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The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World's Oceans
Par Laura Trethewey. 2023
A Globe and Mail Top 100 SelectionFive oceans cover approximately seventy per cent of the earth, yet we know little…
of what lies beneath them. Now, the race is on to completely map the oceans’ floor. Scientists, investors, militaries, and private explorers are competing in this epic venture to obtain an accurate reading of this vast terrain and understand its contours and environment. In The Deepest Map, Laura Trethewey chronicles this race to the bottom. Following global efforts around the world, she documents Inuit-led crowdsourced mapping in the Arctic as climate change alters the landscape, a Texas millionaire’s efforts to become the first man to dive to the deepest point in each ocean, and the increasingly fraught question of whether and how to mine the deep sea. A true tale of science, nature, technology, and extreme outdoor adventure, The Deepest Map both illuminates why we love — and fear — the earth’s final frontier and contributes to increasingly urgent conversations about climate change.Community-based adaptation: Mainstreaming into national and local planning
Par Hannah Reid. 2016
Community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change is based on local priorities, needs, knowledge and capacities. Early CBA initiatives were generally…
implemented by non-government organisations (NGOs), and operated primarily at the local level. Many used ‘bottom-up’ participatory processes to identify the climate change problem and appropriate responses. Small localised stand-alone initiatives are insufficient to address the scale of challenges climate change will bring, however. The causes of vulnerability - such as market or service access, or good governance - also often operate beyond the project level. Larger organisations and national governments have therefore started to implement broader CBA programmes, which provide opportunities to scale up responses and integrate CBA into higher levels of policy and planning. This book shows that it is possible for CBA to remain centred on local priorities, but not necessarily limited to work implemented at the local level. Some chapters address the issue of mainstreaming CBA into government policy and planning processes or into city or sectoral level plans (e.g. on agriculture). Others look at how gender and children’s issues should be mainstreamed into adaptation planning itself, and others describe how tools can be applied, and finance delivered for effective mainstreaming.This book was published as a special issue of Climate and Development.Definitive analyses of transboundary water management in Latin America are conspicuous by their absence. The situation is a little better…
for rivers compared to groundwater resources. Transboundary water management in Latin America has been evolving in a somewhat different manner compared to other continents.The book includes eight authoritative case studies of Latin American transboundary rivers and aquifers, as well as a thinkpiece on the complexities of managing aquifers based on global experiences. The case studies are of different scales, ranging from the mighty Amazon to small Silala. The overall focus of the book is on ways in which such difficult and complex rivers and aquifers that are shared by two or more countries can be managed efficiently and equitably, and on the lessons, both positive and negative, that other regions can learn from the Latin American experience.This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.Education for Sustainable Development: Papers In Honour Of The United Nations Decade Of Education For Sustainable Development (2005-2014)
Par Brian Chalkley, Martin Haigh, David Higgitt. 2009
In 2005, The United Nations launched its Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which recognises that education, including Higher Education…
is the key to the change in social attitudes that will be needed to protect the welfare of future generations. This involves helping learners to live as though the future matters and to achieve ecoliteracy. This includes the understanding that personal lifestyle decisions may have consequences, ranging from climate change, through loss of biodiversity, to pollution and resource depletion that may permit environmental degradation on a planetary scale. It also involves helping them to develop the skills needed to cope with such challenges. This international collection of research papers and position statements from special issues of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education and Applied Environmental Education and Communication, written by many of the leading practitioners in the field, aims to provide resources and practical guidance for all seeking to promote and engage in education for a sustainable future. Rabindranath Tagore encouraged each learner to make their actions demonstrate a harmonious union between education and environment. David Orr argued that the world needs people who live well in their places to make the world both habitable and humane and that the main challenge for education is to help learners make their minds fit for life on Earth. This book tries to chart a practical route towards these objectives. This book was previously published as special issues of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education and Applied Environmental Education and CommunicationClimate Change Mitigation Actions in Five Developing Countries
