The growing inequality in the global economy across the planet is reaching unprecedented levels. This book seeks to develop frameworks for the assessment of excessive inequality and its impact on social-economic progress and sustainable development. It begins by summarizing the theoretical approaches of economic inequality, its specificity, and questioning what economic inequality really is and how it progresses. Next, the book explores issues of methodology for addressing the growing excessive economic inequality. It then applies these concepts to examine inequality across a range of the European Union (EU) countries. A variety of factors are considered, such as the impact of economic inequality on socio-economic progress, when normal inequality turns into excessive inequality, and its impact on economic growth, quality of life, and the environmental sustainability across different groups.

The crisis of environmental degradation has createcharemd an immense volume of literature which focuses on controlling environmental problems. Economic Rights and Environmental Wrongs goes one step further to extend and complement the current debates. Using property rights the book examines the causes and possible solutions to environmental and resource degradation. Written in a non-technical, reader-friendly style the book also offers: numerous examples and case studies an up-to-date list of world wide web sites relevant to the subject a detailed glossary of environmental and economic terms a guide to the literature at the end of every chapter Economic Rights and Environmental Wrongs is an essential supplementary text for undergraduates and postgraduates studying environmental and natural resource management, environmental studies, ecology, environmental science, environmental economics, agricultural economics and geography.

This pathbreaking study illustrates and enhances the potential of cost-benefit analysis as a tool for decision-making. Advancing the incorporation of equity preferences in policy analysis, the authors demonstrate the application of choice modeling to the estimation of distributional weights suitable for inclusion in a cost-benefit analytical framework. A platform for discussion of the challenges and opportunities of this approach is presented in the form of a detailed case study designed to estimate community preferences for different intergenerational distributions. While the case study is focused on natural resource management and environmental policy, the conceptual and methodological advances illustrated by the authors are relevant and applicable to a wider array of policy deliberations. This book will prove a challenging and thought-provoking read for academics, students and policy makers with an interest in environmental issues and/or public sector economics. Contents: Foreword 1. Distribution and Environmental Policy 2. Distributional Weighting and Cost-Benefit Analysis 3. Choice Modelling and Distributional Preferences 4. Case Study: Design of Intergenerational Distribution Choice Experiment 5. Case Study: Results of Intergenerational Distribution Choice Experiment 6. Choice Modelling and Distributional Preferences: Challenges and Opportunities Bibliography Index

Following on from their 2013 book, Sustainability Assessment: Pluralism, Practice and Progress, the authors are rapidly establishing themselves as lead authorities on this subject. Their new Handbook of Sustainability Assessment has many strengths. It brings together the latest research from leading experts from many parts of the world. It provides a valuable mix of conceptual work, practical applications and relevant techniques, and reflects on effectiveness in practice. In particular, as summarized by one of the many learned contributors, this Handbook marks a watershed between the end of the early life of applications and research initiatives in sustainability assessment and the beginning of many new possibilities. All these strengths make this book essential reading for both researchers and practitioners.' - John Glasson, Oxford Brookes University, UK'In a single volume the authors have succeeded in capturing the essential background, and cutting-edge thinking around the theory and practice of sustainability assessment. This is a timely and much needed contribution to an emerging field that has seen a proliferation of definitions and frameworks. It provides an indispensable resource for policy-makers, practitioners, researchers and students who are grappling with understanding the broad and complex terrain that this form of assessment covers. It should make an important contribution to directing decision-making towards sustainability.' - Theo Hacking, University of Cambridge, UK Sustainability assessment refers to any process that directs decision-making towards sustainability. This groundbreaking Handbook presents state of the art thinking and research on the theory and practice of this broad and rapidly evolving field. Emphasizing how traditional impact assessment practices can be improved to contribute to sustainable outcomes, the overall aim is to enhance the effectiveness of sustainability assessment practice. Based on original contributions from world-leading researchers and practitioners, the book examines sustainability assessment in five sections: the first explores the conceptual foundations of sustainability assessment from different perspectives; the second section introduces some of the different scales and decision-contexts to which sustainability assessment can be applied; third, sectoral approaches to sustainability assessment are investigated, focusing in particular on energy as a key area of future focus; the fourth section introduces several tools used within sustainability assessment, including ecosystem services, multi-criteria analysis, systems analysis, and objectives-driven approaches; finally, key aspects of sustainability assessment governance are considered, including managing decision complexity and community engagement. This essential and comprehensive exploration of sustainability, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, will be invaluable to students, academics and practitioners. Contributors: C. Adelle, M. Audouin, A. Bond, M. Burns, R. du Toit, A. Diduck, C.G. Duarte, V. Ferretti, T. Fischer, A.L.C.F. Gallardo, K. Gaudreau, D. Geneletti, R. Gibson, W. Grace, J. Gunn, N. Hanley, J. Hartz-Karp, S. Hayes, A. Jordan, L. Lamorgese, D. le Maitre, T.F. Malheiros, A. Morrison-Saunders, J. Nel, B. Noble, P. O'Farrell, M. Partidario, P. Pereira, S. Petrova, J. Pope, F. Retief, D. Russel, L.E. Sanchez, W. Sheate, J. Sinclair, J. Turnpenny, M. Vespa, A. Weaver, S. Weiland

