* Major disasters increased over 93 per cent during the 1990s, reaching 712 in 2001 * Up to 340 million people are affected by disasters every year* 'Vulnerability' is the key to understanding the causes, impacts and ways to mitigate disasters In this penetrating analysis, the authors critically examine "vulnerability" as a concept that is vital to the way we understand the impact and magnitude of disasters. This book is a counterbalance to technocratic approaches that limit themselves to simply looking at natural phenomena. Through the notion of vulnerability, the authors stress the importance of social processes and human-environmental interactions as causal agents in the making of disasters. They critically examine what renders communities unsafe, a condition they argue that depends primarily on the relative position of advantage or disadvantage that a particular group occupies within a society's social order. Bolstering their theoretical analysis with case studies drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the authors also look at vulnerability in terms of its relationship to development and through its impact on policy and peoples' lives.

The new geological epoch we call the Anthropocene is not just a scientific classification. It marks a radical transformation in the background conditions of life on Earth, one taken for granted by much of who we are and what we hope for. Never before has a species possessed both a geological-scale grasp of the history of the Earth and a sober understanding of its own likely fate. Our situation forces us to confront questions both philosophical and of real practical urgency. We need to rethink who "we" are, what agency means today, how to deal with the passions stirred by our circumstances, whether our manner of dwelling on Earth is open to change, and, ultimately, "What is to be done?" Our future, that of our species, and of all the fellow travelers on the planet depend on it. The real-world consequences of climate change bring new significance to some very traditional philosophical questions about reason, agency, responsibility, community, and man's place in nature. The focus is shifting from imagining and promoting the "good life" to the survival of the species. Deep Time, Dark Times challenges us to reimagine ourselves as a species, taking on a geological consciousness. Drawing promiscuously on the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, and other contemporary French thinkers, as well as the science of climate change, David Wood reflects on the historical series of displacements and de-centerings of both the privilege of the Earth, and of the human, from Copernicus through Darwin and Freud to the declaration of the age of the Anthropocene. He argues for the need to develop a new temporal phronesis and to radically rethink who "we" are in respect to solidarity with other humans, and responsibility for the nonhuman stakeholders with which we share the planet. In these brief, lively chapters, Wood poses a range of questions centered on our individual and collective political agency. Might not human exceptionalism be reborn as a sort of hyperbolic responsibility rather than privilege?

'The most effective ways for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint' INews

Climate Change researcher, Seth Wynes, sets out in the simplest terms how you can make a real and positive impact.

Make changes at home, at work, to how you shop, eat, live - start by finding one thing your family can change with this book and do it today.

What you do matters - and the science proves it. How many actions can you tick of the list in this book to help save our planet?

This book argues that the unique environments of the North have been born of the relationship between humans and nature. Approaching the topic through the lens of environmental history, the contributors examine a broad range of geographies, including those of Iceland and other islands in the Northern Atlantic, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada, over a time span ranging from CE 800 to 2000. Northscapes is bound together by the intellectual project of investigating the North both as an imagined and mythologized space and as an environment shaped by human technology.

Focusing on the Connecticut River Valley—New England's longest river and largest watershed— Strother Roberts traces the local, regional, and transatlantic markets in colonial commodities that shaped an ecological transformation in one corner of the rapidly globalizing early modern world. Reaching deep into the interior, the Connecticut provided a watery commercial highway for the furs, grain, timber, livestock, and various other commodities that the region exported. Colonial Ecology, Atlantic Economy shows how the extraction of each commodity had an impact on the New England landscape, creating a new colonial ecology inextricably tied to the broader transatlantic economy beyond its shores. This history refutes two common misconceptions: first, that globalization is a relatively new phenomenon and its power to reshape economies and natural environments has only fully been realized in the modern era and, second, that the Puritan founders of New England were self-sufficient ascetics who sequestered themselves from the corrupting influence of the wider world. Roberts argues, instead, that colonial New England was an integral part of Britain's expanding imperialist commercial economy. Imperial planners envisioned New England as a region able to provide resources to other, more profitable parts of the empire, such as the sugar islands of the Caribbean. Settlers embraced trade as a means to afford the tools they needed to conquer the landscape and to acquire the same luxury commodities popular among the consumer class of Europe. New England's native nations, meanwhile, utilized their access to European trade goods and weapons to secure power and prestige in a region shaken by invading newcomers and the diseases that followed in their wake. These networks of extraction and exchange fundamentally transformed the natural environment of the region, creating a landscape that, by the turn of the nineteenth century, would have been unrecognizable to those living there two centuries earlier.

