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Ecological Economics and Industrial Ecology: A Case Study of the Integrated Product Policy of the European Union (Routledge Explorations In Environmental Economics Ser.)
by Jakub KronenbergHolistic in approach and rooted in the real world Ecological Economics and Industrial Ecology presents a new way of looking at environmental policy; exploring the relationship between ecological economics and industrial ecology.Concentrating on the conceptual background of ecological economics and industrial ecology, this book:provides a selection
Ecological Economics for the Anthropocene
by Peter G. Brown Peter TimmermanEcological Economics for the Anthropocene provides an urgently needed alternative to the long-dominant neoclassical economic paradigm of the free market, which has focused myopically-even fatally-on the boundless production and consumption of goods and services without heed to environmental consequences. The emerging paradigm for ecological economics championed in this new book recenters the field of economics on the fact of the Earth's limitations, requiring a total reconfiguration of the goals of the economy, how we understand the fundamentals of human prosperity, and, ultimately, how we assess humanity's place in the community of beings. Each essay in this volume contributes to an emerging, revolutionary agenda based on the tenets of ecological economics and advances new conceptions of justice, liberty, and the meaning of an ethical life in the era of the Anthropocene. Essays highlight the need to create alternative signals to balance one-dimensional market-price measurements in judging the relationships between the economy and the Earth's life-support systems. In a lively exchange, the authors question whether such ideas as "ecosystem health" and the environmental data that support them are robust enough to inform policy. Essays explain what a taking-it-slow or no-growth approach to economics looks like and explore how to generate the cultural and political will to implement this agenda. This collection represents one of the most sophisticated and realistic strategies for neutralizing the threat of our current economic order, envisioning an Earth-embedded society committed to the commonwealth of life and the security and true prosperity of human society.
Ecological Economics for the Anthropocene: An Emerging Paradigm
by Peter G. Brown Peter Timmerman Eds.Ecological Economics for the Anthropocene provides an urgently needed alternative to the long-dominant neoclassical economic paradigm of the free market, which has focused myopically—even fatally—on the boundless production and consumption of goods and services without heed to environmental consequences. The emerging paradigm for ecological economics championed in this new book recenters the field of economics on the fact of the Earth's limitations, requiring a total reconfiguration of the goals of the economy, how we understand the fundamentals of human prosperity, and, ultimately, how we assess humanity's place in the community of beings.Each essay in this volume contributes to an emerging, revolutionary agenda based on the tenets of ecological economics and advances new conceptions of justice, liberty, and the meaning of an ethical life in the era of the Anthropocene. Essays highlight the need to create alternative signals to balance one-dimensional market-price measurements in judging the relationships between the economy and the Earth's life-support systems. In a lively exchange, the authors question whether such ideas as "ecosystem health" and the environmental data that support them are robust enough to inform policy. Essays explain what a taking-it-slow or no-growth approach to economics looks like and explore how to generate the cultural and political will to implement this agenda. This collection represents one of the most sophisticated and realistic strategies for neutralizing the threat of our current economic order, envisioning an Earth-embedded society committed to the commonwealth of life and the security and true prosperity of human society.
Ecological Economics from the Ground Up
by Julien-François Gerber Hali Healy Joan Martínez-Alier Leah Temper Mariana WalterEcological Economics from the Ground Up takes a unique and much-needed bottom-up approach to teaching ecological economics and political ecology, using case studies that focus on a wide range of internationally relevant topics, to teach the principles, concepts, methods and tools of these fields, which are seen as increasingly important in the context of the current triple social, economic and environmental crisis. This book provides learning materials which are grounded in the experience of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), with case studies chosen by CSOs and developed collaboratively with leading ecological economists. The case studies come from Europe, India, Latin America, and Africa, and are presented thematically along three lines: 1) social metabolism and accounting methods, 2) institutions and participation, and 3) valuation and environmental policy tools. Core tools, concepts and glossary terms are embedded in topics chosen as a matter of urgency by activist organizations, related to mining and fossil fuel extraction, integrated transport infrastructure development, deforestation and agro-fuel production, sustainable tourism, waste management, wetlands and water management, payments for ecosystem services, natural disasters and hazards, and corporate accountability. Ecological Economics from the Ground Up has been designed to be an accessible learning aid for students of the sustainability sciences and for those CSOs that have recognised the value that ecological economics and political ecology tools and methods hold for their research and advocacy work.
