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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Social impact of environmental issues
This unique study of social harm offers a systematic and critical discussion of the nature of environmental harm from an eco-justice perspective, challenging conventional criminological definitions of environmental harm. The book evaluates three interconnected justice-related approaches to environmental harm: environmental justice (humans), ecological justice (the environment) and species justice (non-human animals). It provides a critical assessment of environmental harm by interrogating key concepts and exploring how activists and social movements engage in the pursuit of justice. It concludes by describing the tensions between the different approaches and the importance of developing an eco-justice framework that to some extent can reconcile these differences. Using empirical evidence built on theoretical foundations with examples and illustrations from many national contexts, `Environmental harm' will be of interest to students and academics in criminology, sociology, law, geography, environmental studies, philosophy and social policy all over the world.
The pressing nature of environmental threats, such as: climate change, land-grabbing, biopiracy, animal exploitation and human environmental victimisation, are pushing the entire world to seek alternatives to prevent environmental damage in every corner of the globe. Southern Green Criminology focuses on the threat the western world poses to the rest of the globe, and how Western imposed ideas of progress are damaging the planet, especially the southern hemisphere. In the past five years, the attention of green criminologists has been directed at the Global South as the geographical site that experiences the severest consequences of harmful environmental practices. Such criminological direction is aimed at combating the environmental harms that affect the geographical and the metaphorical Souths. The main topic of this book is the conflicts that arise in the interaction between human beings and our natural environment, seen from a Southern perspective with a focus on the victimisation of the South. This book is simultaneously a scientific and a political endeavour, and will prove invaluable to students, researchers and environmental enthusiasts alike.
Planet Earth is f**ked.Decades of gas-guzzling and plastic parasites have brought the Earth to its knees. Entire species are disappearing, the icecaps are melting and forest fires are raging like never before. Basically, we've really messed the place up. Packed full of easy-to-digest climate truths and IFLScience's trademark witty humour, How to F**king Save the Planet is your essential handbook to global warming and climate change. Learn how to successfully argue with climate-deniers, why micro-plastic pollution means that polar bears can no longer get boners and why the Paris Climate Agreement is really important. Written by Jennifer Crouch with global go-to science site IFLScience, let this book guide, infuriate and inspire you into getting up off your arse and actually doing something to save the world!
Drawing on practices and theories of sustainability, Environmental policy and sustainable development in China explores the prospects for achieving environmentally benign economic and social development in China and beyond. Using the Chinese 'world city' of Hong Kong as a backdrop and case study, it introduces major conceptions of sustainability, describes historical and political contexts for environmental policymaking, and analyses key challenges related to sustainable development, including air pollution, water quality, waste, transport and climate change. The book will be a valuable and unique resource for students, teachers and readers interested in environmental policy, sustainable development and ecological governance, especially in China and Hong Kong. All of the author's royalties from sales of this book will be donated by Policy Press to Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) and WWF (Hong Kong).
The energy world is dangerously divided between fossil fuel producers and environmentalists. A vicious head-on fight that affects everything - world poverty, governments, environmental catastrophe, big business. David Howell - Lord Howell of Guidlford - outlines the how we got here and the way ahead
We live in an age of crises that are global in scale and potentially apocalyptic in severity, affecting the lives of millions billions of people. Peter Lee examines the struggle for truth at the heart of these crises to show how political leaders attempt to shape individual behavior, attitudes and identity.
