Addressing Tipping Points for a Precarious Future

Addressing Tipping Points for a Precarious Future
Author: Timothy O'Riordan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0197265537

Tipping points are zones or thresholds of profound changes in natural or social conditions with very considerable and largely unforecastable consequences. Tipping points may be dangerous for societies and economies, especially if the prevailing governing arrangements are not designed either to anticipate them or adapt to their arrival. Tipping points can also be transformational of cultures and behaviours so that societies can learn to adapt and to alter their outlooks and mores in favour of accommodating to more sustainable ways of living. This volume examines scientific, economic and social analyses of tipping points, and the spiritual and creative approaches to identifying and anticipating them. The authors focus on climate change, ice melt, tropical forest drying and alterations in oceanic and atmospheric circulations. They also look closely at various aspects of human use of the planet, especially food production, and at the loss of biodiversity, where alterations to natural cycles may be creating convulsive couplings of tipping points. They survey the various institutional aspects of politics, economics, culture and religion to see why such dangers persist.

Sustainable Energy Development

Sustainable Energy Development
Author: Elena V. Shabliy
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2024-08-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1666965820

Sustainable Energy Development: Technology and Investment provides deeper insights into the connected realms of sustainable energy, economic growth, and political discourse, emphasizing the pivotal role of innovation, investment, and technology. This edited collection delves into the burgeoning intersection of capitalism and environmentalism, examining initiatives such as climate-conscious investment and the development of green technology. Climate change poses threats to human well-being, including complex ecosystems, global food security, and the pursuit of sustainable pathways. Historical temperature records serve as compelling evidence of climate change, illustrating global temperature increases across various countries and territories. The book offers profound insights into sustainable energy development, technology, and investment in climate-oriented solutions, elucidating both the opportunities and challenges of climate-aligned investment strategies.

The Educational Leader in a World of Covert Threats

The Educational Leader in a World of Covert Threats
Author: Mike Bottery
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-05-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1350160539

In a rapidly changing world with threats to the sustainability of the environment, societies, institutions and the people within them, a crucial question for educational leaders needs to be: what are these threats to sustainability, and how does the role of the educational leader need adapting to meet them through this century? Mike Bottery unpacks this question by examining how major terms in the field are used, mis-used, or mis-understood, before looking specifically at five covert threats: wicked problems, positive feedback, exponential growth, inappropriate degrees of connectivity, and tipping points. He looks at the impact these threats have upon sustainability at micro-, meso-, and macro- levels, and how understanding and meeting these threats needs to change the educational leader's thought, values, and practice. Bottery argues that such awareness should not only change the focus of educational institutions, but also the focus of those inspecting such institutions. Such recognition then needs to become part of the cultural zeitgeist of present-day societies if future generations are to inherit a sustainable world. In so doing, The Educational Leader in a World of Covert Threats provides an original, timely and essential re-think of the educational leader's role which makes it unique in the educational leadership literature.

The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences

The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences
Author: Ronald Pohoryles
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2019-05-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351659332

This book is a compendium of pragmatism in the social sciences. While addressing several distinct spheres, it carries a common message: the future of the social sciences depends on a shared understanding of society based on the knowledge of various disciplines and transcending the currently forbidding borders between scientific knowledge and the other forms of knowledge. Looking back at the social science traditions this is nothing new. To ensure a fruitful future for the social sciences a paradigm shift is unavoidable. The consequence of the increase of knowledge in the last two centuries was the specialization of the sciences. The nineteenth century saw the separation of humanities and social sciences; the twentieth century is even characterized by specialization within the disciplines and the occurrence of competing schools of thought. This book tries to overcome the barriers that are built between and within the disciplines, and to counteract the unnecessary barriers created by the emergence of "schools of thoughts" that distrust each other and the social sciences as a whole. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.

Resource and Environmental Management

Resource and Environmental Management
Author: Bruce Mitchell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2019
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0190885815

In order to optimally manage the environment and natural resources, it is vitally important to recognize that there is much more to consider than just the environment itself and the natural resources it provides. A key consideration is also the interrelationship between natural ecosystems and human involvement and behavior. This interaction is where the field of environmental resource management comes into play: the complex ecological and sociological systems of the natural world intertwined. The purpose of this book is to consider such matters, and to help readers develop their own capacities as environmental managers and stewards. Bruce Mitchell's textbook Resource and Environmental Management served as the gold standard for many environmental science courses when the first edition published in 1997. Now, twenty years later, an updated third edition allows for the inclusion of recent developments. The book covers the basic theories and concepts of environmental resource management, and guides students to be able to apply those concepts to practical situations. By covering basic theories and concepts, and by using case studies to show how these have been applied, Bruce Mitchell's new edition seeks to ensure that students have competence in both aspects. The text enhances the reader's capacity to conduct practice and research in resource and environmental management.

Sustainable Diets

Sustainable Diets
Author: Pamela Mason
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2017-03-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 131777003X

How can huge populations be fed healthily, equitably and affordably while maintaining the ecosystems on which life depends? The evidence of diet’s impact on public health and the environment has grown in recent decades, yet changing food supply, consumer habits and economic aspirations proves hard. This book explores what is meant by sustainable diets and why this has to be the goal for the Anthropocene, the current era in which human activities are driving the mismatch of humans and the planet. Food production and consumption are key drivers of transitions already underway, yet policy makers hesitate to reshape public eating habits and tackle the unsustainability of the global food system. The authors propose a multi-criteria approach to sustainable diets, giving equal weight to nutrition and public health, the environment, socio-cultural issues, food quality, economics and governance. This six-pronged approach to sustainable diets brings order and rationality to what either is seen as too complex to handle or is addressed simplistically and ineffectually. The book provides a major overview of this vibrant issue of interdisciplinary and public interest. It outlines the reasons for concern and how actors throughout the food system (governments, producers, civil society and consumers) must engage with (un)sustainable diets.

Culture, Politics and Climate Change

Culture, Politics and Climate Change
Author: Deserai A. Crow
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2014-03-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135103348

Focusing on cultural values and norms as they are translated into politics and policy outcomes, this book presents a unique contribution in combining research from varied disciplines and from both the developed and developing world. This collection draws from multiple perspectives to present an overview of the knowledge related to our current understanding of climate change politics and culture. It is divided into four sections – Culture and Values, Communication and Media, Politics and Policy, and Future Directions in Climate Politics Scholarship – each followed by a commentary from a key expert in the field. The book includes analysis of the challenges and opportunities for establishing successful communication on climate change among scientists, the media, policy-makers, and activists. With an emphasis on the interrelation between social, cultural, and political aspects of climate change communication, this volume should be of interest to students and scholars of climate change, environment studies, environmental policy, communication, cultural studies, media studies, politics, sociology.

Climate and Culture

Climate and Culture
Author: Giuseppe Feola
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2019-10-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108422500

Discusses how culture both facilitates and inhibits our ability to address, live with, and make sense of climate change.

Complexity Science

Complexity Science
Author: Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 461
Release: 2022-11-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108834760

This introductory textbook provides detailed coverage of the rapidly growing field of complexity science and accommodates readers from a wide variety of backgrounds, and with varying levels of mathematical skill. The book contains a broad range of end of chapter problems and extended projects, with solutions available to instructors online.