For the first time in history, humans have exceeded the sustaining capacity of Earth's global ecosystems. Our expanding footprint has tremendous momentum, and the insidious explosion of human impact creates a shockwave that threatens ecosystems worldwide for decades-possibly centuries.

Walter K. Dodds depicts in clear, nontechnical terms the root causes and global environmental effects of human behavior. He describes trends in population growth, resource use, and global environmental impacts of the past two centuries, such as greenhouse effects, ozone depletion, water pollution, and species extinctions and introductions. Dodds also addresses less familiar developments, such as the spread of antibiotic resistant genes in bacteria and the concentration of pesticides in the Arctic and other remote ecosystems. He identifies fundamental human activities that have irreversible effects on the environment and draws on recent social science and game theory results to explain why people use more than their share. Past behavior indicates that as resources grow scarce, humans will escalate their use of what remains instead of managing their consumption. "Humanity's Footprint" paints a lively but ultimately sobering picture of our environmental predicament. Dodds calls for a consilient approach to socioenvironmental restoration that draws on new thinking from across disciplines to develop sustainable solutions to global environmental problems.

This book argues that the unique environments of the North have been born of the relationship between humans and nature. Approaching the topic through the lens of environmental history, the contributors examine a broad range of geographies, including those of Iceland and other islands in the Northern Atlantic, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada, over a time span ranging from CE 800 to 2000. Northscapes is bound together by the intellectual project of investigating the North both as an imagined and mythologized space and as an environment shaped by human technology.

Michael P Hassell examines the population dynamics of the interaction between insect parasitoids and their hosts. He incorporates all the major recent advances in our understanding of these interactions to show how the resulting body of theory makes direct contact with systems in the field, and can provide us with an in-depth understanding of a whole area of population dynamics. Hassell gives us a new and authoritative synthesis of his subject, as well as an elegant and exciting demonstration of how ecological studies advance.

This book describes soft sediments in the sea and in estuaries as habitats for a wide range of animals and plants and techniques used to study them. Designed to be accessible to readers at all levels, it discusses organisms and their adaptations on sandy shores, mudflats, seagrass beds, salt marshes, mangrove swamps and below the tide marks. It emphasizes the special characteristics of estuaries, including life in the estuarine water column and estuarine food webs, and considers pollution problems and conservation approaches.

Time forms such an important part of our lives that it is rarely thought about. In this book the author moves beyond the time of clocks and calendars in order to study time as embedded in social interactions, structures, practices and knowledge, in artefacts, in the body, and in the environment. The author looks at the many different ways in which time is experienced, in relation to the various contexts and institutions of social life. Among the topics discussed are time in the areas of health, education, work, globalization and environmental change. Through focusing on the complexities of social time she explores ways of keeping together what social science traditions have taken apart, namely, time with reference to the personal-public, local-global and natural-cultural dimensions of social life.

Barbara Adam's time-based approach engages with, yet differs from postmodernist writings. It suggests ways not merely to deconstruct but to reconstruct both common-sense and social science understanding.

This book will be of interest to undergraduates, graduates and academics in the areas of sociology, social theory environmental/green issues, feminist theory, cultual studies, philosophy, peace studies, education, social policy and anthropology.

This book provides a standardized set of protocols for measuring soil properties, to facilitatte corss-site synthesis and evaluation of ecosystem processess. The book should be of interest to a rather broad range of ecologists, agronomists, and soil scientists. It is the second volume in the Long-term Ecological Research Network Series.

