Placing emphasis on the close relationship between humans and their natural environment, this book examines how alterations in the natural world mirror human cultures, societies, and languages. It explores thousands of years of ecological history while addressing important contemporary issues, such as biodiversity and genetic variation and change.
Focuses on the vulnerability and resilience of people around the world to the effects of environmental change. This book presents analysis of past studies, interviews conducted with the producers and users of scientific knowledge, and case studies performed by scholars across a spectrum of international settings and political systems.
Uncertainties of information on the problems of global climatology are a principal barrier to understanding the anthropogenic effects on global ecodynamics. The purpose of this book is to summarize existing information and to assess the uncertainties.
Explores the prospects for achieving environmentally benign economic and social development in China. This title introduces major conceptions of sustainability, describes historical and political contexts for environmental policymaking, and analyses key challenges related to sustainable development, including air pollution, water quality and more.
Lays out a picture of impending planetary crisis - a global food shortage that threatens to hit by mid-century - that would dwarf any in our previous experience. This book describes a dangerous confluence of shortages - of water, land, energy, technology, and knowledge - combined with the increased demand created by population and economic growth.
One morning in 2000, Dr Jane Hightower walked into her surgery to find a patient with disturbing symptoms she couldn't explain. The woman was nauseated, tired, and had difficulty concentrating, but a litany of tests revealed no apparent cause. She was not alone.
Guides readers through the snowy San Juan Mountains of the Colorado Plateau in southwestern Colorado, and its human legacies. This title describes in detail the ecology of its six sub-regions, showing readers how to recognise human influences on the flora and fauna, and even has a discussion of the trends.
Julian Agyeman argues that environmental justice and the sustainable communities movement are compatible in practical ways. He explores the ideological differences between these two groups and shows how they can work together, using examples of potential model organizations that employ the types of strategies he advocates.
Based upon an analysis of the protest events reported in one quality newspaper in each of eight countries during 1988 to 1997, this is a comparative study of environmental protest in a representative cross-section of EU member states. It is a study of environmental politics in Europe, and is a contribution to the study of protest events.
Based on the premise that we have 21 days before we lose our modern conveniences, this book is packed with practical solutions for becoming more self-reliant and transitioning to a lower energy lifestyle. From shelter to livestock to transportation to tools, it helps you to simplify your lifestyle while reducing your dependence on oil.
More people are living in urban rather than rural areas, bringing about an estrangement. This book discusses our relationship with nature, animals and places. It includes a series of interlinked essays that leads readers on a voyage that weaves through the themes of connection and estrangement between humans and nature.
As greedy eyes again focus on the resources of the global South this book 'pulls back the curtain on disturbing technological and corporate trends that are already reshaping our world and that will become crucial battlegrounds for civil society in the years ahead.'
Looks at one of the biggest challenges being faced across the globe today: Water. Ocean oscillations have altered, leading to droughts in areas that were expecting rain, and flooding for those previously anticipating arid conditions. This book sets out the power of water to enrich or destroy the lives of millions.
Routes and roads make their way into and across the landscape, defining it as landscape and making it accessible for many kinds of uses and perceptions. Bringing together scholars from cultural history, geography, philosophy, and a host of other disciplines, this collection examines the complex entanglement between routes and landscapes.
Human industry and consumption of resources have altered the climate, destroyed ecosystems, and rendered many species extinct, increasing the likelihood of an ecological catastrophe. How did humankind come to rule nature to such an extent? This book answers that question, integrating research in palaeontology, archaeology, and anthropology.
Connects the food crisis, peak oil, and climate change to show that a world beyond a dependence on fossil fuel and globalization is both possible and necessary. This book shows how three crises are inherently linked and that any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will get us nowhere.
READ BY HRH the Prince of Wales. A practical guide to what we have lost in the modern world, why we have lost it and how easily it is to rediscover. Harmony is a blueprint for a more balanced, sustainable world that the human race must create to survive.
Integrates the expertise from disciplines such as hydrology, sociology, architecture, urban design, construction and water resources engineering. Developed by a team of specialists, this volume is intended for urban flood management education of hydrology, geography, civil and environmental engineering and management students at university level.
Brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy - both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. This title proposes that an ambitious national strategy - which the author calls 'Geo-Greenism' - is what we need to save the planet from overheating.
Features communities that explicitly integrate social and human factors into their design and planning, and examines the impact living in these communities has on personal health, well-being and the capacity for pursuing sustainability. This title is suitable for individuals and communities living a sustainable lifestyle.
Looks to the future to discover what the world might be like, and how it would change, if humans disappeared. This book examines areas of the world that have been abandoned or never occupied by humans to see how they have fared without us and looks beyond to discover for how long, our cities, achievements and mistakes will last after we are gone.
Guides readers through the snowy San Juan Mountains of the Colorado Plateau in southwestern Colorado, and its human legacies. This work describes in detail the ecology of its six sub-regions, showing you how to recognise human influences on the flora and fauna, and discussing the trends.
This wide-ranging book considers the origins and rise of science and technology before moving on to discuss the state of our world and its possible futures, addressing the main challenges for social and economic development in the context of global change.
Designed to help students understand the multiple levels at which human populations respond to their surroundings, this text discusses the environmental, physiological, behavioural and cultural adaptive strategies available. It also includes an extensive bibliography on ecological anthropology, and a comprehensive glossary of technical terms.
