Earth & Environmental Responsibility

This book examines food waste in the United States, what it says about Americans, the economic and environmental impacts of food waste, and how to lessen what is wasted. As the era of unprecedented prosperity comes to an end, it is time to reexamine our culture of excess. Working at both a local grocery store and a major fast food chain and volunteering with a food recovery group, the author also interviews experts from Brian Wansink to Alice Waters to Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and digs up not only why and how we waste, but, more importantly, what we can do to change our ways.

This book builds upon traditional approaches to understanding the role of mass media in shaping social issues by amplifying diverse perspectives of opinion leaders, as well as voices of those affected by climate and sustainability issues. From South Korea and China, to the United States and Zambia, the studies reported in this book-compiled using a variety of formal research methods, including content analysis, interview, and survey-emphasize cultural orientation and global implications of climate and sustainability concerns and issues.

Addressing sustainability issues in relation to the design and planning of the urban environment is a complex, multi-disciplinary issue and solutions never arrive from a single perspective. This book uses design to consider when and by whom decisions that contribute to sustainability are made.

The book presents an assessment tool and a library of inspiring design tactics for factories, with examples of the benefits and synergies for the environment, the scenery, the community, and the company itself. The purpose is to elicit more than a simple reflection about what a sustainable factory entails. It is rather to encourage and assist both businesses and designers in mitigating the impact of industrial facilities on the landscape as holistically as possible.

We are squandering our planet's natural capital--its biodiversity, water and soil, and climate stability--at a blistering pace. Major changes must be made to steer our planet and people away from our current, doomed course. Though technology has been one of the drivers of the current trend of unsustainable development, it is also one of the essential tools for remedying it. Earth at Risk maps out the necessary transition to sustainability, detailing the innovations in science and technology, along with law, institutional design, and economics, that can and must be put to use to avert environmental catastrophe.

In this book the author shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, she argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development.

Emerging Solutions in Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the current problems and issues, emerging ideas, and pragmatic solutions in sustainable nutrition. The book is designed to promote an understanding of the fundamentals and changing landscapes of food systems, nutrition, and environmental sustainability. Emerging issues such as the growing importance of traditional foods in improving nutrition security, the exploration of biodiversity to promote food diversity, the sustainable management of current agroecosystems, the progress made in utilizing biotechnology to enhance crop production, the utilization of bio-fortification and food fortification as means of nutritional management, the latest research advancements in mineral research, and the functional foods are comprehensively addressed.

This book provides a critical look at the measures that leading cities in the global north and south are taking to meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st century. Bringing together local experts from around the world, the volume surveys these cities' efforts to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases, secure fresh drinking water supplies, and adapt to climate change.

The book builds on diverse visions and goals for the future of ecosystems and society: concern for future generations, a spiritual commitment to care for Creation and vulnerable people, a desire to sustain the best of nature and of cultures, and a concern about the security and well-being of communities, nations, and the world. This is not a book about what should be done. It is a book about what has been and can be done and a pragmatic strategy for tangible progress.

From the Adirondack Mountains to Kerala, India, to Curitiba, Brazil, McKibben offers clear-eyed and profoundly compelling portraits of places where resourceful people have confronted modern problems with inventive solutions, and thrived in the process.

Insolvent shows why computing's dominant frame of thinking is conceptually insufficient to address our current challenges, and why computing continues to incur societal debts it cannot pay back. Christoph Becker shows how we can reorient design perspectives in computer science to better align with the values of sustainability and justice.

Examines the relationship between people and built communities and showcases the social side of living green. The cases in this book look at places like Dockside, a planned green community on the Canadian West Coast, two cohousing communities in Washington, DC, and ecovillage in Los Angeles, and other communities across the US and Canada.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the practice of sustainability through a diverse range of case studies spanning across varied fields and areas of expertise. It provides a clear indication as to the contemporary state of sustainability in a time faced by issues such as global climate change, challenges of environmental justice, economic globalization and environmental contamination.

Author Jack Buffington argues that the plastics crisis is careening toward a tipping point from which there will be no return. There is still time, however, to do something about this crisis if we have the imagination and the will to move away from the failed policies of the past. This book is the first to propose a new model for linking our synthetic world to the natural one, rather than seeking to treat them as separate entities. The key is supply chain innovation. Buffington presents five market-based solutions based on this principle that will allow consumers to continue to use plastic, which has in many ways enabled our way of life. Alongside these proposed solutions, he also addresses the proliferation of plastic as we know it—growth that, if left unchecked, will lead to a "planetary crisis," according to the United Nations—and considers how the material itself might be adapted for a sustainable future.

This book shows how to make greener decisions based on the production process. Each production area is treated in individual chapters, including the scene shop, paint shop, lighting, and technical direction. Checklists help you assess your organization's process; step-by-step instructions guide you through identifying the production areas where manageable changes (with an emphasis on sustainability) will make your productions greener.

How can a city advance from social invention to social innovation, to attain sustainable urban development (SUD)? Many new ideas, initiatives, and showcases for social innovation have been introduced; however, project-based forms of experimentation are often just part of the ongoing urban politics (or governmentality), and consequently somewhat ephemeral, with traditional siloed city administrations remaining a central obstacle to SUD.

Story and Sustainability explores the role of story in planning theory and practice, with the goal of creating U.S. cities able to balance competing claims for economic growth, environmental health, and social justice. In the book, urban practitioners and scholars from fields as diverse as American studies, English, geography, history, planning, and criminal justice reflect critically on the traditional exclusionary power of storytelling and on its potential to facilitate the transformations of imagination, theory, and practice necessary to create sustainable, democratic American cities.

This reprint covers various aspects of sustainable urbanisation. It includes empirical evidence, theoretical insights, and practical recommendations in order to inform and inspire sustainable urban strategies. The ten original research studies presented in this reprint explore topics such as green buildings, rail transportation, land-use efficiency, energy consumption, innovation management, heritage preservation, digital technologies, and behaviour change.

Caradonna's book broadens our understanding of what "sustainability" means, revealing how it progressed from a relatively marginal concept to an ideal that shapes everything from individual lifestyles, government and corporate strategies, and even national and international policy. For anyone seeking understand the history of those striving to make the world a better place to live, here's a place to start.

The book provides both fundamentals as well as key concepts of sustainability. The objective is to bring together a broad range of topics including basic concepts, impact assessment, environmental and socio-economic aspects of sustainability.

How can America protect its environment, build its economy, and provide for social equity? Sustainable America is the blueprint of a bold new plan to protect the U.S. environment by linking it to American economic and social policy. This book provides a historical explanation of Agenda 21, a comprehensive global plan of action developed in 1992, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations, and specific recommendations for the United States.

A growing number of environmental groups focus on more sustainable practices in everyday life, from the development of new food systems, to community solar, to more sustainable fashion. No longer willing to take part in unsustainable practices and institutions, and not satisfied with either purely individualistic and consumer responses or standard political processes and movement tactics, many activists and groups are increasingly focusing on restructuring everyday practices of the circulation of the basic needs of everyday life.

One of the most trafficked terms in contemporary life, sustainability has risen to prominence as a buzzword before the many parties laying claim to it have even agreed how to define it. But the term's political currency demands that we develop an understanding of this elusive concept. Norton here offers an action-oriented, pragmatic response to the disconnect between public and academic discourse around sustainability, revealing that the path to sustainability cannot be guided by fixed, utopian objectives projected into the future.

In Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis, journalist Erica Cirino brings readers on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists telling the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engine, to the labs doing cutting-edge research on microplastics and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution is threatening wildlife and human health.

This book brings together key thinkers and practitioners from the public and private sectors, from major multilateral organizations and from bilateral donor agencies, to present the latest knowledge and experience on how to evaluate interventions in the nexus of environment and development. The book does not promote any particular approach or methodology, but rather emphasizes the need for mixed methods to address the question at hand in the best and most suitable manner. It covers cases from a variety of fields, from climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, natural resources management, biodiversity conservation and more.

This book analyzes the mechanism of transnational private regulations (TPRs) in the global property investment market and the conditions of their effectiveness for sustainable urban development.

This book addresses the role of sustainability by using textile waste in fashion and textiles with respect to manufacturing, materials, as well as the economic and business challenges and opportunities it poses.

Written by an expert with many years of experience in both industry and academe, this book explores a wide range of sustainable design strategies which designers around the globe are using to create efficient and aesthetically pleasing buildings from waste streams and discarded items.

This book covers the latest in recycling and reuse research focused toward greater sustainability and includes chapters authored by the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners in the field. Topics covered include recycling and reuse, solid waste management, renewable energy, environmental studies, and wastewater management.

The clothing and textile industry is a resource-intensive industry and accounts for 3 to 10 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, the industry is extremely linear and generates large amounts of waste. For the industry to move from a linear to a circular economy, several solutions are required along the value chain: upstream by working with resource efficiency, the longevity of textile products, and preventing waste; and downstream with techniques for sorting and recycling.

Discover the latest technologies in the pursuit of zero-waste solutions in the electronics industry. In Electronic Waste: Recycling and Reprocessing for a Sustainable Future, a team of expert sustainability researchers delivers a collection of resources that thoroughly examine methods for extracting value from electronic waste while aiming for a zero-waste scenario in industrial production.

The need to establish material cycles in the building industry is undisputed. Knowledge on this topic is available in many places; in this book it is summarised and systematized.

More Americans recycle than vote. And most do so to improve their communities and the environment. But do recycling programs advance social, economic, and environmental goals? To answer this, three sociologists with expertise in urban and environmental planning have conducted the first major study of urban recycling. They compare four types of programs in the Chicago metropolitan area: a community-based drop-off center, a municipal curbside program, a recycling industrial park, and a linkage program. Their conclusion, admirably elaborated, is that recycling can realize sustainable community development, but that current programs achieve few benefits for the communities in which they are located.

Urban Recycling Cooperatives explores the multiple narratives and interdisciplinary nature of waste studies, drawing attention to the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges related to waste management. The book asks questions such as: how do we define waste and our relation to it; who is involved in dealing with waste; and what power interactions become manifest over issues of accessing and managing waste?