Download or read book Ecovillages written by Karen T. Litfin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-01-15 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillagesÑintentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. In this inspiring and insightful book, Karen Litfin shares her unique experience of these experiments in sustainable living through four broad windows - ecology, economics, community, and consciousness - or E2C2. Whether we live in an ecovillage or a city, she contends, we must incorporate these four key elements if we wish to harmonize our lives with our home planet. Not only is another world possible, it is already being born in small pockets the world over. These micro-societies, however, are small and time is short. Fortunately - as Litfin persuasively argues - their successes can be applied to existing social structures, from the local to the global scale, providing sustainable ways of living for generations to come. You can learn more about Karen's experiences on the Ecovillages website: http://ecovillagebook.org/
Download or read book Almost Amish written by Nancy Sleeth and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2012 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author looks to Amish lifestyle and values as a model on which to base calmer, more focused, more faithful lives.
Download or read book The Age of Sustainable Development written by Jeffrey D. Sachs and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeffrey D. Sachs is one of the world's most perceptive and original analysts of global development. In this major new work he presents a compelling and practical framework for how global citizens can use a holistic way forward to address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems of persistent extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and political-economic injustice: sustainable development. Sachs offers readers, students, activists, environmentalists, and policy makers the tools, metrics, and practical pathways they need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Far more than a rhetorical exercise, this book is designed to inform, inspire, and spur action. Based on Sachs's twelve years as director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, his thirteen years advising the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and his recent presentation of these ideas in a popular online course, The Age of Sustainable Development is a landmark publication and clarion call for all who care about our planet and global justice.
Download or read book Urban Livelihoods written by Carole Rakodi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most promising approaches to poverty reduction in developing countries is to encourage sustainable livelihoods for the poor. This takes account of their opportunities and assets and the sources of their vulnerability. Based on recent and extensive research, this volume thoroughly assesses the value of the livelihoods approach to urban poverty. The book reviews the situation and strategies of the urban poor and identifies the policies and practical programmes that work best. Lasting improvements depend not just on economic development, but on political commitment and structures that are responsive to the claims and needs of different groups of poor people.
Download or read book Earth at Risk written by Claude Henry and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-19 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are squandering our planet’s natural capital—its biodiversity, water and soil, and climate stability—at a blistering pace. Major changes must be made to steer our planet and people away from our current, doomed course. Though technology has been one of the drivers of the current trend of unsustainable development, it is also one of the essential tools for remedying it. Earth at Risk maps out the necessary transition to sustainability, detailing the innovations in science and technology, along with law, institutional design, and economics, that can and must be put to use to avert environmental catastrophe. Claude Henry and Laurence Tubiana begin with a measure of the costs of ecological damage—the erosion of biodiversity; air, water, and soil pollution; and the wide-reaching effects of climate change—and then consider the solutions that are either now available or close on the horizon and that may lead to a more sustainable global trajectory. What community-driven or market-based tools can be used to promote sustainable development? How can renewable energy and energy storage advances help us decrease our use of fossil fuels? How can we substitute agroecology for the damaging chemical methods of industrialized agriculture? Is international agreement on climate goals possible? Building on the experience of the most significant climate negotiation of the decade, Earth at Risk shows what a world organized along the principles of sustainability could look like, no matter how optimistic it may seem at the present moment. Though formidable obstacles remain to the realization of this significant transition, Henry and Tubiana present the case for collective initiatives and change that build momentum for implementation and action.
