Climate Change in the Himalayas: Vulnerability and Resilience of Biodiversity and Forest Ecosystems explores and assesses issues affecting species survival in the rich forests of the Himalayan region. This book characterizes current biodiversity statuses, related ecosystem services, and provides new evidence and solutions for climate change effects on Himalayan animals and plants. Written by regional and international experts on climate change, ecosystems and the Himalayas, this book analyzes current species threats, loss of habitats, and carbon effects. It identifies critical areas requiring special attention and provides workable solutions for protection and ecosystem services. As many plant and animal species continue to be classified as extinct due to climate change, urbanization, and failing ecosystems, analyses and techniques in this book offer resolutions for sustaining current risks and curbing future risks. These can also be applied to other biodiverse, at-risk regions of the world.

Intelligent Environmental Data Monitoring for Pollution Management discusses evolving novel intelligent algorithms and their applications in the area of environmental data-centric systems guided by batch process-oriented data. Thus, the book ushers in a new era as far as environmental pollution management is concerned. It reviews the fundamental concepts of gathering, processing and analyzing data from batch processes, followed by a review of intelligent tools and techniques which can be used in this direction. In addition, it discusses novel intelligent algorithms for effective environmental pollution data management that are on par with standards laid down by the World Health Organization.

WEEE Recycling: Research, Development, and Policies covers policies, research, development, and challenges in recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The book introduces WEEE management and then covers the environmental, economic, and societal applications of e-waste recycling, focusing on the technical challenges to designing efficient and sustainable recycling processes-including physical separation, pyrometallurgical, and hydrometallurgical processes. The development of processes for recovering strategic and critical metals from urban mining is a priority for many countries, especially those having few available ores mining.

Advances in Agronomy, Volume 163, continues to be recognized as a leading reference and first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. Each volume contains an eclectic group of reviews by leading scientists throughout the world. As always, the subjects covered are rich, varied and exemplary of the abundant subject matter addressed by this long-running serial.

With immense consumption of resources, increased global warming, and environmental pollution, the energy sector has inevitably embraced sustainability. Countries are releasing plans and programs to shift their fossil fuel-dependent energy sectors into clean energy sectors, and projections show that renewable energy will be a significant part of nations' energy mixes in the near future. Optimization and decision-making techniques have been commonly used in the energy sector as problems encountered in this sector are complex and therefore need comprehensive techniques to solve them. With the uncertainty and high-cost issues of renewable resources, the complexity increases in the sector and requires optimization and decision-making techniques. Optimization and Decision-Making in the Renewable Energy Industry analyzes renewable energy sources using current mathematical methods and techniques and provides advanced knowledge on key opportunities and challenges. The book discusses current and trending mathematical methods, tests their validity and verification, and considers their practical application in the field. Covering topics such as urban sustainability and renewable energy systems, this reference work is ideal for practitioners, academicians, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, instructors, and students.

Enhancing Disaster Preparedness: From Humanitarian Architecture to Community Resilience relates to the fourth priority of the UNDRR's Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Taking a wide understanding of disaster preparedness, the book deals with resilient responses and building capacities related to hazardous events, bringing some practical experiences and theoretical insights in this regard. Mostly based on field research conducted in the Global South by architects and other built-environment professionals, the book covers both post-disaster interventions (rebuilding and recovery) and development-related processes. Its three parts address the interlinkages between humanitarian design, community resilience, and inclusive governance, which are crucial for fostering effective disaster preparedness. Part I discusses the changing roles of architects and urban designers involved in the humanitarian sphere. Part II concentrates on resilience as a socioecological capacity to enhance preparedness within community-based spatial processes. Focused on global dynamics, Part III covers topics emphasizing the link between the management of crises, whether political or economic, at different levels of governance, and the vulnerability of communities and structures on the national and local scales. As such, the book approaches rising global priorities and brings timely lessons to support building a more equitable, safe, and resilient environment in a rapidly urbanized world.

In February 2019, award-winning writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind when he set out to walk 300 miles through the Scottish Highlands, seeking solitude and answers. In leaving the chaos of the internet behind for a month, he hoped to learn how it was truly affecting him - or if he should look elsewhere for the causes of his anxiety. The Farthest Shore is the story of Alex's solo trek along the remote Cape Wrath Trail. As he journeyed through a vanishing winter, Alex found answers to his questions, learnt the nature of true silence, and discovered frightening evidence of the threats faced by Scotland's wild mountain landscape.

