We now have over 8500 ebooks for children, teens and adults, with more being added on a regular basis. With a Knox County library card, ebooks can be downloaded to an e-reader, smart phone, or computer, and you'll have access to them for up to 3 weeks.
Need a little guidance? Join us for a help session where you'll be able to see a demonstration showing how to install and register the required software, and download an ebook to a device. Bring a wireless-equipped laptop and e-reader (with some mobile devices, no laptop or PC is required), and we will help you through the download process on your own equipment, time permitting.
Ebook help sessions: February 6, 6:30 p.m. at Powell Branch Library February 16, 5:30 p.m. at Lawson McGhee Library February 28, 6:30 p.m. at Bearden Branch Library
In Every Living Thing, Dunn reminds readers how tough and exhilarating it is to study the natural world, and why it matters. A thousand years ago we thought we knew almost everything, a hundred years ago, too. But even today, the author argues, discoveries we can't yet imagine still await us. More is unknown than known, whether about our bodies or the bottom of the sea. In a series of vivid portraits of scientists as interesting as the mysteries they chase, Dunn introduces the reader to breakthroughs that have changed the world and others that might still.
Todd Witcher has a particular interest in Rob Dunn's book Every Living Thing: Man's obsessive quest to catalog life, from nanobacteria to new monkeys --it's about what he does. Mr. Witcher is the Executive Director of Discover Life in America, the organization that is cataloging the biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Mr. Witcher is an eighth generation Tennessean. Before DLIA, he worked as an educator for Ijams Nature Center for 16 years. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in Biology (1987), a Masters in Business from Lincoln Memorial University (1991), and a Masters in Education from the University of Tennessee (1997).
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This Brown Bag, Green Book is a little different. Instead of a book, the discussion is based on a New Yorker article “Superbugs” by Jerome Groopman. Dr. Martha Buchanan, Director of Knox County Health Department, led the discussion.
Dr. Jerome Groopman holds the Dina and Raphael Recanati Chair of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and is Chief of Experimental Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. See books by Dr. Groopman in the Library's collection.
For a long-form treatment of antibiotic resistant superbugs, check out the Library's copy of the book Superbugby Maryn McKenna, published this year. The focus of this book is the pathogen known as MRSA: methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus.
Dr. Buchanan joined Knox County Health Department in 2004 as the assistant public health officer and was promoted to public health officer in 2006. In April 2010 she became director. She graduated from Carson Newman College and East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine, and she completed her residence in Family Practice at the University of North Dakota Family Practice Program.
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Tiffany Foster, Renee Hoyos, and Joanne Logan discussed Maude Barlow's Blue Covenant. Said Ms. Hoyos, "Blue Covenant brings the challenges to managing water for the future into sharp relief. While we sometimes think that we have plenty of water, resources are declining due to bad development and industrial practices. This book is a real eye-opener and a must read for those concerned about the future on water worldwide and locally."
This was a February 2010 program; we got behind on our podcasts while other projects took top priority. Our apologies for publishing this recording so late.
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Most Americans think of crowded cities as ecological nightmares, as wastelands of concrete, garbage, diesel fumes and traffic jams. Yet residents of compact urban centers, Owen shows, individually consume less oil, electricity, and water than other Americans. They live in smaller spaces, discard less trash, and, most important of all, spend far less time in automobiles. Residents of Manhattan--the most densely populated place in North America--rank first in public-transit use and last in per capita greenhouse gas production, and they consume gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn't matched since the mid-1920s, when the most widely owned car in the United States was the Ford Model T. They are also among the only people in the United States for whom walking is still an important means of daily transportation.
These achievements are not accidents. Spreading people thinly across the countryside may make them feel green, but it doesn't reduce the damage they do to the environment. In fact, it increases the damage, while also making the problems they cause harder to see and to address. Owen contends that the environmental problem we face, at the current stage of our assault on the world's nonrenewable resources, is not how to make teeming cities more like the pristine countryside. The problem is how to make other settled places more like Manhattan, whose residents presently come closer than any other Americans to meeting environmental goals that all of us, eventually, will have to come to terms with.
Madeline Rogero is director of the Community Development Department for the City of Knoxville. She heads a department of 25 staff that focuses on revitalizing residential and commercial neighborhoods with a special commitment to energy efficiency and sustainable development. She co-chairs the Mayor's Energy and Sustainability Task Force, is a member of the Mayor’s Economic Development Committee, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards.
Ms. Rogero served on Knox County Commission from 1990 to 1998. She ran for Mayor of Knoxville in 2003 and three years later was appointed to her current position by her former opponent, Mayor Bill Haslam. She was named the "Champion of Change" by Community Shares (2004), was appointed Honorary Co-Chair of the 2005 Tennessee Economic Summit for Women, and was chosen for the YWCA's Tribute to Women award for Business and Government (2006). She was also selected "2003 Knoxvillian of the Year" by Metro Pulse newspaper readers. She has a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a B.A. in Political Science from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
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Dr. John Nolt revisited the classic Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, a book that remains relevant today. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, AND propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Fast Food Nation Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.
