This book takes a critical look at solar geoengineering as an acceptable means for addressing climate change. Baskin explores the assumptions and imaginaries which animate 'engineering the climate' and discusses why this climate solution is so controversial. The book explains geoengineering's past, its revival in the mid-2000s, and its future prospects including its shadow presence in the Paris climate accord. The main focus however is on dissecting solar geoengineering today - its rationales, underpinning knowledge, relationship to power, and the stance towards nature which accompanies it. Baskin explores three competing imaginaries associated with geoengineering: an Imperial imaginary, an oppositional Un-Natural imaginary, and a conspiratorial Chemtrail imaginary. He seeks to explain why solar geoengineering has struggled to gain approval and why resistance to it persists, despite the support of several powerful actors. He provocatively suggests that reconceptualising our present as the Anthropocene might unwittingly facilitate the normalisation of geoengineering by providing a sustaining socio-technical imaginary. This book is essential reading for those interested in climate policy, political ecology, and science & technology studies.

This is the first English language book to systematically introduce basic theories, methods and applications of disaster risk science from the angle of different subjects including disaster science, emergency technology and risk management. Viewed from basic theories, disaster risk science consists of disaster system, formation mechanism and process, covering 3 chapters in this book. From the perspective of technical methods, disaster risk science includes measurement and assessment of disasters, mapping and zoning of disaster risk, covering 4 chapters in this book. From the angle of application practices, disaster risk science contains disaster management, emergency response and integrated disaster risk paradigm, covering 3 chapters in the book. The book can be a good reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in the field of disaster risk science and natural disaster risk management for more actively participating in and supporting the development of "disaster risk science".

This book presents a case study on a semi-arid region, Maharashtra State, India, and discusses problems concerning a broad range of areas: sustainable watershed development; watershed management; groundwater condition; land and resource development plans; thematic maps on e.g. land use, soil types and soil erosion; groundwater recharge site selection; remote sensing and GIS; and soil and water conservation structures. The book's focus is on creating a land and water resource development plan and environmental management for groundwater recharge development using remote sensing and GIS technology in the case study region, which is situated in the Akola and Buldhana districts of Maharashtra. Its goal is to promote awareness for sustainable watershed development and planning in semi-arid regions by highlighting the problems of, and plans for, groundwater and surface water pollution and sustainable watershed development. These aspects are of great importance to watershed and natural resources planning and management, and need to be exploited and managed sustainably. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to all scientists, research scholars and graduate students of remote sensing, hydrology, hydrogeology, water resource engineering, agricultural engineering and related areas who want to acquire detailed information on watershed planning and sustainable water resource planning in semi-arid regions, or to find new methodologies and techniques for studying the feedback mechanisms between forms and processes.

The humid tropics contain some of the world's richest, most diverse, most important and most threatened environments. This book draws on recent work by geographers, biologists, ecologists, geologists and climatologists to present a complete and integrated appraisal of the natural environment of all the humid tropical regions of the world.
The most complete textbook on this key subject.
Fully illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams.
Informative case studies and examples.
Considers the physical environment as a whole and stresses the link between the elements.

This book offers new research on urban policy innovations that promote the application of blue-green infrastructure in managing water resources sustainably. The author argues that urban water managers have traditionally relied on grey infrastructural solutions to mitigate risks with numerous economic and environmental consequences. Brears explores the role urban water managers have in implementing blue-green infrastructure to reduce ecological damage and mitigate risk. The case studies in this book illustrate how cities, of differing climates, lifestyles and income-levels, have implemented policy innovations that promote the application of blue-green infrastructure in managing water, wastewater and stormwater sustainably to reduce environmental degradation and enhance resilience to climate change. This new research on urban policy innovations that promote the application of blue-green infrastructure in managing water resources sustainably will be of interest to those working on water conservation and policy.

How is the vegetation distribution influencing the erosion and surface formation in the different eco zones of Chile? To answer this question, it is mandatory to possess fundamental knowledge about plant species habitats, occurrence and their dynamics. In his study Christian Boedinger utilizes satellite imagery in combination with machine learning to derive maps of land use and land cover (LULC) in four study sites along a climatic gradient and to monitor vegetation using monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series. The findings contribute to a better understanding of climate impacts on Chilean vegetation and serve as a basis of landscape evolution models. About the Author: Christian Boedinger holds a M.Sc. in Physical Geography from the University of Tubingen, Germany. His focus in research lies on remote sensing and image analysis for environmental applications. He is currently working for a company focusing on aquatic remote sensing.

This textbook explores the growing area of human-environment interaction. We live in the Anthropocene, an era dominated by humans, but also by the positive yet destructive environmental feedbacks that are poised to completely reset the relationships between nature and society. Modern and historic political, social, and cultural processes and physical landscape responses determine the intensity of these impacts. Yet different cultural groups, political and economic entities view, react to, and impact these human-environmental processes in spatially distinct and divergent ways. Providing an accessible, up-to-date, approach to human-environment interactions with balanced coverage of both social and natural science approaches to core environmental issues, this textbook is an integrative, multi-disciplinary offering that discusses environmental issues and processes within the context of human societies. The book begins by addressing the three most pressing issues of our time: climate change, threshold exceedance, and the 6th mass extinction. From there the authors identify within chapters on resources, population, agriculture and urbanization what precipitated and continues to sustain these three issues. They end with a chapter outlining some practical solutions to our human-environment crises. The book will be a valuable resource for interdisciplinary environment related courses bridging the gap between the social and natural sciences, human geographies and physical geographies.

This revised edition describes the transformation of the environment and landscape of Western Sorkapp Land based on research data collected by Jagiellonian University scientific expeditions in the period 1980-1986 and in 2008. It also outlines potential directions of the transformation of Western Sorkapp Land.Western Sorkapp Land has been experiencing dramatic natural changes such as glacial recession, coastline retreat, emergence of new landforms and Quaternary deposits, as well as changes in the water drainage and network due to global warming. Western Sorkapp Land is a very remote and diverse region, which is representative of the European Arctic. The establishment of South Spitsbergen National Park has led to a regeneration of the local reindeer herd, which has caused overgrazing of the local tundra resulting in altered plant communities and soil erosion. They have also destroyed numerous bird nests. The transformation of Western Sorkapp Land is set to continue.

This volume provides a textbook and reference work on the physical and biotic landscapes of Southern Africa. It examines the links between these environments and the ways in which they have been, are and will likely be subject to change. It covers the geomorphology, soils, vegetation and land use across a range of landscapes, including mountains, coasts, savannah, drylands and wetlands, and identifies the impacts of current and potential climate change and other factors on these environments.

The geographical focus is on the region defined by Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. Illustrated throughout in full colour, the book will serve as a reference volume for researchers and environmental professionals internationally, as well as a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate-level students of geography, ecology and environmental studies in Southern Africa.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Geomorphic Evolution of Southern Africa during the Cenozoic 3. Southern African Soils and their Susceptibility to Degradation 4. Southern African Rivers and Fresh Water Resources within the context of the Anthropocene 5. Southern African Biomes 6. Land Use, Land Cover and Vegetation Change in Southern Africa 7. Fluvial System Response to Environmental Change 8. Southern African drylands and their unique challenges 9. Southern African Montane Environments 10. Savanna Ecosystems of Southern Africa 11. Landscape Dynamics within the Southern African Coastal Zone 12. Agriculture and a Changing Biophysical Environment 13. Monitoring and Assessing Land Degradation: New Approaches 14. Quaternary Environmental Change 15. Conclusion

Geographical data are used in so many aspects of our lives today, ranging from disaster relief operations through to finding directions on our mobile phones. We can all be data collectors, adding locational information as we capture digitally our day-to-day experiences. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are the software tools that facilitate this, turning the raw data into useful information that can help us understand our worlds better. Principles of Geographical Information Systems presents a thorough overview of the subject, exploring both the theoretical basis of GIS, and their use in practice. It explains how data on the world are converted into digital form and the analytical capabilities used to bring understanding to a range of areas of interest and issues. Spatial data are usually based on two, dichotomous paradigms: exactly defined entities in space, such as land parcels and urban structures, or the continuous variation of single attributes, such as temperature or rainfall. The adoption of one or the other influences how the geographical data are structured in the GIS and the types of analysis possible. A further area of focus in the book concerns the problems of data quality and how statistical errors in spatial data can affect the results of spatial modelling based on the two paradigms of space. Fuzzy logic and continuous classification methods are presented as methods for linking the two spatial paradigms. The book concludes with an overview of current developments and trends in providing spatial data to an ever-expanding global community of users. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre to accompany Principles of Geographical Information Systems features: For students: * Datasets with instructions of how to repeat analyses presented in the book using widely-used software For registered adopters of the book: * Figures from the book, available for download

Although millions of Americans and international travelers take road trips through North America every year, most have no understanding of how the landscape came to be. North America's Natural Wonders provides everything these travelers need to understand the landscape. Written by a career geologist with decades of experience in the field, it guides readers through the most iconic, geologically significant scenery in North America and explains what they are seeing. Volume I focuses on western North America, including the Canadian Rockies, the Southwest, Great Basin, and Tetons-Yellowstone Country. The trips detailed in this volume include stops at the glaciers and mountains of Banff National Park, the Grand Canyon, numerous parks in Utah, and the geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone. It also features lesser known but equally interesting geologic formations and how to access these sites. Volume II focuses on central and eastern North America, including the Appalachians of Virginia and West Virginia, the Colorado Rockies, Austin-Big Bend Country, and the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. The trips detailed in this volume include stops at the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Big Bend National Park, Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak, the Colorado Mineral Belt, Aspen and the Maroon Bells, giant salt-cored uplifts of the La Popa Basin, Mexico, and many others. It also features lesser known but equally interesting geologic formations and how to access these sites. This detailed guide will help the curious layman, the rock hound, the geology student, and the professional geologist understand what they are seeing when they look at a roadcut, quarry, or landscape. A full understanding of natural formations will enhance the traveler's experience beyond simple sightseeing.

This book is about how energy, risk and governance are intertwined in the development of the nuclear industry in India and its relationship with the Indian public. It provides a rare insider-view of how the nuclear establishment thinks about risk, contrasted with public understandings of nuclear risk. Energy, Risk and Governance presents a nuanced picture of why nuclear energy is still considered by some as a rational choice. This is in spite of its risks, the ambiguities in both expert and public risk perceptions, and the internal reflexivities that have emerged within the nuclear establishment as a result of the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster that is absent from public discourse. The insights in this book are not unique to India and similar observations can likely be made across the global nuclear industry. Reflecting on what this means for risk governance in practice, this book proposes practical suggestions and some tools that practitioners in the nuclear industry can use in public engagement, risk communication and deliberation at various stages of decision-making.

This book investigates the introduction of invasive species and their behavior in oceanic islands. How can we define invasive species? What is their history? How did they come to dominate and transform ecosystems? These are relevant questions when trying to understand the behavior of invasive species-primarily in fragile ecosystems such as islands-and to understand the biological, ecological, social and economic impacts of invasions. We chose the Galapagos Islands, a place well-known to be unique in the study of evolution, as a laboratory to analyze the interactions between invasive and endemic species, to understand the makeup of the ecosystems emerging after invasions have occurred, to describe the relationships of invasives with the people that live in these islands, and to try to develop comprehensive analyses on this topic from multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary points of view. For a long time, the discussion has been about how proper management of the species could achieve two main goals: the eradication of the species to recover affected ecosystems and the conservation of endemic species. The discussion has taken on other nuances, including the suggestion that an invasive species, when it is already adapted to an ecosystem, forms an integral part of it, and thus eradication would in itself go against conservation. On the other hand, some invasive species are not only part of the biological compound of the island ecosystems, but they also form part of the social and cultural history of the inhabited islands. Some of these identified by the local inhabitants are species of real or potential economic value.

The purpose of this book is to present a range of cases and comparison of the issues, insights and cases emerging from the Sustainable Energy Mix Summit in the Galapagos that offer a better understanding of energy mix in fragile environments from a variety of International locations and contexts including the Galapagos.

This study focuses on impacts of the environmental and socio-economic transformation on the indigenous people's livelihoods in Vietnam's Central Highlands recent decades since the country's reunification in 1975. The first empirical section sheds light on multiple external conditions (policy reforms, population trends, and market forces) exposed onto local people. The role of human and social capital is examined again in a specific livelihood of community-based tourism to testify the resilience level of local people when coping with constraints. The study concludes with an outlook on implications of development processed which still places agriculture at the primary position livelihood, and pays attention to human capital and social capital of indigenous groups in these highlands.

In photographs, artworks, and words Gloria Wilson celebrates the rugged fishing village where she was brought up, and from which she set her course to a career recording, both visually and verbally, the North Sea fishery she loves. She writes: In this intriguing place I have found a heady mix of seafaring activities, shorelines, inimitable fisher people, stalwart boats, notable marine artists, cats, dark seas and dashing spray, thick sepulchral fogs, the clutter of translucent fishing paraphernalia, folklore and local custom, and many architectural specialities, together with touches of joy, humour, absurdity, and melancholy, all set within a townscape and topography of distinctive and outstanding quality. Staithes has always been a working village, rugged and unpretentious, without attitude. Things have an elegance which results from useful function.

Effective spatial analysis is an essential element of archaeological research; this book is a unique guide to choosing the appropriate technique, applying it correctly and understanding its implications both theoretically and practically. Focusing upon the key techniques used in archaeological spatial analysis, this book provides the authoritative, yet accessible, methodological guide to the subject which has thus far been missing from the corpus. Each chapter tackles a specific technique or application area and follows a clear and coherent structure. First is a richly referenced introduction to the particular technique, followed by a detailed description of the methodology, then an archaeological case study to illustrate the application of the technique, and conclusions that point to the implications and potential of the technique within archaeology. The book is designed to function as the main textbook for archaeological spatial analysis courses at undergraduate and post-graduate level, while its user-friendly structure makes it also suitable for self-learning by archaeology students as well as researchers and professionals.

This book, based on conference excerpts, investigates various aspects of contemporary Iranian urbanism. The topics covered range from the impacts of political developments on the cities' rapid socio-economic developments, to the cities' troubled relationship with the country's built-environment history and their frequently ill-managed exposure to Western notions of development and globalisation. Last but not least, the country's vulnerability to natural disasters in an age of increasing urban-population densification is also considered. Alongside more theoretically and artistically oriented debates, the book's individual contributions turn their attention to the now much higher proportion of urban dwellers in the country's rising population. It also discusses the policies designed in response to these demographic moves, including those to develop new towns, find housing for the excess population in existing cities, renovate historic buildings and create new public spaces. The practice-policy oriented contributions also include those concerning the country's responses to natural disasters.

The soils are fundamental to our existence, delivering water and nutrients to plants, that feed us. But they are in many ways in danger and their conservation is therefore a most important focus for science, governments and society as a whole. A team of world recognised researchers have prepared this first English edition based on the 16th European edition. * The precursors and the processes of soil development * The physical, biological and chemical properties of soils * Nutrients and Pollutants * The various soil classifications with the main focus on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) * The most important soils and soil landscapes of the world * Soil Evaluation Techniques * Basic Principles of Soil Conservation Whoever works with soils needs this book.

This edited collection of works by leading climate scientists and philosophers introduces readers to issues in the foundations, evaluation, confirmation, and application of climate models. It engages with important topics directly affecting public policy, including the role of doubt, the use of satellite data, and the robustness of models. Climate Modelling provides an early and significant contribution to the burgeoning Philosophy of Climate Science field that will help to shape our understanding of these topics in both philosophy and the wider scientific context. It offers insight into the reasons we should believe what climate models say about the world but addresses the issues that inform how reliable and well-confirmed these models are. This book will be of interest to students of climate science, philosophy of science, and of particular relevance to policy makers who depend on the models that forecast future states of the climate and ocean in order to make public policy decisions.

This book explores the link between individual lives and significant environmental issues affecting millions of people around the world. Zolnikov offers a novel perspective on the environment and human health through autoethnographic stories. Each chapter includes an overview of an environmental risk factor or issue, such as air quality, accompanied by a reflective personal story. Her experiences were gathered around the world and revolve around immersion into local cultures. Learning about environmental health through this qualitative approach will enable readers to understand how issues in the environment are currently affecting people on an individual basis.

This book highlights the development of lake systems and water reservoirs as well as the impact of climate change on water resources in Central Asian countries. It provides information on the genesis of lake basins, physical and chemical properties of water in lakes, and the hydrological regimes (water balance and fluctuation levels) of lakes of Central Asia and Xinjiang. The book is useful for scientists and researchers whose work focuses on lakes and the use of natural resources, irrigation, hydropower and water supply, as well as for students and planners.

This handbook is recognition of the need to better integrate physical and human geography. It combines a collection of work and research within the new field of Critical Physical Geography, which gives critical attention to relations of social power with deep knowledge of a particular field of biophysical science. Critical Physical Geography research accords careful attention to biophysical landscapes and the power relations that have increasingly come to shape them, and to the politics of environmental science and the role of biophysical inquiry in promoting social and environmental justice. The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Physical Geography lays out the scope and guiding principles of Critical Physical Geography research. It presents a carefully selected set of empirical work, demonstrating the range and intellectual strength of existing integrative work in geography research. This handbook is the first of its kind to cover this emerging discipline and will be of significant interest to students and academics across the fields of geography, the environment and sustainability.

At a time of societal urgency surrounding ecological crises from depleted fisheries to mineral extraction and potential pathways towards environmental and ecological justice, this book re-examines ecologically unequal exchange (EUE) from a historical and comparative perspective. The theory of ecologically unequal exchange posits that core or northern consumption and capital accumulation is based on peripheral or southern environmental degradation and extraction. In other words, structures of social and environmental inequality between the Global North and Global South are founded in the extraction of materials from, as well as displacement of waste to, the South. This volume represents a set of tightly interlinked papers with the aim to assess ecologically unequal exchange and to move it forward. Chapters are organised into three main sections: theoretical foundations and critical reflections on ecologically unequal exchange; empirical research on mining, deforestation, fisheries, and the like; and strategies for responding to the adverse consequences associated with unequal ecological exchange. Scholars as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from the spirited re-evaluation and extension of ecologically unequal exchange theory, research, and praxis.