New Climate Change Treaty Debated at UN Conference

Over 190 countries gathered in Poland to discuss a new treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions worldwide according to the December 1, 2008 Christian Science Monitor ("Building Trust Tops Global Climate Agenda"). Since the talks are being held while the global economic crises rages, many observers are wondering who will pay the price to reduce emissions. Also, cash-strapped nations are being forced to choose between inexpensive energy producers like coal-fired power plants that exacerbate global warming and saving the world from the impending increase and intensity of floods, droughts, and storms that are likely to occur as global temperatures rise.

Review selected library titles related to global warming at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• global warming
• global temperature changes
• climatic changes
• renewable energy sources
• human beings effect climate

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas - National Geographic, 2008
call number: 551.6 Lyn
(see also the companion DVD Nonfiction 551.642 Six)
"The author portrays a sobering, but broad and fascinating, view of the problem" - School Library Journal review excerpt

Earth, The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming by Fred Krupp And Miriam Horn - W. W. Norton & Co., 2008
call number: 621.042 Kru
"Environmental Defense Fund president Krupp and journalist Horn proffer a business-centric prescription for alleviating climate change" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

The Hot Topic: What We Can Do about Global Warming by Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King - Harcourt, 2008
call number: 363.738 Wal
"Explains in the clearest possible way why we should care about global warming and what we can do about it" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

The Plot to Save the Planet: How Visionary Entrepreneurs and Corporate Titans Are Creating Real Solutions to Global Warming by Brian Dumaine - Crown Business, 2008
call number: 658.408 Dum
"Well-reasoned discussions of how corporations are becoming part of the solution" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Brian Fagan - Macmillan, 2008
call number: 904.5 Fag
"Global warming is hardly new…Anthropologist Fagan (The Little Ice Age) focuses on the medieval warming period (ca. 800-1300)…he notes how times of intense, sustained global warming can have particularly dire consequences" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Galveston Welcomes Biological Defense Lab

The October 28, 2008 New York Times includes a story on the Galveston National Laboratory, a $174 million biohazard research facility to open next month on the University of Texas Medical Branch campus ("Bio Lab in Galveston Raises Concerns"). Environmentalists and local residents raised questions on the logic of situating a "killer diseases" laboratory on a barrier island in the potential path of hurricanes. Citing concerns that the recent Hurricane Ike was a minimal storm and not a true test of the building's ability to withstand significant storm surge, wind, and rain, the director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club worries that a larger storm "would pose an even greater threat of a biohazards release." An infectious disease expert from the National Institutes of Health defends the decision to build the lab in Galveston, where noted virologists are already in residence.

Review selected library titles related to serious communicable diseases at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• biological weapons
• bioterrorism
• communicable diseases
• emerging infectious diseases
• epidemics
• globalization health aspects

Pandemics and Global Health by Barry Youngerman - Facts on File, 2008
call number: 614.49 You

Bioterrorism edited by Jacqueline Langwith - Greenhaven Press/Gale Cengage Learning, 2008
call number: 363.325 Bio

Understanding New, Resurgent, and Resistant Diseases: How Man and Globalization Create and Spread Illness by Kurt Link - Praeger Publishers, 2007
call number: 362.196 Lin

The Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases by Carol Turkington and Bonnie Lee Ashby - Facts on File, 2007
call number: 616.903 Tur

Global Epidemics edited by Christopher Mari - H.W. Wilson Company, 2007
call number: 614.4 Glo

Economic Meltdown: Causes and Remedies

CNNMoney.com reports on October 24, 2008 that the Federal Reserve is trying to improve economic conditions by "allowing Wall Street firms to borrow directly" from them, but Congress will need to offer other proposals beyond the $700 billion bailout to help state/local governments and the auto industry among others ("Throwing the Bathroom Sink at the Economy"). Beyond the United States, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reviewing how to help the ailing economies of Hungary, Iceland, Pakistan, Belarus, and Ukraine. However, the article suggests that drastic measures may be needed to make significant changes in the economic forecast.

