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The implementation of sustainability initiatives on campuses is an
essential component of promoting sustainability in the higher
education context. In addition to reflecting an awareness of
environmental issues, campus programmes demonstrate how seriously
universities take sustainability at the institutional level. There
is a lack of truly interdisciplinary publications that
comprehensively address the issue of campus greening, and there is
an even greater need for publications that do so at a truly
international level. This book meets these needs. It is one of the
outcomes of the "Second Symposium on Sustainability in University
Campuses" (SSUC-2018), which was jointly organised by the
University of Florence (Italy), Manchester Metropolitan University
(UK), the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainable Development and
Climate Change Management" and the "European School of
Sustainability Science and Research" at the Hamburg University of
Applied Sciences (Germany), in cooperation with the
Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme
(IUSDRP). The book showcases examples of campus-based research and
teaching projects, regenerative campus design, low-carbon and
zero-carbon buildings, waste prevention, and resilient transport,
among others. Ultimately, it demonstrates the role of campuses as
platforms for transformative social learning and research, and
explores the means by which university campuses can be made more
sustainable. The aims of this publication are as follows: * to
provide universities with essential information on campus greening
and sustainable campus development initiatives from around the
world; * to share ideas and lessons learned in the course of
research, teaching and projects on campus greening and design,
especially successful initiatives and good practice; and * to
introduce methodological approaches and projects intended to
integrate the topic of sustainable development in campus design and
operations. This book gathers contributions from researchers and
practitioners in the field of campus greening and sustainable
development in the widest sense, from business and economics, to
the arts, administration and the environment, and hailing from
Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.
The essence of this book can be found in a line written by the
ancient Roman Stoic Philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca: "Fortune is
of sluggish growth, but ruin is rapid". This sentence summarizes
the features of the phenomenon that we call "collapse," which is
typically sudden and often unexpected, like the proverbial "house
of cards." But why are such collapses so common, and what generates
them? Several books have been published on the subject, including
the well known "Collapse" by Jared Diamond (2005), "The collapse of
complex societies" by Joseph Tainter (1998) and "The Tipping
Point," by Malcom Gladwell (2000). Why The Seneca Effect? This book
is an ambitious attempt to pull these various strands together by
describing collapse from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint. The reader
will discover how collapse is a collective phenomenon that occurs
in what we call today "complex systems," with a special emphasis on
system dynamics and the concept of "feedback." From this
foundation, Bardi applies the theory to real-world systems, from
the mechanics of fracture and the collapse of large structures to
financial collapses, famines and population collapses, the fall of
entire civilzations, and the most dreadful collapse we can imagine:
that of the planetary ecosystem generated by overexploitation and
climate change. The final objective of the book is to describe a
conclusion that the ancient stoic philosophers had already
discovered long ago, but that modern system science has
rediscovered today. If you want to avoid collapse you need to
embrace change, not fight it. Neither a book about doom and gloom
nor a cornucopianist's dream, The Seneca Effect goes to the heart
of the challenges that we are facing today, helping us to manage
our future rather than be managed by it.
Nobody has to tell you that when things go bad, they go bad quickly
and seemingly in bunches. Complicated structures like buildings or
bridges are slow and laborious to build but, with a design flaw or
enough explosive energy, take only seconds to collapse. This fate
can befall a company, the stock market, or your house or town after
a natural disaster, and the metaphor extends to economies,
governments, and even whole societies. As we proceed blindly and
incrementally in one direction or another, collapse often takes us
by surprise. We step over what you will come to know as a "Seneca
cliff", which is named after the ancient Roman philosopher, Lucius
Annaeus Seneca, who was the first to observe the ubiquitous truth
that growth is slow but ruin is rapid. Modern science, like ancient
philosophy, tell us that collapse is not a bug; it is a feature of
the universe. Understanding this reality will help you to see and
navigate the Seneca cliffs of life, or what Malcolm Gladwell called
"tipping points." Efforts to stave off collapse often mean that the
cliff will be even steeper when you step over it. But the good news
is that what looks to you like a collapse may be nothing more than
the passage to a new condition that is better than the old. This
book gives deeper meaning to familiar adages such as "it's a house
of cards", "let nature take its course", "reach a tipping point",
or the popular Silicon Valley expression, "fail fast, fail often."
