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Books > Earth & environment > The environment
Networks of Invasion: Networks of Invasion: Empirical Evidence and Case Studies, Volume 57 bridges a conceptual gap between ecological network studies and invasion biology studies. This book contains chapters detailing pressing concerns regarding invasive species in food webs, but also extends the idea of networks of invasion to other systems, such as mutualistic networks or even the human microbiome. Chapters describe the tools, models and empirical methods adapted for tackling invasions in ecological networks, including sections on parasites and biological invasions, invasions in freshwater systems, and those in host-associated microbiome networks. In addition, the book provides interesting discussions on the importance of microorganisms and their relationship to macroorganisms.
Since the appearance of Homo sapiens on the planet hundreds of thousands of years ago, human beings have sought to exploit their environments, extracting as many resources as their technological ingenuity has allowed. As technologies have advanced in recent centuries, that impulse has remained largely unchecked, exponentially accelerating the human impact on the environment. Humans versus Nature tells a history of the global environment from the Stone Age to the present, emphasizing the adversarial relationship between the human and natural worlds. Nature is cast as an active protagonist, rather than a mere backdrop or victim of human malfeasance. Daniel R. Headrick shows how environmental changes-epidemics, climate shocks, and volcanic eruptions-have molded human societies and cultures, sometimes overwhelming them. At the same time, he traces the history of anthropogenic changes in the environment-species extinctions, global warming, deforestation, and resource depletion-back to the age of hunters and gatherers and the first farmers and herders. He shows how human interventions such as irrigation systems, over-fishing, and the Industrial Revolution have in turn harmed the very societies that initiated them. Throughout, Headrick examines how human-driven environmental changes are interwoven with larger global systems, dramatically reshaping the complex relationship between people and the natural world. In doing so, he roots the current environmental crisis in the deep past.
"We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid", said President Obama at the UN Climate Summit in September 2014. Adaptation and resilience are now a must in both academic research and international bodies. A fashionable concept, resilience's polysemy sparks many debates on its uses and operational relevance. This book bridges the increasing divide between academic research and the latest planning innovations, offering practical and conceptual insights for practitioners, researchers and students. Magali Reghezza-Zitt and Samuel Rufat present a cross-disciplinary, state-of-the-art debate and critical analysis of the social, spatial, practical and political implications of resilience.
Guests directly account for over 50% of resource use in hotels and as much as 90% in self-catering accommodation. They are quite simply the most significant factor contributing to hospitality's ongoing carbon emissions. Given the targets to reduce carbon emissions by 66% by the year 2030, it is imperative that practical solutions for the accommodation sector are created and applied fast. 'How to Create Sustainable Hospitality: a handbook for guest participation' is the first text to demonstrate how to actively persuade guests to participate in achieving sustainable hospitality. Practitioners and commentators have tended to criticise guests, believing they won't "sacrifice" while on holiday. However, social trends show there is increasing consumer expectations for more sustainable services, e.g. reduction of food waste, elimination of single serve plastic, as well as firm evidence that consumption is not linked to guest happiness. The opportunity is therefore to design experiences which deliver better hospitality by inviting guests to apply saving behaviours that do not mean they will have a less enjoyable experience. Based on 16 years personally delivering sustainable hospitality experiences face to face with guests and conducting the first hard research on guest engagement at a variety of sites in Australia and Europe (from 1000-bedroom hotels and B&Bs to self-contained holiday homes and timeshare lodges), the author presents a tried and tested five step methodology on how to directly, effectively and successfully involve guests to conserve resources. This presents a new paradigm for tourism. 'How to Create Sustainable Hospitality: a handbook for guest participation' presents a clearly written, jargon-free, practical solution and: * Is the first book to focus on guests as an active and critical component in sustainable consumption and production at their holiday or business accommodation; * Introduces a five-step methodology on how to directly and effectively involve guests in saving energy and water, reducing food waste and cutting carbon. It delivers a practical solution that has been successfully applied to achieve a fast ROI with scientifically measured savings; * Uses social practice theory to describe why people do not save resources and how we can better design hospitality experiences * Uses persuasive theory to explain how to communicate with guests and by so doing increase stay satisfaction, 'delight' and brand reputation; * Includes hundreds of case examples and scientific research to illustrate how the theories works in practice; * Explains "how" to change - not just the need for change. Part of the Responsible Tourism Series edited by Harold Goodwin, Director of Responsible Tourism, Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University and John Swarbrooke, Associate Dean-International, Plymouth Global, Plymouth University, UK
This book is the result of over ten years of field research across Zambia. It covers the production and diverse uses of wood and non-wood forest products in different parts of Zambia. Although a short format, it is a multi-contributed work. It starts an overview of the forestry sector, and covers more specific areas like production, markets and trade of wood and non-wood products; the role of non-wood forest products in the livelihood of the local population, the contribution of the forestry sector to Zambia's overall economy and reviews of efforts to strategically utilize these resources for local economic, and sustainable, development.
