This book discusses the history of environmental science and climate change, and the initiation and development of different parameters determining climate changes. The account of the history of such changes and turmoil in India and abroad starts in the prehistoric period, long before the emergence of "Rigveda", the first human written work. The book describes the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus on climatic disasters and their impact on the vegetation and society in Greek and Roman history, and addresses different studies related to climate change during the prehistoric period and their chronological development. The first book of its kind, it enhances our understanding the origin of research on climate change and climate related problems, and as such is a valuable resource for postgraduate students of agriculture and environment sciences, research scholars, scientists, environmentalists and policy planners.

This volume brings together scholars working in diverse traditions of the humanities in order to offer a comprehensive analysis of the environmental catastrophe as the modern-day apocalypse. Drawing on philosophy, theology, history, literature, art history, psychoanalysis, as well as queer and decolonial theories, the authors included in this book expound the meaning of the climate apocalypse, reveal its presence in our everyday experiences, and examine its impact on our intellectual, imaginative, and moral practices. Importantly, the chapters show that eco-apocalypticism can inform progressively transformative discourses about climate change. In so doing, they demonstrate the fruitfulness of understanding the environmental catastrophe from within an apocalyptic framework, carving a much-needed path between two unsatisfactory approaches to the climate disaster: first, the conservative impulse to preserve the status quo responsible for today's crisis, and second, the reckless acceptance of the destructive effects of climate change. This book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars interested in the contributions of both apocalypticism and the humanities to contemporary ecological debates.

While intercity passenger transport counts for about 2% of the total passenger transport volume the share of the total passenger kilometers traveled is estimated more than one third. In many countries the major part of intercity transport is performed by car and air and as a result, the contribution to the carbon footprint is substantially higher than the share of overall passenger transport performance. This creates a challenge to develop a sustainable organization of intercity transport which requires a true joint effort of policy makers, industry sectors and households. This presupposes that all options for reducing the carbon footprint of the transport modes - car, air and rail - are fully exploited through modern propulsion technology, use of regenerative energy and efficient organization of transport processes. Basic conditions for meeting this requirement are an incentive compatible public framework of regulation, taxation, charging and education, the private willingness to adjust to new behavioral patterns and a consequent push of technological progress towards energy and CO2 savings. This book begins with an international comparison of intercity transport and the current state of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of this transport segment. A focus is given to comparing the situation in the EU, the US and Japan while describing the more recent development of intercity transport in China, followed by an analysis of intercity transport policies and their contribution to meet the global climate change issues. This book will be of interest to researchers in transportation economics and policy, as well as civil engineering and planning.

Dry sulfurization processes offer the significant advantages of low capital and low operating costs when compared to wet desulfurization. They hold great potential for the economical reduction of sulfur emissions from power utilities that use high-sulfur coal. Dry Scrubbing Technologies for Flue Gas Desulfurization represents a body of research that was sponsored by the State of Ohio's Coal Development Office for the development of technologies that use coal in an economic, environmentally-sound manner. One of the project's major goals was the development of dry, calcium-based sorption processes for removing sulfur dioxide from the combustion gases produced by high-sulfur coal. Dry Scrubbing Technologies for Flue Gas Desulfurization highlights a number of fundamental research findings that have had a significant and lasting impact in terms of scientific understanding. For example, the experimental investigation of the upper-furnace sulfur capture obtained time-resolved kinetic data in less than 100 millisecond time-scales for the first time ever, thereby revealing the true nature of the ultra-fast and overlapping phenomena. This was accomplished through the development of a unique entrained flow reactor system. The authors also identify a number of important areas for future research, including reaction mechanisms, sorbent material, transport effects, modeling, and process development. Dry Scrubbing Technologies for Flue Gas Desulfurization will appeal to both chemical and environmental engineers who examine different ways touse coal in a more environmentally benign manner. It will make an essential reference for air pollution control researchers from coal, lime, cement, and utility industries; for government policy-makers and environmental regulatory agencies; and for those who teach graduate courses in environmental issues, pollution control technologies, and environmental policy.

