Providing an in-depth exploration of the formation, building, development, and evolutionary phases of sustainable alliances, this book presents a new perspective on organizational change that goes beyond modern institutions and offers practical insights on how to cope with paradoxes in the life cycle of alliances. Combining theoretical ideas, practical concepts, and critical reflections on the topic, this insightful and timely book supports the conception and progression of purpose-driven alliances which contribute to a more positive and sustainable world. The authors present a historical overview of alliances, as well as discussing the factors pertaining to the successes and failures of collaborating organizations. The book further outlines the life cycle of sustainable alliances, using the Global Alliance in Management Education (CEMS) and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) as contemporary case studies. Analysing the strength and scope of alliances, it explores opportunities for these partnerships to contribute to a sustainable future. Offering inspiration and guidance for those looking to contribute to profound economic and social change, this book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of business management, international business, and sustainable development, as well as the new generation of business people. It will also be beneficial for consultants, leaders, and managers who are dedicated to the creation and development of global alliances.

Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent two and a half years in the South American jungle living with Stone Age Indians. The experience demolished her Western preconceptions of how we should live and led her to a radically different view of what human nature really is. She offers a new understanding of how we have lost much of our natural well-being and shows us practical ways to regain it for our children and for ourselves.

This original book examines the experiences cities and urban areas have had with two principal concerns that confront them today: sustainability and competitiveness. Focusing on major cities in East Asia, North America, and Western Europe, Towards a Competitive, Sustainable Modern City illuminates the ways in which cities differ not only in their course and stages of development, but in the nature of their economies and their administrative structures. Featuring a wide-ranging set of contributions from top researchers, this book discusses and analyzes the issues that different cities face, such as social cohesion, tolerance and cultural diversity, and how this will determine their developmental trajectories through the coming decade. These issues are explored in relation to contemporary topics including the growing economy of robotics, the rising importance and use of artificial intelligence and the information and communications economy. Towards a Competitive, Sustainable Modern City will be an invaluable read for scholars and professors in urban economics and urban studies more broadly, particularly those who are focusing on the importance of sustainability in both areas. Its stimulating, yet accessible, approach to the topic and key case studies will also greatly benefit urban planners and economic policy makers looking to improve contemporary cities.

In todays’ world with its widespread usage of personal-care products, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, flame retardants, plasticizers, various industrial additives, metals and metalloids, pesticides, and pesticide metabolites, environmental contaminants are an increasing source of pollution with a severe effect on the ecological system. Industries that produce these contaminants must find answers to remediate this. Nanomaterials in Environmental Analysis contributes to solving this problem by providing researchers in industry and academia with promising applications of nanoparticles in detection techniques and in removal of chemical species from the environment. Each chapter covers an aspect of using nanoparticles in detecting, measuring and remediating toxic chemical species in the environment.

Our Elgar Concise Introductions are inspiring and considered introductions to the key principles in business, expertly written by some of the world’s leading scholars. The aims of the series are two-fold: to pinpoint essential principles of business and management, and to offer insights that stimulate critical thinking. Examining the psychological and social drivers of unsustainable and sustainable consumption, this Concise Introduction provides an insightful overview of the causes of unsustainable consumer behaviour and the instruments and interventions needed to create a sustainable consumption pattern. Key Features: Outlines how policy interventions can contribute to a transformation in the consumption pattern Based on a comprehensive model of the causes and consequences of (un)sustainable consumer choices Provides a precise account of how the structure and distribution of consumption are responsible for environmental problems Maps the roots of unsustainable consumption in human nature as well as in economic, institutional, social, and structural contexts Highlighting a variety of ways to promote sustainable consumption, from sustainability labelling to carbon taxes and infrastructure investments, this Concise Introduction will be essential reading for students and researchers in behavioural sciences, business and management, economic psychology, environmental sociology, and sustainable development.

Managing Mining and Minerals Processing Wastes: Concepts, Design and Applications presents fundamental knowledge in waste management in mining and minerals processing and summarizes recent advances. The book offers readers insights into innovative ways to manage waste in the mining and minerals industry. Sections cover a brief introduction to this topic and an explanation of waste generation, and how to manage the six types of waste, including waste rock, mill tailings, coal refuse and coal fly ash, quarry waste, metallurgical slugs and washery rejects. The title then emphasizes the management of hazardous waste, the acid mine drainage and the lifecycle assessment of waste management. Finally, the book considers current and emerging challenges. This publication offers a comprehensive background to waste management in mining and minerals processing and a summary of recent advances and innovative strategies for managing each kind of waste.

