A Dictionary of Climate Change and the Environment


Book Description

A Dictionary of Climate Change and the Environment bridges the gap between the many disciplines encompassing climate change, environmental economics, environmental sciences, and environmental studies. It defines a comprehensive set of over 3700 words used across these fields to help policy makers, students, and professionals achieve a holistic view of environmental issues. The Dictionary also features: introductory primers to major topic areas; recommended reading for particular topics and specific words or concepts; and seven appendices, including a catalog of scientific symbols, units, and conversions, as well as an expansive listing and description of selected environmental treaties. The extensive and accessible nature of the content renders this book an indispensible reference for practitioners requiring an informed and balanced description of key concepts and issues. This resource will be extremely valuable to policymakers and professionals working on climate change and other environmental issues, and to postgraduate and undergraduate students in climate change and environmental studies, as well as to academics and other practitioners working on multidisciplinary environmental issues outside their areas of expertise.




A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation


Book Description

With over 8500 entries, this informative dictionary addresses the social, legal, political and economic aspects of the environment and conservation as well as the scientific terms.




Dictionary of Global Climate Change


Book Description

Climate, climate change, climate fluctuations and climatic trends are only a few of the terms used today, in not only conferences, scientific symposia and workshops, but also parliaments and in discussions throughout society. climatologists these terms may be well known; to the vast majority of people, however, they are new, and they require definition and explanation. The World Meteorological Organization inherited an interest and involvement in the studies of climate and climate change from its predecessor, the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was established in 1873. By 1929 the had set up a Commission for Climatology to deal with matters related to climate studies. When, in 1950, the World Meteorological Organization assumed the mantle of the it retained the commission which, among other responsibilities, had already recognized the need for the definition and explanation of terms used in climatology. It must also be said that much of what we now know about climate derives from the scientific and technical programmes - ordinated by and now, to a much greater extent, by In 1979, the First World Climate Conference made an assessment of the status of knowledge of climate and climate variability, and recommended the establishment of a World Climate Programme.




Dictionary and Introduction to Global Environmental Governance


Book Description

This unique dictionary and introduction to Global Environmental Governance (GEG), written and compiled by two veterans of the international stage, provides a compilation of over 5500 terms, organizations and acronyms, drawn from hundreds of official sources. An introductory essay frames the major issues in GEG and outlines the pitfalls of talking past one another when discussing the most critical of issues facing the planet. It challenges those who are concerned with the management of our planet and its inhabitants to understand and accept a vocabulary common to the often-opposing objectives sought in the many GEG instruments. The result is a practical tool that should find a central place on the desk of anyone involved in environmental management, development or sustainability issues anywhere in the world, including the United Nations, government policy makers, NGOs and other stakeholder groups, the business community, and students and professionals. This fully revised and updated edition contains over 500 new entries and acronyms on global environmental governance as well a new introductory section on global water governance, one of the most pressing environmental issues in our era of climate change, growing populations and food shortages. Praise for the first edition:




Dictionary of Environmental Law


Book Description

'There is no shortage of recent dictionaries covering environmental law on reference shelves. What distinguishes this titles is its inclusive coverage of the international scene. For example, where all environmental law dictionaries have an entry for acid rain, Gilpin's Dictionary informs the reader about acid rain problems in Sweden, Norway, Germany and The Netherlands in addition to the United States and Canada. This Dictionary is useful, with balanced coverage of environmental issues throughout the world. . . due to its global inclusiveness and clear, nontechnical language, this dictionary should prove very useful on shelves of all types of libraries and for environmental, political, and legal practitioners.' – Georgia Briscoe, American Reference Books Annual 2002 'Gilpin addresses the elements of environmental law with an indispensable survey of the subject. . . . The strength of this dictionary lies in its international coverage. . . . Language is nontechnical and easily accessible to general readers. . . . Gilpin is recommended for those libraries and individuals interested in international environmental law.' – S.R. Moore, Choice 'I thought Gilpin's work was excellent. The coverage was thorough and extremely helpful without getting overly bogged down in unnecessary details. I also felt that there was a very useful balance between national coverage (as of European Union and United States statutes, concepts and cases) and international agreements. I am certain that scholars, political decision makers, legal practitioners, environmental activists and reference libraries will want to have Gilpin handy. It may well become an indispensable reference work in environmental law and policy.' – Thomas S. Ulen, University of Illinois, US This new dictionary makes an important and innovative contribution to the reference literature on the environment. International in scope, it provides up-to-date entries on macro and micro issues in environmental law in both developed and developing countries. Written by an author with both practical experience in the field, and six previous dictionaries to his name, this book adopts non-technical language to improve access to key topics in environmental law. It combines the use of case studies, best practice models, straightforward definitions and clear explanatory boxes. This dictionary will be invaluable to everyone involved with environmental law; including students of law as well as those in engineering and the social sciences. It will also provide essential reference for all official national and international agencies, environmental protection groups and NGOs, plus environment and planning departments at every level.




