Sustainability or Collapse?
Sustainability or Collapse?

Author: Robert Costanza

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2011-01-21

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 0262515970

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Scholars from a range of disciplines develop an integrated human and environmental history over millennial, centennial, and decadal time scales and make projections for the future. Human history, as written traditionally, leaves out the important ecological and climate context of historical events. But the capability to integrate the history of human beings with the natural history of the Earth now exists, and we are finding that human-environmental systems are intimately linked in ways we are only beginning to appreciate. In Sustainability or Collapse?, researchers from a range of scholarly disciplines develop an integrated human and environmental history over millennial, centennial, and decadal time scales and make projections for the future. The contributors focus on the human-environment interactions that have shaped historical forces since ancient times and discuss such key methodological issues as data quality. Topics highlighted include the political ecology of the Mayans; the effect of climate on the Roman Empire; the "revolutionary weather" of El Niño from 1788 to 1795; twentieth-century social, economic, and political forces in environmental change; scenarios for the future; and the accuracy of such past forecasts as The Limits to Growth.

Mountain Biodiversity
Mountain Biodiversity

Author: Christian Korner

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2024-11-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1040284310

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This book is the result of the first global conference on mountain biodiversity, and is a contribution to the International Year of Mountains, 2002. The Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment program is a Special Target Area Region project of DIVERSITAS (UNESCO and UNEP). Biological diversity is essential for the integrity of mountain ecosystems and this dependency is likely to increase as environmental (climate) and social conditions change. Steep terrain and climate, and severe land-use pressure cause mountain ecosystems to rank among the world's most endangered landscapes. The 28 chapters in this book represent research on the biological riches in all major mountain ranges of the world, and synthesize existing knowledge on mountain biodiversity - from diversity of bacteria, plants and animals to human diversity. The book is divided into five sections: an introduction providing an overview of the issues; plant and animal diversity; climate change and mountain biodiversity; land use and conservation; and a synthesis.

Deltas and Humans
Deltas and Humans

Author: Thomas S. Bianchi

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-10-03

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 0190627700

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Humans have had a long relationship with the ebb and flow of tides on river deltas around the world. The fertile soils of river deltas provided early human civilizations with a means of farming crops and obtaining seafood from the highly productive marshes and shallow coastal waters associated with deltas. However, this relationship has at times been both nurturing and tumultuous for the development of early civilizations. The vicissitudes of seasonal changes in river flooding events as well as frequently shifting deltaic soils made life for these early human settlements challenging. These natural transient processes that affect the supply of sediments to deltas today are in many ways very similar to what they have been over the millennia of human settlements. But something else has been altered in the natural rhythm of these cycles. The massive expansion of human populations around the world in both the lower and upper drainage basins of these large rivers have changed the manner in which sediments and water are delivered to deltas. Because of the high density of human populations found in these regions, humans have developed elaborate hydrological engineering schemes in an attempt to "tame" these deltas. The goal of this book is to provide information on the historical relationship between humans and deltas that will hopefully encourage immediate preparation for coastal management plans in response to the impending inundation of major cities, as a result of global change around the world.

Environment and Business
Environment and Business

Author: Alasdair Blair

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-08-02

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1134619472

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This text examines how businesses and the environment interact. It is ideal for students with no previous knowledge of business studies. It examines in depth the ways in which business, industry, the physical environment, environmentalism and social change have evolved alongside each other. The authors use boxed case-studies to highlight how business practice and the environment interact at levels from local to global, with examples from multinational companies, government bodies, national charities and local enterprise. The book also contains a large number of informative diagrams. The case studies include: * Shell Oil's environmental policy * railways and the industrial revolution * the British National Trust's business enterprises * Sainsbury's approach to organic foods * Australia's landcare scheme * changing trends in retailing * Brent Spar * big game hunting and conservation.

‘A Truly Golden Handbook’
‘A Truly Golden Handbook’

