"This two-volume set in Burleigh Dodds Agricultural Science may represent one of the most important projects in their series focused on sustainable agriculture and recent advances in research on key crop and animal species. Many scholars and students today often rely on the web to locate open-source references in research and courses, yet the value of comprehensive books that review specific topics cannot be ignored. The compilation on soil health edited by Prof. Reicosky is an example of quality scholarship, clear and accessible writing, and comprehensive referencing on an emerging topic in agriculture and food production... descriptions of methods and data from a wide range of sources and interpretations by experts in the field contribute to the timeless value of books such as these in the series on agricultural sciences. They should be part of contemporary library collections and available to everyone." Prof. Charles Francis in Agronomy Journal "The books offer a valuable insight into the fundamentals of managing soil health... The broad range of fundamental information provided makes both volumes worth reading, not only for students and scientists, politicians and farmers but also for laypersons interested in soil health and sustainable agriculture."Applied Soil Ecology There has been growing concern that both intensive agriculture in the developed world and rapid expansion of crop cultivation in developing countries is damaging the health of soils which are the foundation of farming. At the same time we are discovering much more about how complex soils are as living biological systems. This volume reviews the latest research on soil monitoring and management. Part 1 starts by reviewing soil classification, sampling and ways of monitoring soil dynamics. Part 2 surveys key techniques for managing soil, from irrigation and fertiliser use to crop rotations, intercropping and cover crops. The final part of the book discusses ways of supporting smallholders in maintaining soil health in regions such as Africa, Asia and South America. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for soil scientists and agronomists as well as the farming community and government agencies responsible for monitoring soil health. It is accompanied by a companion volume looking at developments in soil science.

There have been a lot of innovations in making the garment or apparel production sector sustainable. This book highlights sustainable innovations in the apparel production sector, which is the final destination in the textile production segment. Measuring sustainability in clothing is one of the inevitable areas to deal with when it comes to sustainable apparel production, which is also highlighted here.

Sorghum is one of the world's major cereals, cultivated in the semi-arid tropics for a growing range of uses. Like other crops it faces the need to meet rising demand whilst reducing its environmental impact and adapting to the challenges of climate change. This volume summarises the wealth of research addressing these challenges. Part 1 explores the genetic diversity and genomics of sorghum. This provides the foundation for Part 2 which reviews advances in conventional and marker-assisted breeding and their use to develop high-yielding and stress-resistant varieties. The final part of the book discusses ways of improving cultivation to make the most of new varieties, from nutrient and water management to better control of diseases, insects and weeds. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, this will be a standard work for cereal scientists, sorghum breeders and growers as well as government and non-government agencies supporting sorghum cultivation. It is accompanied by a companion volume which reviews the range of uses of sorghum and cultivation in different regions.

This book focuses on the role of higher education institutions in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges, contributing to the development of this fast-growing field. Further, it includes the results of empirical research and offers ideas regarding on-going and future research initiatives. The contributions also * showcase the research and projects on issues pertaining to climate change at universities from across the globe; * document and promote ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of research projects, especially successful initiatives and best practices; and * introduce methodological approaches and projects that offer a better understanding of climate change across society and economic sectors. The book is structured around two parts: lessons learned from climate change research, education, studies and projects. Each part focuses on mitigation and adaptation respectively, with many responses of the two modalities overlapping. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the fields of environment, human geography, business and economics, as well as academics and students, as it presents education, communication and awareness-raising projects on matters related to climate change at universities in both industrialised and developing countries, often in cooperation with government bodies, NGOs and other stakeholders.

"Design as Politics" confronts the inadequacy of contemporary politics to deal with unsustainability. Current "solutions" to unsustainability are analysed as utterly insufficient for dealing with the problems but, further than this, the book questions the very ability of democracy to deliver a sustainable future. "Design as Politics" argues that finding solutions to this problem, of which climate change is only one part, demands original and radical thinking. Rather than reverting to failed political ideologies, the book proposes a post-democratic politics. In this, design occupies a major role, not as it is but as it could be if transformed into a powerful agent of change, a force to create and extend freedom. The book does no less than position design as a vital form of political action.

This volume is the first centralized source of technological and policy solutions for sustainable agriculture and food systems resilience in the face of climate change. The editors have compiled a comprehensive collection of the latest tested, replicable green technologies and approaches for food security, including smart crops and new agricultural paradigms, sustainable natural resources management, and strategies for risk assessment and governance. Studies from resource-constrained countries with vulnerable populations are emphasized, with contributions on multisector partnership from development professionals. Debates concerning access to climate-smart technologies, intellectual property rights, and international negotiations on technology transfer are also included. The editors are, respectively, a public health physician, a development professional and an environmental scientist. They bring their varied perspectives together to curate a holistic volume that will be useful for policy makers, scientists, community-based organizations, international organizations and researchers across the world.