It's notable that the Rolling Stone article on which this book was based generated more reader mail than any other piece the magazine ran in the 1990s. As its 10 year anniversary approaches, Fast Food Nation demonstrates its "sustainability" as Library patrons continue to check it out.
Dr. Nolt is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee, dividing his teaching and research mostly between logic and environmental ethics. He is co-chair of UT’s Committee on the Campus Environment, which recently developed a 25-year energy plan for the campus. In 2006 he was awarded a $25,000 Rebuild America grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to assist with that work.
He has been active in many local and regional environmental organizations. His wife, Annette Mendola, is also a philosopher and they have between them three children. They grow much of their own food in organic gardens at their home. A neo-Luddite, he mows his lawn with a scythe and commutes by bicycle.
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Prominent journalist Amanda Little maps out the history and future of America's energy addiction in a wonk-free, big-picture, solutions-oriented adventure story. After covering the environment and energy beat for more than a decade, Little decided that the only way to really understand America's energy crisis was to travel into the heart of it. She embarks on a daring cross-country power trip, and describes in vivid, fast-paced prose the most extreme and exciting frontiers of our energy landscape. Little illustrates how abundant oil and coal built the American superpower—even as they posed political and environmental dangers to the nation and the world. More important, we learn how the same American ingenuity that got us into this mess can get us out of it.
Harvey Abouelata is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Efficient Energy of Tennessee. In this position, he oversees sales, product development and marketing of Residential and Commercial products and services for EETN, including solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technology, energy audits and HERS ratings, weatherization, power factor correction, renewable energy education through webinars and seminars and energy grant writing. He holds a Bachelor's of Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
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The eighth episode in our lunchtime book club series is about Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Dr. McIntyre, Superintendent of Knox County Schools, led the discussion along with Knox County School’s Aneisa McDonald, Supervisor of Coordinated School Health, and Lisa Wagoner, Supervisor of Health Services.
In Last Child in the Woods, Louv explores what he describes as the alienation of modern-day children from the natural world. He emphasizes the important role interaction with nature plays in our personal emotional, physical and intellectual health. One child told him, "I like indoors because that's where the electric outlets are." Louv makes a direct link between the "plugged-in" state of children (he calls this "nature deficit") and significant problems such as obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder and depression.
Louv contends that connecting education and play to environment raises standardized test scores and grade point averages, improving many skills such as critical thinking and even creativity. Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fear of traffic, strangers, and even virus-carrying mosquitoes that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.
Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods" and this book is the first step toward that Nature-child reunion.
Dr. James P. McIntyre, Jr., has served as Superintendent of Knox County Schools since July, 2008. He has worked in the field of education, including both K-12 and at the university level, for 20 years. Prior to coming to Knoxville, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Boston Public Schools. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Boston College, a Master of Science degree in education administration from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, a Master of Urban Affairs degree from Boston University, and a Ph. D. in public policy from the University of Massachusetts.
Ms. Aneisa McDonald has been with Knox County Schools since July 2007. She received her BS and MS in Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She spent 12 years as a professional dance educator in Illinois, South Carolina, and Tennessee and served as a coalition coordinator for the Metropolitan Drug Commission's Drug-Free Communities Grant Program from 2001-2007.
Ms. Lisa Wagoner joined Knox County as a school nurse in 1994 and then was appointed Supervisor of Health Services in 2009. She holds a degree of nursing from Walter State Community College.
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The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in communities dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal.
Pat Hudson is the Executive Director of Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF). Dawn Coppock is LEAF Legislative Director. Both have become registered lobbyists and travel frequently to Nashville. The work they do for LEAF is on a voluntary basis. Hs. Hudson is a freelance writer including books Inns of the Southern Mountains and a volume of Smithsonian Guide to Historic America. She was a contributing writer to Americana for ten years and was a co-editor of Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia. Ms. Coppock is an adoption attorney and author of Coppock on Tennessee adoption law.
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In Growing Greener Cities, a collection of essays on urban sustainability and environmental issues, scholars and practitioners alike promote activities that recognize and conserve nature's ability to sustain urban life. Over the years, the significance of green in civic life has grown. In twenty-first-century America, not only open space but also other issues of sustainability—such as potable water and carbon footprints—have become crucial elements in the quality of life in the city and surrounding environment.
Confronted by a U.S. population that is more than 70 percent urban, growing concern about global warming, rising energy prices, and unabated globalization, today's decision makers must find ways to bring urban life into balance with the Earth in order to sustain the natural, economic, and political environment of the modern city. The essays in Growing Greener Cities demonstrate how partnerships across professional organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, governments, and individuals themselves can bring green solutions to cities from London to Seattle.
As owner of Segundo Properties and through his community leadership, John Craig has demonstrated his commitment to increasing the sustainability of the urban landscape. He is responsible for the re-development of multiple downtown properties, including The Gallery Lofts, Emory Place, 29 Market Square, 9 Market Square, and the historic S&W Cafeteria. He completed both a B.A. and an M.B.A. at the University of Tennessee.