Ever since the emergence of human culture, people and animals have co-existed in close proximity. Humans have always recognized both their kinship with animals and their fundamental differences, as animals have always been a threat to humans' well-being. The relationship, therefore, has been complex, intimate, reciprocal, personal, and -- crucially -- ambivalent. It is hardly surprising that animals evoke strong emotions in humans, both positive and negative.
This companion volume to Morris' important earlier work, The Power of Animals, is a sustained investigation of the Malawi people's sacramental attitude to animals, particularly the role that animals play in life-cycle rituals, their relationship to the divinity and to spirits of the dead. How people relate to and use animals speaks volumes about their culture and beliefs. This book overturns the ingrained prejudice within much ethnographic work, which has often dismissed the pivotal role animals play in culture, and shows that personhood, religion, and a wide range of rituals are informed by, and even dependent upon, human-animal relations.

The Global Energy Assessment (GEA) brings together over 300 international researchers to provide an independent, scientifically based, integrated and policy-relevant analysis of current and emerging energy issues and options. It has been peer-reviewed anonymously by an additional 200 international experts. The GEA assesses the major global challenges for sustainable development and their linkages to energy; the technologies and resources available for providing energy services; future energy systems that address the major challenges; and the policies and other measures that are needed to realize transformational change toward sustainable energy futures. The GEA goes beyond existing studies on energy issues by presenting a comprehensive and integrated analysis of energy challenges, opportunities and strategies, for developing, industrialized and emerging economies. This volume is an invaluable resource for energy specialists and technologists in all sectors (academia, industry and government) as well as policymakers, development economists and practitioners in international organizations and national governments.

Extreme Environment promises to provoke fresh – and spirited – debate about the modern environmental movement and the many ways in which environmentalism, media, economics, public policy and the politics of liberty intersect.

In order to reduce poverty and continue to raise living standards, a sensible, balanced approach to a healthy, productive environment is required. No country, but especially not those in the developing world, can afford to be manipulated by the self-interested moralising and alarmism perpetrated by some special interest groups. Exaggeration by environmentalists, many journalists and even some scientists causes undue fear and anxiety among those who don’t already dismiss the green lobby for crying wolf. Worse, misinformation affects regulation and policymaking in ways that actively harm developing economies.

Starting with well-researched work questioning the claims of opponents to shale-gas drilling, or ‘fracking’, Ivo Vegter argues that public opinion and policy ought to be informed by accurate data and reasoned argument. Using a wide range of examples, from nuclear accidents and oil spills to food additives and agricultural chemicals, he demonstrates why we should be just as sceptical of the emotive rhetoric of environmentalists, which often turns out to be alarmist, or even false, as we are of corporate spin.

Globally relevant, but offering a unique perspective from a developing country – South Africa – this book is a must-read for every thinking person who cares about the world we live in.

Behavioural ecologists study the strategies that individual animals use to maximize their genetic representation in future generations; conservation biologists study small populations and attempt to stem the tide of species extinctions. In the last few years, a handful of behavioural ecologists, increasingly concerned about species losses, have begun to address issues in conservation biology. Using data collected in the course of their fieldwork on mating systems, foraging behaviour, or habitat preferences, or simply by working on an endangered species, they have started to apply their findings to models of population growth and effective population size, hands-on management, and developing conservation strategies. This edited volume is the first attempt to link these disciplines formally.

In the last few years, a handful of behavioural ecologists, increasingly concerned about species losses, have begun to address issues in conservation biology. Using data collected in the course of their fieldwork on mating systems, foraging behaviour, or habitat preferences, or simply by working on an endangered species, they have started to apply their findings to models of population growth and effective population size, hands-on management, and developing conservation strategies. This edited volume is the first attempt to link these disciplines formally.

Coastally Restricted Forests addresses the ecology and management of freshwater forests and wetlands located along sea coasts, assessing the current research, comparing data from different geographic regions, and integrating applications and ideas from foresters, land-use managers, and water resource managers. This book fills a gap in forestry and wetlands literature, as it takes a worldwide view of natural resource management.

This book outlines four different categories of co-operation -- reciprocal altruism, kinship, group-selected co-operation, and by-product mutualism -- and ties them together in a single framework called the Co-operator's Dilemma. Hundreds of studies on cooperation in insects, fish, birds, and mammals are then reviewed, each example being tied back to the theoretical framework developed early on when the data allows. Future experiments designed to further elucidate a particular type of co-operation are provided throughout the book.

The past few years have seen the re-emergence of the Balkans as the "cockpit" of Europe. The break up of Yugoslavia, the regional conflict between ethnic groups, the creation of new states like Slovenia and the transformation of existing ones like Albania, have made the area of prime importance in geopolitical terms once again. Reconstructing the Balkans looks at the complex and rapidly changing human geography of the Balkans and considers the cultural, social and political geographies of the region and its neighbours. It provides both an examination of the history of the Balkans emphasising ethnicity and nationality issues and an evaluation of the historical and geographical roots of contemporary Balkan disputes from a range of national viewpoints. Written by acknowledged experts in the field, the book assesses some of the geographical consequences of the region s conflicts and analyses the post-socialist restructuring, reconstruction and reconfiguration regionwide and country by country. It also gives projections of likely regional development trends. This is a unique book as it represents diverse viewpoints from a wide range of ethnic, national and disciplinary approaches. It draws upon expertise from the USA, the UK and everyone concerned with the Balkan regions making it essential reading for analysts and consultants, in banks, funding agencies and government departments. It will also be of interest to advanced students of European Studies, Geography, International Relations, Politics, Development and History.

In pairs, male and female birds appear to work as a team, competing for food, defending nests, and protecting predators, but in fact, because each individual strives to maximize its own reproductive potential, conflicts can occur if one finds a better partner. So while some birds choose one mate for life, others have many partners. In this book, fourteen classic studies of bird behavior are brought together to compare the different partnership patterns from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Particular attention is paid to the availability of mates, the selection process and the consequences of choosing one mate over another. By comparing between and within species, each chapter outlines the features that influence a pair's reproductive performance and how this interacts with ecological and environmental constraints. Introductory and concluding chapters review the latest thinking on this fascinating subject. The book is aimed at students and researchers in behavioral ecology but can also foster new insights for bird watchers and ornithologists.

This book is a personal history and apology, written by one of this century's most distinguished small mammal ecologists, for a life in science spent working on problems for which no final dramatic conclusion was reached. Included along the way are some important anedcotes and history about Charles Elton and the pioneering work at the Bureau of Animal Population at Oxford University, from which much of modern population ecology has grown, and insights on the philosophy and practice of science.

In September 2021 a very special academic conference took place: T2051MCC - The 2051 Munich Climate Conference. Researchers from across the academic spectrum assembled to discuss climate change. What made it special was that everyone held their lecture as if it took place in an imagined year 2051. The theatre collective Buro Grandezza had released an open call for contributions to a conference in Munich. Almost 50 researchers wrote papers on climate narratives, geoengineering, coastal adaptation and other topics. This particular framework allowed them to break out of the constraints of the current discourse without neglecting methodology or thematic sharpness.

This book is a unique collection of evolutionary and ecological perspectives in the study of biodiversity by some of the leading researchers in the field. The seventeen chapters are divided into three sections, each section beginning with an overview of its contents. The book traces past landmarks, current questions, and future trends in biodiversity reseach ranging from the evaluation of the fossil record and molecular phylogenies in untangling the genesis of diversity; to population, community, and ecosystem-level approaches in understanding patterns of species persistence; and finally to large-scale diversity patterns and species conservation. Subject reviews, case-studies, and discussions of techniques are combined to produce a state-of-the-art book.

As the need increases for sound estimates of impending rates of animal and plant species extinction, scientists must have a firm grounding in the qualitative and quantitative methods required to make the best possible predictions. Extinction Rates offers the most wide-ranging and practical introduction to those methods available. With contributions from an international cast of leading experts, the book combines cutting-edge information on recent and past extinction rates with treatments of underlying ecological and evolutionary causes. Throughout, it highlights apparent differences in extinction rates among taxonomic groups and places, aiming to identify unresolved issues and important questions. Written with advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mind, Extinction Rates will also prove invaluable to researchers in ecology, conservation biology, and the earth and environmental sciences.