Sustainability in the Design, Synthesis and Analysis of Chemical Engineering Processes is an edited collection of contributions from leaders in their field. It takes a holistic view of sustainability in chemical and process engineering design, and incorporates economic analysis and human dimensions. Ruiz-Mercado and Cabezas have brought to this book their experience of researching sustainable process design and life cycle sustainability evaluation to assist with development in government, industry and academia. This book takes a practical, step-by-step approach to designing sustainable plants and processes by starting from chemical engineering fundamentals. This method enables readers to achieve new process design approaches with high influence and less complexity. It will also help to incorporate sustainability at the early stages of project life, and build up multiple systems level perspectives. Ruiz-Mercado and Cabezas' book is the only book on the market that looks at process sustainability from a chemical engineering fundamentals perspective.

This book focuses specifically on the environmental issues related to the air pollution control and design. It is divided into four parts: (1) Fundamentals of air pollution control, (2) fundamentals of energy utilization, (3) gaseous control and design, and (4) particulate control and design, each consisting of four to six chapters. The topics covered in this book not only introduce the basic concepts of air pollution control and design but also address the fundamentals of energy utilization in the context of good engineering practice and policy instruments. It also features several innovative technologies and integrated methodologies relating to gaseous and particulate matter control and design. To facilitate technology integration and meet the need for comprehensive information on sustainable development, the book discusses a wide range of areas concerning the principles, applications, and assessment of air pollution control and design and thermodynamics, heat transfer, advanced combustion and renewable energy for energy utilization. It also features regulations and policy instruments adopted around the globe as well as several case studies. Presenting the emerging challenges, new concepts, innovative methodologies, and resolving strategies, as well as illustrative and inspiring case studies, it appeals to a wide range of readers, such as researchers, graduate students, engineers, policy makers, and entrepreneurs.

A transporting exploration of the deep sea, and how our planet’s strangest, most ancient and astonishing creatures have urgent relevance to cutting-edge science today.

Hundred-year-old giant clams, coral kingdoms the size and shape of cities, and jellyfish that glow in the dark: ocean invertebrates are among the oldest and most diverse organisms on Earth, seeming to bend the rules of land-based biology. Although sometimes unseen in the deep, these incredible spineless creatures contain 600 million years of adaptation to problems of disease, energy consumption, nutrition, and defence.

Marine ecologist Dr Drew Harvell takes us diving from Hawaii to the Salish Sea, from the Caribbean to Indonesia, to uncover the incredible underwater ‘superpowers’ of spineless creatures: we meet corals many times stronger than steel or concrete, sponges who create potent chemical compounds to fight off disease, and sea stars who garden the coastlines, keeping all the other nearby species in perfect balance. As our planet changes fast, the biomedical, engineering and energy innovations of these wondrous creatures hold ever more important secrets to our own survival.

The Ocean’s Menagerie is a tale of biological marvels, a story of a woman’s passionate connection to an adventurous career in science and a call to arms to protect the world’s most ancient ecosystems.

Eco-cities and Green Transport presents a systematic, uniform, and structured way to examine different cities at different scales in order to suggest unique solutions appropriate to each scale. The book examines city infrastructure and the built environment, transport system supply and demand, and transport behavior to offer innovative policy solutions for various transport modes. With end of chapter experiences and lessons summarized, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages for transforming cities and their transport systems to meet residents current and future needs. The increasingly rapid growth of global urbanization requires cities to be built in an ecologically sustainable, energy efficient, and livable way. A critical component in achieving these goals is an urban transportation system that uses natural resources as reasonably as possible. The outcome of a ten-year data collection research effort by the author and his team, the book sheds new insights into these challenges using a thorough investigation of traffic systems in 20 cities from 13 countries throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Ecosystem and Territorial Resilience: A Geoprospective Approach provides a full review of the geoprospective approach and how it can be used in planning for and implementing environmental and territorial resilience measures. The geoprospective approach is a way to predict and assess for future risks, and is a comprehensive method for identifying and addressing potential change impacts. In addition to the main concepts and methods of this approach, the book presents applications and case studies for different spatio-temporal scales and problems related to the degradation of socio-ecosystems, as well as applying the geoprospective approach to environmental and urban planning. The book offers an interdisciplinary perspective, tying in concepts and techniques from geography, including spatial analysis methods, modelling, and GIS, to address issues of ecological impacts of climate change, urban risk and resilience, land use changes, coastal impacts, and sustainable development and potential of adaptability. This book is a unique and integral resource for policy makers, environmental and territorial managers, scientists, engineers, consultants, and graduate students interested in anticipating future change in socio-ecosystems.

