This timely book analyses the status of hydrocarbon energy in Russia as both a saleable commodity and as a source of societal and political power. Through empirical studies in domestic and foreign policy contexts, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen explores the development of a hydrocarbon culture in Russia and the impact this has on its politics, identity and approach to climate change and renewable energy. Cogent and compelling, this book demonstrates how the Russian state leverages its oil and gas reserves in order to create and maintain power both domestically and internationally. Tynkkynen uses empirical studies of key topics such as the national gas programme Gazprom, the Arctic, climate discourse and anthropogenic climate change denial, and the Russia-Finland energy trade to critically examine the situation. The book concludes with a convincing argument for the potential of renewable energy to build a more resilient and sustainable future for Russia and how this might be achieved. This will prove crucial reading for scholars and students of Russian and Eastern European studies and energy and environmental studies, as well as geographers, anthropologists and political scientists. Those working in governments, international organizations and corporations with an interest in Russian energy will also find its insights useful.

This book collects wide-ranging contributions such as case studies, reviews, reports on technological developments, outputs of research/studies, and examples of successful projects, presenting current knowledge and raising awareness to help the agriculture and forestry sectors find solutions for mitigating climate variability and adapting to change. It brings the topic of ecosystem services closer to education and learning, as targeted by the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. Climate change and its impacts on agriculture and agroforestry have been observed across the world during the last 50 years. Increasing temperatures, droughts, biotic stresses and the impacts of extreme events have continuously decreased agroforestry systems' resilience to the effects of climate change. As such, there is a need to adapt farming and agroforestry systems so as to make them better able to handle ever-changing climate conditions, and to preserve habitats and ecosystems services.

This book deals with a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. It is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. this book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then proposes alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

Since 2008, the Global Center of Excellence (COE) at Kyoto University, Japan, has been engaged in a program called "Energy Science in the Age of Global Warming-Toward a CO2 Zero-Emission Energy System." Its aim is to establish an international education and research platform to foster educators, researchers, and policy makers who can develop technologies and propose policies for establishing a CO2 zero-emission society no longer dependent on fossil fuels. It is well known that the energy problem cannot simply be labeled a technological one, as it is also deeply involved with social and economic issues. The establishment of a "low-carbon energy science" as an interdisciplinary field integrating social sciences with natural sciences is necessary. The Global COE is setting out a zero-emission technology roadmap and is promoting socioeconomic studies of energy, studies of new technologies for renewable energies, and research for advanced nuclear energy. It has also established the Global COE Unit for Energy Science Education to support young researchers as they apply their skills and knowledge and a broad international perspective to respond to issues of energy and the environment in our societies. Comprising the proceedings of the Second International Symposium of the Global COE Program, this book follows on the earlier volume "Zero-Carbon Energy Kyoto 2009," published in March 2010.

Ocean Law and Coastal Law have grown rapidly in the past three decades as specialty areas within natural resources law and environmental law. The protection of oceans has received increased attention in the past decade because of the global overfishing crisis, widespread depletion of marine living resources (such as marine mammals and coral reefs), and oil pollution. During this same period, climate change regulation has emerged as a focus of international environmental diplomacy, and has gained increased attention in the wake of disturbing and abrupt climate change related impacts throughout the world that have profound implications for ocean and coastal regulation and marine resources. Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law effectively brings together the two worlds of climate change and ocean and coastal management. It raises important questions about whether and how ocean and coastal law will respond to the regulatory challenges that climate change presents to resources in the oceans and coasts of the U.S. and the world. This comprehensive work assembles the insights of global experts from academia and major NGOs (e.g., Center for International Environmental Law, Ocean Conservancy, and Environmental Law Institute) to address regulatory challenges from the perspectives of U.S. law, foreign domestic law, and international law.

Hurricanes are nature's most destructive agents. Widespread interest surrounds the possibility that they might get even more destructive in the future. Policy makers consider it a call for action. Answers about when and by how much hurricanes will change are sought by financial institutions especially industry. And scientists are challenged by the range and interactions of the processes involved. This book, arising from the 2nd International Summit on Hurricanes and Climate Change, contains new research on topics related to hurricanes and climate change since the 1st Summit. Chapters are grouped into research studies using global climate models and those taking empirical and statistical approaches. The latter include investigations of basin-wide and regional hurricane activity.

