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Author: Maria Paola Sutto Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317004027 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
Urban climate change is a crossroads in two very different senses. One is historical. With the world now more than half urban, and given the ecological consequences of the world's high-consumption urban centers, we are at an ecological crossroad. We either head off the worst of ecological collapse through concerted and forward-looking action, or we face a 'Mad Max future' of dystopia, violence, and upheaval. The second crossroad is intellectual. Our individual disciplines are unable to grasp the magnitude of the economic-ecological challenges ahead. For that we need to work holistically, calling on the knowledge of climatologists, engineers, sociologists, economists, public health specialist, designers, architects, community organizers, and more. The intellectual crossroad is nothing less than a new intellectual field of Sustainable Development. Based on a major international forum held in Rome in 2008, this volume brings together leading climate change experts to engage with the climate change discourse as it shifts from mitigation to adaptation, with particular attention to the urban environment. In doing so, it provides important insights into how to deal with the first crossroad, by achieving the second. It represents a new generation of thinking involving not only science, but the broad array of fields that must be called upon to effectively address the global climate crisis: from ecological science to political science; from economics to philosophy to architecture; and from public health to public art. It is a pioneering effort to broaden the discursive field, and is likely to remain a landmark study on the subject for a generation.
Author: Maria Paola Sutto Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317004027 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
Urban climate change is a crossroads in two very different senses. One is historical. With the world now more than half urban, and given the ecological consequences of the world's high-consumption urban centers, we are at an ecological crossroad. We either head off the worst of ecological collapse through concerted and forward-looking action, or we face a 'Mad Max future' of dystopia, violence, and upheaval. The second crossroad is intellectual. Our individual disciplines are unable to grasp the magnitude of the economic-ecological challenges ahead. For that we need to work holistically, calling on the knowledge of climatologists, engineers, sociologists, economists, public health specialist, designers, architects, community organizers, and more. The intellectual crossroad is nothing less than a new intellectual field of Sustainable Development. Based on a major international forum held in Rome in 2008, this volume brings together leading climate change experts to engage with the climate change discourse as it shifts from mitigation to adaptation, with particular attention to the urban environment. In doing so, it provides important insights into how to deal with the first crossroad, by achieving the second. It represents a new generation of thinking involving not only science, but the broad array of fields that must be called upon to effectively address the global climate crisis: from ecological science to political science; from economics to philosophy to architecture; and from public health to public art. It is a pioneering effort to broaden the discursive field, and is likely to remain a landmark study on the subject for a generation.
Author: Matthew J Hoffmann Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190452897 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
The global response to climate change has reached a critical juncture. Since the 1992 signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the nations of the world have attempted to address climate change through large-scale multilateral treaty-making. These efforts have been heroic, but disappointing. As evidence for the quickening pace of climate change mounts, the treaty-making process has sputtered, and many are now skeptical about the prospect of an effective global response. Yet global treaty-making is not the only way that climate change can be addressed or, indeed, is being addressed. In the last decade myriad initiatives have emerged across the globe independently from, or only loosely connected to, the "official" UN-sponsored negotiations and treaties. In the face of stalemate in the formal negotiations, the world is experimenting with alternate means of responding to climate change. Climate Governance at the Crossroads chronicles these innovations--how cities, provinces and states, citizen groups, and corporations around the globe are addressing the causes and symptoms of global warming. The center of gravity in the global response to climate change is shifting from the multilateral treaty-making process to the diverse activities found beyond the negotiating halls. These innovations are pushing the envelope of climate action and demonstrating what is possible, and they provide hope that the world will respond effectively to the climate crisis. In introducing climate governance "experiments" and examining the development and functioning of this new world of climate policy-making, this book provides an exciting new perspective on the politics of climate change and the means to understand and influence how the global response to climate change will unfold in the coming years.
