Climate change Books

Book SynopsisIntense global debate on future climate regime in Asia due to high population, emissions, economies, vulnerabilities. Limited capacity hinders participation. Book studies domestic processes, barriers to international debate, proposes climate regime from Asian perspective, links climate change to sustainable development.

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Book SynopsisIn the midst of this discussion, the author contemplates the wisdom and invaluable contributions made by a select few visionaries who dedicated their lives to safeguarding and preserving our natural habitats and environment. With 240 illustrations.

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Book SynopsisThis book summarises eight years of research, evaluation, and hands-on experience in developing Brøset as a future carbon-neutral settlement. The project has from the outset tried to tackle one of the most burning questions of our time: how to reconcile the increasingly alarming messages from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with everyday practices in modern societies. These include transport, energy, food, housing, and the general consumption of products and services following in the wake of all affluent societies. The overall vision for Brøset is to demonstrate how a new urban district can be planned in accordance with the IPCC''s 2C target and thereby show the way towards a carbon-neutral society. In order to accomplish this very ambitious goal, it is necessary for cultural, social, and physical structures to work together. Herein lies the biggest challenge of the Brøset project and other initiatives that aim to close the gap between rhetoric and reality in this field.

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Book SynopsisThe pivotal nodes in the world city network are global cities---cities of supreme strategic value in global economy and politics, science and technology, culture, and society. Global Cities: Past, Present and Future explores the evolution of global cities---their formation, rise, development and tendencies. This book summarizes and interprets global tendencies and also puts forward a theoretical framework that will help researchers understand these cities better. It also makes a compelling case for understanding every city in terms of evolutionary dynamics. The first eight chapters of the book discuss the ontology of global city evolution and patterns, forms and trends of development. The last two chapters study the case of Shanghai, which aims to build itself into an important global city by 2050. This case study illustrates the shaping of a new type of global city that demonstrates new characteristics of the globalized space.Table of ContentsIntroduction Literature Review Global Cities Research The Studies of Global Space Studies on the World City Network Dynamic Evolution Research Definition of Global Cities Methodology of Conceptualization Global City Paradigm Clarification of Some Confusing Concepts Evolutionary Ontology and Its Core Category Ontology of Global Cities The Core Category Connected Spaces Evolution Framework: World City Network Complex Interlocking Network Model Network Structure Evolutionary Dynamics Framework of Dynamics Influencing Factors Evolutionary Process Evolutionary Model Dominant Model of Evolution Diversity in Evolution (Types) Evolutionary Tendencies of Global Cities Evolutionary Tendencies Based on Network Intensification Evolution Trend Based on the Isotropic World City Network The Evolution of Space Space Expansion Evolutionary Trend of Spatial Expansion Processes A Case Study of ‘Shanghai 2050’ Global City Vision (Part I) Strategic Drive: Prospects of Globalization Strategic Opportunities: Reshaping of World Pattern The Rise of China as Strategic Support Shanghai’s Endogenous Foundation for Global Cities Evolution A Case Study of ‘Shanghai 2050’ Global City Vision (Part II) Prospects of Shanghai’s Evolution to a Global City Shanghai’s Vision of Becoming a Global City Core Functions of Shanghai as a Global City Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA fascinating novel of love and ecology from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.Doris Lessing returns to the world of visionary fiction, first visited in her Canopus in Argos quintet of novels in the 1980s, and in Mara and Dann', to which this is a sequel, in 1999.The Earth's climate has changed it is colder than ever before and Dann, four in the first book, is now grown up and a general, and the man to whom everyone looks for guidance and leadership.Lessing's novel charts his adventures across the frozen wastes of the north, a journey that will eventually lead to the discovery of a secret library.Trade Review'This is an unsettling but compelling novel – like a nihilistic version of “The Lord of the Rings” with a deeply flawed, Shakespearean tragic hero at its centre.' Financial Times 'Lessing pierces the heart with the half quotations that Dann's scribes scribble down as the books fall to dust in their hands…Lessing has much wisdom to impart although she is astute enough not to preach but to pose some unsettling questions.' Maggie Gee, Sunday Times 'It is so well done, written with such zest, imagination, sympathy and intelligence, that my prejudice against the sort of novel it is was soon disarmed…a piece of compelling narrative, wonderfully imagined.' Alan Massie, Spectator 'Lessing engages the reader constantly…the plot is complicated, deliciously so…full of unobtrusive wisdom, the book is restless with curiosity and shrewd in its reading of human nature.' Scotsman 'Lessing's new novel is as unsettling as anything she has ever written.' Independent 'This visionary novel from one of the distinguished writers of the past 60 years is, fundamentally, an impassioned warning: dystopia could be the future.' Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisThis collection gathers a set of seminal papers from the emerging area of ethics and climate change. Topics covered include human rights, international justice, intergenerational ethics, individual responsibility, climate economics, and the ethics of geoengineering. Climate Ethics is intended to serve as a source book for general reference, and for university courses that include a focus on the human dimensions of climate change. It should be of broad interest to all those concerned with global justice, environmental science and policy, and the future of humanity.Table of ContentsNOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; PREFACE; A. OVERVIEW; B. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM; C: GLOBAL JUSTICE AND FUTURE GENERATIONS; D: POLICY RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE; E. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY; REFERENCES; INDEX

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Book SynopsisBringing together ecology, evolutionary moral psychology, and environmental ethics, J. Baird Callicott counters the narrative of blame and despair that prevails in contemporary discussions of climate ethics and offers a fresh, more optimistic approach. Whereas other environmental ethicists limit themselves to what Callicott calls Rational Individualism in discussing the problem of climate change only to conclude that, essentially, there is little hope that anything will be done in the face of its perfect moral storm (in Stephen Gardiner''s words), Callicott refuses to accept this view. Instead, he encourages us to look to the Earth itself, and consider the crisis on grander spatial and temporal scales, as we have failed to in the past. Callicott supports this theory by exploring and enhancing Aldo Leopold''s faint sketch of an Earth ethic in Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest, a seldom-studied text from the early days of environmental ethics that was written in 1923 butTrade ReviewBaird Callicott's magisterial book brings together science and philosophy in a fascinating search for an ethic that truly responds to the global-scale reality of today's most pressing environmental concerns. Highly recommended. * James Gustave Speth, author of America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy, and former dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies *Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic was one of the great philosophical (and practical) developments of the 20th century, and Now J. Baird Callicott manages to extend its scale dramatically. Trenchant and fascinating. * Bill McKibben, author of Oil and Honey: The Making of an Unlikely Activist *An innovative, pioneering, and powerful synthesis of Aldo Leopold's ethics. Callicott broadens Leopold's well-known land ethic by identifying within his writings a comprehensive Earth ethic that is global in scope. Together the two ethics entail sentient community insights and planetary visions. Anyone who seeks a moral grounding for current conservation, resource, and environmental actions will want to read this book. * Carolyn Merchant, Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics at University of California Berkeley and author of The Death of Nature; Ecological Revolutions; and Reinventing Eden *Over the last four decades no one has done more to construct the intellectual framework of modern environmental ethics than J. Baird Callicott. Now, in this sweeping synthesis, Callicott draws upon an extraordinary breadth of insights from Western and non-Western philosophy, political theory, ecocriticism, religious studies, environmental history, the history of science, evolutionary biology, ecology, and earth science to provide the fullest development of his ideas. If we are to find our way forward in the 'Age of Consequences,' humanity will need to think anew about our history and our values, our prospects and our place in time. Callicott is an indispensable and challenging guide as we continue in this necessary task. * Curt Meine, Senior Fellow, The Aldo Leopold Foundation and author of Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work *abundantly stimulating and vital contribution to Leopold scholarship, climate ethics and environmental philosophy... * Piers H.G Stephens, Environmental Values *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART 1: THE LAND ETHIC ; 1. A Sand County Almanac ; 1.1 The Author ; 1.2 The Provenance of the Book ; 1.3 The Unity of A Sand County Almanac-An Evolutionary-Ecological Worldview ; 1.4 The Argument of the Foreword-Toward Worldview Remediation ; 1.5 The Argument in Part I-The Inter-subjective Biotic Community-Introduced ; 1.6 The Argument of Part I-The Inter-subjective Biotic Community-Driven Home ; 1.7 The Argument in Part II-The Evolutionary Aspect: Time and Telos ; 1.8 The Argument in Part II-The Evolutionary Aspect: Beauty, Kinship, and Spirituality ; 1.9 The Argument of Part II-The Ecological Aspect ; 1.10 The Argument of Part II-The Pivotal Trope: "Thinking Like a Mountain" ; 1.11 Norton's Narrow Interpretation of Leopold's Worldview-remediation Project ; 1.12 The Argument of Part III-To "See" with the Ecologist's "Mental Eye" ; 1.13 The Argument of Part III-Axiological Implications of the Evolutionary-Ecological Worldview ; 1.14 