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Author: Worldwatch Institute
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 174
ISBN-13: 9780393331295
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The award-winning Worldwatch Institute reveals the often overlooked key trends that tell the true health of our planet.
Author: Juergen Mohr
Publisher: Diplomica Verlag
Published: 2011-02
Total Pages: 99
ISBN-13: 3842855788
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Facts and figures indicate a continuously increasing societal welfare. But what about its impacts on the environment? The growing wealth has been accompanied by environmental degradation, deforestation, losses in bio-diversity, global warming, air pollution, depletion of the ozone layer, and overfishing. Recent measurements have been performed related to the depletion of natural resources showing that humans currently use the resources of 1.25 Earths. At the current consumption levels of high-income countries, the world could only sustainably support 1.75 billion people, not the 6.5 billion living on Earth today. Fortunately ecological awareness is consensus today and reaches far more social levels than just greenies and do-gooders - see the LOHAS trend in this book as an example. Governments have recognized that environmental protection is a worldwide concern that can be solved solely through co-operation. Especially renewable energy has reached the top of the agendas of the United Nations, the G8, and other multilateral fora. At the last conference of the UN climate council the participants noticed that the technologies, required to limit the greenhouse gas emission, are available and affordable. Thus the framework for a change is established and available. It’s up to mankind to carry out the transformation. This book gives an insight into the current social transformation that is underway. Research indicates that societies are undergoing a decisive and formative value transformation, away from a pure materialistic and monetary mindset towards a lifestyle of health and sustainability and a better quality of life. Surveys also revealed that although people, especially in the developed countries, continuously got richer over the last 50 years they did not become happier. This finding was responsible that the science of happiness research experienced a tremendous increasing attention over the last 10 years and that even on governmental level the opinion became accepted that we have to go beyond GDP. Impacts of this value transformation are already visible today in several industries. Starting with a brief description of the historical evolution of the industries, followed by some critical words about welfare and environmental pollution vital signs indicating that societies worldwide are going through a change are highlighted. A deeper look will be taken into the powerful LOHAS trend, corporate social responsibility, governmental and non-governmental initiatives - especially the discussion to go beyond GDP and the mighty upcoming science happiness research - and the remarkable boom of the renewable energies. Before concluding with a short summary, the impacts of that transformation on several industries are identified and described.
Author: The The Worldwatch Institute
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2012-03-28
Total Pages: 137
ISBN-13: 1610913736
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Just as people schedule regular check-ups with physicians, our planet needs regular check-ups to catch issues as early as possible, before they become more serious and harder to heal. That is the much-needed service provided on a global scale by the Worldwatch Institute in this new book, Vital Signs 2012. By taking stock of global consumption, Vital Signs 2012 offers the facts that need to guide our stewardship of the Earth's resources-and some of these facts are shocking. The report covers topics from obesity to ecosystem services, from grain production to nuclear power. Taken as a whole, it paints a picture of skyrocketing population, disappearing forests, and increasing consumption peppered with bright spots like growing investment in high-speed trains and other efficient transportation systems. Vital Signs 2012 is based on Worldwatch's online project of the same name, which provides up-to-date figures on important global concerns, as well as the Institute's own additional research. The book compiles the most important of these into an accessible, informative resource for policymakers and anyone who wants a realistic look at the state of our planet.
Author: The Worldwatch Institute
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2015-09-15
Total Pages: 150
ISBN-13: 1610916727
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →What we make and buy is a major indicator of society’s collective priorities. Among twenty-four key trends, Vital Signs Volume 22 explores significant global patterns in production and consumption. The result is a fascinating snapshot of how we invest our resources and the implications for the world’s well-being. The book examines developments in six main areas: energy, environment and climate, transportation, food and agriculture, global economy and resources, and population and society. Readers will learn how aquaculture is making gains on wild fish catches, where high speed rail is accelerating, why plastic production is on the rise, who is escaping chronic hunger, and who is still suffering. Researchers at the Worldwatch Institute not only provide the most up-to-date statistics, but put them in context. The analysis in Vital Signs teaches us both about our current priorities and how they could be shaped to create a better future.
