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Green planet : how plants keep the Earth alive
by Stanley A. Rice
New Book Shelf QK901 .R53 2009

This new title summarizes the role plants play in Earth's ecosystems. Plants are not just a pretty part of the landscape; they keep the entire planet, with all of its human and nonhuman inhabitants, alive. Stanley Rice documents the many ways in which plants do this by making oxygen, regulating the greenhouse effect, controlling floods, and producing all the food in the world.

Each chapter describes a different role: adding oxygen to the atmosphere, keeping Earth from overheating, providing shade, participating in the water cycle, creating soil, and creating habitats, to name a few. Beginning with an overview of how human civilization has altered the face of the Earth, particularly by the destruction of forests, the book details the startling consequences of these actions. Through current scientific evidence, readers see that plants are vital to the ecological health of our planet and understand what can be done to lead to a better and greener future.

Check out Green planet : how plants keep the Earth alive , available now in the library on the New Book Shelf QK901 .R53 2009.