This book focuses on threats, especially contaminants, to drinking water and the supply system, especially in municipalities but also in industrial and even residential settings. The safety, security, and suitability landscape can be described as dynamic and complex stemming from necessity and hence culpability due to the emerging threats and risks, vis-a-vis globalization resulting in new forms of contaminants being used due to new technologies. The book provides knowledge and guidance for engineers, scientists, designers, researchers, and students who are involved in water, sustainability, and study of security issues. This book starts out with basics of water usage, current statistics, and an overview ofwater resources. The book then introduces different scenarios of safety and security and areas that researchers need to focus. Following that, the book presents different types of contaminants - inadvertent, intentional, or incidental. The next section presents different methodologies of contamination sensing/detection and remediation strategies as per guidance and standards set globally. The book then concludes with selected chapters on water management, including critical infrastructure that is critical to maintaining safe water supplies to cities and municipalities. Each chapter includes descriptive information for professionals in their respective fields. The breadth of chapters offers insights into how science (physical, natural, and social) and technology can support new developments to manage the complexity resident within the evolving threat and risk landscape.

This book presents some of the latest technologies in waste management, and emphasizes the benefits that can be gained from the use of recycled products. Divided into four sections, it deals with phytoremediation, acquatic weed management and the treatment of solid- and water-based wastes, such as those arising from agricultural, industrial and medical activities. With its special emphasis on the utilization of recycled products, this volume will be of interest to students, academicians, policy makers and others who have a practical and academic interest in dealing with the waste society generates.

This book gives a much needed explanation of the basic physical principles of radiative transfer and remote sensing, and presents all the instruments and retrieval algorithms in a homogenous manner. The editors provide, for the first time, an easy path from theory to practical algorithms in one easily accessible volume, making the connection between theoretical radiative transfer and individual practical solutions to retrieve aerosol information from remote sensing, and providing the specifics and intercomparison of all current and historical retrieval methods.

Adverse climate impacts are already evident across Southern Africa and pose a serious threat to the development prospects of the region's societies. Sustainable development in this region will depend on the rapid development and implementation of effective adaptation measures. This volume identifies the new socioeconomic and political boundaries to development that result from ongoing climate change in Southern Africa. The collected papers explore the region's potential for a transition to development strategies that combine meaningful socioeconomic investment and adaptation measures while also improving livelihoods in the region. The chapters are backed up by detailed case studies which underscore the urgent need for national governments and multilateral agencies to develop strategies to support Southern Africa's societies in adapting to climate change.

In the continuing fight against organic environmental xenobiotics, the initial success attributed to bioremediation has paled, in part due to the low availability of xenobiotics entrapped within a soil or sediment matrix. This has generated a very significant wave of interest in the bioavailability issue. However, much experimental evidence is puzzling or contradictory, mechanistic theories are embryonic, and implications for the practice of bioremediation or concerning the natural fate of xenobiotics are still tentative. The debate in Europe and the USA is vigorous. Eastern Europe, following the liberalisation of the economy and political life, is evolving in a similar direction. In many cases, however, limited access to literature sources, severe language barriers, and the lack of a strong pluridisciplinary tradition are hampering the adoption of state of the art techniques. Originally intended to allow scientists in East European countries to become acquainted with the key aspects of the bioavailability debate that is unfolding in the scientific literature in the West, and with its implications for bioremediation efforts, the present book presents a very complete coverage of the theoretical and practical aspects of the (limited) bioavailability of organic xenobiotics in the environment.

This earth that we love is in grave danger because of us. Forests are becoming legends, rare as unicorns. If we continue to live as we do now, Okri argues in this evocative collection, there will be no world left for us to fix. He imagines messages, sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming – from Africa, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world – exhorting us to change, now. Inspired by environmental activism, the latest collection from Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri makes a powerful and very personal appeal for change. Combining fiction, essay and poetry, Tiger Work displays Okri’s classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.