Par Harald Winkler with the assistance of Kim Coetzee. 2015
Five case studies on mitigation actions (MAs) in developing countries illustrate the rich diversity of climate action. Researchers from Brazil,…
Chile, Colombia, Peru and South Africa reflect on what is possible in their countries. Case studies reflect the sheer diversity of NAMAs: from a ‘Pronami’ on efficient lighting in Peru, to longer-term challenges of rising energy emissions in Brazil, and much else. The book compares the similarities and differences across eight elements that could assist in developing and implementing mitigation. The comparative analysis highlights both how challenging implementation can be in the context of development, but also points to factors that might enable ambitious mitigation. The comparison suggests that choice of Mas may be linked to institutional capacity, the resources a country is endowed with and hence its emissions profile. International support can be an important global enabler. The authors find that addressing both development and climate objectives is key. This book fills an important gap in the literature from developing country authors about mitigation actions in their own countries. This book was published as a special issue of Climate and Development.Climate Change Adaptation and Development
Par John Carstensen. 2017
Climate change is real and it is man-made. We have put so many greenhouse gas pollutants into the atmosphere that…
we will see significant and long-term change that we need to adapt and adjust to. It is important for development practitioners to understand these impacts and the challenge of how and when to adapt to climate change.There are plenty of grim presentations of what the extremes of the possible climate scenarios will throw at us over the next 100 years, but not all change will be disastrous; some change will be beneficial, but much of the change will happen at an unprecedented rate that will require the best possible analysis and understanding of how and when we should adapt to climate change.This is important for development practitioners as we invest in ensuring that poverty is reduced and eliminated and the well-being of everyone is improved. Many countries and communities around the world are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but developing economies may on one hand be less resilient to the impact, but could on the other hand be in a better position to make their development climate smart by making the most efficient use of their economic resources.The chapters in this book shine a light on the complexity and the multi-dimensional aspects of climate change adaptation. They gather some of the experiences of addressing climate change impacts in a development context. This book was previously published as a special issue of Development in Practice.Designing Water Disaster Management Policies: Theory and Empirics
Par Chennat Gopalakrishnan. 2016
This book represents a landmark effort to probe and analyze the theory and empirics of designing water disaster management policies.…
It consists of seven chapters that examine, in-depth and comprehensively, issues that are central to crafting effective policies for water disaster management. The author uses historical surveys, institutional analysis, econometric investigations, empirical case studies, and conceptual-theoretical discussions to clarify and illuminate the complex policy process.The specific topics studied in this book include a review and analysis of key policy areas and research priority areas associated with water disaster management, community participation in disaster risk reduction, the economics and politics of ‘Green’ flood control, probabilistic flood forecasting for flood risk management, polycentric governance and flood risk management, drought management with the aid of dynamic inter-generational preferences, and how social resilience can inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable areas.A unique feature of this book is its analysis of the causes and consequences of water disasters and efforts to address them successfully through policy-rich, cross-disciplinary and transnational papers. This book is designed to help enrich the sparse discourse on water disaster management policies and galvanize water professionals to craft creative solutions to tackle water disasters efficiently, equitably, and sustainably. This book should also be of considerable use to disaster management professionals, in general, and natural resource policy analysts.This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Natural Resource Policy Research.The New Power Politics of Global Climate Governance
Par Maximilian Terhalle, Charlotte Streck. 2017
This book is based on the assumption that great powers determine global politics and, in this instance, environmental politics. It…
addresses the approaches of both established and rising powers and their implications for the advancement of international climate negotiations. The new introduction looks at the key developments in this realm since 2013, examining the bilateral deals between China and the United States and the results of the UNFCCC’s 21st Convention of the Parties (COP) convening at Paris in 2015. Two key features link the contributions of this volume: their underlying assumption that major powers are the central actors in determining global environmental politics; and their assessment of, and implications of, the approaches both of rising and established major powers for global climate norms. One key argument of this volume is that today’s geopolitics are about who gets how much in the fiercely competitive race over the available ‘carbon space’. The book concludes that prudently balancing power in the new century requires a fair sharing of burden among the existing and emerging powers. In light of such burden-sharing, pluralistic domestic politics as well as diverging normative beliefs and worldviews require consideration of different conditions, even if historical legacies of the industrialised world have increasingly been put into question as a political argument by the United States.This book is based on a special issue of the journal Climate Policy.Water Infrastructure (Routledge Special Issues on Water Policy and Governance)