The ultimate illustrated guide for sourcing, processing and using wild clay. Potters around the world are taking to the local landscape to dig their own wild clay, discover its unique properties, and apply it to their craft. This guide is the ideal starting point for anyone - from novices, improvers and experts to educators and students - who wants to forge a closer bond between their art and their surroundings. Testing and trial and error are key to finding a material's best use, so the authors' tips, drawn from long experience in the US and Japan (but which can be applied to clays anywhere) provide an enviable head-start on this rewarding journey. A clay might be best suited to sculpture and tile bodies, throwing clay bodies, handbuilding and slab bodies, or simply be applied as a glaze or slip. The specific properties of found materials can create a diverse range of effects and surfaces, or, even when not fired, can be adapted for use as colorful pastels or pigments. Beautiful illustrations and helpful technical descriptions explain the formation of various clays; how to locate, collect and assess them; how to test their properties of shrinkage, water absorption, texture and plasticity; the best ways to test-fire them; and how to adapt a clay's characteristics by blending appropriate materials. From prospecting in the field to holding your finished product, there is helpful advice through every stage, and a gallery of work by international potters who have embraced the clays found around them.

In a changing and complex environment currently facing the main challenges of sustainable development, effective management of knowledge, intellectual assets, organizational learning, and talent management are the basis for social innovation and new ways of competition. In this sense, management and business practice are incorporating social and environmental demands made by all types of stakeholders to improve business decisions and strategies. Knowledge Management for Corporate Social Responsibility provides research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of linking firm profitability, social development, and natural environment in respect to business management practices. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as employer branding, intellectual capital, and organizational performance, this book is ideally designed for business professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers, and business students.

According to available estimates, forests cover more than one quarter of the world's total area. About sixty percent of these forests are situated in tropical countries. However, these forests are disappearing at a very fast pace. Between 1980 and 1995, an area larger than Mexico had been deforested. This accelerated destruction of forests poses a serious threat to the environmental and economic well-being of the earth. Several studies have demonstrated that natural forests are the single most important repository of terrestrial biological diversity--of ecosystems, species, and genetic resources. Forests also act as major carbon sinks, absorbing massive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Deforestation, according to these studies, is directly linked to adverse climate change, soil erosion, desertification, and water cycling. Until recently deforestation was deemed to be a local/national problem. However, increased awareness and scientific data have pointed out that the problem transcends national boundaries. Deforestation affects the entire earth's environment and economic development.

This collection of essays analyzes the forces responsible for deforestation, the governmental policies that effect this destruction and the roles multilateral aid agencies, NGOs, play in the environmental debate. The collection critically examines the principles and criteria suggested by forest-experts for a sustained economic growth vis-a-vis forest stewardship in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. An invaluable resource for scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers involved with environmental and public policy issues.

This publication offers a systemic analysis of sustainability in the food system, taking as its framework the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. Targeted chapters from experts in the field cover main challenges in the food system and propose methods for achieving long term sustainability. Authors focus on how sustainability can be achieved along the whole food chain and in different contexts. Timely issues such as food security, climate change and migration and sustainable agriculture are discussed in depth. The volume is unique in its multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach. Chapter authors come from a variety of backgrounds, and authors include academic professors, members of CSO and other international organizations, and policy makers. This plurality allows for a nuanced analysis of sustainability goals and practices from a variety of perspectives, making the book useful to a wide range of readers working in different areas related to sustainability and food production. The book is targeted towards the academic community and practitioners in the policy, international cooperation, nutrition, geography, and social sciences fields. Professors teaching in nutrition, food technology, food sociology, geography, global economics, food systems, agriculture and agronomy, and political science and international cooperation may find this to be a useful supplemental text in their courses.

Sustainable Communities Design Handbook: Green Engineering, Architecture, and Technology, Second Edition, brings together the major players responsible for sustainable development at both community and metropolitan scales. The book aims to explain and demonstrate the practice, planning, design, building and managing of the engineering, architectural and economic development of cities and communities to meet sustainable development objectives. Offering a holistic approach to creating sustainable communities, the book includes a 40 percent increase in new methods and technology over the last edition, and 50 percent more case studies from around the world to illustrate how common sustainability problems are solved. As the concept and practices of a sustainable built environment have evolved over the years, it is increasingly recognized that the scope should be expanded beyond individual buildings to the community scale. Written by an international team of engineers, architects, and environmental experts this second edition includes new HVAC technologies for heating and cooling, energy effect technologies for lighting, and new construction materials which improve heating and cooling efficiencies. This new edition will also include critical updates on international codes: LEED, BREEAM, and Green Globes.

The Future of Sustainability, the tenth and final volume of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability, brings together essays from a group of renowned scholars and well-known environmentalist thinkers. Crucial topics are considered in terms of the future of humanity and its relationship with the natural world, from the outlook for nuclear energy, cities, energy, agriculture, water, food security, mobility, and migration; the role of higher education; and the concept of collective learning. The volume concludes with a resource guide for teaching materials at several levels, a directory of leading undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in sustainability, and a combined index of the 10-volume set.