Maize is a globally important crop mainly utilized as feed, food and raw material for diverse industrial applications. Among cereals, it occupies third place after rice and wheat and is a staple food for a large segment of population worldwide particularly in the Asian as well as African countries. This monogram discusses various aspects of nutritional quality of maize such as quality protein maize which has been considered as most significant discovery in enhancing nutritional quality of cereals in terms of increasing the concentration of essential amino acids. The biochemistry of starch which is an important industrial product of maize has been discussed in detail. Further, the role of maize oil which is highly regarded for human consumption as it reduces the blood cholesterol concentration has also been elaborated. Naturally, maize is a rich source of carotenoids such as beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, lutein, cryptoxanthin which have highly diverse health benefits ranging from maintaining normal vision to lowering of oxidative stress. The need for biofortification of maize for provitamin A carotenoids and their role in alleviating vision impairments have also been discussed. The effect of various biotic and abiotic stresses particularly carbon dioxide and temperature on quality has been discussed thoroughly. Many value-added products as well as fermented foods that have been produced from maize which is consumed in different forms worldwide are also discussed. The aspects related to the maize application as fodder and as a source of malting have also been covered concisely. Overall, the book provides complete information about various quality aspects of maize. The various stakeholders such as maize researchers, extension specialists, students, teachers as well as farmers will be immensely benefitted from this monogram.

CITIES: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY BRANTLEY LIDDLE AND FRED MOAVENZADEH OR at least 4000 years, cities have been centers of cultural, social, technological Fand economic innovation, inventions and their application, and political power. Only in the last 200 years, the industrial era, have urban areas grown so rapidly, and their populations increased so dramatically that their impacts on the natural environ- ment are being felt beyond their immediate geographic surroundings. As the 21" cen- tury dawns, megacities-great and far-reaching concentrations of power and influ- ence-have become centers of the phenomena of globalization and information ex- change. These concentrations of people and activity are placing stress on the natural environment so great that it is beginning to have extensive regional, and even global impacts. However, asconcentrations ofpower-political, economic, andintellectual- these great urban centers share with the ancestral cities of past millennia the resources to consciously shape the future. The management of these megacities (those having populations of over eight million) in their current formative stages so taxing to natural systems,paradoxicallypresents theopportunity torestoresustainableregional and global environments. Environmental problems consequent to urban growth have two sources: pov- erty and affluence. These two conditions often coexist in dramatic contrast within the same city, particularly in developing countries. In terms of environmental impact, poverty-based problems tend to have local effects, while affluence-based problems usually have transboundary and/or global effects.

The Economic Geology of Iran is a complete and comprehensive book about mineral deposits, energy and water resources of Iran. Dr. Mansour Ghorbani has travelled to each of the huge variety of locations that feature the resources covered, personally verifying the details of them all.

The book starts by describing the geography and physiography of Iran as well as its various climatic regions and the diverse corresponding vegetation. Then the book gives an excellent overview of the geology of the country, followed by the history of mining in Iran up to now. The author describes also the metallogenic and mineralization phases of Iran, its mineral zones and belts, and, more generally, the distribution of mineral deposits in the country. Dr. Ghorbani gives us also an analysis of the position of Iran in terms of global mineral resources, as well as the role that the country s mineral, energy and natural resources play in its overall economy. The book finishes with also provides a complete list of Iranian mineral deposits.

This book is a perfect source of information for all students and researchers in the field of geo-science at the university level but also for mining and oil companies that would like to work, invest and get involved in such businesses in Iran.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) monitoring of the atmosphere is an interdisciplinary topic: a collaboration between geodetic and atmospheric communities. As such, this topic requires sufficient basic knowledge about both GNSS and the atmosphere. Global Navigation Satellite System Monitoring of the Atmosphere begins by introducing GNSS, its components, and signals. It then explains the basics of the atmosphere, starting from the ionosphere to the troposphere. The GNSS tropospheric monitoring is separated for application in numerical weather prediction and nowcasting. Further chapters focus on the application of GNSS for monitoring the climate as well as soil moisture. Finally, the book concludes by discussing GNSS processing along with introducing the latest developments and applications for using atmospheric data to provide precise real-time GNSS products.

This publication characterizes the environmental burden of disease in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), measured by the excess number of deaths and illnesses in the population due to exposure to environmental hazards. The robust methods used in this risk analysis can be applied to any country or region. This publication documents the systematic, multi-step process used to identify environmental priorities and the detailed methods used to quantify the disease burden attributable to each risk. Based on the results of the burden of disease assessment, the publication summarizes the subsequent steps that are recommended to further reduce the burden of disease resulting from various environmental risk factors.

Authors and Contributors
This book represents the synthesis of research carried out by a large, interdisciplinary team from several institutions and multiple nations between June 2008 and June 2011.The lead authors are responsible for weaving together the pieces prepared by the team.Nonetheless, this book would not have been possible without major contributions from each team member.The list below shows contributors to each chapter.Following this list are biographies of all of the authors and contributors.

Lead Authors

Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Frederic J. P. Launay, Jens T. W. Thomsen, Angela Brammer, Christopher Davidson

Additional Contributors (by Chapter)

Chapter 2: Prioritizing Environmental Risks to Health
Henry H. Willis, Aimee Curtright, Gary Cecchine, Zeinab S. Farah, Sandra A. Geschwind, Jianhui Hu, Ying Li, Melinda Moore, Sarah Olmstead, Hanine Salem, Regina A. Shih, J. Jason West

Chapter 3: Assessing the Environmental Burden of Disease: Method Overview
TiinaFolley, Elizabeth S. Harder, MejsHasan

Chapter 4: Burden of Disease from Outdoor Air Pollution
Ying Li, GavinoPuggioni, PrahladJat, MejsHasan, Marc Serre, Kenneth G. Sexton, J. Jason West, SaravananArunachalam, Uma Shankar, William Vizuete, Mohammed ZuberFarooqui

Chapter 5: Burden of Disease from Indoor Air Pollution
Chris B. Trent

""

Chapter 6: Burden of Disease from Occupational Exposures
TiinaFolley, LeenaA. Nylander-French

Chapter 7: Burden of Disease from Climate Change
Richard N. L. Andrews, Leslie Chinery, Elizabeth S. Harder, J. Jason West

Chapter 8: Burden of Disease from Drinking Water Contamination
Gregory W. Characklis, Joseph N. LoBuglio

Chapter 9: Burden of Disease from Coastal Water Pollution
Gregory W. Characklis, Leigh-Anne H. Krometis, Joseph N. LoBuglio
Chapter 10: Burden of Disease from Soil and Groundwater Contamination
Chidsanuphong Chart-asa, Stephanie Soucheray-Grell

Chapter 11: Burden of Disease from Produce and Seafood Contamination
Leigh-Anne H. Krometis, Leslie Chinery"

The Arctic is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on earth. Over the next 100 years, climate change is expected to accelerate, contributing to major physical, ecological, social, and economic changes, many of which have already begun. Changes in arctic climate will also affect the rest of the world through increased global warming and rising sea levels.

The volume addresses the following major topics:

- Research results in measuring and observing aspects of the Arctic climate system and its processes across a range of time and space scales

- Representation of cryospheric, atmospheric, and oceanic processes in models, including assimilation of observations into models

- Our understanding of the role of the Arctic in the global climate system, its response to large-scale climate variations, and the processes involved.

Metal contamination is an increasing ecological and eco-toxicological risk. Understanding the processes involved in metal mobilization, sorption and mineralization in soils are key features for soil bioremediation.

Following an introduction to the physical, chemical and biological components of contaminated soils, various chapters address the interactions of soil, microorganisms, plants and the water phase necessary to transfer metals into biological systems. These include topics such as potential hazards at mining sites; rare earth elements in biotic and abiotic acidic systems; manganese redox reactions; biomineralisation, uranium in seepage water; metal-resistant streptomycetes; mycorrhiza in re-forestation; metal (hyper)accummulation in plants; microbial metal uptake; and their potential for bioremediation.

