Island Environments in a Changing World
Island Environments in a Changing World

Author: Lawrence R. Walker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-03-24

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 1139500260

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Islands represent unique opportunities to examine human interaction with the natural environment. They capture the human imagination as remote, vulnerable and exotic, yet there is comparatively little understanding of their basic geology, geography, or the impact of island colonization by plants, animals and humans. This detailed study of island environments focuses on nine island groups, including Hawaii, New Zealand and the British Isles, exploring their differing geology, geography, climate and soils, as well as the varying effects of human actions. It illustrates the natural and anthropogenic disturbances common to island groups, all of which face an uncertain future clouded by extinctions of endemic flora and fauna, growing populations of invasive species, and burgeoning resident and tourist populations. Examining the natural and human history of each island group from early settlement onwards, the book provides a critique of the concept of sustainable growth and offers realistic guidelines for future island management.

Forests in Our Changing World
Forests in Our Changing World

Author: Joe Landsberg

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2014-08-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781610914956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scientists tell us that climate change is upon us and the physical world is changing quickly with important implications for biodiversity and human well-being. Forests cover vast regions of the globe and serve as a first line of defense against the worst effects of climate change, but only if we keep them healthy and resilient. Forests in Our Changing World tells us how to do that. Authors Joe Landsberg and Richard Waring present an overview of forests around the globe, describing basic precepts of forest ecology and physiology and how forests will change as earth’s climate warms. Drawing on years of research and teaching, they discuss the values and uses of both natural and plantation-based forests. In easy-to-understand terms, they describe the ecosystem services forests provide, such as clean water and wildlife habitat, present economic concepts important to the management and policy decisions that affect forests, and introduce the use of growth-and-yield models and remote-sensing technology that provide the data behind those decisions. This book is a useful guide for undergraduates as well as managers, administrators, and policy makers in environmental organizations and government agencies looking for a clear overview of basic forest processes and pragmatic suggestions for protecting the health of forests.

Planetary Health
Planetary Health

Author: Samuel Myers

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2020-08-13

Total Pages: 538

ISBN-13: 1610919661

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems—the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate—are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognized experts. The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.

Markets and the Environment, Second Edition
Markets and the Environment, Second Edition

Author: Nathaniel O. Keohane

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2016-01-05

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1610916077

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"A clear grasp of economics is essential to understanding why environmental problems arise and how we can address them. ... Now thoroughly revised with updated information on current environmental policy and real-world examples of market-based instruments .... The authors provide a concise yet thorough introduction to the economic theory of environmental policy and natural resource management. They begin with an overview of environmental economics before exploring topics including cost-benefit analysis, market failures and successes, and economic growth and sustainability. Readers of the first edition will notice new analysis of cost estimation as well as specific market instruments, including municipal water pricing and waste disposal. Particular attention is paid to behavioral economics and cap-and-trade programs for carbon."--Publisher's web site.

Environments in a Changing World
Environments in a Changing World

Author: John Huckle

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-19

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1317881540

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While there is no shortage of of books on the environment there are few introductory texts that outline the social theory that informs human geographical approaches to the interactions between ecology and society. Students arriving at university often lack the understanding of history, economics, politics, sociology and philosophy that contemporary human geography requires. Environments in a Changing World addresses this deficit, providing foundation knowledge in a form that is accessible to first year students and applied to the understanding of both contemporary environmental issues and the challenge of sustainability. Students are challenged to develop and defend their own ethical and political positions on sustainability and respond to the need for new forms of ecological citizenship.

World Social Science Report 2013 Changing Global Environments
World Social Science Report 2013 Changing Global Environments

Author: International Social Science Council

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2013-11-15

Total Pages: 614

ISBN-13: 9264203419

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book represents a comprehensive overview of the field gathering the thoughts and expertise of hundreds of social scientists from around the world. This edition focuses on the transformative role of the social sciences in confronting climate and broader processes of environmental change.

Threatened Island Nations
Threatened Island Nations

Author: Michael B. Gerrard

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-01-21

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1107025761

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book addresses legal issues of rising seas endangering the habitability and existence of island nations in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Changing Climate, Changing Worlds
Changing Climate, Changing Worlds

Author: Meredith Welch-Devine

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 3030373126

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores how individuals and communities perceive and understand climate change using their observations of change in the world around them. Because processes of climatic change operate at spatial and temporal scales that differ from those of everyday practice, the phenomenon can be difficult to understand. However, flora and fauna, which are important natural and cultural resources for human communities, do respond to the pressures of environmental change. Humans, in turn, observe and adapt to those responses, even when they may not understand their causes. Much of the discussion about human experiences of our changing climate centers on disasters and extreme events, but we argue that a focus on the everyday, on the microexperiences of change, has the advantage of revealing how people see, feel, and make sense of climate change in their own lives. The chapters of this book are drawn from Asia, Europe, Africa, and South and North America. They use ethnographic inquiry to understand local knowledge and perceptions of climate change and the social and ecological changes inextricably intertwined with it. Together, they illustrate the complex process of coming to know climate change, show some of the many ways that climate change and our responses to it inflict violence, and point to promising avenues for moving toward just and authentic collaborative responses.

Biogeography in a Changing World
Biogeography in a Changing World

Author: Malte C. Ebach

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2006-11-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1420007971

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hampered by a confusing plethora of approaches and methods, biogeography is often treated as an adjunct to other areas of study. The first book to fully define this rapidly emerging subdiscipline, Biogeography in a Changing World elucidates the principles of biogeography and paves the way for its evolution into a stand-alone field. Drawin