Ecological Emergy Accounting for a Limited System: General Principles and a Case Study of Macao
by Kampeng Lei Shaoqi Zhou Zhishi WangThis book builds on the analyses of Eugene and Howard Odum and introduces the concept of systems ecology. Ecological emergy accounting represents a breakthrough because it allows researchers to integrate man-made capital and natural capital so that human and natural concerns can be addressed using a consistent system of units. This book develops an emergy accounting model that is suitable for describing urban systems, thereby providing a comprehensive picture of those systems. To make the theory concrete, the authors use China's Macao Special Administrative Region as a case study, and compare the results for Macao with those of other urban ecosystems around the world in the fields of ecological economy, tourism, waste treatment, gambling industry, land reclamation and resource consumption etc. Dr. Kampeng Lei is an advisory senior technician at the Environmental Protection Bureau, Government of Macao, China; Shaoqi Zhou is a professor at the College of Environment and Energy, the South China University of Technology, and the Guizhou Academy of Sciences, China; Zhishi Wang is a professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, the University of Macau, China.
Ecological Engineering: Principles and Practice
by Patrick C. KangasLess expensive and more environmentally appropriate than conventional engineering approaches, constructed ecosystems are a promising technology for environmental problem solving. Undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals need an introductory text that details the biology and ecology of this rapidly developing discipline, known as
Ecological Epistemologies and Spiritualities in Brazilian Ecovillages: In the Labyrinth of an Environmental Anthropology (Routledge Environmental Anthropology)
by Luz Gonçalves BritoThis book brings together ethnographic field research on four permacultural ecovillages in Brazil to highlight the importance of spirituality and ecological epistemologies as key analytical tools. It demonstrates that ecological spirituality can, and should, be understood beyond the dichotomy of personal and political, between people and nature, in the field of environmental anthropology. The book uses a broad philosophical methodology based on the phenomenological theories of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Tim Ingold and Alfred Schutz combined with post-structuralist conceptions of the relationship between person and world, individual and society. The field research consisted of ethnographic travel, observation and recorded dialogue with individuals based in each ecovillage: Arca Verde, situated in Campos de Cima da Serra; Vrinda Bhumi, a Vaishnava ecovillage in Baependi-MG; Goura Vrindavana, a Vaishnava ecovillage in Paraty-RJ; and Muriqui Assu Ecovillage Project, a secular ecovillage in Niterói-RJ. Throughout the book ethnographic research is woven together with poetic interludes, images, personal narrative experience and phenomenological theory, bringing a new understanding and approach to environmental anthropology as a discipline. Including a Preface written by Tim Ingold, it will appeal to academics, researchers and upper-level students in phenomenology, environmental philosophy, environmental anthropology, religious studies and social sciences more broadly.
Ecological Ethics and Living Subjectivity in Hegel’s Logic
by Wendell KisnerBy interweaving Hegelian dialectic and the middle voice, this book develops a holistic account of life, nature, and the ethical orientation of human beings with respect to them without falling into the trap of either subjecting human rights to totality or relegating non-human beings and their habitats to instrumentalism.
Ecological Ethics and the Philosophy of Simone Weil: Decreation for the Anthropocene (Routledge Environmental Ethics)
by Kathryn LawsonThis book places the philosophy of Simone Weil into conversation with contemporary environmental concerns in the Anthropocene.The book offers a systematic interpretation of Simone Weil, making her ethical philosophy more accessible to non-Weil scholars. Weil’s work has been influential in many fields, including politically and theologically-based critiques of social inequalities and suffering, but rarely linked to ecology. Kathryn Lawson argues that Weil’s work can be understood as offering a coherent approach with potentially widespread appeal applicable to our ethical relations to much more than just other human beings. She suggests that the process of "decreation" in Weil is an expansion of the self which might also come to include the surrounding earth and a vast assemblage of others. This allows readers to consider what it means to be human in this time and place, and to contemplate our ethical responsibilities both to other humans and also to the more-than-human world. Ultimately, the book uses Weil’s thought to decanter the human being by cultivating human actions towards an ecological ethics.This book will be useful for Simone Weil scholars and academics, as well as students and researchers interested in environmental ethics in departments of comparative literature, theory and criticism, philosophy, and environmental studies.