This book will be of interest to soil biologists, geologists and chemists, researchers and graduate students, as well as consulting companies and small enterprises involved in bioremediation.

Amazonian soils are almost universally thought of as extremely forbidding. However, it is now clear that complex societies with large, sedentary populations were present for over a millennium before European contact. Associated with these are tracts of anomalously fertile, dark soils termed terra preta or dark earths. These soils are presently an important agricultural resource within Amazonia and provide a model for developing long-term future sustainability of food production in tropical environments. The late Dutch soil scientist Wim Sombroek (1934-2003) was instrumental in bringing the significance of these soils to the attention of the world over four decades ago.

Wim saw not only the possibilities of improving the lives of small holders throughout the world with simple carbon based soil technologies, but was an early proponent of the positive synergies also achieved in regards to carbon sequestration and global climatic change abatement. Wim s vision was to form a multidisciplinary group whose members maintained the ideal of open collaboration toward the attainment of shared goals. Always encouraged and often shaped by Wim, this free association of international scholars termed the Terra Preta Nova Group came together in 2001 and has flourished. This effort has been defined by enormous productivity. Wim who is never far from any of our minds and hearts, would have loved to share the great experience of seeing the fruits of his vision as demonstrated in this volume."

Climate change is now a mainstream part of the international political agenda. It has become clear that it is not solely a technical issue, to be resolved by scientists, but a political issue with political implications at all levels of global governance. Indeed, some may argue that few long-term problems in international affairs are more important than this one. The purpose of this book is to reveal and apply some of the latest thinking on the implications of climate change for international affairs, and to explore how various proposals for tackling climate change will affect interstate relations in coming years. Chapters by scholars of international relations, international political economy and international law contribute to current discussions of climate change, doing so in way that is accessible to students, stakeholders, government officials and informed laypersons.

Some questions considered in the book include the following: How has the discussion of climate change affected interstate relations? How does this problem, and how do environmental issues more generally, challenge international relations theory? How do international climate politics influence domestic politics, and vice-versa? How would climate change or action taken to tackle it affect the balance of power or balance of influence? Is climate change a matter of international security or international justice?or both?and how does the answer to this question affect policy responses of governments? Which states are likely to benefit or suffer from the various proposals to address climate change? What are the legal, ethical and political implications of the uneven distribution of the impacts of climate change?

This book was previously published as a special issue of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

Agriculture Pollutes: pesticides can destroy wildlife and some are toxic to humans; some fungicides and herbicides cause cancer. Nitrates result in the contamination of drinking water and produce the risk of the ?blue-baby? syndrome in infants and of stomach cancer in adults. Agriculture produces methane, ammonia, nitrous oxide and the products of burning off, all of which add to the world's problems of acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer and global warming. This book, which focuses on the UK, the USA and Third World countries, is the first comprehensive review of agriculture and pollution: it examines the facts and assesses the relative dangers of each pollution problem. It also considers the effects of pollution on agriculture itself ? crop yields are depressed and livestock damaged by various forms of pollution from all sources. The authors offer solutions to these apparently overwhelming problems, and describe existing technology which would allow us to deal with them. Originally published in 1991

Recent and dramatic flooding in places as far apart as Bangladesh and North Wales are example. of what could become commonplace if sea levels rise. Most scientists are predicting a rise of about one metre and this book, based on research carried out for the Commonwealth governments, describes in simple terms what in. likely to happen as a result and where the worst effects will be.Martin Ince, a well-known scientific journalist, deals with the accuracy of our knowledge and the possible errors in assessment. He considers the different kinds of damage that higher seas could cause, inundation, increased salination, coral damage, increased flood and surge damage and so on. Brief case studies are included covering the UK, the Maldives, North America, Bangladesh, Guyana, Kiribati, The Netherlands, Italy, Egypt and Australasia.The book ends with an examination of the scientific and technical developments which could make the problems easier to deal with and, above all, set. out the policies on which governments must agree.Originally published in 1990