A guide that presents a 'how to do it' approach to the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process. It offers an overview of the aims, principles, advantages and problems of SEA. It examines the SEA process including setting the policy context, describing the baseline, identifying alternatives, and predicting and evaluating impacts.
Surveys the breadth and depth of SEA, bringing together a range of international perspectives and insights on the theoretical, methodological and institutional dimensions and practical issues of the field. This volume is organized into six major sections, beginning with an introduction and overview of the development of the field.
Who changes the world? The answer is we all do! This book, about sustainability in the broadest sense, exposes unconscious forces that drive leaders - the "beast within" us all - denial, ego and groupthink. It examines the failures of attempts to bring about change. It uncovers the part unconscious racism plays in foreign policy and globalisation.
Painstakingly documented and highly readable The Case Against Fluoride brings new research to light, including links between fluoride and harm to the brain, bones and endocrine system, and argues that the evidence that fluoridation reduces tooth decay is surprisingly weak.
Climate change is a major challenge for us all, but for African countries it represents a particular threat. This book outlines the impact that such a change can have on Africa's development prospects. It uses case studies to look at issues ranging from natural disasters to biofuels, and from conflict to the oil industry.
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. This book puts forward some key strategies for promoting Cleaner Production in China, for instance, integrating CP into sustainability strategies, technology innovations and industrial ecology.
'People and Physical Environment, A Global Approach' introduces the main areas of environmental concern for geographers, environmental scientists and planners at the beginning of the 21st century. These include: pollution of the atmosphere and its impact on our climate; the exploitation of the oceans; fresh water management and more.
Depicts in nontechnical terms the root causes and global environmental effects of human behavior. This title describes trends in population growth, resource use, and global environmental impacts such as greenhouse effects, ozone depletion, water pollution, and species extinctions and introductions.
Throughout their evolutionary history, humans have affected the natural environment, sometimes with a promise of sustainable balance, but also in a destructive manner. This book investigates the ways in which environmental changes, often the result of human actions, have caused historical trends in human societies.
This interdisciplinary overview of urban ecology uses the metropolitan region of Berlin as a case study and assesses not only empirical environmental data but also developments in social dimensions such as urban planning, traffic management and the economy.
Argues that the environmental scarcities will have profound social consequences - contributing to insurrections, ethnic clashes, urban unrest, and other forms of civil violence. This book develops a model of the sources of environmental scarcity. It shows that scarcities stem from the degradation and depletion of renewable resources.
Explores the prospects for achieving environmentally benign economic and social development in China. This title introduces major conceptions of sustainability, describes historical and political contexts for environmental policymaking, and analyses key challenges related to sustainable development, including air pollution, water quality and more.
A collection of works on the field of environmental responsibility. It is suitable for those involved with managing environmental decisions making. It promotes various ways of understanding and taking responsibility for actions in the context of our 'natural' world through a selection of edited readings accompanied with an editorial narrative.
Brings together the latest research on climate change from the social sciences. This work comprehensively covers social causes, impacts, recognition and responses to climate change and features cutting edge research by leading scholars from Australia, Canada, Europe, UK and USA, and new material on China, India and South East Asia.
Archaeological data show that relatively intense human adaptations to coastal environments developed much earlier than once believed - more than 125, 000 years ago. In eleven case studies, this work covers diverse marine ecosystems, reaching into deep history to discover how humans interacted with and impacted these aquatic environments.
This contemporary introduction to the principles and research base of cultural ecology is a useful textbook for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses that deal with the intersection of humans and the environment in traditional societies.
Our population of over six billion people is putting increasing pressure on the world's resources. So what solutions are there to the many challenges facing the environment today? This title encourages readers to think about what they would do about a range of local and global topics.
Whether it is the growth of world population, of greenhouse gas concentrations and the accelerating rate of climate change, or the running down of oil and natural gas reserves - we are facing a mounting global crisis that may peak around the year 2030. This book explains what is going on - below the surface of our daily or weekly news bulletins.
Our population of over six billion people is putting increasing pressure on the world's resources. So what solutions are there to the many challenges facing the environment today? This title encourages readers to think about what they would do about a range of local and global topics.
Intends to provide evidence for policy analysts, decision-makers and researchers of the significant links between the health of ecosystems and human well-being, based on a review of literature and case studies from the arid and semi-arid lands of southern Africa.
Dealing with the imminent decline of cheap oil, this book shows how oil and war have been closely related in the 20th century. Tracing the crucial role of fossil fuels in the rise of industrialism, it discusses the degree to which energy alternatives can compensate for oil, and recommends a global programme of resource conservation and sharing.
Climate change has already been altering lives on our planet for a generation that there are unanticipated and surprising effects - some catastrophic and some positive - right around the corner. This book opens our eyes about this urgent issue and how it has altered and will alter our world.
States that our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. This title also states that we've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different; we may as well call it Eaarth, which is filled with different binds and traps.
Illustrated throughout with line drawings; case studies and glossaries; and lists of resource organisations and further readings, this book is of interest to community-based organisations and self-help housing schemes, as well as local authorities and housing officials.
Antarctica, the high seas and deep seabed, the atmosphere, and space are increasingly accessible - and exploited - resource domains. This book considers the physical, legal, management, and policy problems associated with these areas. It is suitable for students in international relations, international law, and environmental law and policy.