Burlington Public Library

Ice in the Arctic is disappearing-and opportunity is calling. As climate change transforms the top of the world, warmer conditions are exposing a treasure trove of energy resources previously trapped in ice. The Arctic's oil, natural gas, minerals, and even wind and hydroelectric power are becoming more accessible than ever before. With untold riches hanging in the balance, the race is on to control the Arctic and its energy potential. Oil companies...

"We are only just beginning to reckon with our post-pandemic future. As political extremism intensifies, the great resignation affects businesses everywhere, and supply chain issues crush bottom lines, we're faced with daunting questions--is our democracy under threat? How will Big Tech change our lives? What does job security look like for me? America is on the brink of massive change--change that will disrupt the workings of our economy and drastically...

The 2021 CEDS update builds upon state and local initiatives by: summarizing the economic conditions of each county in Region 9 and putting local economic development interests in a regional and international context. Identigying viable economic development projects and initiatives. facilitating eligibility for federal and state economic development funding. Developing goals and strategies for implementing economic development projects and initiatives,...

"Brian Buffini, an Irish immigrant who went from rags to riches, shares his strategies for anyone who wants to achieve the American dream. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Brian Buffini immigrated to San Diego, California at the age of nineteen with only ninety-two dollars in his pocket. Since then, he has become a classic American rags-to-riches story. After discovering real estate, he quickly became one of the nation's top real estate moguls...

"Elmira Bayrasli's worldview was turned upside down when a woman in Bosnia told her, "thanks for the help. But we need work and jobs, not foreign aid." That prompted Bayrasli to embark on a worldwide quest to find how talented people have overcome insurmountable obstacles to build high-growth businesses that are driving wealth and building communities, regions and countries. Through seven remarkable stories, Elmira Bayrasli shows why the next Steve...

"Catherine Flowers grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, a place that's been called "Bloody Lowndes" because of its violent, racist history. Once the epicenter of the voting rights struggle, today it's Ground Zero for a new movement that is Flowers's life's work. It's a fight to ensure human dignity through a right most Americans take for granted: basic sanitation. Too many people, especially the rural poor, lack an affordable means of disposing cleanly...

"John Nichols was raised among naturalists and nurtured by a family as American as the Stars and Stripes. His great (times five) grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence for New York State. Nichols sailed happily through a top-notch private school education and sold his first novel, The Sterile Cuckoo, a best-seller, at age twenty-three. He considered himself "a child blessed by the culture and fated for delirious success." But then a short...

A revolution is underway among the Indigenous nations of North America. It is a quiet revolution, largely unnoticed in society at large. But it is profoundly important. From the High Plains states and Prairie Provinces to the southwestern deserts, from Mississippi and Oklahoma to the northwest coast of the continent, Native peoples are reclaiming their right to govern themselves and to shape their future in their own ways. Challenging more than a...