Environmental economics Books

Book SynopsisInfrastructure development in Africa and Asia is expanding at breakneck speed, largely in biodiversity-rich developing nations. The trend reflects governments' efforts to promote economic growth in response to increasing populations, rising consumption rates and persistent inequalities. Large-scale infrastructure development is regularly touted as a way to meet the growing demand for energy, transport and food - and as a key to poverty alleviation. In practice, however, road networks, hydropower dams and 'development corridors' tend to have adverse effects on local populations, natural habitats and biodiversity. Such projects typically weaken the capacity of ecosystems to maintain ecological functions on which wildlife and human communities depend, particularly in the face of climate change. This title is also available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

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Book SynopsisConversations about energy law and policy are paramount, undergoing new scrutiny and characterizations. Energy Follies: Missteps, Fiascos, and Successes of America''s Energy Policy explores how a century of energy policies, rather than solving our energy problems, often made them worse; how Congress and other federal agencies grappled with remedying seemingly myopic past decisions. Sam Kalen and Robert R. Nordhaus investigate how misguided or naïve energy policy decisions caused or contributed to past energy crises, and how it took years to unwind their effects. This work recounts the decades-long struggles to move to market supply and pricing policies for oil and natural gas in order to make competition work in the electric power industry and to tame emissions from the coal fleet left to us by the 1970s coal policies. These historic policies continue to present struggles, and this book reflects on how future challenges ought to learn from our past mistakes.Trade Review'Robert R. Nordhaus and Sam Kalen provide insights into the making of some of America's most significant energy and environmental policies. Their extensive experience in crafting, implementing, and teaching these policies gives them unique credibility. They offer us solid recommendations as this generation engineers a vital energy transition to address the challenge of climate change. Climate policy stakeholders - journalists, academics, students, advocates and policy-makers - should read this book.' Phil Sharp, Former Congressional Representative, Former President of Resources for the Future, and Fellow, Columbia University, New York'… this book is an excellent resource, especially for courses in energy policy.' T. Brennan, ChoiceTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Federal energy regulation begins flowing; 3. The Supreme Court creates a gap; 4. The gap continues: changing electricity markets; 5. Natural gas' tortured road from regulation to decontrol; 6. Oil shocks, gas lines, and energy policy; 7. Carter crowns coal king: coal's war on people; 8. Energy eclipsing air; 9. Oil, cars and climate; 10. Embedded judgments and energy resilient transitions.

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Book SynopsisEcologists and economists both use models to help develop strategies for biodiversity management. The practical use of disciplinary models, however, can be limited because ecological models tend not to address the socioeconomic dimension of biodiversity management, whereas economic models tend to neglect the ecological dimension. Given these shortcomings of disciplinary models, there is a necessity to combine ecological and economic knowledge into ecological-economic models. Gradually guiding the reader into the field of ecological-economic modelling by introducing mathematical models and their role in general, this book provides an overview on ecological and economic modelling approaches relevant for research in the field of biodiversity conservation. It discusses the advantages of and challenges associated with ecological-economic modelling, together with an overview of useful ways of integration. Although being a book about mathematical modelling, ecological and economic concepts plTrade Review'… the book aims to give a comprehensive survey of useful mathematical methods relevant to environmental policy design. The author stops to explain core concepts and provide historical context where necessary.' Chay Paterson, zbMATHTable of ContentsPart I. Modelling: 1. What is a model?; 2. Purposes of modelling; 3. Typical model features; Part II. Ecological Modelling: 4. Homogenous deterministic population models; 5. Homogenous stochastic population models; 6. Spatial population models; 7. Models with individual variability; 8. Models of biodiversity; Part III. Economic Modelling: 9. Instruments for biodiversity conservation; 10. Game theory; 11. Incentive design; 12. Modelling human decisions; 13. The agglomeration bonus; Part IV. Ecological-Economic Modelling: 14. Foundations of ecological-economic modelling; 15. Benefits and challenges of ecological-economic modelling; 16. Integration of ecological and economic models; 17. Examples of ecological-economic modelling; 18. Outlook.