This book asks, how would a stable, prosperous economy of the future look if one started with a blank sheet of paper? Given that the world's economy is locked into a coevolution with nature, the urgency of this question is brought into stark relief by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and ongoing climate change. While physical technologies to build such an economy mostly exist, the social technologies, in the form of institutions, governance and policies, do not. The development of these social technologies will necessitate a reconsideration of economic norms: in particular, what is the economy for, and what are we, as actors within it, striving for? This book integrates normative, institutional, political and economic requirements into a systematic framework to drive our present growth economy toward a future planetarian one. It outlines a suite of interrelated policies to increase the economy's material efficiency, establish a basic living standard, and reform the money system, while along the way eliminating economic debt and balancing government budgets. The framework and policies together form a paradigm of market planetarianism: the idea that the power of markets may be used to steer the economy toward a desired long-term goal. The methodological aspects of this paradigm are covered in the companion volume, Economics of a Crowded Planet.

This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the fundamental roles that ecological interactions play in extinction processes, bringing to light an underground of hidden pathways leading to the same dark place: biodiversity loss.We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. We see species declining and vanishing one after another. Poached rhinos, dolphins and whales slaughtered, pandas surviving only in captivity are strong emotional testimonials of what is happening. Yet, the main threat to natural communities may be overshadowed by the disappearance of large species, with most extinctions happening unnoticed and involving less eye-catching organisms, such as parasites and pollinators. Ecosystems hide countless, invisible wires connecting organisms in dense networks of ecological interactions. Through these networks, perturbations can propagate from one species to another, producing unpredictable effects. In worst case scenarios, the loss of one species might doom many others to extinction. Ecologists now consider such mechanisms as a fundamental - and still poorly understood - driver of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. Hidden Pathways to Extinction makes the invisible links connecting the fates of species and organisms evident, exploring why complexity can enhance ecosystem stability and yet accelerate species loss. Page after page, Strona provides convincing evidence that we are primarily responsible for the fall in biodiversity, that we are falling too, and that we need to redouble our conservation efforts now, or it won't be long before we hit the ground.

The literature on multi-level governance (MLG), an approach that explicitly looks at the system of the many interacting authority structures at work in the global political economy, has grown significantly over the last decade. The authors in this volume examine how multilevel governance (MLG) systems address climate change and water policy.By taking a comparative perspective, the contributors seek to examine the impact of multilevel governance on the environment. They show how the interplay between autonomous governments at the sub-national, federal or supranational and international levels in MLG systems create unique challenges and opportunities. Both cutting greenhouse gas emissions and allocating river flows require tough political or legal decisions that create winners and losers. This book offers a cogent examination of the successes and failures of the United States, European Union, Canada and Australia in grappling with these policy problems. This book will appeal to academics and students of public policy, international affairs and environment studies. Those working in government institutions will find the research both interesting and invaluable. Contributors: D. Benson, D.J. Fiorino, D. Gordon, B.T. Heinmiller, A. Jordan, K. Kern, D. Macdonald, J. Meadowcroft, M. Pallemaerts, B.G. Rabe, I. Weibust

Mitchell analyses the extent to which the current political paradigm is capable of meeting the challenges of climate change. She argues that unless there are fundamental changes to policy-making, it is unlikely that energy policies will be able to deliver sufficient change to enable a move to a sustainable energy economy.

The European Arctic and Alpine regions are experiencing large environmental changes. These changes may have socio-economic effects if the changes affect the bioproduction, which form the basis for the marine and terrestrial food chains. This uniquely multidisciplinary book presents the various aspects of contemporary environmental changes in Arctic and Alpine Regions.