This book addresses 'the economics of social innovation', a widely neglected topic in regional development. The chapters in this edited volume cover distinct but complementary and related aspects concerning the existing gap between the hitherto unexploited potential of social innovation in relation to socio-economic challenges that regions across Europe and globally face. Research on social innovation has gained momentum over the last decade, spurred notably by the growing interest in social issues related to policy making, public management and entrepreneurship in response to the grand challenges societies in Europe and worldwide face. Accelerated by the normative turn in research and innovation policies towards 'missions', social innovation is nowadays a central element on policy agendas, from the urban and regional level to the national and subnational level of the European Commission and the OECD. However, for social innovations to unfold their full potential a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, processes and impacts is necessary. The first three chapters focus on framework conditions and characteristics of social innovation. The following two chapters emphasise the determinants of social innovation and translocal empowerment. In the last part, attention is devoted to social innovation in specific fields such as health care and greening society, and social innovations' transformative potential. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, European Planning Studies.

1) This is a comprehensive book on SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities 2) It contains updated empirical data and historical overview of sustainable development. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of sustainable development, and for professionals across UK

Rather than an edited collection of chapters with eclectic viewpoints on various topics in countries, this book applies a consistent framework, constituent outline, and comparable points across each of the countries in Asia Comparative analysis of human capital development systems in the form of practical summaries for various Asian countries, accompanied by translations of national policies to business and HR implications An interdisciplinary, management-oriented book focusing on the strategic role of human capital and its business implications in Asia

The newest volume of the eclectic biannual anthology from Greenhorns, a grassroots network for recruiting, promoting, and supporting new American farmers. The New Farmer's Almanac Volume VI: Adjustments and Accommodations seeks to recognize our own collective agency in the face of sizable uncertainties. The morphing climate, ongoing culture of land dispossession, continuing global pandemic, shifting and intensifying weather patterns, and migrations of all species—spurned by political and environmental upheaval—are considered within. There is adaptability in each bloom of algae; tiny particles of inspiration can enliven lives and farm systems; the natural currents and connected sentience of the living earth moves genetic material. Dynamic flux and rapid change remain possible. The power of the forces—the river, the wind—are summoned and given thanks, like our ancestors did. Here, we tune to the potential of the commons. Contributors from around the Earth reflect on natural systems, logistics of change, localization, resource sharing, and preservation; we eye new experiments in planting, seed breeding, and composting. The past is contextualized by the present, informing our ideas for the future. Climate grief and cognitive dissonance are examined among imaginations of urban food systems and equitable access. Readers are invited to envision tweaks to the carbon cycle; to see intercropping as a life practice and sharing dinner as an embodied preservation of cultural foodways. This compendium of ideas, strategies, and arguments honors the almanac tradition in featuring archival and contemporary words and artwork. Photos, maps, prints, drawings, and gems from the archives rest—and agitate—among personal essays, reports from the field, poetry, and interviews. Join us in exploring resilience, responsiveness, adaptation, and accommodation. Featured contributors include: Fallen Fruit Collective The Farwoods Futurefarmers Suzanne Husky Oliver Kellhammer Nance Klehm The Land Institute Gary Snyder Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino of Cafe Ohlone Maia Wikler