Review selected library titles related to how the United States and the world arrived at this economic crisis and potential solutions to the issues at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• United States economic conditions 21st century
  
• United States economic policy 21 century
  
• financial crises United States

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Phillips - Viking, 2008
call number: 330.973 Phi

The Economists' Voice: Top Economists Take on Today's Problems edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Aaron S. Edlin, and J. Bradford DeLong - Columbia University Press, 2008
call number: 330.905 Eco

What Is the Future of the U.S. Economy? edited by Susan C. Hunnicutt - Greenhaven Press, 2008
call number: 330.973 Wha

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash by Charles R. Morris - PublicAffairs, 2008
call number: 332.041 Mor

Drug Company Puts Profits Before Patient Care

Recently filed legal documents show that Pfizer delayed publication of information about the ineffectiveness of their epilepsy drug Neurontin for off-label or unapproved uses for pain, migraine headaches, and bipolar illness, allowing physicians to continue prescribing the drug and earning big profits for the company according to a New York Times article published on October 8, 2008 ("Experts Conclude Pfizer Manipulated Studies"). Deliberate misinformation about the value or safety of other drugs including Vioxx and Vytorin, manufactured by other companies is mentioned in the story, also. A pending court case will decide if Pfizer must reimburse patients and insurance companies for "fraudulently misrepresenting the drug’s benefits."

Review selected library titles related to pharmaceutical companies and their research and marketing practices that may compromise consumer health at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• pharmaceutical industry ethics
• pharmaceutical industry marketing
• pharmaceutical industry corrupt practices
• physicians ethics
• drugs marketing

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Petersen - Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008
call number: 338.476 Pet

Profits before People?: Ethical Standards and the Marketing of Prescription Drugs by Leonard J. Weber - Indiana University Press, 2006
call number: 174.961 Web

Big Bucks, Big Pharma [videorecording]: Marketing Disease & Pushing Drugs produced and written by Ridberg, Ronit - Media Education Foundation, 2006
call number: DVD Nonfiction 338.476 Big

Paid to Prescribe?: Exploring the Relationship between Doctors and the Drug Industry by United States Senate Special Committee on Aging - Government Printing Office, 2008
call number: online access at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS90432

Teen Suicide Trends Still Alarming

Serious warnings on the risk of suicide for children taking anti-depressants may be limiting use of the drugs among adolescents and thus causing rising rates of teen suicides. Researchers from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh studied this situation and published a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently that was summarized in the Wall Street Journal of September 3, 2008 ("Elevated Rate Of Teen Suicide Stirs Concern"). A host of issues that also may be factors in the teen suicide rate include "alcohol use, access to firearms, the influence of Internet social networks and suicides among (teenaged) U.S. troops" according to one of the researchers.

Review selected library titles related to teen depression and suicide at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• depression adolescence
• stress adolescence
• suicidal behavior teenagers
• mental health teenagers
• adolescent psychology

Is Your Teen Stressed or Depressed?: A Practical and Inspirational Guide for Parents of Hurting Teens by Archibald D. Hart and Catherine Hart Weber - Thomas Nelson, 2008
call number: 248.845 Har

Suicide edited by Jacqueline Langwith - Greenhaven Press/Gale Cengage Learning, 2008
call number: 362.28 Sui
NOTE: several chapters related to whether teens are at risk for suicide

The Teen Whisperer: How to Break through the Silence and Secrecy of Teenage Life by Mike Linderman with Gary Brozek - Collins, 2007
call number: 649.154 Lin (NOTE: also a downloadable book in Adobe Acrobat format)

When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens by Bev Cobain and edited by Elizabeth Verdick - Free Spirit Publishing, 2007
call number: Young Adult Nonfiction 618.928 Cob

Will's Choice: A Suicidal Teen, a Desperate Mother, and a Chronicle of Recovery by Gail Griffith - Harper, 2006
call number: Young Adult Nonfiction 362.28 Gri

Health Insurance Coverage Ranks Lowest in Texas

From 2005-07, Texas had the most citizens without health insurance coverage according to Census Bureau reports noted in an August 27, 2008 article in the The Austin American Statesman ("Census: Texas leads nation in percentage of uninsured"). Approximately 5.7 million Texans had no health insurance during that time period. Nationally, numbers for the uninsured decreased to 15.3 percent or 45.7 million in 2007, in contrast to 15.8 percent, or 47 million, in 2006. A health care legislation expert notes that this situation occurred because "the state did not take advantage of several federal programs that could have increased coverage for children and adults."