Water, Land, and Forest Susceptibility and Sustainability, Volume 2: Insight Towards Management, Conservation and Ecosystem Services brings an interdisciplinary perspective to solving complex problems in sustainability, utilizing the latest research and technologies, and includes case studies that emphasize the applications of remote sensing, GIS, and image processing for addressing the current state and future needs to achieve sustainability. As forests, land, and water are among the most precious resources on earth, emphasizing the need to conserve them for future generations and, of course, a safe and sustainable planet. The assessment of the susceptibility of all these three precious resources must therefore be addressed to inform their sustainable management. This second volume focuses on environmental management, conservation, and ecosystem services and provides information on forest, land, and water resources, presenting in integrated manner various aspects of their characterization, susceptibility, and sustainability.

"Historians and Nature" considers five cutting-edge questions facing environmental historians today. How can we historicize nature? Is nature a historical actor? How have human beings interacted with nature and what patterns have emerged? How do we understand the ecology of urban spaces? What is the history of environmental diplomacy? Focusing on the United States and Germany, the book takes a comparative approach in examining environmental history. The authors draw on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, including history, cultural studies, human geography, biology and ecology. Case studies include Native Americans and their relationship to the environment, the California Gold Rush and the Coal Fields of the Ruhr Basin in the nineteenth century, the controversial building of dikes in seventeenth-century Germany, cleaning up modern cities, and the Greenpeace movement and the development of international environmental activism in the 1970s.

Our beautiful planet is in danger: the warning signs are there, year after year – from vast forest fires across Australia to coral bleaching in the Pacific and the rapid break up of polar ice and the consequent rise in sea levels, threatening low-lying coastal communities everywhere. Arranged by continent, Endangered Places introduces the reader to many of the most stunning natural locations from the around the world that are currently under threat. Learn about the magnificent Bornean rainforest, home to threatened species such as orangutans, probiscis monkeys and the Sumatran rhinoceros; marvel at the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef, stretching 2,300 kilometres along Australia’s east coast and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps; explore the Aral Sea, formerly the fourth largest lake in the world and today less than 10 per cent of it’s original size after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects; and understand the process of desertification, which has led to the huge expansion of the Sahara Desert and the dramatic shrinkage of Lake Chad. Illustrated with more than 180 photographs of more than 100 threatened locations, Endangered Places celebrates the beauty of our planet while reminding us of how easily this can be lost through human behaviour and climate change.

From Angkor Wat to Agent Orange, Southeast Asia An Environmental History tells the story of some of the most dramatic effects humans have had on the natural and developed environment anywhere in the world and examines the ways in which environmental factors have helped shape the culture, politics, and societies of the region. Ever since the first humanlike creatures arrived some 80,000 years ago, Southeast Asia's varied and challenging environment has helped shape the course of human destiny. From the importance of its spices to 17th-century Europeans to the jungle canopies that sheltered Communist insurgents throughout much of the 20th century, the region's environment has often proven decisive in human affairs. Packed with key facts and analysis, Southeast Asia provides an expert guide to the complex interplay between human societies and the environment from Burma to the Philippines and from Vietnam to Indonesia. How has the environment helped shape politics, trade, and religion? What are the likely consequences of ongoing deforestation for Southeast Asia's people and animals? Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, this work charts the region's environmental history from prehistory to modern times and is essential reading for students and experts alike.

Wild Law weaves politics, legal theory, quantum physics and ancient wisdom into a fascinating and inspiring story about how to rediscover a viable role for the human species within the Earth community.

This title has been seminal in inspiring the global movement to recognise rights for Nature - a movement destined to shape the 21st Century as significantly as the human rights movements shaped the 20th Century. Wild Law reveals how the governance systems of contemporary civilisations legitimise and promote the disastrous exploitation and destruction of Earth and why an Earth-centred approach is essential to address climate change and the accelerating degradation of the ecological systems on which we depend. Cormac Cullinan explains how to begin transforming industrialized societies to ensure that the pursuit of human wellbeing enhances the beauty, health and diversity of Earth instead of diminishing it.

This edition includes a new preface, postscript and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth proclaimed on 22nd April 2010 by the People's World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

Handbook of HydroInformatics Volume III: Water Data Management Best Practices presents the latest and most updated data processing techniques that are fundamental to Water Science and Engineering disciplines. These include a wide range of the new methods that are used in hydro-modeling such as Atmospheric Teleconnection Pattern, CONUS-Scale Hydrologic Modeling, Copula Function, Decision Support System, Downscaling Methods, Dynamic System Modeling, Economic Impacts and Models, Geostatistics and Geospatial Frameworks, Hydrologic Similarity Indices, Hydropower/Renewable Energy Models, Sediment Transport Dynamics Advanced Models, Social Data Mining, and Wavelet Transforms. This volume is an example of true interdisciplinary work. The audience includes postgraduates and above interested in Water Science, Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Science, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Engineering, Applied Science, Earth and Geoscience, Atmospheric Science, Geography, Environment Science, Natural Resources, Mathematical Science, and Social Sciences. It is a fully comprehensive handbook which provides all the information needed related to the best practices for managing water data.