The Argument of Part III-The Normative Implications of the Evolutionary-Ecological Worldview ; 1.15 The Persuasive Power of Leopold's Style of Writing ; 1.16 The New Shifting Paradigm in Ecology and the Evolutionary-Ecological Worldview ; 1.17 The Challenge Before Us ; 2. The Land Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Philosophical and Evolutionary Foundations ; 2.1 The Odysseus Vignette ; 2.2 Expansion of the Scope of Ethics Over Time (?) ; 2.3 Ethical Criteria/Norms/Ideals versus (un)Ethical Behavior/Practice ; 2.4 Ethics Ecologically (Biologically) Speaking ; 2.5 Darwin's Account of the Origin of Ethics by Natural Selection ; 2.6 Darwin's Account of the Extension of Ethics ; 2.7 The Community Concept in Ecology ; 2.8 The Humean Foundations of Darwin's Evolutionary Account of the Moral Sense ; 2.9 Universalism and Relativism: Hume and Darwin ; 2.10 How Hume Anticipates Darwin's Account of the Origin and Expansion of Ethics ; 2.11 Shades of the Social-Contract Theory of Ethics in "The Land Ethic" ; 2.12 Individualism in (Benthamic) Utilitarianism and (Kantian) Deontology ; 2.13 Holism in Hume's Moral Philosophy ; 2.14 Holism in "The Land Ethic" ; 2.15 The Land Ethic and the Problem of Ecofascism Resolved ; 2.16 Prioritizing Cross-community Duties and Obligations ; 2.17 Is The Land Ethic Anthropocentric or Non-anthropocentric? ; 3. The Land Ethic (an Ought): A Critical Account of Its Ecological Foundations (an Is) ; 3.1 Moore's Naturalistic Fallacy ; 3.2 Hume's Is/Ought Dichotomy and the Land Ethic ; 3.3 How Hume Bridges the Lacuna Between Is-statements and Ought-statements ; 3.4 How Kant Infers Ought-statements from Is-statements in Hypothetical Imperatives ; 3.5 The Specter of Hume's Is/Ought Dichotomy Finally Exorcised ; 3.6 The Roles of Reason and Feeling in Hume's Ethical Theory Generally and Leopold's Land Ethic Particularly ; 3.7 How the General Theory of Evolution Informs the Land Ethic ; 3.8 How Ecosystem Ecology Informs the Land Ethic-Beyond the Biota ; 3.9 How Ecosystem Ecology Informs the Land Ethic-A Fountain of Energy ; 3.10 How Organismic Ecology Informs the Land Ethic ; 3.11 How Mechanistic Ecology Informs the Land Ethic ; 3.12 How the Ecosystem Paradigm Returns Ecology to Its Organismic Roots ; 3.13 How Leopold Anticipates Hierarchy Theory in "The Land Ethic" ; 3.14 Ecological Ontology and the Community Paradigm in Ecology ; 3.15 Ecological Ontology and the Ecosystem Paradigm in Ecology ; 3.16 The "Flux of Nature" Paradigm Shift in Contemporary Ecology and "The Land Ethic" ; 3.17 A Revised Summary Moral Maxim for the Land Ethic ; 4. The Land Ethic and the Science of Ethics: From the Seventeenth through the Twentieth Centuries ; 4.1 Hobbes's Science of Ethics ; 4.2 Locke's Science of Ethics ; 4.3 Hume's Science of Ethics ; 4.4 Kant's Science of Ethics ; 4.5 The Utilitarian Science of Ethics ; 4.6 How Logical Positivism Cleaved Apart Science and Ethics ; 4.7 Ayer's Migration of a Science of Ethics from Philosophy to the Social Sciences ; 4.8 Kohlberg's Social Science of Ethics ; 4.9 Gilligan's Social Science of Ethics ; 4.10 Group Selection in Darwin's Science of Ethics ; 4.11 Group Selection in Wynne-Edwards's Evolutionary Biology ; 4.12 Williams's Attack on Group Selection ; 4.13 Huxley's and Williams's Anti-natural (and Anti-logical) View of Ethics ; 4.14 Sociobiology: Wilson's Neo-Darwinian Account of the Origin of Ethics ; 4.15 The Fallacies of Division and Composition in the Sociobiological Science of Ethics ; 4.16 Sociobiology and Biological Determinism ; 4.17 The Evolutionary Foundations of the Land Ethic in Light of the Modern and the New Syntheses in Evolutionary Biology ; 5. The Land Ethic and the Science of Ethics: In the Light of Evolutionary Moral Psychology ; 5.1 Singer's Response to the Evolutionary Account of Ethics ; 5.2 Rachels' Response to the Evolutionary Account of Ethics ; 5.3 Darwin's Alternative to Animal Ethics a la Singer and Rachels ; 5.4 Midgley's Alternative to Animal Ethics a la Singer and Rachels ; 5.5 A Community-based Analysis of Ethical Partiality ; 5.6 A Community-based Analysis of Ethical Impartiality ; 5.7 Dennett, Singer, Arnhart, and Haidt on the Philosophical Implications of Darwinism ; 5.8 Group Selection Revisited ; 5.9 The Analogy between Language and Ethics ; 5.10 Hume on Nature and Nurture in Ethics ; 5.11 Post-Positivist Ethical Absolutism ; 5.12 Wherefore Post-Positivist Ethical Rationalism and Exclusionism ; 5.13 Moral Norms in Humean Ethics Analogous to Medical Norms ; 5.14 Critically Appraising Moral Norms in Terms of Intra-social Functionality and Inter-social Harmony ; 5.15 A Humean-Darwinian Science of Ethics and Constrained Cultural Relativism ; 5.16 The Philosophical Foundations of the Land Ethic Vindicated by the Contemporary Science of Ethics, but Limited to Ecological Spatial and Temporal Scales ; PART II: THE EARTH ETHIC ; 6. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Philosophical Foundations ; 6.1 Leopold and Biblical Tropes ; 6.2 Ezekiel and Virtue Ethics-Both Individualistc and Holistic ; 6.3 Ezekiel and Responsibility to Future Generations ; 6.4 Ezekiel and Deontological Respect for the Earth as a Living Thing ; 6.5 Leopold Dimly Envisions Hierarchy Theory in "Some Fundamentals" ; 6.6 How Leopold Interprets P. D. Ouspensky and His Book, Tertium Organum ; 6.7 The Earth's Soul or Consciousness ; 6.8 A Scalar Resolution of a "Dead" Earth versus the Earth as a "Living Being" ; 6.9 Respect for Life as Such ; 6.10 Leopold's Charge that Both Religion and Science are Anthropocentric ; 6.11 How Leopold Ridicules Metaphysical Anthropocentrism ; 6.12 Leopold's Use of Irony as an Instrument of Ridicule ; 6.13 Norton's Reading of Leopold as an Anthropocentric Pragmatist ; 6.14 Ouspensky, Leopold, and "Linguistic Pluralism"-according to Norton ; 6.15 Leopold's Return to Virtue Ethics ; 6.16 Leopold's Non-anthropocentric Anthropocentrism ; 6.17 The Leopold Earth Ethic: A Summary and a Preview ; 7. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Scientific Metaphysical Foundations ; 7.1 Ouspensky's Metaphysics and the Four-dimensional Space-time Continuum ; 7.2 Vernadsky's Metaphysics and the Four-dimensional Space-time Continuum: Space ; 7.3 Vernadsky's Metaphysics and the Four-dimensional Space-time Continuum: Time ; 7.4 Vernadsky's Doctrine of the Abiogenesis of Life on Earth ; 7.5 Venadsky's Anti-vitalism ; 7.6 Vernadsky's Lasting Contribution to Biogeochemistry and Gaian Science ; 7.7 Teilhard's Concept of the Noosphere ; 7.8 Vernadsky's Concept of the Noosphere ; 7.9 Scientific Knowledge as a Planetary Phenomenon ; 7.10 The Biosphere Crosses the Atlantic ; 7.11 The Advent of the Gaia Hypothesis ; 7.12 The Biosphere and Gaia Ecologized ; 7.13 Vernadsky's Biosphere and Lovelock's Gaia: Similarities and Differences ; 7.14 Leopold's Living Thing, Vernadsky's Biosphere, and Lovelock's Gaia ; 7.15 Is the Gaia Hypothesis Necessarily Teleological and Anthropomorphic? ; 7.16 Varieties of the Earth's Soul or Consciousness ; 7.17 Personal Speculations on the Earth's Soul or Consciousness ; 8. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Biocentric Deontological Foundations ; 8.1 Leopold's Biocentric Earth Ethic and the Living Earth ; 8.2 Gaian Ontology ; 8.3 Gaian Norms ; 8.4 Schweitzer's Reverence-for-Life Ethic ; 8.5 Schweitzer's Reverence-for-Life Ethic Rooted in the Metaphysics of Schopenhauer ; 8.6 Feinberg's Conativism ; 8.7 Feinberg's Conativism as a Foundation for a Biocentric Earth Ethic? ; 8.8 Goodpaster's Biocentrism ; 8.9 Goodpaster's Holistic Biocentrism as a Foundation for a Biocentric Earth Ethic? ; 8.10 Feinberg the Tie that Binds Schweitzer and Goodpaster ; 8.11 Taylor's Individualistic Biocentrism and Regan's Case for Animal Rights ; 8.12 Taylor's Deontology and Teleological Centers of Life ; 8.13 Taylor's Biocentrism as a Foundation for a Leopold Earth Ethic? ; 8.14 Rolston's Biocentrism as a Foundation for a Leopold Earth Ethic? ; 8.15 Goodpaster's Biocentrism Provides the Best Theoretical Support for a Non-anthropocentric Earth Ethic ; 9. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Anthropocentric Foundations: The Natural Contract and Environmental Virtue Ethics ; 9.1 No Need to Patronize Gaia with Biocentric Moral Considerability ; 9.2 The Concept of Anthropocentrism Revisited ; 9.3 War and Peace ; 9.4 The Social Contract: The Ancient and Modern Theories ; 9.5 Du Contrat Social au Contrat Naturel ; 9.6 War or Peace? ; 9.7 The French Connection: Larrere ; 9.8 The French Connection: Latour ; 9.9 The French-Canadian Connection: Dussault ; 9.10 Virtue Ethics ; 9.11 Aristotelian Virtue Ethics ; 9.12 Environmental Virtue Ethics ; 9.13 Holistic Virtue Ethics: Self-respecting Crafts ; 9.14 Holistic Virtue Ethics: The Polis as a Social Whole ; 9.15 Holistic Virtue Ethics: Nomos versus Phusis ; 9.16 Holistic Virtue Ethics: Self-respecting Societies ; 9.17 The Dialectic of Social-Contract Theory and Virtue Ethics ; 10. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Anthropocentric Foundations-The limits of Rational Individualism ; 10.1 The Year was 1988 and Serres and Jamieson were the First Philosophical Responders ; 10.2 Jamieson Frames the Theoretical Problem: The Legacy of Smith-and-Jones Ethical Theory ; 10.3 Jamieson Suggests an Alternative Moral Philosophy-Virtue Ethics ; 10.4 The Moral Ontology and Logic of Smith-and-Jones Ethical Thinking ; 10.5 The Essence-and-Accident Moral Ontology of Rational Individualism ; 10.6 Homo Economicus and Homo Ethicus-Two Sides of the Same Rational Coin ; 10.7 Saving Rational Individualism: Moral Mathematics ; 10.8 Saving Rational Individualism: Proximate Ethical Holism ; 10.9 The Failure of Rational Individualism: Protracted Spatial Scale ; 10.10 The Failure of Rational Individualism: Protracted Temporal Scale ; 10.11 The Role of "Theoretical Ineptitude" in Gardiner's Perfect Moral Storm ; 11. The Earth Ethic: A Critical Account of Its Anthropocentric Foundations-Responsibility to Future Generations and for Global Human Civilization ; 11.1 Moral Ontology: Relationally Defined and Constituted Moral Beings ; 11.2 Moral Ontology: Ethical Holism ; 11.3 Moral Psychology: The Moral Sentiments ; 11.4 Responsibility to Immediate Posterity ; 11.5 Responsibility to the Unknown Future Equals Responsibility for Global Human Civilization ; 11.6 Summary and Conclusion ; Appendix ; "Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest"-by Aldo Leopold ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisFrom the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference there was a concerted international effort to stop climate change. Yet greenhouse gas emissions increased, atmospheric concentrations grew, and global warming became an observable fact of life. In this book, philosopher Dale Jamieson explains what climate change is, why we have failed to stop it, and why it still matters what we do. Centered in philosophy, the volume also treats the historical, economic, and political dimensions of climate change. Our failure to prevent or even to respond significantly to climate change, Jamieson argues, reflects the impoverishment of our systems of practical reason, the paralysis of our politics, and the limits of our cognitive and