Raging floods, massive storms and cataclysmic earthquakes: every year up to 340 million people are affected by these and other disasters, which cause loss of life and damage to personal property, agriculture, and infrastructure. So what can be done? The key to understanding the causes of disasters and mitigating their impacts is the concept of 'vulnerability'. Mapping Vulnerability analyses 'vulnerability' as a concept central to the way we understand disasters and their magnitude and impact. Written and edited by a distinguished group of disaster scholars and practitioners, this book is a counterbalance to those technocratic approaches that limit themselves to simply looking at disasters as 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. The book also looks at vulnerability in terms of its relationship to development and its impact on policy and people's lives, through consideration of selected case studies drawn from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Mapping Vulnerability is essential reading for academics, students, policymakers and practitioners in disaster studies, geography, development studies, economics, environmental studies and sociology.

Altered Earth aims to get the Anthropocene right in three senses. With essays by leading scientists, it highlights the growing consensus that our planet entered a dangerous new state in the mid-twentieth century. Second, it gets the Anthropocene right in human terms, bringing together a range of leading authors to explore, in fiction and non-fiction, our deep past, global conquest, inequality, nuclear disasters, and space travel. Finally, this landmark collection presents what hope might look like in this seemingly hopeless situation, proposing new political forms and mutualistic cities. 'Right' in this book means being as accurate as possible in describing the physical phenomenon of the Anthropocene; as balanced as possible in weighing the complex human developments, some willed and some unintended, that led to this predicament; and as just as possible in envisioning potential futures.

Although sustainability efforts in business are still a work in progress, it is increasingly clear that key elements of a new generation of enterprises will be radically different from those of our contemporary modern industrial economy. The core distinctions between what currently exists and what is being created are communicated in this book through the compelling metaphor of "Ants, Galileo, and Gandhi."This collection, developed from The Natural Step's conference on Sustainability and Innovation in 2002, provides radical ideas for generating a new perspective on the dynamics of business systems. 'Ants' symbolize the lessons to be learned from nature and the dependence of individual beings on broader, complex systems. "Galileo" embodies brilliance in perceiving and proving that the current paradigm is flawed. "Gandhi" exemplifies exceptional compassion in fighting for fundamental change. All of these attributes are increasingly relevant in a world where, globally, we are experiencing both a steady decline in life-supporting resources and rising demands. Recognition of these challenges is sparking innovation within the private sector where the first glimmers of systemic change can be seen. The book examines the emergence of 21st-century enterprises that recognize their reliance on broad social and ecological systems ("ants"), incorporate sparks of genius rooted in rigorous analyses ('Galileo'), and acknowledge the importance of compassion and determination within any endeavour ('Gandhi'). With contributions from Ray Anderson, Gretchen Daily, Karl-Henrik Robert, Alois Flatz, Allen White and many more, the book illustrates that pioneering companies recognize that new opportunities emerge from recognizing the broader systems on which all businesses rely. Efforts to work with ecological and social dynamics of vibrancy and resilience offer a new space for innovation. Companies are stepping into this space and exploring innovative approaches to developing sustainability-focused products, operations and strategies. These sustainability-inspired business efforts are considering new ways to address human needs and desires. The most promising approaches are based on systems thinking and recognition of the linkages between 'upstream' and 'downstream' effects of actions. Understanding the undesired 'downstream' impacts of a firm's practices draws attention 'upstream'. This assessment highlights the most expedient approach: to design these impacts out of enterprises from the very start.The book is divided into five sections to present a set of theories emerging about sustainability and its application to: business strategy and operations; financial-sector practices; accountability and reporting drivers; and organizational change pathways. Together, these sections illustrate the current range of sustainability theories and applications."Ants, Galileo, and Gandhi" will be essential reading for both academics looking for robust teaching material, practitioners looking for inspiration and the general reader interested in exploring the state of the art in the realignment of 21st-century business."

