In Navigating History: Economy, Society, Knowledge, and Nature the contributors present new research that touches on the core themes developed in Karel Davids's work. Major themes include resources of knowledge, cultures of learning, and humans and their natural environment. Together, these fourteen essays provide a fascinating panorama of social, economic, and environmental history of the past millennium.

Highlighting the connections between climate change and human security, this book elucidates what might happen when a mere 10-degree drop in average temperature results in a sudden inability to produce enough food, when rapidly advancing desertification produces water scarcities where none existed before, and when newly frozen landscapes lead to more power plants for energy, resulting in increased air pollution. The destabilizing effects of these possibilities create many potential challenges for U.S. national security in a globalized world in which we may have to intervene militarily to safeguard our interests around the globe. In February 2004, a Pentagon report on climate change and its implication for national security received extraordinary attention and publicity. Public attention, however, focused almost exclusively on portents of inevitable doom and disaster—most particularly on a scenario outlining a possible future similar to a climate event of 8,200 years ago and its impact on the availability of food, energy, and water. This book offers a broad examination of the meaning of climate change and global warming while maintaining a strategic perspective on the implications of environmental effects on all forms of security—national, international, and human (transcending borders and having more to do with basic resources). Given the uncertainty surrounding climate change as a specific event, the authors argue for recognizing the profound social, political, and human impact that could take place in the coming years. While recognizing the inherent dangers of prediction, Liotta and Shearer effectively present the case that the time to not only recognize—but deal with—potentially profound outcomes is now.

On a world scale, the implicit deal between corporation and community is undergoing a revolution in the period 1990 2000. For the first time, corporate boardrooms are having to confront the environmental challenge not as a peripheral issue around 'public relations', but as a core issue of credibility with its customers. As trust in big business has declined, consumer willingness to alter buying behaviour to register disapproval has accelerated. As a result, boardrooms in the largest companies are having to redraw their strategic procedures regarding the environment."

Long before it became fashionable to talk of climate change, drought and water shortages, the authors of this lucid and trenchant dialogue were warning that planet earth was heading for uninhabitability. They exchange viewpoints and insights that have matured over many years of thought, study and reflection. One of the authors is a Westerner--a man of many parts, both wartime resistance fighter and leading industrialist, who founded one of the first think tanks to address seriously the human prospects for global survival. The other represents the philosophical and ethical perspectives of the East--a Buddhist leader who has visited country after country, campaigning tirelessly for the abolition of nuclear weapons and war in all its forms. Engaging constructively and imaginatively with such seemingly intractable problems as population growth, the decline of natural resources, desertification, pollution and deforestation, Ikeda and Peccei show that many of these problems are interrelated. Only be addressing them as part of a web of complex but combined issues, and by working together for peace and justice, can human beings expect to find lasting solutions. The best prospect for the future lies in an ethical revolution whereby humanity can find a fresh understanding of itself in holistic connection with, rather than separation and alienation from, the planet itself.

Today, the environment seems omnipresent in European policy within and beyond the European Union. The idea of a shared European environment, however, has come a long way and is still being contested. Greening Europe focuses on the many ways people have interacted with nature and made it an issue of European concern. The authors ask how notions of Europe mattered in these activities and they expose the many entanglements of activists across the subcontinent who set out to connect and network, and to exchange knowledge, worldviews, and strategies that exceeded their national horizons. Moving beyond human agency, the handbook also highlights the eminent role nature played in both "greening" Europe and making Europe a shared environment.

This book contains selected papers presented during the World Renewable Energy Network's 28thanniversary congress at the University of Kingston in London. The forum highlighted the integration of renewables and sustainable buildings as the best means to combat climate change. In-depth chapters written by the world's leading experts highlight the most current research and technological breakthroughs and discuss policy, renewable energy technologies and applications in all sectors - for heating and cooling, agricultural applications, water, desalination, industrial applications and for the transport sectors. Presents cutting-edge research in green building and renewable energy from all over the world; Covers the most up-to-date research developments, government policies, business models, best practices and innovations; Contains case studies and examples to enhance practical application of the technologies.

This book offers an in-depth case study on the leading international refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and its approach to environmentally displaced persons. The author examines the UNHCR on the basis of expert interviews and content analysis in order to highlight why and how the organization is addressing the issue. The analysis draws on organizational as well as security theory, offering readers a better understanding of the connection between the two. The book appeals to scholars in the fields of migration and organizational studies, as well as policymakers and professionals working in international organizations.

Fabricating Plasticity explores methods for designing aluminum panellized wall systems in a book as beautiful as a coffee table book yet as instructive as a technical guide. These systems allow you to consider structural performance, minimize use of raw materials, and optimize assembly and fabrication processes. Organized by techniques, the book discusses how architects have used aluminum, explains thermoforming of aluminum and how it compares to different metal-forming techniques, its applications by designers within fields such as aerospace and product design, and whether it's a sustainable material, giving you all the information you need to get started. Built case studies from some of the world's best architects and industrial designers along with prototypes designed and built at full-scale by students illustrate the principles described, so you can see what's already worked. Includes industrial design and architectural work by Alessi, Ron Arad, Foreign Office Architects, Marc Fornes, Norman Foster, Future Systems, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, Herzog and deMeuron, Jakob & McFarlane, Greg Lynn, Marc Newson, Renzo Piano, and REX.

This volume of the Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment series is a translation of selections from the 2014 or the 9th edition of the Annual Report on Environment Development of China. Friends of Nature, which has been organizing the writing and compilation of the Annual Report, is the first and continues to be one of the most influential Chinese environmental NGO. Articles in the current volume, written by a group of academics, independent scholars, activists and journalists cover recent development in a host of environment-related issues in China, including water and air pollution, the evolving role of NGO, pollution's impact on human health, progress in environmental legislation and species protection, and the environmental consequences of poor urban planning.

This volume is a translation of China Low-Carbon Development Report (2013), originally published in Chinese. The articles report findings from research conducted by the Climate Policy Initiative at Tsinghua University. The focus of this volume is energy. Following an overview of the politics and economics of the implementation of low carbon development policies and related institutional innovations, the topical reports examine three key areas of low-carbon development in China: innovative practices in energy conservation, investment in and financing for energy efficiency improvements, and for renewable energy development. Four articles are devoted to assessing the Target-oriented Accountability System, two survey the country's recent efforts to boost investment in energy efficiency improvements, and four look at clean energy development. The translator of this volume is Jiang Mengying ( ).