Ecological Exile: Spatial Injustice and Environmental Humanities (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Derek GladwinEcological Exile explores how contemporary literature, film, and media culture confront ecological crises through perspectives of spatial justice – a facet of social justice that looks at unjust circumstances as a phenomenon of space. Growing instances of flooding, population displacement, and pollution suggest an urgent need to re-examine the ways social and geographical spaces are perceived and valued in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Maintaining that ecological crises are largely socially produced, Derek Gladwin considers how British and Irish literary and visual texts by Ian McEwan, Sarah Gavron, Eavan Boland, John McGrath, and China Miéville, among others, respond to and confront various spatial injustices resulting from fossil fuel production and the effects of climate change. This ambitious book offers a new spatial perspective in the environmental humanities by focusing on what the philosopher Glenn Albrecht has termed 'solastalgia' – a feeling of homesickness caused by environmental damage. The result of solastalgia is that people feel paradoxically ecologically exiled in the places they continue to live because of destructive environmental changes. Gladwin skilfully traces spatially produced instances of ecological injustice that literally and imaginatively abolish people’s sense of place (or place-home). By looking at two of the most pressing social and environmental concerns – oil and climate – Ecological Exile shows how literary and visual texts have documented spatially unjust effects of solastalgia. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to students, scholars, and professionals studying literary, film, and media texts that draw on environment and sustainability, cultural geography, energy cultures, climate change, and social justice.
The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture
by Helen AtthoweThe breakthrough resource for fruit and vegetable growers at every scale who want to go ‘beyond organic’ and build higher soil quality and fertility using fewer inputs through a unique ecosystem-balancing approach “Atthowe’s book takes ecological farming to the next level. It is packed with useful, field-tested, innovative techniques for farming more gently without sacrificing productivity. . . This is the future of farming. I highly recommend this book.”—Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm The Ecological Farm is the go-to guide for ecological growing, with a unique focus on reduced tillage, minimizing farm and garden inputs, and pest control. Reflecting the wisdom that farmer, consultant, and educator Helen Atthowe and her late husband, Carl Rosato, gained during decades of farming experience, this book guides readers on how to reduce or eliminate the use of outside inputs of fertilizer or pesticides—even those that are commonly used on certified organic orchards and market gardens. In clear language and with color photographs, charts, and graphs throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of managing the details of an entire growing system over the full life of the enterprise. Based on advances in scientific research in ecological food production, farmers, homesteaders, permaculturists, and gardeners alike will learn methods to: design a farm system that maintains a growing root in the soil year-round to feed the microbial community instead of just crops. strengthen the “immune system” of a farm or garden supply crop needs using only on-farm inputs such as cover crops and living mulch maximize the presence of beneficial insects and microbes that support healthy crop development minimize ecological impact in dealing with insect pest and disease problems The Ecological Farm also features a crop-by-crop guide to growing more than 25 of the most popular and profitable vegetables and fruits, including specific management advice for dealing with pests and diseases. The Ecological Farm makes complex, sometimes messy, ecological concepts and practices understandable to all growers, and makes healthy farming—in which nature is invited to participate—possible. "[This book] will guide all of us as we learn to farm in harmony with an ecosystem and to become obedient to the whole rather than being distracted by the urge to tinker with the parts.” —Wes Jackson, cofounder and president emeritus, The Land Institute
Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis: Surviving the Environmental Apocalypse in Cinema (Routledge Environmental Literature, Culture and Media)
by Robert GealThis book applies ecolinguistics and psychoanalysis to explore how films fictionalising environmental disasters provide spectacular warnings against the dangers of environmental apocalypse, while highlighting that even these apparently environmentally friendly films can still facilitate problematic real-world changes in how people treat the environment. Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis argues that these films exploit cinema’s inherent Cartesian grammar to construct texts in which not only small groups of protagonist survivors, but also vicarious spectators, pleasurably transcend the fictionalised destruction. The ideological nature of the ‘lifeboats’ on which these survivors escape, moreover, is accompanied by additional elements that constitute contemporary Cartesian subjectivity, such as class and gender binaries, restored nuclear families, individual as opposed to social responsibilities for disasters, and so on. The book conducts extensive analyses of these processes, before considering alternative forms of filmmaking that might avoid the dangers of this existing form of storytelling. The book’s new ecosophy and film theory establishes that Cartesian subjectivity is an environmentally destructive ‘symptom’ that everyday linguistic activities like watching films reinforce. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of film studies, literary studies (specifically ecocriticism), cultural studies, ecolinguistics, and ecosophy.