The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook provides an in-depth look at climate change facts and statistics. It also discusses debate surrounding the scientific consensus. The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook covers the topic of climate change from the earliest days of planet Earth to the present day. Chapters One and Two provide a historical background of climate change and a review of current problems, controversies, and solutions. The remainder of the book consists of chapters that aid readers in continuing their own research on the topic, such as an extended annotated bibliography, chronology, glossary, noteworthy individuals and organizations in the field, and important data and documents. The variety of resources provided, such as further reading, perspective essays about climate change, a historical timeline, and useful terms in the climate change discourse, differentiates this book from others in the field. The book is intended for readers of high school through the community college level, along with adult readers who may be interested in the topic. Provides readers with the basic factual information needed to understand climate change Outlines issues in the field of climate change about which there are differences of opinion among authorities in the field Offers suggestions for ways in which the effects of climate change on the environment and human society can be ameliorated Rounds out the author's expertise in perspective essays, giving readers a diversity of viewpoints on the topic

This book examines the aspects of prevention, mitigation, and management of environmental hazards and disasters from an international perspective. In light of the recent debate on climate change and the possible effects of such a change upon increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme environmental events, this publication overviews various policy and response discourses. Several case studies from various countries and world regions depicting recent experience in mitigation policy and program development and implementation and establishing links between vulnerability and mitigation are presented to provide further insights. This book is primarily intended for academics, policymakers, professionals, and practitioners in hazards reduction activities who are seeking a better understanding of the complex and dynamic aspects of nature and society.

The topic of wildfire is currently receiving a lot of attention in international media. This is the case right now with conflagrations stretching across the American West. This has also been the case over the past few years with fires in Australia, Chile, Brazil, Portugal, and South Africa, among others. While most publications on this topic unpack one scale of intervention—defensible space for protecting individual homes—this book will study a range of potential tactics, from a watershed management scale down to a molecular scale. It aims to provide a more holistic set of approaches for designers to consider when working between wildland and the built environment. For the case studies, this book will not just draw upon work from professional design firms, as these projects tend to be limited in quantity as well as in scope. Rather, it will draw upon indigenous practices, community-driven projects, and speculative academic proposals to create a larger bank of ideas.

Inland sand dunes are widespread in North America and are found from the North Slope of Alaska to the Sonoran Desert in northern Mexico and from the Delmarva Peninsula in the east to Southern California in the west. In this edited book, we highlight recent research on areas of inland dunes that span a range from those that are actively accumulating in current conditions of climate and sediment supply to those that were formed in past conditions and are now degraded relict systems. This book will be of interest to researchers and scholars of physical geography, geomorphology, environmental sciences, and earth sciences. Contributions include detailed analyses of individual active dune systems at White Sands, New Mexico; Great Sand Dunes, Colorado; and the Laurentian Great Lakes; as well as the vegetation-stabilized dunes of the Nebraska Sand Hills and the Colorado Plateau. Additional chapters discuss the widespread partially vegetated dune systems of the central and southern Great Plains; the relict dunes of the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the eastern USA; and active and stabilized dunes of the Colorado Plateau and the southwestern deserts of the USA and northern Mexico.

Climate change has been the subject of thousands of booksand magazines, scientific journals, and newspaper articles daily. It s a subject that can be very political and emotional, often blurring the lines between fact and fiction. The vast majority of research, studies, projections and recommendations tend to focus on the human influence on climate change and global warming as the result of CO2 emissions, often to the exclusion of other threats that include population growth and the stress placed on energy sources due to emerging global affluence.