Review selected library titles related to health insurance availability and cost at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• health care reform
• health insurance
• medical care cost
• national health insurance
• medical policy

Critical: What We Can Do about the Health-Care Crisis by Tom Daschle with Scott S.Greenberger and Jeanne M. Lambrew - Thomas Dunne Books, 2008
call number: 362.109 Das

National Health Insurance in the United States and Canada: Race, Territory, and the Roots of Difference by Gerard W. Boychuk - Georgetown University Press, 2008
call number: 368.42 Boy

America's Health Care Crisis Solved: Money-Saving Solutions, Coverage for Everyone by J. Patrick Rooney and Dan Perrin - Wiley, 2008
call number: 338.433 Roo

Health Care edited by David M. Haugen - Greenhaven Press, 2008
call number: 362.104 Hea

Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis--and the People Who Pay the Price by Jonathan Cohn - HarperCollins Publishers, 2007
call number: 362.109 Coh

Sicko [videorecording] produced by Meghan O'Hara and written, produced and directed by Michael Moore - Weinstein Company, 2007
call number: DVD nonfiction 362.109 Sic

DNA Evidence Not Saved in 25 States

The ability to clear wrongly-convicted individuals is made more difficult because 25 states are not required to keep DNA evidence according to an August 5, 2008 story in USA Today ("DNA not kept in half of states"). The possibility of solving crimes committed years ago is hampered by lack of DNA samples as well. Disagreement about guidelines and length of time for saving DNA material and the requirements and cost for storage seem to be the biggest problems surrounding this issue.

Review selected library titles related to DNA evidence available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• DNA fingerprinting
• DNA data banks
• judicial error
• false imprisonment
• forensic sciences

DNA Databases edited by Lauri R. Harding - Greenhaven Press, 2007
call number: 363.256 Dna

Crime Scene: Inside the World of the Real CSIs by Connie Fletcher - St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2007
call number: 363.259 Fle

The Forensic Laboratory Handbook: Procedures and Practice edited by Ashraf Mozayani and Carla Noziglia - Humana Press, 2006
call number: available from NetLibrary book database online with student/staff ID or library card if off campus (NOTE: click on link above and enter library card number if requested)
NOTE: "easy-to-read introduction to the work of the modern forensic laboratory"

Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz - Seven Locks Press, 2006
call number: 347.731 Fri

After Innocence [videorecording] produced by Jessica Sanders, Marc H. Simon - New Yorker Video, 2007
call number: DVD nonfiction 614.1 Aft

Case Settled in UT Student's Binge Drinking Death

The July 15, 2008 Houston Chronicle covers the $4.2 million settlement in the case against Lambda Phi Epsilon national and Austin chapters and specific fraternity members in the hazing/binge drinking death of a former UT student ("Houston family settles suit in son's binge-drinking death"). Jack Phoummarath, 18, died of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation party. His autopsy blood alcohol level was over five times the legal limit for adults.

Review selected library titles related to hazing and binge drinking available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• college students alcohol
• binge drinking
• ethanol poisoning
• alcoholic intoxication
• hazing

From Binge to Blackout: A Mother and Son Struggle with Teen Drinking by Chris Volkmann and Toren Volkmann - New American Library, 2006
call number: 616.861 Vol

Talking with College Students about Alcohol: Motivational Strategies for Reducing Abuse by Scott T. Walters, John S. Baer - Guilford Press, 2006
call number: 362.292 Wal

Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses by Henry Wechsler and Bernice Wuethrich - Rodale: Distributed to the book trade by St. Martin's Press, 2002
call number: 362.292 Wec

Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing, and Binge Drinking by Hank Nuwer - Indiana University Press, 2001, 1999
call number: 378.198 Nuw

Women and Alcohol [videorecording] produced by ABC News - Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2006
call number: DVD Nonfiction 362.292 Wom

International Response to Darfur Genocide

The Online NewsHour from PBS reported on July 14 that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague charged the Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with "genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur" (Sudanese President Charged with Genocide in Darfur). In an effort to eliminate native African tribes opposing his government, al-Bashir is accused of leading the movement to exterminate over 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million from their homes. The announcement by the ICC is seen as an independent effort to quell the violence and bring world support to find solutions to the Sudanese conflict.

