Download or read book Surviving the 21st Century written by Julian Cribb and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book explores the central question facing humanity today: how can we best survive the ten great existential challenges that are now coming together to confront us? Besides describing these challenges from the latest scientific perspectives, it also outlines and integrates the solutions, both at global and individual level and concludes optimistically. This book brings together in one easy-to-read work the principal issues facing humanity. It is written for the two next generations who will have to deal with the compounding risks they inherit, and which flow from overpopulation, resource pressures and human nature. The author examines ten intersecting areas of activity (mass extinction, resource depletion, WMD, climate change, universal toxicity, food crises, population and urban expansion, pandemic disease, dangerous new technologies and self-delusion) which pose manifest risks to civilization and, potentially, to our species’ long-term future. This isn’t a book just about problems. It is also about solutions. Every chapter concludes with clear conclusions and consensus advice on what needs to be done at global level —but it also empowers individuals with what they can do for themselves to make a difference. Unlike other books, it offers integrated solutions across the areas of greatest risk. It explains why Homo sapiens is no longer an appropriate name for our species, and what should be done about it.
Download or read book Surviving the Century written by Herbert Girardet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental and human catastrophe looms ever larger for planet Earth. From the need to build sustainable cities to house growing billions to transforming the international trade system to tackling run-away climate change, positive, powerful action is ne.
Download or read book Nomadland Surviving America in the Twenty First Century written by Jessica Bruder and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiration for Chloé Zhao's 2020 Golden Lion award-winning film starring Frances McDormand. "People who thought the 2008 financial collapse was over a long time ago need to meet the people Jessica Bruder got to know in this scorching, beautifully written, vivid, disturbing (and occasionally wryly funny) book." —Rebecca Solnit From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans, forming a growing community of nomads. Nomadland tells a revelatory tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy—one which foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, it celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive, but have not given up hope.
Download or read book What Next written by Chris Patten and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalisation, energy, international crime, Weapons of Mass Destruction, nuclear proliferation, small arms proliferation, international drugs trafficking, climate change, water shortage, migration, epidemic disease, the fraying of the nation state: the list of challenges facing our world is itself proliferating rapidly, and nobody seems to have much of a grip on what is going on. Digesting vast amounts of information from a multiplicity of sources, and drawing on his experience at the highest levels of national and international politics, Chris Patten analyses what we know in each of these areas and argues how in each of them we could get somewhere we might want to be. Very little, he says, has turned out as we might have expected twenty years ago, but there is plenty we can still do. Readers of Patten's previous books will know what a penetrating analyst and engaging writer he is. This is his most ambitious and impressive yet.
Download or read book Rescue the Surviving Souls written by Adam Teller and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The mid-seventeenth century witnessed an enormous wave of Jewish refugees and forced migrants from the wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who spread across the Jewish communities of Europe and Asia. A series of wars that hit the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth-the Khmelnytsky uprising of 1648; the Muscovite invasion that begin in 1654; and the Swedish incursion from 1655 to 1660-all together forced many Jews out of their homes. Though not the direct targets of the combatants, within a short time many were deeply involved in the conflicts, some becoming victims of violence and some becoming arms-bearing participants. But most became refugees and forced migrants. These refugees posed a huge social, economic and ethical challenge to the Jewish world. In an unprecedented manner, the Jewish centers around Europe answered this challenge and, both individually and jointly, organized relief for the Polish-Lithuanian Jews in all the different places they now found themselves. The need for concerted action on behalf of the Polish Jewish refugees strengthened ties between communities across Europe, and significantly increased the range of communal co-operation. The book moves through the three different environments the refugees found themselves in. The first part looks at the refugees who remained within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, probing the local and regional policies of relief that would eventually prove so successful in helping them overcome the traumas of their past. The second examines the Jews who were brought to the slave markets of Constantinople, and then redeemed there by newly developed philanthropic systems that had raised the money to do so. The third examines the fate of the Jews who fled to Central and Western Europe, examining tensions that developed within the local Jewish populations between the need to help the refugees and a basic antipathy born of cultural difference. In each case, a web of inter-communal connections was created to help support the refugees-bringing different parts of the Jewish world into an extraordinary level of purposeful contact, and paving the way for similar organization in the future. As a result, the seventeenth century communities set in motion processes of change that would eventually be refashioned into the globalized Jewish world we know today"--
Download or read book Surviving the Century written by Herbert Girardet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The combined analysis presented here of why current arrangements are failing the future and clear insights of the way to go, offer us hope.' Mary Robinson, President of Realising Rights, Ethical Globalisation Initiative, and former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Environmental and human catastrophe looms ever larger for planet Earth. Powerful action is required now to turn a deepening global crisis into an unprecedented opportunity for positive change. This book shows how a dramatic transformation of how humans relate to the Earth, and to one another, can be achieved. Surviving the Century is the first major publication by the World Future Council (WFC), a new international voice for future generations. Reflecting the positive mission of the WFC, each chapter addresses a different critical issue in a systematic and constructive way, describing and analysing the topic before indicating real solutions. The eight main issues covered are: countering climate chaos, renewable energy policy, local farming systems, rainforests and climate change, creating sustainable cities, cradle to cradle production systems, a radical vision for trade and creating a living democracy. Surviving the Century is a must-have primer and action plan for all leaders in government, business and NGOs, and for all who want to be part of the historic opportunity to provide solutions to the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. Published with the World Future Council.
Download or read book Surviving Marriage In The 21st Century written by Rufus and Jenny Triplett and published by Dawah International LLC. This book was released on 2013-02-13 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surviving Marriage Tips is more than a book of general rhetoric. It is a book of relatable experiences written from the viewpoint of a man and woman, in their own humorous way, who committed to the institution of marriage at the young age of 21.
Download or read book Surviving Mexico written by Celeste González de Bustamante and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been killed in Mexico. Today the country is one of the most dangerous in the world in which to be a reporter. In Surviving Mexico, Celeste González de Bustamante and Jeannine E. Relly examine the networks of political power, business interests, and organized crime that threaten and attack Mexican journalists, who forge ahead despite the risks. Amid the crackdown on drug cartels, overall violence in Mexico has increased, and journalists covering the conflict have grown more vulnerable. But it is not just criminal groups that want reporters out of the way. Government forces also attack journalists in order to shield corrupt authorities and the very criminals they are supposed to be fighting. Meanwhile some news organizations, enriched by their ties to corrupt government officials and criminal groups, fail to support their employees. In some cases, journalists must wait for a “green light” to publish not from their editors but from organized crime groups. Despite seemingly insurmountable constraints, journalists have turned to one another and to their communities to resist pressures and create their own networks of resilience. Drawing on a decade of rigorous research in Mexico, González de Bustamante and Relly explain how journalists have become their own activists and how they hold those in power accountable.
Download or read book Our Final Hour written by Martin Rees and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientist known for unraveling the complexities of the universe over millions of years, Sir Martin Rees now warns that humankind is potentially the maker of its own demise -- and that of the cosmos. Though the twenty-first century could be the critical era in which life on Earth spreads beyond our solar system, it is just as likely that we have endangered the future of the entire universe. With clarity and precision, Rees maps out the ways technology could destroy our species and thereby foreclose the potential of a living universe whose evolution has just begun. Rees boldly forecasts the startling risks that stem from our accelerating rate of technological advances. We could be wiped out by lethal "engineered" airborne viruses, or by rogue nano-machines that replicate catastrophically. Experiments that crash together atomic nuclei could start a chain reaction that erodes all atoms of Earth, or could even tear the fabric of space itself. Through malign intent or by mistake, a single event could trigger global disaster. Though we can never completely safeguard our future, increased regulation and inspection can help us to prevent catastrophe. Rees's vision of the infinite future that we have put at risk -- a cosmos more vast and diverse than any of us has ever imagined -- is both a work of stunning scientific originality and a humanistic clarion call on behalf of the future of life.
Download or read book The Dark Side of Technology written by Peter Townsend and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-19 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dark Side of Technology is intended as a powerful wake-up call to the potential dangers that could, in the near future, destroy our current advanced civilizations. The author examines how fragile our dependence on electronic communications, information storage, and satellites is, as vulnerability increases in an age of raising security concerns. This weakness is evident from the exponential rise in cyber-crime and terrorism. Satellites are crucial to modern-day living, but they can be destroyed by energetic space debris or damaged by solar emissions. Destruction of data, communications, and electrical power grids would bring disaster to advanced nations. Such events could dramatically change our social and economic landscapes within the next 10-20 years. New technology equally impacts employment, agriculture, biology, medicine, transport, languages, and our social well-being. This book explores both the good and the bad aspects of technological advances, in order to raise awareness and promote caution. Technology may be impressive, but we need to be mindful of potential negative future effects. We ought to seriously consider the long term consequences of an increasing failure to pursue healthy life styles, use of ineffective antibiotics, genetic mutations, and the destruction of food supplies and natural resources. The diverse topics covered aims to show why we must act now to plan for both the predictable downsides of technology, and also develop contingency plans for potential major catastrophes, including natural events where we cannot define accurate time scales.
Download or read book Surviving 1000 Centuries written by Roger-Maurice Bonnet and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-04-02 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The circumstances that will shape the long-term future of our planet will be constrained by what is physically possible and what is not. This full color book provides a quantitative view of our civilization over the next 100,000 years, in comparison to the 40-60,000 years it took for modern humans to emerge from Africa, on the basis of contemporary scientific and technological knowledge. The evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere and the origin of water are highlighted as the most important factors for the emergence and the development of life. The authors consider both cosmic and natural hazards, pointing out that scientific information provided by satellites and communication systems on the ground could prevent many unnecessary casualties by forward planning and the installation of elementary precautions. The Earth’s evolving climate is considered, showing how greenhouse gases have played an important role in the past climate, whereas human industrial and agricultural emissions will greatly impact our future.