* This is a revised edition of Colin Mason's "The 2030 Spike," that received the following acclaim: * "A bold, thought-provoking and ultimately rewarding [read], well-researched, full of ideas and thus a good, all-round primer on the stateof the planet." -- BBC Wildlife* "An impressive tour of our current world: from sexual slavery to sailing ships, from malaria to microcredits, from nanotechnology toneopaganism, all the horrors and promises of our troubled Zeitgeist seem to be reflected here." -- Resurgence* "Only the foolhardy would surely dare leave it unread on the shelf." -- International AffairsHas the future a future? Are we bringing history to an end? If we look at any one of several individual but critical trends, it would appear that history might have only a short way to run.This book describes the seven natural and human-made drivers that will converge around the year 2030 and wreak havoc: depleted fuel suppliesmassive population growth povertyglobal climate changefaminegrowing water shortagesinternational lawlessness.In this compelling book, Colin Mason explains in clear and irrefutable terms what is going on-largely below the surface of our daily or weekly news bulletins. The picture he paints is stark, and yet it is not bleak. Being forewarned, we are forearmed, and he draws on his own extensive political experience to describe how much we can do as individuals, and above all collectively, not merely to avert crisis but to engineer thoroughgoing change that can usher in genuinely sustainable and valuable alternatives to the way we live now.
Social policies of the future will have to be Green. As environmental problems multiply, and as welfare reform becomes more vital, so the debate concerning ecological social policies grows in importance. Yet what has been missing is a comprehensive review of the main questions, problems and themes that brings together the principal contributors to this debate.Environment and Welfare provides that review and so will be essential reading for all those interested in the welfare policies of the future.
The global agenda of Nature conservation has led to the creation of the Masoala National Park in Madagascar and to an exhibit in its support at a Swiss zoo, the centerpiece of which is a mini-rainforest replica. Does such a cooperation also trigger a connection between ordinary people in these two far-flung places? The study investigates how the Malagasy farmers living at the edge of the park perceive the conservation enterprise and what people in Switzerland see when looking towards Madagascar through the lens of the zoo exhibit. It crystallizes that the stories told in either place have almost nothing in common: one focuses on power and history, the other on morality and progress. Thus, instead of building a bridge, Nature conservation widens the gap between people in the North and the South.
A radical vision for a better future: an economy that works for us, rather than the other way around. As this major German bestseller reports, our world is at a tipping point, and we feel it every day. Costs are rising, the gap between the rich and poor is increasing, natural resources are depleted, and the effects of climate change are starting to take hold. We are under increasing social and environmental stress. But, as leading economist Maja Göpel argues here, there is another path forward. She invites us to imagine what we want our future to look like, and offers solutions that will help us to get there. It’s time to question our principles, set new goals, and re-evaluate our priorities. Time to rethink our world and find new ways of living that don’t drain our planet any further. We need a fair distribution of wealth, and a way to reconcile the social with the ecological. We need to work smarter, not harder. Critical, yet full of encouragement, Maja Göpel chooses surprising and enlightening examples to illustrate how we can leave behind our familiar ways of living to achieve a better future.
Energy crises and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies -- with Brazil as a comparative reference -- this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture, particularly with regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors -- both domestic and external -- to multiply and network "independently" of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population. This is an essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels on Africa.
Drawing on practices and theories of sustainability, Environmental policy and sustainable development in China explores the prospects for achieving environmentally benign economic and social development in China and beyond. Using the Chinese 'world city' of Hong Kong as a backdrop and case study, it introduces major conceptions of sustainability, describes historical and political contexts for environmental policymaking, and analyses key challenges related to sustainable development, including air pollution, water quality, waste, transport and climate change. The book will be a valuable and unique resource for students, teachers and readers interested in environmental policy, sustainable development and ecological governance, especially in China and Hong Kong. All of the author's royalties from sales of this book will be donated by Policy Press to Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong) and WWF (Hong Kong).
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is one of the most important tools employed in contemporary environmental management. Presenting the component activities of EIA within a coherent methodological framework, Environmental Impact Assessment: A Methodological Approach provides students and practitioners alike with a rigorous grounding in EIA theory, including biophysical, social, strategic and cumulative assessment activities, and examines the crucial role, and limitations, of the science of EIA. Deliberately designed to be relevant world-wide, the author focuses on the common skills and generic aspects of EIA that underpin all impact assessment work, independent of country or jurisdiction, such as screening and scoping, impact identification, public involvement, prediction and monitoring, evaluation, and quality control. The variety of approaches are identified along with their associated strengths and weaknesses, enabling potential, new and experienced practitioners to make informed choices and to improve their working practices through a better understanding of EIA activity. The ultimate aim of this book is to move from the notion of EIA as a technical procedure towards a concept of EIA as a particular form of problem-solving with varied methodological requirements.
