returns as Pierce Brown’s New York Times bestselling Red Rising series continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Age. The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains. But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend. Marooned far from home after a devastating defeat on the battlefields of Mercury, Darrow longs to return to his wife and sovereign, Virginia, to defend Mars from its bloodthirsty would-be conqueror Lysander. Lysander longs to destroy the Rising and restore the supremacy of Gold, and will raze the worlds to realize his ambitions. The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow, and Darrow needs the people he loves—Virginia, Cassius, Sevro—in order to defend the Republic. So begins Darrow’s long voyage home, an interplanetary adventure where old friends will reunite, new alliances will be forged, and rivals will clash on the battlefield. Because Eo’s dream is still alive—and after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope. Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga: RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER