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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology > General
Featuring completely updated chapters, additional authors, and an increased emphasis on alternatives to traditional pesticides, the second edition of Ecological Entomology is the field's leading reference on the role of insects in ecosystems. The authors cover insect growth and development, what they eat, how they reproduce, and how they move in various environments. The book also examines how insects interact with the plant community and how to control insect populations naturally.
This multidisciplinary approach to the Western Balkans addresses topics from responsible business and ethics, innovation, corporate social responsibility, and new technology to human resources management. It is a theoretical and practical guide towards a sustainable future for the Western Balkans, showing drivers and barriers affecting the region in its effort to green its economy, and provides a systematic and holistic overview and critical examination of the situation in the region. Chapters explore a review of the literature and developing theory, and report empirical procedures. If the Western Balkan countries are following the industrialised states of Western Europe-which are now keen to develop in a sustainable manner, combining economic growth with social justice and improved environment-this work fills the growing need for more research and to expand the current knowledge base about environmental and development challenges, as well as the new, efficient and climate-neutral 'Green Economy' of this region.
Theology and Climate Change examines Progressive Dominion Theology (PDT) as a primary cultural driver of anthropogenic climate change. PDT is a distinctive and Western form of Christian theology out of which the modern scientific revolution and technological modernity arises. Basic attitudes to nature, to instrumental power over nature, and to an understanding of humanity's relationship with nature are a function of the deep theological preconditions of Western modernity. Much of what we like about Western modernity is indebted to PDT at the same time that this tacit cultural theology is propelling us towards climate disaster. This text argues that the urgent need to change the fundamental operational assumptions of our way of life is now very hard for us to do, because secular modernity is now largely unaware of its tacit theological commitments. Modern consumer society, including the global economy that supports this way of life, could not have the operational signatures it currently has without its distinctive theological origin and its ongoing submerged theological assumptions. Some forms of Christian theology are now acutely aware of this dynamic and are determined to change the modern life-world, from first assumptions up, in order to avert climate disaster. At the same time that other forms of Christian theology - aligned with pragmatic fossil fuel interests - advance climate change skepticism and overtly uphold PDT. Theology is, in fact, crucially integral with the politics of climate change, but this is not often understood in anything more than simplistic and polemically expedient ways in environmental and policy contexts. This text aims to dis-imbed climate change politics from polarized and unfruitful slinging-matches between conservatives and progressives of all or no religious commitments. This fascinating volume is a must read for those with an interest in environmental policy concerns and in culturally embedded first-order belief commitments.
This book examines the different ways companies can develop and design social innovation. Combining technological and social perspectives, the contributors present emerging research on social innovation from different sectors such as entrepreneurship, education and energy. Collectively, the authors demonstrate the ways in which social innovation can drive sustainability and development in regions around the world. All societies are characterized by their political, economic and social institutions, as well as by how they utilize technology. The social innovations with the highest importance are those which modify existing institutions or create new ones, and based on their magnitude, they can be considered as radical or incremental. For example, when Joseph Chamberlain encouraged workers to organize in order to achieve universal male suffrage in Great Britain in 1885, this was a considered a radical innovation for British society, which in turn changed its political framework. Social innovations may be based on intelligence and commitment, on technology or on social entrepreneurship in its most open forms. In addition, social innovations can be classified into those which correspond to an entire country or region, a field (e.g., education) or a sector (e.g., entrepreneurship, technology, social reform). Featuring contributions on topics such as agro-food, smart cities, higher education, gender equality and sports, this book is ideal for academics, students, scholars, professionals and policy makers in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and regional development.
Aquatic weeds cause serious problems in water bodies throughout the world. They can, for example, block irrigation and drainage channels, interfere with fisheries, hinder navigation, and have environmentally undesirable effects on fresh-water ecosystems. The problems are most severe in tropical and subtropical countries, but they occur almost everywhere. The management of aquatic weeds poses special problems of its own. The main difficulty is to balance effective treatment against the undesirable side-effects that control operations may have on the ecosystem. This book, which is published for the European Weed Research Society, provides a detailed overview of the ecology and management of aquatic weeds, as well as the present status of aquatic weed problems in various continents. The environmental consequences of aquatic weed control measures are discussed in detail. The book will be of special interest to weed scientists, ecologists, agriculturalists, extension personnel, policy makers, and students.
Ideal for city residents, developers, designers, and officials looking for ways to bring urban environments into harmony with the natural world and make cities more sustainable, Urban Ecology for Citizens and Planners offers a wealth of information and examples that will answer fundamental scientific questions, guide green initiatives, and inform environmental policies and decision-making processes.This book provides an overview of the synergistic relationships between humans and nature that shape the ecology of urban green spaces. It also emphasizes the social and cultural value of nature in cities for human health and well-being. Chapters describe the basic science of natural components and ecosystems in urban areas and explore the idea of biophilic urbanism, the philosophy of building nature into the framework of cities. To illustrate these topics, chapters include projects, case studies, expert insights, and successful citizen science programs from urban areas around the world. Authors Gail Hansen and Joseli Macedo argue that citizens have increasingly important roles to play in the environmental future of the cities they live in. A valuable resource for real-world solutions, this volume encourages citizens and planners to actively engage and collaborate in improving their communities and quality of life.
The book focuses on the challenges faced by urban areas in the context of handling waste in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner. It also discusses effective waste management approaches, which differ according to culture, climate, and socio-economic variables, as well as institutional volume. Presenting selected, high-quality papers from IconSWM 2018, the book explores a number of waste management methods with the help of case studies.
This book examines sustainable energy development in China, a non-liberal state, as a counterexample to conventional wisdom that effective policy outcomes are premised on the basis of decentralized governance. The use of sustainable energies as part of the solution for stabilising global warming has been promoted in industrialised countries for the past three decades. In the last ten years, China has expanded its renewable energy capacity with unprecedented speed and breadth. This phenomenon seems to contradict the principle of orthodox environmental governance, in which stakeholder participation is deemed a necessary condition for effective policy outcomes. Based upon policy documents, news report and interviews with 32 policy makers, business leaders, and NGO practitioners in selected subnational governments, this book examines the politics of sustainable energy in China. It engages debates over the relationships among democratic prioritisation, environmental protection, and economic empowerment, arguing that China's quasi-corporatist model in the sustainable energy field challenges Western scholars' dominant assumptions about ecopolitics.
Alesia Montgomery's Greening the Black Urban Regime: The Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit tells the story of the struggle to shape green redevelopment in Detroit. Cultural workers, envisioning a green city crafted by direct democracy, had begun to draw idealistic young newcomers to Detroit's street art and gardens. Then a billionaire developer and private foundations hired international consultants to redesign downtown and to devise a city plan. Using the justice-speak of cultural workers, these consultants did innovative outreach, but they did not enable democratic deliberation. The Detroit Future City plan won awards, and the new green venues in the gentrified downtown have gotten good press. However, low-income black Detroiters have little ability to shape "greening" as uneven development unfolds and poverty persists. Based on years of fieldwork, Montgomery takes us into the city council chambers, nonprofit offices, gardens, churches, cafes, street parties, and public protests where the future of Detroit was imagined, debated, and dictated. She begins by using statistical data and oral histories to trace the impacts of capital flight, and then she draws on interviews and observations to show how these impacts influence city planning. Hostility between blacks and whites shape the main narrative, yet indigenous, Asian, Arab, and Latinx peoples in Detroit add to the conflict. Montgomery compares Detroit to other historical black urban regimes (HBURs)-U.S. cities that elected their first black mayors soon after the 1960s civil rights movement. Critiques of ecological urbanism in HBURs typically focus on gentrification. In contrast, Montgomery identifies the danger as minoritization: the imposition of "beneficent" governance across gentrified and non-gentrified neighborhoods that treats the black urban poor as children of nature who lack the (mental, material) capacities to decide their future. Scholars and students in the social sciences, as well as general readers with social and environmental justice concerns, will find great value in this research.
How to progress climate science to be policy-relevant and actionable? This book presents a novel framework to give a positive vision and structuring approach to guide research and practice on transformative climate governance, to shift the narrative from apathy and stalemate to action and transformation. Our vision contrasts existing climate governance and associated lock-ins that signify the institutional resistance to change. To effectively address climate change, climate governance itself needs to be transformed to foster sustainability transitions under climate change. The book brings together a collection of case studies to investigate how capacities for transformative climate governance are developing at multiple scales and how they can be strengthened vis-a-vis existing governance regimes. Specifically, it sheds light on the following questions: What are key overarching conditions, actors and activities that facilitate governance for transformation under climate change? Given persistent climate governance lock-ins, what needs to happen in research and policy to build-up the capacities that transform climate governance and ensure effective climate action?