"Climate Vulnerability "seeks to strip away the politics and emotion that surround climate change and will assess the broad range of threats using the bottom up approach including CO2 emissions, population growth, emerging affluence, and many others to our five most critical resources: water, food, ecosystems, energy, and human health. Inclusively determining what these threats are while seeking preventive measures and adaptations is at" "the heart of this unique reference work.
Takes a Bottom-Up approach, addressing climate change and the threat to our key resources at the local level first and globally second, providing a more accurate and inclusive approach.Includes extensive cross-referencing, which is key to readers as new connections between factors can be discovered.Cuts across a number of disciplines and will appeal to Biological Science, Earth & Environmental Science, Ecology, and Social Science, comprehensively addressing climate change and other threats to our key resources from multiple perspectives
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This volume discusses a broad range of human welfare problems associated with and stemming from social issues, natural resource deficiencies, environmental hazards, vulnerability to climate change, and sustainability challenges. The chapters form a framework centered around the concept of social morphology, i.e. the role of humans in shaping society, and associated human-nature interactions which inform the ability to achieve sustainable welfare and well-being. The book is divided in six sections. Section I contains the introductory chapters where the book explores shifting interfaces between environment, society, and sustainability outcomes. Section II discusses contemporary issues of social welfare, and covers sustainable approaches in geo-heritage and ecotourism. Section III addresses the roots of various social conflicts and inequalities in relation to overpopulation, poverty, illiteracy, employment concerns, and human migration. Section IV highlights social security and areas of social deprivation, including urban affordability, gender equality, and women's health. Section V covers social issues resulting from natural hazards and disasters. Section VI concludes the book with a discussion of the way forward for social sustainability. The book will be of interest to students, researchers, policy makers, environmentalists, NGOs, and social scientists.

Conversations about climate change at the science-policy interface and in our lives have been stuck for some time. This handbook integrates lessons from the social sciences and humanities to more effectively make connections through issues, people, and things that everyday citizens care about. Readers will come away with an enhanced understanding that there is no 'silver bullet' to communications about climate change; instead, a 'silver buckshot' approach is needed, where strategies effectively reach different audiences in different contexts. This tactic can then significantly improve efforts that seek meaningful, substantive, and sustained responses to contemporary climate challenges. It can also help to effectively recapture a common or middle ground on climate change in the public arena. Readers will come away with ideas on how to harness creativity to better understand what kinds of communications work where, when, why, and under what conditions in the twenty-first century.

This book critically analyzes the water quality in the lower Gangetic delta, and examines the environmental conditions and physical processes operating in this rich ecosystem. Readers with an interest in environmental science, geography, oceanography, marine biology, environmental biology, aquatic pollution and ecology will find the research presented here most appealing. Readers will discover critical aspects of the chemistry of the estuarine water (particularly that of Hooghly and Matla estuaries) in the lower stretch of the delta region along with the causes and effects of pollution in and around this region. Particular attention is given to the bioaccumulation of conservative pollutants in edible fishes and floral communities thriving in this region. Several case studies are also incorporated to highlight the vulnerability of pollution in this region. Chapters also address the impacts of climate change (specifically acidification) on the concentration and behavior of conservative pollutants. Finally, the book highlights some mitigation measures at the technology and policy level to minimize the negative impacts posed by different groups of pollutants on the estuarine biodiversity.

Water resources are of enormous societal and ecological importance. In coastal areas, they are under ever greater pressure due to population growth, more affluent lifestyles, food production and the growing tourism industry. Changes to the coastal landscape, through urbanisation and land reclamation, and by natural processes such as climate change and sea level rise, modify the interaction between seawater and groundwater and put water resources at risk. This comprehensive volume covers both theory and practice of coastal hydrogeology. It discusses hydrochemistry; submarine groundwater discharge; groundwater management; palaeo-hydrology; land reclamation; climate change and sea level rise; and mathematical models of variable-density flow. With its up-to-date coverage and numerous case studies that illustrate practical implications, it is perfect for students, practitioners, managers and researchers who wish to develop an in-depth understanding of topics relevant to sustainably managing coastal groundwater resources.

Climate change will lead to many changes in global development and security especially energy, water, food, society, job, diplomacy, culture, economy and trade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as: "Any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity." Global climate change has emerged as a key issue in both political and economic arenas. It is an increasingly questioned phenomenon, and progressive national governments around the world have started taking action to respond to these environmental concerns. This book discusses the issue of food and water security in India under the context of climate change. It provides information to scientists and local government to help them better understand the particularities of the local climate. It offers insight into the changes to natural ecosystems which have affected the local Indian population. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to Indian society. It can lead to serious impacts on production, life and the environment. Higher temperatures and sea level rise can lead to flooding and cause water salinity problems which bring about negative effects on agriculture and high risks to industry and socio-economic systems in the future.