Contents:
Foreword Preface List of figures and tables Part 1: Framework and Theory 1. The challenge of disasters and our approach 1.1 In at the deep end 1.2 Conventional views of disaster 1.3 What is vulnerability? 1.4 Changes since the first edition 1.5 The International decade for natural disaster reduction 1.6 Convergence and critique 1.7 Audiences 1.8 Scope and plan of the book 1.9 Limits and assumptions 2. The disaster pressure and release model 2.1 The nature of vulnerability 2.2 Cause and effects in the disaster pressure model 2.3 Time and the chain of explanation 2.4 Limits to our knowledge 2.5 Global trends and dynamic pressures 2.6 Uses of the pressure and release model 3. Access to resources and coping in adversity 3.1 Access to resources - an introduction 3.2 New thinking since 1994 3.3 'Normal life' - the formal Access model 3.4 Coping and access to safety Part 2: Vulnerability and Hazard Types 4. Famine and natural hazards 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Famines and their causes 4.3 Explanations of famine 4.4 Complex emergencies, policy famines and human rights 4.5 Causes, pressures, unsafe conditions and famine 4.6 Access and famines 4.7 Policy 4.8 Conclusion 5. Biological hazards 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What are biological hazards? 5.3 Limitations to our treatment of biological hazards 5.4 Biological links with other hazards 5.5 Livelihoods, resources and disasters 5.6 Vulnerability-creating processes 5.7 Pressures affecting defences against biological hazards 5.8 Root causes and pressures 5.9 Steps toward risk reduction 6. Floods 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Floods as known risks 6.3 Disastrous outcomes for vulnerable people 6.4 Floods and vulnerability 6.5 Summary: flood prevention and mitigation 7. Coastal storms 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The physical hazard 7.3 Patterns of vulnerability 7.4 Case-studies 7.5 Policy responses 8. Earthquakes and volcanoes 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Classic case-studies: Guatemala and Mexico 8.3 Recent case-studies 8.4 Volcanoes and related hazards 8.5 Goma, Congo, eruption of Mount Nyiragongo 2002 8.6 Policy response and mitigation Part 3: Towards a Safer Environment 9. Towards a safer environment 9.1 Towards a safer environment: are statements of intent merely hot air? 9.2 From Yokohama to Johannesburg via Geneva 9.3 Risk reduction objectives Notes Bibliography

Written during the height of the ecology movement, " The Ecological Transition " is a stunning interdisciplinary work. It combines anthropology, ecology, and sociology to formulate an understanding of cultural-environmental relationships. While anthropologists have been studying relationships between humans and the physical environment for a very long time, only in the last thirty years have questions inherent in these relationships broadened beyond description and classification. For example, the concept of environment has been extended beyond the physical into the social.

Although anthropologists have adopted many of the concepts that Bennett develops in the book, he also feels that the central issues have never been addressed, either by anthropologists or by people in related disciplines. The most important of these, in Bennett's opinion, is the failure to incorporate a respect for the environmental in contemporary culture, which would allow making exceptions in certain human practices in order to protect the environment. His point in " The Ecological Transition " is that a basic cultural change in modern civilization is necessary to achieve this end.

Both a theoretical and a practical work, " The Ecological Transition " emphasizes the relationships between human culture, the physical environment, technology, and social policy. " The Ecological Transition " is a challenging volume that makes us face the consequences of human behavior in the modern world: its effect on pollution, natural resources, agriculture, the economy, and population, to name just a few areas. The book remains a significant contribution to the discourse on social, economic, and environmental problems. While the book was first published in 1976, it still reads as a contemporary tract.

" John W. Bennett " is emeritus professor of anthropology at Washington University, St. Louis. He has served as president of the American Ethnological Society and the Society for Applied Anthropology, and has been a member of the editorial boards of the " Annual Review of Anthropology " and " Reviews in Anthropology. " He is the author of " Classic Anthropology: Critical Essays, 1944-1996 " and " Human Ecology as Human Behavior: Essays in Environmental and Development Anthropology ," both published by Transaction.

