This book explains how and why large oil-producing corporations have affected government institutions, energy policy, and politics in the United States—and suggests how their influence can be reduced. Big oil is the leading factor in U.S. energy politics today; the largest oil-producing companies also constitute a formidable force and interest group in American politics. This book examines why oil is so important and how the prominence of huge corporations—often working in the absence of countervailing forces—has affected government institutions, policy (with a focus on energy policy), and politics in the United States. Analyzing big oil's influence on political outcomes, particularly through campaign contributions and lobbying, this book shows how strong corporate power affects political participation. The book documents how the influence of big oil flows in all directions, intricately connecting U.S. policies at all levels—foreign policy, federal, state, and even local—regarding oil exploration, development, production, and transportation. Readers will come away with a clear understanding of how these multi-tiered relationships between oil corporations and governments work to the advantage of corporations—and to the disadvantage of states and the citizens they represent.

Over the past decade the notion of sustainability has emerged as a precept that has been applied to government, commerce, the environment and technology. This volume will discuss how sustainability is reflected in economics, political science and geography through the lens of socio-economic change and globalization through theoretical and real world perspectives. Using the Costa Rican Cloud Forest community of Monteverde readers will be able to understand how the notion of sustainability has been applied in a community context whose experiences have global implications.

Why should we care about climate chaos and global warming? Because, among other risky outcomes, they may seriously harm our health Scientists around the world are in agreement that global warming, more aptly named climate change, is occurring and human activity is the primary cause. The debate now is in the scientific and policy worlds about just how harmful climate change will be and what are the best ways to stop it. One of those scientists is author Cindy Parker, who believes climate change is the most health-damaging problem humanity has ever faced. Parker has thus immersed herself during the past ten years in educating the public and health professionals about how climate change will affect our well-being. Here, she and husband, Steve Shapiro, a psychologist and former journalist, describe what we can expect if climate change continues unabated. The authors explain our possible physical and mental responses to such climate change factors as heat stress, poor air quality, insufficient water resources, and the rise of infectious diseases fueled by even minor increases in temperature. They also show how other changes that may result from climate change-including sea level rise, extreme weather events, and altered food supplies can harm human health. Parker and Shapiro have found, however, that just talking about the problem is not enough. Actions that can prevent or reduce climate change's harm are presented in each chapter.

To illustrate how much global warming will affect our lives, Parker and Shapiro begin their book with a chapter showing the worst-case scenario if climate change continues without intervention, and end the book with the best case scenario if we act now. Their eye-opening work will appeal to everyone who wants to remain healthy as we challenge this world-altering problem of our own making . While written for a lay audience in a manner that limits technical terminology, the book will also appeal to students and professionals of public health, medicine, environmental psychology, and science who will find the focus on health and the extensive referencing useful.

These essays examine several aspects of the nature of the emerging strategic environment and how this situation affects thinking about U.S. strategy in the 21st century. The United States and its Allies currently confront a number of major trouble spots around the world. In addition, the stability and defense policies of U.S. Allies represent an increasingly important factor in the making of U.S. foreign policy. How well the American military is adjusting to the post-Cold War world with the threats of declining defense budgets and rapid changes in technology, will be a determining factor in the course of the coming decade. Here, the discussion of an impending joint military culture and service cultures out of touch with the harsh realities of the emerging strategic environment combine in a dramatic prediction of 21st century foreign strategies.

The Balkans, the Middle East, and Russia all present considerable defense planning difficulties with no obvious solutions. The Balkans represent the clearest immediate danger, as the weight of history and current political ambitions threaten to destabilize Europe's southeastern flank. In the mid-term range are Middle Eastern concerns such as water shortages, border disputes, and new rivalries, all of which unbalance an area whose oil reserves fuel the world economy. Finally, the Russian military collapse suggests that the future Russian threat may result more from national weakness than from strength.

This study examines the administrative tools and techniques that U.S. presidents have used to influence environmental policy. A major portion of the book assesses current techniques and recent administrations, particularly Reagan, Carter, and Bush strategies. Experts, students, policymakers, and activists concerned with public policy and environmental issues will find this unique study invaluable for understanding the administrative procedures, the powers, and the limitations of the administrative presidency. Robert Shanley opens with a brief overview of how presidents have affected conservation policy in the first part of the century and then discusses the more complex environmental policymaking in recent administrations. Focusing on the Reagan administration, he shows how it controlled the flow of agency information and the gathering of statistical data to curb agency policy and enforcement, and then traces the reaction of Congress and the Federal Courts to these initiatives. He demonstrates how presidential executive orders may significantly affect environmental policy and then contrasts different perspectives of the Carter and Reagan administrations on risk assessment and on various agency programs. Shanley goes on to discuss Bush's record and his efforts to work out compromises between environmental and economic interests. Finally, Shanley posits that administrative procedures are often counter-productive in the long term. The book concludes with an overview of the resources at the disposal of presidents today and the problems confronting national leaders in initiating and shaping environmental policy.

A fascinating look at the historical relationship between environmental issues and scientific study, social attitudes, and public policy from the 17th century to the present. The Environment and Science: Social Impact and Interaction explores the history of how science investigates nature and how those studies both shape and are shaped by the social attitudes, philosophies, and politics of their times. It follows the changes in perceptions of the natural world and humankind's place in it from the European colonization of North America through the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion, to the rise of the consumer economy and the recent hardening of the ideological battle lines over environmental policy. Coverage includes the emergence of ecology as a science and conservation as a movement, the long history of conflicts between business interests and environmentalists, and the role of scientific studies in debates over atomic and nuclear power, pesticides, toxic emissions, and other human-made sources of environmental degradation. Biographical sketches of major contributors to the study of human/environment interaction, including Carolus Linnaeus, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin, Rachel Carson, and Barry Commoner Primary source documents from key environmental writers

There are many factors that environmental scientists should consider in their research. Weather and climate vary widely between locations, soil varies at every spatial scale at which it is examined, and even man-made attributes, such as the distribution of pollution, fluctuate significantly. To analyse the varied kinds of data and to predict at unvisited places from them, research scientists need to be familiar with the techniques of Geostatistics.

This revised and fully updated second edition of "Geostatistics for Environmental Scientists" provides comprehensive coverage of the techniques involved in this vital branch of statistics. The book

introduces readers to the most up-to-date statistical techniques, including, sampling, data screening, spatial covariances, the variogram and its modelling; includes a new chapter on stochastic simulation, and covers the latest methods, such as residual maximum likelihood and factorial kriging analysis; adopts a practical approach throughout, illustrating the applications with worked examples and case studies; provides step-by-step guidance for analysing environmental survey data; explains the underlying theory and rationale behind the choices faced by the researchers at each stage, allowing the reader to appreciate the assumptions and constraints involved.

The accessible style of "Geostatistics for Environmental Scientists, Second Edition" makes this text invaluable to advanced undergraduate and graduate students of spatial variation and environmental research.

The Arctic region plays an important role in regulating the world s climate and is also highly impacted by climate change, with average temperatures rising almost twice as fast as the rest of the world and sea ice melting much faster than previously predicted. These rapid changes will have significant impacts on human activity in the region and on the Arctic marine environment.

This book draws on the results of the 2008-2009 Arctic TRANSFORM project, funded by the European Commission s Directorate General of External Relations, which engaged experts in a transatlantic discussion on the roles of the European Union and United States in light of the Arctic s changing climate and political and legal complexities. . The book addresses the significant changes and developments in the marine Arctic, with descriptions and recommendations reflecting the current governance environment. A comprehensive overview of environmental governance and sustainable development in the Arctic is created. Chapters explore impacts and activities by sector, looking at fisheries, shipping, and offshore hydrocarbon in the Arctic, and at policy options and strategies for improving marine governance in the region. A particular focus is given to the roles of the European Union and United States and opportunities for cooperation to enhance Arctic environmental governance.

."

This book brings together thirteen selected papers presented in the Third International Seminar on Science and Geopolitics of Arctic-Antarctic-Himalaya, held in India in September 2015. The papers and have been grouped according to the Seminar's three main themes: a) Geopolitics of the Polar Regions, b) Global Climate Change and Polar Regions, and c) Climate Change and Himalayan Region.

This intriguing book investigates the technical information quandary created by post-industrial changes, which have produced demands for citizen involvement in public policy processes while complex scientific and technical issues increasingly make public involvement difficult. Authors Pierce, Steger, Steel, and Lovrich address the degree to which interest groups might serve to bridge the knowledge gap between public policy processes and the citizenry in U.S. and Canadian settings. The focus of the study is on acid rain policy in Michigan and Ontario, an area of considerable scientific and technical complexity as well as political and public interest. The authors examine how the U.S. and Canadian publics acquire, process, and communicate policy-relevant information so that it can influence policymaking. Do interest groups play the information dissemination role in a manner that could address the technical information quandary? Are interest groups playing the same or different roles in the United States and Canada? What different factors cause U.S. and Canadian interest groups to behave as they do in the political arena? Recommended for scholars of Political Science, Communication, Environmental Studies, and Comparative Public Policy.

This book presents theory-driven discussion on the link between implementing green shipping practices (GSP) and shipping firm performance. It examines the shipping industry's challenge of supporting economic growth while enhancing environmental performance. Consisting of nine chapters, the book covers topics such as the conceptualization of green shipping practices(GSPs), measurement scales for evaluating GSP implementation, greening capability, greening and performance relativity (GPR), green management practice, and green shipping network. In view of the increasing quest for environment protection in the shipping sector, this book provides a good reference for firms to understand and evaluate their capability in carrying out green operations on their shipping activities.

This book focuses on modelling in ecological economics and offers a comprehensive overview of current and emerging methods of applying mathematical, computational and conceptual methods to environmental issues. Following a detailed introduction, the authors investigate various modelling techniques including: evolutionary modelling input - output modelling neo-Austrian modelling entropy in ecological economics thermodynamic models multi-criteria evaluation agent-based modelling the environmental Kuznets curve. In each of the specially commissioned chapters, the expert authors have tried to limit the level of complexity to create a unique and accessible resource. As such, this book should have a wide appeal amongst scholars, researchers and students with an interest in modelling techniques and their use in ecological and environmental economics.

By adopting a wide-ranging perspective, this book addresses the key issues relevant to contemporary China, providing a valuable tool with which to understand the challenges and opportunities facing political and economic actors, both domestic and foreign, over the next decades. The book addresses key issues now subject to considerable debate, such as sustainable growth, the imbalances in society deriving from growing inequalities and environmental threats. Concluding this section is an overview of how Chinese-US relations, and China's geo-political role at the international level, have evolved at the turn of the 21st century. The book then goes on to analyse those issues linked to the impacts of recent welfare system reforms. In particular, those impacts on the health care and pension systems, growing unemployment deriving from reform of state-owned enterprises and the related phasing out of the 'cradle-to-grave' welfare system. The closing chapter looks at the potential provided by a fast-growing insurance market in conjunction with WTO opening measures, to assess whether increased opportunities are likely to arise for foreign insurance suppliers. Scholars of political economy and international economics as well as academics and researchers of Asian - particularly Chinese studies, will find this book of great value.

This book is based on a conference addressing the relationship between the environment and security in the post-Cold War world. It brings together scholars and practitioners from a variety of different disciplines and perspectives in an effort to both explore the complexities of the relationship between environmental variables and security conditions, and re-focus the debate within the environmental community. The book combines analytical frameworks and case study material with proposals for addressing environmental challenges and enhancing the security and welfare of peoples, states and regions.

In this work, scholars, political leaders and experts in international development issues offer their responses to the need for up-to-date information about the linkages between population growth and three significant environmental issues: global warming, land use, and natural resource management. Collectively, the chapters in this volume look at the demographic facts and their interpretations, and beyond these facts to theories about consumption, technological development, and collective behaviour. Of particular concern throughout are the issues of poverty and the implications for the health and welfare of the poor people whose very lives are at stake in the global discussion about population growth and environment.

The principles and procedures used to obtain structural measurements of terrestrial vegetation communities are presented in this text/reference. Designed to be the standard work on the topic, it provides a balance between conceptual and practical aspects of measurement procedures and techniques. The four commonly used measurements of vegetation - frequency, cover, density, and biomass - are introduced, along with their associated units. There is also up-to-date coverage of vegetation measurement using remote sensing techniques.

Blending scientific and legal expertise, Kunich proves that a devastating ecological crisis is imminent or even underway already, and that conservation law has yet to catch up with biological science. He challenges readers with a hotspots wager, arguing that he have vastly more to gain than lose by legally protecting biological hotspots, and that foregoing them in favor of the relatively minor and immediate returns arising from their devastation is both foolish and, ultimately, dangerous.