This book presents the latest research on plant phenolics, offering readers a detailed, yet comprehensive account of their role in sustainable agriculture. It covers a diverse range of topics, including extraction processes; the role of plant phenolics in growth and development; plant physiology; post-harvesting technologies; food preservation; environmental, biotic and abiotic stress; as well as nutrition and health. Further the book provides readers with an up-to-date review of this dynamic field and sets the direction for future research. Based on the authors' extensive experience and written in an engaging style, this highly readable book will appeal to scholars from various disciplines. Bringing together work from leading international researchers, it is also a valuable reference resource for academics, researchers, students and teachers wanting to gain insights into the role of plant phenolics in sustainable agriculture.

Climate change has thrust us into a ''no-analog'' future in which climate disasters threaten to cause extraordinary damage, with little precedent to guide policymakers and private actors. Addressing such risks requires a firm grounding in disaster risk reduction, climate change policy, and environmental law. This Research Handbook provides readers with that integrated foundation, investigating topics in international law as well as domestic programs from countries around the world. Because climate disasters affect both government and non-government actors, the Research Handbook covers issues of both public and private law. We know from the scientific literature and recent experience that the laws addressing natural disasters are insufficient to confront disasters amplified by climate change. The Research Handbook acknowledges that the majority of disasters are susceptible in some way to changes in the earth's climate and explores the barriers to, and opportunities for, finding legal solutions to the risks posed by such disasters. It shows that climate change must be considered in order to fully understand disaster risk and the respective legal and policy responses. The Research Handbook also emphasizes the moral responsibility we have to move as quickly as possible to create a carbon-free economy. This work will be of great appeal to legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in environmental law or climate change as it relates to international and domestic law and policy. Contributors include: C.A. Arnold, C. Bakker, M. Burkett, S. Donald, J.D. Echeverria, D.A. Farber, M. Faure, M.B. Gerrard, Q. He, R. Kundis Craig, S. Kuo, D.A. Kysar, R. Lyster, T. Parejo-Navajas, J. Peel, L. Rajamani, S. Shapiro, T. Stephens, L.G. Sun, K. Tracy, R.R.M. Verchick, J. Verschuuren

Most people can name the influential leaders and major battles of the past. Few can name the most destructive storms, the worst winters, the most devastating droughts. In The Earth Transformed, ground-breaking historian Peter Frankopan shows that engagement with the natural world and with climatic change and their effects on us are not new: exploring, for instance, the development of religion and language and their relationships with the environment; tracing how growing demands for harvests resulted in the increased shipment of enslaved peoples; scrutinising how the desire to centralise agricultural surplus formed the origins of the bureaucratic state; and seeing how efforts to understand and manipulate the weather have a long and deep history. Understanding how past shifts in natural patterns have shaped history, and how our own species has shaped terrestrial, marine and atmospheric conditions is not just important but essential at a time of growing awareness of the severity of the climate crisis. Taking us from the Big Bang to the present day, The Earth Transformed forces us to reckon with humankind's continuing efforts to make sense of the natural world.

Breaks new ground by both analyzing the literary qualities of four recent rewritings of the Noah myth and contextualizing their concern with climate change within the wider crises of the Anthropocene. With the rise of concern about global warming in recent years, climate-change fiction, or cli-fi, has become increasingly important both as a publishing phenomenon and as an area of academic study and research. Flood narratives have become a subsection of cli-fi in their own right. This book proposes new readings of four recent rewritings of the Noah myth, Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich, Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy, When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall, and The Flood by Maggie Gee. Helen E. Mundler's book takes into account the wealth of criticism that has appeared on these texts in recent years, acknowledging important contributions from critics including Adam Trexler, Adeline Johns-Putra, and Astrid Bracke. However, her book's strength is that it takes a new approach, going beyond the topicality of the texts and treating them not just as ideological statements but giving them their due as literary artifacts. While the importance of climate change is beyond debate, this book takes a more balanced approach that places it within a wider context of the multiple crises of the Anthropocene.