Download or read book Linking Sustainable Livelihoods to Natural Resources and Governance written by Abdul-Mumin Abdulai and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-06-29 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the current level and trend of poverty in the Muslim World, including selected countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, East Asia, the Pacific and South America. Authors explore themes of poverty reduction, poverty alleviation and the extent of influences on social and economic development, particularly natural resource endowments (especially mineral resources) and their utilization. Chapters explore theory and practice, including governance and programmes, and take a detailed look at Zakat as a faith-based policy tool, to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods and thus contribute to better environmental stewardship. The final chapters look at development questions in the Muslim World and make policy recommendations, including a proposed multi-dimensional development collaboration model called the Development Collaboration Octagon Model (DeCOM). Readers will discover theoretical explanations of poverty and how poverty hampers the development of many nations because the poor are unable to partake actively in the development process. Poverty indicators and measurement are discussed, and trends of economic growth including productivity, manufacturing, trade patterns, investment and saving activity, and socio-economic developments are all explored: supporting data is presented in tables and figures, throughout this text. Authors explore the potency and success stories of public poverty alleviation strategies and programmes pursued in the Muslim world, especially the extent to which the institution of Zakat has been effectively incorporated into public poverty alleviation strategies. Policy options required to enhance social and economic development are proposed, to help pull the poor out of the poverty trap into the mainstream economy in the Muslim world. This work will appeal to anyone wishing to scrutinise poverty, its parameters and its relationship with the development of countries in the Muslim world. Scholars in the fields of economics, sociology, geography and Islamic studies will all find something of value here.
Download or read book The Handbook of Contemporary Animism written by Graham Harvey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Contemporary Animism brings together an international team of scholars to examine the full range of animist worldviews and practices. The volume opens with an examination of recent approaches to animism. This is followed by evaluations of ethnographic, cognitive, literary, performative, and material culture approaches, as well as advances in activist and indigenous thinking about animism. This handbook will be invaluable to students and scholars of Religion, Sociology and Anthropology.
Download or read book China s Green Religion written by James Miller and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can Daoism, China's indigenous religion, give us the aesthetic, ethical, political, and spiritual tools to address the root causes of our ecological crisis and construct a sustainable future? In China's Green Religion, James Miller shows how Daoism orients individuals toward a holistic understanding of religion and nature. Explicitly connecting human flourishing to the thriving of nature, Daoism fosters a "green" subjectivity and agency that transforms what it means to live a flourishing life on earth. Through a groundbreaking reconstruction of Daoist philosophy and religion, Miller argues for four key, green insights: a vision of nature as a subjective power that informs human life; an anthropological idea of the porous body based on a sense of qi flowing through landscapes and human beings; a tradition of knowing founded on the experience of transformative power in specific landscapes and topographies; and an aesthetic and moral sensibility based on an affective sensitivity to how the world pervades the body and the body pervades the world. Environmentalists struggle to raise consciousness for their cause, Miller argues, because their activism relies on a quasi-Christian concept of "saving the earth." Instead, environmentalists should integrate nature and culture more seamlessly, cultivating through a contemporary intellectual vocabulary a compelling vision of how the earth materially and spiritually supports human flourishing.
Download or read book Nature and Human Society written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Healthy Sustainable Living written by Tom Bougsty and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-12-05 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, humanity faces the ultimate challenge: creating a sustainable future. Its natural that everyone wants to live a long, meaningful life in optimal health. Because of this universal desire, we can integrate health and sustainability to create a proverbial North Star to guide our future development. Twelve dimensions of life synergize and balance into healthy living, while sustainable living depends on understanding and acting in integrity with reality. An ethical living model introduces a map of reality, so we can evaluate the consequences of our actions and choose how to live in harmony with other people, the environment, and evolutionary processes. The health dimensions, as well as global ethics, apply to all levels of human activity. Therefore, we now have universal tools to work to create healthy sustainable living for individuals, families, businesses, nations, and the entire global community.