Aims to help leaders become the best versions of themselves, achieve extraordinary results and help their team accomplish the same Introduces an ALIGHT model that guides leaders through six fundamental resources that can alight their own and their team's motivation, and transform their performance to an extraordinary level Further breaks down the six resources into 18 core components, the book expands on what constitutes the six resources to make them tangible and accessible

This collection of essays brings together discussions arguing that the circular economy must be linked to society and culture in order to create a viable concept for remodelling the economy. Covering a diverse range of topics and regions, including cities and living, food and human waste, packaging and law, fashion, design and art, this book provides a multi-layered examination of circularity. Transitioning to a circular economy, reducing resource input and waste, and narrowing material and energy loops are becoming an increasingly important targets to combat decades of unsustainable models of consumption. However, they will require a significant shift in social and cultural thinking and these dimensions have not yet been factored into policy debates and frameworks. While recognising the key role of individual consumers and their behaviours, the book goes beyond this singular perspective to provide equal focus on institutional and political structures as necessary drivers for real change. Social and Cultural Aspects of the Circular Economy argues for a social and solidarity economy (SSE) to combine individual actions with a wider cultural shift. It will be an important read for scholars, researchers, students and policy-makers in the circular economy, waste studies, consumption and other environmentally focused social sciences.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), and particularly environmental management, has now become a global social norm. As the largest developing economy in the world, China is currently a major environmental polluter. This book examines how Chinese enterprises, including both indigenous firms and foreign-owned organizations operating in China, utilize human resource management (HRM) to conduct environmental management, i.e. green HRM, also referred to as environmentally friendly HRM. Green HRM integrates HRM with environmental management and is implemented by firms to realize corporate green strategies by providing opportunities and motivating employees to become involved in environmental activities. This book explores how green recruitment and selection, green training, green performance management, and green pay and rewards are managed in Chinese enterprises, and how green HRM affects organizational green and non-green workplace behaviors. It enriches the current literature on green HRM practices and measures. It also advances our understanding of employee organizational behavioral consequences of green HRM, which is an emerging and understudied field of research. As such, this book offers practical implications on how to elicit desirable employee green and non-green workplace behaviors through green HRM policies and practices. This book will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about green HRM practices and the social and psychological processes through which green HRM influences employees, promotes green workplace behaviors and improves a firm's environmental performance.

The prospect of simultaneously achieving a 'greener' environment, increased tax revenues and lower levels of unemployment has made ecological taxes an increasingly popular proposition. This volume examines the possibility of ecological tax reform in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The potential for ecological tax reform is investigated on a theoretical and an empirical level. The social costs associated with environmental taxes are analysed and the impacts of a Swedish carbon tax are calculated by means of a static numerical model. Taxes on carbon, nitrogen and fertilisers are also examined. The authors find that the level of unemployment cannot be decreased by revenue neutral environmental taxes without any social costs and conclude that there are no easy ways to achieve full employment, a budget surplus and environmental sustainability. They conclude that further understanding of the functioning of the labour market, household decisions and the link between change in pollutant emissions and environmental damage is needed in order to make more concrete suggestions concerning ecological tax reforms. Green Taxes will be of immense use to academics and practitioners in the field of environmental economics.

This book addresses the problem of how to make a large-scale socio-technical transition to renewable energy, so as to realize an environmentally sustainable economy in the long run. Transition thinking has in a short time managed to occupy a central position in the policy debate on sustainable development. The transition approach offers an innovative view on the role and content of public policy, compared with traditional views from economic, administrative and political sciences. The main motivation for using this notion is that while it links up with the system-wide approach of sustainable development, it has the advantage of shifting the attention from a vague end goal (blueprint) to the processes leading towards this goal. These processes in turn provide a concrete basis for thinking about appropriate public policies, taking account of the complex relations between technologies, institutions and behaviours. This book offers perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, addressing macro, regional and local scales. Contributions come from mainstream economics, evolutionary economics, sociology, political sciences, innovation studies, spatial economics and decision theory. Important lessons are also drawn from historical transitions. Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy will appeal to academics and researchers in environmental science and economics, environmental and technological policy advisors, evolutionary economists and researchers on technological innovation.

