Agrobiodiversity

Agrobiodiversity
Author: Karl S. Zimmerer
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2023-10-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262549697

Experts discuss the challenges faced in agrobiodiversity and conservation, integrating disciplines that range from plant and biological sciences to economics and political science. Wide-ranging environmental phenomena—including climate change, extreme weather events, and soil and water availability—combine with such socioeconomic factors as food policies, dietary preferences, and market forces to affect agriculture and food production systems on local, national, and global scales. The increasing simplification of food systems, the continuing decline of plant species, and the ongoing spread of pests and disease threaten biodiversity in agriculture as well as the sustainability of food resources. Complicating the situation further, the multiple systems involved—cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, and technological—are driven by human decision making, which is inevitably informed by diverse knowledge systems. The interactions and linkages that emerge necessitate an integrated assessment if we are to make progress toward sustainable agriculture and food systems. This volume in the Strüngmann Forum Reports series offers insights into the challenges faced in agrobiodiversity and sustainability and proposes an integrative framework to guide future research, scholarship, policy, and practice. The contributors offer perspectives from a range of disciplines, including plant and biological sciences, food systems and nutrition, ecology, economics, plant and animal breeding, anthropology, political science, geography, law, and sociology. Topics covered include evolutionary ecology, food and human health, the governance of agrobiodiversity, and the interactions between agrobiodiversity and climate and demographic change.

Cultivating Knowledge

Cultivating Knowledge
Author: Andrew Flachs
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816539634

A single seed is more than just the promise of a plant. In rural south India, seeds represent diverging paths toward a sustainable livelihood. Development programs and global agribusiness promote genetically modified seeds and organic certification as a path toward more sustainable cotton production, but these solutions mask a complex web of economic, social, political, and ecological issues that may have consequences as dire as death. In Cultivating Knowledge anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis. Interweaving ethnographic detail, discussions of ecological knowledge, and deep history, Flachs uncovers the unintended consequences of new technologies, which offer great benefits to some—but at others’ expense. Flachs shows that farmers do not make simple cost-benefit analyses when evaluating new technologies and options. Their evaluation of development is a complex and shifting calculation of social meaning, performance, economics, and personal aspiration. Only by understanding this complicated nexus can we begin to understand sustainable agriculture. By comparing the experiences of farmers engaged with these mutually exclusive visions for the future of agriculture, Cultivating Knowledge investigates the human responses to global agrarian change. It illuminates the local impact of global changes: the slow, persistent dangers of pesticides, inequalities in rural life, the aspirations of people who grow fibers sent around the world, the place of ecological knowledge in modern agriculture, and even the complex threat of suicide. It all begins with a seed.

Learning Strategies for Sustainable Organisations

Learning Strategies for Sustainable Organisations
Author: Bryan Hopkins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2022-05-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 100057041X

Learning Strategies for Sustainable Organisations explores sustainability in the context of organisational practice and its implications for learning. Based on a systems thinking approach, it provides a thorough grounding in the principles of systems thinking and tools that can be used to help implement sustainability-focused learning strategies. Increasingly, organisations are recognising the importance of adapting their practices to become more sustainable. Drawing on the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, new knowledge, skills and attitudes are required to help provide products and services that align with changing social and ecological environments and better serve the communities of which they are a part. This book is a practical guide showing how to facilitate sustainability learning and development within organisations, explaining how to identify gaps in current practice, take into account different contexts and perspectives about what sustainability means, and evaluate results following implementation. Learning resources include chapter summaries, illustrations, reflection points, mind maps and further reading. Written by an independent performance and learning consultant with extensive experience working with international organisations, this book provides a necessary toolkit for human resource development directors, training managers, chief sustainability officers and management consultants specialising in sustainable development.

Everyday Knowledge, Education and Sustainable Futures

Everyday Knowledge, Education and Sustainable Futures
Author: Margaret Robertson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2016-06-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811002169

Everyday knowledge offers opportunities for better understanding of significant issues of our times. Reflecting these themes this book places emphasis on community wisdom. The underpinning argument is that our instinctive urge for survival may not be enough if we do not share our collective knowledge and learn more about the everyday habits, beliefs and actions of communities spread across the region. Contributions from researchers active within local communities help build knowledge capacity and support for collaborative research.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development
Author: Samuel O. Idowu
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2019-09-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030287157

This book examines education about standardization in the context of sustainable management. It shows the role of standardization education in the global economy, and in markets, industries and businesses. The book presents knowledge on standardization for sustainable management, describes measures that can be taken to stimulate it, and highlights strategies for teaching and disseminating the concept. Subsequently presenting a number of best practices and case studies, the book seeks to align theory and practice. For researchers, this is the first academic publication that interconnects the concepts of sustainability, standardization and education. For professionals in the area of sustainability it shows that standardization is an essential instrument for enhancing sustainability for which proper education is needed. For standardization professionals the book reveals the links to sustainability and it shows not only the importance of education about standardization but also how this can be organized, and finally, for universities, the book shows that standardization deserves to be included in the curriculum, and it provides guidance and best practice examples about how this can be done.