affective capacities. The climate change that is underway is remaking the world in such a way that familiar comforts, places, and ways of life will disappear in years or decades rather than centuries. Climate change also threatens our sense of meaning,Trade Review[I]t's the first book to be fully honest about climate change, it's the one book on the subject that stands a chance of not depressing you. It may even change your life. * Jonathan Franzen, The Guardian *Jamieson's book is a compelling, sophisticated, and highly learned contribution to climate scholarship written for an interdisciplinary and more general audience. In style, it is characteristically clear, well organized, and incisive yet suffused with a warm, humane sensibility and good humor. It is not afraid to make suggestive comments and signal broad programmatic change. In content, the book contains magisterial overviews of the history of the climate problem, climate economics, and obstacles to action. * Ethics *A book that does justice to the full tragedy and weird comedy of climate change is Reason in a Dark Time, by the philosopher Dale Jamieson. Ordinarily, I avoid books on the subject, but a friend recommended it to me last summer, and I was intrigued by its subtitle, "Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed-And What It Means for Our Future"; by the word "failed" in particular, the past tense of it. I started reading and couldn't stop...I'd expected to be depressed by Reason in a Dark Time but I wasn't. Part of what's mesmerizing about climate change is its vastness across both space and time. Jamieson, by elucidating our past failures and casting doubt on whether we'll ever do any better, situates it within a humanely scaled context. * Jonathan Franzen, The New Yorker *He has a gift for translating complexities into simple, often arresting terms, and is able to make even familiar material seem fresh ...The result is a book that is uncommonly accessible to nonspecialists, and will resonate even among those working in the trenches of climate policy, for whom works of pure philosophy often seem somewhat beside the point ... This is sound advice not only for economists but for anyone writing about climate change. Reason in a Dark Time succeeds so well because Jamieson, with very few exceptions, practices what he preaches. * Ethics and International Affairs *An invaluable contribution to the dialogue about how to minimize the inevitable social and environmental devastation that looms large in our future. * Booklist *Jamieson's ethical approach deserves serious consideration, especially since it manages to take our relationship with nature seriously while avoiding the debate about whether the value in nature is intrinsic or instrumental ... wide-ranging and ambitious ... * Ewan Kingston, Journal of Applied Philosophy *This book is a must read by all who wish to bring reason to the challenges [of climate change] we are going to face very soon, whether we want to or not... * Green Energy Times *Jamieson provides a wide-ranging account, looking at the lack of political incentives to act and at the influence of organised climate denial ... Jamieson concludes with some observations about things we can definitely do for the better right away (abandon coal), and with shrewd reflections on living with the knowledge that we flunked the climate test. * Times Higher Education *Part requiem for our failed hopes and part vision for our uncertain future, this remarkably far-ranging work by the philosopher who has thought longest and hardest about climate change could inspire fruitfully radical reassessment of our attitudes toward the most far-reaching challenge of our lifetimes. The climate is changing -- can we? * Henry Shue, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford *A highly informative, wise, and thought-provoking discussion of some of the greatest problems that humanity faces, and of some possible solutions. * Derek Parfit, All Souls College, Oxford *Dale Jamieson is a philosopher and a realist. He was been working on climate change for a quarter of a century, alongside both scientists and policy makers. He argues that we are heading down a dangerous road and will likely have to face a much more difficult world. But he also argues that there is so much we can do individually and collectively to make a difference, and warns that the best must not be the enemy of the good. This is a very thoughtful and valuable book and should be read by all those who would wish to bring reason to a defining challenge of our century. * Professor Lord Nicholas Stern *No one but Dale Jamieson could write an eminently readable book about climate change that ranges over the full sweep of the problem from the historical to the ethical, the scientific to the political. By placing this vexing issue into the broader context of the human condition, Jamieson guides the reader's mood from pessimism to optimism, and finally realism about our prospects. * Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University *Table of ContentsPreface ; Acknowledgments ; 1. Introduction ; 2. The Nature of the Problem ; 2.1 The Development of Climate Science ; 2.2 Climate Change as a Public Issue ; 2.3 The Age of Climate Diplomacy ; 2.4 Concluding Remarks ; 3. Obstacles to Action ; 3.1 Scientific Ignorance ; 3.2 Politicizing Science ; 3.3 Facts and Values ; 3.4 The Science/Policy Interface ; 3.5 Organized Denial ; 3.6 Partisanship ; 3.7 Political Institutions ; 3.8 The Hardest Problem ; 3.9 Concluding Remarks ; 4. The Limits of Economics ; 4.1 Economics and Climate Change ; 4.2 The Stern Review and Its Critics ; 4.3 Discounting ; 4.4 Further Problems ; 4.5 State of the Discussion ; 4.6 Concluding Remarks ; 5. The Frontiers of Ethics ; 5.1 The Domain of Concern ; 5.2 Responsibility and Harm ; 5.3 Fault Liability ; 5.4 Human Rights and Domination ; 5.5 Differences That Matter ; 5.6 Revising Morality ; 5.7 Concluding Remarks ; 6. Living With Climate Change ; 6.1 Life in the Anthropocene ; 6.2 It Doesn't Matter What I Do ; 6.3 It's Not the Meat It's the Motion ; 6.4 Ethics for the Anthropocene ; 6.5 Respect For Nature ; 6.6 Global Justice ; 6.7 Concluding Remarks ; 7. Politics, Policy, and the Road Ahead ; 7.1 The Rectification of Names ; 7.2 Adaptation: The Neglected Option? ; 7.3 Why Abatement and Mitigation Still Matter ; 7.4 The Category Formerly Known as Geoengineering ; 7.5 The Way Forward ; 7.6 Concluding Remarks ; Index

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Book SynopsisClimate change presents perhaps the most profound challenge ever confronted by human society. This volume is a definitive analysis drawing on the best thinking on questions of how climate change affects human systems, and how societies can, do, and should respond. Key topics covered include the history of the issues, social and political reception of climate science, the denial of that science by individuals and organized interests, the nature of the social disruptions caused by climate change, the economics of those disruptions and possible responses to them, questions of human security and social justice, obligations to future generations, policy instruments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and governance at local, regional, national, international, and global levels.Table of ContentsPART I: INTRODUCTION; PART II: THE CHALLENGE AND ITS HISTORY; PART III: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND PUBLIC OPINION; PART IV: SOCIAL IMPACTS; PART V: SECURITY; PART VI: JUSTICE; PART VII: PUBLICS AND MOVEMENTS; PART VIII: GOVERNMENT RESPONSES; PART IX: POLICY INSTRUMENTS; PART X: PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS; PART XI: GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; PART XII: RECONSTRUCTION

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Book SynopsisIn the modern era, two types of international migration have consumed our attention: politically induced migration to flee war, genocide, and instability, and migration for economic reasons. Recently, though, another force has generated a new wave of refugees-global warming. Climate change has altered terrains and economies throughout the tropical regions of the world, from sub-Saharan Africa to Central America to South and Southeast Asia. In Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World, Greg White provides a rich account of the phenomenon. Focusing on climate-induced migration from Africa to Europe, White shows how global warming''s impact on international relations has been significant, enhancing the security regimes in not only the advanced economies of the North Atlantic, but in the states that serve as transit points between the most advanced and most desperate nations. Furthermore, he demonstrates that climate change has altered the way the nations involvTrade ReviewAn important addition to this debate. * W. Neil Adger, International Affairs *Table of ContentsTable of Contents ; Preface ; List of Acronyms ; Introduction ; 1) Climate-Induced Migration: an Essentially Contested Concept ; 2) Scope and Dimensions: Sahelian and sub-Saharan African Migration to Europe ; 3) The "Securitization" of Climate-Induced Migration ; 4) Transit States and the Thickening of Borders ; 5) Pulling Back the Curtain on the Security Oz: Multilateral Governance and Genuine Sustainability in a Warming World ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe global response to climate change has reached a critical juncture. Since the 1992 signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the nations of the world have attempted to address climate change through large-scale multilateral treaty-making. These efforts have been heroic, but disappointing. As evidence for the quickening pace of climate change mounts, the treaty-making process has sputtered, and many are now skeptical about the prospect of an effective global response. Yet global treaty-making is not the only way that climate change can be addressed or, indeed, is being addressed. In the last decade myriad initiatives have emerged across the globe independently from, or only loosely connected to, the official UN-sponsored negotiations and treaties. In the face of stalemate in the formal negotiations, the world is experimenting with alternate means of responding to climate change. Climate Governance at the Crossroads chronicles these innovations--how cities,Trade ReviewThe perennial quest for a seamless international bargain on climate change has yielded to a far more complex set of climate governance initiatives around the world. Matthew Hoffmann takes a fresh look at this ever-expanding arena of public policy and thoughtfully explores early lessons and possible next steps. This book represents a valuable scholarly contribution and provides an important public service. * Barry G. Rabe, Professor of Public Policy and Professor of the Environment, University of Michigan *Growing concern about the impacts of climate change, coupled with frustration at the lack of progress in intergovernmental climate negotiations, has motivated numerous subnational governments and non-state actors to launch experiments with alternative approaches to climate governance. This important book provides the first systematic assessment of these initiatives. Focusing on the experimental governance system, it not only sheds light on ways forward regarding climate change; it also adds to our understanding of a trend of fundamental importance to the pursuit of governance more generally. * Oran R. Young, Professor of Institutional and International Governance, University of California-Santa Barbara *Matthew Hoffman brings light to the darkening literature of climate change. He shows that, while negotiations at the international level have stalled, there is a multitude of promising governing efforts taking place in the municipal, corporate and nongovernmental sectors. Seen through Hoffman's incisive analytical lens, we can appreciate such 'experiments' as grounds for hope. If you care about and want to respond positively to climate change, read this book! * Paul Wapner, Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program, American University *This timely, jargon-free book may be transformational by stimulating new perceptions of climate change policy dilemmas. Understanding this universe of climate governance experiments may help activists and scholars move toward climate change solutions rather than an abyss of ineffective responses. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *The perennial quest for a seamless international bargain on climate change has yielded to a far more complex set of climate governance initiatives around the world. Matthew Hoffmann takes a fresh look at this ever-expanding arena of public policy and thoughtfully explores early lessons and possible next steps. This book represents a valuable scholarly contribution and provides an important public service. * Barry G. Rabe, Professor of Public Policy and Professor of the Environment, University of Michigan *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ; Preface and Acknowledgements ; Chapter 1 Into the Void ; Chapter 2 The World of Climate Governance Experimentation ; Chapter 3 Making Sense of Climate Governance Experimentation ; Chapter 4 Experimenting in Practice ; Chapter 5 Experimenting with Cities and Technology ; Chapter 6 Constructing Carbon Markets ; Chapter 7 Lost in the Void or Filling the Void? ; Appendix ; List of Interviews Undertaken ; Works Cited ; Index

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Book SynopsisClimate change is arguably the great problem confronting humanity, but we have done little to head off this looming catastrophe. In The Perfect Moral Storm, philosopher Stephen Gardiner illuminates our dangerous inaction by placing the environmental crisis in an entirely new light, considering it as an ethical failure. Gardiner clarifies the moral situation, identifying the temptations (or storms) that make us vulnerable to a certain kind of corruption. First, the world''s most affluent nations are tempted to pass on the cost of climate change to the poorer and weaker citizens of the world. Second, the present generation is tempted to pass the problem on to future generations. Third, our poor grasp of science, international justice, and the human relationship to nature helps to facilitate inaction. As a result, we are engaging in willful self-deception when the lives of future generations, the world''s poor, and even the basic fabric of life on the planet is at stake. We should wake upTrade ReviewGardiner has expertly explored some very instinctual and vitally important considerations which cannot realistically be ignored. Required reading. * Robin Whitlock, Green Prophet *Table of ContentsContents ; Preface ; Acknowledgements ; Introduction: A Global Environmental Tragedy ; I. Some Assumptions ; II. Introducing the Perfect Storm Metaphor ; III. Climate Change ; IV. The Wider Relevance of the Model ; V. Outline of the Book ; Part A: Overview ; Chapter 1: A Perfect Moral Storm ; I. Why Ethics? ; II. The Global Storm ; III. The Intergenerational Storm ; IV. The Theoretical Storm ; V. The Problem of Moral Corruption ; Chapter 2: A Consumption Tragedy ; I. What is the Point of Game Theory? ; II. Motivating the Models ; III. A Green Energy Revolution? ; IV. Consumption and Happiness ; Part B: The Global Storm ; Chapter 3: Somebody Else's Problem ; I. Past Climate Policy ; II. Somebody Else's Burden ; III. Against Optimism ; IV. Conclusion ; Chapter 4: In the Shadow of a Common Tragedy ; I. Climate Prisoners? ; II. An Evolving Tragedy ; III. Beyond Pessimism ; IV. Lingering Tragedy ; V. Climate Policy in the Shadows ; VI. Conclusion ; Part C: The Intergenerational Storm ; Chapter 5: The Tyranny of the Contemporary ; I. Problems with 'Generations' ; II. Intergenerational Buck-Passing ; III. Intergenerational Buck-Passing vs. The Prisoners' Dilemma ; IV. The Features of the Pure Intergenerational Problem ; V. Applications and Complications ; VI. Mitigating Factors ; VII. The Non-Identity Problem: A Quick Aside ; VIII. Conclusion ; Chapter 6: An Intergenerational Arms Race? ; I. Abrupt Climate Change ; II. Three Causes of Political Inertia ; III. Against Undermining ; IV. Conclusion ; Part D: The Theoretical Storm ; Chapter 7: A Global Test for Political Institutions and Theories ; I. The Global Test ; II. Scenarios ; III. A Conjecture ; IV. Theoretical Vices ; V. An Illustration: Utilitarianism ; VI. Understanding the Complaint ; VII. Conclusion ; Chapter 8: Cost-Benefit Paralysis ; I. Cost-Benefit Analysis in Normal Contexts ; II. CBA for Climate Change ; III. The Presumption Against Discounting ; IV. The Basic Economics of the Discount Rate ; V. Discounting the Rich? ; VI. Declining Discount Rates ; VII. Two Objections to "Not Discounting" ; VIII. The "Devil's in the Details" Argument ; IX. Conclusions ; Part E: Moral Corruption ; Chapter 9: Jane Austen vs. Climate Economics ; I. Corruption ; II. The Dubious Dashwoods: Initial Parallels ; III. The Opening Assault on the Status of the Moral Claim ; IV. The Assault on Content ; V. Indirect Attacks ; VI. The Moral of the Story ; Chapter 10: Geoengineering in an Atmosphere of Evil ; I. An Idea that is Changing the World ; II. The Problem of Political Inertia Revisited ; III. Two Preliminary Arguments: Cost and "Research First"? ; IV. Arming the Future ; V. Arm the Present? ; VI. Evolving Shadows ; VII. Underestimating 'Evil' ; VIII. An Atmosphere of Evil? ; IX. "But... Should We Do It?" ; Part F: What Now? ; Conclusion: The Immediate Future ; Postscript: Some Initial Ethics of the Transition ; I. Introduction ; II. The Ethics of Skepticism ; III. Past Emissions ; IV. Future Emissions ; V. Responsibility ; VI. Ideal Theory ; VII. Conclusion ; Appendices ; Appendix 1: The Population Tragedy ; I. Hardin's Analysis ; II. Population as a Tragedy of the Commons ; III. Total Environmental Impact ; IV. Conclusion ; Appendix 2: Epistemic Corruption and Scientific Uncertainty in ; Michael Crichton's State of Fear ; I. What the Scientists Know ; II. Certainty, Guesswork and the Missing Middle ; III. Conclusion

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Trade Review“A brilliant overview of this emerging area of study. Barnes and Dove have provided an accessible volume that will shape the social study of climate and climate change from here on.”—Jesse Ribot, University of Illinois -- Jesse Ribot“Climate Cultures offers major insights, makes significant contributions, and illustrates the impressive scope of current anthropological perspectives applied to understanding climate change in new and original ways. It is extremely important scholarship.”—Karl Zimmerer, Pennsylvania State University -- Karl Zimmerer“From the meetings of the IPCC to the perambulations of herders in India, these essays do the crucial work of mapping the origins and impacts of circulating, global, and power-laden climate change cultures.”—Paul Robbins, author of Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction -- Paul Robbins

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Book SynopsisNo matter what efforts we make to halt global warming, sea level rise will be an unavoidable part of our future. In The Flooded Earth , species extinction expert Peter D. Ward describes in intricate detail what our world will look like in 2050, 2100, 2300, and beyond. Even if we stopped all carbon dioxide emissions today, according to Ward, the seas will rise three feet by 2050 and nine feet by 2100. The effects of one meter of sea-level rise will be massive three meters will be catastrophic. Incursions of salt into the water table will destroy most of our best agricultural land, and corrosion will devour the electrical and fiber-optic systems of coastal cities, as well as our roads and bridges. Amsterdam, Miami, Venice and other cities might have to be abandoned. As icebound regions melt, meanwhile, new sources of oil, gas, minerals, and arable land will be revealed,and geopolitical battles will erupt over who owns the rights to them. Laying out a blueprint for a foreseeable future,

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFreedom in the Anthropocene illuminates the Anthropocene from the perspective of critical theory. The authors contextualize our current ecological predicament by focusing on the issues of history and freedom and how they relate to our present inability to render environmental threats and degradation recognizable and surmountable.Trade Review"Freedom in the Anthropocene is a very sharply perceptive book. The authors' clear and well-constructed argument provides just what a contemporary critical theory should. Their fresh way of understanding the Anthropocene should be read by anyone interested in opposing the juggernaut of the Great Acceleration, and particularly those who think that 'environmentalism' is sufficient to that task." - Andrew Biro, Acadia University, Canada, author of Denaturalizing Ecological Politics (2005) and editor of Critical Ecologies: The Frankfurt School and Contemporary Environmental Crises (2011) "Stoner and Melathopoulos's book highlights the urgent need to situate climate change and related environmental issues and phenomena in the context of rigorous critical social theory. The challenge of ethically sound action geared towards 'saving the planet' (and, by implication, humanity) must be understood in light of and in relation to structural circumstances that thwart solutions to problems identified in the debate about the Anthropocene, on the basis of conscientious individual actions and decisions." - Harry F. Dahms, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA, author of The Vitality of Critical Theory (2011)Table of ContentsPrologue: The Elusive Clarity of the Anthropocene Introduction: What is the Meaning of Freedom in the Anthropocene 1. Georg Lukács (1885-1971) and the Critique of Reification: On the Dialectical Genesis of the Great Acceleration 2. Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) and the Critique of Identity Thinking: The Great Acceleration as Historical Sedimentation 3. Moishe Postone (1942 - ) and the Critique of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness and the Present Moment of the Great Acceleration Conclusion: Contemporary Environmental Politics and the Necessity of Critical Theory References

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