Author: F. Byron (Ron) Nahser
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-09-08
Total Pages: 238
ISBN-13: 1351276549
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The PathFinder Lab Journal Field Notebook (Appendix III) is available here. It's not what we know, but how we learn. This is the key that Learning to Read the Signs uses in order to evaluate and apply ideas and facts to one's organization life. The book asks the reader to go back to and reclaim pragmatism: an activity of thought involving four parts: Investigation, Hypothesis, Action, and Testing. Pragmatism is a method of interpretation or inquiry which offers to the thoughtful business practitioner a way to better understand the reality in which we operate, to think critically and creatively, and for business people to think together to make the best use of all our perspectives and talents. Questions raised in this book include: What are the signs telling us? Where are we headed and why? Why are things going the way they are? What is our purpose? Examples abound of companies and organizations that have failed to "read the signs": the automobile and the financial services industries are obvious examples. Doing business successfully in the 21st century means becoming aware of the filters that modify and limit business vision in our culture. Without this awareness, many businesses will continue to fall into short-term reactive thinking. In a world facing unprecedented social, environmental, and economic challenges, learning to read the signs is a business imperative. This is not a how-to book in the sense that it provides ten easy answers to everyday business problems. The help it gives is much more profound. This book outlines a mode of inquiry that can be used to solve cognitive as well as ethical questions. Drawing on the deepest resources of philosophical pragmatism, Nahser shows us that often we do not even know the right question to ask, that we must start by trusting our doubts and seeing where they lead, so that we can even begin to ask the right questions. He brings philosophy down to earth by showing that a practical philosophy can call into question our outworn assumptions, open up new lines in inquiry, and lead to conclusions we never imagined at the beginning of the process – conclusions not just about what to do next, but about our larger purposes, those frameworks that give us meaning and direction. In this long-overdue and radical update to his seminal book, Ron Nahser turns his attention to how pragmatism can be can be practiced by the management of business, government, and non-profit organizations to create both success and a better world for all.
Author: Charles Harper
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-03-13
Total Pages: 676
ISBN-13: 1315463237
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The sixth edition of Environment and Society continues to connect issues about human societies, ecological systems, and the environment with data and perspectives from different fields. While the text looks at environmental issues from a primarily sociological viewpoint, it is designed for courses in Environmental Sociology and Environmental Issues in departments of Sociology, Environmental Studies, Anthropology, Political Science, and Human Geography. Clearly defined terms and theories help familiarize students from various backgrounds with the topics at hand. Each of the chapters is significantly updated with new data, concepts, and ideas. Chapter Three: Climate Change, Science and Diplomacy, is the most extensively revised with current natural science data and sociological insights. It also details the factors at play in the establishment of the Paris Agreement and its potential to affect global climate change. This edition elevates questions of environmental and climate justice in addressing the human-environment relations and concerns throughout the book. Finally, each chapter contains embedded website links for further discussion or commentary on a topic, concludes with review and reflection questions, and suggests further readings and internet sources.
Author: Gary T. Gardner
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 308
ISBN-13: 9780393330311
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Examines new technologies and advances from around the world that show promise as a means to create a sustainable global economy and stop the depletion of natural resources and the environment.
Author: Pat Murphy
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Published: 2008-06-01
Total Pages: 340
ISBN-13: 1550923625
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A sustainability expert goes beyond renewables, calling on us to combat the climate crisis with a new, low-energy way of life. Concerns over climate change and energy depletion are increasing exponentially. Mainstream solutions still assume that some miracle will cure our climate ills without requiring us to change our energy-intensive lifestyle. But switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources isn’t enough. We need a Plan C. In response to the converging crises of Peak Oil, climate change, and increasing inequity, sustainability expert Pat Murphy offers an inspiring vision of community and curtailment. Where cooperation replaces competition, we can deliberately reduce consumption of consumer goods. Plan C shows how each person's individual choices can dramatically reduce CO2 emissions, offering specific strategies in the areas of food, transportation, and housing.
Author: Michael Bell
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 401
ISBN-13: 141299053X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The highly praised Fourth Edition of An Invitation to Environmental Sociology brings out the sociology of environmental possibility, inviting students to delve into this rapidly changing field. Written in a lively, engaging style, Bell covers the broad range of topics in environmental sociology with a personal passion rarely seen in sociology textbooks. With extensively updated material on the environmental situation, this edition challenges readers with the complexity of environmental puzzles.
Author: Steven Bouma-Prediger
Publisher: Baker Academic
Published: 2010-04
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 080103695X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This substantially revised and updated edition provides the most thorough evangelical treatment available on a theology of creation care.
