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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean are hotspots for contemporary
endeavours to oversee 'the last frontier' of the Earth. The
Handbook on the Politics of Antarctica offers a wide-ranging and
comprehensive overview of the governance, geopolitics,
international law, cultural studies and history of the region.
Written by leading experts, the Handbook brings together the very
best interdisciplinary social science and humanities scholarship on
the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, offering a definitive statement
on why the world's only uninhabited continent attracts global
attention in terms of science, politics and natural resources - and
what can be done to manage it. Four sections take readers from the
earliest human encounters to contemporary resource exploitation and
climate change through thematic and critical analyses: the
exploration, exploitation and mapping of Antarctica; its emergence
as an object of global interest; human behaviour and environmental
change in response to managerial interventions; and a contemplation
of possible futures for Antarctica. All topics are covered in
accessible yet authoritative contributions. Specialist readers in
polar regions, public international law, geography, geopolitics and
international relations will appreciate this uniquely comprehensive
and up-to-date examination of politics in and around Antarctica, as
will scholars with interest in areas beyond national jurisdiction,
peace/co-operation studies and the interface between public policy
and science. Contributors include: A.E. Abdenur, D.G. Ainley, A.
Antonello, D. Avango, P.J. Beck, M. Benwell, L.E. Bloom, A.-M.
Brady, C. Braun, N. Brazell, C. Brooks, I. Cardone, S.L. Chown, C.
Collis, R. Davis, K. Dodds, A. Elzinga, F. Francioni, M. Haward,
A.D. Hemmings, F. Hertel, A. Howkins, J. Jabour, S. Kaye, R.D.
Launius, E. Leane, D. Liggett, H. Nielsen, E. Nyman, O. Olsson, H.
OEsterblom, H.-U. Peter, P. Roberts, R. Roura, J.F. Salazar, D.
Sampaio, S.V. Scott, T. Stephens, E. Stewart, L.-M. van der Watt,
N. Vanstappen, P. Vigni, R. Wolfrum, J. Wouters, O. Young
'There are few scholarly books about climate change that take the
issue of the distribution of its costs, and of the costs and
benefits of its mitigation, as seriously as their absolute value.
This is probably the best of those books that I have come across.
Rigorously rooted in Gough's earlier work on theories of human
need, the book is relentless in its pursuit of equity in respect of
climate change and responses to it. Not everyone will agree with
all its conclusions - for example that ''green capitalism merits
the term contradiction'' - but they are unfailingly
thought-provoking, as all good scholarship should be. Highly
recommended.' - Paul Ekins, UCL Institute for Sustainable
Resources, UK 'Gough applies his trademark scholarship on universal
human needs to the urgent question of social policy for the
transition to a de-carbonised world. Based on a clear-eyed analysis
of a wide swathe of the social science literature, and an
eco-social political economy perspective, his approach is both
pragmatic and deeply rooted in ethics and social justice. Highly
recommended and suitable for teaching at all levels.' - Juliet B.
Schor, Boston College This exceptional book considers how far
catastrophic global warming can be averted in an economic system
that is greedy for growth, without worsening deprivation and
inequality. The satisfaction of human needs - as opposed to wants -
is the only viable measure for negotiating trade-offs between
climate change, capitalism and human wellbeing, now and in the
future. The author critically examines the political economy of
capitalism and offers a long-term, interdisciplinary analysis of
the prospects for keeping the rise in global temperatures below two
degrees, while also improving equity and social justice. A
three-stage transition is proposed with useful practical policies.
First, 'green growth': cut carbon emissions from production across
the world. Second, 'recompose' patterns of consumption in the rich
world, cutting high-energy luxuries in favour of low-energy routes
to meeting basic needs. Third, because the first two are perilously
insufficient, move towards an economy that flourishes without
growth. Heat, Greed and Human Need is vital for researchers and
students of the environment, public and social policy, economics,
political theory and development studies. For those advocating
political, social and environmental reform this book presents
excellent practical eco-social policies to achieve both sustainable
consumption and social justice.