The Ecological Footprint as a Sustainability Metric: Implications for Sustainability (SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science)
by Mary J. ThornbushThis book examines the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity accounting within an applied development content for Costa Rica. By doing so, it is possible to track changes as well as perhaps link these to overarching global issues, such as trade, globalization, and food security, among other emergent topics based findings stemming from this methodology. Based on a timeseries since 1961, it is possible to track cross-temporal changes of land-type categories (for crop land, grazing land, forest land, fishing ground, built-up land, and carbon) of the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity conveying whether a country is in ecological deficit and what may be contributing to such a trend
Ecological Footprint of the Modern Economy and the Ways to Reduce It: The Role of Leading Technologies and Responsible Innovations (Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation)
by Bruno S. Sergi Elena G. Popkova Anna A. Ostrovskaya Alexander A. Chursin Yulia V. RagulinaThis book is devoted to the systems rethinking of the role of the leading digital technologies and circular innovations to reduce the environmental footprint of the modern economy. The target audience of this book consists of scientists who explore environmental economics, energy economics, and sustainable development. In this book, they will find a consistent take on the impact of the economy on the environment from the perspective of a new scientific concept—the environmental footprint of the economy, described through the lens of the UN SDGs. This book is also useful for public agencies of energy and environmental economics and environmentally responsible enterprises. In this book, they will find applied recommendations on improving the efficiency of the use of high technologies and responsible innovations to reduce the environmental footprint of the modern economy.The book provides numerous real-world examples, case studies, and recommendations on unlocking the environmental potential of high technologies (Big Data, Ubiquitous Computing (UC), Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT)) and responsible innovations (ESG investments, environmental taxation, green jobs), which allow reaching net-zero emission and building a carbon-neutral circular economy. The interest in this book is also attributable to the fact that it takes into account the specifics of developed and less-developed countries. The book puts more focus on the real-life and case experience of Central Asia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Ecological Footprints of Climate Change: Adaptive Approaches and Sustainability (Springer Climate)
by Uday Chatterjee Angela Oyilieze Akanwa Suresh Kumar Sudhir Kumar Singh Abira Dutta RoyThis book explores global implications of human activities that trigger changes in climate and the appropriate scientific, adaptive, and sustainable approaches as a proven information tool. It reveals that the ecological, social, and economic dynamics of the changing earth encompasses huge uncertainties coupled with its ability to be linked to other forms of global change. From a scientific perspective, multiple efforts are expedient to integrate the many aspects of global changes. Increases in science and technology have afforded nations the ability to plan for the future by investing in adaptive and mitigative measures to monitor present and future changes. Just as the climatic and ecological impacts of climate change are unequally distributed, so is the adaptive capacity to cope with these impacts in different nations. Considering that wealth, infrastructure, and political stability all contribute to a nation's capacity to anticipate and respond to change. So, global South nations who are disadvantaged in these areas are faced with more inequalities and more unique adaptive strategies. There is need for increased aggregate efforts and interaction between scientists, stakeholders, and policy makers to improve both decision-making and global change in science. Scientists and researchers need to work on expanding the range of polices that are proposed, debated, and implemented. This way, novelty, new ideas and methodologies are infused into the society. At this point of multiple climate footprints, there is an immense need to explore all ideas evaluating their possibilities in presenting alternative futures, developing alternative policies, and adaptive options to solve the intractable ecological footprints of climate change.
