Environmental policy and protocols Books

Book SynopsisThe IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (2014) has highlighted the importance of urban areas in mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. Urban centres are also subject to the impacts of climate change. Hence governance for urban sustainability and resilience needs to be developed to deal with the challenge of climate change in the future and its impacts on urban locations. This book is a rich repository of knowledge and information on this subject of growing relevance.'- Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Professor, Yale Climate and Energy Institute, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, US'This book provides a timely overview of the range of government intervention models in the policy domain of urban sustainability. Combining the two closely related, but usually separated, policy objectives of Sustainability and Resilience has particular utility. Having good ideas about how to save the planet are necessary but if we can't use governance tools to deliver them, we have no hope.'- Peter Newman, Curtin University, AustraliaCities, and the built environment more broadly, are key in the global response to climate change. This groundbreaking book seeks to understand what governance tools are best suited for achieving cities that are less harmful to the natural environment, are less dependent on finite resources, and can better withstand human-made hazards and climate risks.In mapping, describing and evaluating nearly 70 traditional and highly innovative governance tools from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, Jeroen van der Heijden uncovers the five most eminent contemporary trends in governance for urban sustainability and resilience. He also develops a series of 12 design principles that will help to develop better governance tools for improving the sustainability and resilience of today's cities and those of the future. The book is unique in drawing lessons from the theoretical literature on environmental and hazard governance into a broad empirical study.The book will be of great interest to scholars in the field of urban governance, urban planning, sustainable development and resilience, environmental and hazard governance, and climate risk adaptation and mitigation. It will also appeal to students, policymakers and organizations involved with environmental policy and governance.Contents: 1. Where We are Today 2. Direct Regulatory Interventions 3. Collaborative Governance 4. Voluntary Programmes and Market-driven Governance 5. Trends in and Design Principles for Governance for Urban Sustainability and Resilience 6. Conclusion: In Search of an Answer to the Key-Question, Appendix - Methods IndexTrade Review‘The book focuses on the theory and practice of environmental governance where the socio-technical and socio-legal aspects of the environment meet the political and social need for incentives to change behavior. The author presents a comprehensive overview of the challenges, opportunities, and constraints that government and non-government organizations face in achieving urban sustainability and resilience. The book is readable, accessible, and innovativee in proposing new approaches. Policymakers, architects, urban planners, developers, researchers, and residents will find the book informative and instructive for understanding the complexities of urban governance.’ -- Stephanie S. Shipp, Science and Public Policy‘The deleterious effects of urbanism on the environment are one of the foremost challenges of the 21st century, and Jeroen van der Heijden’s book is a timely intervention. His argument is that while there is technical knowledge and social know-how about how to enhance the sustainability and resilience of cities, there is need to harness both by developing appropriate governance approaches and tools.’ -- Rob Imrie, Building Research & Information 2015The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (2014) has highlighted the importance of urban areas in mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. Urban centres are also subject to the impacts of climate change. Hence governance for urban sustainability and resilience needs to be developed to deal with the challenge of climate change in the future and its impacts on urban locations. This book is a rich repository of knowledge and information on this subject of growing relevance.' -- Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Professor, Yale Climate and Energy Institute, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, US'This book provides a timely overview of the range of government intervention models in the policy domain of urban sustainability. Combining the two closely related, but usually separated, policy objectives of Sustainability and Resilience has particular utility. Having good ideas about how to save the planet are necessary but if we can’t use governance tools to deliver them, we have no hope.’ -- Peter Newman, Curtin University, AustraliaTable of ContentsContents: 1. Where We are Today 2. Direct Regulatory Interventions 3. Collaborative Governance 4. Voluntary Programmes and Market-driven Governance 5. Trends in and Design Principles for Governance for Urban Sustainability and Resilience 6. Conclusion: In Search of an Answer to the Key-Question, Appendix – Methods Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book synthesizes research on innovation and sustainability in a way that I've not seen. The authors work through systemic issues that we must consider in order to reach a more sustainable economy."—Glen W. S. Dowell, Cornell University"Lenox and Chatterji make a major contribution by explaining the systematic dynamics of "going green." Their sophisticated analysis of complex challenges will enable the private sector to successfully adopt and implement sustainable innovations."—David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Market for Virtue"This marvelous book unites rigorous research with in-depth examples to show how business really might be able to save the earth. It's the perfect answer to the question my students ask me all the time: How can I make a difference?"—Rebecca M. Henderson, Harvard Business School"Lennox (UVA) and Chatterji (Duke) developed a model that businesses can consider when addressing climate change and environmental sustainability.The authors provide many examples of environmentally friendly efforts from businesses such as Uber, Apple, Apex Clean Energy, TerraCycle, and Home Depot."—G.E. Kaupins, Choice"There is bad news and good news about the state of the earth, and business school professors Michael Lenox and Aaron Chatterji address both with eye-opening accuracy in this compelling, provocative treatise....The authors make an impassioned plea, particularly to businesses, to bring to market the innovative products and services necessary to create value while reducing environmental impacts. While the tenor of Can Business Save the Earth? is generally positive, one cannot miss the real sense of urgency it conveys."—Barry Silverstein, Foreword MagazineTable of Contents1. Business as Savior 2. Innovator as Genius 3. Manager as Hero 4. Investor as Visionary 5. Customer as King 6. System as Catalyst