Review selected library titles related to the genocide in Sudan available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• history Darfur
• genocide Sudan
• ethnic conflict Sudan
• atrocities Sudan
• politics Darfur
• humanitarian assistance Sudan

The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari, as told to Dennis Michael Burke and Megan M. Mckenna - Random House, 2008
call number: B Hari

Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide by Gérard Prunier - Cornell University Press, 2007
call number: 962.704 Pru

The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle - Blackstone Audio, Inc., 2007
format: OverDrive eAudio Book available for download at http://hcpl.lib.overdrive.com/. (See also the title DVD at end of list.)

Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival by Jen Marlowe with Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro - Nation Books: Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2006
call number: 962.704 Mar

Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle & John Prendergast - Hyperion, 2007
call number: 962.704 Che

The Devil Came on Horseback [videorecording] produced by Docurama: distributed by New Video Group, 2007
call number: DVD nonfiction 962.704 Dev (See also the book title near top of list.)

Supreme Court Takes Stand for Gun Owners

Gun owners hailed the Supreme Court's latest decision to overturn a Washington, D.C. prohibition on handguns as reported in a June 26, 2008 Dallas Morning News story ("Supreme Court strikes down D.C. handgun ban"). This latest decision about an individual's right to carry guns has some limitations that are noted in the article. Still this broader interpretation of the Constitution's Second Amendment is historic for gun rights advocates.

Review selected library titles related to the firearms laws and the Second Amendment available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• 2nd Amendment
• firearms laws
• United States militia
• gun control

Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can't End the Battle over Guns by Mark V. Tushnet - Oxford University Press, 2007
call number: 344.73 Tus

A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America by Saul Cornell - Oxford University Press, 2006
call number: 344.73 Cor

The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms edited by Carl T. Bogus - New Press, 2001
call number 344.73 Sec

The Right to Bear Arms: Rights and Liberties under the Law by Robert J. Spitzer - ABC-CLIO, 2001
call number: 344.73 Spi

Bush Calls for Halt to Iran's Nuclear Development

Although Iran states that its uranium enrichment program is for "purely civil purposes," President Bush warns that further sanctions are forthcoming if Iran fails to stop its development of nuclear weapons according to a Guardian (UK) article ("Bush Warns Iran Again over Nuclear Plans" posted June 11, 2008).

Review selected library titles related to nuclear weapons development and Iran available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
• foreign relations Iran
• military policy Iran
• nuclear weapons Iran
• politics Iran
  

America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers by Chuck Hagel with Peter Kaminsky - Ecco, 2008
(NOTE: Chapter 5 - Ayatollahs, Blue Jeans, and Nukes: The Question of Iran)
call number: 973.93 Hag
The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis by Alireza Jafarzadeh - Palgrave, 2007
call number: 355.021 Jaf

Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Trita Parsi. - Yale University Press, 2007
call number: 327.569 Par

The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran by Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar - Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007
call number: 955.054 Mel

Iran [videorecording]: The Next Iraq? produced by A&E Television Networks
call number: DVD nonfiction 955.054 Ira

Salmonella Outbreak - Why Is Food Contaminated?

Salmonella contamination hit an estimated 145-150 people in 16 states including Texas and the culprit appears to be uncooked tomatoes according to a June 8, 2008 USA Today story. Other news this year related to listeria, E. Coli, and mercury caused widespread alarm about the safety of the food supply. Food irradiation or submitting food to "high-energy gamma or electron beams to disrupt the DNA of pathogens" is seen as a way to increase the safety of the food supply, but concerns still exist about potential drawbacks to the practice. Take a look at some library titles related to food safety available now at LSC-CyFair Branch Library.

Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3218 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words to find more in the library catalog:

• food safety
• food law
• food poisoning
• food contamination
• food-borne diseases
• food adulteration
• food irradiation

Salmonella by Danielle A. Brands - Chelsea House Publishers, 2006
call number: 615.952 Bra

Food Safety by Victoria Sherrow - Chelsea House, 2008
call number: 363.192 She

Threats to Food Safety by Fred C. Pampel - Facts On File, 2006
call number: 363.192 Pam

Death in the Pot: The Impact of Food Poisoning on History by Morton Satin - Prometheus Books, 2007
call number: 614.5 Sat

Food edited by Jan Grover - Greenhaven Press, 2008
(NOTE: Several chapters in the book cover food safety or irradiation.)
call number: 363.862 Foo