Download or read book Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development written by Adam S. Weinberg and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2000-07-24 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More Americans recycle than vote. And most do so to improve their communities and the environment. But do recycling programs advance social, economic, and environmental goals? To answer this, three sociologists with expertise in urban and environmental planning have conducted the first major study of urban recycling. They compare four types of programs in the Chicago metropolitan area: a community-based drop-off center, a municipal curbside program, a recycling industrial park, and a linkage program. Their conclusion, admirably elaborated, is that recycling can realize sustainable community development, but that current programs achieve few benefits for the communities in which they are located. The authors discover that the history of recycling mirrors many other urban reforms. What began in the 1960s as a sustainable community enterprise has become a commodity-based, profit-driven industry. Large private firms, using public dollars, have chased out smaller nonprofit and family-owned efforts. Perhaps most troubling is that this process was not born of economic necessity. Rather, as the authors show, socially oriented programs are actually more viable than profit-focused systems. This finding raises unsettling questions about the prospects for any sort of sustainable local development in the globalizing economy. Based on a decade of research, this is the first book to fully explore the range of impacts that recycling generates in our communities. It presents recycling as a tantalizing case study of the promises and pitfalls of community development. It also serves as a rich account of how the state and private interests linked to the global economy alter the terrain of local neighborhoods.
Download or read book Urban Recycling Cooperatives written by Jutta Gutberlet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-12 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solid waste is a major urban challenge worldwide and decisions over which technologies or methods to apply can have beneficial or detrimental long-term consequences. Inappropriate management of solid waste can lead to damaging environmental impacts, particularly in the megacities of the Global South. Urban Recycling Cooperatives explores the multiple narratives and interdisciplinary nature of waste studies, drawing attention to the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges related to waste management. The book asks questions such as: how do we define waste and our relation to it; who is involved in dealing with waste; and what power interactions become manifest over issues of accessing and managing waste? In recent years informal cooperatives have emerged, devoted to recycling household and business waste before reclassifying it and redirecting it to the authorities. Hence, these workers are able to reclaim significant amounts of natural resources and thus contribute to the saving of resources and lessened waste management expenditures. With particular reference to the Brazilian megalopolis of São Paulo, this book describes this paradigm shift in the general understanding of waste as unwanted discard towards the recognition of waste as a resource that must be recovered for reuse or recycling. It would be of interest to students and policy makers working in international development and waste management.
Download or read book Enterprising Communities written by Anna Davies and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-12 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an internationally grounded and critical review of grassroots sustainability enterprises, focusing on the processes that lead to their formation, the governing context that shapes their evolution, the benefits they create and the challenges that they face in different contexts.
Download or read book Urban Research Monitor written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Green Cities written by Nevin Cohen and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colorful bracelets, funky brooches, and beautiful handmade beads: young crafters learn to make all these and much more with this fantastic step-by-step guide. In 12 exciting projects with simple steps and detailed instructions, budding fashionistas create their own stylish accessories to give as gifts or add a touch of personal flair to any ensemble. Following the successful "Art Smart" series, "Craft Smart" presents a fresh, fun approach to four creative skills: knitting, jewelry-making, papercrafting, and crafting with recycled objects. Each book contains 12 original projects to make, using a range of readily available materials. There are projects for boys and girls, carefully chosen to appeal to readers of all abilities. A special "techniques and materials" section encourages young crafters to try out their own ideas while learning valuable practical skills.
Download or read book Garbage Wars written by David Naguib Pellow and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-09-17 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the struggle for environmental justice, focusing on conflicts over solid waste and pollution in Chicago. In Garbage Wars, the sociologist David Pellow describes the politics of garbage in Chicago. He shows how garbage affects residents in vulnerable communities and poses health risks to those who dispose of it. He follows the trash, the pollution, the hazards, and the people who encountered them in the period 1880-2000. What unfolds is a tug of war among social movements, government, and industry over how we manage our waste, who benefits, and who pays the costs. Studies demonstrate that minority and low-income communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards. Pellow analyzes how and why environmental inequalities are created. He also explains how class and racial politics have influenced the waste industry throughout the history of Chicago and the United States. After examining the roles of social movements and workers in defining, resisting, and shaping garbage disposal in the United States, he concludes that some environmental groups and people of color have actually contributed to environmental inequality. By highlighting conflicts over waste dumping, incineration, landfills, and recycling, Pellow provides a historical view of the garbage industry throughout the life cycle of waste. Although his focus is on Chicago, he places the trends and conflicts in a broader context, describing how communities throughout the United States have resisted the waste industry's efforts to locate hazardous facilities in their backyards. The book closes with suggestions for how communities can work more effectively for environmental justice and safe, sustainable waste management.
Download or read book Risky Cities written by Albert S. Fu and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-18 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over half the world's population lives in urban regions, and increasingly disasters are of great concern to city dwellers, policymakers, and builders. Risky Cities is a critical examination of global urban development, capitalism, and its relationship with environmental hazards.
Download or read book Environment and Society written by Stewart Barr and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environment and Society explores ways to promote the behavioural shifts necessary for creating a 'sustainable society'. Through a critical approach to the links between sustainability, policy and citizen engagement, the book argues that sustainability policy needs to move towards a positive perspective, utilizing the well-known techniques of segmentation and social marketing. Such 'mainstreaming' of sustainable lifestyles is likely to be the only effective means of engaging the majority of citizens in the environmental debate, given the major influence of the consumer society on individual aspirations and beliefs. Comprised of three substantive elements, Environment and Society explores the context for behaviour change policy, the approaches adopted by politicians and academic researchers, and the application of such approaches using empirical data from two major research projects. The book is richly illustrated using both theoretical and empirical data and provides an excellent companion to all researchers interested in sustainable lifestyles.
Download or read book The Handbook of Economic Sociology written by Neil J. Smelser and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-28 with total page 749 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Second Edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of economic sociology available. The first edition, copublished in 1994 by Princeton University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation as a synthesis of the burgeoning field of economic sociology, soon established itself as the definitive presentation of the field, and has been widely read, reviewed, and adopted. Since then, the field of economic sociology has continued to grow by leaps and bounds and to move into new theoretical and empirical territory. The second edition, while being as all-embracing in its coverage as the first edition, represents a wholesale revamping. Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg have kept the main overall framework intact, but nearly two-thirds of the chapters are new or have new authors. As in the first edition, they bring together leading sociologists as well as representatives of other social sciences. But the thirty chapters of this volume incorporate many substantial thematic changes and new lines of research--for example, more focus on international and global concerns, chapters on institutional analysis, the transition from socialist economies, organization and networks, and the economic sociology of the ancient world. The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Second Edition is the definitive resource on what continues to be one of the leading edges of sociology and one of its most important interdisciplinary adventures. It is a must read for all faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates doing work in the field. A thoroughly revised and updated version of the most comprehensive treatment of economic sociology available Almost two-thirds of the chapters are new or have new authors Authors include leading sociologists as well as representatives of other social sciences Substantial thematic changes and new lines of research, including more focus on international and global concerns, institutional analysis, the transition from socialist economies, and organization and networks The definitive resource on what continues to be one of the leading edges of sociology and one of its most important interdisciplinary adventures A must read for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates doing work in the field
Download or read book Resisting Garbage written by Lily Baum Pollans and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resisting Garbage presents a new approach to understanding practices of waste removal and recycling in American cities, one that is grounded in the close observation of case studies while being broadly applicable to many American cities today. Most current waste practices in the United States, Lily Baum Pollans argues, prioritize sanitation and efficiency while allowing limited post-consumer recycling as a way to quell consumers’ environmental anxiety. After setting out the contours of this “weak recycling waste regime,” Pollans zooms in on the very different waste management stories of Seattle and Boston over the last forty years. While Boston’s local politics resulted in a waste-export program with minimal recycling, Seattle created new frameworks for thinking about consumption, disposal, and the roles that local governments and ordinary people can play as partners in a project of resource stewardship. By exploring how these two approaches have played out at the national level, Resisting Garbage provides new avenues for evaluating municipal action and fostering practices that will create environmentally meaningful change.
Download or read book Rethinking Life at the Margins written by Michele Lancione and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-20 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experimenting with new ways of looking at the contexts, subjects, processes and multiple political stances that make up life at the margins, this book provides a novel source for a critical rethinking of marginalisation. Drawing on post-colonialism and critical assemblage thinking, the rich ethnographic works presented in the book trace the assemblage of marginality in multiple case-studies encompassing the Global North and South. These works are united by the approach developed in the book, characterised by the refusal of a priori definitions and by a post-human and grounded take on the assemblage of life. The result is a nuanced attention to the potential expressed by everyday articulations and a commitment to produce a processual, vitalist and non-normative cultural politics of the margins. The reader will find in this book unique challenges to accepted and authoritative thinking, and provides new insights into researching life at the margins.
Download or read book The World in Brooklyn written by Judith DeSena and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012-03-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World in Brooklyn: Gentrification, Immigration, and Ethnic Politics in a Global City, is a collection of scholarly papers which analyze demographic, social, political, and economic trends that are occurring in Brooklyn. Brooklyn, as the context, reflects global forces while also contributing to them. The idea for this volume developed as the editors discovered a group of scholars from different disciplines and various universities studying Brooklyn. Brooklyn has always been legendary and has more recently regained its stature as a much sought after place to live, work and have fun. Popular folklore has it that most U.S. residents trace their family origins to Brooklyn. It is presently referred to as one of the “hippest” places in New York. Thus, this book is a collection of demographic, ethnographic, and comparative studies which focus on urban dynamics in Brooklyn. The chapters investigate issues of social class, urban development, immigration, race, ethnicity and politics within the context of Brooklyn. As a whole, this book considers both theoretical and practical urban issues. In most cases the scholarly perspective is on everyday life. With this in mind there are also social justice concerns. Issues of social segregation and attendant homogenization are brought to light. Moreover, social class and race advantages or disadvantages, as part of urban processes, are underscored through critiques of local policy decisions throughout the chapters. A common thread is the assertion by contributors that planning the future of Brooklyn needs to include multi-ethnic, racial, and economic groups, those very residents who make-up Brooklyn.
Download or read book Recycling Reconsidered written by Samantha Macbride and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2013-08-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the success and popularity of recycling has diverted attention from the steep environmental costs of manufacturing the goods we consume and discard. Recycling is widely celebrated as an environmental success story. The accomplishments of the recycling movement can be seen in municipal practice, a thriving private recycling industry, and widespread public support and participation. In the United States, more people recycle than vote. But, as Samantha MacBride points out in this book, the goals of recycling—saving the earth (and trees), conserving resources, and greening the economy—are still far from being realized. The vast majority of solid wastes are still burned or buried. MacBride argues that, since the emergence of the recycling movement in 1970, manufacturers of products that end up in waste have successfully prevented the implementation of more onerous, yet far more effective, forms of sustainable waste policy. Recycling as we know it today generates the illusion of progress while allowing industry to maintain the status quo and place responsibility on consumers and local government. MacBride offers a series of case studies in recycling that pose provocative questions about whether the current ways we deal with waste are really the best ways to bring about real sustainability and environmental justice. She does not aim to debunk or discourage recycling but to help us think beyond recycling as it is today.
Download or read book Cash for Your Trash written by Carl A. Zimring and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Cash for Your Trash, Carl A. Zimring provides a fascinating history of scrap recycling, from colonial times to the present. Integrating findings from archival, industrial, and demographic records, and moving beyond the environmental developments that have shaped modern recycling enterprises, Zimring offers a unique cultural and economic portrait of the private businesses that made large-scale recycling possible.
Download or read book Emerald Cities written by Joan Fitzgerald and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a refreshing look at how American cities are leading the way toward greener, cleaner, and more sustainable forms of economic development. In Emerald Cities, Joan Fitzgerald shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, Fitzgerald argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development. For cities facing worsening budget constraints, investing in high-paying green jobs in renewable energy technology, construction, manufacturing, recycling, and other fields will solve two problems at once, sparking economic growth while at the same time dramatically improving quality of life. Fitzgerald also examines how investing in green research and technology may help to revitalize older industrial cities and offers examples of cities that don't make the top-ten green lists such as Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio and Syracuse, New York. And for cities wishing to emulate those already engaged in developing greener economic practices, Fitzgerald shows which strategies will be most effective according to each city's size, economic history, geography, and other unique circumstances. But cities cannot act alone, and Fitzgerald analyzes the role of state and national government policy in helping cities create the next wave of clean technology growth. Lucid, forward-looking, and guided by a level-headed optimism that clearly distinguishes between genuine progress and exaggerated claims, Emerald Cities points the way toward a sustainable future for the American city.
Download or read book Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry written by David J. Hess and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007-03-16 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry, David Hess examines how social movements and other forms of activism affect innovation in science, technology, and industry. Synthesizing and extending work in social studies of science and technology, social movements, and globalization, Hess explores the interaction of grassroots environmental action and mainstream industry and offers a conceptual framework for understanding it. Hess proposes a theory of scientific and technological change that considers the roles that both industry and grassroots consumers play in setting the research agenda in science and technology, and he identifies "alternative pathways" by which social movements can influence scientific and technological innovation. He analyzes four of these pathways: industrial opposition movements, organized against targeted technologies (as in the campaign against nuclear energy); technology- and product-oriented movements, which press for alternatives (as does the organic food movement); localism, which promotes local ownership (as in "buy-local" campaigns); and access pathways, which support a more equitable distribution of resources. Within each pathway, Hess examines reforms in five different areas: agriculture, energy, waste and manufacturing, infrastructure, and finance. The book's theoretical argument and empirical evidence demonstrate the complex pattern of incorporation (of grassroots innovations) and transformation (of alternative ownership structures and the alternative products themselves) that has characterized the relationship of industry and activism. Hess's analysis of alternative pathways to change suggests ways economic organizations could shift to a more just and sustainable course in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Pragmatic Sustainability written by Steven A. Moore and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-04 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second edition of Pragmatic Sustainability proposes a pragmatic, discursive and pluralistic approach to thinking about sustainability.. Rather than suggesting a single solution to the problem of how to live sustainably, this collection discusses broader approaches to social and environmental change. Eight continuing authors and seven new ones adjust their dispositions toward rapidly changing and still unsustainable conditions, forging agreements and disagreements on five overlapping themes: the Grounds for Sustainability; the critique of Technological Culture; the need to conceive of Sustainability in Place; in Cities; finally asking how should we reimagine the fraught relationship between Civil Society, Industry and Regulation? Editor Steven A. Moore asks how a set of ideas now more than a century old remains relevant. A partial answer can be found in reconstructing the very modern ideas confronted by those who came to call themselves Pragmatists at the beginning of the twentieth century—evolution, ecology and design. Moore argues that we have yet to develop dispositions in theory and practice that critically integrate these ideas into sustainable development. In sum, this new edition provides a fresh and hopeful look at the wicked problems deliberated by almost anyone engaged in adapting to the always changing conditions of the built world.
