Despite decades of efforts to combat homelessness, many people continue to experience it in Canada's major cities. There are a number of barriers that prevent effective responses to homelessness, including a lack of agreement on the fundamental question: what is homelessness? In Multiple Barriers, Alison Smith explores the forces that shape intergovernmental and multilevel governance dynamics to help better understand why, despite the best efforts of community and advocacy groups, homelessness remains as persistent as ever. Drawing on nearly 100 interviews with key actors in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, as well as extensive participant observation, Smith argues that institutional differences across cities interact with ideas regarding homelessness to contribute to very different models of governance. Multiple Barriers shows that the genuine involvement of locally based service providers, with the development of policy, are necessary for an effective, equitable, and enduring solution to the homelessness crisis in Canada.

Transnational perspectives on the relationship between nuclear energy and society. With the aim of overcoming the disciplinary and national fragmentation that characterizes much research on nuclear energy, Engaging the Atom brings together specialists from a variety of fields to analyze comparative case studies across Europe and the United States. It explores evolving relationships between society and the nuclear sector from the origins of civilian nuclear power until the present, asking why nuclear energy has been more contentious in some countries than in others and why some countries have never gone nuclear, or have decided to phase out nuclear, while their neighbors have committed to the so-called nuclear renaissance. Contributors examine the challenges facing the nuclear sector in the context of aging reactor fleets, pressing climate urgency, and increasing competition from renewable energy sources. Written by leading academics in their respective disciplines, the nine chapters of Engaging the Atom place the evolution of nuclear energy within a broader set of national and international configurations, including its role within policies and markets.

Can sociology help us to tackle environmental problems? What can sociology tell us about the nature of the environment and about the origins and consequences of environmental risks, hazards and change? In this important new book Alan Irwin maps out this emerging field of knowledge, teaching and research. He reviews the key sociological debates in the field and sets out a new framework for analysis and practice.

Among the themes examined are constructivism and realism, sustainable development and theories of the risk society. Readers are also introduced to communities at risk, institutional regulation and the environmental consequences of technology. Particular topics for discussion include genetically modified organisms, nuclear power, pesticide safety and the local hazards of the chemical industry. Rather than maintaining a fixed boundary between nature and society, Irwin highlights the hybrid character of environmental issues and emphasizes the role of social and cultural factors within environmental policy.

Combining theoretical discussion and case-studies with a sensitivity to the concerns of environmental policy and practice, "Sociology and the Environment "provides an excellent introduction to an expanding and immensely important field. It will be a valuable text for students and scholars in sociology, geography, environmental studies and related disciplines.

Water is more important than ever before. It is increasingly controversial in direct proportion to its scarcity, demand, neglect, and commodification. There is no place on the planet where water is not, or will not be, of critical concern. Signs of Water brings together scholars and experts from five continents in an interdisciplinary exploration of the theoretical approaches, social and political issues, and anthropogenic hazards surrounding water in the twenty-first century. From the kitchen taps of Detroit, Michigan to the water-harvesting infrastructure of Tokyo, from India's Trambraparni River to the Upper Xingu Basin of Brazil to the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench, these essays flow through time and place to uncover the many issues surrounding water today. Asking key theoretical questions, exposing threats to vital water systems, and proposing paths forward, Signs of Water brims with histories, ontologies, and political struggles. Bringing together local experiences to tell a global story, it centers water as history, as politics, and as a human right.

Beginning with the Grand Rapids Dam in the 1960s, hydroelectric development has dramatically altered the social, political, and physical landscape of northern Manitoba. The Nelson River has been cut up into segments and fractured by a string of dams, for which the Churchill River had to be diverted and new inflow points from Lake Winnipeg created to manage their capacity. Historic mighty rapids have shrivelled into dry river beds. Manitoba Hydro's Keeyask dam and generating station will expand the existing network of 15 dams and 13,800 km of transmission lines.In Our Backyard tells the story of the Keeyask dam and accompanying development on the Nelson River from the perspective of Indigenous peoples, academics, scientists, and regulators. It builds on the rich environmental and economic evaluations documented in the Clean Environment Commission's public hearings on Keeyask in 2012. It amplifies Indigenous voices that environmental assessment and regulatory processes have often failed to incorporate and provides a basis for ongoing decision-making and scholarship relating to Keeyask and resource development more generally. It considers cumulative, regional, and strategic impact assessments; Indigenous worldviews and laws within the regulatory and decision-making process; the economics of development; models for monitoring and management; consideration of affected species; and cultural and social impacts. With a provincial and federal regulatory regime that is struggling with important questions around the balance between development and sustainability, and in light of the inherent rights of Indigenous people to land, livelihoods, and self-determination, In Our Backyard offers critical reflections that highlight the need for purposeful dialogue, principled decision making, and a better legacy of northern development in the future.

Beginning with the Grand Rapids Dam in the 1960s, hydroelectric development has dramatically altered the social, political, and physical landscape of northern Manitoba. The Nelson River has been cut up into segments and fractured by a string of dams, for which the Churchill River had to be diverted and new inflow points from Lake Winnipeg created to manage their capacity. Historic mighty rapids have shrivelled into dry river beds. Manitoba Hydro's Keeyask dam and generating station will expand the existing network of 15 dams and 13,800 km of transmission lines.In Our Backyard tells the story of the Keeyask dam and accompanying development on the Nelson River from the perspective of Indigenous peoples, academics, scientists, and regulators. It builds on the rich environmental and economic evaluations documented in the Clean Environment Commission's public hearings on Keeyask in 2012. It amplifies Indigenous voices that environmental assessment and regulatory processes have often failed to incorporate and provides a basis for ongoing decision-making and scholarship relating to Keeyask and resource development more generally. It considers cumulative, regional, and strategic impact assessments; Indigenous worldviews and laws within the regulatory and decision-making process; the economics of development; models for monitoring and management; consideration of affected species; and cultural and social impacts. With a provincial and federal regulatory regime that is struggling with important questions around the balance between development and sustainability, and in light of the inherent rights of Indigenous people to land, livelihoods, and self-determination, In Our Backyard offers critical reflections that highlight the need for purposeful dialogue, principled decision making, and a better legacy of northern development in the future.

This third EPR of Romania takes stock of progress made by the country in the management of its environment since its second review in 2012 and assesses the implementation of the recommendations of the previous EPR. The review covers legal and policy frameworks and compliance assurance mechanisms. It also focuses on greening the economy, environmental monitoring, public participation, and education for sustainable development. It includes a substantive analysis of the country's participation in and commitments to international agreements, as well as its climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Furthermore, the EPR addresses issues of specific importance to Romania related to air protection, water management, waste and chemicals management, and biodiversity and protected areas. Finally, the review includes in all chapters an assessment of relevant targets of the Agenda 2030 as well as recommendations related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The publication is aimed at officials and experts working for public authorities responsible for environmental policy, representatives of civil society, the business community, academia, and the media. The Environmental Performance Review (EPR) Programme is an important instrument for countries with economies in transition. Third-cycle EPRs focus on environmental governance and financing in a green economy context, countries' cooperation with the international community, and environmental mainstreaming in priority sectors. Through the peer review process, EPRs also promote dialogue among ECE member countries and harmonisation of environmental conditions and policies throughout the region

Since the 1990s, a burgeoning literature has emerged on the politics and governance of urban climate. It is now evident that urban responses to climate change involve a diverse range of actors as well as forms of agency that cross traditional boundaries, and which have diverse consequences for (dis)empowering different social groups. This book provides an overview of the forms of agency in urban climate politics, discussing the friction and power dynamics between them. Written by renowned scholars, it critically assesses the advantages and limitations of increasing agency in urban climate governance. In doing so, it sheds critical new light on the existing literature, advances the state of knowledge of urban climate governance and discusses ways to accelerate urban climate action. With chapters building on case studies from across the world, it is ideal for scholars and practitioners working in the area of urban climate politics and governance. This is one of a series of publications associated with the Earth System Governance Project. For more publications, see www.cambridge.org/earth-system-governance.

This book offers an accessible introduction to the implications of ecology for social and political thought. The book surveys a range of debates about values in nature, the meaning of sustainable development, and such questions as whether human rights are compatible with ecological responsibilities. Sensitive throughout to the social dimension of ecological problems, it also develops a theoretical framework for ecological politics.

The damage humans are inflicting on their environment, on other species and on their own future prospects on earth requires an urgent response - but what sort?

Contemporary debates feature a variety of views. According to some, there must be a radical transformation of the whole trajectory of development of modern societies; this implies a fundamental challenge to the attitudes and values which have prevailed in the West since the Enlightenment. Others see a wholesale rejection of modern forms of life and thought as neither realistic nor necessary, claiming that solutions to ecological problems must be sought in a more consistent application of scientific reason.

In analysing the competing arguments, the author shows that the radical claims of ecological thought must be taken seriously, but that a non-exploitative attitude to nature is consistent with a continued commitment to Enlightenment values such as democracy, human rights and the pursuit of knowledge.

This book will be of interest to all those who wish to gain a basic understanding of ecological controversies today. It will appeal to the interested lay reader and to students in environmental studies, ethics, sociology and political theory.

Humanity is confronted with threats unprecedented in the history of our species. There is an urgent need to describe the "how" for managing the convergent threats of ecological overshoot and civilization collapse. This book offers a clear and cogent pathway for safeguarding humanity's future through an extended period of cascading consequences. To a great extent, the rest of our lives will be defined by how those who understand our global predicament organize and cooperate with one other. We are in the midst of a planetary change process that extends far beyond a human lifetime. Most of us experience a kind of intergenerational amnesia-having never seen an intact ecosystem or a healthy human economy at any point in our lives. How can we design our way through the struggles that now lie ahead? We design by embracing the fundamental insight that all living systems self-organize around the patterns of regeneration. Applied to the scale of entire landscapes, this reveals how all truly sustainable human cultures throughout history were organized at the territorial scale as bioregional economies. A planet-wide network of learning ecosystems is needed that can hold the complexity of birthing these regenerative bioregions during and after the rest of the collapse that we were all born into. This book offers genuine hope. There truly is a pathway to regenerate the Earth. It is not to be found in the shallow optimism of techno-fixes or consumer choices. Nothing short of a spiritual revival of indigenous lifeways will do. Combined with the best scientific knowledge about human behavior, cultural evolution, and the dynamic Earth; a path can be made by walking it throughout the rest of this century and beyond.

Environmental Issues: A Reader provides students with a collection of articles that describe current environmental challenges and demonstrate the connections between daily actions and their environmental impacts. The text helps readers develop a greater awareness of environmental issues and inspires them to make more conscious personal decisions to support a sustainable future. The anthology is divided into four units that cover biodiversity and ecosystem services; human population growth and food production; pollutants in the environment and other environmental hazards; and climate change and energy production. Each unit covers elements of basic science as they relate to the highlighted topics. In Unit I, the concepts of evolution, speciation, and extinction are discussed to explain biodiversity; and nutrient cycling, water purification, pollination, and food production are used as examples of ecosystem services. Unit II reviews the basics of population ecology; the importance of soil, water, nutrients, and pest control in agriculture; and the pros and cons of genetic modification of foods. In Unit III, students learn about environmental hazards, toxicology, bioaccumulation, and more. The final unit reviews climate issues and examines the pros and cons of sources of energy such as fossil fuels, solar, wind, geothermal, and others. Developed to support non-science majors, Environmental Issues is an ideal resource for general education science courses, especially those that focus on the environment and sustainability.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Compelling, penetrating, devastating - Silent Earth is a wake-up call for the world.' Isabella Tree ------ We have to learn to live as part of nature, not apart from it. And the first step is to start looking after the insects, the little creatures that make our shared world go round. Insects are essential for life as we know it. As they become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt; we simply cannot function without them. Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences. He passionately argues that we must all learn to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends. Eye-opening, inspiring and riveting, Silent Earth is part love letter to the insect world, part elegy, part rousing manifesto for a greener planet. It is a call to arms for profound change at every level - in government policy, agriculture, industry and in our own homes and gardens. Although time is running out, it is not yet too late for insect populations to recover. We may feel helpless in the face of many of the environmental issues that loom on our horizon, but Goulson shows us how we can all take simple steps to encourage insects and counter their destruction.