Materials for Carbon Dioxide Mitigation Technology offers expert insight and experience from recognized authorities in advanced material development in carbon mitigation technology and constitutes a comprehensive guide to the selection and design of a wide range of solvent/sorbent/catalyst used by scientists globally. It appeals to chemical scientists, material scientists and engineers, energy researchers, and environmental scientists from academia, industry, and government in their research directed toward greener, more efficient carbon mitigation processes.
The world's population is expected to increase to over 8 billion by 2020. About 60% of the total population of the world lives in coastal areas and 65% of the cities with a population of over 2.5 million are located in coastal areas. Written by an international panel of experts in the fields of engineering and risk management, The Handbook of Coastal Disasters Mitigation presents a coherent overview of 10 years of coastal disaster risk management and engineering, during which some of the most relevant events of recent time have taken place, including the Indian Ocean tsunami, hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in the United States or the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
PLAY AND LEARN: learn about bees and biodiversity as you play this
family strategy game for age 6+, based on traditional Mancala
In March 2011 the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan was hit by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami which resulted in the release of significant amounts of radioactive material. The incident led to the suspension of nuclear programmes by a number of countries. This book provides a definitive account of the accident.
Radioactive waste management and contaminated site clean-up reviews
radioactive waste management processes, technologies, and
international experiences. Part one explores the fundamentals of
radioactive waste including sources, characterisation, and
processing strategies. International safety standards, risk
assessment of radioactive wastes and remediation of contaminated
sites and irradiated nuclear fuel management are also reviewed.
Part two highlights the current international situation across
Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. The experience in Japan,
with a specific chapter on Fukushima, is also covered. Finally,
part three explores the clean-up of sites contaminated by weapons
programmes including the USA and former USSR.
Why is the United Nations not more effective on global environmental challenges? The UN Charter mandates the global organization to seek four noble aspirations: international peace and security, rule of law among nations, human rights for all people, and social progress through development. On environmental issues, however, the UN has understood its charge much more narrowly: it works for "better law between nations" and "better development within them." This approach treats peace and human rights as unrelated to the world's environmental problems, despite a large body of evidence to the contrary. In this path-breaking book, a leading scholar of global environmental governance critiques the UN's failure to use its mandates on human rights and peace as tools in its environmental work. The book traces the institutionalization and performance of the UN's "law and development" framework and the parallel silence on rights and peace. Despite some important gains, the traditional approach is failing for some of world's most pressing and contentious environmental challenges, and has lost most of the political momentum it once enjoyed. The disastrous "Rio+20" Summit laid this fact bare, as assembled governments failed to find meaningful agreement on any of the most pressing issues. By not treating the environment as a human rights issue, the UN fails to mobilize powerful tools for accountability in the face of pollution and resource degradation. And by ignoring the conflict potential around natural resources and environmental protection efforts, the UN misses opportunities to transform the destructive cycle of violence and vulnerability around resource extraction. The book traces the history of the UN's traditional approach, maps its increasingly apparent limits, and suggests needed reforms. Detailed case histories for each of the four mandate domains flag several promising initiatives, while identifying barriers to transformation. Its core implication: the UN's environmental efforts require not just a managerial reorganization but a conceptual revolution-one that brings to bear the full force of the organization's mandate. Peacebuilding, conflict sensitivity, rights-based frameworks, and accountability mechanisms can be used to enhance the UN's environmental effectiveness and legitimacy.
This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the major
ethical and social issues resulting from the use of ionizing
radiation. It covers topics such as nuclear fuel cycles,
radioactive waste treatment, nuclear bomb testing, nuclear safety
management, stakeholder engagement, cleanup after nuclear
accidents, ecological risks from radiation, environmental justice,
health and safety for radiation workers, radiation dose standards,
the ethics of clinical radiology, and the principles of radiation
protection and their ethical underpinnings. With authors ranging
from philosophers to radiation protection officials and
practitioners, the book spans from theoretical to practical
implications of this important area of radiation risk assessment
and management.
