Island Press began with a simple idea: knowledge is power—the power to imagine a better future and find ways for getting us there. Founded in 1984, Island Press’ mission is to provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems.
We elevate voices of change, shine a spotlight on crucial issues, and focus attention on sustainable solutions.
Our network of authors includes E.O. Wilson, Paul Ehrlich, Sylvia Earle, Gretchen Daily, Jan Gehl, Daniel Pauly, and many others. By working closely with experts like these, Island Press has developed a comprehensive and growing body of knowledge—vital resources for all those working to protect the environment and create healthy communities.
Many coastal tidal marshes have been significantly degraded by roadways and other projects that restrict tidal flows, limiting their ability to provide vital ecosystem services including support of fish and wildlife populations, flood protection, water quality maintenance, and open space.
Building Capacity to Absorb Disturbance and Maintain Function
In 2006, Resilience Thinking addressed an essential question: As the natural systems that sustain us are subjected to shock after shock, how much can they take and still deliver the services we need from them? This idea caught the attention of both the scientific community and the general public. In Resilience ......
Building Well-being and Wealth in an Era of Climate Change
In a very short time America has realized that global warming poses real challenges to the nation's future. The Agile City engages the fundamental question: what to do about it?
Journalist and urban analyst James S. Russell argues that we'll more quickly slow global warming-and blunt its effects-by retrofitting cities, ......
Anyone who has ever stood on the shores of Monterey Bay, watching the rolling ocean waves and frolicking otters, knows it is a unique place. But even residents on this idyllic California coast may not realize its full history. Monterey began as a natural paradise, but became the poster child for industrial devastation in John Steinbeck's ......
When we think of green building, we tend to picture new construction. But Robert A. Young argues that the greenest building is often the one that has already been built. In Stewardship of the Built Environment, he shows how rehabilitating and reusing existing structures holds untapped potential for achieving sustainable ......
Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World
The need to understand and address large-scale environmental problems that are difficult to study in controlled environments'issues ranging from climate change to overfishing to invasive species'is driving the field of ecology in new and important directions. Observation and Ecology documents that transformation, exploring how scientists ......
Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World
The need to understand and address large-scale environmental problems that are difficult to study in controlled environments'issues ranging from climate change to overfishing to invasive species'is driving the field of ecology in new and important directions. Observation and Ecology documents that transformation, exploring how scientists ......
Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they're made.
Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they're made.