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Book SynopsisOurs is the Age of Food. Food is a central obsession in all cultures, nations, the media, and society. Our future supply of food is filled with risk, and history tells us that lack of food leads to war. But it also presents us with spectacular opportunities for fresh human creativity and technological prowess. Julian Cribb describes a new food system capable of meeting our global needs on this hot and overcrowded planet. This book is for anyone concerned about the health, safety, affordability, diversity, and sustainability of their food - and the peace of our planet. It is not just timely - its message is of the greatest urgency. Audiences include consumers, ''foodies'', policymakers, researchers, cooks, chefs and farmers. Indeed, anyone who cares about their food, where it comes from and what it means for them, their children and grandchildren.Trade Review'… today's unsustainable food systems and the impossible job of feeding the estimated 10 billion people inhabiting the planet by 2050 encapsulates the multiheaded crisis humanity faces today. If you haven't heard all this then Food Or War is a good primer, vivid and punchy.' The Observer'Perchance, ecosystems cease to function, the human jawbone would plop open, and remain plopped open, gaping and, over time, morph into a zombie-like end game of people preying upon people. … All of which serves as a prelude to Julian Cribb's brilliance as an established and celebrated science writer, recipient of 32 journalism awards, and author of ten books, with a new 'first-rate' book, now available via pre-order: Food or War. … Food or War is not only a page-turner with Cribb's clear, precise prose, but as an added bonus, it's jam-packed, like a textbook, with significant facts and statistics about the biosphere. It belongs in the hands of people who deeply care about the deteriorating condition of our poisoned planet. Incidentally, based upon very compelling evidence, yes, it is poisoned.' Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch'Food or War offers us the context we need to consider the food we eat, the approach we use to raise food, and the manner we treat others' resources across the globe in new, revealing, and common sense ways.' Carolyn Fortuna, CleanTechnica (www.cleantechnica.com)'Wars rage on in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, in part driven by food shortages. What to do? … We can turn this imbalance around. Cribb points the way in this must-read book.' Tim Fischer, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, and Chair of the Global Crop Trust with Seed Vault in Svalbard and HQ in Bonn, Germany'Julian Cribb's comprehensive and thoughtful plan to deal with an impending global food security disaster deserves coordinated and urgent consideration by the UN FAO and all national governments.' Michael Jeffery, former Governor General of Australia'Access to this book will enrich deliberations on critical issues of global food supply, dealing with refugees and poverty, and the food/land/water nexus. The evidence-based approach, integration across issues, and presentation of opportunities for the future make this text stand out from the crowd. It is highly recommended.' Kath Bowmer, former Deputy Chief of CSIRO Land and Water and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Charles Sturt University, Queensland'Throughout history, food has been both a tool and a consequence of conflict and migration, which continues today exacerbated by arable land lost to cities, unreliable climate and excess consumption in rich nations while millions remain malnourished elsewhere. Cribb's analysis is urgently apposite, as is his practical call for a sustainable, nourishing and resilient global food system.' Lindsay Falvey, University of Melbourne'[A] splendid exemplar of the new food consciousness.' Tim Lang, The Times Literary Supplement'Drawing on his extensive scientific and historical knowledge, Cribb takes us on a grim and tightly argued odyssey to the edge of the Earth. He holds our hand while we stare into the abyss. Frightening. Having outlined the reality of our tenuous hold on the supports of life, he offers creative and imaginative solutions. A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of humanity.' Bruce Haigh, former Australian diplomat and refugee advocate'In a time when we are absorbed in populist, political nonsense, Julian Cribb brings us to heel with the existential threat we face, in simple language; he joins all the dots.' The Honourable John Kerin, former Australian Minister for Primary Industry'Unputdownable. Dealing with the multiple threats to humanity's most basic need - food - it unceremoniously pulls your head from the sand - but empowers you with the knowledge to do something. An absolutely essential read. This masterful work articulates clearly humanity's future and may just be warning enough for globally connected communities to avert the avalanche of existential threats bearing down.' Brad Collis, Editorial Director, Coretext and author of Fields of Discovery'Human nature meets human need when the red and black horsemen ride in the ultimate existential food fight. At once perceptive and persuasive, Julian Cribb delivers another science-based study of the human condition at its most basic. Food or War is exceptional.' David Hulme, Publisher, Vision.org'A compelling case for turning swords into ploughshares and building a sustainable global food supply in this century of existential climate risks.' David Spratt, American University Washington College of Law, and author of Climate Code Red'Food, like air, water, soil and biodiversity, is one of humankind's most fundamental needs, a source of joy and creator of community. The eco-crises of climate change and loss of biodiversity reveal the total unsustainability of the current global food system. This book is an urgent call for recognition that the inescapable need for change also brings enormous opportunities.' David Suzuki, Award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster'Food or War targets an issue that touches every human life, every day: food. And that, without it, people fight. It shows that our 'jawprint' is the heaviest of all our impacts on our finite planet - and that, for civilisation to survive, how we produce food must change … Anyone with an interest in either the human future or food should read this clear, authoritative, scary book. So should all first-year college classes.' Paul R. Ehrlich, co-author of Jaws: The Story of a Hidden EpidemicTable of Contents1. Food and conflict; 2. War and hunger; 3. The strategic importance of food, land and water; 4. Is 'agriculture' sustainable?; 5. Hotspots for food conflict in the twenty-first century; 6. Food as an existential risk; 7. Food for peace; 8. Urban dreams and nightmares; 9. The future of food; 10. Conclusion: key recommendations of this book.

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Book SynopsisThis book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on country’s energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia.

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Book SynopsisA Financial Times "Best Book of 2017: Economics” 800-CEO-Read “Best Business Book of 2017: Current Events & Public Affairs” Economics is the mother tongue of public policy. It dominates our decision-making for the future, guides multi-billion-dollar investments, and shapes our responses to climate change, inequality, and other environmental and social challenges that define our times. Pity then, or more like disaster, that its fundamental ideas are centuries out of date yet are still taught in college courses worldwide and still used to address critical issues in government and business alike. That’s why it is time, says renegade economist Kate Raworth, to revise our economic thinking for the 21st century. In Doughnut Economics, she sets out seven key ways to fundamentally reframe our understanding of what economics is and does. Along the way, she points out how we can break our addiction to growth; redesign money, finance, and business to be in service to people; and create economies that are regenerative and distributive by design. Named after the now-iconic “doughnut” image that Raworth first drew to depict a sweet spot of human prosperity (an image that appealed to the Occupy Movement, the United Nations, eco-activists, and business leaders alike), Doughnut Economics offers a radically new compass for guiding global development, government policy, and corporate strategy, and sets new standards for what economic success looks like. Raworth handpicks the best emergent ideas—from ecological, behavioral, feminist, and institutional economics to complexity thinking and Earth-systems science—to address this question: How can we turn economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive, into economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow? Simple, playful, and eloquent, Doughnut Economics offers game-changing analysis and inspiration for a new generation of economic thinkers.Trade Review“I read this book with the excitement that the people of his day must have read John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory. It is brilliant, thrilling, and revolutionary. Drawing on a deep well of learning, wisdom, and deep thinking, Kate Raworth has comprehensively reframed and redrawn economics. It is entirely accessible, even for people with no knowledge of the subject. I believe that Doughnut Economics will change the world.”—George Monbiot, author; columnist at The Guardian“Raworth’s magnum opus. . . . A fascinating reminder to business leaders and economists alike to stand back at a distance to examine our modern economics."—Forbes, “Best Business Books of 2017”“An admirable attempt to broaden the horizons of economic thinking.”—Financial Times, Martin Wolf, “Best Books of 2017: Economics” “This is truly the book we’ve all been waiting for. Kate Raworth provides the antidote to neoliberal economics with her radical and ambitious vision of an economy in service to life. Given the current state of the world, we need Doughnut Economics now more than ever.”—L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions“[A] sharp, insightful call for a shift in thinking . . . Raworth’s energetic, layperson-friendly writing makes her concept accessible as well as intriguing.”—Publishers Weekly“Can anyone seriously suppose that today’s economic orthodoxies are going to bring the world back from the brink of chaos? We need to fundamentally rethink the way we create and distribute wealth, and Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics provides an inspiring primer as to how we must now set about that challenge. I hope it ushers in a period of intense debate about the kind of economy we now so urgently need.”—Jonathon Porritt, author of The World We Made; founding director, Forum for the Future“What if it were possible to live well without trashing the planet? Doughnut Economics succinctly captures this tantalising possibility and takes up its challenge. Brimming with creativity, Raworth reclaims economics from the dust of academia and puts it to the service of a better world.”—Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity without Growth“Not long ago, well-known development economist Kate Raworth’s Doughnut graphic became an overnight sensation. Now this marvelous book clearly and succinctly explains her re-envisioning of the economy. On a bookshelf crowded with attempts to reframe economic thinking and the way forward, this book stands out—brilliantly.”—Juliet Schor, author of Plentitude“Economics rightly is under the microscope. Kate Raworth’s insightful Doughnut is what every budding economist should see when they first peer down the lens.” —John Fullerton, founder and president, Capital InstituteTable of ContentsWho wants to be an economist? 1. Change the goal from endless growth to thriving in balance 2. See the big picture from self-contained market to embedded economy 3. Nurture human nature from rational economic man to social adaptable humans 4. Get savvy with systems from mechanical equilibrium to dynamic complexity 5. Design to distribute from ‘growth will even it up’ to distributive by design 6. Create to regenerate from ‘growth will clean it up’ to regenerative by design 7. Be agnostic about growth from growth as a must to growth as a maybe not We are all economists now Annex: The Doughnut and its data Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography

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Book Synopsis'Marshall has re-grafted economics to the philosophical roots of collaborative environmental management, given stakeholders a pragmatic economics for 'bottom-up' conflict resolution and eliminated the need for 'top-down' economic experts. Beautifully reasoned and wonderfully practical!' RICHARD B. NORGAARD, ENERGY AND RESOURCES PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, US 'If the potential of collaborative management is ever realized, it will owe a debt to this book. It provides a foundational economic theory of learning coming from complex adaptive systems thinking tested with field experience' ALLAN SCHMID, UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, US 'Marshall argues that mainstream economics, captive as it is of the prisoner's dilemma and the dangers of free-riding, is in a blind alley when it comes to contributing to constructive debate on governance of the commons. This is a significant book, which draws on the new institutional economics to indicate a productive way in which economists could contribute to thinking on common property natural resource management' WARREN MUSGRAVE, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND, AUSTRALIA 'Economic thought and emerging collaborative environmental governance are important areas of thought and application, but are mostly found at great distance from each other and very often in conflict. Marshall not only clearly demonstrates why this is so, he goes on to detail an alternative pathway that can strengthen both of these fields in both their theory and practice. This is a most impressive feat, and this is a book thoroughly deserving a very wide readership' STEPHEN DOVERS, SENIOR FELLOW, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY 'A valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on voluntary collective action that demonstrates how processes can be designed to produce trust amongst stakeholders. Marshall anchors theory in the common property resource governance literature that has challenged orthodox economics for the last 25 years and offers the prospect of productive relationships between users, bureaucrats and funders' MARK SPROULE-JONES, V. K. COPPS PROFESSOR, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY, CANADA Mainstream economics has a tight grip on public discourse, yet remains poorly equipped to comprehend the collaborative vision for managing environmental and resource commons. This ground-breaking book diagnoses the weaknesses of mainstream economics in analysing collaborative and other decentralized approaches to environmental management, and presents a unique operational approach to how collaborative environmental governance might be brought to fruition in a variety of contexts, whether in industrialized or developing countries. The result is a powerful, useful and badly needed approach to economics for collaborative environmental management of the commons.Table of ContentsIntroduction * Part I: The Collaborative Vision, Hopes and Frustrations * Progress, Sustainability and Economics * Part II: Theory and Method for an Economics of Collaborative Environmental Management * Collective Action in the Commons: The View from Mainstream Economics * Developments in Collective Action Theory for Commons Management * An Economics for Collaborative Environmental Management * Part III: Lessons from the Field * Challenges and Strategies for Collaborative Environmental Management: Insights from International Experience * From Antagonism to Trust: Collaborative Salinity Management in Australia's Murray Darling Basin * Part IV: Grounding the Collaborative Vision * Rethinking Policy, Practice and Research * Myth, Enlightenment and Economics *

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Book SynopsisIn 1972, a book changed the world.The Club of Rome commissioned a report that shifted how we see what humans are doing to the planet. Looking back five decades later, what happened next, what did we do and not do, what did we learn, and what happens now?In The Limits to Growth, a team from MIT studied the way humans were using the resources of the earth. Using sophisticated computer modelling, the researchers developed scenarios to map out possible paths for humanity, the global economy and the impact on the planet.Were their models right? What did the rest of the world do about it?Now, in 2022, the Club of Rome have brought two of the original authors from the 1972 book, Dennis Meadows and Jorgen Randers, along with an array of other world-renowned thinkers, scientists, analysts and economists from across the globe to answer these questions and grapple with the most acute issue of our time.In the first section, "Echoes of a Great Book", Ugo Bardi sets the scene with an in-depth examination of the original report and the effect it has had on how we might think about what humanity is doing to the world.Jorgen Randers and Dennis Meadows then ask what the first book actually said and answer the most common questions that people ask about the book and progress since. Further explorations of the impact and consequences of the ground-breaking original book follow.Next, in the "Still the Economy, But What Kind?" section, the contributors examine the economic ideas that have informed and arisen from The Limits to Growth in the following decades and critique those assumptions and notions. They ask what must change if we are to stay within the limits set by nature.In the "New Lenses for a Different Future" section, thinkers from continents and cultures across the globe expand on their unique experiences of acting in and observing a world that may use all its resources before we wake up and act.The "Did We Learn? Will We?" section ponders where we go from here. Has humanity taken in the lessons of The Limits to Growth? What have we learned in the meantime? And, most importantly, what can we do about it now?Limits and Beyond: 50 years on from The Limits to Growth, what did we learn and what''s next? reaches back half a century to when the original report shook the world into realising that we live on a finite planet, brings it sharply up to date, and looks clear-eyed into the future.Limits and Beyond focuses the mind on the pressing issues of sustainability, global economics, ecology that global politics and institution need to grapple with to ensure the survival of the human race.Limits and Beyond is the book that will shape the conversation about our place on the earth for the next 50 years and beyond.

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