Reference Sources for
 The Green American Tradition
FTS-100-286  Professor Donald Scheese, dscheese@gac.edu
Librarian:  Edi Thorstensson  ext. 7554, bubbles@gac.edu

Reference Books / Databases Available from the Library's Home Page/ Web Resources

American Nature Writers. New York: Scribners, 1996. A two-volume set that offers lengthy biocritical sketches on writers from Edward Abbey to Ann Zwinger. The second volume also contains essays on topics such as African American nature writing, nature poetry, and the literature of mountaineering. Lengthy selective bibliographies are included.
Ref  PS163 .A6 1996

Becher, Anne.  American Environmental Leaders from Colonial Times to the Present.  Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-Clio, 2000.  A two-volume set covering 300 years of environmental leadership in the diversified movements that have come together and shaped what today is called environmentalism.  Arranged in alphabetical order, each entry includes bibliographical references.  Illustrated.  Ref GE55 .B43 2000

Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Westport, CT:  Greenwood, 1997. Offers biographical information about some 445 naturalists who lived between the 15th and the late 20th centuries. Entries provide professional and biographical information, an evaluation of theindividual's contribution, and a bibliography.
Ref QH26 .B535 1997

Great events from history II. Ecology and the environment series.  Pasadena, CA : Salem Press, c1995.  A five-volume set that addresses major twentieth century environmental issues by examining key historical incidents and developments in the environmental science and related fields in chronological order.  Volume five contains indexes a chronological list of events, alphabetical list of events, subject/key word index, category index, geographical index, and index of principal personages.
Ref GE150 .G72 1995

Mongillo, John, and Zierdt-Warshaw, Linda.  Encyclopedia of Environmental Science.  Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 2000.
One of several topical encyclopedias in the library's reference collection, this volume offers special features, such as many articles with definitions for terms used within the article, clarification of terms that may have another meaning within another area of science, and appendices that include Timeline, Bibliography, Web Sites Sorted by Subject, Endangered Species by State, and Environmental Organizations.  Ref GE10 .M66 2000

Newton, David E. Environmental Justice: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 1996.  Includes in summary form a profile of the issues and the history and future of the field, a chronology, biographical sketches, excerpts from documents and court cases, a directory of organizations, and lists of resources. Ref JC578 .N485 1996

Patton-Hylce, Vicki R. Environment and the Law. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 1995. Offers short definitions and overviews of major legal issues relating to the environment in the US written in nonspecialist language, with an overview essay reviewing how the legal system addresses environmental concerns and tables of cases, statutes, and regulations.
Ref KF3775 .A68 P38 1995

Vital Signs: The Environmental Trends that are Shaping Our Future. New York: Norton, 1992--. A compilation of statistics and analysis of major trends in food production, energy, atmosphere, the economy, the military, and social factors such as population growth, epidemics, and refugees. Produced under the auspices of the Worldwatch Institute.
Ref HC10 .V53

Wiley Encyclopedia of Energy and the Environment. New York: Wiley, 1997. Treats the environmental aspects of energy production and use in lengthy, technical articles that include useful bibliographies. Topics include thermal pollution, recycling, nuclear energy, and global environmental change. Ref TJ163.235 .W55 1997

World Resources: A Report by the World Resources Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development. New York: Basic, 1986--. An annual report on global environmental issues, including land use, water resources, population, and pollution, with many comparative statistical tables and maps.  Annual volumes profile particular issues, such as the urban environment (the 1996-97 theme). Ref HC10 .W827

Merideth, Robert W. The Environmentalist's Bookshelf: A Guide to the Best Books. New York: G. K. Hall,
1993. A good place to turn if you want to find classic and high-quality reading material in the area of
environmental studies. Includes a list of the most influential books on the environment.  Ref GF41 .M47 1993
Also useful:  Netzley, Patricia D.  Environmental Literature:  an Encyclopedia of Wroks, Authors, and Themes .
Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1999.  Ref GE35 .E58 1999
 
 

Databases Available from the Library's Home Page
The Library's home page offers the easiest and most comprehensive approach to basic data base research.  Because this seminar offers a wide range of possibilities for exploring a topic that interests you, the data bases listed below are merely suggested as starting points, depending on the topic you choose.   All are linked to the home page, as indicated.