Contents:
Part 1: Environmental Problems 1. Technology and Society 2. Energy and Environment 3. Sustainable Technology Part 2: Sustainable Technology 4. Green Technology 5. The Nuclear Alternative 6. Renewable Energy 7. Renewables Worldwide 8. Sustainable Energy Strategy Part 3: Problems of Implementation 9. Getting Started: Institutional Obstacles 10. Keeping Going: Deployment Problems 11. Case-Study: Public Reactions to Wind Farms in the UK 12. Public Acceptance: The Need for Negotiation Part 4: Sustainable Society 13. Sustainable Development 14. The Global Perspective 15. Sustainable Future 16. Conclusions: The Way Ahead?

Whilst energy use is fundamental to human existence, it is also at the heart of many environmental problems we face in the 21st century. Deteriorating air quality and the global warming phenomenon can all be attributed to our use of fossil fuels. The re-emergence of nuclear power as an alternative also prompts major concerns. Sustainable alternatives such as wind and hydroelectric power also face opposition.
Energy, Society and Environment explores the ways in which energy interacts with society and the environment. The book is structured to provide:
· an understanding of energy related environmental problems
· an appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of technological solutions
· knowledge of the social and institutional obstacles to implementing these solutions
· an understanding of the strategic issues facing sustainable energy use.
The revised edition reflects recent changes in the area. Chapters on nuclear and wind energy have been revised in response to recent debates. Coverage of fossil fuels has also been strengthened, whilst there is greater emphasis on environmental and energy policy in the context of the debate surrounding the Kyoto accord. Additional case-studies have been added which highlight alternative energy solutions.
Energy, Society and Environment examines the potential and limits of technological solutions to energy-related environmental problems and suggests that social, economic and political solutions may also be necessary to avoid serious environmental damage in the future. Global case-studies are used throughout to ground the debates and illustrate the interaction between technological and social aspects.

The current obsession of social and natural scientists with globalisation has not been matched by equal interest in the study of the consequences of local environmental change on society. As a result, our attention has been drawn away from community and locality to global processes often indifferent to the reality of those at the receiving end of the social, economic, and political problems globalisation creates. Larger (global) synthesis obscures local reality, and imposes conditions often insensitive to local needs, resource management institutions, and production systems, even distorting them. The case studies presented in this book illustrate how environmental degradation has contributed to the distortion of local institutions and economies, thus denying local communities the right to eke out their living in a productive and healthy environment. The contributors highlight the seriousness of the difficulties involved in conflating national policies and local reality, and imposing global policy instruments on local communities. Understandably, the case studies demonstrate that local communities resist putting their faith in environmental policies and plans imposed on them by global or national institutions that often deprive them of access to and control over their local environment.

The clock is relentlessly ticking...Our world teeters on a knife-edge between a peaceful and prosperous future for all, and a dark winter of death and destruction that threatens to smother the light of civilization.Within 30 years, in the 2030 decade, six powerful "drivers" will converge with unprecedented force in a statistical spike that could tear humanity apart and plunge the world into a new Dark Age. Depleted fuel supplies, massive population growth, poverty, global climate change, famine, growing water shortages and international lawlessness are on a crash course, with potentially catastrophic consequences. In the face of both doomsaying and denial over the state of our world, Colin Mason cuts through the rhetoric and reams of often conflicting data to muster the evidence to illustrate a broad picture of the world as it is, and of our possible futures. Ultimately his message is clear: we must act decisively, collectively and immediately to alter the trajectory of humanity away from catastrophe.Offering over 100 priorities for immediate action, "The 2030 Spike" serves as a guidebook for humanity through the trecherous minefields and wastelands ahead to a bright, peaceful and prosperous future in which all humans have the opportunity to thrive and build a better civilization.This book is powerful and essential reading for all people concerned with the future of humanity and planet earth.

A critical, comparative exploration of the framing of environmental problems in Northern and Southern Europe. The book addresses theoretical and empirical questions about environmental attitudes and behaviours, politics and protest, cultures and contexts.

With a few exceptions, critical theorists have been late to provide a comprehensive diagnosis of neoliberalism comparable in scope to their extensive analyses of advanced welfare state capitalism. Instead, the main lines of critical theory have focused on questions of international justice which, while no doubt significant, restrict the scope of critical theory by deemphasizing linkages to larger political and economic conditions. Providing a critique of the Frankfurt School, Brian Caterino and Phillip Hansen move beyond its foundations, and call for a rethinking of the bases of critical theory as a practical, freedom-creating project. Outlining a resurgence of neoliberalism, the authors encourage a fresh, nuanced analysis that elucidates its political and economic structures and demonstrates the threats to freedom and democracy that neoliberalism poses. They propose the reformulation of a radical democratic alternative to neoliberalism, one that critically addresses its limitations while promoting an enhancement of communicative and social freedom.

The study of human reproductive ecology represents an important new development in human evolutionary biology. Its focus is on the physiology of human reproduction and evidence of adaptation, and hence the action of natural selection, in that domain. But at the same time the study of human reproductive ecology provides an important perspective on the historical process of human evolution, a lens through which we may view the forces that have shaped us as a species. In the end, all actions of natural selection can be reduced to variation in the reproductive success of individuals.

Peter Ellison is one of the pioneers in the fast growing area of reproductive ecology. He has collected for this volume the research of thirty-one of the most active and influential scientists in the field. Thanks to recent noninvasive techniques, these contributors can present direct empirical data on the effect of a broad array of ecological, behavioral, and constitutional variables on the reproductive processes of humans as well as wild primates. Because biological evolution is cumulative, however, organisms in the present must be viewed as products of the selective forces of past environments. The study of adaptation thus often involves inferences about formative ecological relationships that may no longer exist, or not in the same form. Making such inferences depends on carefully weighing a broad range of evidence drawn from studies of contemporary ecological variation, comparative studies of related taxonomies, and paleontological and genetic evidence of evolutionary history. The result of this inquiry sheds light not only on the functional aspects of an organism's contemporary biology but also on its evolutionary history and the selective forces that have shaped it through time.

Encompassing a range of viewpoints--controversy along with consensus--this far-ranging collection offers an indispensable guide for courses in biological anthropology, human biology, and primatology, along with demography, medicine, social anthropology, and public health.

Environmental justice is one of the most controversial and important issues in contemporary social science. Volume 8 of the "Energy and Environmental Policy" series challenges our understanding of environmental justice in a global context. It includes theoretical investigations and case studies by leading authors in the field. Global forces of technology and the development of global markets are transforming social life and the natural order. These changes require a critical examination of nature-society relations. Increasingly, modernization assigns the risks of modernity to those with the least power and greatest vulnerability to environmental harm. Conventional environmentalism, which focuses on critique of the effects of humanity against nature, is inadequate to the challenges of globalization. In particular, it fails to explain sources of persistent patterns of social injustice that accompany escalating environmental exploitation. As the capacity for environmental destruction expands, broader concerns about environmental injustice have come to the fore, including awareness of threats to whole cultures, ways of life, and entire ecologies. The volume's authors consider the links between expanded patterns of environmental injustice and the structures and forces underlying and shaping the international political economy. Environmental injustice is examined across a variety of cultures in the developed and developing world. Through case studies of climate colonialism, revolutionary ecology, and environmental commodification, the global and local dimensions of the problem are presented. The latest volume in this important series demonstrates that environmental justice cannot be reduced to simple parables of indifference, prejudice, or appropriation. It forges understanding of environmental injustice as a development of international political economy itself. Likewise, initiatives on behalf of environmental justice are seen as elements of broader movements to secure self-determination in a globalizing world. This book will be of interest to policymakers, energy and environmental experts, and all those interested in the environment and environmental law. It provides new perspectives on the place of environmental justice in international political and economic conflict. John Byrne is director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware. Leigh Glover is a research fellow at the same Center. Cecilia Martinez is a professor of ethnic studies at the Metropolitan State University (Minnesota) and a research associate of the American Indian Research and Policy Institute.