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Book SynopsisThis thoroughly revised third edition offers comprehensive coverage of the economics of climate change and climate policy, and is a suitable guide for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. Topics discussed include the costs and benefits of adaptation and mitigation, discounting, uncertainty, equity, policy instruments, the second best, and international agreements.Key features: In-depth treatment of the economics of climate change Careful explanation of concepts and their application to climate policy Customizable integrated assessment model that illustrates all issues discussed Specific usage guidelines for each level of reader Companion website with data, quizzes, videos, and further reading Discussion of the latest developments in theory and policy Greater attention to policy and market imperfections than in the second edition. This book is an essential text for students in economics, climate change, and environmental policy, an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners, and a key text to support professors in their teaching.Trade Review‘Richard Tol is not only a leading researcher but also a gifted educator. His textbook Climate Economics has established itself as the leading textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students. It provides the reader with a thorough grounding in the economics of climate change written in an accessible style.’ -- David Maddison, University of Birmingham, UK‘This book is both a comprehensive course and a reference to the all-important economics of climate change. It does for climate economics what Julia Child did for French Cooking: make it accessible to the serious student.’ -- Maximilian Auffhammer, University of California, Berkeley, US‘Richard S.J. Tol has written a must-read book for anyone caring about the sustainable development of this planet. This book is a delightful guide full of important information for those of us who want to dedicate ourselves to climate economics, so that human society can develop in an environmentally friendly manner.’ -- Lin Bo Qiang, Xiamen University, China

