Societal Challenges and Sustainability : Socio-economic and Environmental Perspectives


Book Description

This book is comprised of eleven chapters encompassing a broad area of environmental practices and policies, a few natural resources and biodiversity, human communities and their practices etc. This book has been written in a simple diction considering the readership of the common people and students. The book can be beneficial for the common people as well as students and researchers owing to its present-day relevance, socio - economic benefits and pressing issues related to environment. This book is expected to be of particular help to the students, teachers and researchers while fulfilling their curiosity for knowledge regarding Environmental Science as a subject and its related issues for development of the sustainable society.




Economics and Sustainability


Book Description

This textbook provides an overview of economic perspectives on sustainability. It synthesises economic, ecological and interdisciplinary sustainability research and by applying an integrated social-ecological and economic framework, demonstrates how this research can be improved and implemented in practice. Split into three parts, the book begins by introducing a range of topics forming the basis of knowledge needed to understand the varying sustainability discourses in economics, ecology and interdisciplinary sustainability research. Chapters cover the political context of sustainability; the history of sustainability in European environmental discourses dating back to the seventeenth century; as well as various problems and forms of interdisciplinary knowledge integration and synthesis in the sustainability process. Part II reviews the core economic themes relevant to sustainable development including natural resource management, environmental economics and ecological economics. Also highlighted are often neglected issues such as conflicts, disasters and interrelated crises on the way towards sustainability. The chapters in Part III discuss the future of the sustainability process. They argue for the necessity of overhauling the relationship between science and practice; explore failures and the unforeseen difficulties of sustainability transformation; and discuss how to enable a long term sustainability process that reaches into the distant future. An innovative resource for a broad range of interdisciplinary programmes on sustainability. The book will be an invaluable reference for master and PhD students, instructors, researchers and practitioners in sustainability governance.




Technological Choices for Sustainability


Book Description

This book offers a critical evaluation of current scientific work on defining the issue of sustainability and on measuring progress towards a sustainable state. It aims to provide a common understanding of how progress towards sustainability can be achieved by optimising technological development, environmental impact and socio-economic factors. A further objective is to identify the major trends in methodologies that assist progress towards sustainability.




An Introduction to Sustainability


Book Description

An Introduction to Sustainability provides students with a comprehensive overview of the key concepts and ideas which are encompassed within the growing field of sustainability. The book teases out the diverse but intersecting domains of sustainability and emphasises strategies for action. Aimed at those studying the subject for the first time, it is unique in giving students from different disciplinary backgrounds a coherent framework and set of core principles for applying broad sustainability principles within their personal and professional lives. These include: working to improve equality within and across generations, moving from consumerism to quality of life goals and respecting diversity in both nature and culture. Areas of emerging importance such as the economics of happiness and wellbeing stand alongside core topics including: Energy and society Consumption and consumerism Risk and resilience Waste, water and land. Key challenges and applications are explored through international case studies and each chapter includes a thematic essay drawing on diverse literature to provide an integrated introduction to fundamental issues. Launched with the brand-new Routledge Sustainability Hub, the book’s companion website contains a range of features to engage students with the interdisciplinary nature of Sustainability. Together these resources provide a wealth of material for learning, teaching and researching the topic of sustainability. This textbook is an essential companion to any sustainability course.




Taking Stock of Industrial Ecology


Book Description

How can we design more sustainable industrial and urban systems that reduce environmental impacts while supporting a high quality of life for everyone? What progress has been made towards reducing resource use and waste, and what are the prospects for more resilient, material-efficient economies? What are the environmental and social impacts of global supply chains and how can they be measured and improved? Such questions are at the heart of the emerging discipline of industrial ecology, covered in Taking Stock of Industrial Ecology. Leading authors, researchers and practitioners review how far industrial ecology has developed and current issues and concerns, with illustrations of what the industrial ecology paradigm has achieved in public policy, corporate strategy and industrial practice. It provides an introduction for students coming to industrial ecology and for professionals who wish to understand what industrial ecology can offer, a reference for researchers and practitioners and a source of case studies for teachers.




Social Science and Sustainability


Book Description

Sustainability policies shape the ways that society and the economy interact with the environment, natural resources and ecosystems, and address issues such as water, energy and food security, and climate change. These policies are complex and are, at times, obscured by contestation, uncertainty and sometimes ignorance. Ultimately, sustainability problems are social problems and they need to be addressed through social and policy change. Social Science and Sustainability draws on the wide-ranging experience of CSIRO’s social scientists in the sustainability policy domain. These researchers have extensive experience in addressing complex issues of society–nature relationships, usually in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists. This book describes some of the evidence-based concepts, frameworks and methodologies they have developed, which may guide a transition to sustainability. Contributions range from exploring ways to enhance livelihoods and alleviate poverty, to examining Australians’ responses to climate change, to discussing sociological perspectives on sustainability and how to make policy relevant. Researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers around the globe will find this book a valuable and thought-provoking contribution to the sustainability literature. It is also suited to academics and students in postgraduate-level courses in social sciences and sustainability, or in courses in applied sociology, applied social psychology and other applied social sciences.




Social Sustainability, Past and Future


Book Description

A novel, integrated approach to understanding long-term human history, viewing it as the long-term evolution of human information-processing. This title is also available as Open Access.




Challenges On the Path Towards Sustainability in Europe


Book Description

Challenges on the Path Towards Sustainability in Europe offers a theoretical and empirical approach to addressing sustainable development, providing rich data analysis at cross-country level, as well as practical examples from the European context.




The Global Sustainability Challenge


Book Description

This collection of essays is based on presentations given at the 4th conference in an annual endowed series held at Duquesne University, USA. It addresses emerging concerns and pivotal problems about our planet’s environment and ecology. The contributions gathered here highlight the inter-relation of topics and expertise regarding science and philosophy, ethics, religion, global issues, and generational perspectives. The book concludes with an ethical analysis of the multiple and over-lapping challenges that require urgent attention and long-term resolution. It will appeal to scholars and students in a variety of disciplines and fields that deal with the earth’s survival and flourishing.




Higher Education for Sustainable Development


Book Description

This book asks how higher education should approach the task of educating for sustainability and then sets to answering it. It provides a guide for those who advocate for sustainability and for those who do not and makes a point of emphasising that all in higher education have the capacity and willingness to contribute in some way. The challenge is to find an approach that unifies the efforts of higher education teachers towards sustainability objectives, rather than dividing them. People at universities across the world were consulted and a grounded theory was devised. This encourages all university teachers to teach what they want to teach openly and honestly, about sustainability or not; but on the way to ensure that their students develop the critical skills that will enable them to fully understand what is being taught and what they are learning.