Download or read book America s Most Sustainable Cities and Regions written by John W. Day and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-23 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes you on a unique journey through American history, taking time to consider the forces that shaped the development of various cities and regions, and arrives at an unexpected conclusion regarding sustainability. From the American Dream to globalization to the digital and information revolutions, we assume that humans have taken control of our collective destinies in spite of potholes in the road such as the Great Recession of 2007-2009. However, these attitudes were formed during a unique 100-year period of human history in which a large but finite supply of fossil fuels was tapped to feed our economic and innovation engine. Today, at the peak of the Oil Age, the horizon looks different. Cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas are situated where water and other vital ecological services are scarce, and the enormous flows of resources and energy that were needed to create the megalopolises of the 20th century will prove unsustainable. Climate change is a reality, and regional impacts will become increasingly severe. Economies such as Las Vegas, which are dependent on discretionary income and buffeted by climate change, are already suffering the fate of the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Finite resources will mean profound changes for society in general and the energy-intensive lifestyles of the US and Canada in particular. But not all regions are equally vulnerable to these 21st-century megatrends. Are you ready to look beyond “America’s Most Livable Cities” to the critical factors that will determine the sustainability of your municipality and region? Find out where your city or region ranks according to the forces that will impact our lives in the next years and decades. Find out how: ·resource availability and ecological services shaped the modern landscape ·emerging megatrends will make cities and regions more or less livable in the new century ·your city or region ranks on a “sustainability” map of the United States ·urban metabolism puts large cities at particular risk ·sustainability factors will favor economic solutions at a local, rather than global, level ·these principles apply to industrial economies and countries globally. This book should be cited as follows: J. Day, C. Hall, E. Roy, M. Moersbaecher, C. D'Elia, D. Pimentel, and A. Yanez. 2016. America's most sustainable cities and regions: Surviving the 21st century megatrends. Springer, New York. 348 p.
Download or read book Surviving Ourselves written by Eric Herm and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A discussion of the relationship between nature and humanity. Solutions are sought in the compatability of the two for survival. Through essays and poetry, the author conveys a message of revolution and evolution based on his own experiences as a fourth-generation farmer. Humanity must embrace nature rather than assail it.
Download or read book Surviving Autocracy written by Masha Gessen and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen.” —The New York Times “A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact.” —Interview As seen on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and heard on NPR’s All Things Considered: the bestselling, National Book Award–winning journalist offers an essential guide to understanding, resisting, and recovering from the ravages of our tumultuous times. This incisive book provides an essential guide to understanding and recovering from the calamitous corrosion of American democracy over the past few years. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen has a sixth sense for the manifestations of autocracy—and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate their emergence to Americans. Gessen not only anatomizes the corrosion of the institutions and cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years changed us from a people who saw ourselves as a nation of immigrants to a populace haggling over a border wall, heirs to a degraded sense of truth, meaning, and possibility. Surviving Autocracy is an inventory of ravages and a call to account but also a beacon to recovery—and to the hope of what comes next.
Download or read book The Future We Choose written by Christiana Figueres and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cautionary but optimistic book about the world’s changing climate and the fate of humanity, from Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac—who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015. The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a regenerative world that has net-zero emissions. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can, and must, do to fend off disaster.
Download or read book Florence Under Siege written by John Henderson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid recreation of how the governors and governed of early seventeenth-century Florence confronted, suffered, and survived a major epidemic of plague Plague remains the paradigm against which reactions to many epidemics are often judged. Here, John Henderson examines how a major city fought, suffered, and survived the impact of plague. Going beyond traditional oppositions between rich and poor, this book provides a nuanced and more compassionate interpretation of government policies in practice, by recreating the very human reactions and survival strategies of families and individuals. From the evocation of the overcrowded conditions in isolation hospitals to the splendor of religious processions, Henderson analyzes Florentine reactions within a wider European context to assess the effect of state policies on the city, street, and family. Writing in a vivid and approachable way, this book unearths the forgotten stories of doctors and administrators struggling to cope with the sick and dying, and of those who were left bereft and confused by the sudden loss of relatives.
Download or read book Surviving in a Material World written by Ronald Paul Hill and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of the last decade, Ronald Hill has dedicated his research efforts to answering the question: How do the poor survive in America's material world? Hill identifies six subgroups among the poor, including the "hidden homeless," homeless families living in shelters, poor children, and the rural poor. Approximately 13 percent of Americans (35 million people) live in poverty. That rate soars for children: it is estimated that nearly one in five young people lives in a home without adequate income, shelter, food, and health care. Bearing in mind the specific needs of each community, Hill proposes solutions that attack the roots of poverty by utilizing impoverished groups' strengths and understanding their weaknesses.
