Download or read book Global Ecology written by Vaclav Smil and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The magnitude and rapidity of global environmental change threatens the perpetuation of life on Earth. Many aspects of this crisis are familiar to us - the destruction of tropical rainforests, the hole in the Antarctic ozone, desertification, soil erosion - yet we avoid the underlying challenge of a rapidly deteriorating ecological system and the breadth and complexity of responses demanded. Integrating an analysis of both social and environmental needs, the book explores the premises and problems of different paths towards global management. With its emphasis on flexible response, Global Ecology furthers our understanding of biospheric change and of our abilities and weaknesses in managing the transition to a sustainable society.
Download or read book Global Ecology and Unequal Exchange written by Alf Hornborg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In modern society, we tend to have faith in technology. But is our concept of ‘technology’ itself a cultural illusion? This book challenges the idea that humanity as a whole is united in a common development toward increasingly efficient technologies. Instead it argues that modern technology implies a kind of global ‘zero-sum game’ involving uneven resource flows, which make it possible for wealthier parts of global society to save time and space at the expense of humans and environments in the poorer parts. We tend to think of the functioning of machines as if it was detached from the social relations of exchange which make machines economically and physically possible (in some areas). But even the steam engine that was the core of the Industrial Revolution in England was indissolubly linked to slave labour and soil erosion in distant cotton plantations. And even as seemingly benign a technology as railways have historically saved time (and accessed space) primarily for those who can afford them, but at the expense of labour time and natural space lost for other social groups with less purchasing power. The existence of technology, in other words, is not a cornucopia signifying general human progress, but the unevenly distributed result of unequal resource transfers that the science of economics is not equipped to perceive. Technology is not simply a relation between humans and their natural environment, but more fundamentally a way of organizing global human society. From the very start it has been a global phenomenon, which has intertwined political, economic and environmental histories in complex and inequitable ways. This book unravels these complex connections and rejects the widespread notion that technology will make the world sustainable. Instead it suggests a radical reform of money, which would be as useful for achieving sustainability as for avoiding financial breakdown. It brings together various perspectives from environmental and economic anthropology, ecological economics, political ecology, world-system analysis, fetishism theory, semiotics, environmental and economic history, and development theory. Its main contribution is a new understanding of technological development and concerns about global sustainability as questions of power and uneven distribution, ultimately deriving from the inherent logic of general-purpose money. It should be of interest to students and professionals with a background or current engagement in anthropology, sustainability studies, environmental history, economic history, or development studies.
Download or read book Global Ecology in Human Perspective written by Charles H. Southwick and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 1996 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A textbook covering the study of human ecology and global ecology: ecological principles relevant to global concerns, the meaning of global change, human impact on the environment, population growth and regulation, world health, interactions of economics and ecology, and prospects of human future. The central theme of the book deals with the ways humans are altering the earth and how, in turn, these changes affect human life.
Download or read book Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms written by Patricia M. Glibert and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-26 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) - blooms that cause fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, or cause human or ecological health impacts and harm to local economies - are occurring more often, in more places and lasting longer than in past decades. This expansion is primarily the result of human activities, through increased nutrient inputs and various aspects of climate change. The Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) programme promoted international collaboration to understand HAB population dynamics in various oceanographic regimes and to improve the prediction of HABs. This volume introduces readers to the overarching framework of the GEOHAB programme, factors contributing to the global expansion of harmful algal blooms, the complexities of HABs in different habitats, and the forward-looking issues to be tackled by the next generation of GEOHAB, GlobalHAB. The programme brought together an international team of contributing scientists and ecosystem managers, and its outcomes will greatly benefit the international research community.