Expanded Academic ASAP.   ("Search for Periodical Articles from Databases Available from Webpals", enter via Infotrac)  Searches both general magazines and scholarly journals on a variety of topics.  Suggestion: try searching "global warming."

Lexis/Nexis Universe.  ("Search for Periodical Articles from Other Online Databases"), this collection of databases offers access to well over a billion references, most of which are in full text, and provides national, international and some local press coverage, legal and government information, statistics, business information, medical citations, and offers several reference options as well.  Suggestions:  try "nature AND marketing" in Business News.  In News, go to U.S. News and try "animal rights" and narrow your search to "minnesota".  Try the same search in Legal Research by going to the section named Legal News

AHSearch. ("Search for Periodical Articles from Other Online Databases")  Indexes 1300 of the world leading journals in arts and humanities, plus related social science and science information from 1980 to the present.  Suggestion:  try searching "organic architecture."

America: History and Life.  ("Search for Periodical Articles from Other Databases")  America History & Life covers publications of all sorts on US and Canadian history and culture.  It is particularly useful for in-depth coverage of specialist publications in North American history and interdisciplinary approaches to American culture. Suggestion:  try searching "environmental racism."

Ethnic News Watch.  ("Search for Periodical Articles from Other Databases")  Includes full text of many ethnic publications from North America, including ones from African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Jewish, European, Middle Eastern, and Native American communities. Suggestion:  try searching "hunting" as a subject and "Native People" as the ethnic group.

MLA.  ("Search for Periodical Articles from Other Databases")  MLA: International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures. This most important ongoing bibliography for literature and linguistics is available for the years 1981 to the present in an electronically searchable format. Scroll past Current Contents to select the MLA database.  Suggestion:  try searching for "Wallace Stegner".
See the print version at Reference Z7006.M643.

Under Resources and Services, you will find valuable links to webpages for courses, including this one,  resources arranged by subjects and disciplines, and net resources--search engines, resources by academic department, and other net resources, such as news sites.
 

Web Resources

Environmental News Network. Internet: http://www.enn.com/ A commercial site that gathers news wire
information, web sites, articles, and other materials focused on the environment. Includes some special reports
and the opportunity to subscribe to an e-mail news service.

EnviroWeb. Internet: http://envirolink.org A virtual environmental library, covering projects conducted by the
EnviroLink Network, programs on environmental education, and a large library of resources.

Progressive Directory. Internet: http://www.igc.org/igc A collection of activist groups under the umbrella of the
Institute for Global Communications, includes gateways to EcoNet, PeaceNet, ConflictNet, LaborNet, and
WomensNet. In existence for many years, these networks now have an easy to use and colorful interface.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Home Page. Internet: http://www.epa.gov The World Wide Web site
for the federal agency concerned with environmental issues. Includes databases on air pollution, environmental
monitoring, the Great Lakes, etc.

Virtual Library of Ecology and Biodiversity. Internet: http://conbio.net/vl/ A selective directory of web
resources chosen for their educational value based at Rice University. This site covers endangered species, pollution, global sustainability, legislation, and treaties.
 

Browsing for books:
The following list includes some of the areas where you might find it useful to browse for books.

G Geography
     575 Polar regions
     905-910 Tropics
GB 651-2998 Hydrology
GC Oceanography
GE Environmental education
GF Human ecology

Q Science
QH Biology
     75-77 Nature conservation
     540-549 Ecology
QK Botany
QL Zoology

S Agriculture
SB Plant culture
SD Forestry
SF Animal culture

TD Environmental technology
     172-195 Pollution
     201-500 Water supply
     511-780 Sewage
     785-812 Solid wastes
     877.5-893 Special types of pollution (soil, air, noise)
     895-899 Industrial sanitation and wastes
 

Last updated 11/4/01