Author: Kent L. Hurst Publisher: ISBN: Category : Climatic changes Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The failure of international negotiations toward a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol to limit global greenhouse gas emissions has highlighted not only the problematic associated with a global agreement on such a scientifically and politically complex issue, but also the importance of sub-national action in lieu of such an agreement. This is especially true in the United States where any national climate protection framework seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. In the absence of any such policy leadership from Washington, it is increasingly falling to states, regional organizations, and municipalities to craft emissions reduction strategies that will contribute meaningfully to global climate protection. In support of these efforts, a municipal climate protection movement has emerged, spearheaded largely by nonprofit advocacy groups, attempting to motivate and coordinate action in communities and regions across the country. However, even these efforts have proven to be sporadic, halting, and economically contingent. The Dallas/Fort Worth region is representative of many metropolitan areas across the country, especially those in the nation's South and West, in which planners have a vital role to play in promoting and securing a climate protection agenda. As one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is an excellent crucible in which to study prospects for meaningful local and regional action toward mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Characterized by sprawling, low-density development, thoroughly dependent on the automobile for transportation, and facing a future of increasingly tenuous fresh water supplies as its climate becomes even drier and hotter, the region's population is expected to double over the next 20 years. It comprises a large number of politically independent, fractious, and economically conservative municipalities, suffers from weak regional policy coordination, and is hostage to ingrained development practices that continue to thwart cooperation toward mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and compromise local and regional sustainability in the face of impacts deriving from global climate change. If that weren't enough, it stands in one of the most politically conservative areas of one of the most politically conservative states in the country. However, major political and institutional forces militate against local planners making meaningful progress toward greenhouse gas emissions reductions in their communities. These forces can be understood through the analytical lens of ecological modernization, a dominant discourse in U.S. environmental affairs that emphasizes the possibilities for win-win resolutions of the struggle between economic growth and environmental preservation through the application of technological innovation in a market economy. Both the premises and criticisms of ecological modernization discourse can be used to analyze the promises and challenges facing local and regional planning initiatives in North Texas to address the climate protection agenda. Dominance of the ecological modernization discourse at local and regional scales is examined in a variety of artifacts, including institutional and municipal planning documents and proclamations; regional planning initiatives; national survey data; and transcripts of interviews with area politicians, administrators, and planners. In addition, results from recently completed national survey of public sector planners are introduced to explore professional and community attitudes and initiatives toward climate protection. This analysis of the challenges facing its urban planners suggests a number of transformative moves that the American urban planning institution must take to motivate real progress toward meaningful climate change mitigation.
Author: Scott D. Kraus Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674023277 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 624
Book Description
In 1980 a group of scientists censusing marine mammals in the Bay of Fundy was astonished by the sight of 25 right whales. Until that time, scientists believed the North Atlantic right whale was extinct or nearly so. The sightings electrified the research community, spurring a quarter century of exploration, which is documented here.
Author: Robert V. Percival Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing ISBN: 1783470852 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
This timely volume considers the future of environmental law and governance in the aftermath of the "Rio+20" conference. An international set of expert contributors begin by addressing a range of governance concepts that can be used to addres
Author: William D. Solecki Publisher: Island Press ISBN: 1610919793 Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
Approximately 80% of the U.S. population now lives in urban metropolitan areas, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. At the same time, the built infrastructure sustaining these populations has become increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Stresses to existing systems, such as buildings, energy, transportation, water, and sanitation are growing. If the status quo continues, these systems will be unable to support a high quality of life for urban residents over the next decades, a vulnerability exacerbated by climate change impacts. Understanding this dilemma and identifying a path forward is particularly important as cities are becoming leading agents of climate action. Prepared as a follow-up to the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), Climate Change and U.S. Cities documents the current understanding of existing and future climate risk for U.S. cities, urban systems, and the residents that depend on them. Beginning with an examination of the existing science since 2012, chapters develop connections between existing and emerging climate risk, adaptation planning, and the role of networks and organizations in facilitating climate action in cities. From studies revealing disaster vulnerability among low-income populations to the development of key indicators for tracking climate change, this is an essential, foundational analysis. Importantly, the assessment puts a critical emphasis on the cross-cutting factors of economics, equity, and governance. Urban stakeholders and decision makers will come away with a full picture of existing climate risks and a set of conclusions and recommendations for action. Many cities in the United States still have not yet planned for climate change and the costs of inaction are great. With bold analysis, Climate Change and U.S. Cities reveals the need for action and the tools that cities must harness to effect decisive, meaningful change.