Lewis Mumford, one of the most respected public intellectuals of the twentieth century, speaking at a conference on the future environments of North America, said, "In order to secure human survival we must transition from a technological culture to an ecological culture." In Ecohumanism and the Ecological Culture, William Cohen shows how Mumford's conception of an educational philosophy was enacted by Mumford's mentee, Ian McHarg, the renowned landscape architect and regional planner at the University of Pennsylvania. McHarg advanced a new way to achieve an ecological culture through an educational curriculum based on fusing ecohumanism to the planning and design disciplines. Cohen explores Mumford's important vision of ecohumanism-a synthesis of natural systems ecology with the myriad dimensions of human systems, or human ecology and how McHarg actually formulated and made that vision happen. He considers the emergence of alternative energy systems and new approaches to planning and community development to achieve these goals. The ecohumanism graduate curriculum should become the basis to train the next generation of planners and designers to lead us into the ecological culture, thereby securing the educational legacy of both Lewis Mumford and Ian McHarg.

Throughout the world people are concerned about the demise of tropical forests and their wildlife. Hunting by forest-dwelling people has a dramatic effect on wildlife in many tropical forests, frequently driving species to local extinction, with devastating implications for other species and the health of the forests themselves. But wildlife is an important source of protein and cash for rural peoples. Can hunting be managed to conserve biological communities while meeting human needs? Are hunting rates as practiced by tropical forest peoples sustainable? If not, what are the biological, social, and cultural implications of this failure? Answering these questions is ever more important as national and international agencies seek to integrate the development of local peoples with the conservation of tropical forest systems and species.

This book presents a wide array of studies that examine the sustainability of hunting as practiced by rural peoples. Comprising work by both biological and social scientists, "Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests" provides a balanced viewpoint on the ecological and human aspects of this hunting. The first section examines the effects of hunting on wildlife in tropical forests throughout the world. The next section looks at the importance of hunting to local communities. The third section looks at institutional challenges of resource management, while the fourth draws on economic perspectives to understand both hunting and sustainability. A final section provides synthesis and summary of the factors that influence sustainability and the implications for management.

Drawing on examples from Ecuador to Congo-Zaire to Sulawesi, "Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests" will be a valuable resource to policymakers, conservation organizations, and students and scholars of biology, ecology, and anthropology.

Discover secrets, stories and facts about the world's most at-risk animals! This beautifully illustrated collection tells the story of over 60 real-life courageous creatures. With incredible facts about animals from all seven continents and the oceans of the world, from Diego, the age-defying tortoise, to Koko, the beloved gorilla that learned to communicate using sign language. This fascinating book includes tons of information about animal conservation and climate change, making it an ideal read for those who love nature and animals and want to make a difference. Issues covered include: nature and wildlife conservation recycling and reuse eco-preneurs Each chapter is illustrated by artists from around the world, from New Zealand to Brazil. A book to love and treasure, the stunning cover has a shiny gold finish. Rebel Animals is the perfect gift for any animal or nature lover, all year round! Complete your creature collection and discover more amazing animal stories in: Rebel Cats! Brave Tales of Feisty Felines Rebel Dogs! Heroic Tales of Trusty Hounds.