A Change in Worlds explores the environmental, economic, and
political history of the Sino-Tibetan Songpan region of northern
Sichuan from the late imperial Qing Dynasty to the early 21st
century. A historically Tibetan region on the eastern edge of the
Tibetan Plateau, with significant Han and Muslim Chinese
populations, Songpan played important roles in the development of
western and modern China s ethnic relations policies, forestry
sector, grasslands and environmental conservation, and recent
developments in eco- and ethnic tourism as part of various Chinese
states. However, in spite of close associations with various
Tibetan and Chinese regimes, the region also has a rich history of
local independence and resilient nomadic, semi-nomadic and
agricultural populations and identities. The Sino-Tibetan diversity
in Songpan, partly formed by unique ecological conditions,
conditioned all attempts to incorporate the region into larger and
more centralized state homogenizing structures. This historical
study analyzes the social force of markets and nature in the
Songpan region in concert with the political and social conflicts
and compromise at the heart of changing political regimes and the
area s ethnic groups. It presents new perspectives on the social
transformation and economies of Tibetans and Han Chinese from the
late Qing Dynasty to Mao era and contemporary western China. It not
only allows for a new understanding of how the natural environment
and landscapes fit into the imagination of the Sino-Tibetan
borderlands, it also figures in the challenges of negotiating
ethnic and market relations among societies. The mix of complicated
relations over natural environment, resources, politics and markets
was at the heart of the region s social and political
infrastructures, with far-reaching implications for both historical
and contemporary China."
In this innovative book, Clement Tisdell adopts a holistic
approach, combining economic, social, biophysical and historical
considerations to analyse the economic origins of major
contemporary environmental problems, especially those associated
with climate change. The ability of humankind to respond
effectively to these problems is assessed in a unique and lucid
fashion. The depth and nature of social embedding is identified as
the major (but not the only) barrier to dealing with human-induced
environmental change. In a thought-provoking manner, the book
provides discussions of: the relationships between the nature of
economic development, social and environmental change; the limited
policy guidance provided by debates about the desirability of
sustainable development; the shortcomings of economic criteria for
valuing environmental and social change; and social embedding as
the prime impediment to humanity responding adequately to many of
its current environmental problems. Given its interdisciplinary
nature, this book will appeal to economists, sociologists,
geographers, social historians and political scientists alike.
Natural scientists who are interested in socio-economic aspects of
environmental change will also find this a captivating read.
Biodiversity has been a key concept in international conservation
since the 1980s, yet historians have paid little attention to its
origins. Uncovering its roots in tropical fieldwork and the
southward expansion of U.S. empire at the turn of the twentieth
century, Megan Raby details how ecologists took advantage of
growing U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean by establishing
permanent field stations for long-term, basic tropical research.
From these outposts of U.S. science, a growing community of
American ""tropical biologists"" developed both the key scientific
concepts and the values embedded in the modern discourse of
biodiversity. Considering U.S. biological fieldwork from the era of
the Spanish-American War through the anticolonial movements of the
1960s and 1970s, this study combines the history of science,
environmental history, and the history of U.S.-Caribbean and Latin
American relations. In doing so, Raby sheds new light on the
origins of contemporary scientific and environmentalist thought and
brings to the forefront a surprisingly neglected history of
twentieth-century U.S. science and empire.
Biological invasions - the introduction of living organisms beyond
their original range - are one of the main drivers of biodiversity
loss. They are a major threat to human health and a source of pests
and pathogens in the world's farms, forests and fisheries. The
growth of international trade and travel means that more species
are being introduced to more places than ever before. This book
represents the first concerted effort to understand the economic
causes and consequences of biological invasions. The volume
discusses the theoretical and methodological issues raised by
invasion, including control strategies, modelling options, and a
study of the economic, institutional and policy conditions that
predispose countries to biological invasions. Also included are
case studies of fisheries, agricultural systems, tropical forests
and protected areas affected by invasive species in locations such
as the Black Sea, Australia and Africa, and an evaluation of
control programmes. The Economics of Biological Invasions provides
an important first step towards codification of the advice needed
to develop decision rules, tools and protocols for the effective
management of invasive biological species. This volume will be a
fascinating read for researchers, academics and students in
ecology, economics and environmental science with an interest in
the biodiversity problem. The book will also prove to be essential
reading for policymakers responsible for health, agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and the environment in both developed and
developing countries.