Urban Soil and Water Degration, Volume Seven explores a wide breadth of emerging and state-of-the-art technologies, including comprehensive coverage of topics such as Urban sprawl, Soil degradation, Hydrological challenges in urban areas, Soil and water quality - pollutant sources and pathways, Ecosystem services in urban areas, Freshwater-related nature-based solutions in cities, Property Rights and Climate Change - land use under changing environmental conditions, Municipal planning to prevent soil and water degradation: The case of Vilnius, In between water and fires: soil degradation in a new Mediterranean peri-urban landscape, and more. Additional chapters in this release include Groundwater in Venetian area, Soil protection and hydrogeological risk assessment. A strategic planning experience in Franciacorta, Data driven approach for assessing surface runoff in separated sewage systems: Israeli Case Study, Ecological status of urban streams and riparian habitats in the Czech Republic, Soil and water degradation in urban areas from western Romania, Mapping water ecosystem services: supply and demand in Stockholm, Land degradation and water availability in Ethiopia, and The study of land use and land cover changes in the Bekescsaba area, Hungary.

After years of expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the detailed local map around his home.

Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration? Discovering more about the natural world than in all his years in remote environments, he learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood.

An ode to slowing down, Local is a celebration of curiosity and time spent outdoors, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.

Biodegradability of Conventional Plastics: Opportunities, Challenges, and Misconceptions brings together innovative research on the biodegradability of conventional plastics, providing an extensive overview of approaches and strategies that may be implemented, while also highlighting other methods for alleviating the eventual environmental impact of plastics. The book begins by providing a lifecycle assessment of plastics, the environmental impact of plastic waste, and the factors that affect the biodegradability of plastics. The different categories and terminologies surrounding bio-based plastics and biodegradable plastics are then defined and explained in detail, as are the issues surrounding bioplastics. Other sections discuss biodegradability, approaches for enhanced biodegradability of various major types of plastics, including polyolefins, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride), automotive plastics and composites, and agricultural plastic waste. The final part of the book focuses on further techniques and emerging areas, including the utilization of chemical additives, nanomaterials, the role of microbes in terms of microbial degradation and microbial attaching, revalorization of plastic waste through industrial biotechnology, and future opportunities and challenges.

From the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award comes an epic walk across the Alps in the footsteps of a wolf, throwing unique light on Europe's mountainous hinterlands at a moment of political and environmental change.

In 2011, a young wolf named Slavc set out from Slovenia. Tracked by GPS, he travelled a thousand miles through the Alps, arriving four months later on the Lessinian plateau, north of Verona. There had been no wolves in northern Italy for a century, but here he crossed paths with a female wolf on a walkabout of her own. A decade later and there are more than a hundred wolves back in the area, the result of their remarkable meeting.

In Lone Wolf, Weymouth walks Slavc's path, examining the changes facing these wild corners of Europe. Here, the call to rewild meets the urge to preserve culture; nationalism and globalisation pull apart; climate change is radically changing lives; and migrants, too, are on the move.

The result is a multifaceted account of a region caught in a moment of kaleidoscopic flux, from an award-winning writer with a uniquely perceptive eye for detail.

Advances in Geophysics serial highlights new advances in the field with this new volume presenting interesting chapters. Each chapter is written by an international board of authors.

Advances in Microbe-assisted Phytoremediation of Polluted Sites provides a comprehensive overview of the use of phytoremediation to decontaminate polluted land through microbial enhanced phytoremediation, including the use of plants with respect to ecological and environmental science. The book discusses the potential of microbial-assisted phytoremediation of the contaminant, including heavy metals, pesticides, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, etc., with case studies as examples. Key subjects covered include plant-microbe interaction in contaminated ecosystems, microbe-augmented phytoremediation for improved ecosystem services, and success stories on microbe-assisted phytoremediation of contaminated sites. With increasing demand for land-space for social, industrial and agricultural use, the theoretical millions of hectares of contaminated sites around the world are a resource sorely needed that currently cannot be utilized. Decontamination of this land using ecologically-sound methods is paramount not only to land use, but in the prevention of toxic substances deteriorating local ecosystems by reducing productivity and contaminating the food chain - which can eventually aggregate in food chains and pose the potential risk of non-curable diseases to humans such as cancer.