This book describes the emergence of landscape ecology, its current status as a new integrative science, and how distinguished scholars in the field of landscape ecology view the future regarding new challenges and career opportunities. Over the past thirty years, landscape ecology has utilized development in technology and methodology (e.g., satellites, GIS, and systems technologists) to monitor large temporal-spatial scale events and phenomena. These events include changes in vegetative cover and composition due to both natural disturbance and human cause-changes that have academic, economic, political, and social manifestations. There is little doubt, due to the temporal-spatial scale of this integrative science, that scholars in fields of study ranging from anthropology to urban ecology will desire to compare their fields with landscape ecology during this intellectually and technologically fertile time. History of Landscape Ecology in the United States brings to light the vital role that landscape ecologists will play in the future as the human population continues to increase and fragment the natural environment. Landscape ecology is known as a synthesized intersection of disciplines; but new theories, concepts, and principles have emerged that form the foundation of a new transdiscipline.
This book provides applied biologists and ecologists with the mathematical tools they need to understand the ever increasingly mathematical and complex area of population ecology.
This thesis deals with two important and very timely aspects of the future power system operation - assessment of demand flexibility and advanced demand side management (DSM) facilitating flexible and secure operation of the power network. It provides a clear and comprehensive literature review in these two areas and states precisely the original contributions of the research. The book first demonstrates the benefits of data mining for a reliable assessment of demand flexibility and its composition even with very limited observability of the end-users. It then illustrates the importance of accurate load modelling for efficient application of DSM and considers different criteria in designing DSM programme to achieve several objectives of the network performance simultaneously. Finally, it demonstrates the importance of considering realistic assumptions when planning and estimating the success of DSM programs. The findings presented here have both scientific and practical significance; they gained her BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade in 2011 and 2012 respectively. She graduated with her PhD from the University of Manchester. She has presented at several conferences, and has won runner-up prizes in poster presentation at three. She has authored or co-authored more than 40 journal, conference and technical papers.provide a basis for further research, and can be used to guide future applications in industry.
The implementation of the circular economy will entail a major transformation from a resource-destroying, linear economy to a circular one that operates within the planet's regenerative boundaries. This book presents an interim assessment of the implementation of a circular economy in the EU. It reveals what achievements have been made in various EU institutions, but which are scarcely perceived by the public; which basic scientific principles can be applied in this context; and what NGOs are demanding beyond this progress. It provides convincing arguments for abandoning the "hamster wheel" of material-based satisfaction of our needs, and shows that the primacy of the economy stands in the way of a good life for all. Given its focus, it will appeal to everyone interested in an ecologically sustainable economic system.
This book discusses the role of cultural practices and policy for sustainable development in West Africa across different artistic disciplines, including performance, video, theatre, community arts and cultural heritage. Based on ethnographic field research in local communities, the book presents findings on current debates of cultural sustainability in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Benin. It provides a unique perspective connecting cultural studies, conflict studies and practical peacebuilding approaches through the arts. The first part pays particular attention to aspects of social cohesion and the circumstances of internally displaced persons e. g. caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northeast Nigeria. The second part focuses on cultural policy issues and challenges in the context of sustainable development, investigating participatory approaches and bottom-up processes, the role of governments and civil society, as well as performing arts organizations and universities in policy making and implementation processes. Performing Sustainability in West Africa presents research results and new methods on the role of artistic and cultural practices in conflict situations as well as current debates in cultural policy for researchers, academics, NGOs and students in cultural studies, sustainable development studies and African studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003261025, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Japan was ahead of the rest of the world when it introduced intermediate processing of municipal waste by such means as incineration in the 1960s. Owing to the small land area of the country and the difficulty in securing landfill sites, the incineration ratio of municipal combustible waste had reached 100% by the 1990s. Along with the landfill of incineration residues, proprietary technologies such as high salt leachate treatment, desalination treatment, by-product recycling, a focus on the resource of incineration residues, sea surface landfill sites, and covered type landfill sites have spread and developed since then. This book describes the introduction of incineration facilities starting in the 1960s, landfill technology, and issues arising after 1990 following the introduction of the facilities. The necessity of a total system from incineration to landfill is explained as well. The volume is a valuable resource for countries that plan to introduce intermediate processing such as incineration and for countries that are developing a waste management policy.
provides an introduction to a new approach to watershed management practice entitled ecohydrology-based landscape restoration puts forward principles for improving current practices will be of great interest to students and scholars of water resource management, ecohydrology and landscape restoration as well as professionals involved in the restoration of landscapes in developing countries.
The political and environmental crises of the twenty-first century require new approaches to the way we think and act politically. This book explores the potential for engagement between green and civic republican thought as part of these new approaches. The green and civic republican traditions have important historical and conceptual connections. They share an emphasis on the idea of interdependence, the common good as distinct from individual and sectional interests, and a corresponding critique of freedom as non-interference and of arguments for minimising the state. Both see the human project as marked by vulnerability, and the achievement of stability and sustainability as a critical though fragile goal, in whose realisation the state must play a significant role. Both focus accordingly on constitutional law, active citizenship and participatory democracy, and adopt a critical stance towards economic inequality and capitalist economic growth. The chapters address these in a variety of ways - from examining fundamental concepts: freedom, rights and political judgement, through analysing the potential grounds for connections between green and republican political theory - vulnerability, limits, sustainability and civic virtue - to outlining the kind of agonistic republican politics and green political economy that these imply. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Critical Review of Social and Political Philosophy.