Taking a sustainable approach, this volume explores the various soil management techniques. It begins with an overview of the elementary concepts of soil management and then delves into new research and novel soil management tools and techniques. Topics include: * Clays as a critical component in sustainable agriculture with respect to carbon sequestration in conjunction with its interaction with soil enzymes * The potential utilization of microbes to mitigate crop stress * Resource conservation technologies and prospective carbon management strategies * The use of smart tools for monitoring soils * Effective nutrient management approaches * Nanotechnological interventions for soil management * Techniques for the remediation of soils contaminated by metals and pesticides

This book discusses management and governance initiatives undertaken by agencies and stakeholders towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) in the Southeast Asian region, specifically Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. It highlights the theories, methodologies and action plans involved in implementing the goals in these countries and the importance of developing a positive relationship between the public and government agencies. With contributors coming from a range of disciplines and backgrounds across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, this edited collection provides a holistic quantitative and qualitative approach to achieving the SDGs. In order to realise these development objectives, it argues that a strong understanding of the basic principles of governance across all levels is required, supported by effective citizen participation and conflict resolution. It provides a detailed overview of the importance of governance at the country level, addressing the key elements of an integrated framework to support sustainable transitions. Regional case studies highlight processes and recommendations for improving governance and risk management and elevating citizen awareness and participation. Good Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia is a comprehensive and valuable companion for researchers, government agencies, and professionals with an interest in the SDGs in Southeast Asia and beyond.

This book provides a wealth of information and a critically required framework for sustainable automobile policy development in major Asian countries. It also gives wide-ranging policy options, ranging from technological to institutional solutions to automobile emission problems, based on empirical case studies and comparative policy and regulatory analysis. It is a useful reference with valuable insights on how rapidly changing economies are adopting their policy and regulatory structures to cope with the progressively severe environmental impacts of automobile increase.

Biodynamic agriculture first originated in central Europe but is now practised in farms, vineyards and gardens all over the world. At the heart of the biodynamic approach are the eight preparations -- Horn manure, Horn silica, Yarrow, Chamomile, Nettle, Oak bark, Dandelion and Valerian -- which are often produced by local biodynamic practitioners using well-established recipes. But as the biodynamic approach expands beyond its European origins, its methods have been increasingly adapted to meet the needs and challenges -- climates, fauna, seasons and regulations -- of different regions around the globe. This fascinating book presents the results of a unique study, carried out by the Agricultural Section at the Goetheanum, Switzerland, into how the biodynamic preparations are used in fifteen countries worldwide, including Egypt, Brazil, New Zealand, India and across Europe. The detailed case studies explore how the preparations are modified to suit their locations, as well as offering an insight into the work of each practitioner and how their understanding has evolved over the years. Contributors include Ueli Hurter, Dr. R. Ingold, Dr. M. Kolar, J. Schoenfelder, Dr. A. Sedlmayr and A. van Leewen. This book is a valuable reference into the production and application of the preparations around the world and an inspiring endorsement of how biodynamic principles hold true in such varied environments.

Advances a novel analytical framework along with highly original empirical work - will set the agenda for research in this area moving forward. Measures the effectiveness of PPP's in governance, in a way that previous books have failed to do. The multifaceted framework for disaggregating the meaning of effectiveness (and for measuring it) will be relevant well beyond the study of PPPs alone - the book will therefore be useful for those studying other varieties of cross-border governance as well.