Dictionary of Environmental Economics


Book Description

A comprehensive dictionary of environmental economics, compiled by leading academics in the field. Each expression or phrase is explained clearly in non-technical language, with references given to its use in the growing literature on the subject area. From abatement to zonal travel cost method (ZTCM), there are over 1000 cross-referenced entries covering topics such as: environmental instruments for policy-making, techniques applied in environmental and natural resource economics, major issues in environmental economics and environmental management, economics of sustainable development, natural resource accounting, and international environmental agreements. As well as providing incisive answers to questions such as 'What is natural capital?' or 'when are crowding diseconomies important?', the dictionary includes a list of commonly used acronyms and abbreviations, and a complete bibliography detailing the major texts in the field is provided.




Encyclopedia of global warming and climate change


Book Description

This is a collection of approximately 750 articles exploring major topics related to global warming and climate change ranging geographically from the North Pole to the South Pole and thematically from social effects to scientific cause. It also covers industrial and economic factors, the role of societies and much more.




A Dictionary of Environmental History


Book Description

Increasing awareness of the extent and cause of environmental problems has fuelled the emergence of a new and timely discipline: environmental history. An exciting blend of geography, history, archaeology, anthropology, landscape, environment and science, it seeks to reveal how human activity has affected the environment in the past and how we, in turn, have been affected by that environment. How did people use and transform their environment? What problems of pollution and resource depletion occurred? What has been the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation? How have people's perceptions of nature and the environment changed over time? Environmental historians are revealing how and why our environment changed in the past, they are providing key insights into the mechanisms that influence environmental change today, and are helping to make informed decisions on crucial environmental concerns such as deforestation, desertification, pollution, global warming and climate change. Professor Whyte's A Dictionary of Environmental History provides in a single volume a comprehensive reference work covering the past 12,000 years of the Earth's environmental history. An introduction to the discipline is followed by almost 1,000 entries covering key terminology, events, places, dates, topics, as well as the major personalities in the history of the discipline. Entries range from shorter factual accounts to substantial mini-essays on major topics and issues. Fully cross-referenced and with an extensive bibliography, this pioneering work provides an authoritative yet accessible resourcethat will form essential reading for academics, practitioners and students of environmental history and related disciplines.




Encyclopedia of Environmental Change


Book Description

Accessibly written by a team of international authors, the Encyclopedia of Environmental Change provides a gateway to the complex facts, concepts, techniques, methodology and philosophy of environmental change. This three-volume set illustrates and examines topics within this dynamic and rapidly changing interdisciplinary field. The Encyclopedia includes all of the following aspects of environmental change: Diverse evidence of environmental change, including climate change and changes on land and in the oceans Underlying natural and anthropogenic causes and mechanisms Wide-ranging local, regional and global impacts from the polar regions to the tropics Responses of geo-ecosystems and human-environmental systems in the face of past, present and future environmental change Approaches, methodologies and techniques used for reconstructing, dating, monitoring, modelling, projecting and predicting change Social, economic and political dimensions of environmental issues, environmental conservation and management and environmental policy Over 4,000 entries explore the following key themes and more: Conservation Demographic change Environmental management Environmental policy Environmental security Food security Glaciation Green Revolution Human impact on environment Industrialization Landuse change Military impacts on environment Mining and mining impacts Nuclear energy Pollution Renewable resources Solar energy Sustainability Tourism Trade Water resources Water security Wildlife conservation The comprehensive coverage of terminology includes layers of entries ranging from one-line definitions to short essays, making this an invaluable companion for any student of physical geography, environmental geography or environmental sciences.




What are Global Warming and Climate Change?


Book Description

Using a question-and-answer format supplemented by hands-on activities, this book fosters an understanding of the complex processes at work in global warming and climate change.