Author: Veerle Achten

Publisher: Leuven University Press

Published: 2016-09-26

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 9462700796

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What would the ideal society of the future look like? In 1516, the eminent English humanist Thomas More tried his hand at imagining a perfect society on a distant island. His Utopia was published in the Flemish town of Leuven, home of a university that was established almost a century earlier. 500 years later, scholars of this university revisit More’s best-known work and reflect on the ideal society of the future, using the scientific insights of today, including perspectives which More could never have imagined. What will our cities look like a hundred years from now? How will stem cell research and 3D printing change the world? Will we be able to cure all diseases? Will we be traveling to other planets? Will computers take over? Or will humanity find a way to improve the quality of life for everyone and feed a growing world population? In ‘A Truly Golden Handbook’, more than fifty KU Leuven scholars share their science-based utopian dreams. From the creation of spare organs, artificial intelligence and the genetic future, to global governance, ecological sustainability and pathways to more equality, this visionary book offers a broad interdisciplinary look at the world of tomorrow. Contributors All contributions were written by academics of KU Leuven Conny Aerts, Ivo Aertsen, Marc Boogaerts, Geert Bouckaert, René Bouwen, Frederik Ceyssens, Stephan Claes, Katrijn Clémer, Sara Coemans, Goele Cornelissen, Marc Craps, Joep Crompvoets, Lieven De Cauter, Ortwin de Graef, Jan De Lepeleire, Dorien De Man, Bart De Moor, Koen Devriendt, Rudi D’Hooge, Thomas D’Hooghe, Philip Dutré, Jan Elen, Liesbet Geris, Gerard Govers, Styn Grieten, Karin Hannes, Ann Heylighen, Hilde Heynen, Rianne Janssen, Rudy Lauwereins, Koen Lemmens, Peter Lievens, Katlijn Malfliet, Jan Masschelein, Terrence Merrigan, Yves Moreau, Bart Muys, Marten Ovaere, Jan Rongé, Erik Schokkaert, Frans Schuit, Maarten Simons, Manuel Sintubin, Stéphane Symons, Rik Torfs, Chantal Van Audenhove, Kenneth Van den Bergh, André Van de Putte, Hilde Van Esch, Inge Vanfraechem, Ine Van Hoyweghen, Geertrui Van Overwalle, Peter Van Puyvelde, Arne van Stiphout, An Verburgh, Peter Vermeersch, Johan Wagemans, Lode Walgrave

Homo Ecophagus
Homo Ecophagus

Author: Warren M. Hern

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-09-30

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1000640108

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Home Ecophagus by Warren M. Hern is a wide-ranging look at the major problems for the survival of not just the human species, but all other species on Earth due to human activities over the past tens of thousands years. The title of the book indicates Hern’s new name for the human species: "The man who devours the ecosystem." Over the course of its evolution, Hern observes, humans have evolved cultures and adaptations that have now become malignant and that the human species, at the global level, has all the major characteristics of a malignant neoplasm – converting all plant, animal, organic, and inorganic material into human biomass or its adaptive adjuncts and support systems. Hern contends that this process is incompatible with continued survival of the human species and most other species on the planet, offering a diagnosis and prognosis of the current environmental impasse.

Ecological Nostalgias
Ecological Nostalgias

Author: Olivia Angé

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2020-11-01

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1789208947

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Introducing the study of econostalgias through a variety of rich ethnographic cases, this volume argues that a strictly human centered approach does not account for contemporary longings triggered by ecosystem upheavals. In this time of climate change, this book explores how nostalgia for fading ecologies unfolds into the interstitial spaces between the biological, the political and the social, regret and hope, the past, the present and the future.

God and the Human Environment
God and the Human Environment

Author: Osunkwo Jude Thaddeus Ikenna

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2015-07-02

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1491769130

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God and the Human Environment: Catholic Principles of Environmental Stewardship as a Template for Action in Nigeria brings into conversation the Churchs theological reflection on the mandate to care for Gods creation and the circumstances of the environment in Nigeria. In vivid terms and with systemic thinking, Fr. Jude Osunkwo, a theologian who specializes in Environmental Studies and Pastoral Catechesis, explores the biblical, theological, magisterial, and doctrinal bases that underlie a faithful response to contemporary environmental challenges. After setting the stage with a summation of the issues and a survey of significant ecclesiastical statements on the topic of the environment, God and the Human Environment addresses Catholic theological principles of stewardship, Christian responsibility, and the ethics of development. Then the discussion turns to the environment of Nigeria, assessing its current state and reviewing the causes and consequences of environmental challenges before proposing pastoral responses for the Church. Finally, some chapters address likely developments in Nigeria and the Church. An extensive bibliography and several appendices provide additional support. God and the Human Environment is a rigorously researched and passionately presented exploration of the issues growing out of the environmental circumstances Nigerians currently face. Whether you live in Nigeria or count yourself as a member of the Catholic Church and live somewhere else, God and the Human Environment explores a topic that promises to make a difference in your life and to protect the part of the environment that God has created for you to tend.

Environmental Inequalities Beyond Borders
Environmental Inequalities Beyond Borders

Author: Joann Carmin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2011-04-04

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0262294575

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Case studies demonstrate the spatial disconnect between global consumption and production and its effects on local environmental quality and human rights. Multinational corporations often exploit natural resources or locate factories in poor countries far from the demand for the products and profits that result. Developed countries also routinely dump hazardous materials and produce greenhouse gas emissions that have a disproportionate impact on developing countries. This book investigates how these and other globalized practices exact high social and environmental costs as poor, local communities are forced to cope with depleted resources, pollution, health problems, and social and cultural disruption. Case studies drawn from Africa, Asia, the Pacific Rim, and Latin America critically assess how diverse types of global inequalities play out on local terrains. These range from an assessment of the pros and cons of foreign investment in Fiji to an account of the work of transnational activists combating toxic waste disposal in Mozambique. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate the spatial disconnect between global consumption and production on the one hand and local environmental quality and human rights on the other. The result is a rich perspective not only on the ways industries, governments, and consumption patterns may further entrench existing inequalities but also on how emerging networks and movements can foster institutional change and promote social equality and environmental justice.