* Covers core microeconomic and microeconomic principles relevant to farm management, in an accessible way * Covers a broad range of management issues applied to a farm context: accounting, finance, marketing, operations management, quality management, human resources and more * Incorporates current farming issues, including organic crops, migrant labor, farmers' markets and biofuels * Second edition has updated data (e.g. commodity prices) and academic literature * Second edition has more international examples, showing the diversity of types and sizes of farms across the US and globally - including Europe, Asia, Australia and Brazil * Second edition has more focus on sustainability and conservation * Instructor materials are available as digital supplements: PPT slides, test bank and instructor manual

In this innovative book the author examines the link between environmental, trade and industrial policies within an interregional setting. He models how regional governments, using tax rates on real capital and pollutant emissions, determine policies to favour their residents in terms of the provision of public goods and reduction in environmental degradation.Regions or countries engage in competition for mobile capital in a world where production causes pollution and tax revenues are required to finance public goods. In Fiscal Policy and Environmental Welfare the author considers the efficiency consequences when governments act strategically and seek to manage trade, capital flows and emissions. Using formal models, which extend and modify existing literature, the author demonstrates that interjurisdictional competition typically leads to inefficiencies. He argues that although interjurisdictional competition may lead to the overprovision of public goods and to an inefficiently high environmental quality, often the opposite seems to occur. This book will be welcomed by environmental economists, and those scholars interested in welfare and fiscal policy.

Perspectives from worldwide experts on how major cities across the globe are responding to the major environmental threats of our time, including global climate change Over half of the world's population now lives in cities, and this share is expected to increase in the coming decades. With growing urbanization, cities and their residents face substantial environmental challenges such as higher temperatures, droughts, wildfires, and increased flooding. In response to these pressing challenges, some cities have begun to develop local environmental regulations that supplement national and environmental laws. In so doing, cities have stepped into a role that has been historically dominated by higher levels of government. Global Sustainable Cities takes stock of the policies that have been implemented by cities around the world in recent years in several key areas: water, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate adaptation. It examines the advantages-and potential drawbacks-of allowing cities to assume a significant role in environmental regulation, given the legal and political constraints in which cities operate. The contributors present a series of case studies of the actions that seven leading cities-Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Berlin, Delhi, London, New York, and Shanghai-are taking to improve their environments and adapt to climate change. The first volume of its kind, Global Sustainable Cities is a critical comparative assessment of the actions that major cities in the global North and South are taking to advance sustainability.

ONE FAMILY'S REVOLT AGAINST EVERYDAY POLLUTION When a beanbag sent thousands of polystyrene balls flying through her garden, Kate Hughes decided to make a break with the throwaway society. She and her husband transformed the lives of their ordinary family of four. They ditched plastic, shunned supermarkets, cooked all meals from scratch, bought only second-hand clothes, and made their own cleaning agents. Then they went deeper - greening every aspect of their home life, from their gas and electricity to their car, from their money to their IT. The Hugheses have achieved the 'zero waste' goal of sending nothing to landfill. Now they are going even further... Told with refreshing humility and humour, this eye-opening story shows that a well-lived life doesn't have to come wrapped in plastic. Packed with handy tips, it reveals much about what makes a fulfilling modern family - and how readers can empower themselves to preserve the climate, forests and seas. And, heart-warmingly, how that can lead to a more relaxing life. Extract We were starting to realise that making the journey was leading to more questions than answers, more grey areas, misinformation and conflicts of interest than we ever imagined - and that was just about food. We hadn't even got started on anything else that came into our home yet. Take a single, uncontroversial ingredient, let's say peppers. Should we buy them grown in a UK hothouse or ones trucked in from Spain? What if the Spanish ones are organic? Or the only UK option is wrapped in plastic? Which is better for the environment? Or at least less harmful? If we ever want to eat peppers again without negatively impacting the planet in some way are we going to have to grow our own? Because self-sufficiency wasn't really part of the plan... All we could do was dive in and hope we didn't drown in the detail as we swam around looking for food that worked for us and the planet. We started with the problem of transport because food mileage was a well established measure that meant we could actually make some decisions based on numbers for once. Or, at least, we thought we could. Three quarters of all the fruit and veg now eaten in the UK is imported. Almost all the fruit we eat has been grown overseas, and soft fruit in particular is flown in. It turns out that the UK only produces half of all the food that is consumed on these shores - which is somewhat patriotically disconcerting as well as practically unsustainable. One of our family stories is the recollection of the first banana my great uncle ever tasted after WW2, shipped from the other side of the world. We were very aware that bananas came from overseas. But the fact that such a vast proportion of the apples eaten in Britain are imported from South Africa, or at best France, when the fruit grows very well in the orchards you can see from near our house seemed to be absurd. The obvious solution appeared to be only to buy food produced not just in the UK but as close to us as possible. That immediately threw up two questions. The first we were becoming increasingly familiar with. Were we really prepared to give up things we took great pleasure in for the sake of an unquantifiable, but undoubtedly minuscule effect? Or even just to settle for not adding to the runaway levels of damage that our disconnected food shop was causing each and every day? But the second question was whether a straightforward food mile approach was even a worthwhile aim. When I put the question of food miles to Riverford Organic Farmers, the sustainably produced veg box people, they told me that for most of the year our carbon impact would be smaller if we bought organic tomatoes trucked in from Spain than those heated thanks to fossil fuels in a UK hothouse. That means the answer has to be to eat food grown in the UK at the time of year it is traditionally produced. We finally arrived at a robust solution - seasonal, native eating.