Urban Planet

Urban Planet
Author: Thomas Elmqvist
Publisher:
Total Pages: 514
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN: 9781316647554

Global urbanization promises better services, stronger economies, and more connections; it also carries risks and unforeseeable consequences. To deepen our understanding of this complex process and its importance for global sustainability, we need to build interdisciplinary knowledge around a systems approach. Urban Planet takes an integrative look at our urban environment, bringing together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines: from sociology and political science to evolutionary biology, geography, economics and engineering. It includes the perspectives of often neglected voices: architects, journalists, artists and activists. The book provides a much needed cross-scale perspective, connecting challenges and solutions on a local scale with drivers and policy frameworks on a regional and global scale. The authors argue that to overcome the major challenges we are facing, we must embark on a large-scale reinvention of how we live together, grounded in inclusiveness and sustainability.

Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production for Sustainable Cities

Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production for Sustainable Cities
Author: Kerstin Hemström
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2021-03-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781788531450

How can we create appropriate practices for research collaboration in the face of climate change, widening inequalities, decreasing biodiversity and untenable consumption levels? Transdisciplinary co-production focuses on real-world problems through collaborative processes that include a wide variety of knowledge and expertise.

Sustainable Learning

Sustainable Learning
Author: Lorraine Graham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015-01-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1107695953

The book provides readers with the knowledge and skills to be confident and effective inclusive teachers for 21st century classrooms.

Sustainable Project-Based Learning

Sustainable Project-Based Learning
Author: Brad Sever
Publisher: Solution Tree Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2022-03-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1952812348

This essential guide shares a five-step process for designing, implementing, and assessing sustainable project-based learning (SPBL) units while ensuring students gain surface-, deep-, and transfer-level knowledge. Brad Sever draws from his daily work as a practitioner to deliver practical strategies for creating meaningful learning experiences that join academic growth with social-emotional skill development—all supported by the power of professional learning communities. Use this book to help increase authentic learning for your students: Learn the benefits of project-based learning (PBL) and social-emotional learning (SEL) to student growth and academic achievement. Access a five-step process for planning, integrating, and sustaining a comprehensive SPBL framework in your curriculum. Receive reproducible tools and templates you can use independently or collaboratively to maximize student engagement and learning. Reflect with end-of-chapter questions to enhance your understanding of the content. Understand how to promote transfer learning skills through connections to real-world experiences. Contents: Introduction Part I: The What and Why of Sustainable Project-Based Learning Chapter 1: Defining Sustainable Project-Based Learning Chapter 2: Reviewing the Seven PBL Design Elements Chapter 3: Maintaining a Sustainable Relationship With Project-Based Learning Chapter 4: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning Into SPBL Units Part II: The How of Sustainable Project-Based Learning Chapter 5: Step 1 Planning the SBPL Unit Chapter 6: Step 2 Developing SPBL Assessments Chapter 7: Step 3 Establishing a Clear Goal for Student Learning Chapter 8: Step 4 Conducting Teacher Action Research Chapter 9: Step 5 Reflecting, Refining, and Celebrating Chapter 10: Transferring Learning Through Three Simultaneous Experiences Appendix A: Glossary of Key Terms Appendix B: Protocol Library Appendix C: Example SPBL Unit Plans References and Resources Index

Sustainable Learning

Sustainable Learning
Author: Lorraine Graham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015-02-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1316276899

Sustainable Learning: Inclusive Practices for 21st Century Classrooms provides readers with the knowledge and skills to be confident and effective inclusive teachers. The authors show that these skills are essential to quality teaching – teaching that is evidence-based, purposeful, relevant and responsive to students' needs. The book employs three overarching frameworks to examine inclusive practices in education: equity (learning for all), values (learning that matters) and sustainability (learning that lasts). Chapter features include: • 'Think and do' exercises • Examples, case studies and vignettes • Tables, figures and diagrams to help readers visualise core ideas, theories and themes. It encourages teachers to see all students as developing learners and to consider the complexities and diversity of learning in the 21st century. In doing so, it canvasses topics such as a sustainable approach to inclusion, learning processes, teaching processes, differentiation, assessment to support teaching and learning, and life-long learning.