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Ben Epperson, Coordinator of Beardsley Community Farm, led a well-attended discussion about local food, based on the memoir Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an important story for all of us," says Epperson, "especially here in East Tennessee where our growing season can last up to 10 months."
In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they’d only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, It's an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: you are what you eat.
Ben Epperson studied Literary and Linguistic Theory (English) at the University of TN, Knoxville. In 2005 he moved with his partner, Elly, to the Czech Republic where he taught English. After they moved back to the States in 2007 to have their first child, a job working on Creekbed Farm sparked Mr. Epperson's interest in sustainable agriculture. When the family moved back to Knoxville and discovered Beardsley Community Farm he was electrified by the possibilies and opportunites he found there. "We'd like to see a small portion of Knoxville growing its own food again. We're here to build the buzz for sustainable urban agriculture, and it's working."
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In Coming Clean: Breaking America's Addiction to Coal and Oil, Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN), shows us how we, as motivated citizens, can kick our own fossil-fuel habit and pressure policymakers and corporations to change their energy priorities. His vivid reports remind us of the economic, environmental, moral, and public-health costs of fossil-fuel dependence, and how our government and international banks are complicit. Brune also describes the most promising developments in renewables, biofuels, and efficient design, and offers an inspiring vision of the clean energy future within our reach.
Dr. Dana Christensen, Associate Laboratory Director of the Energy and Engineering Sciences Directorate of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) led our discussion. "Michael Brune is a political activist who has been successful in bringing attention to social/environmental causes," says Dr. Christensen. "His success in gaining agreements from companies such as Home Depot and Lowe’s toward not selling old growth rain forest products is an example of how a small number of citizens can change corporate behaviors when the cause is defensible. Coming Clean is his effort to change the purchasing habits of the general citizenry; a much greater challenge than influencing a small number of companies. Indeed, the general citizenry purchase electricity, not the coal used to produce the electricity, thus making the messaging even more difficult. The book represents an attempt to simplify the message about the impact that fossil fuels are having on our environment so that the general public will stand up and listen."
Dr. Christensen is the Associate Laboratory Director of the Energy & Engineering Sciences Directorate of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Christensen came to ORNL from the University of California where he was the principal Associate Laboratory Director of Threat Reduction at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Prior to this he was the Deputy Associate Laboratory for Energy and Environment at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also operated by the University of California. He has twenty-nine years of management experience in material science, nuclear energy, fossil and renewable energy, nuclear materials management and scientific research in support of DOE and other government agencies and industries.
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In The Green Collar Economy, author Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into a healthy new green economy. Chris Woodhull, a Knoxville City Councilman who co-founded TRIBE ONE, led a community discussion of the book.
"I am interested in this book because it combines two significant community challenges with one very practical solution," says Woodhull. "We address the disenfranchisement of inner city youth to the workforce at the same time that we are building a greener city. This approach is tailor made for us here in Knoxville."
Chris Woodhull is currently serving his second term as Knoxville City Councilman at-large. He is the Executive Director of TRIBE ONE, an inner city Christian ministry that encourages at-risk youth to walk away from gangs and destructive lifestyles and lead productive lives. He co-founded TRIBE ONE with the late Danny Mayfield, who was also a Knoxville City Councilman. Mr. Woodhull is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He has completed classes in negotiation at Harvard and entrepreneurship at Yale.
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McDonough and Braungart question the wisdom of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and propose that products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new--either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).
Elizabeth Eason is the Principal Architect at Elizabeth Eason Architecture llc, the Knoxville based design studio she established in 2003. She has more than 19 years of professional experience working with a wide variety of commercial, civic, non-profit and residential clientele. Her firm specializes in sustainable design of buildings and communities throughout East Tennessee. Ms. Eason is a licensed architect and an accredited professional with the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) system. She is an active board member of Knox Heritage, Chair of the US Green Building Council East Tennessee Chapter, and serves on Mayor Haslam's Energy & Sustainability Task Force. She is a member of Leadership Knoxville's 2009 class and serves on Governor Bredesen's Energy Policy Task Force.
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In his groundbreaking book, Thomas Friedman discusses what he sees as America’s surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11, as well as the global environmental crisis, which is affecting everything from food to fuel to forests. Friedman explains why he believes this is a great challenge, but also a great opportunity--one that America cannot afford to miss. Not only is American leadership the key to the healing of the earth--it is also our best strategy for the renewal of America.
Edwards says he chose Hot, Flat and Crowded because it "hits the nail on the head. We're facing a big uphill climb, but fortunately, in East Tennessee we've got some world class resources to deal with the issues ahead of us."
Ed Francisco is a professor and writer in residence at Pellissippi State Technical Community College. In this recording, he opens a public discussion of the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson by offering an analysis of the book as "a species of romance known as the hero's quest."
Dr. Buchanan joined Knox County Health Department in 2004 as the assistant public health officer and was promoted to public health officer in 2006. In April 2010 she became director. She graduated from Carson Newman College and East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine, and she completed her residence in Family Practice at the University of North Dakota Family Practice Program.