Deeply depressing and not for casual readers, but older students will find this an informative introduction to a serious...
An experienced science writer explains the growing phenomenon of dead zones in the world's waters, describing their effects, their likely causes, and efforts to reduce their spread.
Hand focuses on the Mississippi–Atchafalaya River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, but she also touches on the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, and other areas around the world. She selects relevant information and organizes her material clearly, introducing the problem with some personal stories and including quotations from scientists throughout. In straightforward expository prose, she explains why oxygen is necessary in water and connects its disappearance to the increased cultivation of corn and the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers. She mentions other causes as well, including natural ones, oil spills, and global warming. In a chapter called “Success and Failure” she describes efforts at decreasing nutrient runoff and restoring wetlands before offering some hypotheses about why these efforts have not been as successful as people had hoped. Her language is often technical but appropriate to the subject. Photographs are well-captioned, but these explanations are made less legible by the design decision to print some of them directly on the image and the rest in a tiny red font.
Deeply depressing and not for casual readers, but older students will find this an informative introduction to a serious environmental issue. (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-7573-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
An important story clearly and engagingly told by an experienced science writer.
To the surprise of many, some wildlife flourishes in Chernobyl, Ukraine, more than 25 years after the explosion at the nuclear power plant there.
After opening with a background chapter describing the 1986 disaster, evacuation and cleanup efforts, Johnson goes on to describe scientific studies on the wildlife in the area from which humans have been excluded. The present-day Exclusion Zone is an area along the Ukraine-Belarus border about the size of South Carolina. A very few human residents have returned; occasional visitors include scientists and journalists. But other large mammals survive. The author includes a scientist’s photographs of a red fox and a moose. Observers have seen wild boar and stray dogs. A herd of Przewalski's horses, captive-bred and released into this isolated area, seems to be flourishing. The author devotes chapters to radioactive bank voles, rodents that seem to have developed some resistance, and to barn swallows that, in contrast, display obvious abnormalities. Finally, she reminds readers that in 2011 the world experienced a similar nuclear meltdown, in Fukushima, Japan. Continued research on radiation effects is crucial. Still, life carries on. This clear presentation is supplemented with captioned photographs, explanatory boxes and a helpful map. The appropriate background and clear, easy-to-understand explanations make this one-of-a-kind title both accessible and interesting.
An important story clearly and engagingly told by an experienced science writer. (author’s note, glossary, source notes, bibliography, further resources, index) (Nonfiction.12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1154-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Cogent of topic, but for readability, it’s aptly titled.
In urgent tones, a call for action as climate change and continuing waste and pollution of available fresh water pose imminent threats to human health and agriculture.
Drawing from recently published reports and news stories, Kallen paints an alarming picture. Aquifers are being sucked dry by large-scale agriculture, lake levels are falling, and water sources above- and belowground are being polluted. Though he points to a few significant counterefforts—the Clean Water Act (1972) in the United States and local initiatives elsewhere, such as “rainwater harvesting” ponds in India and Kenya—these come off as spotty responses that are often hobbled by political and corporate foot-dragging. He also points to shrinking glaciers and snow packs (plus, for added gloom, superstorms like Sandy) as harbingers of climate change that will lead to widespread future disaster. Aside from occasional incidents or examples and rare if telling photos, though, this jeremiad is largely composed of generalities and big numbers—not a formula for motivating young readers. Nor does the author offer budding eco-activists much in the way of either hope or ways to become part of the solution; for the latter, at least, Cathryn Berger Kaye’s Going Blue: A Teen’s Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands (2010) is a better choice.
Cogent of topic, but for readability, it’s aptly titled. (source notes, multimedia resource lists, index) (Nonfiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-2646-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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