Oil and Chemical Spills by Peter Owens is a book targeted to teen readers that takes a close look at major oil and chemical spills over the last forty years and explores the dangers that threaten the future of the world's environment.
Built around scores of examples and dramatic events, the book looks at spills caused by industrial calamities, transportation accidents, massive storms, storage blunders, acts of war, and terrorism events.
Owens explains the science of spills, new technologies for prevention, failures of laws and institutions, important success stories, and the evolving growth in medical and environmental knowledge that reveal both our increased vulnerability and hope for a safer future.
This is a fast-moving, energetic plunge into a crucial topic written in clear and balanced prose.
From the Man-Made Disaster series published by Lucent Books.
Teens: Health and Obesity by Peter Owens is a book for teens about the medical, social, cultural, and psychological impacts of diet, overweight, obesity, eating disorders, and exercise. Based upon a thorough review of recent science and in partnership with the Gallup Youth Survey, the book explores the dangers and challanges facing young people today resulting from major shifts in modern life including:
The huge impact of computers, electronic games, e-mail, instant messaging, TV, and media on activity levels in teen life.
The rapid rise in teen obesity and serious associated medical problems such as Type II Diabetes.
The major increase in teen consumption of fast food, soda, and processed meals related to changes in family life, school food, and eating preferences.
New trends in body image affecting eating behavior, yo-yo dieting, eating disorders, and metabolic change that fosters weight gain.
The book provides a readable but through analysis of how the body and brain process food through a variety of complex pathways. It explores how culture and ethnicity affect eating behaviors.
It includes a scientific explanation of how and why activity and exercise alter the body and brain, fostering good health.
From the Mason Crest Publishers' Gallup Youth Survey Major Issues and Trends series.