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Book SynopsisFailing Forward documents the global rise of neoliberal conservation as a response to biodiversity loss and unpacks how this approach has managed to fail forward over time despite its ineffectiveness. At its core, neoliberal conservation promotes market-based instruments intended to reconcile environmental preservation and economic development by harnessing preservation itself as the source of both conservation finance and capital accumulation more generally. Robert Fletcher describes how this project has developed over the past several decades along with the expanding network of organizations and actors that have come together around its promotion. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, he explores why this strategy continues to captivate states, nongovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, and the private sector alike despite its significant deficiencies. Ultimately, Fletcher contends, neoliberal conservation should be understood as a failed attempt to render gloTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Capitalism on Trial 1 • Conceptualizing Neoliberal Biopower 2 • Conjuring Natural Capital 3 • Imagining the Market 4 • The Neoliberal Ecolaboratory 5 • The Anti-regulation Machine 6 • How to Fail Forward 7 • Neoliberal Conservation in Ruins? 8 • There Is No Alternative to Degrowth Conclusion: Traversing the Neoliberal Fantasy Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTwo leaders of the National Park Service provide a front-row seat to the disastrous impact of partisan politics over the past fifty years-and offer a bold vision for the parks' future. The US National Parks, what environmentalist and historian Wallace Stegner called America's best idea, are under siege. Since 1972, partisan political appointees in the Department of the Interior have offered two conflicting views of the National Park Service (NPS): one vision emphasizes preservation and science-based decision-making, and another prioritizes economic benefits and privatization. These politically driven shifts represent a pernicious, existential threat to the very future of our parks. For the past fifty years, brothers Jonathan B. and T. Destry Jarvis have worked both within and outside NPS as leaders and advocates. National Parks Forever interweaves their two voices to show how our parks must be protected from those who would open them to economic exploitation, while still alloTrade Review"In this self-described 'dual memoir,' Jonathan and Destry take turns making the case—and then synthesize their viewpoints—that the National Park Service needs to be independent from the political 'whipsaw' of Washington politics, making it more like the Smithsonian Institution. . . . By providing both historical and personal context to the NPS’s politicization, the Jarvis brothers make a powerful case." * American Scientist *"There’s an argument that can be made, one backed by evidence, that the past fifty years have seen the most egregious attempts to subvert the mission of the National Park Service to preserve and protect natural resources unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. That argument is clearly laid out in National Parks Forever. . . . A rich collection of institutional knowledge from within the machinations of government and from within the National Park Service." -- Kurt Repanshek * National Parks Traveler *“An earnest plea to move the National Park Service out of the highly politicized Department of the Interior and make it an independent agency.” * Kirkus Reviews *"Painful history plus a roadmap for change equals a compelling book." * Revelator *"Offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the park service." -- Rob Hotakainen * E&E News:Greenwire *"The text offers a readable, well-organized argument for the independence proposal, illustrated by selected black-and-white photos. Readers interested in the US government's interface with conservation will appreciate this book. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"This book is compelling reading for all conservation biologists to emulate positive aspects and avoid pitfalls when developing an effective and self-sustaining park system." * Community Ecology *“In careers spanning half a century, both Jon and Destry Jarvis personally witnessed how the National Park Service became a partisan battleground for competing political ideologies, with policies ricocheting back and forth every time a new administration came to power. Filled with detailed firsthand accounts and insightful analysis, National Parks Forever not only chronicles the sorrowful result, but also points to a way to rescue ‘America’s best idea’—and make it even better.” -- Dayton Duncan, writer/producer, "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea"“The history retold by these two brothers, each outstanding in their lifelong dedication to Parks, is compelling and instructive, as well as a very good read. But their lessons learned and call for independence must be enacted if the parks are to survive. I advised NPS leadership for eight years; I witnessed that a major priority is to ensure that the full history of Americans is preserved in the places where that history unfolded. If NPS remains a political football, we will lose not only magnificent landscapes but the hundreds of parks that tell the true stories of America’s past. At this time when our history has become violently politicized, we must depoliticize the one federal agency that knows how to memorialize the truth for future generations.” -- Margaret J. Wheatley, author of "Leadership and the New Science" and former member of National Parks Advisory BoardTable of ContentsForeword by Chris Johns Preface Introduction and a Brief History of the National Parks: 1872-1972 One. Growing the System and Telling a More Complete Story Two. Alaska: Doing It Right the First Time Three. The Politics of Park Policy Four. Using the Best Available Science Five. Ecosystem Thinking Requires Collaboration Six. Interference in the Mission Seven. Independence: Finding a Sustainable Future for a Perpetuity Agency Notes Bibliography and Further Reading Index of People and Places

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Book SynopsisKeith Mako Woodhouse offers a nuanced history of radical environmentalism in the late-twentieth-century United States. Focusing especially on the group Earth First!, The Ecocentrists explores how it challenged civilization but glossed over the ways economic inequality and social difference defined people’s relationships to the nonhuman world.Trade ReviewWoodhouse deftly brings together the intellectual history of the many threads of American environmentalism with the thinkers, the activists, the organizations, and the issues that have charged environmental politics since the 1960s. Required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the history of environmental activism and thought. -- James Morton Turner, Wellesley CollegeThis book is a profound achievement. In The Ecocentrists, Keith Woodhouse examines ecocentrism within and up against traditions of radical American protest, politics, and action. Deepening our understanding of radical environmentalism well beyond any previous study, the book lays to rest caricature and misinformation. Each chapter—each page—will make you think hard. -- William Deverell, University of Southern CaliforniaA compelling story about the enigmatic journey of environmentalism since the 1960s, The Ecocentrists shines a bright light on the radical potential and heartbreaking pitfalls of Americans’ ecological crusades. Highlighting the historic and contemporary tensions within the environmental movement between localism and globalism, populism and elitism, freedom and limits, and humanism and misanthropy, Woodhouse provides essential reading for anyone interested in thinking through how efforts to create a healthier planet can be made as just and humane as possible. -- Darren Frederick Speece, author of Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental PoliticsThe Ecocentrists captures eloquently the human stories of those who stood up for the nonhuman world. Keith Woodhouse’s willingness to take seriously the most radical members of the environmental movement yields fresh ways of understanding conventional environmental politics. A smart, rigorous, and brilliant book. -- Kendra Smith-Howard, University of AlbanyInsightful and well-grounded in the literature, this is required reading for historians of environmentalism and modern political movements and, for the general reader, a stimulating introduction to an urgent area of popular concern. * Publishers Weekly *His book is strongest when it contextualizes radical environmentalism in relation to broader ideologies (liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, anarchism)....Recommended. * Choice *This outstanding and extensively researched work, covers a wide range of ideas and personalities; an essential addition for all environmental collections. * Library Journal (starred review) *In the era of climate change, Woodhouse wonders if the ecocentrists’ narrative of crisis is the only one that can create a clear-eyed view of the problem, as well as the political and popular will to mobilize against it. * Los Angeles Review of Books *A well-crafted expansion of our understanding of the environmental movement, and it reminds us that, while there areno easy answers to our current moment of environmental crisis, we are not the first to have wrestled with the difficult questions about human freedom and our relationships with the more-than-human world. * H-Environment *A superb history of radical environmentalism in the United States. -- Benjamin Kunkel * New Republic *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Ecology and Revolutionary Thought2. Crisis Environmentalism3. A Radical Break4. Public Lands and the Public Good5. Earth First! Against Itself6. The Limits and Legacy of RadicalismConclusionNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisJeffrey D. Sachs shows how the United States can find a path to renewed economic progress that is fair and environmentally sustainable. Sachs explores issues including infrastructure, trade deals, energy policy, and income inequality, providing illuminating and accessible explanations of the forces at work and specific policy solutions.Trade ReviewJeffrey Sachs remains one of the most thought-provoking economists in the world today because he dares to challenge presidents of both parties and the orthodoxies that bind them to disastrous policies. His critiques are fierce and his solutions fearless in the face of political and academic groupthink. That makes Professor Sachs a rarity in public life and this book an absolute necessity. -- Joe Scarborough My father famously declared that GDP "measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." Jeffrey Sachs presents an economic vision beyond GDP, one that is based on compassion and sustainability, and that aligns with the globally agreed Sustainable Development Goals. This is a roadmap for America's future economic strategy. -- Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human RightsTable of ContentsForeword, by Bernie Sanders Preface Acknowledgments 1. Why We Need to Build a New American Economy 2. Investment, Saving, and U.S. Long-Term Growth 3. Decoding the Federal Budget 4. Sustainable Infrastructure After the Automobile Age 5. Facing Up to Income Inequality 6. Smart Machines and the Future of Jobs 7. The Truth About Trade 8. Disparities and High Costs Fuel the Health Care Crisis 9. A Smart Energy Policy for the United States 10. From Guns to Butter 11. Investing for Innovation 12. Toward a New Kind of Politics 13. Restoring Trust in American Governance 14. Prosperity in Sustainability Suggested Further Readings Notes

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Book SynopsisHow the US Environmental Protection Agency designed the governance of risk and forged its legitimacy over the course of four decades.The US Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 to protect the public health and environment, administering and enforcing a range of statutes and programs. Over four decades, the EPA has been a risk bureaucracy, formalizing many of the methods of the scientific governance of risk, from quantitative risk assessment to risk ranking. Demortain traces the creation of these methods for the governance of risk, the controversies to which they responded, and the controversies that they aroused in turn. He discusses the professional networks in which they were conceived; how they were used; and how they served to legitimize the EPA. Demortain argues that the EPA is structurally embedded in controversy, resulting in constant reevaluation of its credibility and fueling the evolution of the knowledge and technologies it uses to produce

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Book SynopsisAn intimate and candid account of our national parks detailing their strengths, vulnerabilities, and essential role in American lifeTrade Review“American Covenant is part historical review and part memoir. The authors . . . eloquently share their personal experience and ideas on how the preservation and enjoyment of national parks can be addressed in the 21st century.”—Susan Catherine Cork, Conservation Biology“American Covenant is a unique and personal contribution showcasing the hard-earned wisdom of two experts who know the National Park Service the best. Their stories and anecdotes illustrate why national parks are important for both individuals and our nation as a whole.”—Justin Farrell, author of Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West“Michael Soukup and Gary Machlis offer a heartfelt, insightful assessment of our national park system complete with science-based recommendations for ensuring this magnificent natural heritage is passed along to future generations in an unimpaired condition.”—Robert B. Keiter, author of To Conserve Unimpaired: The Evolution of the National Park Idea

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Book SynopsisStanding Our Ground: Women, Environmental Justice, and the Fight to End Mountaintop Removal examines women’s efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia.Trade Review“What a magnificent book! The author skillfully weaves theoretical discussions into a fast-paced narrative. Standing Our Ground is well written, well researched, and on solid theoretical ground. The book offers a unique lens: coal is a highly masculinized world, and Barry opens up a view of women’s roles and activism inside this world, which is often closed to outsiders.”“Barry exposes the coal industry's harsh effects on working-class women in Appalachia, revealing the symbiosis between gender oppression and environmental destruction. No passive victims, the women she profiles have become leading advocates for alternative energy.” * Ms. Magazine *“Standing Our Ground will appeal to a wide variety of scholars interested in intersectional analyses of social and environmental problems…at a time when so much of the climate change discourse is focused on broad solutions at the level of global environmental policy, Barry’s book is a crucial look into the lives of individuals living day to day with the consequences of our lifestyle and policy choices.” * Environmental Values *“(Standing Our Ground) highlights negatively stereotyped working-class white and nonwhite women in a ‘gendered articulation’ that speaks to diverse issues of class and disenfranchisement at a ‘global crossroads’ in history.” * Choice *“Standing Our Ground: Women, Environmental Justice, and the Fight to End Mountaintop Removal places the anti-mountaintop removal struggle squarely as a global issue with human and environmental costs. Barry successfully illustrates how local struggles in central Appalachia are indicative of a larger global movement for environmental justice.” * author of Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities *

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Book SynopsisDespite a growing interest in critical social and political studies of climate change, the field remains fragmented and diffuse. This is the first volume to collect this body of scholarship, providing a key reference point in the growing debate about climate change across the social sciences. The book provides a new set of insights into the ways in which climate change is creating new forms of social order, and the ways in which they are structured through the workings of rationality, power and politics. Governing the Climate is invaluable for three main audiences: social science researchers and advanced students in the field of climate change; the wider research community interested in global environmental politics and global environmental governance; and policy makers and researchers concerned more broadly with environmental politics at international, national and local levels.Trade Review'Climate change is simply too important to leave solely to conventional modes of governance. The kind of theoretical work in this volume can't solve climate problems, nor can it provide clear administrative blueprints for policy makers, but it does show forcefully that in the face of rapid climate change thinking in new ways about many things is now unavoidable both in the United Nations system and beyond.' Simon Dalby, ACUNS (acuns.org)Table of ContentsIntroduction Johannes Stripple and Harriet Bulkeley; Part I. Governmentality, Critical Theory and Climate Change: 1. Bringing governmentality to the study of global governance Eva Lövbrand and Johannes Stripple; 2. Experimenting on climate governmentality with actor-network theory Anders Blok; 3. Third side of the coin: hegemony and governmentality in global climate politics Benjamin Stephan, Delf Rothe and Chris Methman; 4. The limits of climate governmentality Carl Death; Part II. Cases of Climate Government: Theorising Practice: 5. Neuro-liberal climatic governmentalities Marc Whitehead, Rhys Jones and Jessica Pykett; 6. Making carbon calculations Sally Eden; 7. Smart meters and the governance of energy use in the household Tom Hargreaves; 8. Translation loops and shifting rationalities of transnational bioenergy governance Jarmo Kortelainen and Moritz Albrecht; 9. Governing mobile species in a climate-changed world Juliet J. Fall; 10. Measuring forest carbon Heather Lovell; 11. Climate security as governmentality: from precaution to preparedness Angela Oels; Part III. Future Directions: 12. The rise and fall of the global climate polity Olaf Corry; 13. Climate change multiple Samuel Randalls; 14. Reflections and way forward Harriet Bulkeley and Johannes Stripple.

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Book SynopsisCities are no longer just places to live in. They are significant actors on the global stage, and nowhere is this trend more prominent than in the world of transnational climate change governance (TCCG). Through transnational networks that form links between cities, states, international organizations, corporations, and civil society, cities are developing and implementing norms, practices, and voluntary standards across national boundaries. In introducing cities as transnational lawmakers, Jolene Lin provides an exciting new perspective on climate change law and policy, offering novel insights about the reconfiguration of the state and the nature of international lawmaking as the involvement of cities in TCCG blurs the public/private divide and the traditional strictures of ''domestic'' versus ''international''. This illuminating book should be read by anyone interested in understanding how cities - in many cases, more than the countries in which they''re located - are addressing the Trade Review'An essential read for anyone concerned with how the vast conglomerate of actors involved in the climate space might interact effectively to advance climate change regulation globally.' Jacqueline Peel, Melbourne Law School'A vivid and timely account of the important and complex role that cities play in transnational climate change governance.' Liz Fisher, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford'In this compelling book, Professor Lin demonstrates the rise of global cities as forces in the generation of transnational legal norms. As she demonstrates, global cities are not merely engaging in action that suggests the inadequacy of classical accounts of international lawmaking; they are doing so self-consciously. This is truly a new phase in the field of international law, and its recognition and demonstration by Lin is profound.' Douglas A. Kysar, Yale Law School, ConnecticutTable of Contents1. Global cities, climate change and transnational lawmaking; 2. Theoretical framework; 3. The rise of the city in international affairs; 4. City action on climate change; 5. Transnational urban climate governance via networks – the case of C40; 6. Cities as transnational lawmakers; 7. A normative assessment of urban climate law; 8. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisPublished to coincide with the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly, the Summary for Policymakers of the sixth Global Environment Outlook provides an evidence-based source of environmental information to help policymakers in government, local authorities and businesses achieve the UN''s Sustainable Development Goals. Since the first edition in 1997, there have been many examples of environmental improvement, especially where problems have been well identified, manageable, and where regulatory and technological solutions have been readily available. Nevertheless, the overall condition of the global environment has deteriorated and urgent action, involving ambitious and effective policies, is necessary to arrest and reverse this situation. This Summary for Policymakers answers key policy questions by assessing the drivers of environmental change, the scale and effectiveness of policy responses, potential pathways for achieving sustainability goals in an increasingly complex worldTrade Review'The sixth Global Environment Outlook is an essential check-up for our planet. Like any good medical examination, there is a clear prognosis of what will happen if we continue with business as usual and a set of recommended actions to put things right. GEO-6 details both the perils of delaying action and the opportunities that exist to make sustainable development a reality.' António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United NationsTable of Contents1. What is the global environmental outlook?; 2. What is happening to our environment and how have we responded?; 3. Effectiveness of environmental policies; 4. Changing the path we are on; 5. Knowledge for action; References.