Par Cecilia Tortajada and Asit K. Biswas. 2016
Water infrastructure is an essential element in water management. Together with institutions, policies and regulation, it provides basic services to…
growing populations, especially in developing countries, where much of the growth is taking place. In the Asia-Pacific region, for instance, populations are growing not only in size but also in affluence, straining further the existing infrastructure and demanding urgently the development of a new one. While 79% of total water use in Asia occurs in agriculture, the fastest increases in demand are emanating from industry and from urban areas. This trend is a natural consequence of the fastest industrialization and urbanization process in history. By 2030, more than 55% of Asia’s population will live in urban areas, an increase of 1.1 billion people. Nevertheless, water infrastructure is of concern not only in the global South but also in the North, where much of the drinking-water infrastructure needs upgrading or replacement, a significant undertaking as infrastructure is more than a hundred years old in many cases. The American Water Works Association estimates that changing all of the water pipes in the United States would cost more than USD 1 trillion. In this book, in-depth case studies on water infrastructure challenges and policy solutions are presented from different parts of the world.This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.Frontiers of Land and Water Governance in Urban Areas (Routledge Special Issues on Water Policy and Governance)
Par Thomas Hartmann and Tejo Spit. 2016
A society that intensifies and expands the use of land and water in urban areas needs to search for solutions…
to manage the frontiers between these two essential elements for urban living. Sustainable governance of land and water is one of the major challenges of our times. Managing retention areas for floods and droughts, designing resilient urban waterfronts, implementing floating homes, or managing wastewater in shrinking cities are just a few examples where spatial planning steps into the governance arena of water management and vice versa. However, water management and spatial planning pursue different modes of governance, and therefore the frontiers between the two disciplines require developing approaches for setting up governance schemes for sustainable cities of the future. What are the particularities of the governance of land and water? What is the role of regional and local spatial planning? What institutional barriers may arise? This book focuses on questions such as these, and covers groundwater governance, water supply and wastewater treatment, urban riverscapes, urban flooding, flood risk management, and concepts of resilience. The project resulted from a Summer School by the German Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL) organized by the editors at Utrecht University in 2013.This book was published as a special issue of Water International.Local Environmental Politics in China: Challenges and Innovations
Par Genia Kostka & Arthur P.J. Mol. 2014
Knowledge and insight in national environmental governance in China is widespread. However, increasingly it has been acknowledged that the major…
problems in guiding the Chinese economy and society towards sustainability are to be found at the local level. This book illuminates the fast-changing dynamics of local environmental politics in China, a topic only marginally addressed in the literature. In the course of building up an institutional framework for environmental governance over the last decade, local actors have generated a variety of policy innovations and experiments. In large measure these are creative responses to two main challenges associated with translating national environmental policies into local realities. The first such challenge is apolicy implementation gap stemming from the absence of the state capacity necessary to the implementation of environmental measures. The second challenge refers to the need for local non-state actors to engage in environmental management; oftentimes such aparticipation gap contributes to implementation failures. In recent years, we have seen a multitude of initiatives within China at the provincial level and below designed to bridge bothgaps. Hence, the central aim of this book is to assess these experiments and innovations in local environmental politics.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning.Restoring Communities Resettled After Dam Construction in Asia (Routledge Special Issues on Water Policy and Governance)
Par Mikiyasu Nakayama and Ryo Fujikura. 2014
The rapid economic expansion and population growth of developing countries in Asia has led to increasing demands for water and…