Since the turn of the millennium, more than one million people have been killed and 2.3 billion others have been directly affected by natural disasters around the world. In cases like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, these disasters have time and time again wrecked large populations and national infrastructures. While recognizing that improved rescue, evacuation, and disease control are crucial to reducing the effects of natural disasters, in the final analysis, poverty remains the main risk factor determining the long-term impact of natural hazards. Furthermore, natural disasters have themselves a tremendous impact on the poorest of the poor, who are often ill-prepared to deal with natural hazards and for whom a hurricane, an earthquake, or a drought can mean a permanent submersion in poverty. The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters focuses on these concerns for poverty and vulnerability. Written by a collection of esteemed scholars in disaster management and sustainable development, the report provides an overview of the general trends in natural disasters and their effects by focusing on a critical analysis of different methodologies used to assess the economic impact of natural disasters. Economic Impacts presents six national case studies (Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Nicaragua, Japan and the Netherlands) and shows how household surveys and country-level macroeconomic data can analyze and quantify the economic impact of disasters. The researchers within Economic Impacts have created path-breaking work and have opened new avenues for thinking and debate to push forward the frontiers of knowledge on economics of natural disasters. "A great report and an important addition to the literature about the economics of disasters and the cost-effectiveness of prevention, mitigation and adaption, including a good number of interesting and relevant applications from developed and devloping countries."-Javier E. Baez, Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank
Bringing together ecology, evolutionary moral psychology, and environmental ethics, J. Baird Callicott counters the narrative of blame and despair that prevails in contemporary discussions of climate ethics and offers a fresh, more optimistic approach. Whereas other environmental ethicists limit themselves to what Callicott calls Rational Individualism in discussing the problem of climate change only to conclude that, essentially, there is little hope that anything will be done in the face of its "perfect moral storm" (in Stephen Gardiner's words), Callicott refuses to accept this view. Instead, he encourages us to look to the Earth itself, and consider the crisis on grander spatial and temporal scales, as we have failed to in the past. Callicott supports this theory by exploring and enhancing Aldo Leopold's faint sketch of an Earth ethic in "Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest," a seldom-studied text from the early days of environmental ethics that was written in 1923 but not published until 1979 after the environmental movement gathered strength.
Lubricants are essential in engineering, however more sustainable
formulations are needed to avoid adverse effects on the ecosystem.
Bio-based lubricant formulations present a promising solution.
Biolubricants: Science and technology is a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary and timely review of this important subject.
Global populations have grown rapidly in recent decades, leading to
ever increasing demands for shelter, resources, energy and
utilities. Coupled with the worldwide need to achieve lower impact
buildings and conservation of resources, the need to achieve
sustainability in urban environments has never been more acute.
This book critically reviews the fundamental issues and applied
science, engineering and technology that will enable all cities to
achieve a greater level of metropolitan sustainability, and assist
nations in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations.
In 2005, The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided the
first global assessment of the world's ecosystems and ecosystem
services. It concluded that recent trends in ecosystem change
threatened human wellbeing due to declining ecosystem services.
This bleak prophecy has galvanized conservation organizations,
ecologists, and economists to work toward rigorous valuations of
ecosystem services at a spatial scale and with a resolution that
can inform public policy.
Now more than ever we are facing pressing world challenges of energy (identifying alternate energy), food (ensuring the food supply), water (providing clean water), and human health (enabling individualized medicine); and to solve these challenges will require chemistry and the related chemical sciences. Integrating sustainability into everything we do from instituting responsible operations, to selecting partners for change and innovating sustainable solutions. Industry needs academe to prepare their graduates to ascend the ladder with skill and agility. This can only be done by integrating sustainability expeditiously into chemistry curricula.