Sustainability has become an unavoidable topic in modern society.
In order for sustainable development to be fully achieved, it must
be integrated into the planning and measurement systems of business
enterprises. Green Initiatives for Business Sustainability and
Value Creation is an essential reference source including the most
recent scholarly research on the development and application of
green business models for contemporary organizations, with a focus
on possible contexts and constructs of closed loop supply chain
management. Featuring extensive coverage on topics such as
consumption behavior, political economy, and structural modeling,
this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and
professionals seeking current research on the importance of
strategic green business practices.
The term "urban ecology" has become a buzzword in various
disciplines, including the social and natural sciences as well as
urban planning and architecture. The environmental humanities have
been slow to adapt to current theoretical debates, often excluding
human-built environments from their respective frameworks. This
book closes this gap both in theory and in practice, bringing
together "urban ecology" with ecocritical and cultural ecological
approaches by conceptualizing the city as an integral part of the
environment and as a space in which ecological problems manifest
concretely. Arguing that culture has to be seen as an active
component and integral factor within urban ecologies, it makes use
of a metaphorical use of the term, perceiving cities as spatial
phenomena that do not only have manifold and complex material
interrelations with their respective (natural) environments, but
that are intrinsically connected to the ideas, imaginations, and
interpretations that make up the cultural symbolic and discursive
side of our urban lives and that are stored and constantly
renegotiated in their cultural and artistic representations. The
city is, within this framework, both seen as an ecosystemically
organized space as well as a cultural artifact. Thus, the urban
ecology outlined in this study takes its main impetus from an
analysis of examples taken from contemporary culture that deal with
urban life and the complex interrelations between urban communities
and their (natural and built) environments.
This book focuses on software sustainability, regarded in terms of
how software is or can be developed while taking into consideration
environmental, social, and economic dimensions. The sixteen
chapters cover various related issues ranging from technical
aspects like energy-efficient programming techniques, formal
proposals related to energy efficiency measurement, patterns to
build energy-efficient software, the role of developers on energy
efficient software systems and tools for detecting and refactoring
code smells/energy bugs; to human aspects like its impact on
software sustainability or the adaptation of ACM/IEEE guidelines
for student and professional education and; and an economics-driven
architectural evaluation for sustainability. Also aspects as the
elements of governance and management that organizations should
consider when implementing, assessing and improving Green IT or the
relationship between software sustainability and the Corporate
Social Responsibility of software companies are included. The
chapters are complemented by usage scenarios and experience reports
on several domains as cloud applications, agile development or
e-Health, among others. As a whole, the chapters provide a complete
overview of the various issues related to sustainable software
development. The target readership for this book includes CxOs,
(e.g. Chief Information Officers, Chief Executive Officers, Chief
Technology Officers, etc.) software developers, software managers,
auditors, business owners, and quality professionals. It is also
intended for students of software engineering and information
systems, and software researchers who want to know the state of the
art regarding software sustainability.
In this thoughtful and original book, social scientist Olivier
Godard considers the ways in which arguments of justice cling to
international efforts to address global climate change. Proposals
made by governments, experts and NGOs as well as concepts and
arguments born of moral and political philosophy are introduced and
critically examined. Godard contributes to this important debate by
showing why global climate justice is still controversial, despite
it being a key issue of our times. Godard first points out the huge
differences between the foundations of conflicting proposals, for
instance between a cosmopolitan viewpoint and an international one.
He then explores controversies over climate justice proposals and
provides a rigorous criticism of those based on historical
responsibility. Finally, he demonstrates how issues of justice are
reconfigured by instrumental regimes of coordination, such as a
global carbon market. Inspired by the French school of
justification, this book shines an insightful light on the failure
of climate change debates to develop a convincing standard moral
and political theory. Including elements from systems theory,
economics and law, this book will be of interest to scholars and
students of moral and political philosophy, economics and social
sciences, as well as experts working on climate negotiations and
concerned stakeholders.
This fourth edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully
updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of
sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer
contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is
the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other
forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that
such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong
sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable.The
author examines the availability of natural resources for the
production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences
of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural
capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and
ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation.
He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of
sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine
Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare - also known
as the Genuine Progress Indicator - are analysed, as are indicators
of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material
flows and sustainability gaps. This book will prove essential
reading for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in
ecological and environmental economics and sustainable development.
Contents: Preface to the Fourth Edition 1. Introduction and
Overview 2. Sustainable Development: Conceptual, Ethical and
Paradigmatic Issues 3. Resources, the Environment and Economic
Growth: Is Natural Capital Substitutable? 4. Preserving Natural
Capital in a World of Risk, Uncertainty and Ignorance 5. Measuring
Weak Sustainability 6. Measuring Strong Sustainability 7.
Conclusions Appendix 1. How Present-value Maximisation Can Lead to
Extinction Appendix 2. The Hotelling Rule and Ramsey Rule in a
Simple General Equilibrium Model Appendix 3. The Hotelling Rule and
the Ramsey Rule in a More Complex Model Bibliography Index
This unique book provides a platform for resilience research,
combining knowledge from various domains, such as genetics,
primatology, archeology, geography, physical anthropology, cultural
anthropology, medicine, ecology, psychology, risk management and
systems science, in order to examine specific concepts. The term
"resilience" was originally used in psychology, but in current-day
usage, it mainly refers to the "ability to recover from disaster";
however, the concept of resilience is still ambiguous. This book
challenges readers to reconsider the concept of resilience
comprehensively from diverse perspectives and to re-conceptualize
it as an important framework applicable in various research fields.
The book explores resilience by expanding the time and space scales
to the maximum. On the time axis, it traces back to our human
ancestors (and even to anthropoid apes) and follows the evolution
of humans, the origin of agriculture, the rise and fall of ancient
civilizations, and the present day. On the space axis, it discusses
levels ranging from genetic; bacterial flora; individual,
indigenous communities; and modern societies; to the global level.
As such it expands the base for considering the problems facing
modern society and selecting a future direction. In the long
history of evolution, we Homo sapiens have faced, and overcome,
various kinds of risks. By acquiring resilience, we have surpassed
other animals and become apparent rulers of the earth; but, at the
same time, we are also facing more serious risks than ever before.
This book provides insights into addressing the challenges of a
sustainable future.
This authoritative book presents the results of important new
research into the economics of biodiversity conservation in
sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors offer case studies of the
economic causes of biodiversity loss in a range of ecosystem types
- wetlands, montane forests, tropical moist forests, semi-arid
savannas and lakes - and discuss the policy options for
biodiversity conservation in each case. They also provide an
in-depth analysis of the environmental consequences of policy
reform at the macro- and micro- levels and offer practical
recommendations for the implementation of the Convention on
Biological Diversity. The Economics of Biodiversity Conservation in
Sub-Saharan Africa will prove invaluable to scholars and
policymakers working within the areas of environmental economics,
environmental science and sustainable development.
The phrase "greening of the workplace" refers to the range of
resources used by an organization to ensure its management and
industrial processes are conducive to the adoption of workplace
pro-environmental behaviors by its employees, irrespective of their
position, the nature of their work or their rank within the
organization. This book provides greater visibility to research
into how organizations encourage their employees to take
environmental considerations into account in their daily work. It
examines the connections between organizational practices,
individual behaviors, and environmental performance. This book will
appeal to HRM scholars interested in the psychological, managerial
and organizational dimensions governing the relationship between
individuals and ecology.
We might think sustainable management is a new idea, created in the
1960s by enlightened modern scientists. We might think that it puts
us on a new path, beyond what management was originally about. But
this is not true. Sustainable management is as old as civilization
and was a foundation stone of management science as it was formed
in the first decade of the 20th century. Recovering this forgotten
past provides deeper roots and greater traction to advance
sustainable management in our own times. This book charts a history
of sustainable management from premodern times, through the birth
of management science as an offshoot of the conservation movement,
to the present day. The authors argue that modern tools like Triple
Bottom Line reporting and multiple Sustainable Development Goals
may be less useful than a return to a more fundamental and holistic
view of management.
Corporate social responsibility now touches upon most aspects of
the interaction between business and society. The approaches taken
to research in this area are as varied as the topics that are
researched; yet this is the first book to address the whole range
of methods available. The Handbook identifies the methods
available, evaluates their use and discusses the circumstances in
which they might be appropriate. The design of a research project
is an essential part of undertaking research, as is choosing
appropriate methods for investigation and analysis. In addition,
business and management research raises theoretical and practical
problems that are not encountered in other fields. The chapters
address this challenge over distinct parts. Part I on methodology
planning is concerned with various aspects of planning the research
project, including secondary data and ethics in the research
process. Parts II and III outline quantitative and qualitative
methods respectively, covering the vast majority of relevant
approaches. Part IV provides forward-thinking guidance from
experienced academics on the future directions of research in the
area. Aimed specifically at researchers, this comprehensive and
in-depth Handbook provides and essential resource for anyone
working at the forefront of CSR research. Contributors include: K.
Abadi, G.K. Amoako, A. Behl, S. Bhattacharya, C. Boachie, N.
Capaldi, J.G. Clavel, J. Claydon, D. Crowther, F. de Paiva Duarte,
M. Green, J. Gunawan, M.A. Islam, R. Kalinauskaite, H.Z. Khan,
Md.R. Khan, L.M. Lauesen, S. Moggi, E. Ortiz, I. Oruc, D.E.R.
Ospina, J.F.M. Ospina, L. Raimi, J.D. Rendtorff, F. Robertson, M.
Samy, S. Seifi, H. Semeen, M. Sethi, H.J. Shaw, J.J.A. Shaw, L.
Tauginiene, D. Turker, V.G. Venkatesh, K. Yekini, V. Zydziunaite
This book presents a diverse set of decision-making methodologies
to solve some of the most important decisions that most
organizations face today. It is an excellent demonstration of some
great challenges in our society in the area of sustainability.
These great challenges, ranging from sustainability in logistics to
the use of renewable energies, needs to be urgently addressed.
Sustainability has become one of the most important topics in
management and many organizations are taking big steps towards
sustainability. Organizations are attempting to use cleaner
production technologies and renewable energies sources, to improve
health and safety issues within their industries and the products
and services they offer. These points involve several important
strategic and managerial decisions, highlighted in this book. The
book can be used by decision-makers and policy-makers as exemplary
guidelines to solve sustainability problems.
This book provides a conceptually organized framework to understand
the phenomenon of biological invasions at the Anthropocene global
scale. Most advances toward that aim have been provided from North
American and European researchers, with fewer contributions from
Australia and South Africa. Here we fill the void from the
Neotropics, focusing on the research experience in South American
countries, with a strong emphasis on Argentina and Chile. The text
is divided into two parts: The first half comprises self-contained
chapters, providing a conceptual, bibliographic and empirical
foundation in the field of invasion biology, from an Anthropocene
perspective. The second half reviews the ecology, biogeography, and
local impacts in South America of exotic species groups (European
rabbit, Eurasian wild boar, Canadian beaver, North American mink,
and Holarctic freshwater fishes), which are shown to be useful
models for case studies of global relevance.
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