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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Pollution & threats to the environment > Global warming
Climate Impacts on Extreme Weather: Current to Future Changes on a
Local to Global Scale presents fundamentals and advances in the
science of weather and climate extremes, building on the existing
knowledge by using regional and global case studies. The book
provides an analysis of historical and future changes, physical
processes, measurements, space-time variability, socioeconomic
impact, and risk management. It provides policy makers, researchers
and students working in climate change with a thorough reference
for understanding the diverse impacts of extreme weather and
climate change on varying geographic scales. With contributions
from experts across the globe, the book utilizes methods, case
studies, modeling, and analysis to present valuable, up-to-date
knowledge about the interaction of climate change, weather and the
many implications of the changing environment.
Urban Climate Change and Heat Islands: Characterization, Impacts,
and Mitigation serves as a go to reference for a foundational
understanding of urban-climate drivers and impacts. Through the
book's comprehensive chapters, the authors help readers identify
problems associated with urban climate change, along with potential
solutions. Global case studies are included and presented in a way
in which they become globally relevant to any urban or intra-urban
environment. The authors call on their extensive experience to
present and explore methodologies and approaches to quantifying
urban-heat mitigation measures in a clear manner, focusing on heat
islands, urban overheating and effects on air quality.
Public understanding of, and outcry over, the dire state of the
climate and environment is greater than ever before. Parties across
the political spectrum claim to be climate leaders, and overt
denial is on the way out. Yet when it comes to slowing the course
of the climate and nature crises, despite a growing number of
pledges, policies and summits, little ever seems to change. Nature
is being destroyed at an unprecedented rate. We remain on course
for a catastrophic 3 DegreesC of warming. What's holding us back?
In this searing and insightful critique, Adrienne Buller examines
the fatal biases that have shaped the response of our governing
institutions to climate and environmental breakdown, and asks: are
the 'solutions' being proposed really solutions? Tracing the
intricate connections between financial power, economic injustice
and ecological crisis, she exposes the myopic economism and
market-centric thinking presently undermining a future where all
life can flourish. The book examines what is wrong with mainstream
climate and environmental governance, from carbon pricing and
offset markets to 'green growth', the commodification of nature and
the growing influence of the finance industry on environmental
policy. In doing so, it exposes the self-defeating logic of a
response to these challenges based on creating new opportunities
for profit, and a refusal to grapple with the inequalities and
injustices that have created them. Both honest and optimistic, The
Value of a Whale asks us - in the face of crisis - what we really
value. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable
Development Goal 11, Sustainable cities and communities -- .
Climate change adaptation. A hope-fuelled necessity on the road to
a transformed world? Or the last act of the doom-merchant who has
given up? There are great ways to adapt to the climate crisis that
confronts us, but there are disastrous ways too. In this book,
Morgan Phillips takes us from the air-conditioned pavements of Doha
and the 'cool rooms' of Paris, to the fog catchers of Morocco and
the agro-foresters of Nepal. He makes an often-neglected topic
engaging and relatable at precisely the moment the climate movement
is waking up to it. A just transition is at stake. Great
Adaptations is a provocation, an invitation, and an urgent call to
action. If we don't shape what adaptation is, someone else will.
'My earnest hope is that this book will be a turning of the tide;
and that, with the silence broken, the world can finally begin the
painful process of awakening properly to climate reality...
including to the reality of how we must now adapt transformatively,
if we are to have any chance of heading off eco-induced collapses.'
Prof. Rupert Read, University of East Anglia.
Assessing Progress toward Sustainability: Frameworks, Tools, and
Case Studies provides practical frameworks for measuring progress
toward sustainability in various areas of production, consumption,
services and urban development as they relate to environmental
impact. A variety of policies/strategies or frameworks are
available at national and international levels. This book presents
an integrated approach to sustainability progress measurement by
considering both the frameworks and methodological developments of
various tools, as well as their implementation in assessing the
sustainability of processes, products and services through a global
perspective. Combining methods and their application, the book
covers a variety of topics, including lifecycle assessment, risk
assessment, nexus thinking, and connection to SDGs. Organized
clearly into three main sections --Frameworks, Tools, and Case
Studies--this book can serve as a practical resource for
researchers and practitioners alike in environmental science,
sustainability, environmental management and environmental
engineering.
Water and Climate Change: Sustainable Development, Politics and
Social Issues focuses on climate change and global warming,
sustainable development and social and political issues surrounding
water. Throughout the book, global contributors provide an outlook
on the possible future of the world if climate issues continue to
increase. In this regard, readers will become fully aware of the
dangers of climate change and global warming. To counterbalance,
the book also provides an outlook to the possible future of the
world if changes are made and emissions are reduced. Water
shortages and water pollution are real and are beginning to affect
the lives of every one of us on the planet. We are rapidly reaching
a point of no return. If we do nothing about water shortages and
water pollution, many of the catastrophes mentioned in this book
will come to pass. As such, this reference is a must-read resource
for environmental scientists and engineers, water resource experts,
agriculturalists, social scientists, earth scientists, geographers
and decision-makers in government and water management.
COVID-19 in the Environment: Impact, Concerns, and Management of
Coronavirus highlights the research and technology addressing
COVID-19 in the environment, including the associated fate,
transport, and disposal. It examines the impacts of the virus at
local, national, and global levels, including both positive and
negative environmental impacts and techniques for assessing and
managing them. Utilizing case studies, it also presents examples of
various issues around handling these impacts, as well as policies
and strategies being developed as a result. Organized into six
parts, COVID-19 in the Environment begins by presenting the nature
of the virus and its transmission in various environmental media,
as well as models for reducing the transmission. Section 2
describes methods for monitoring and detecting the virus, whereas
Sections 3, 4, and 5 go on to examine the socio-economic impact,
the environmental impact and risk, and the waste management impact,
respectively. Finally, Section 6 explores the environmental
policies and strategies that have comes as a result of COVID-19,
the implications for climate change, and what the long-term effects
will be on environmental sustainability.
Climate and Land Use Impacts on Natural and Artificial Systems:
Mitigation and Adaptation provides in-depth information on the
linkages between climate change and land use, how they are related,
how land use is shifting over time, and the major global regions at
risk for climate and land use changes. This comprehensive resource
discusses climatic factors and processes that impact natural and
artificial systems, as well as the relationship between climate
change and both natural and man-made hazards. The book includes
case studies and original maps to provide real-life examples of
climate change and land use over regions around the globe. In
addition, the book presents future perspectives on mitigation and
adaptation of the climate change impact.
Climate catastrophe throws into stark relief the extreme,
life-threatening inequalities that affect millions of lives
worldwide. The poorest and most marginalized, who are least
responsible for the consumption and emissions that create climate
change, are the first and hardest impacted, and the least able to
protect themselves. Climate justice is simultaneously a movement,
an academic field, an organizing principle, and a political demand.
Building climate justice is a matter of life and death.Climate
Justice and Participatory Research offers ideas and inspiration for
climate justice through the creation of research, knowledge, and
livelihood commons and community-based climate resilience. It
brings together articulations of the what, why, and how of climate
justice through the voices of energetic and motivated
scholar-activists who are building alliances across Latin America,
Africa, and Canada. Exemplifying socio-ecological transformation
through equitable public engagement, these scholars, climate
activists, community educators, and teachers come together to share
their stories of participatory research and collective action.
Grounded in experience and processes that are currently underway,
Climate Justice and Participatory Research explores the value of
common assets, collective action, environmental protection, and
equitable partnerships between local community experts and academic
allies. It demonstrates the negative effects of climate-related
actions that run roughshod over local communities’ interests and
wellbeing, and acknowledges the myriad challenges of participatory
research. This is a work committed to the practical work of
transforming socio-economies from situations of vulnerability to
collective wellbeing.
Perspectives from worldwide experts on how major cities across the
globe are responding to the major environmental threats of our
time, including global climate change Over half of the world's
population now lives in cities, and this share is expected to
increase in the coming decades. With growing urbanization, cities
and their residents face substantial environmental challenges such
as higher temperatures, droughts, wildfires, and increased
flooding. In response to these pressing challenges, some cities
have begun to develop local environmental regulations that
supplement national and environmental laws. In so doing, cities
have stepped into a role that has been historically dominated by
higher levels of government. Global Sustainable Cities takes stock
of the policies that have been implemented by cities around the
world in recent years in several key areas: water, air pollution,
greenhouse gas emissions, and climate adaptation. It examines the
advantages-and potential drawbacks-of allowing cities to assume a
significant role in environmental regulation, given the legal and
political constraints in which cities operate. The contributors
present a series of case studies of the actions that seven leading
cities-Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Berlin, Delhi, London, New York, and
Shanghai-are taking to improve their environments and adapt to
climate change. The first volume of its kind, Global Sustainable
Cities is a critical comparative assessment of the actions that
major cities in the global North and South are taking to advance
sustainability.
Understanding Present and Past Arctic Environments: An Integrated
Approach from Climate Change Perspectives provides a fully
comprehensive overview of the past, present and future outlook for
this incredibly diverse and important region. Through a series of
contributed chapters, the book explores changes to this environment
that are attributed to the effects of climate change. The book
explores the current effects climate change has had on Arctic
environments and ecosystems, our current understanding of the
effects climate change is having, the effects climate change is
having on the atmospheric and ocean processes in this region. The
Arctic region is predicted to experience the earliest and most
pronounced global warming response to human-induced climatic
change, thus a better understanding is vital.
The Physical Oceanography of the Arctic Mediterranean Sea describes
the circulation and the processes in the Arctic Mediterranean, how
our present knowledge has developed, and presents recent changes
caused by a gradually warmer global climate. The Arctic
Mediterranean Sea has been intensively studied in recent years,
especially during the fourth International Polar Year, 2007-09, and
we have become increasingly aware of the changes presently taking
place. This book collects and presents newly acquired knowledge and
sets it in perspective to previous studies. Authored by a
world-renowned leader in the field, this book explores the role of
this small but important sea in the global oceanic circulation and
climate-a must-read for researchers and students in the fields of
oceanography and climate science.
The concept of circular economy is based on strategies, practices,
policies, and technologies to achieve principles related to
reusing, recycling, redesigning, repurposing, remanufacturing,
refurbishing, and recovering water, waste materials, and nutrients
to preserve natural resources. It provides the necessary conditions
to encourage economic and social actors to adopt strategies toward
sustainability. However, the increasing complexity of
sustainability aspects means that traditional engineering and
management/economics alone cannot face the new challenges and reach
the appropriate solutions. Thus, this book highlights the role of
engineering and management in building a sustainable society by
developing a circular economy that establishes and protects strong
social and cultural structures based on cross-disciplinary
knowledge and diverse skills. It includes theoretical
justification, research studies, and case studies to provide
researchers, practitioners, professionals, and policymakers the
appropriate context to work together in promoting sustainability
and circular economy thinking. Volume 1, Circular Economy and
Sustainability: Management and Policy, discusses the content of
circular economy principles and how they can be realized in the
fields of economy, management, and policy. It gives an outline of
the current status and perception of circular economy at the
micro-, meso-, and macro-levels to provide a better understanding
of its role in achieving sustainability. Volume 2, Circular Economy
and Sustainability: Environmental Engineering, presents various
technological and developmental tools that emphasize the
implementation of these principles in practice (micro-level). It
demonstrates the necessity to establish a fundamental connection
between sustainable engineering and circular economy.
Indian Summer Monsoon Variability: El Nino-Teleconnections and
Beyond presents the improved understanding of Indian Monsoon
teleconnections (ENSO and Non-ENSO), new advances, and preferred
future steps. Special emphasis is given to non-ENSO teleconnections
which have been poorly understood for decades. With growing monsoon
rainfall extremes across the Indian Subcontinent, a new
understanding of monsoon environmental factors that are driven
remotely through teleconnections is a trending topic. Finally, the
book reviews current understanding of the observational and
modeling aspects of Indian monsoon teleconnections. This is a
must-read for researchers and graduate students in atmospheric
science and meteorology.
Forest Resources Resilience and Conflicts presents modern remote
sensing and GIS techniques for Sustainable Livelihood. It provides
an up-to-date critical analysis of the discourse surrounding forest
resources and society, illustrating the relationship between forest
resources and the livelihood of local people. The book is organized
into four parts consisting of 31 chapters. Each chapter then
reviews current understanding, present research, and future
implications. Utilizing case studies and novel advances in
geospatial technologies, Forest Resources Resilience and Conflicts
provides a timely synthesis of a rapidly growing field and
stimulates ideas for future work, especially considering
sustainable development goals. In addition, the book presents the
effective contribution of the forestry sector to populations'
livelihoods through improved collection of forestry statistics that
foster the understanding and integration of the forestry sector in
poverty reduction processes and the national economy to enhance its
integration in national planning. It is a valuable resource for
researchers and students in environmental science, especially those
interested in forestry, geography, and remote sensing.
Holocene Climate Change and Environment presents detailed, diverse
case studies from a range of environmental and geological regions
on the Indian subcontinent which occupies the central part of the
monsoon domain. This book examines Holocene events at different
time intervals based on a new, high-resolution, multi-proxy records
(pollen, spores, NPP, diatoms, grain size characteristics, total
organic carbon, carbon/nitrogen ratio, stable isotopes) and other
physical tools from all regions of India. It also covers new
facilities in chronological study and luminescence dating, which
have added a new dimension toward understanding the Holocene
glacial retreats evolution of coastal landforms, landscape dynamics
and human evolution. Each chapter is presented with a unified
structure for ease of access and application, including an
introduction, geographic details, field work and sampling
techniques, methods, results and discussion. This detailed
examination of such an important region provides key insights in
climate modeling and global prediction systems.
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