energy. To meet these demands, large dam development projects have been completed, which has inevitably caused involuntary resettlement. In order to support these projects, dam developers must find appropriate ways to ensure adequate livelihood reconstruction for resettled individuals. Resettlement causes both short-term and long-term effects (both positive and negative) for the relocated populations, meaning that in order to evaluate the larger impact of such projects long-term post-project evaluations must be carried out. However, post-project evaluations by international donors have typically been conducted within a few years after completion; the long-term impact of such projects is seldom evaluated.This book aims to fill this gap. A study team composed of researchers from Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Sri Lanka, and Turkey has conducted ten case studies focusing on resettled individuals satisfaction, opportunities offered, and income generation. The volume provides an overview of the ten case studies, which were carried out across five countries. It also discusses how a compensation programme should be designed and what sort of options should be presented to resettled individuals for their maximum benefit.This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change (Contemporary Issues in Social Science)
Par David Canter. 2016
Although it is generally accepted that the climate is changing for the worse and that human activities are a major…
contributing factor in that change, there is still only marginal response to the challenge posed by climate change. The reasons behind this limited response are becoming clearer through the recognition that climate change is not just a set of physical science facts, but it is also part of a series of complex social processes. Consequently, this book is important in providing social science perspectives on a range of attempts to adjust human activity to reduce its environmental impact. These attempts vary from the changing of the dress code in Japanese offices to the creation of zero-carbon, gated communities in Bangalore, India. Taken together, the contributions to this book provide timely insights into the complexities of saving the planet through human endeavour. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands
Par Michael D'Orso. 1967
Mention the Galápagos Islands to almost anyone, and the first things that spring to mind are iguanas, tortoises, volcanic beaches,…
and, of course, Charles Darwin. But there are people living there, too -- nearly 20,000 of them. A wild stew of nomads and grifters, dreamers and hermits, wealthy tour operators and desperately poor South American refugees, these inhabitants have brought crime, crowding, poaching, and pollution to the once-idyllic islands. In Plundering Paradise, Michael D'Orso explores the conflicts on land and at sea that now threaten to destroy this fabled "Eden of Evolution."New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the Long…
Sixties (1960-1973), telling the story of an indomitable generation that saved the natural world under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.With the detonation of the Trinity explosion in the New Mexico desert in 1945, the United States took control of Earth’s destiny for the first time. After the Truman administration dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II, a grim new epoch had arrived. During the early Cold War years, the federal government routinely detonated nuclear devices in the Nevada desert and the Marshall Islands. Not only was nuclear fallout a public health menace, but entire ecosystems were contaminated with radioactive materials. During the 1950s, an unprecedented postwar economic boom took hold, with America becoming the world’s leading hyperindustrial and military giant. But with this historic prosperity came a heavy cost: oceans began to die, wilderness vanished, the insecticide DDT poisoned ecosystems, wildlife perished, and chronic smog blighted major cities. In Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long Sixties: Rachel Carson (a marine biologist and author), David Brower (director of the Sierra Club), Barry Commoner (an environmental justice advocate), Coretta Scott King (an antinuclear activist), Stewart Udall (the secretary of the interior), William O. Douglas (Supreme Court justice), Cesar Chavez (a labor organizer), and other crusaders are profiled with verve and insight. Carson’s book Silent Spring, published in 1962, depicted how detrimental DDT was to living creatures. The exposé launched an ecological revolution that inspired such landmark legislation as the Wilderness Act (1964), the Clean Air Acts (1963 and 1970), and the Endangered Species Acts (1966, 1969, and 1973). In intimate detail, Brinkley extrapolates on such epic events as the Donora (Pennsylvania) smog incident, JFK’s Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Great Lakes preservation, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the first Earth Day.With the United States grappling with climate change and resource exhaustion, Douglas Brinkley’s meticulously researched and deftly written Silent Spring Revolution reminds us that a new generation of twenty-first-century environmentalists can save the planet from ruin.Silent Spring Revolution features two 8-page color photo inserts.Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret
Par Duff Wilson. 2002
I see soil in a new light, and I wonder about my own lawn and garden. What have I sprinkled…
on my backyard? Is somebody using my home, my food, to recycle toxic waste? It seems unbelievable, outlandish -- but what if it's true?A riveting expose, Fateful Harvest tells the story of Patty Martin -- the mayor of a small Washington town called Quincy -- who discovers American industries are dumping toxic waste into farmers' fields and home gardens by labeling it "fertilizer." She becomes outraged at the failed crops, sick horses, and rare diseases in her town, as well as the threats to her children's health. Yet, when she blows the whistle on a nationwide problem, Patty Martin is nearly run out of town.Duff Wilson, whose Seattle Times series on this story was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, provides the definitive account of a new and alarming environmental scandal. Fateful Harvest is a gripping study of corruption and courage, of recklessness and reckoning. It is a story that speaks to the greatest fears -- and ultimate hope -- in us all.A quick-reference guide to attracting birds and butterflies for gardeners with little experience and time.In the eye of a bird…
or butterfly, the typical suburban landscape resembles an unfriendly desert. Closely mowed lawns, tightly clipped shrubs, raked-up borders, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide. To the humans who live there, this means no bird songs, no colorful butterflies, no dazzling hummingbirds, no night-sparkling fireflies. Creating a garden that welcomes these creatures may seem like a confusing and complicated task, but the principles involved are relatively simple. Essentially, wildlife needs food, water, and shelter, just like we do, and this lavishly illustrated guide shows which plants attract which creatures, and how to plant and care for them.Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty
Par Craig Welch. 2010
Shell Games is a cops-and-robbers tale set in a double-crossing world where smugglers fight turf wars over some of the…
world's strangest marine creatures.Puget Sound sits south of the border between the U.S. and Canada and is home to the magnificent geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"), the world's largest burrowing clam. Comically proportioned but increasingly fashionable as seafood, the geoduck has been the subject of pranks, TV specials, and gourmet feasts. But this shellfish is so valuable it is also traded for millions of dollars on the black market— a world where outlaw scuba divers dodge cops while using souped-up boats, night-vision goggles, and weighted belts to pluck the succulent treasures from the sea floor. And the greatest dangers come from rival poachers who resort to arson and hit men to eliminate competition and stake their claim in the geoduck market. Detective Ed Volz spent his life chasing elk-antler thieves, bobcat smugglers, and eagle talon poachers. Now he was determined to find the kingpin of the geoduck underworld. He and a team of federal agents set up illegal sales, secretly recorded conversations, and photographed hand-offs from the bushes. For years, they tracked a rogues' gallery of lawbreakers, who eventually led them to the biggest thief of all— a darkly charming con man who called himself the "GeoduckGotti" and who worked both sides of the law.In Shell Games, veteran environmental journalist Craig Welch delves into the wilds of our nation's waters and forests in search of some of America's most unusual criminals and the cops who are on a mission to take them down. This thrilling examination of the international black market for wildlife is filled with butterfly thieves, bear slayers, and shark-trafficking pastors— all part of one of the largest illegal trades in the world.Environmental Problems in Third World Cities
Par Jorge E. Hardoy, Diana Mitlin, David Satterthwaite. 1994
Describes and analyses the environmental problems of Third World cities, showing how they affect human health and the local ecology.…
The authors show how readily available practical solutions are, if the political means can be found.The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth
Par Michael Mehta Webster. 2022
&“Details profound examples of life&’s resilience and makes a convincing case that the natural world still has a lot worth…
fighting for.&” —Paul Greenberg, New York Times bestselling author of Four Fish and The Climate Diet As climate change continues to intensify, the outlook for life on Earth often seems bleak. Yet hope for the future can be found in the &“rescue effect,&” which is nature&’s innate ability to help organisms persist during hard times. Like a thermostat starting the air conditioning when a room gets too warm, the rescue effect automatically kicks in when organisms are stressed or declining. In The Rescue Effect, Michael Mehta Webster reveals the science behind nature&’s inherent resilience, through compelling stories of species that are adapting to the changing world—including tigers in the jungles of India, cichlid fish in the great lakes of Africa, and corals in the Caribbean. In some cases, like the mountain pygmy-possum in the snowy mountains of southeast Australia, we risk losing species without intensive help from people. As observers to—and the cause of—species declines, we must choose whether and how to help, while navigating challenging questions about emerging technologies and the ethics of conservation actions. Ultimately, Webster argues that there are good reasons to expect a bright future, because everywhere we look, we can see evidence that nature can rescue many species from extinction; and when nature alone is not up to the task, we can help. Combining rigorous research with gripping storytelling, The Rescue Effect provides the cautious optimism we need to help save life on Earth.