Legal thought lags behind modern science in focusing on and setting priorities for global conservation. An extinction spasm is imminent, many scientists argue, due to the ongoing global devastation of biological hotspots, home to a disproportionate share of all life forms, including perhaps millions of unknown species. These hotspots have already lost 88 percent of their primary vegetation and are likely to lose much more, yet few legal measures exist to protect them. Environmental legal protections are often incomprehensive and feebly enforced. Even worse, 62 percent of all hotspots are unprotected. Kunich provides a brief history and science of extinction. He discusses the importance of saving species from extinction and analyzes the legal measures directed toward preserving biodiversity in nations that harbor hotspots.

W.G. Hoskins was one of the most original and influential British historians of the twentieth century. He realised that landscapes are the richest record we have of the past, and with his masterpiece, The Making of the English Landscape, he changed forever how we experience the places we live and work in.Where we see a picturesque scene of rolling hills, distant spires and wooded valleys, Hoskins shows us the line of a Bronze Age trackway, the ghostly impression of an open-field system, the gridiron pattern of an industrial town, or the footprint of a Roman villa. By revealing these traces of the past, Hoskins enables us to appreciate different landscapes as if they were pieces of music, a series of compositions which enrich our understanding of the symphonic whole.While planning and building our future villages and towns, in both green and urban places, this pioneering account reminds us why we must be sensitive to the land and its past as we leave our own marks in England's historical landscape.

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Russian Empire-already the largest on earth-expanded its dominion onto the ocean. Through a series of government-sponsored voyages of discovery and the establishment of a private fur trade, Russians crossed and re-crossed the Bering Strait and the North Pacific Ocean, establishing colonies in Kamchatka and Alaska and exporting marine mammal furs to Europe and China. In the process they radically transformed the North Pacific, causing environmental catastrophe. In one of the most hotly-contested imperial arenas of the day, the Russian empire organized a host of Siberian and Alaskan native peoples to rapaciously hunt for fur seals, sea otters, and other fur-bearing animals. The animals declined precipitously, and Steller's sea cow went extinct. This destruction captured the attention of natural historians who for the first time began to recognize the threat of species extinction. These experts drew upon Enlightenment and Romantic-era ideas about nature and imperialism but their ideas were refracted through Russian scientific culture and influenced by the region's unique ecology. Cosmopolitan scientific networks ensured the spread of their ideas throughout Europe. Heeding the advice of these scientific experts, Russian colonial governors began long-term management of marine mammal stocks and instituted some of the colonial world's most forward-thinking conservationist policies. Highlighting the importance of the North Pacific in Russian imperial and global environmental history, Empire of Extinction focuses on the development of ideas about the natural world in a crucial location far from what has been considered the center of progressive environmental attitudes.

This book provides new insights on the study of global environmental changes using the ecoinformatics tools and the adaptive-evolutionary technology of geoinformation monitoring. The main advantage of this book is that it gathers and presents extensive interdisciplinary expertise in the parameterization of global biogeochemical cycles and other environmental processes in the context of globalization and sustainable development. In this regard, the crucial global problems concerning the dynamics of the nature-society system are considered and the key problems of ensuring the system's sustainable development are studied. A new approach to the numerical modeling of the nature-society system is proposed and results are provided on modeling the dynamics of the system's characteristics with regard to scenarios of anthropogenic impacts on biogeochemical cycles, land ecosystems and oceans. The main purpose of this book is to develop a universal guide to information-modeling technologies for assessing the function of environmental subsystems under various climatic and anthropogenic conditions.

This book presents valuable insights on a vast array of topics in the field of environmental studies. The works published in the book were presented within the scope of the 2013 Sopot Forum of Young Scientists. The Forum is an annual event which provides a platform for young researchers to present their work and exchange ideas with their peers. The aim of the forum is to make science more popular, so the speakers talked about their work in a way that was easily understandable. The book contains actual scientific papers on their own topics of interest. The papers represent different areas of environmental sciences, from biology to physics. The main umbrella topic for this book is "WHERE THE WORLD IS HEADING" and the papers are constructed in such a way as to try to answer this from each contributor's individual perspective.