Socio-Metabolic Perspectives on the Sustainability of Local Food Systems
Socio-Metabolic Perspectives on the Sustainability of Local Food Systems

Author: Eva Fraňková

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-01-09

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 3319692364

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This book delves into diverse local food systems and critically assesses their ecological and societal benefits and trade-offs, their limits and opportunities for improving sustainability of food production, and framework conditions which either hinder or promote their development. More and more people with gradually meat heavier diets will demand growth in food production, whilst our increasingly industrialized and globalized agri-food system has already caused serious sustainability problems in the past. This calls for a change in the way we produce, distribute and consume food. A re-emerging debate on food security and food sovereignty seems to support this quest. But what are the promising alternatives to mainstream developments? Such a discussion regarding sustainability of local food systems requires a sound systemic understanding and thus invites a socio-metabolic reading of local cases by analyzing the nexus between material and energy flows as well as land and time use. This approach is needed to complement the so far mostly qualitatively-based local food studies. Applying socio-metabolic approaches to local food systems fosters a better understanding of promises and pitfalls for sustainable pathways in the future.

Sustainable Food System Assessment
Sustainable Food System Assessment

Author: Alison Blay-Palmer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-11-22

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 0429801386

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Sustainable Food System Assessment provides both practical and theoretical insights about the growing interest in and response to measuring food system sustainability. Bringing together research from the Global North and South, this book shares lessons learned, explores intended and actual project outcomes, and highlights points of conceptual and methodological convergence. Interest in assessing food system sustainability is growing, as evidenced by the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact and the importance food systems initiatives have taken in serving as a lever for attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This book opens by looking at the conceptual considerations of food systems indicators, including the place-based dimensions of food systems indicators and how measurements are implicated in sense-making and visioning processes. Chapters in the second part cover operationalizing metrics, including the development of food systems indicator frameworks, degrees of indicator complexities, and practical constraints to assessment. The final part focuses on the outcomes of assessment projects, including impacts on food policy and communities involved, highlighting the importance of building connections between sustainable food systems initiatives. The global coverage and multi-scalar perspectives, including both conceptual and practical aspects, make this a key resource for academics and practitioners across planning, geography, urban studies, food studies, and research methods. It will also be of interest to government officials and those working within NGOs. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/Sustainable-Food-System-Assessment-Lessons-from-Global-Practice/Blay-Palmer-Conare-Meter-Battista-Johnston/p/book/9781032083933, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Housing as Commons
Housing as Commons

Author: Stavros Stavrides

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-07-14

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1913441016

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Experiences of the struggle for housing, ignited by the lack of social and affordable housing, have led to the establishing of shared and self-managed housing areas. In such a context, it becomes crucially important to re-think the need to define common urban worlds “from below". Here, Penny Travlou and Stavros Stavridis trace contemporary practices of urban commoning through which people re-define housing economies. Connecting to a rich literature on the importance of commons and of practices of commoning for the creation of emancipated societies, the authors discuss whether housing struggles and co-habitation experiences may contribute in crucial ways to the development of a commoning culture. The authors explore a variety of urban contexts through global case studies from across the Global North and South, in search of concrete examples that illustrate the potentialities of urban commoning.

The Metabolism of Islands
The Metabolism of Islands

Author: Simron Singh

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2021-08-04

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3036509364

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This book makes the case for why we should care about islands and their sustainability. Islands are hotspots of biocultural diversity and home to 600 million people that depend on one-sixth of the earth’s total area, including the surrounding oceans, for their subsistence. Today, they are at the frontlines of climate change and face an existential crisis. Islands are, however, potential “hubs of innovation” that are uniquely positioned to be leaders in sustainability and climate action. This volume argues that a full-fledged program on “island industrial ecology” is urgently needed, with the aim of offering policy-relevant insights and strategies to sustain small islands in an era of global environmental change. The nine contributions in this volume cover a wide range of applications of socio-metabolic research, from flow accounts to stock analysis and their relationship to services in space and time. They offer insights into how reconfiguring patterns of resource use will allow island governments to build resilience and adapt to the challenges of climate change.

Routledge Handbook for Creative Futures
Routledge Handbook for Creative Futures

Author: Gabrielle Donnelly

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 1000809676

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As the uncertainty of global and local contexts continues to amplify, the Routledge Handbook for Creative Futures responds to the increasing urgency for reimagining futures beyond dystopias and utopias. It features essays that explore the challenges of how to think about compelling futures, what these better futures might be like, and what personal and collective practices are emerging that support the creation of more desirable futures. The handbook aims to find a sweet spot somewhere between despair and naïve optimism, neither shying away from the massive socio-environmental planetary challenges currently facing humanity nor offering simplistic feel-good solutions. Instead, it offers ways forward—whether entirely new perspectives or Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge perspectives that have been marginalized within modernity—and shares potential transformative practices. The volume contains contributions from established and emerging scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners with diverse backgrounds and experiences: a mix of Indigenous, Black, Asian, and White/Caucasian contributors, including women, men, and trans people from around the world, in places such as Kenya, India, US, Canada, and Switzerland, among many others. Chapters explore critical concepts alongside personal and collective practices for creating desirable futures at the individual, community, organizational, and societal levels. This scholarly and accessible book will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of leadership studies, social innovation, community and organizational development, policy studies, futures studies, cultural studies, sociology, and management studies. It will also appeal to educators, practitioners, professionals, and policymakers oriented toward activating creative potential for life-affirming futures for all.