Nature and Colonialism: A Reader provides students with a collection of classic texts on environmental thought and invites them to analyze the texts alongside the often contrarian ideas of expansion, development, and human exceptionalism. Readers are encouraged to consider early perspectives on the hierarchical power relationships between political/economic entities and nature/peoples, and whether foundational views of environmentalism supported the proliferation of colonial ideology. The collection begins with a piece by Zitkala-Sa, a Dakota Sioux activist and writer, and highlights a voice of resistance against the redefinition and reimagining of nature via colonialist thought. Students read seminal works related to nature by Charles Darwin, George Perkins Marsh, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Gifford Pinchot. They are challenged to engage in sociocultural inquiry to better understand how views of the relationship between humans and nature have developed over time, as well as how they continue to shape modern thought and perspectives regarding environmentalism. Designed to stimulate critical thought and inquiry, Nature and Colonialism is an ideal supplementary textbook for courses in environmental science or philosophy, especially those with emphasis on the relationship between humans and their environment.
"Fly and Be Damned" gets underneath the well-known facts about the unsustainable nature of the aviation industry and argues for fundamental change to our traveling habits. The first book to transcend the emotional debate between the entrenched positions of those who are either for, or against, flying, this groundbreaking work argues that aviation is stuck in a stalemate between misguided policy and a growing imperative to deal with its environmental impact and that there is now little possibility that the transition to sustainable flying can be a smooth evolution.
Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. We face many important global environmental problems today, including climate change, biodiversity destruction, and environmental health issues. Key among the tools we have to understand and solve these problems is research. This Research Agenda argues for a transdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental management to provide better understanding and outcomes leading to practical solutions. By describing the key strategies needed to overcome common global environmental challenges and to undertake successful interdisciplinary environmental research, this Research Agenda demonstrates the possibilities for successful transdisciplinary environmental research. A series of case studies shows how this transdisciplinary approach to research has improved understandings of environmental problems and their potential solutions. Discussing the types of participation required and the difficulties of incorporating diverse groups into research projects, this Research Agenda provides lessons in how to successfully undertake transdisciplinary research in order to meet these challenges. A Research Agenda for Environmental Management provides invaluable insights for interdisciplinary researchers in all fields affected by environmental management as well as students and scholars engaged in environmental research looking for ways to successfully integrate transdisciplinary approaches into their work. Contributors include: J. Abrams, D.B. Agusdinata, G. Alonso-Yanez, B. Barnett, N. Basiliko, K. Calvert, D. Cordoba, T. de Souza, M. del Carmen Fragoso Medina, J.L. Dunn, A. Eastmond, D.J. Flaspohler, K. Floress, V.S. Gagnon, A. Giang, H.S. Gorman, R.B. Guerrero, K.E. Halvorsen, R.M. Handler, M.A. Hanif, R.J. Heffron, J. Heyman, L. House-Peters, A. Kantamneni, J.L. Knowlton, R.A. LaFave, J. Licata, H.K. Lukosch, E.E. Mata-Zayas, R. Medeiros, M.A. Mesa-Jurado, D. Minakata, A. Mirchi, C. Moseley, T. Moya Mose, T.H. Mwampamba, C.J.V. Navarrete, E.A. Nielsen, M. Ohira, E. Ortega, J.A. Perlinger, E.C. Pischke, E.W. Prehoda, V.D.P. Risso, J.C. Sacramento-Rivero, M. Samimi, D. Sanchez, C. Schelly, T.L. Selfa, R. Shwom, R.V. Sidortsov, B. Tarekegne, G. Tchobanoglous, N.R. Urban, L.P. Volkow, S. Walker, D. Watkins, R.L. Winkler
This book is the product of the 2nd World Conference on Environmental History, held in Guimaraes, Portugal, in 2014. It gathers works by authors from the five continents, addressing concerns raised by past events so as to provide information to help manage the present and the future. It reveals how our cultural background and examples of past territorial intervention can help to combat political and cultural limitations through the common language of environmental benefits without disguising harmful past human interventions. Considering that political ideologies such as socialism and capitalism, as well as religion, fail to offer global paradigms for common ground, an environmentally positive discourse instead of an ecological determinism might serve as an umbrella common language