This volume analyzes the ways in which natural resource wealth has shaped authoritarian political regimes and statist economic systems in the countries of southern Africa in the post-colonial period. It consists of five essays. The first sets out the historical framework and emergence of natural resources as the crucial driver of economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Three essays, drawing on in-country research, focus on Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They show how this explains the economic evolution of those countries - in particular, the impacts of economic and institutional changes on the bulk of the population, the rural poor. The final essay explores the nature of the changes and their neoliberal economic context, and the ways in which their harmful consequences might be relieved.

Although poisonous substances have been a hazard for the whole of human history, it is only with the development and large-scale production of new chemical substances over the last two centuries that toxic, manmade pollutants have become such a varied and widespread danger. Covering a host of both notorious and little-known chemicals, the chapters in this collection investigate the emergence of specific toxic, pathogenic, carcinogenic, and ecologically harmful chemicals as well as the scientific, cultural and legislative responses they have prompted. Each study situates chemical hazards in a long-term and transnational framework and demonstrates the importance of considering both the natural and the social contexts in which their histories have unfolded.

This volume analyzes the ways in which natural resource wealth has shaped authoritarian political regimes and statist economic systems in the countries of southern Africa in the post-colonial period. It consists of five essays. The first sets out the historical framework and emergence of natural resources as the crucial driver of economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Three essays, drawing on in-country research, focus on Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They show how this explains the economic evolution of those countries - in particular, the impacts of economic and institutional changes on the bulk of the population, the rural poor. The final essay explores the nature of the changes and their neoliberal economic context, and the ways in which their harmful consequences might be relieved.

A broad and comprehensive exploration of the role of the ecological sciences in sustainability for undergraduates.The urgent quest for more sustainable patterns of development has placed new and difficult demands on both scientists and policy makers as they seek to establish more informed and effective policy processes and management regimes in the the face of pervasive uncertainty. Written by an international group of authors from a range of disciplines - ecology, geography, law, policy analysis and others - the chapters explore issues of scientific legitimacy, public participation, non-governmental organisations, inter-sectoral communication and pragmatic public policy across a wide range of ecosystem management contexts.

The Maine Woods, vast and largely unsettled, are often described as unchanged since Henry David Thoreau's 1847 journey across the backcountry, in spite of the realities of Indian dispossession and the visible signs of logging, settlement, tourism, and real estate development. In the summer of 2014 scholars, indigenous peoples, activists, and other individuals retraced Thoreau's route. Inspired partly by this expedition, the accessible and engaging essays here offer valuable new perspectives on conservation, the cultural ties that connect Native communities to the land, and the profound influence the geography of the Maine Woods had on Thoreau and writers and activists who followed in his wake. Together, these essays offer a rich and multifaceted look at this special place and the ways in which Thoreau's Maine experiences continue to shape understandings of the environment a century and a half later. Contributors include the volume editor, Kathryn Dolan, James S. Finley, James Francis, Richard W. Judd, Dale Potts, Melissa Sexton, Chris Sockalexis, Stan Tag, Robert M. Thorson, and Laura Dassow Walls.

While there is no shortage of of books on the environment there are few introductory texts that outline the social theory that informs human geographical approaches to the interactions between ecology and society. Students arriving at university often lack the understanding of history, economics, politics, sociology and philosophy that contemporary human geography requires. Environments in a Changing World addresses this deficit, providing foundation knowledge in a form that is accessible to first year students and applied to the understanding of both contemporary environmental issues and the challenge of sustainability. Students are challenged to develop and defend their own ethical and political positions on sustainability and respond to the need for new forms of ecological citizenship.

Contents:
Part I. Introduction
1. The approach of transnational social spaces: responding to new configurations of the social and the spatial Ludger Pries
Part II. International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces
2. Comparing local level Swedish and Mexican transnational life: an essay in historical retrieval Robert Smith
3. Dissagregating transnational social spaces: gender, place and citizenship in Mexico - US transnational spaces Luin Goldring
4. Transnational families: institutions of transnational social space Fernando Herrera
5. Shifting spaces - complex identities in Turkish-German migration Jeffrey Jurgens
Part III. International Companies and Transnational Social Spaces
6. Pluri-local social spaces by tele-cooperation in international companies Ralf Reichwald and Kathrin Möslein
7. Pluri-local social spaces in international companies Hermann Kotthoff
8. The transnationalization of companies and their industrial relations Jürgen Kädtler and Hans-Joachim Sperling
9. Co-ordination and control in transnational business and non-profit organizations Jörg Flecker and Ruth Simsa
Part IV. The Future of Trnasnational Social Spaces
10. Cracked casings: towards an analytics for studying transnational processes Saskia Sassen