Download or read book Global Ecology written by Sven Erik Jørgensen and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2010-04-16 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Ecology focuses on the perception of the biosphere or the ecosphere as a unified cooperative system with numerous synergistic effects, which describe the distinctive properties of this sphere. This book is subdivided into five parts dealing with diverse aspects in global ecology. The first part of the book provides comprehensive description of the biosphere, including its unique characteristics and evolution. This part also describes various spheres in the biosphere, such as the hydrosphere, noosphere, and pedosphere as well as their composition. The next part focuses on the global cycles, including calcium, carbon, iron, microbial nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and water cycles. In addition, global balances and flows are explained. Presented in the third part are the results of the global cycles and flows as well as the patterns of the climatic factors and marine currents. There is also a part discussing the climate interactions, climatic changes, and its effect on the living organisms. The book concludes by covering the application of stoichiometry in the biosphere and in ecosystems. The book offers a comprehensive view of global ecology and ecological stoichiometry, which will aid in the processes of global ecology. Provides an overview of the theory and application of global ecology International focus and range of ecosystems makes Global Ecology an indispensable resource to scientists Based on the bestselling Encyclopedia of Ecology Full-color figures and tables support the text and aid in understanding
Download or read book Global Political Ecology written by Richard Peet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world is caught in the mesh of a series of environmental crises. So far attempts at resolving the deep basis of these have been superficial and disorganized. Global Political Ecology links the political economy of global capitalism with the political ecology of a series of environmental disasters and failed attempts at environmental policies. This critical volume draws together contributions from twenty-five leading intellectuals in the field. It begins with an introductory chapter that introduces the readers to political ecology and summarizes the books main findings. The following seven sections cover topics on the political ecology of war and the disaster state; fuelling capitalism: energy scarcity and abundance; global governance of health, bodies, and genomics; the contradictions of global food; capital’s marginal product: effluents, waste, and garbage; water as a commodity, a human right, and power; the functions and dysfunctions of the global green economy; political ecology of the global climate, and carbon emissions. This book contains accounts of the main currents of thought in each area that bring the topics completely up-to-date. The individual chapters contain a theoretical introduction linking in with the main themes of political ecology, as well as empirical information and case material. Global Political Ecology serves as a valuable reference for students interested in political ecology, environmental justice, and geography.
Download or read book The State and the Global Ecological Crisis written by John Barry and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the prospects for reinstating the state as the facilitator of environmental protection, through analyses and case studies of the green democratic potential of the state and the state system.
Download or read book Inventing Global Ecology written by Michael L. Lewis and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents
Download or read book Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology written by Levente Hufnagel and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-09-19 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology is to give an overview and report from the frontiers of research of this important and interesting multidisciplinary area. Ecosystem services as a concept plays a key role in solving global environmental and human ecological crises and associated other problems, especially today when the sixth major extinction event of the history of the biosphere is in progress, and humanity can easily become a victim of it. Human activity is rapidly transforming the surface of the Earth, its biosphere, atmosphere, soil, and water resources. Ecological processes happen over a long time scale, thus damage caused by human activity will be perceptible after decades or even centuries. We hope that our book will be interesting and useful for researchers, lecturers, students, and anyone interested in this field.
Download or read book Urban Ecology in the Global South written by Charlie M. Shackleton and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the background of unprecedented rates of urbanisation in the Global South, leading to massive social, economic and environmental transformations, this book engages with the dire need to understand the ecology of such settings as the foundation for fostering sustainable and resilient human settlements in contexts that are very different to the Global North. It does so by bringing together scholars from around the world, drawing together research and case studies from across the Global South to illustrate, in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive fashion, the ecology of towns and cities in the Global South. Framed using a social-ecological systems lens, it provides the reader with an in-depth analysis and understanding of the ecological dynamics and ecosystem services and disservices within the complex and rapidly changing towns and cities of the Global South, a region with currently scarce representation in most of the urban ecology literature. As such the book makes a call for greater geographical balance in urban ecology research leading towards a more global understanding and frameworks. The book embraces the complexity of these rapid transformations for ecological and environmental management and how the ecosystems and the benefits they provide shape local ecologies, livelihood opportunities and human wellbeing, and how such knowledge can be mobilised towards improved urban design and management and thus urban sustainability.
Download or read book Industrial Ecology and Global Change written by R. Socolow and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses a different approach to addressing environmental problems, aimed at a broad interdisciplinary audience.
Download or read book Global Ecology and Unequal Exchange written by Alf Hornborg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In modern society, we tend to have faith in technology. But is our concept of ‘technology’ itself a cultural illusion? This book challenges the idea that humanity as a whole is united in a common development toward increasingly efficient technologies. Instead it argues that modern technology implies a kind of global ‘zero-sum game’ involving uneven resource flows, which make it possible for wealthier parts of global society to save time and space at the expense of humans and environments in the poorer parts. We tend to think of the functioning of machines as if it was detached from the social relations of exchange which make machines economically and physically possible (in some areas). But even the steam engine that was the core of the Industrial Revolution in England was indissolubly linked to slave labour and soil erosion in distant cotton plantations. And even as seemingly benign a technology as railways have historically saved time (and accessed space) primarily for those who can afford them, but at the expense of labour time and natural space lost for other social groups with less purchasing power. The existence of technology, in other words, is not a cornucopia signifying general human progress, but the unevenly distributed result of unequal resource transfers that the science of economics is not equipped to perceive. Technology is not simply a relation between humans and their natural environment, but more fundamentally a way of organizing global human society. From the very start it has been a global phenomenon, which has intertwined political, economic and environmental histories in complex and inequitable ways. This book unravels these complex connections and rejects the widespread notion that technology will make the world sustainable. Instead it suggests a radical reform of money, which would be as useful for achieving sustainability as for avoiding financial breakdown. It brings together various perspectives from environmental and economic anthropology, ecological economics, political ecology, world-system analysis, fetishism theory, semiotics, environmental and economic history, and development theory. Its main contribution is a new understanding of technological development and concerns about global sustainability as questions of power and uneven distribution, ultimately deriving from the inherent logic of general-purpose money. It should be of interest to students and professionals with a background or current engagement in anthropology, sustainability studies, environmental history, economic history, or development studies.