From nature-negative to nature-positive production
From nature-negative to nature-positive production

Author: Ferri, M., Arnés García, M.

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2023-10-04

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 9251380899

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Following the 2021 United Nations Food System Summit call for implementing nature-positive production, this document provides an overview on the conceptual, theoretical and operational aspects of nature-positive production agriculture. The concept of nature-positive production revolves around the possible synergies between ecosystem restoration and food/biomass production and among biodiversity, nature and agriculture. This document tries to answer such questions as “What does nature positive exactly mean?” and “How can agriculture aid in ecosystem restoration?” The thermodynamic perspective is chosen as the privileged viewpoint that allows for a joint analysis from both an ecological and agronomic perspective. This document discusses the inherent functioning of agroecosystems by analysing how ecosystems naturally develop their own sustainability and productivity; it concludes that the most critical systemic features in this regard are complexity, energy storage and energy mobilization capacities. In agroecosystems, these three features are mostly linked with biomass availability, biodiversity, soil health and landscape diversity. The nexus of biodiversity and productivity is therefore uncovered, highlighting the need for a renewed relationship between biodiversity and agriculture. After defining the most relevant theoretical aspects of nature-positive production agriculture, this document provides methodologies for assessing the energy efficiency of an agroecosystem and its agroecological performance. Finally, five priority operational areas are proposed to lead the actual implementation of NPPA: soil and water conservation; soil improvement; evolutionary populations; integrating crops, forestry, livestock and aquaculture; and integrated pest management.

Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption
Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption

Author: Charis M. Galanakis

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2020-11-18

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0128213701

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Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption covers trends associated with the impact of food production on the environment using lifecycle analysis and the standard methods used to estimate the food industry's environmental impact. The book discusses city-scale actions to estimate the environmental impact of food systems, including the meat chain, feeding crops to farmed fish, the confectionary industry, agriculture, tea processing, cheese production, the dairy industry, cold chain, and ice cream production. Food waste and consumption in hospitality and global diets round out these interesting discussions. Written for food scientists, technologists, engineers, chemists, governmental regulatory bodies, environmentalists, environmental technologists, environmental engineers, researchers, academics and professionals working in the food industry, this book is an essential resource on sustainability in the food industry. - Addresses all levels of the food chain - Provides solutions for the food industry to estimate and reduce environmental impact - Assists members of the food industry in optimizing their current performance and reducing their environmental footprint

Saving Food
Saving Food

Author: Charis M. Galanakis

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2019-06-01

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 0128157097

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Saving Food: Production, Supply Chain, Food Waste and Food Consumption presents the latest developments on food loss and waste. Emphasis is placed on global issues, the environmental impacts of food consumption and wasted food, wasted nutrients, raising awareness via collaborative networks and actions, the effect of food governance and policy in food losses, promotion of sustainable food consumption, food redistribution, optimizing agricultural practices, the concept of zero waste, food security and sustainable land management, optimizing food supply and cold chains, food safety in supply chain management, non-thermal food processing/preservation technologies, food waste prevention/reduction, food waste valorization and recovery. Intended to be a guide for all segments of the food industry aiming to adapt or further develop zero waste strategies, this book analyzes the problem of food waste from every angle and provides critical information on how to minimize waste. - Describes all aspects related to saving food and food security, including raising awareness, food redistribution actions, food policy and framework, food conservation, cold chain, food supply chain management, food waste reduction and valorization - Guides all segments of the industry on how to employ zero waste strategies - Analyzes key issues to create a pathway to solutions

Biosphere Reserves and Sustainable Development Goals 2
Biosphere Reserves and Sustainable Development Goals 2

Author: Bruno Romagny

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-02-24

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1394276443

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Since 1971, UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has embraced a number of principles that link the political, scientific and academic spheres. Biosphere Reserves and Sustainable Development Goals 2 is a reminder of the fundamental issues involved in governance. The diversity and multiplicity of stakeholders, and the complexity of the interplay between them, as well as their organization, are decisive factors in the proper management of resources and territories. The book also presents a number of case studies demonstrating that, between the strong development aspirations of their populations, the impact of human activities and the need to conserve their biological heritage, the biosphere reserves of the southern Mediterranean are facing major issues: agricultural pollution, forest fires, water use in a context of climate change, etc.