Author: Jeroen van der Heijden Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108492975 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
An overview of the forms of agency in urban climate politics, including their strengths, limitations and the power dynamics between them. Written by renowned scholars from around the globe, it is ideal for researchers and practitioners working in the area of urban climate politics and governance.
Author: Vaclav Smil Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 026230368X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 452
Book Description
An objective, comprehensive, and accessible examination of today's most crucial problem: preserving the environment in the face of society's insatiable demand for energy. In Energy at the Crossroads, Vaclav Smil considers the twenty-first century's crucial question: how to reconcile the modern world's unceasing demand for energy with the absolute necessity to preserve the integrity of the biosphere. With this book he offers a comprehensive, accessible guide to today's complex energy issues—how to think clearly and logically about what is possible and what is desirable in our energy future. After a century of unprecedented production growth, technical innovation, and expanded consumption, the world faces a number of critical energy challenges arising from unequal resource distribution, changing demand patterns, and environmental limitations. The fundamental message of Energy at the Crossroads is that our dependence on fossil fuels must be reduced not because of any imminent resource shortages but because the widespread burning of oil, coal, and natural gas damages the biosphere and presents increasing economic and security problems as the world relies on more expensive supplies and Middle Eastern crude oil. Smil begins with an overview of the twentieth century's long-term trends and achievements in energy production. He then discusses energy prices, the real cost of energy, and "energy linkages"—the effect energy issues have on the economy, on quality of life, on the environment, and in wartime. He discusses the pitfalls of forecasting, giving many examples of failed predictions and showing that unexpected events can disprove complex models. And he examines the pros and cons not only of fossil fuels but also of alternative fuels such as hydroenergy, biomass energy, wind power, and solar power. Finally, he considers the future, focusing on what really matters, what works, what is realistic, and which outcomes are most desirable.
Author: Mario Alejandro Ariza Publisher: Bold Type Books ISBN: 1568589980 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
A deeply reported personal investigation by a Miami journalist examines the present and future effects of climate change in the Magic City -- a watery harbinger for coastal cities worldwide. Miami, Florida, is likely to be entirely underwater by the end of this century. Residents are already starting to see the effects of sea level rise today. From sunny day flooding caused by higher tides to a sewer system on the brink of total collapse, the city undeniably lives in a climate changed world. In Disposable City, Miami resident Mario Alejandro Ariza shows us not only what climate change looks like on the ground today, but also what Miami will look like 100 years from now, and how that future has been shaped by the city's racist past and present. As politicians continue to kick the can down the road and Miami becomes increasingly unlivable, real estate vultures and wealthy residents will be able to get out or move to higher ground, but the most vulnerable communities, disproportionately composed of people of color, will face flood damage, rising housing costs, dangerously higher temperatures, and stronger hurricanes that they can't afford to escape. Miami may be on the front lines of climate change, but the battle it's fighting today is coming for the rest of the U.S. -- and the rest of the world -- far sooner than we could have imagined even a decade ago. Disposable City is a thoughtful portrait of both a vibrant city with a unique culture and the social, economic, and psychic costs of climate change that call us to act before it's too late.
Author: Maria Paola Sutto
Author: Maria Paola Sutto
Author: Richard Plunz
Author: Matthew J Hoffmann
Author: Kent L. Hurst
Author: Scott D. Kraus
Author: Robert V. Percival
Author: William D. Solecki
Author: Jeroen van der Heijden
Author: Vaclav Smil
Author: Mario Alejandro Ariza