Ecological Form: System and Aesthetics in the Age of Empire
by Monique Allewaert Sukanya Banerjee Adam Grener Deanna K. Kreisel Elizabeth Carolyn Miller Benjamin Morgan Aaron Rosenberg Teresa Shewry Jesse Oak Taylor Lynn Voskuil Karen Pinkus Philip Steer Nathan K. HensleyEcological Form brings together leading voices in nineteenth-century ecocriticism to suture the lingering divide between postcolonial and ecocritical approaches. Together, these essays show how Victorian thinkers used aesthetic form to engage problems of system, interconnection, and dispossession that remain our own. The authors reconsider Victorian literary structures in light of environmental catastrophe; coordinate “natural” questions with sociopolitical ones; and underscore the category of form as a means for generating environmental—and therefore political—knowledge. Moving from the elegy and the industrial novel to the utopian romance, the scientific treatise, and beyond, Ecological Form demonstrates how nineteenth-century thinkers conceptualized the circuits of extraction and violence linking Britain to its global network. Yet the book’s most pressing argument is that this past thought can be a resource for reimagining the present.
The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up
by Matt Rees-WarrenDesign a garden for the future—because what we grow matters. "Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: Finding the right design for your space Creating a wildflower meadow Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators Finding beauty in your garden during the winter Matt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.
Ecological Governance
by Olivia WoolleyEcological degradation has been an object of concern for the international community since the early 1970s, but legal approaches that have been employed to improve the protection of ecosystems have failed to halt this decline. Ecological Governance explores how the law should respond to this rapid global deterioration of ecosystems by examining the foundational scientific and ethical considerations for designing laws that are effective for ecological protection. Based on these analyses, it argues that developed states should prioritise the reduction of the ecological stresses for which they are responsible in decision-making on their future courses. The author also proposes structures for governance and associated legal frameworks that would enable the formulation and implementation of policies for ecological sustainability.
Ecological Impacts of Tsunamis on Coastal Ecosystems
by Jotaro Urabe Tohru NakashizukaThis book focuses on the ecological impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunamis, a rare and extremely large disturbance event, on various coastal ecosystems in Japan's Tohoku area, including sub-tidal and tidal animal communities, sand dune plant communities and coastal forests. The studies presented here describe not only how species and populations in these ecosystems were disturbed by the earthquake and tsunamis, but also how the communities have responded to the event and what types of anthropogenic activities will hamper their recovery processes. In the ecological sciences, it is often argued that large disturbances are critical to shaping community structures and biodiversity in local and regional habitats. However, our understanding of these roles remains limited, simply because there have been few opportunities to examine and address the ecological impacts of large disturbance events. The scale of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake makes it one of the largest hazards in the past 1000 years. Thus, this book provides a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the ecological impacts of large and rare disturbances and the implications of these events in the conservation and management of coastal ecosystems. Following an outline of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the book's content is divided into two major parts. Part I reports on studies examining the ecological impacts of the tsunamis on sub-tidal and tidal animal communities, while Part II focuses on terrestrial plant communities in Japan's coastal Tohoku area. This book will benefit all scientists interested in the ecological impacts of large disturbances on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in general, and especially those who are interested in the ecological management of coastal ecosystems and Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction (EcoDRR).
Ecological Imperialism
by Alfred W. CrosbyPeople of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world - North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain; in many cases they were a matter of firearms against spears. But, as Alfred Crosby maintains in this highly original and fascinating book, the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. European organisms had certain decisive advantages over their New World and Australian counterparts. The spread of European disease, flora, and fauna went hand in hand with the growth of populations. Consequently, these imperialists became proprietors of the world's most important agricultural lands. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his now-classic work and again evaluates the global historical importance of European ecological expansion.
Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation, and Health (Studies In Social, Political, And Legal Philosophy)
by Reed F. Noss David Pimentel Laura WestraGlobal Integrity Project has brought together leading scientists and thinkers from around the world to examine the combined problems of threatened and unequal human well-being, degradation of the ecosphere, and unsustainable economies. Based on the proposition that healthy, functioning ecosystems are a necessary prerequisite for both economic security and social justice, the project is built around the concept of ecological integrity and its practical implications for policy and management.Ecological Integrity presents a synthesis and findings of the project. Contributors -- including Robert Goodland, James Karr, Orie Loucks, Jack Manno, William Rees, Mark Sagoff, Robert Ulanowicz, Philippe Crabbe, Laura Westra, David Pimentel, Reed Noss, and others -- examine the key elements of ecological integrity and consider what happens when integrity is lost or compromised. The book: examines historical and philosophical foundations of the concept of ecological integrity explores how integrity can be measured examines the relationships among ecological integrity, human health, and food production looks at economic and ethical issues that need to be considered in protecting ecological integrity offers concrete recommendations for reversing ecological degradation while promoting social and economic justice and welfare .Contributors argue that there is an urgent need for rapid and fundamental change in the ecologically destructive patterns of collective human behavior if society is to survive and thrive in coming decades.Ecological Integrity is a groundbreaking book that integrates environmental science, economics, law, and ethics in problem analysis, synthesis, and solution, and is a vital contribution for anyone concerned with interactions between human and planetary health.
Ecological Integrity and Global Governance: Science, ethics and the law (Routledge Research in International Environmental Law)
by Laura WestraIt is increasingly argued that a focus on environmental sustainability is fundamental to effective and equitable governance, and ultimately for the good of mankind. This book argues that, in the face increasing environmental challenges, it is essential to recognise the role that ecological integrity has played, and must play, in governance for environmental sustainability in order to ensure the future survival of life on earth. Ecological integrity encompasses not only the necessity of respect for nature, but also the human right to a sound and healthy environment. The author shows that on this basis, acceptance of its primacy in law and governance is key to a sustainable and equitable future for all. The book presents a uniquely informed treatise on the term, its origins, evolution and position in current debates, exploring the conflicts which have so far prevented its acceptance. Written by a leading scholar on the subject, this book provides the most in-depth exposition of ecological integrity available to increase understanding of this crucial concept and encourage its adoption in governance and international law.
Ecological Integrity and the Management of Ecosystems
by James Kay Steven WoodleyToday, efforts are being made to rehabilitate badly degraded ecosystems and protect areas which have important ecological value, such as national parks, critical fish and wildlife habitats, natural communities and endangered species.Since human values are an integral part of the decisions to protect or rehabilitate-the goals and objectives for such actions are often unclear. Concepts of "health," "integrity" and "diversity" express important values associated with management actions but they do not provide clear guidelines for these actions.The criteria developed and applied in this book provide guidelines and serve as a road map to anyone involved in ecosystem management-scientists, land managers and policy makers.
Ecological Issues (Africa: Progress and Problems)
by Leeanne GelletlyAfrica is well known for its fascinating wildlife and its abundant natural resources. However, the continents resources are shrinking rapidly as a result of industrialization and population growth. In recent years scientists have seen a dramatic loss in wildlife and habitat, an increase in air and water pollution, and disturbing signs of climate change. This book discusses the ecological issues facing Africa today, including deforestation and desertification, threats to the continents biodiversity, pollution, and shortages of safe drinking water. It also explains steps some African leaders are taking to address and resolve these serious problems.
Ecological Law and the Planetary Crisis: A Legal Guide for Harmony on Earth (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Geoffrey GarverThis book uses a transdisciplinary systems approach to examine how Earth’s human-caused ecological crisis arose and presents a new legal approach for overcoming it. Ecological Law and the Planetary Crisis first examines how the history of humanity’s social metabolism, along with the history of human inventions and ideas, led to the human-Earth dilemma we see today and explains why contemporary law is inadequate for confronting this dilemma. The book goes on to propose ecological law—law that maintains human activity within ecological limits such as planetary boundaries while ensuring social justice and equity—as an essential element of an urgently needed radical pathway of change toward a perpetual, mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. Finally, it offers a systems-based analytical tool for organizing actions to promote the transition from environmental to ecological law. Increasing the visibility, clarity and development of ecological law, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of ecological and environmental law and governance.