Download or read book Food and Environment written by International Conference on Food and Environment and published by WIT Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The many advances in food production made over the past century have made it possible to feed the whole of humanity. But food production and processing can have detrimental effects on the environment. Major challenges remain with industrial-scale Higher productivity and larger volumes should not come at the expense of product quality or animal suffering.. Food-related problems, in spite of their importance, have not been sufficiently well discussed in relation to their possible consequences. It is essential to understand the consequences of food production processes and demands of the rising standard of living can have on the food consumed daily by the world population. Of particular importance are the effects on human health and the well-being of the population, as well as the more general issues related to possible damage to the environment and ecology. This book includes contributions presented at athe first international conference convened to examine these challenges. Topics include Food processing issues; Contamination of food; Pharmaceuticals in food; Obesity-related issues; Pesticides and nutrients; Hormonal effects; Food and fecundity; Genetic engineering; Freezing and thawing; Heavy metals; Pathogens; Salination problems; Desertification; Transportation problems; Traceability; Threshold values; Modern farming; Changing climate; Laws and regulations; Epidemiological studies; Water resources problems; and Animal welfare. The book will be of interest to food scientists and nutritionists, as well as agricultural, ecological, and environmental health experts interested in all these challenges.
Download or read book Towards a New Theory of Religion and Social Change written by Paul-François Tremlett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-03 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that neither theories of secularisation nor theories of lived religion offer satisfactory accounts of religion and social change. Drawing from Deleuze and Gauttari's idea of the assemblage, Paul-Francois Tremlett outlines an alternative. Informed by classical and contemporary theories of religion as well as empirical case studies and ethnography conducted in Manila and London, this book re-frames religion as spatially organised flows. Foregrounding the agency of hon-human actors, it offers a compelling and original account of religion and social change.
Download or read book The Power of the Periphery written by Peder Anker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how Norway has positioned itself as an alternative, environmentally-sound nation in a world filled with tension and instability.
Download or read book Building Resilience for Flood Disaster in Malaka Timor Indonesia written by Apolonia Diana Sherly da Costa and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Economic Development A Way of Sustainable Livelihood written by Dr.Sukanta Sarkar and published by Archers & Elevators Publishing House. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tourism as a Tool for Development written by P. Díaz and published by WIT Press. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some researchers perceive tourism as a process which creates dependency and causes loss of socioeconomic and environmental control, and is harmful to traditional sociocultural structures. For others it is clearly an opportunity for development and convergence among societies. The main consequences of tourism are economic, sociocultural and socio-ecological ones. These directly affect the natural and cultural landscape, as well as the inhabitants of the destinations. ‘Proper management’ can unite the local community; strengthen the historical memory and promote the recognition that the landscape is a legacy worth preserving. If local people can learn to appreciate the need for regulation and careful development of cultural tourism then it is possible to have an alternative to the strategies of convenience, based upon the view of tourism only for profit. Designing tourism to serve heritage and local sustainable development not only helps to conserve the resources that make it possible, but also complies with the ethical duty to guide social perception towards awareness and respect, which in turn will lead to sustainability. By means of case studies and theoretical developments, the authors attempt to present methods designed to minimise the impacts of tourism and encourage its positive effects. Some ideas in the book discuss the role of local communities, their participation in development management, the singularities of community tourism, planning, local governance and the relationship between socio-economic benefits and impacts.
Download or read book The arena of everyday life written by Carja Butijn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 'The arena of everyday life' nine authors look back and forward at developments in the sociology of consumers and households. Nine chapters show variety in the employed methods, from multivariate analyses of survey data to classical essays. The contributions are organised around four themes. In the first theme, two chapters entail a critical discussion of the concepts livelihood and household. The second part deals with health, in particular food security, hygiene and aids/HIV. The third theme focuses on female opportunities to foster income procurement of household by respectively microfinance and entrepreneurship. The fourth theme concentrates on two topical societal developments in a Western society, the first chapter dealing with the issue of creating opportunities for tailor-made services to older people, the second one focussing on the home-work balance of telecommuters. This publication, written by international researchers, once supervised by prof. Anke Niehof, while writing their PhD dissertation, or (former) colleagues of Niehof, covers the many issues and reflecting her work and interest. The arena of everyday life is what her research and teaching evolved around, as shown in this book.