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Book SynopsisThe ''resource curse'' is the view that countries with extensive natural resources tend to suffer from a host of undesirable outcomes, including the weakening of state capacity, authoritarianism, fewer public goods, war, and economic stagnation. This book debunks this view, arguing that there is an ''institutions curse'' rather than a resource curse. Legacies endemic to the developing world have impelled many countries to develop natural resources as a default sector in lieu of cultivating modern and diversified economies, and bad institutions have also condemned nations to suffer from ills unduly attributed to minerals and oil. Victor Menaldo also argues that natural resources can actually play an integral role in stimulating state capacity, capitalism, industrialization, and democracy, even if resources are themselves often a symptom of underdevelopment. Despite being cursed by their institutions, weak states are blessed by their resources: greater oil means more development, both hiTrade Review'This book explores the role of natural resources, especially oil, in the development of countries. … A wide geographic area is covered, including but not limited to North America, Europe and the Middle East. … The author argues that political institutions, not resource endowment, are the basis for differences in development. … It adds to the literature on the role of natural resources, institutions, and development. Footnotes and references. … Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.' J. E. Weaver, ChoiceTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Three puzzles and some building blocks; 3. Intellectual heritage of the institutions curse view; 4. The institutions curse; 5. Not manna from heaven after all: the endogeneity of oil; 6. The resource blessing; 7. Whither the Arab Spring?; 8. Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisThe Pacific coast is the most iconic region of California and one of the most fascinating and rapidly changing places in the world. Densely populated, urbanized, and industrializedand also home to complex, fragile ecosystemsthe coast is the place where humanity and nature coexist in a precarious balance that is never perfectly stable. This is a dramatic snapshot of the California coasts past, present, and probable future in a time of climate change and expanding human activity. Written by two marine experts who grew up on the coast, The Edge is both an appreciation of the coasts natural and cultural uniqueness and a warning of the changes that threaten that uniqueness. As ocean levels rise, coastal communities are starting to erode, and entire neighborhoods have been lost to the sea. Coastal ecosystems and wildlife that were already stressed by human settlement now face new dangers. Fisheries, oil drilling, recreation, housing and environmental advocates compete to define the future of the region. A masterful and sweeping synthesis of environmental and social science, The Edge presents a comprehensive portrait of the history, people, communities, industries, ecology, and wildlife of the coast.

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Book SynopsisUrbanisation is caused by migration. However, an essential difference exists between migration in the past and that in the present. This book focuses on several topics that include a comparison between an informational city and a smart city; urbanisation and human impact on biodiversity in Water''s Edge Public Spaces (WEPS); a mathematical-modelling approach to urbanisation caused by migration; sustaining urbanisation in a developing economy; and urbanisation and cardiomyopathy vulnerability in an African male cohort.

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Book SynopsisCold Matters is a vital and approachable work that distills the scientific complexities of snow, ice, water and climate and presents the global implications of research put forth and funded by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. This timely book gives the concerned reader an opportunity to take part in the conversation about our global environment in a way that transcends traditional scientific journals, textbooks, public talks or newspaper articles that are so often ignored or forgotten. In the end, Cold Matters will change the way you think about ice and snow. The impassioned narrative and sophisticated illustrations found within the pages of Robert Sandford''s latest work offer ecologically and globally minded citizens an understanding of the behaviour of our ever-changing climate system and its effect on cold environments in western Canada over the past 400 years. Using revolutionary prediction scenarios to model glaciers and glacier meltwater in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Yukon, NWT and throughout the world, Cold Matters presents a clear snapshot of how altered ecosystems will impact future climates, urban centres and agricultural landscapes.

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Book SynopsisScientific research on climate change has given rise to a variety of images picturing climate change. These range from colorful expert graphics, model visualizations, photographs of extreme weather events like floods, droughts or melting ice, symbols like polar bears, to animated and interactive visualizations. Climate change graphics have not only increased knowledge about the subject, they have begun to influence popular awareness of global weather events. The status of climate pictures today is particularly crucial, as global climate change as a long-term process cannot be seen. When images are widely distributed, they are able to shape how the world is thought about and seen. It is this implicit basic assumption of the power of images to influence reality that this book addresses: today's images might become the blueprint for tomorrow's realities. "Image Politics of Climate Change" combines a wide interdisciplinary range of perspectives and questions, treated here in sixteen interdisciplinary case studies. The author's specializations include both visual practice and theory: in the fields of climate sciences, computer graphics, art, curating, art history and visual studies, communication and cultural science, environmental and science & technology studies. The close interlinking of these viewpoints promotes in-depth insights into issues of production and analysis of climate visualization.

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Book SynopsisSocial practice theories help to challenge the often hidden paradigms, worldviews, and values at the basis of many unsustainable practices. Discourses and their boundaries define what is seen as possible, as well as the range of issues and their solutions. By exploring the connections between practices and discourses, Minna Kanerva develops a conceptual approach enabling purposive change in unsustainable social practices. Radical transformation towards new meatways is arguably necessary, yet complex psychological, ideological, and power-related mechanisms currently inhibit change.

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Book SynopsisPeople experience disasters very differently. Conflicts about a "correct" interpretation of the risks might arise. The side-by-side of different truths lead to people seeing mismanagement and disinformation. The volcanic crisis of El Hierro shows how rivalling interpretations amongst affected islanders, the media, sciences, and disaster response institutions cause great social tensions and scepticism towards scientific information. Thus, to fully understand disaster risk, the focus must shift to the rifts between established convictions and the individuals' creativity to overcome them, taking into account their embeddedness in various fields of practice, each with their own rationales and ruptures.

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Book SynopsisLex Fullarton takes a closer look at the three pillars of the sustainable development framework known as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The concept of the TBL is that for a project to be sustainable it must not simply be profitable in economic terms, but it must also benefit society and enhance the natural environment. In the 21st century, the greatest threat to Earths natural environment and the population of the planet is the rise of greenhouse gas emissions caused from burning fossil fuel as an energy source. The rise of GHG emissions has resulted in a rise in the ambient air temperature of the Earths atmosphere and is resulting in a significant change in climatic conditions on Earth. Fullarton scrutinizes the problem of getting industry and governments to understand the significance of creating harmony within the TBL. One of the main problems is that partisan politics tends to fragment the factors of the TBL rather than bring them together. Fullarton takes a strong stand in suggesting that taxation systems, which have traditionally been viewed primarily as a means of raising government finance, can be effectively applied to influence industrial and consumer attitudes towards transiting away from polluting fossil-fuel energy sources towards non-polluting renewable energy use.

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Book SynopsisForests have been at the fault lines of contact between African peasant communities in the Tanzanian coastal hinterland and outsiders for almost two centuries. In recent decades, a global call for biodiversity preservation has been the main challenge to Tanzanians and their forests.ThaddeusTrade Review“This is a very well researched work on a topic of considerable contemporary importance in relation to forest utilisation and conservation. It is especially good on the wide range of historic uses of the coastal forests in particular, not just for material resources, but also for social and ritual purposes by local people.” * Tanzanian Affairs *“Sunseri’s history consistently argues that the loss of local environmental control helped push a substantial deforestation across the coastal landscape. He contends further that the assault on coastal peoples' rights to forest access continues. The overt authoritarianism and violence of former decades has yielded to a more benign intervention on the part of international conservation organizations…a new wrinkle on a historically familiar pattern….” * African Studies Review *“Tanzania enjoys a reputation as a place deeply concerned with preserving its beautiful landscapes and wildlife for global humanity to enjoy in perpetuity. This compact and masterful study (Wielding the Ax) traces the fraught environmental history that preceded this current era of ‘eco-governmentality’ in Tanzania.” * African History *“(Wielding the Ax) illustrates the wide variety of demands placed on the forests with the not-so-surprising, but documented, conclusion that Tanzanian scientific forestry was neither rational nor efficient, but fell prey to the usual political machinations…. This is the first significant work bringing together Tanzanian forestry and social issues….” * International Journal of African Historical Studies *“This exemplary book is worth reading far beyond the boundaries of Tanzania or the shores of Africa for several reasons. It takes the strong political ecology approach to writing environmental history in a way that is mercifully jargon free. It reveals the sequence of transformations from tribal society to imperialism and post-colonialism, and right through to present ‘green neoliberalism’ of international conservation. It rests on wide reading and thorough research…. Sunseri’s book tells how Tanzania’s forests have always been peopled. It is a perspective too easily ignored.” * Environment and History *“Sensitive oral interviews and deft fieldwork support a markedly populist perspective on the impact of national and international decisions on resilient local residents…. Highly recommended.” * Choice *“Sunseri demonstrates how authority over the forest has shifted from nineteenth‐century chiefs, known as ‘ceremonial ax wielders,’ to scientific forestry experts of the colonial state, and later to biodiversity advocates of the global NGO community…. Surprisingly, a forest history provides a new lens for interpreting the major events of Tanzanian colonial and postcolonial history.” * American Historical Review *

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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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