As the old Roman philosopher noted, "nothing that exists today is
not the result of a past collapse", and this is the basis of what
we call "The Seneca Strategy." This engaging and insightful book
will help you to use the Seneca Strategy to face failure and
collapse at all scales, to understand why change may be inevitable,
and to navigate the swirl of events that frequently threaten your
balance and happiness. You will learn: How ancient philosophy and
modern science agree that failure and collapse are normal features
of the universe Principles that help us manage, rather than be
managed by, the biggest challenges of our lives and times Why
technological progress may not prevent economic or societal
collapse Why the best strategy to oppose failure is not to resist
at all costs How you can "rebound" after collapse, to do better
than before, and to avoid the same mistakes.
The implementation of sustainability initiatives on campuses is an
essential component of promoting sustainability in the higher
education context. In addition to reflecting an awareness of
environmental issues, campus programmes demonstrate how seriously
universities take sustainability at the institutional level. There
is a lack of truly interdisciplinary publications that
comprehensively address the issue of campus greening, and there is
an even greater need for publications that do so at a truly
international level. This book meets these needs. It is one of the
outcomes of the "Second Symposium on Sustainability in University
Campuses" (SSUC-2018), which was jointly organised by the
University of Florence (Italy), Manchester Metropolitan University
(UK), the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainable Development and
Climate Change Management" and the "European School of
Sustainability Science and Research" at the Hamburg University of
Applied Sciences (Germany), in cooperation with the
Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme
(IUSDRP). The book showcases examples of campus-based research and
teaching projects, regenerative campus design, low-carbon and
zero-carbon buildings, waste prevention, and resilient transport,
among others. Ultimately, it demonstrates the role of campuses as
platforms for transformative social learning and research, and
explores the means by which university campuses can be made more
sustainable. The aims of this publication are as follows: * to
provide universities with essential information on campus greening
and sustainable campus development initiatives from around the
world; * to share ideas and lessons learned in the course of
research, teaching and projects on campus greening and design,
especially successful initiatives and good practice; and * to
introduce methodological approaches and projects intended to
integrate the topic of sustainable development in campus design and
operations. This book gathers contributions from researchers and
practitioners in the field of campus greening and sustainable
development in the widest sense, from business and economics, to
the arts, administration and the environment, and hailing from
Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.
The Limits to Growth (Meadows, 1972) generated unprecedented
controversy with its predictions of the eventual collapse of the
world's economies. First hailed as a great advance in science, The
Limits to Growth was subsequently rejected and demonized. However,
with many national economies now at risk and global peak oil
apparently a reality, the methods, scenarios, and predictions of
The Limits to Growth are in great need of reappraisal. In "The"
"Limits to Growth Revisited," Ugo Bardi examines both the science
and the polemics surrounding this work, and in particular the
reactions of economists that marginalized its methods and
conclusions for more than 30 years. The Limits to Growth was a
milestone in attempts to model the future of our society, and it is
vital today for both scientists and policy makers to understand its
scientific basis, current relevance, and the social and political
mechanisms that led to its rejection. Bardi also addresses the
all-important question of whether the methods and approaches of The
Limits to Growth can contribute to an understanding of what
happened to the global economy in the Great Recession and where we
are headed from there."