Understanding Disaster Risk: A Multidimensional Approach presents the first principle from the UNISDR Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030. The framework includes a discussion of risk and resilience from both a theoretical and governance perspective in light of ideas that are shaping our common future. In addition, it presents innovative tools and best practices in reducing risk and building resilience. Combining the applications of social, financial, technological, design, engineering and nature-based approaches, the volume addresses rising global priorities and focuses on strengthening the global understanding of vulnerability, displaced communities, cultural heritages and cultural identity. Readers will gain a multifaceted understanding of disaster, addressing both historic and contemporary issues. Focusing on the various dimensions of disaster risk, the book details natural and social components of risk and the challenges posed to risk assessment models under the climate change paradigm.

Planners, environmentalists, architects, engineers, policymakers and economists have to work together to ensure that planning and development can meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations. This collaboration was the aim of the 12th International Conference on Sustainable Development and Planning, from which the papers in this volume originate. Problems related to development and planning, which affect rural and urban areas, are present in all regions of the world. Accelerated urbanisation has resulted in the deterioration of the environment and loss of quality of life. Urban development can also aggravate problems faced by rural areas such as forests, mountain regions and coastal areas, amongst many others. Taking into consideration the interaction between different regions and developing new methodologies for monitoring, planning and implementation of novel strategies can offer solutions mitigating environmental pollution and non-sustainable use of available resources. Energy-saving and eco-friendly building approaches have become an important part of modern development, which places special emphasis on resource optimisation. Planning has a key role to play in ensuring that these solutions, as well as new materials and processes, are incorporated in the most efficient manner. The included papers feature new academic findings and their applications in planning and development strategies, assessment tools, and decision-making processes.

Wasn't That a Mighty Day: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on Disaster takes a comprehensive look at sacred and secular disaster songs, shining a spotlight on their historical and cultural importance. Featuring newly transcribed lyrics, the book offers sustained attention to how both Black and white communities responded to many of the tragic events that occurred before the mid-1950s. Through detailed textual analysis, Luigi Monge explores songs on natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes); accidental disasters (sinkings, fires, train wrecks, explosions, and air disasters); and infestations, epidemics, and diseases (the boll weevil, the jake leg, and influenza). Analyzed songs cover some of the most well-known disasters of the time period from the sinking of the Titanic and the 1930 drought to the Hindenburg accident, and more. Thirty previously unreleased African American disaster songs appear in this volume for the first time, revealing their pertinence to the relevant disasters. By comparing the song lyrics to critical moments in history, Monge is able to explore how deeply and directly these catastrophes affected Black communities; how African Americans in general, and blues and gospel singers in particular, faced and reacted to disaster; whether these collective tragedies prompted different reactions among white people and, if so, why; and more broadly, how the role of memory in recounting and commenting on historical and cultural facts shaped African American society from 1879 to 1955.

Advances in Marine Biology, Volume 86, the latest release in a series that has been providing in-depth and up-to-date reviews on all aspects of marine biology since 1963, updates on many topics that will appeal to postgraduates and researchers in marine biology, fisheries science, ecology, zoology and biological oceanography. Chapters in this new release include Marine Environmental DNA: Approaches, Applications, and Opportunities, and The Biology and Ecology of the Banana Prawns.

Tropical and Extratropical Air-Sea Interactions: Modes of Climate Variations provides a thorough introduction to global atmospheric and oceanic processes, as well as tropical, subtropical and mid-latitude ocean-atmosphere interactions. Written by leading experts in the field, each chapter is dedicated to a specific topic of air-sea interactions (such as ENSO, IOD, Atlantic Nino, ENSO Modoki, and newly discovered coastal Ninos/Ninas) and their teleconnections. As the first book to cover all topics of tropical and extra-tropical air-sea interactions and new modes of climate variations, this book is an excellent resource for researchers and students of ocean, atmospheric and climate sciences.

Satellite Soil Moisture Retrieval: Techniques and Applications offers readers a better understanding of the scientific underpinnings, development, and application of soil moisture retrieval techniques and their applications for environmental modeling and management, bringing together a collection of recent developments and rigorous applications of soil moisture retrieval techniques from optical and infrared datasets, such as the universal triangle method, vegetation indices based approaches, empirical models, and microwave techniques, particularly by utilizing earth observation datasets such as IRS III, MODIS, Landsat7, Landsat8, SMOS, AMSR-e, AMSR2 and the upcoming SMAP. Through its coverage of a wide variety of soil moisture retrieval applications, including drought, flood, irrigation scheduling, weather forecasting, climate change, precipitation forecasting, and several others, this is the first book to promote synergistic and multidisciplinary activities among scientists and users working in the hydrometeorological sciences.