to overcome blocking factors, real or invented, and avoid repeating ecological loss. Therefore, agency, environmental speech and historical research are urgently needed in order to sustain environmental paradigms and overcome political, cultural an economic interests in the public arena. This book intertwines reflections on our bonds with landscapes, processes of natural and scientific transfer across the globe, the changing of ecosystems, the way in which scientific knowledge has historically both accelerated destruction and allowed a better distribution of vital resources or as it, in today's world, can offer alternatives that avoid harming those same vital natural resources: water, soil and air. In addition, it shows the relevance of cultural factors both in the taming of nature in favor of human comfort and in the role of the environment matters in the forging of cultural identities, which cannot be detached from technical intervention in the world. In short, the book firstly studies the past, approaching it as a data set of how the environment has shaped culture, secondly seeks to understand the present, and thirdly assesses future perspectives: what to keep, what to change, and what to dream anew, considering that conventional solutions have not sufficed to protect life on our planet.
Environments, landscapes, and ecological systems are often seen as fundamental by archaeologists, but how they relate to society is understood in very different ways. The chapters in this book take environment, culture, and technology together. All have been the focus of much attention; often one or other has been seen as the starting point for analysis, but this volume argues that it is the study of the inter-relationships between these three factors that offers a way forward. The contributions to this book pick up different strands within the tangled web of intersections between environment, technology, and society, providing a series of case studies which explore facets of this common theme in different settings and circumstances and from different perspectives. As well as addressing themes of theoretical and methodological interest, these case studies draw on primary research dealing with time periods from the late Pleistocene glacial maximum to the very recent past, and involve societies of very different types. Running through all the contributions, however, is a concern with the archaeological record and the ways in which scales of observation and availability of evidence affect the development of questions and explanations. The diversity of the chapters in this volume demonstrates the inherent weakness in any attempt to prioritise environment, technology, or society. These three factors are all embedded in any human activity, as change in one will result in change in the others: social and technical changes alter relations with the environment-and indeed the environment itself-and as environmental change drives changes in society and technology. As this book shows, it is possible to consider the relationship between the three factors from different perspectives, but any attempt to consider one or even two in isolation will mean that valuable insights will be missed.
The task of building more energy-efficient, climate-friendly and sustainable societies is the defining challenge of the 21st century. Striving to become the world's first major renewable energy economy by 2050, Germany is a global front runner in environmental policy and practice. Requiring massive investments in green technologies and infrastructure, Germany's ambitious shift from fossil fuels and nuclear power to renewables requires nothing less than an 'energy revolution.' How and why did Europe's largest economy embrace a challenge that has been compared to the first landing on the moon? What does this transition entail? Is the German experience transferable to other industrialized nations such as the United States? Experts from business, academia, governmental agencies and non-profit think tanks offer multi-disciplinary perspectives on the experiences behind and the challenges ahead. They open up new viewpoints and avenues for shared insight on environmental governance, energy security, technological innovation, green landscape and urban design, as well as on the possibilities for transatlantic partnership and cooperation.
Drawing on practices and theories of environmental justice, 'China's responsibility for climate change' describes China's contribution to global warming and analyzes its policy responses. Contributors critically examine China's practical and ethical responsibilities to climate change from a variety of perspectives. They explore policies that could mitigate China's environmental impact while promoting its own interests and meeting the international community's expectations. The book is accessible to a wide readership, including academics, policy makers and activists. All royalties from sales of this book will be donated to Friends of the Earth.