Download or read book Applied Urban Ecology written by Matthias Richter and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-19 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework explores ways in which the environmental quality of urban areas can be improved starting with existing environmental conditions and their dynamics. Written by an internationally renowned selection of scientists and practitioners, the book covers a broad range of established and novel approaches to applied urban ecology. Approaches chosen for the book are placed in the context of issues such as climate change, green- and open-space development, flood-risk assessment, threats to urban biodiversity, and increasing environmental pollution (especially in the “megacities” of newly industrialized countries). All topics covered were chosen because they are socially and socio-politically relevant today. Further topics covered include sustainable energy and budget management, urban water resource management, urban land management, and urban landscape planning and design. Throughout the book, concepts and methods are illustrated using case studies from around the world. A closing synopsis draws conclusions on how the findings of urban ecological research can be used in strategic urban management in the future. Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework is an advanced textbook for students, researchers and experienced practitioners in urban ecology and urban environmental research, planning, and practice.
Download or read book Global Ecology written by Wolfgang Sachs and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 1993 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behind the public's hope of effective action by governments on environmental issues lies a complex terrain of conceptual confusion, conflicts of interest and philosophical dispute. This is why some of the world's leading environmental thinkers have come together in this volume to probe critically the new language being developed by environmental professionals. They examine the contradictions inherent in the fashionable notion of sustainable development. They explore the emerging conflicts over the distribution of environmental risks between North and South. And they warn that 'global ecology' seen in a managerial perspective, may degenerate into an effor to redesign and manage Nature in order to keep economic growth going in the face of a rising tide of resource plunder and pollution. This book seeks to launch a critical debate in order to clarify the issues involves and what might constitute appropriate action.
Download or read book Ecosystem Services and Global Trade of Natural Resources written by Thomas Koellner and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The utilization of natural resources to satisfy worldwide growing consumption of goods and services has severe ecological consequences. Aside from the projected doubling of food consumption in the next fifty years, the growing trade of biofuels and other commodities is a global challenge as the economic activities in the primary sector (i.e. mining, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and agriculture) can damage biodiversity and ecosystem services. This should be taken into account in the decision-making affecting the global value chains linking consumer, retailer, processor, and producer in the North and the South. To cover the topic of ecosystem services and global trade this book is organized into four major parts. Part 1 gives the theoretical framework from an ecological, economic and political perspectives. Part 2 explores how internationally traded biophysical commodities from agriculture, forestry and fisheries translates into a virtual flow of land, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Part 3 describes how two widely used accounting tools (i.e., Life Cycle Assessment and Green National Accounts) deal with international aspects of ecosystem services, and Part 4 shows how instruments like labelling, bans, or payments for ecosystem services in the private and public sector can influence trade patterns and the management of ecosystem services. This collection is a valuable contribution to the global change science dealing with ecosystem services. It illustrates the consequences of international trade on global ecosystem services and provides an overview of accounting tools and of market-based policy instruments to address negative and positive externalities. The book is certainly innovative, because it brings together research findings from distinct disciplines especially Industrial Ecology and Ecosystem Sciences, as well as Environmental Economics and Political Science.
Download or read book Global Environment Outlook GEO 6 Healthy Planet Healthy People written by UN Environment and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published to coincide with the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly, UN Environment's sixth Global Environment Outlook calls on decision makers to take bold and urgent action to address pressing environmental issues in order to protect the planet and human health. By bringing together hundreds of scientists, peer reviewers and collaborating institutions and partners, the GEO reports build on sound scientific knowledge to provide governments, local authorities, businesses and individual citizens with the information needed to guide societies to a truly sustainable world by 2050. GEO-6 outlines the current state of the environment, illustrates possible future environmental trends and analyses the effectiveness of policies. This flagship report shows how governments can put us on the path to a truly sustainable future - emphasising that urgent and inclusive action is needed to achieve a healthy planet with healthy people. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Download or read book Terrestrial Global Productivity written by Jacques Roy and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trophic levels.