This book makes a serious effort at bringing forth and synergistically combining the concepts of green chemistry, sustainability and nanotechnology and should motivate scientistsat all levels to think clearly and seriously about creating and optimizing novel and sustainable green approaches to nanotechnology. The chapters in this book can be divided into three broad categories: 1) Advancement in research on pollution control through the green chemistry principles of nanotechnology; 2) Emergence of nanomaterials in widespread applications in various scientific fields, including but not limited to sensors and catalysts; 3) Extension of research into nanotechnology and green nanotechnology at a rapid pace. Review articles on the individual aspects of these diverse and complementary topics have become important resources for researchers, industry leaders, and regulators, both nationally and internationally. This book contains a few chapters associated with these particular themes, and provides glimpses of the many difficulties and challenges faced by those who seek to not only understand but also regulate the new nanomaterials. Nanotechnology represents a unique field of science, and necessitates new and novel sustainable approaches to create usable end products for the market place with the primary goal of yielding less adverse effects upon both human health and the environment.
From gluten-free to all-Paleo, GMOs to grass-fed beef, our newsfeeds abound with nutrition advice. Whether sensational headlines from the latest study or anecdotes from celebrities and food bloggers, we're bombarded with "superfoods" and "best ever" diets promising to help us lose weight, fight disease, and live longer. At the same time, we live in an over-crowded food environment that makes it easy to eat, all the time. The result is an epidemic of chronic disease amidst a culture of nutrition confusion-and copious food choices that challenge everyday eaters just trying to get a healthy meal on the table. But the exhilarating truth is that scientists know an astounding amount about the power of food. A staggering 80% of chronic diseases are preventable through modifiable lifestyle changes, and diet is the single largest contributing factor. And we also know the secrets to eating sustainably to protect our planet. In Food & Nutrition, Harvard- and Columbia-trained nutrition scientist Dr. P.K. Newby examines 134 stand-alone questions addressing "need to know" topics, including how what we eat affects our health and environment, from farm to fork, and why, when it comes to diet, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts-and one size doesn't fit all. At the same time, Newby debunks popular myths and food folklore, encouraging readers to "learn, unlearn, and relearn" the fundamentals of nutrition at the heart of a health-giving diet. Her passion for all things food shines through it all, as does her love of the power of science, technology, and engineering to help create healthier diets for ourselves, and a more sustainable future for the planet we share.
Biological invasions are one of the strongest drivers of global
environmental change, and invasive species are now often in the
public discourse. At the same time, economists have begun to take a
real interest in determining how invasive species interact with
economic systems, and how invaders should be controlled to optimize
societal wealth. Although the work from ecologists and economists
have both greatly expanded our understanding of the drivers and
impacts of invasions, little integration between the fields has
occurred that would allow managers and policy-makers to identify
the optical expenditures on, for example, prevention and control of
invasive species. Because the level of effort expended on invasive
species management is intricately linked to the costs and projected
benefits of that management, there is an urgent need for greater
synthesis between ecology and economics.
Winds of Change examines the global development of the wind energy industry from a political, social movements-based perspective. It argues the wind energy industry developed successfully in certain regions and countries in large part because the environmental movement influenced its growth. Vasi then defines and analyses the three main pathways through which the environmental movement has contributed to industry growth: it has influenced the adoption and implementation of renewable energy policies, it has created consumer demand for clean energy, and it has changed the institutional logics of the energy sector. The book uses quantitative analysis to present the big picture of the global development of the wind energy industry, then draws on qualitative analyses to understand why countries such as Germany, Denmark, or Spain are world leaders in wind energy, while other countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada have a somewhat underdeveloped wind power industry. It also analyzes how the environmental movement contributed to the recent growth of the market for renewable energy certificates in the United States. The book also examines the remarkable transformation of the electricity sector in different countries, showing how environmentalists in Germany, Denmark, United States and United Kingdom contributed to wind turbine manufacturing by becoming entrepreneurs, innovators, and/or advocates, and, furthermore, how environmental groups and activists formed new companies that specialize in wind-farm development and operation, and pressured utility companies to invest in renewable energy by using tactics such as protests, lawsuits, and lobbying for stricter regulation. In conclusion, Vasi presents the main implications for future studies on industry development and social movement outcomes, as well as for the future growth of the renewable energy sector.
The Protection of Subjects in Human Research rule by the USEPA,
including the establishment of the Human Studies Review Board
(HSRB), has resulted in changes to both study design and study
evaluation processes, particularly with respect to ethical
considerations. Non-Dietary Human Exposure andRisk Assessment is a
compilation of the presentations given in a symposium of the same
name at the 238th ACS National Meeting in Washington D.C. The
purpose of the symposium was to provide a forum for scientists from
industry, academia, and government to share investigative methods
used to generate data for use in non-dietary human risk assessments
and to share methodology for performing and evaluating those
assessments. |
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