Library Catalog
On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries
Chesapeake Requiem by
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a two-hundred-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, NPR, Outside, Smithsonian, Bloomberg, Science Friday, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Review of Books, and Kirkus "BEAUTIFUL, HAUNTING AND TRUE." -- Hampton Sides * "GORGEOUS. A TRULY REMARKABLE BOOK." -- Beth Macy * "GRIPPING. FANTASTIC." -- Outside * "CAPTIVATING." -- Washington Post * "POWERFUL." -- Bill McKibben * "VIVID. HARROWING AND MOVING." -- Science * "A MASTERFUL NARRATIVE." -- Christian Science Monitor * "THE BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR." -- Stephen L. Carter/Bloomberg Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nation's largest estuary, and a twelve-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water--the same water that for generations has made Tangier's fleet of small fishing boats a chief source for the rightly prized Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and has lent the island its claim to fame as the softshell crab capital of the world. Yet for all of its long history, and despite its tenacity, Tangier is disappearing. The very water that has long sustained it is erasing the island day by day, wave by wave. It has lost two-thirds of its land since 1850, and still its shoreline retreats by fifteen feet a year--meaning this storied place will likely succumb first among U.S. towns to the effects of climate change. Experts reckon that, barring heroic intervention by the federal government, islanders could be forced to abandon their home within twenty-five years. Meanwhile, the graves of their forebears are being sprung open by encroaching tides, and the conservative and deeply religious Tangiermen ponder the end times. Chesapeake Requiem is an intimate look at the island's past, present and tenuous future, by an acclaimed journalist who spent much of the past two years living among Tangier's people, crabbing and oystering with its watermen, and observing its long traditions and odd ways. What emerges is the poignant tale of a world that has, quite nearly, gone by--and a leading-edge report on the coming fate of countless coastal communities.
Call Number: SH400.5.C7 S95 2018
The Chesapeake in Focus by
The people, policies, and forces transforming a national treasure--the Chesapeake Bay. When Captain John Smith arrived in Virginia in 1607, he discovered a paradise in the Chesapeake Bay. In the centuries that followed, the Bay changed vastly--and not for the better. European landowners and enslaved Africans slashed, burned, and cleared the surrounding forests to grow tobacco. Watermen overfished oysters, shad, and sturgeon, decimating these crucial species. Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond used its rivers as urban sewers. By the 1960s, the Chesapeake was dying. A crossroads of life and culture, the Chesapeake straddles the North and the South, mixes salt water with fresh, and is home to about 18 million people and 3,600 species of animals and plants. Although recent cleanup efforts have improved its overall health, they have not been enough to save this national treasure. In The Chesapeake in Focus, award-winning writer Tom Pelton examines which environmental policies have worked and which have failed. Based on Pelton's extensive experience as a journalist and as the host of the public radio program The Environment in Focus, this sweeping book takes readers on a tour of the histories of the Chesapeake, as well as the ecological challenges faced by its major tributaries. It details the management of blue crabs, striped bass, and other delicious wildlife, profiles leaders and little-known characters involved in the restoration campaign, and warns of the dangers of anti-regulatory politics that threaten to reverse what has been accomplished. Looking to the future, Pelton offers a provocative vision of the hard steps that must be taken if we truly want to save the Bay.
Call Number: GE155.C48 P45 2018
Death of the Chesapeake by
In essence this book deals with an area that contributes significantly to the pollution and degradation of Chesapeake Bay, but has been completely overlooked in many of the efforts to restore the Bay, specifically, the federal military pollution sources. The book also recognizes for the first time, that efforts to restore the Bay have failed because of violation of a fundamental precept of environmental cleanup; that is, to sample the site and see what is there. The Bay itself has never been sampled. Thus this book presents a view of the environmental condition of Chesapeake Bay that is totally unique. It covers a part of the history of the Bay that is not widely known, including how the Bay was formed. It presents a mixture of science, military history, and novel solutions to the Bay's degradation. In so doing, the author examines the military use of the Bay and reveals the extent of munitions dumpsites containing nitrogen and phosphorus as well as chemical warfare material, and how this is effecting the environment. The book concludes with the author's own clean-up plan that, if implemented, would go a long way to restoring health to Bay. The book is supplemented with many photographs and maps.
Call Number: TD195.A75 A43 2013
Fight for the Bay by
Hailed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as 'a must read for anyone concerned about environmental protection,' this challenging book provides a wake-up call for those concerned about the future of the Chesapeake Bay and other endangered waterways around the globe. While blunt in his evaluation of past and present failures to restore the Bay, Ernst believes that there is still time to turn around the restoration effort and sets out new dark green strategies to do so.
Call Number: TD225.C43 E76 2010
Streaming Video
- Chesapeake Cleanup Affects NationsPBS NewsHour correspondent Elana Michelle reports on pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, how it affects the watershed, and the roles of government and citizens in this environmental crisis. Original broadcast date: April 29, 2013
Online News
- Chesapeake Bay report cites environmental justice disparities
AP, June 6, 2023 - Will the Chesapeake Bay Become a Dead Zone?
Scientific American, May 3, 2023 - The heat is on: Warming water threatens aquatic life in Chesapeake Bay region
Bay Journal, January 17, 2023 - Proposal for Chesapeake Bay passenger ferry moves forward
WMAR, January 16, 2023 - Chesapeake Bay still in poor health, blue crabs suffering, says State of the Bay report
Virginia Mercury, January 5, 2023 - Healthier Oysters, Healthier Chesapeake Bay
Food Tank, January, 2023
Websites
- Chesapeake Bay Activities
from U.S. Geological Survey - The Story of Chesapeake Bay
From Maryland Department of the Environment
Databases
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles about ecology, energy, natural resources, science, technology, law, public policy, and social impacts.
- Science Direct This link opens in a new window
Articles from journals on science, technology and medicine for advanced research.