This book is comprised of enhanced, expanded, and updated versions of articles previously published in the the International Journal of Public and Private Perspectives on Healthcare, Culture, and the Environment (IJPPPHCE). The chapters will highlight critical trends focusing on the relationship between the public sphere, private sector, medicine, environmental health and wellbeing, and society. It covers critical topics such as environmental sustainability, ethics and medicine, healthcare and administration, corporate social responsibility, pollution and waste management, and related topics, and how the public sector and private industries contribute to these factors. This book will be interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary in its nature, as it is intended for a broad audience with interests in Healthcare, Culture, or the Environment or specifically professionals, policy makers, researchers, and graduate-level students in the fields of sociology, environmental science, public policy, healthcare administration, and business.

Algae and Aquatic Macrophytes in Cities: Bioremediation, Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts introduces the concept of using the natural ability of plants such as algae and aquatic macrophytes to remediate pollutants from water. The book provides scientists with a green, economical and successful option when tackling rising water pollution. The book's chapters cover a range of areas, including bioremediation, biomass, biofuels and bioproducts during the remediation of polluted water systems. It draws together research from eminent scientists from across the globe and includes case studies to help researchers, students, scientists, stakeholders, policymakers and environmentalists understand and perform their research with greater ease.

Microbial Consortium and Biotransformation for Pollution Decontamination presents techniques for the decontamination of polluted environs through potential microbes, particularly examining the benefits of its broad applicability, sustainability and eco-friendly nature. Utilizing global case studies to describe practical applications of the technology, the book offers insights into the latest research on advanced microbiological tools and techniques for the remediation of severe pollutants from the environment. Environmental researchers and environmental managers focusing on pollution and decontamination will find both key contextual information and practical details that are essential in understanding the use of microbial technology for combatting pollutants. Recent advancements in the field of NGS (next-generation sequencing) have allowed more detailed genomic, bioinformatics and metagenomic analyses of potential environmentally important microbes that have led to significant breakthroughs into key bio-degradative pathways. With the increase in human activities around the globe, toxic pollutants from multiple sources have contaminated the earth on a large number scale.

Environmental Sustainability and Industries identifies and discusses critical areas related to environmentally conscious industrial development of products and services that may support more sustainable and equitable societies. This book addresses pollution prevention by referring to the use of processes, practices, and materials that reduce or eliminate the generation of pollutants at the source of production, more efficient use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources, or by conserving natural resources by maintaining clean production. It explains industrial energy efficiency as the most cost-effective use of energy in manufacturing processes, reducing its wastage as well as the total consumption of primary energy resources. Life cycle assessment is used as an analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, focusing on environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization, and including various sustainable manufacturing parameters in the context of industrial processes and proposes a classification of identified parameters to evaluate and optimize the manufacturing performances. The book also dives into industrial ecology, investigating how, where, and why environmental improvements can be made to develop a sustainable industry, meeting the needs of current generations without sacrificing the needs of the future ones. This book analyzes a company's environmental, social, and economic performance and their interrelationships, emphasizing the importance of identifying and understanding causal relationships between alternative approaches to action and their impact on financial and nonfinancial performance. It concludes with a view on the future of sustainable industrial systems stressing change as a joint effort of scientists, governments, people in business, and academicians.

Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications presents state-of-the-art coverage of bio-based materials that can be applied to address the growing global concern of pollutant discharge in the environment. The book examines the production, characterization and application of bio-based materials for remediation. Organized clearly by type of material, the book includes details on lignocellulosic materials, natural clays, carbonaceous materials, composites and advanced materials from natural origins. Readers will find an interdisciplinary and practical examination of these materials and their use in environmental remediation that will be valuable to environmental scientists, materials scientists, environmental chemists, and environmental engineers alike.

Hybrid and Combined Processes for Air Pollution Control: Methodologies, Mechanisms and Effect of Key Parameters provides an exhaustive inventory of hybrid and combined processes in the field of air treatment. The book covers principles, the effect of key parameters, technologies and reactors of the processes and their implementation, from lab-scale to industrial scale, also identifying future trends. Sections discuss effects on the environment and living beings, identify novel techniques and innovations, and offer a thorough assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each. In this well-structured book, chapters are linked to the type of treatment, with a significant part dealing with treatment by transfer processes: (absorption and absorption) and on destruction treatments, such as advanced oxidation processes.