The world is moving into a new era which will be dominated by a new range of threats and a new range of priorities. Already headlines tell of storms and droughts, mass emigrations, the danger of old Soviet nuclear reactors and the thinning ozone layer, and with the menaces of global warming, deforestation, pollution and loss of biodiversity, the picture is likely to get bleaker. Unlike traditional threats, these are not made deliberately and standard military responses are usually inappropriate They are threats without enemies and they present quite new and fundamental challenges to the international community which has to find new methods and institutions, as well as the resolve, to tackle them. In this book, eminent experts describe the new threats and the scale of the dangers which they present and set out the political, military and institutional changes needed. Gwyn Prins is Director of the Global Security Programme at the University of Cambridge. He is author of Top guns and Toxic Whales, also published by Earthscan. Progress For A Small Planet Three topics dominate discussions of the global environment: pollution; the consequences of the affluent running ever faster through finite resources; and the growing tensions between rich and poor as a third of humanity continues to live and die in desperate poverty. In this exceptional book Barbara Ward (co-author with Rene Dubos of the bestselling Only One Earth) refused to see these processes as inevitable. It describes new technologies for recycling waste, for energy, for 'getting more for less' ,linking them to ordinary people's working lives. It also suggests a strategy for meeting the basic needs of the disadvantaged, and shows how the vast inequalities between countries can be reduced. This perceptive survey of policies outlines a planetary bargain between the world's nations that would guarantee individual freedom from poverty and keep our shared biosphere in good working order. Originally published in 1993

The changing climate, the warming of the world and acid rain are among the greatest problems facing us at the end of the twentieth century. This book describes, for the first time, the effects of these phenomena on the high mountains and the forests of Europe. Mountains and the frozen regions (the cryosphere) not only play a major part in our climatic system, but are also central to our water supplies. Yet our glaciers are shrinking, our lakes and soils are becoming acidified, our forests are damaged and the whole fragile ecosystem of ranges like the Alps and the Caucasus is threatened. Nilsson and Pitt present the evidence and assess the probable effects of these changes on mountain society, tourism, water, flora and fauna. They also examine the uncertainties. Above all they look, too, at the best possible strategies in response to What is happening and at what the next steps should be. Originally published in 1991

Behind the headlines about the loss of tropical forests in Latin America lies a complex and fascinating story of the social pressures which cause it. Trees, People and Power looks at the various groups, interests and conflicts involved, and explores the repercussions for forestry, the environment and the livelihoods of the rural and urban poor. Until the social and political dimensions of deforestation and forest protection schemes are understood, measures to prevent or slow deforestation are likely to involve technical interventions which will prove ineffective in the long run, and may well result in further impoverishment and environmental degradation. Peter Utting takes a critical look at the experience of forest protection and tree planting in a number of countries and considers how social and political factors affect the feasability of such schemes. Many environmental projects and programmes have failed to balance concerns for the environment with those of human welfare. Until they do, it is unrealistic to expect any significant progress towards sustainable development. Peter Utting is a senior researcher coordinator with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. He is the author of Economic Adjustment under the Sandinistas (UNRISD, 1991) and Economic Reform and Third World Socialism (Macmillan, 1992). Originally published in 1993

'The authors take us into less-known corridors of climate Realpolitik and energy power play. We are provided with the essential vocabulary to understand what is at stake and how the challenge should be tackled' Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Global warming and the resulting climate change present one of the greatest potential threats humanity has had to face. Every country contributes to them and they affect every person. Correspondingly, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated at the Earth Summit and since, is potentially one of the most significant international agreements ever reached and its successful implementation is vital if the threat is to be averted. This book provides a guide to the Convention and explains in very clear terms what is involved: the background which makes it so necessary; the tortuous process involved in negotiating it; what it says; and most importantly, how it must be interpreted and implemented, making clear the scale of the changes involved and the dangers of evading them. Sten Nilsson is leader of the forest resources project at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. David Pitt is a consultant to the Bellerive Foundation and Alp Action. They are the authors of Mountain World in Danger, published by Earthscan in 1991. Originally published in 1994