The Planetary Interest

The Planetary Interest
Author: Kennedy Graham
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135358206

This text suggests that contemporary political and institutional arrangements for problem-solving, based on sovereignty as a principle and the nation-state as a decision-making unit, are not equipped to handle such problems and that concepts and methods of decision-making are therefore needed to augment existing ones in dealing with the challenges of the 21st-century.; Kennedy Graham argues that, henceforth, the planet and humanity must be considered as a single-entity for decsion making purposes. He introduces and develops the idea of the planetary interest as a vital conceptual tool to assist citizens and policy-makers in understanding emerging global problems and approaching them with global solutions. The book includes contributions from 20 current or former politicians, who discuss the particular global problems threatening their countries, looking at the ways in which the planetary interest can help them pursue a legitimate national interest.

The Planetary Interest

The Planetary Interest
Author: Kennedy Graham
Publisher:
Total Pages: 289
Release: 1999
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780813526782

The world is in a state of transition to a new age in which nation states are compelled to address certain problems of a global nature, problems that are beyond the capacity of any country, no matter how large and powerful, to solve. Some of these problems threaten the viability and integrity of the planet and place in jeopardy the well being of humanity and other species. In this book Kennedy Graham suggests that contemporary political and institutional arrangements for problem solving are not equipped to handle such problem and that the challenges of the 21st century demand new concepts and methods of decision making. He introduces and develops the idea of the planetary interest as a vital conceptual tool, allowing citizens and policy makers to better understand emerging global problems and respond with global solutions. The book includes contributions from twenty current or former politicians who discuss the particular global problems threatening their countries and consider ways in which recognition of the planetary interest can help them pursue a legitimate national interest.

Planetary Health

Planetary Health
Author: Samuel Myers
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 538
Release: 2020-08-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1610919661

Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems—the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate—are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognized experts. The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.

Principles of Planetary Climate

Principles of Planetary Climate
Author: Raymond T. Pierrehumbert
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 679
Release: 2010-12-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139495062

This book introduces the reader to all the basic physical building blocks of climate needed to understand the present and past climate of Earth, the climates of Solar System planets, and the climates of extrasolar planets. These building blocks include thermodynamics, infrared radiative transfer, scattering, surface heat transfer and various processes governing the evolution of atmospheric composition. Nearly four hundred problems are supplied to help consolidate the reader's understanding, and to lead the reader towards original research on planetary climate. This textbook is invaluable for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in atmospheric science, Earth and planetary science, astrobiology, and physics. It also provides a superb reference text for researchers in these subjects, and is very suitable for academic researchers trained in physics or chemistry who wish to rapidly gain enough background to participate in the excitement of the new research opportunities opening in planetary climate.

Weather: Spaces, Mobilities and Affects

Weather: Spaces, Mobilities and Affects
Author: Kaya Barry
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2020-12-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1000297322

This book delves into the everyday spaces, diverse mobilities and affective potency of weather. It presents cutting-edge research into the multiplicity of weather phenomena and analyses the lived experiences of humans in conjunction with contemporary issues, notably climate change. The book considers how everyday experiences of weather in the mundane lives of people are linked to broader changes in weather patterns and climate change. Heat, dust, ice, snow, precipitation, sunlight, clouds, tides and fog are states of weather that impact on the ways in which humans become intertwined with landscapes. Our experiences with weather are diverse and ever-changing, and engaging with weather entangles humans with mobilities, materials and landscapes. This book thus explores affective and sensory resonances, drawing upon a variety of theoretical, empirical and creative material to investigate how weather is perceived in different social and cultural contexts. Key themes focus on the mobilities generated by weather, the affective and sensual potency of weather, and the diverse cultural forms and practices that exemplify how weather is historically, geographically and artistically represented. Offering a social and cultural understanding of weather events, this book contributes to a growing literature on weather across various disciplines, including human geography and cultural geography, and will thus appeal to students and scholars of geography, sociology, humanities, cultural studies and the arts.

Planet Palm

Planet Palm
Author: Jocelyn C. Zuckerman
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2021-01-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1620975246

Finalist, Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism In the tradition of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a groundbreaking global investigation into the industry ravaging the environment and global health—from the James Beard Award–winning journalist Over the past few decades, palm oil has seeped into every corner of our lives. Worldwide, palm oil production has nearly doubled in just the last decade: oil-palm plantations now cover an area nearly the size of New Zealand, and some form of the commodity lurks in half the products on U.S. grocery shelves. But the palm oil revolution has been built on stolen land and slave labor; it’s swept away cultures and so devastated the landscapes of Southeast Asia that iconic animals now teeter on the brink of extinction. Fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of industrialized nations. James Beard Award–winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient. This groundbreaking work of first-rate journalism compels us to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store and a planet under siege.

Planetary Habitability

Planetary Habitability
Author: KANE
Publisher: Programme: Aas-Iop Astronomy
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2021-12-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780750321181

Understanding planetary habitability is one of the major challenges of the current scientific era, and is a vast inter-disciplinary undertaking that combines planetary science, climate science, and stellar astrophysics. This book provides an overview of the many processes that influence the energy balance of planetary surface environments and control the sustainability of temperate conditions. These factors include such aspects as the influence of stars, the atmospheres and interiors or planets, and the orbital dynamics of planetary systems. Also described are the concepts behind the habitable zone, lessons learned from solar system data, and the vast opportunities that are provided by exoplanet discoveries, both now and into the future. Key Features: Summarises current exoplanet discoveries relevant to habitability Aimed at graduate students and researchers with an interest in exoplanets and astrobiology Describes the primary factors that influence the habitability of a planet Emphasises the need for in situ data in our solar system Covers the degeneracy of geosignatures and biosignatures

Fundamental Planetary Science

Fundamental Planetary Science
Author: Jack J. Lissauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2013-09-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1107354617

A quantitative introduction to the Solar System and planetary systems science for advanced undergraduate students, this engaging new textbook explains the wide variety of physical, chemical and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets. The authors provide an overview of our current knowledge and discuss some of the unanswered questions at the forefront of research in planetary science and astrobiology today. They combine knowledge of the Solar System and the properties of extrasolar planets with astrophysical observations of ongoing star and planet formation, offering a comprehensive model for understanding the origin of planetary systems. The book concludes with an introduction to the fundamental properties of living organisms and the relationship that life has to its host planet. With more than 200 exercises to help students learn how to apply the concepts covered, this textbook is ideal for a one-semester or two-quarter course for undergraduate students.

Facing the Planetary

Facing the Planetary
Author: William E. Connolly
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2017-02-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0822373254

In Facing the Planetary William E. Connolly expands his influential work on the politics of pluralization, capitalism, fragility, and secularism to address the complexities of climate change and to complicate notions of the Anthropocene. Focusing on planetary processes—including the ocean conveyor, glacier flows, tectonic plates, and species evolution—he combines a critical understanding of capitalism with an appreciation of how such nonhuman systems periodically change on their own. Drawing upon scientists and intellectuals such as Lynn Margulis, Michael Benton, Alfred North Whitehead, Anna Tsing, Mahatma Gandhi, Wangari Maathai, Pope Francis, Bruno Latour, and Naomi Klein, Connolly focuses on the gap between those regions creating the most climate change and those suffering most from it. He addresses the creative potential of a "politics of swarming" by which people in different regions and social positions coalesce to reshape dominant priorities. He also explores how those displaying spiritual affinities across differences in creed can energize a militant assemblage that is already underway.

Planetary Sciences

Planetary Sciences
Author: Imke de Pater
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2015-01-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1107091616

This updated second edition takes in the latest measurements. An authoritative introduction for graduate students in the physical sciences.