Striving For Environmental Sustainability In A Complex World
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| Author | : George Francis |
| Publisher | : UBC Press |
| Total Pages | : 261 |
| Release | : 2017-01-18 |
| Genre | : Nature |
| ISBN | : 0774831413 |
In the face of growing anxiety about the environmental sustainability of the world, George Francis, a leading authority in the field of sustainability studies, examines initiatives undertaken in Canada over the past twenty-five years to protect some of our unique environments. With rich and varied insight, spirited prose, and a deep and personal engagement with the material, the author documents the challenges faced by those who manage complex sustainability projects. Focusing mainly on collaborative studies of sixteen landscape regions designated as “Biosphere Reserves” by UNESCO and fifteen regions designated as “Model Forests” by the Canadian Forest Service, the book also summarizes a number of smaller sustainability initiatives in regions across the country. The author concludes on a hopeful note, looking forward to a future of solutions – those considered, proposed, promoted, and in some cases already implemented by groups striving to create sustainable societies in an increasingly complex world.
| Author | : Mark Swilling |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 331 |
| Release | : 2019-11-06 |
| Genre | : Nature |
| ISBN | : 042960372X |
With transitions to more sustainable ways of living already underway, this book examines how we understand the underlying dynamics of the transitions that are unfolding. Without this understanding, we enter the future in a state of informed bewilderment. Every day we are bombarded by reports about ecosystem breakdown, social conflict, economic stagnation and a crisis of identity. There is mounting evidence that deeper transitions are underway that suggest we may be entering another period of great transformation equal in significance to the agricultural revolution some 13,000 years ago or the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago. This book helps readers make sense of our global crisis and the dynamics of transition that could result in a shift from the industrial epoch that we live in now to a more sustainable and equitable age. The global renewable energy transition that is already underway holds the key to the wider just transition. However, the evolutionary potential of the present also manifests in the mushrooming of ecocultures, new urban visions, sustainability-oriented developmental states and new ways of learning and researching. Shedding light on the highly complex challenge of a sustainable and just transition, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with establishing a more sustainable and equitable world. Ultimately, this is a book about hope but without easy answers.
| Author | : Karen L. Higgins |
| Publisher | : Academic Press |
| Total Pages | : 222 |
| Release | : 2014-11-24 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 0128031085 |
How to sustain our world for future generations has perplexed us for centuries. We have reached a crossroads: we may choose the rocky path of responsibility or continue on the paved road of excess that promises hardship for our progeny. Independent efforts to resolve isolated issues are inadequate. Different from these efforts and from other books on the topic, this book uses systems thinking to understand the dominant forces that are shaping our hope for sustainability. It first describes a mental model - the bubble that holds our beliefs - that emerges from preponderant world views and explains current global trends. The model emphasizes economic growth and drives behavior toward short-term and self-motivated outcomes that thwart sustainability. The book then weaves statistical trends into a system diagram and shows how the economic, environmental, and societal contributors of sustainability interact. From this holistic perspective, it finds leverage points where actions can be most effective and combines eight areas of intervention into an integrated plan. By emphasizing both individual and collective actions, it addresses the conundrum of how to blend human nature with sustainability. Finally, it identifies primary three lessons we can learn by applying systems thinking to sustainability. Its metaphor-rich and accessible style makes the complex topic approachable and allows the reader to appreciate the intricate balance required to sustain life on Earth. - Highlights the application of system thinking in economics - Identifies systemic leveraging actions for achieving sustainability - Outlines a comprehensive and integrated plan for achieving sustainable stewardship in the future
| Author | : Helena Bender |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 417 |
| Release | : 2012-07-17 |
| Genre | : Law |
| ISBN | : 1107688663 |
An interdisciplinary textbook that incorporates case material and theoretical tools for the Earth changers of today and tomorrow.
| Author | : Jens Newig |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 203 |
| Release | : 2013-09-13 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 1317991508 |
Sustainable development stirs up debate about the capacities of political steering and governance. The complexity of the task expounds limits of steering in three dimensions: goals, knowledge, and power: Sustainability goals are subject to changing and controversial risk perceptions, values and interests. Moreover, knowledge of the coupled dynamics of society, technology and nature is limited. Finally, the power to shape structural change in society and technology is distributed across a multitude of actors and societal subsystems. Steering attempts therefore have to cope with conflict and ambivalence, with uncertainty, and with a lack of central control; and they have to face the necessity of coordinating different actor groups and social networks. This volume explores steering strategies and governance arrangements for sustainable development with a view to these problem dimensions. The contributions by authors from various disciplines approach these challenges from different conceptual angles, ranging from positivist, managerial up to post-modern, constructivist perspectives. By combining theoretical reflections with insights from empirical research in European and American contexts, the volume maps out conditions and identifies approaches which both reflect the limits of steering and reveal options for constructively taking up the task of sustainable development in science and practice.
| Author | : Sarah Holdsworth |
| Publisher | : CSIRO PUBLISHING |
| Total Pages | : 220 |
| Release | : 2004-10-26 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0643099514 |
Protecting the Future showcases tangible examples of the practical implementation of global sustainability and the triple bottom-line plus one (comprising environmental, social and cultural economic and governance dimensions) in the scholarship and operations of RMIT University. These practical initiatives, applications and methodologies can provide information and inspiration for individuals or organisations wanting to implement global sustainability principles in their planning and operations. Global sustainability is one of the fastest growing concerns around the world. Organisations of all kinds are increasingly aware that their future may well depend on their ability to create solutions to economic, environmental, social and cultural as well as governance issues.
| Author | : Pamela Matson |
| Publisher | : Princeton University Press |
| Total Pages | : 245 |
| Release | : 2016-03-29 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 1400881218 |
An essential guide to sustainable development for students and practitioners Sustainability is a global imperative and a scientific challenge like no other. This concise guide provides students and practitioners with a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable development, and serves as an invaluable companion to more narrowly focused courses dealing with sustainability in particular sectors such as energy, food, water, and housing, or in particular regions of the world. Written by leading experts, Pursuing Sustainability shows how more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives can help you achieve your sustainability objectives. It stresses the need for understanding how capital assets are linked to sustainability goals through the complex adaptive dynamics of social-environmental systems, how committed people can use governance processes to alter those dynamics, and how successful interventions can be shaped through collaborations among researchers and practitioners on the ground. The ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and an invaluable resource for anyone working in this fast-growing field, Pursuing Sustainability also features case studies, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading. Provides a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action Draws on the latest cutting-edge science and practices Serves as the ideal companion text to more narrowly focused courses Utilizes interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives Illustrates concepts with a core set of case studies used throughout the book Written by world authorities on sustainability An online illustration package is available to professors
| Author | : Angela Espinosa |
| Publisher | : World Scientific |
| Total Pages | : 390 |
| Release | : 2011 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 1848165277 |
A major challenge of our times is to understand and manage the increasing complexity of socio-economic reality. This has immediate relevance for sustainable development. The impact of recent contributions from systems and complexity sciences in addressing this issue has not filtered down into effective practice ? notably, there remain problems caused by the legacy of competing paradigms and the application of their associated methodologies. This book argues the urgency for the application of analytical tools that embody the principles of complexity management. The authors describe a theoretical framework based on complexity science with a focus on organisational and second order cybernetics, one that presents a powerful new insight into the concept of sustainability. The book also describes actual applications of the ideas in the area of organisational, societal and environmental management, and reflects upon the impact of such an approach on current practice.
| Author | : Choy Yee Keong |
| Publisher | : Elsevier |
| Total Pages | : 465 |
| Release | : 2020-10-31 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0128224134 |
Global Environmental Sustainability: Case Studies and Analysis of the United Nations' Journey toward Sustainable Development presents an integrated, interdisciplinary analysis of sustainable development, addressing global environmental problems in the contemporary world. It critically examines current actions being taken on global and local scales, particularly in relation to the UN's efforts to promote sustainable development. This approach is supported by empirical analysis, drawing upon a host of interweaving insights spanning economics, politics, ecology, environmental philosophy, and ethics, among others. As a result, it offers a comprehensive and well-balanced assessment of the overall perspective of sustainable development supported by in-depth content analysis, theoretical evaluation, empirical and actual case studies premised on solid data, and actual field work. Also, the book marks a milestone in placing the Covid-19 pandemic into a perspective for understanding the universality of human collective environmental behavior and action.By utilizing in-depth analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, and challenging the status quo of what is expected in the global approach to sustainable development, Global Environmental Sustainability provides the theory and methodology of empirical sustainable development which is especially germane to our advanced society today, which is deeply entrenched in a crisis of environmental morality. More particularly, it serves as a salient source of moral reconstitution of society grounded in empirical reality to liberate man's excessive spirit of individualism and self-aggrandizement to the detriment of the environment. Epistemologically, the book furnishes a remarkable tour de force with a new level of analytical insight to help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in sustainability and environmental science, as well as the many other disciplines involved in sustainable development, to better understand sustainability from a new perspective and provides a methodological direction to pursue solutions going forward. - Provides a systematic exposition of sustainable development in all its complexity, with all the chapters complementing each other in an integral way - Presents extensive empirical evidence of various environmental problems across the world including China, the United States, Canada, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa, and the extent to which the United Nations has succeeded in driving toward global environmental sustainability - Provides a cogent examination of the treatment of our global commons by some of the world's most powerful leaders - Includes data from field studies and in-depth interviews with indigenous people in Borneo's rainforests of the Malaysian state of Sarawak most affected by environmental change
| Author | : Sukhbir Sandhu |
| Publisher | : Springer |
| Total Pages | : 234 |
| Release | : 2014-09-10 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 9401790086 |
The book takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Acknowledging the Brundtland definition, that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, the book is specifically concerned with the ethics of contemporary social and environmental sustainability activity and thinking. It is concerned with the role of institutions–both local and global in achieving sustainability initiatives. All twelve chapters extend sustainability–conceptually, empirically and theoretically, and in doing so provide insights into linking local and global sustainability. The book refocuses sustainability as a series of interwoven and dynamic relationships, backed by just ethical decision-making, which begin locally, and reach out to impact the global level.
