For the very first time, this book provides updated, integrated and organized, theoretical and methodological information on regional climate change and the associated environmental and socio-economic impacts on a regional scale. The most recent findings in the field of long-term climate change, which improve our understanding of the global climate puzzle, will be presented. Readers are introduced to state-of-the-art research in downscaling and GCMs, which involve the construction of reliable regional climate scenarios and the solution to key problems regarding the assessment of the impacts of climate change in the most important geographical areas of the world, from the Arctic to Antarctic regions, with special emphasis on the Northern Hemisphere.

Climatologists with an eye on the past have any number of sources for their work, from personal diaries to weather station reports. Piecing together the trajectory of a weather event can thus be a painstaking process taking years and involving real detective work. Missing pieces of a climate puzzle can come from very far afield, often in unlikely places. In this book, a series of case studies examine specific regions across North America, using instrumental and documentary data from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Extreme weather events such as the Sitka hurricane of 1880 are recounted in detail, while the chapters also cover more widespread phenomena such as the collapse of the Low Country rice culture. The book also looks at the role of weather station histories in complementing the instrumental record, and sets out the methods that involve early instrumental and documentary climate data. Finally, the book 's focus on North America reflects the fact that the historical climate community there has only grown relatively recently. Up to now, most such studies have focused on Europe and Asia.

The four sections begin with regional case studies, and move on to reconstruct extreme events and parameters. This is followed by the role of station history and, lastly, methodologies and other analyses. The editors aim has been to produce a volume that would be instrumental in molding the next generation of historical climatologists. They designed this book for use by general researchers as well as in upper-level undergraduate or graduate level courses.

In this innovative contribution to the field of environmental history, Stephen Mosley explores the devastating human and environmental costs of smoke pollution in the worlda (TM)s first industrial city.

A sweeping overview of the problems, politics, and policies of international and domestic management of the world's oceans. The world ocean is one of the most important global resources. Without it most life on earth would not survive because the ocean provides temperature regulation and produces oxygen, among other vital functions. However, this life-sustaining resource faces dangerous threats from over fishing, industrial wastes, oil pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Ocean Politics and Policy covers the major types of pollution, deep sea-bed mining, international jurisdictional disputes, and piracy, examining the underlying reasons for these problems and providing practical policy suggestions for reducing their impact. Special focus is placed on historical and contemporary ocean laws, from the concept of "freedom of the seas" to the 2001 Fishery Stock Agreement. Solving the problems facing the world ocean should be a high priority for the international community, and this book provides a starting place for this process. Provides a chronology of the development of ocean management Reproduces portions of documents along with important raw data on world fish catch trends and whale populations

General circulation models state that the central United States (and other mid-latitude continental regions) will become warmer and drier as the result of greenhouse warming. On this premise the dustbowl period of the 1930s was selected as an analogue of climate change and its weather records imposed on the Missouri--Iowa--Kansas region to assess how current agriculture, forestry, water resources and energy and the entire regional economy would be affected. The same climate was also imposed on a MINK region forty years into the future, by which time climate change may actually be felt, to assess whether technological and societal change would alter the region's vulnerability to climate change. Another premise of the study was that people would not suffer the impacts of climate change passively, but would use availabe tools to ease the stress. The rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, expected to be the major cause of greenhouse warming, also works to improve plant growth and reduce plant water use. So the effects of this Co2 fertilization' were also considered in the analysis. The results, some of them surprising, of this first, fully-integrated analysis of climate change impacts and responses are reported in this book.

This book explores a series of connected themes focused on the role economics and other influential forms of theory and thinking have played in creating the current predicament and the scope for alternatives and how they might be framed. Thirty years have passed since the inception of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the beginning of policy on climate change. Thirty wasted years. To most politicians, long-term collective interest has been denominated in meaningless units of time, a never and forever that has continually delayed action. From complacency has come potential disaster, and we are now living in a time of climate emergency and ecological breakdown. The next decade is a pivotal period requiring fundamental change. But numerous impediments remain. Continual material, energy and economic growth on a planetary scale are manifestly impossible, and yet economic theory takes these as a given and political leadership and policy seem unwilling to accept brute reality. Instead, they offer a series of implausible commitments and pledges rooted in technofixes, without addressing the fundamental drivers of the problems the world faces. The edited volume explores the issues and offers a variety of ways to think through the problems at hand, from postgrowth, degrowth and social ecological economics to policy assemblage and transversalism. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Globalizations.

Environmental sustainability issues in a fragile, semi-arid region and its coastal area, which experience climate changes from extreme drought conditions to the effects of hurricanes over a period of weeks to years, provide specific challenges for the ecosystems and the populations existing within the region. The research presented focuses on the problems and some solutions specific to the South Texas-Mexico border region, on both sides of the Rio Grande, focusing on water and air pollution. "

The atmosphere is getting fat on our carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and it needs our help. We live in a world of excess, consuming too much of everything-food, clothes, cars, toys, shoes, bricks, and mortar. Our bingeing is often so extreme that it threatens our own health and wellbeing. And we are not the only ones who are getting sick. The Earth, which provides the food, air, water, and land that sustains us, is also under severe pressure. We either take steps to put our personal and planetary systems back into balance or we suffer the consequences. So, what does any unhealthy overweight person do when the doctor tells him or her that they are eating themselves into an early grave? Go on a diet! This is the must-have guide to the most important diet ever, explaining climate change concepts, problems, and solutions in ways that anyone can easily understand. Following a six-step climate diet plan, families will be able to count their carbon calories and learn how to reduce them, leaving us with a slim healthy planet now and for the future.

The interest in air pollution modelling has shown substantial growth over the last five years. This was particularly evident by the increasing number of participants attending the NATO/CCMS International Technical Meetings on Air Pollution modelling and its Application. At the last meeting 118 papers and posters were selected from an abundance of submitted abstracts divided over five modelling topics: (i) model assessment and verification, including policy applications, (ii) air pollution modelling in coastal areas with emphasis on the mediterranean region, (iii) accidental atmospheric releases, including warning systems and regulations, (iv) modelling of global and long-range transport and (v) new developments in turbulent diffusion. A round-table discussion chaired by John Irwin (USA) and Jan Kretzschmar (Belgium) on the harmonization of air pollution models was attended by more than 50 scientists and is reported in these proceedings. The opening paper addressed the main issue of this conference: modelling over complex terrain. Of particular interest were coastal areas where the surface inhomogeneities introduce small-scale circulation and varying atmospheric stability, often combined with a complex topography. As the conference was located on the beautiful island of Crete, problems faced by the host nation, particularly Athens and its environs were obvious examples for consideration. These together with other regions with similar geographical features were addressed. Heavily populated and industrialized as they often are, air quality is generally poor there and emission regulations are desired. Obviously, a major task of air pollution dispersion modelling is to assist policy makers in formulating sensible regulations.

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

At present, we have been living in an ice age for around 2.5 million years, a geological epoch in which there is ice on Earth and in which the curve of the global mean temperature is subject to significant fluctuations (current trend: temperature increase). At nearly 16 million square kilometers, about ten percent of the land surface is currently covered by glacial ice-and glacial ice plays a major role in shaping landscapes. This compact textbook sharpens the eye for such landscapes. It makes the forms and the shaping processes comprehensible, which the author illustrates with numerous regional examples, especially from Central Europe, such as the North German Plain and the Alpine foothills, but also from Iceland. What traces have the glaciers and their meltwaters left behind? What formation processes can be inferred? How can recent climate history, in particular that of the Ice Age, be reconstructed? It is exciting to look at current developments in glaciated areas and also to take a look at the (climate) future of the Earth. For example, the question arises as to what influence glaciers have on sea level and on future climate change. In this context, natural processes such as the ice age cycles, for which there are various ice age formation hypotheses, and anthropogenic influences in global warming must be weighed against each other. Practice questions help to deepen understanding.

With a population of more than eighteen million people, Mexico City is a major metropolitan area where the effects of urban development on air quality are of immediate concern. Air pollution exposures and effects on forests in the Mexico City Air Basin are in many respects similar to those reported in the Los Angeles, California Air Basin. Studies of air pollution impacts on forests in these two regions may serve as models for urban areas all over the world. Although scientists have studied air pollution and its effects on forests and vegetation in the Mexico City Air Basin for years, this book reviews and synthesizes this body of work for the first time. This synthesis is particularly valuable as air pollution increases at an alarming rate along with global urbanization. A thorough discussion of regional geology, climate and hydrology, historical natural resource utilization, and sociological factors provide the context for evaluating air pollution impacts on the highly valued forests surrounding this megacity. The environmental and ecological consequences of chronic exposure to biologically important pollutants are considered in various case studies. Finally, the editors discuss the state of air pollution research in the Mexico City Air Basin and the outlook for the health and sustainability of forests within the Basin.

During the summers of recent years, Germany and other countries in Europe - perienced a considerable number of days, where limit values for ground level ozone set for the protection of human health were exceeded. This occurred in spite of - ductions of ozone precursor emissions in Europe during the 1990s due to European and national environmental legislation. And with European air quality limit values having become more and more stringent over time, the question arises, to what - tent emission control measures will have to be implemented to achieve compliance with short and long term targets for ozone and other air quality problems. Emission control, however, is usually associated with considerable costs. Thus, air pollution control strategies do not only have to take into account compliance - sues. Cost-effective approaches to achieve targets have to be identified. In addition to that, benefits arising from reduced levels of air pollution need to be accounted for in the frame of a cost-benefit assessment of different options to reduce air pollutant emissions, in order to find the most efficient pathway to improved air quality."

It was hoped that by paying forest dependent peoples and countries for their 'service' of conserving their forests, REDD+ would lead to a reduction in deforestation greenhouse gases. The complexities have, however, left some ambiguities. It was never agreed who would pay for the programme, and it has been criticised as ignoring the root causes of forest loss. Considering the motivations of those who promoted REDD+ this book proposes remedies to its shortfalls and recommends more efficient, equitable and effective conservation policies. Describing REDD+ from an agency perspective, this book provides a first-hand account of how individuals and institutions influenced international negotiations. It offers a comparative analysis of REDD+ as a forest conservation regime and of the way it was incorporated into the 2015 Paris agreements. In doing so, this book shows how contextual inequalities and power imbalances can result in international regimes which favour the economically powerful, and proposes providing greater roles for the assumed beneficiaries of environmental agreements in negotiations. This is an excellent introduction to REDD+, its background and execution, and will be a vital resource for students of international environmental governance, as well as for academics and researchers working on REDD+, forest policy and international governance in general.

The climate policy debate has been dominated by economic estimates of the costs of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the models used to derive those estimates are based on assumptions that have largely gone untested. The conventional approach embodies structural features that rule out alternative market outcomes. In addition, the distribution of "climate rights" is crucial to determining the economic affects of various policies. Bringing these considerations to the forefront shows how domestic and international policy solutions might be found.

This timely Handbook reviews many key issues in the economics of energy and climate change, raising new questions and offering solutions that might help to minimize the threat of energy-induced climate change.Constructed around the objectives of displaying some of the best of current thinking in the economics of energy and climate change, this groundbreaking volume brings together many of the world s leading and most innovative minds in the field to cover issues related to: - fossil fuel and electricity markets - environment-related energy policy - international climate agreements - carbon mitigation policies - low-carbon behavior, growth and governance. Serving as an indispensable guide to one of the fastest-growing fields of economics, this invaluable resource will strongly appeal to students, academics and policy makers interested in energy, environmental and climate change issues. Contributors include: J.E. Aldy, E.B. Barbier, A. Bowen, J. Chevallier, C. de Perthuis, J. Evans, N. Eyre, M. Fillipini, R. Fouquet, S. Gabriel, A. Gago, C. Gennaioli, J. Gowdy, C. Haftendorn, J.D. Hamilton, M. Hanemann, I. Hascic, D.F. Hendry, C. Hepburn, B. Holtsmark, F. Holz, C. Hope, L. Hunt, H.D. Jacoby, M. Jefferson, N. Johnstone, J.G. Kassakian, C. Kemfert, S. Kverndokk, X. Labandeira, H. Lee, H. Llavador, G. Lovellette, R. Martin, R. McKitrick, A. Moe, M. Muuls, I.W.H. Parry, M. Pollitt, F. Pretis, T. O'Garra, A. Ramos, C. Robinson, J.E. Roemer, K.E. Rosendahl, R. Schmalensee, I. Shaorshadze, J. Silvestre, P. Stevens, R. Tol, R. Trotignon, M. Tsygankova, G.C. van Kooten, C. von Hirschhausen

Organised by the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Programme, the International Conference on Technologies for Activities Implemented Jointly was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 26-29 (1997). The papers presented at the conference and published in these proceedings reflect the theme that Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) is a major tool to facilitate practical demonstration and development of greenhouse gas mitigation technologies. Published in a single volume under the title "Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, " the proceedings cover the following key areas: Key Note Presentations; International Initiatives; Enhancing Sinks and Stores; Maximising Joint Benefits; Improved Energy Technology; Asian Development Bank; Transport; Transmission and End Use.
The concept of AIJ will facilitate international cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and mitigate effects of climate change. In publishing these internationally-relevant conference proceedings, "Greenhouse Gas Mitigation "is likely to prove an invaluable reference tool for those engaged in research and application of initiatives to combat climate change.

Why do modern agricultural techniques, which are environmentally damaging, continue to be used? This book seeks the answer to that question, by looking at the evolution of agricultural research in its cultural context. The theoretical framework is supported by historical case studies concerning hybrid maize in the United States, and the Green Revolution in Mexico. A chapter is also devoted to biotechnology, and its implications for the disturbing trend towards genetic uniformity.

This book focuses on the toxic legacy of Native North America, which is pervasive but largely invisible to most non-Native peoples. Many toxic sites are located in out-of-the-way rural areas largely forgotten by the majority of America, but which nonetheless have supplied its industries with the rudiments of manufacturing for the better part of a century before being closed and cast aside. Thousands of contaminated sites exist in the United States due to dumped, left out, or otherwise improperly managed hazardous waste. These sites include manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills, and mining sites. Based on the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleans up these so-called Superfund sites, of which roughly 40 percent are located in Native country. The book links present-day Native American cultural and economic revival to a fundamental struggle to restore the health of both Native peoples and their homelands. It links past and present with a sense of Native Americans' perceptions of nature and the sacred land. By doing so, it also provides the majority society with an example to emulate as we emerge, by necessity, from the age of fossil fuels into a sustainable energy paradigm. This makes the book a must-read for students, scholars, and researchers of Native American studies, US politics, environmental studies, public policy, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of the environmental devastation of Native land and its consequences.

International concern in scientific, industrial, and governmental commumtIes over traces of xenobiotics in foods and in both abiotic and biotic environments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published research papers and progress reports, and archival documentations. These three international publications are inte grated and scheduled to provide the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental contamina tion and toxicology. This series is reserved exclusively for the diversified litera ture on "toxic" chemicals in our food, our feeds, our homes, recreational and working surroundings, our domestic animals, our wildlife and ourselves. Tre mendous efforts worldwide have been mobilized to evaluate the nature, pres ence, magnitude, fate, and toxicology of the chemicals loosed upon the earth. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis is an undeniable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications, where one can find the latest impor tant world literature produced by these emerging areas of science together with documentation of pertinent ancillary legislation. Research directors and legislative or administrative advisers do not have the time to scan the escalating number of technical publications that may contain articles important to current responsibility. Rather, these individuals need the background provided by detailed reviews and the assurance that the latest infor mation is made available to them, all with minimal literature searching."

As we are moving ahead into the 21st century, our hunger for cost effective and environmentally friendly energy continues to grow. The Energy Information Administration of US has forecasted that only in the first two decades of the 21st century, our energy demand will increase by 60% compared to the levels at the end of the 20th century. Fossil fuels have been traditionally the major primary energy sources worldwide, and their role is expected to continue growing for the forecasted period, due to their inherent cost competitiveness compared to non-fossil fuel energy sources. However, the current fossil energy scenario is undergoing significant transformations, especially to accommodate increasingly stringent environmental challenges of contaminants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides or mercury, while still providing affordable energy. Furthermore, traditional fossil fuel utilization is inherently plagued with greenhouse gas emissions from combustion, especially carbon dioxide from stationary sources as well as from mobile sources. Should worldwide government policies dictate a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, such as proposed by the Kyoto Protocol and the implementation of carbon taxes, fossil fuels would lose their significant competitive appeal in favor of nuclear energy and renewable energy sources. However, the current non-fossil fuel energy share of the worldwide energy market is merely below 15%, and therefore, it is more likely that fossil fuel energy producers would adapt to the new requirements by developing and implementing emission control technologies, and emission trades among other strategies."

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

Without resolute counteraction, climate change will overstretch many societies' adaptive capacities within the coming decades. This could result in destabilization and violence, jeopardizing national and international security to a new degree. However, climate change could also unite the international community. This is provided that we recognize climate change as a threat to humankind and so set the course for adopting a dynamic and globally coordinated climate policy. If we fail to do so, climate change will draw ever-deeper lines of division and conflict in international relations, triggering numerous conflicts between and within countries over the distribution of resources - especially water and land, and over the management of migration, or over compensation payments between the countries mainly responsible for climate change and those countries most affected by its destructive effects. With Climate Change as a Security Risk, WBGU has compiled a flagship report on an issue that quite rightly is rising rapidly up the international political agenda. The authors pull no punches on the likelihood of increasing tensions and conflicts in a climatically constrained world and spotlight places where possible conflicts may flare up in the 21st century unless climate change is checked. The report makes it clear that climate policy is preventative security policy.

The images in 'Industrial Scars' and the narrative that accompanies them tell the story of the impact of the consumer life-style on the natural systems that support life on the planet. These photographs, mostly aerial and taken at locations around the world, are masterworks of composition and colour, made with a nod to the great abstract painters of modern art. This book is the result of countless hours of research and careful planning by New York photographer J. Henry Fair, who travels to the locations and charters a small plane to photograph areas usually fenced off from prying eyes so he can get a true view of our real footprint. This is a new edition.

Photoinduced processes, caused by natural sunlight, are key functions for sustaining all living organisms through production and transformation of organic matter (OM) in the biosphere. Production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from OM is a primary step of photoinduced processes, because H2O2 acts as strong reductant and oxidant. It is potentially important in many aquatic reactions, also in association with photosynthesis. Allochthonous and autochthonous dissolved organic matter (DOM) can be involved into several photoinduced or biological processes. DOM subsequently undergoes several physical, chemical, photoinduced and biological processes, which can be affected by global warming. This book is uniquely structured to overview some vital issues, such as: DOM; H2O2 and ROOH; HO; Degradation of DOM; CDOM, FDOM; Photosynthesis; Chlorophyll; Metal complexation, and Global warming, as well as their mutual interrelationships, based on updated scientific results. "