This book examines the critical issue of environmental pollutants produced by the textiles industry. Comprised of contributions from environmental scientists and materials and textiles scientists, this edited volume addresses the environmental impact of microplastics, with a particular focus on microfibres released by textiles into marine and freshwater environments. The chapters in Part I offer environmental perspectives focusing on the measurement of microplastics in the environment, their ingestion by small plankton and larger filter feeders, the effects of consuming microplastics, and the role of microplastics as a vector for transferring toxic contaminants in food webs. Written by environmental and material scientists, the chapters in Part II present potential solutions to the problem of microplastics released from textiles, discussing parameters of influence, water treatment, degradation in aquatic environments, textile end-of-life management, textile manufacturing and laundry, and possible policy measures. This is a much needed volume which brings together in one place environmental research with technical solutions in order to provide a cohesive and practical approach to mitigating and preventing environmental pollution from the textiles industry going forward. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental conservation and management, environmental pollution and environmental chemistry and toxicology, sustainability, as well as students and scholars of material and textiles science, textile engineering and sustainable manufacturing.

In 1972, three scientists from MIT created a computer model that analyzed global resource consumption and production. Their results shocked the world and created stirring conversation about global 'overshoot, ' or resource use beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. Now, preeminent environmental scientists Donnella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows have teamed up again to update and expand their original findings in "The Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Global Update,"Meadows, Randers, and Meadows are international environmental leaders recognized for their groundbreaking research into early signs of wear on the planet. Citing climate change as the most tangible example of our current overshoot, the scientists now provide us with an updated scenario and a plan to reduce our needs to meet the carrying capacity of the planet.Over the past three decades, population growth and global warming have forged on with a striking semblance to the scenarios laid out by the World3 computer model in the original "Limits to Growth," While Meadows, Randers, and Meadows do not make a practice of predicting future environmental degradation, they offer an analysis of present and future trends in resource use, and assess a variety of possible outcomes.In many ways, the message contained in "Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update" is a warning. Overshoot cannot be sustained without collapse. But, as the authors are careful to point out, there is reason to believe that humanity can still reverse some of its damage to Earth if it takes appropriate measures to reduce inefficiency and waste.Written in refreshingly accessible prose, "Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update" is a long anticipated revival ofsome of the original voices in the growing chorus of sustainability. "Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update" is a work of stunning intelligence that will expose for humanity the hazy but critical line between human growth and human development.

This book looks at how multinational enterprises address sustainability within their business activities. Contextualized within a rapidly developing country in Asia, it explores how management practices, tools and techniques are implemented by foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in the Philippines. The book introduces a useful three-stage and six-step sustainability assessment framework for company practices. The three stages are framed around impact identification, impact assessment and impact monitoring, with the six steps associated with these stages, including the initiation step, scoping, impact analysis, alternative selection, monitoring and evaluation, and feedback and follow-up. The book also highlights how voluntary guidelines and global sustainability platforms play an instrumental role in directing the practices of organisations when implementing corporate sustainability.