Covers Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and future challenges including its practical applications as climate change tool Connects life cycle management and LCA/environmental management Explains benefits of LCA studies for both internal and external purpose in terms of various impact parameters Identifies different raw materials or alternate energy mediums for changing inputs to reduce environmental impacts Discusses extension of LCA concept like LCC, LCSA, SCLA, and OLCA
This book focuses on different items in integrated cost-benefit models of climate change in three major areas: modeling regional climate sensitivity, impacts, and adaptation; emissions reduction targets, associated costs, and possible instruments for implementation; and finally, the broader national and international policy contexts for using these models and their results. Topics cover a broad range from the implications of including sulphate aerosols in target-based scenarios of climate change to impacts of global warming on the insurance industry. On the policy side, the contributions refer to costs and expected results of various greenhouse-gas stabilization strategies, as well as to the dynamics of policy instruments, and to the role of advanced energy technologies in those stabilization targets and strategies. In all these areas, possible research directions are discussed that might help to alleviate current shortcomings in global cost-benefit analyses and, more broadly, in integrated climate-economy assessment models. The book is intended for researchers in various areas of global environmental change as well as for a broader but informed general audience interested in the scientific complexity and the policy dilemma associated with the climate change problem.
Frank E. Zachos offers a comprehensive review of one of today's most important and contentious issues in biology: the species problem. After setting the stage with key background information on the topic, the book provides a brief history of species concepts from antiquity to the Modern Synthesis, followed by a discussion of the ontological status of species with a focus on the individuality thesis and potential means of reconciling it with other philosophical approaches. More than 30 different species concepts found in the literature are presented in an annotated list, and the most important ones, including the Biological, Genetic, Evolutionary and different versions of the Phylogenetic Species Concept, are discussed in more detail. Specific questions addressed include the problem of asexual and prokaryotic species, intraspecific categories like subspecies and Evolutionarily Significant Units, and a potential solution to the species problem based on a hierarchical approach that distinguishes between ontological and operational species concepts. A full chapter is dedicated to the challenge of delimiting species by means of a discrete taxonomy in a continuous world of inherently fuzzy boundaries. Further, the book outlines the practical ramifications for ecology and evolutionary biology of how we define the species category, highlighting the danger of an apples and oranges problem if what we subsume under the same name ("species") is in actuality a variety of different entities. A succinct summary chapter, glossary and annotated list of references round out the coverage, making the book essential reading for all biologists looking for an accessible introduction to the historical, philosophical and practical dimensions of the species problem.
Create a Better World Through the Power of Profit! Imagine your business making a big impact solving problems like hunger, poverty, war, violence, and catastrophic climate change while making a healthy profit. Guess what: you don't have to just imagine; you can make it real. "Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World" shows dozens of practical examples of successful companies doing well by doing good---from solopreneurs to Fortune 100 global corporations. You'll discover dozens of ways business can heal the world---and gain the practical marketing savvy to turn your values into business success. Learn how to: Create projects (and products) that accomplish social change, profitability, and cost reduction all at once Green your company in ways that save money and make money Gain enormous positive reputation as a visionary company worth supporting Expand successfully into totally new markets through strategic thinking, powerful partnerships, and commitment to core principles Turn marketing from a cost to a revenue stream Embrace abundance and transformation---and stop worrying about market share
New edition of one of the first primers of sustainability. Takes a holistic approach to the concept of sustainability. Covers some of the new developments such as Covid19, reporting and measurement and corporate behaviour.
Bayesian Data Analysis in Ecology Using Linear Models with R, BUGS, and STAN examines the Bayesian and frequentist methods of conducting data analyses. The book provides the theoretical background in an easy-to-understand approach, encouraging readers to examine the processes that generated their data. Including discussions of model selection, model checking, and multi-model inference, the book also uses effect plots that allow a natural interpretation of data. Bayesian Data Analysis in Ecology Using Linear Models with R, BUGS, and STAN introduces Bayesian software, using R for the simple modes, and flexible Bayesian software (BUGS and Stan) for the more complicated ones. Guiding the ready from easy toward more complex (real) data analyses ina step-by-step manner, the book presents problems and solutions-including all R codes-that are most often applicable to other data and questions, making it an invaluable resource for analyzing a variety of data types. |
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