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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Pollution & threats to the environment
The Arctic: A Barometer of Global Climate Variability provides a
comprehensive source of information on all aspects of the Arctic
region. Through thorough research, first-hand accounts and case
studies, the book details international arctic research initiatives
and native environments, including flora and fauna. Sections
explore the impact of climate change, the effect of the Arctic on
climate change, the environmental issues facing the region and how
it is adapting. It is also a must-read source of information for
polar scientists, applicable PhD students, early researchers,
environmental scholars, and anyone searching for information on any
aspect of the Arctic region. Users will find a great resource that
brings together all aspects of Arctic research into one concise
book.
Emissions trading has become a central feature of global efforts to
control climate change. Its inclusion in the Kyoto Protocol to the
Framework Convention on Climate Change represents a victory for
advocates of market-based instruments and builds upon twenty years
of experience with trading schemes in the United States. However,
the concept is controversial and attempts to introduce similar
trading schemes in Europe have met with mixed results. This timely
book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice
of emissions trading including the lessons learnt, the problems
faced and the prospects for its extended use. It includes case
studies of trading schemes in the US and Europe, and studies of
international trading under the European acid rain regime. Problems
of practical implementation, especially institutional feasibility
and political acceptability, are given particular attention. The
prospects for the international trading of greenhouse gases
following the Kyoto Protocol are assessed, together with the
potential conflict between emissions trading and established
regulatory traditions. Pollution for Sale will be of great interest
to policymakers, practitioners, researchers and students of
environmental policy.
This book takes a hemispheric approach to contemporary urban
intervention, examining urban ecologies, communication
technologies, and cultural practices in the twenty-first century.
It argues that governmental and social regimes of control and forms
of political resistance converge in speculation on disaster and
that this convergence has formed a vision of urban environments in
the Americas in which forms of play and imaginations of catastrophe
intersect in the vertical field. Schifani explores a diverse range
of resistant urban interventions, imagining the city as on the
verge of or enmeshed in catastrophe. She also presents a model of
ecocriticism that addresses aesthetic practices and forms of play
in the urban environment. Tracing the historical roots of such
tactics as well as mapping their hopes for the future will help the
reader to locate the impacts of climate change not only on the
physical space of the city, but also on the epistemological and
aesthetic strategies that cities can help to engender. This book
will be of great interest to students and scholars of Urban
Studies, Media Studies, American Studies, Global Studies, and the
broad and interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities.
This timely text examines the causes and consequences of population
displacement related to climate change in the recent past, the
present, and the near future. First and foremost, this book
includes an examination of patterns of population displacement that
have occurred or are currently underway. Second, the book
introduces a three-tier framework for both understanding and
responding to the public health impacts of climate-related
population displacement. It illustrates the interrelations between
impacts on the larger physical and social environment that
precipitates and results from population displacement and the
social and health impacts of climate-related migration. Third, the
book contains first-hand accounts of climate-related population
displacement and its consequences, in addition to reviews of
demographic data and reviews of existing literature on the subject.
Topics explored among the chapters include: Hurricane Katrina and
New Orleans Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico The California
Wildfires Fleeing Drought: The Great Migration to Europe Fleeing
Flooding: Asia and the Pacific Fleeing Coastal Erosion: Kivalina
and Isle de Jean Charles Although the book is largely written from
the perspective of a researcher, it reflects the perspectives of
practitioners and policymakers on the need for developing policies,
programs, and interventions to address the growing numbers of
individuals, families, and communities that have been displaced as
a result of short- and long-term environmental disasters. Global
Climate Change, Population Displacement, and Public Health is a
vital resource for an international audience of researchers,
practitioners, and policymakers representing a variety of
disciplines, including public health, public policy, social work,
urban development, climate and environmental science, engineering,
and medicine.
Bringing together scholars from across the globe, this timely book
astutely untangles the climate-food web and critically explores the
nexus between climate change, agriculture and law, upon which food
security and climate resilient development depends. Focusing
through the lens of various domestic and international legal
systems, this book addresses conceptual notions such as 'systems
thinking' and climate change governance, as well as practical
matters such as payments for ecosystem services and government
subsidies for biofuels. Concerning itself with the vulnerability
and resilience of both people and agro-ecosystems, it shows how
climate action can yield high returns for agriculture as the
primary source of economic activity for poor populations. Far
reaching, this book also explores under-researched areas, including
the linkages between invasive species law, climate change and
agricultural law and the underlying dynamics of agroecosystem
vulnerability. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses in existing
agricultural laws and policies, it assesses new and innovative
tools for addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation in
the agricultural sector, before laying out a future research
agenda. Scholars in the fields of climate change law, land use and
agricultural law will find this key publication essential reading,
as will practitioners desiring a deeper understanding of the
agriculture and climate change nexus. Contributors include: R.W.
Adler, M.J. Angelo, R.M. Bratspies, A. Cosby, L.H. Gunderson, C.
Haberli, K.H. Hirokawa, A. Kennedy, R. Kibugi, E. Le Gal, P.
Martin, M. Nowlin, A. Odoemene, J.P. Pietrafesa , P.A. Pietrafesa,
J.B. Ruhl, S. Sauer, E. Spiegel, J. Verschuuren
'There are few scholarly books about climate change that take the
issue of the distribution of its costs, and of the costs and
benefits of its mitigation, as seriously as their absolute value.
This is probably the best of those books that I have come across.
Rigorously rooted in Gough's earlier work on theories of human
need, the book is relentless in its pursuit of equity in respect of
climate change and responses to it. Not everyone will agree with
all its conclusions - for example that ''green capitalism merits
the term contradiction'' - but they are unfailingly
thought-provoking, as all good scholarship should be. Highly
recommended.' - Paul Ekins, UCL Institute for Sustainable
Resources, UK 'Gough applies his trademark scholarship on universal
human needs to the urgent question of social policy for the
transition to a de-carbonised world. Based on a clear-eyed analysis
of a wide swathe of the social science literature, and an
eco-social political economy perspective, his approach is both
pragmatic and deeply rooted in ethics and social justice. Highly
recommended and suitable for teaching at all levels.' - Juliet B.
Schor, Boston College This exceptional book considers how far
catastrophic global warming can be averted in an economic system
that is greedy for growth, without worsening deprivation and
inequality. The satisfaction of human needs - as opposed to wants -
is the only viable measure for negotiating trade-offs between
climate change, capitalism and human wellbeing, now and in the
future. The author critically examines the political economy of
capitalism and offers a long-term, interdisciplinary analysis of
the prospects for keeping the rise in global temperatures below two
degrees, while also improving equity and social justice. A
three-stage transition is proposed with useful practical policies.
First, 'green growth': cut carbon emissions from production across
the world. Second, 'recompose' patterns of consumption in the rich
world, cutting high-energy luxuries in favour of low-energy routes
to meeting basic needs. Third, because the first two are perilously
insufficient, move towards an economy that flourishes without
growth. Heat, Greed and Human Need is vital for researchers and
students of the environment, public and social policy, economics,
political theory and development studies. For those advocating
political, social and environmental reform this book presents
excellent practical eco-social policies to achieve both sustainable
consumption and social justice.
Discussing many important air pollution issues, the included
contributions were presented at the 29th annual meeting in a
successful series of international conferences dealing with the
Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution. The
scientific knowledge derived from well-designed studies needs to be
allied with further technical and economic studies to ensure
cost-effective and efficient mitigation. In turn, the science,
technology and economic outcomes are necessary but not sufficient.
Increasingly, it is being recognised that the outcome of such
research needs to be contextualised within well-formulated
communication strategies that help policymakers and citizens to
understand and appreciate the risks and rewards arising from air
pollution management. Consequently, this volume comprises a wide
range of high-quality papers that develop the fundamental science
of air pollution and that place these new developments within the
frame of mitigation and management of air pollution. Air pollution
issues remain one of the most challenging problems facing the
international community. The varied research published in this book
covers topics such as Air pollution modelling; Indoor air
pollution; Emission studies; Air pollution management, policy and
legislation; Monitoring, measuring and data; Global, regional and
local studies.
'This very interesting book explores the issues and approaches that
society must take to shift to lower carbon usage in transportation.
. . Each expert contributor provides excellent insight into the
various facets of contemporary mobility systems and transportation
practices to help the reader understand the complexities of
transportation and related environmental concerns. Topics include
urbanization and transportation in urban areas travel patterns,
accessibility to transportation, and financial aspects.' - W.J.
Sproule, Choice 'In their new book, Moving Towards Low Carbon
Mobility, Moshe Givoni and David Banister have succeeded in doing
what few edited volumes achieve. They have put together a set of
chapters by international experts on a range of topics that link
together tightly as a coherent whole.' - Michael Kuby, Journal of
Transport Geography 'For a thorough and thoughtful perspective on
what it will take to de-carbonize cities of the future, this book
is a must-read. Technology alone, we are told, will not create the
post-carbon city. As important is coming to grips with a complex
web of cultural, institutional, financial, and social factors that
powerfully shape mobility choices, now and in the future. A
balanced, holistic approach that reveals how the many elements of
contemporary transport systems work together offers the best hope
for achieving more sustainable, less carbon-intensive mobility
futures.' - Robert Cervero, University of California, Berkeley, US
The transport sector has been singularly unsuccessful in becoming
low carbon and less resource intensive. This book takes an
innovative and holistic social, cultural and behavioural
perspective, as well as covering the more conventional economic and
technological dimensions, to provide a more complete understanding
of the mobility and transport system and its progress towards high
carbon mobility. The book uses this platform to explore the means
to achieve low carbon mobility through outlining alternative
pathways, through an investigation of theories of change, and
through alternative visions of the low carbon transport city. The
book's core message is that the complexity of the mobility and
transport system should not encourage inaction, but strong and
immediate action. In addition to implementing a wide range of
policy measures, the book argues for a fundamental change in
'thinking' when it comes to transport policy, governance and
analysis approaches, before low carbon mobility becomes a reality.
Bringing together the latest thinking on transport, mobility and
the environment, this book will appeal to researchers and students
interested in sustainability issues and sustainable transport and
transport related areas in particular, including policy makers as
well as a more general professional audience. Contributors include:
N. Akyelken, M. Al-Chalabi, D. Banister, E. Beyazit, J. Bishop, M.
Givoni, R. Hickman, J. Liu, J. Macmillen, J. Markovitch, A. Neves,
T. Schwanen, M. Tran
In this thoughtful and original book, social scientist Olivier
Godard considers the ways in which arguments of justice cling to
international efforts to address global climate change. Proposals
made by governments, experts and NGOs as well as concepts and
arguments born of moral and political philosophy are introduced and
critically examined. Godard contributes to this important debate by
showing why global climate justice is still controversial, despite
it being a key issue of our times. Godard first points out the huge
differences between the foundations of conflicting proposals, for
instance between a cosmopolitan viewpoint and an international one.
He then explores controversies over climate justice proposals and
provides a rigorous criticism of those based on historical
responsibility. Finally, he demonstrates how issues of justice are
reconfigured by instrumental regimes of coordination, such as a
global carbon market. Inspired by the French school of
justification, this book shines an insightful light on the failure
of climate change debates to develop a convincing standard moral
and political theory. Including elements from systems theory,
economics and law, this book will be of interest to scholars and
students of moral and political philosophy, economics and social
sciences, as well as experts working on climate negotiations and
concerned stakeholders.
The increasingly widespread production of toxins by marine and
freshwater microalgae raises serious concerns regarding seafood and
drinking water safety. This book compiles studies on the influence
of climate change on the spreading of toxin-producing species in
aquatic systems. The chemistry and biology of toxin production is
revised and an outlook on control and prevention of the toxins'
impact on human and animal health is given.
Addressing global climate change is a monumental battle that can
only be fought by the leaders of tomorrow, but future leaders are
molded through education and shaped by the leaders of today. While
the pivotal role of education in spreading awareness of climate
change is one universally espoused, equally universal is the
recognition that current education efforts are falling woefully
short. Promoting Climate Change Awareness through Environmental
Education stems the rising tide of shortcomings in environmental
education by plugging a known gap in current research and opening a
dialogue for the future. Targeting an audience of young scholars,
academics, researchers, and policymakers, this volume provides a
much needed dam of empirical evidence regarding the role of youth
education in addressing one of the greatest challenges of our age.
This timely publication focuses on topics such as building
resilience to climate change, green learning spaces, gender issues
and concerns for developing countries, and the impact of young
adults on the future of environmental sustainability.
Increasingly the Middle East and its growing population face a
highly complex and fragile security system. The rich deposits of
natural resources, such as oil and gas, suffer from a strained
renewable resource base that includes water and arable land. This
leads to water scarcity, desertification, and land degradation.
Increasing population, industrialization, and urbanization put more
and more demand on the food supply. Energy insecurity may not be
generally associated with the Middle East, but the countries in the
eastern Mediterranean part have been traditionally vulnerable to it
as their fossil fuel endowments have been low. Another issue is the
large-scale temporary labor migration and the large number of
forced migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons. The
book analyzes these emerging security challenges in a comprehensive
and systematic manner. It draws national and regional security
issues into both the global security and human security
perspectives.
The climate science is clear. Global warming is an urgent and
largely man-made problem. The same science shows that, without a
comprehensive global response, within a few short decades,
death-dealing runaway global heating is absolutely assured.
Unhappily it is equally obvious that the chance of the necessary
action being taken is precisely zero! The result of this is that,
during the lifetime of your grandchildren, the sweeping aside of
human civilisation through a succession of climate wars will become
assured. By 2100 humanity, battered by an array of catastrophic
climate disasters, will have witnessed a grim cull of billions of
its numbers. This future is not science fiction. The unforgiving
thesis of this book is that the climate science and today's facts
on the ground, lead inextricably to such a nightmarish tomorrow for
our grandchildren - and it is my generation above all others, that
will have done it to them.
Business, Organized Labour and Climate Policy examines the current
lack of effective action in bridging the gap between climate change
goals and governmental policies. With little published about the
role of employers' organizations and trade unions in the climate
change policy process, this book evaluates their involvement and
argues that labour market considerations should be a central
element of climate change policy. The study applies ecological
modernization theory as a framework to guide policy development and
negotiation. Application of the framework finds that employers'
organizations and trade unions are effective civil society
advocates, but responding to the labour market implications of
climate change is neither institutionally embedded nor prioritized.
Included are case studies of climate change policy in six developed
and two developing economies, as well as within organizations such
as the European Union and the UNFCCC. The emergence of labour
issues in formal climate agreements demonstrates the impact that
climate change is having on the broader economy and employment, and
the need for business and labour to take concrete action. Providing
an invaluable reference for policy development, this work will
appeal to academics and students, as well as employers'
organizations and trade unions. This book provides a unique
perspective on key stakeholding organizations in climate change
policy and presents a platform for engaging with government.
This reference resource describes both the scientific background
and the economic and social issues that resulted from environmental
disasters resulting primarily from human activity. Categorized by
the type of tragedy--including coal mine tragedies, dam failures,
industrial explosions, and oil spills--this one-stop guide provides
students with descriptions of some of the world's most tragic
environmental disasters. Entries clearly describe each disaster by
defining the cause, the consequences, and the clean-up efforts.
Readers will learn who the responsible parties were, the effect on
the environment and people living in the immediate area, and the
economic impact of each disaster. In addition, the long-term
consequences, the likelihood of a repeat disaster in the same area,
and the measures that have been taken to prevent a repeat incident
are discussed. Entries include the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
explosion, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, the atomic bomb at
Hiroshima, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
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