The Arctic-Barents Region is facing numerous pressures from a variety of sources, including the effect of environmental changes and extractive industrial developments. The threats arising out of these pressures result in human security challenges. This book analyses the formation, and promotion, of societal security within the context of the Arctic-Barents Region. It applies the human security framework, which has increasingly gained currency at the UN level since 1994 (UNDP), as a tool to provide answers to many questions that face the Barents population today. The study explores human security dimensions such as environmental security, economic security, health, food, water, energy, communities, political security and digital security in order to assess the current challenges that the Barents population experiences today or may encounter in the future. In doing so, the book develops a comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities, challenges and needs in the Barents Region and provides recommendations for new strategies to tackle insecurity and improve the wellbeing of both indigenous and local communities. This book will be a valuable tool for academics, policy-makers and students interested in environmental and human security, sustainable development, environmental studies and the Arctic and Barents Region in particular.

The Emergence of Ecological Modernisation offers a wealth of empirical research material from an international perspective, bringing together previously scattered sources for the first time. It addresses a series of theoretical issues that are of key contemporary relevance, such as the relationship between ecological modernisation and sustainable development; strategies for promoting ecological modernisation, and the extent to which it is possible to 'green' contemporary capitalism.

Contents:
Part I. Introduction
1. Environmental sociology and energy efficiency
2. Engaging with energy and buildings
3. Science, knowledge and practice
Part II. Building Research Environments
4. Defining energy research
5. Comparing research environments: i. Close communities ii. Co-ordinated contractors iii. Contracting knowledge iv. Networking expertise
6. Positioning energy efficiency
7. Changing research environments
Part III. Energy Knowledges
8. Constructing conventions
9. Abstracting knowledge: capturing solar energy
10. Building knowledge: demonstrations and case studies
11. Replicating knowledges: i. Design Tools ii. Case studies
12. Converging conventions
Part IV. Theories of Knowledge and Practice
13. Theories of technical change: i. Barriers to energy efficiency ii. Leaping the barriers
14. Changing course
15. Following energy efficiency
Part V. The Politics of Insulation
16. Conventional explanations
17. Culture of energy conservation: i. Denmark ii. Sweden iii. France iv. The European insulation industry
18. Filling the gap: i. First fillings 1959-1974 ii. Curbing the cowboys 1975-1981 iii. Foam fears 1981-1983 iv. Fibre Wars 1984-1992
19. Government, industry and consumer interaction
Part VI. Organising Design: Housing and Energy Efficiency
20. Best practice and decision-making
21. Contexts of action: i. Shifting associations ii. Local pressures iii. Private dilemmas
22. Context, change and choice
Part VII. Developing Interests: Office Buildings and Barriers
23. Property relationships: i. Investing and exchanging ii. Nesting and using iii. Globalising design
24. Fluctuating priorities
Part VIII. Conclusions
25. Understanding energy efficiency
26. Technical convergence, cultural diversity
27. Reconstructing research

For the anthropologists, people-wildlife conflicts readily invite symbolic analysis. This volume examines people-wildlife conflicts in Europe, Africa and Asia from an anthropological perspective. It contributes to a discussion which with growing human populations, expanding developmental activity, and progressive loss of wildlife habitat, is likely to intensify in the 21st century.

Moving beyond traditional cultural and disciplinary boundaries, social scientists, humanists, natural scientists, and public servants examine the different ways in which people understand and inhabit their environments in communities across the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Rim, and throughout Asia. Utilizing ethnographic and historical case studies; textual, cartographic, and narrative analysis; and critical examinations of discourse and methods, these essays broaden our understanding of human/environmental interactions, and prompt more realistic assessments and effective action.