Ambitious measures to reduce carbon emissions are all too rare in reality, impeded by economic and political concerns rather than technological advances. In this collection of essays, Frank Ackerman and Elizabeth A. Stanton show that the impact of inaction on climate change will be far worse than the cost of ambitious climate policies. After setting out the basic principles which must shape contemporary climate economics, Ackerman and Stanton consider common flaws in climate change policy from mistaken assumptions that dismiss the welfare of future generations and anticipate little or no growth in low-income countries, to unrealistic projections of climate damages that dismiss catastrophic risks and offer their own insightful remedies. They question the usefulness of conventional integrated assessment models (IAMs) that model the long-term interaction between economic growth and climate change, and propose an alternative in their Climate and Regional Economics and Development (CRED) model. In this incisive work, Stanton and Ackerman offer a timely and original contribution to the fields of climate economics and global equity."
The challenging times we live in show us that there is no going back to 'normal' life, but how do we step forward? Looby Macnamara, international thought leader and teacher, introduces 'Cultural Emergence', a framework and toolkit that enables us to design the world we want to live in. It activates healing and revolutionises our approach to creating life-sustaining and regenerative cultures. Drawing upon the lineages of indigenous wisdom, permaculture design and systems thinking, Cultural Emergence is a profoundly effective toolkit for creating a new understanding of culture. It shows us how to: * Expand our thinking and possibilities * Better understand where problems come from and, by using radical reflection on the root causes, create successful healing strategies * Embody the learning and effectively embed the changes in our lives into new ways of interacting and being * Build our individual and collective resilience in turbulent times and support ourselves to proactively adjust to transitions - whether they are personal life changes or collective challenges such as climate change * Use the tools to create the conditions for emergence, informing the creation of cultures of care, connection, peace, health, effectiveness and trust. Cultural Emergence is visionary, practical, wise and simple to use. It is a message of hope with tools for empowerment. Filled with stories of people around the world who have benefited using this approach, it inspires us with possibilities. It is a timely, much-needed book that has the potential to be useful to everyone and enable deep and radical transformation.
Drawing on practices and theories of environmental justice, 'China's responsibility for climate change' describes China's contribution to global warming and analyzes its policy responses. Contributors critically examine China's practical and ethical responsibilities to climate change from a variety of perspectives. They explore policies that could mitigate China's environmental impact while promoting its own interests and meeting the international community's expectations. The book is accessible to a wide readership, including academics, policy makers and activists. All royalties from sales of this book will be donated to Friends of the Earth.
A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings begins as Helen Jukes is entering her thirties and struggling to settle into her new job and home. Then friends gift her a colony of honeybees-a gift that, according to folklore, brings good luck-and Jukes embarks on the rewarding, perilous journey of becoming a beekeeper. Jukes writes about what it means to "keep" wild creatures and to live alongside beings whose laws of life are so different from our own. She delves into the history of beekeeping, exploring the ancient-and sometimes disturbing-relationship between keeper and bee, human and wild thing. And as her colony grows, the very act of beekeeping seems to open new perspectives, making her world come alive again. A beautifully wrought meditation on uncertainty and hope, feelings of restlessness and home, and how we might better know ourselves, A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings shows us how to be alert to these small creatures flitting among us that are yet so vital a force for the continuation of life.
Is environmental degradation an inevitable result of economic development? Can ecosystems be restored once government officials and the public are committed to doing so? These questions are at the heart of An Ecological History of Modern China, a comprehensive account of China's transformation since the founding of the People's Republic from the perspective not of the economy but of the biophysical world. Examples throughout illustrate how agricultural, industrial, and urban development have affected the resilience of China's ecosystems—their ability to withstand disturbances and additional growth—and what this means for the country's future. Drawing on decades of research, Stevan Harrell demonstrates the local and global impacts of China's miraculous rise. In clear and accessible prose, An Ecological History of Modern China untangles the paradoxes of development and questions the possibility of a future that is both prosperous and sustainable. It is a critical resource for students, scholars, and general readers interested in environmental change, Chinese history, and sustainable development. |
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