As we dig, drill, and excavate to unearth the planet's mineral
bounty, the resources we exploit from ores, veins, seams, and wells
are gradually becoming exhausted. Mineral treasures that took
millions, or even billions, of years to form are now being
squandered in just centuries-or sometimes just decades. Will there
come a time when we actually run out of minerals? Debates already
soar over how we are going to obtain energy without oil, coal, and
gas. But what about the other mineral losses we face? Without
metals, and semiconductors, how are we going to keep our industrial
system running? Without mineral fertilizers and fuels, how are we
going to produce the food we need? Ugo Bardi delivers a sweeping
history of the mining industry, starting with its humble beginning
when our early ancestors started digging underground to find the
stones they needed for their tools. He traces the links between
mineral riches and empires, wars, and civilizations, and shows how
mining in its various forms came to be one of the largest global
industries. He also illustrates how the gigantic mining machine is
now starting to show signs of difficulties. The easy mineral
resources, the least expensive to extract and process, have been
mostly exploited and depleted. There are plenty of minerals left to
extract, but at higher costs and with increasing difficulties. The
effects of depletion take different forms and one may be the
economic crisis that is gripping the world system. And depletion is
not the only problem. Mining has a dark side-pollution-that takes
many forms and delivers many consequences, including climate
change. The world we have been accustomed to, so far, was based on
cheap mineral resources and on the ability of the ecosystem to
absorb pollution without generating damage to human beings. Both
conditions are rapidly disappearing. Having thoroughly plundered
planet Earth, we are entering a new world. Bardi draws upon the
world's leading minerals experts to offer a compelling glimpse into
that new world ahead.
The "Blue Economy" is used to describe all of the economic
activities related to the sea, with a special emphasis on
sustainability. Traditional activities such as fisheries, but also
undersea mining, tourism, and scientific research are included, as
well as the phenomenal growth of aquaculture during the past
decade. All of these activities, and the irresistible prospect of
another new frontier, has led to enthusiastic and, most likely,
overenthusiastic assessments of the possibilities to exploit the
sea to feed the world, provide low-cost energy, become a new source
of minerals, and other future miracles. This book makes sense of
these trends and of the future of the blue economy by following our
remote ancestors who gradually discovered the sea and its
resources, describing the so-called fisherman's curse - or why
fishermen have always been poor, explaining why humans tend to
destroy the resources on which we depend, and assessing the
realistic expectations for extracting resources from the sea.
Although the sea is not so badly overexploited as the land, our
demands on ecosystem services are already above the oceans'
sustainability limits. Some new ideas, including "fishing down" for
untapped resources such as plankton, could lead to the collapse of
the entire marine ecosystem. How Neanderthals crossed the sea in
canoes, how it was possible for five men on a small boat to kill a
giant whale, what kind of oil the virgins of the Gospel put into
their lamps, how a professor of mathematics, Vito Volterra,
discovered the "equations of fishing," why it has become so easy to
be stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the sea, and how to play
"Moby Dick," a simple board game that simulates the
overexploitation of natural resources are just some of the
questions that you will be able to answer after reading this
engaging and insightful book about the rapidly expanding
relationship between humanity and the sea.
The "Blue Economy" is used to describe all of the economic
activities related to the sea, with a special emphasis on
sustainability. Traditional activities such as fisheries, but also
undersea mining, tourism, and scientific research are included, as
well as the phenomenal growth of aquaculture during the past
decade. All of these activities, and the irresistible prospect of
another new frontier, has led to enthusiastic and, most likely,
overenthusiastic assessments of the possibilities to exploit the
sea to feed the world, provide low-cost energy, become a new source
of minerals, and other future miracles. This book makes sense of
these trends and of the future of the blue economy by following our
remote ancestors who gradually discovered the sea and its
resources, describing the so-called fisherman's curse - or why
fishermen have always been poor, explaining why humans tend to
destroy the resources on which we depend, and assessing the
realistic expectations for extracting resources from the sea.
Although the sea is not so badly overexploited as the land, our
demands on ecosystem services are already above the oceans'
sustainability limits. Some new ideas, including "fishing down" for
untapped resources such as plankton, could lead to the collapse of
the entire marine ecosystem. How Neanderthals crossed the sea in
canoes, how it was possible for five men on a small boat to kill a
giant whale, what kind of oil the virgins of the Gospel put into
their lamps, how a professor of mathematics, Vito Volterra,
discovered the "equations of fishing," why it has become so easy to
be stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the sea, and how to play
"Moby Dick," a simple board game that simulates the
overexploitation of natural resources are just some of the
questions that you will be able to answer after reading this
engaging and insightful book about the rapidly expanding
relationship between humanity and the sea.
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