This multidisciplinary work analyses challenges to sustainable development amidst rapidly changing climate in the world's largest delta - the Sundarbans. Empirical evidence unpacks grounded vulnerabilities and reveals their temporal socio-economic impacts. A novel concept of 'everyday disasters' is proposed - supported by data and photographic evidence - that contests institutional disaster definition. Then it uncovers how the geopolitics of ecological governance and its hegemonic discourse dominate local policies, which in turn fail to address local socio-ecological concerns, adaptation needs and development aspirations. Absence of local vocabularies, cognitive values and socio-cultural contexts along with spatially constricted, exclusionary, top-down techno-science approaches further escalate knowledge-action gaps. Deconstruction of multiscalar conflicts between the global rhetoric and transformative postcolonial geographies offers an ethical, Southern perspective of sustainability.

This book is mainly based on the results of the EU-funded UE-FP7 Project EnCoRe, which aimed to characterize the key physical and mechanical properties of a novel class of advanced cement-based materials incorporating recycled powders and aggregates and/or natural ingredients in order to allow partial or even total replacement of conventional constituents. More specifically, the project objectives were to predict the physical and mechanical performance of concrete with recycled aggregates; to understand the potential contribution of recycled fibers as a dispersed reinforcement in concrete matrices; and to demonstrate the feasibility and possible applications of natural fibers as a reinforcement in cementitious composites. All of these aspects are fully covered in the book. The opening chapters explain the material concept and design and discuss the experimental characterization of the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of the recycled raw constituents, as well as of the cementitious composite incorporating them. The numerical models with potentialities for describing the behavior at material and structural level of constructions systems made by these composites are presented. Finally, engineering applications and guidelines for production and design are proposed.

The book investigates the relationship between ecosystem services (ES) and spatial planning, and explores potential means of integrating the two concepts to support the decision-making process. In addition, it presents case studies demonstrating the outcomes, limitations, opportunities and further new developments in ES assessment/mapping for planning support. Then it describes the "Restart from Ecosystem Services" (RES) methodology, which is aimed at integrating ES into the planning process using an ecological balance, and at promoting new planning parameters for the transformation areas. RES ensures the inclusion of ES in planning processes using the incremental measures of limiting, mitigating and compensating soil sealing and land take process promoting operational strategies in applying it. The implementation of RES is associated with strategic environmental assessment and provides valuable support in the definition of strategies across the entire planning process, especially for the evaluation of alternative scenarios.

This book provides a wide-range exploration on the ongoing research and developmental events in environmental nanotechnology. Emerging nanomaterials and its technology have been known to offer unique advantages and are continually showing promising potential attracting continuous global attention. This work thus discusses experimental studies of various nanomaterials along with their design and applications and with specific attention to chemical reactions and their challenges for catalytic systems. It will make a noteworthy appeal to scientists and researchers working in the field of nanotechnology for environmental sciences.

This important book lays bare the dangers of global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions stemming from fossil fuel use, and proposes pathways toward mitigation. A discussion of the current main uses of fossil fuels acts as a basis for presenting viable, economically sound alternatives. The author outlines a clear, practical strategy for establishing a carbon-free future by deploying proven policy structures and technologies that are already commercially available.

This book focuses on education for environmental sustainability, in particular the area of solid waste management. Presenting the latest studies from different countries, industries and education sectors on the approaches and innovative ideas to educate future citizens regarding sustainable development of our planet, it is of interest to educators, academics, tertiary students, policy-makers, environmental scientists, social scientists and practitioners who have been involved in education, policy, science, and technological innovation for solid waste management.

This book explores the impact of disintegrity on various aspects of governance, as the disregard of ecological conditions produce grave direct effects to human rights (to water or food) and, indirectly, also to human security in several ways. International legal regimes need to be reconsidered and perhaps re-interpreted, in order to correct these situations that affect the commons today. Some believe that our starting point should acknowledge the impact we already have on the natural world, and accept that we now live in the "anthropocene". Others think that the present emphasis on sustainable development needs to be re-defined. Finally, many believe that reconnecting with moral principles both in professional life and in governance in general represents a necessary first step.

This book is about how to keep bees in a natural and practical system where they do not require treatments for pests and diseases and only minimal interventions. It is also about simple practical beekeeping. It is about reducing your work. It is not a main-stream beekeeping book. Many of the concepts are contrary to "conventional" beekeeping. The techniques presented here are streamlined through decades of experimentation, adjustments and simplification. The content was written and then refined from responding to questions on bee forums over the years so it is tailored to the questions that beekeepers, new and experienced, have. It is divided into three volumes and this edition contains all three: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced.