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The Age of Resilience: Reimagining Existence on a Rewilding Earth
by Jeremy RifkinA sweeping new interpretation of the history of civilization and a transformative vision of how our species will thrive on an unpredictable Earth.The viruses keep coming, the climate is warming, and the Earth is rewilding. Our human family has no playbook to address the mayhem unfolding around us. If there is a change to reckon with, argues the renowned economic and social theorist Jeremy Rifkin, it’s that we are beginning to realize that the human race never had dominion over the Earth and that nature is far more formidable than we thought, while our species seems much smaller and less significant in the bigger picture of life on Earth, undermining our long-cherished worldview. The Age of Progress, once considered sacrosanct, is on a deathwatch while a powerful new narrative, the Age of Resilience, is ascending.In The Age of Resilience, Rifkin takes us on a new journey beginning with how we reconceptualize time and navigate space. During the Age of Progress, efficiency was the gold standard for organizing time, locking our species into the quest to optimize the expropriation, commodification, and consumption of the Earth’s bounty, at ever-greater speeds and in ever-shrinking time intervals, with the objective of increasing the opulence of human society, but at the expense of the depletion of nature. Space, observes Rifkin, became synonymous with passive natural resources, while a principal role of government and the economy was to manage nature as property. This long adhered to temporal-spatial orientation, writes Rifkin, has taken humanity to the commanding heights as the dominant species on Earth and to the ruin of the natural world.In the emerging era, says Rifkin, efficiency is giving way to adaptivity as the all-encompassing temporal value while space is perceived as animated, self-organizing, and fluid. A younger generation, in turn, is pivoting from growth to flourishing, finance capital to ecological capital, productivity to regenerativity, Gross Domestic Product to Quality of Life Indicators, hyper-consumption to eco-stewardship, globalization to glocalization, geopolitics to biosphere politics, nation-state sovereignty to bioregional governance, and representative democracy to citizen assemblies and distributed peerocracy.Future generations, suggests Rifkin, will likely experience existence less as objects and structures and more as patterns and processes and come to understand that each of us is literally an ecosystem made up of the microorganisms and elements that comprise the hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The autonomous self of the Age of Progress is giving way to the ecological self of the Age of Resilience. The now worn scientific method that underwrote the Age of Progress is also falling by the wayside, making room for a new approach to science called Complex Adaptive Systems modeling. Likewise, detached reason is losing cachet while empathy and biophilia become the norm.At a moment when the human family is deeply despairing of the future, Rifkin gives us a window into a promising new world and a radically different future that can bring us back into nature’s fold, giving life a second chance to flourish on Earth.
The Age of Sustainability: Just Transitions in a Complex World (Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development)
by Mark SwillingWith 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.
The Age of Sustainable Development
by Sachs Jeffrey D.A bold and engaging intellectual synthesis on how modern societies can develop economically, equitably, and sustainably while preserving Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity.
The Age of Sustainable Development
by Jeffrey D. SachsJeffrey D. Sachs has shown himself to be one of the world's most perceptive and original analysts of global development in his groundbreaking books, including The End of Poverty and Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. Now, in this major new work he presents a compelling and practical framework for how global citizens can address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems of persistent extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and political-economic injustice. Sachs outlines the holistic way forward: sustainable development. This provocative work offers readers, students, activists, environmentalists, and policy makers the tools, metrics, and practical pathways they need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Far more than a rhetorical exercise, this book is designed to inform, inspire, and spur action. Based on Sachs's twelve years as director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, his thirteen years advising the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and his recent presentation of these ideas in a popular online course, The Age of Sustainable Development is a landmark publication and a clarion call for all who care about our planet and global justice.
The Age of Sustainable Development
by Jeffrey D. SachsJeffrey D. Sachs is one of the world's most perceptive and original analysts of global development. In this major new work he presents a compelling and practical framework for how global citizens can use a holistic way forward to address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems of persistent extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and political-economic injustice: sustainable development. <P><P>Sachs offers readers, students, activists, environmentalists, and policy makers the tools, metrics, and practical pathways they need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Far more than a rhetorical exercise, this book is designed to inform, inspire, and spur action. Based on Sachs's twelve years as director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, his thirteen years advising the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and his recent presentation of these ideas in a popular online course, The Age of Sustainable Development is a landmark publication and clarion call for all who care about our planet and global justice.
The Age of Wind Energy: Progress and Future Directions from a Global Perspective (Innovative Renewable Energy)
by Ali Sayigh David MilborrowThis unique volume on wind energy features contributions from the world’s leading research and development pioneers in the field of renewable energy. It discusses advances in offshore wind technology, grid-connected systems, grid stabilization and wind turbine design and highlights. Written from an international perspective, chapters focus on the status of wind energy in various regions and countries across the globe, outlining the positive impact its implementation has had on delaying the catastrophic effects of climate change.
Ageing and Place (Routledge Studies in Human Geography)
by Gavin J. Andrews David R. PhillipsDuring recent years, an increasing amount of academic research has focused on older people with a particular emphasis on settings, places and spaces. This book provides a comprehensive review of research and the policy area of 'ageing and place'. An insightful book on an important topic, Andrews and Phillips have together edited a valuable information and reference source for those with interests in the spatial dimensions of ageing in the twenty-first century. Ranging from macro-scale perspectives on the distribution of older populations on national scales, to the meaning of specific local places and settings to older individuals, on the micro-scale, the book spans an entire range of research traditions and international perspectives.
Ageing Asia and the Pacific in Changing Times: Implications for Sustainable Development
by John Burgess Subas Dhakal Alan NankervisThis book demonstrates that there are wide-ranging potential challenges in addressing issues associated with ageing populations in both developed and developing countries of the region. This book brings together local, national and regional perspectives on the ageing population and sustainable development nexus in selected countries in the Asia Pacific region. The countries selected in this book include a mix of developed and developing economies that all reflect strong trade, investment and migration linkages. While the Asia Pacific region is forecast to enjoy high growth in the coming decade, a recurring common policy challenge is addressing the ‘demographic time bomb’ posed by ageing populations and workforces (Montague et al., 2017). Consequently, this book focuses on strategic policies and practices of multiple stakeholders, primarily: governments, industry and education systems, together with, the range of aged care services providers – in more effectively addressing these key socio-economic challenges associated with the ageing population for sustainable development.
Ageing-Friendly Neighbourhoods in Singapore, Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America: An Annotated Bibliography (SpringerBriefs in Aging)
by Belinda Yuen Špela Močnik Winston Yap Freya C.H. YuThis book brings together the emerging body of work on age-friendly neighbourhoods in Singapore, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and North America. It begins with an overview chapter on the current state of policy, practice and research on age-friendly neighbourhoods in Singapore. This is followed by an annotated bibliography of published materials on age-friendly neighbourhoods in the above-mentioned countries and regions, encompassing theoretical work and empirical research reported on in journal articles, books and conference proceedings. The annotations for Singapore also map the grey literature, including unpublished dissertations and theses. The aim is to provide a sense of the scope of, issues in, and discourse on age-friendly neighbourhoods, the development of which is increasingly being recognised as a key strategy to support healthy ageing and enhance quality of life in ageing societies.
AGEING SOCIETIES: A Multi-disciplinary Approach (A\hodder Arnold Publication)
by Sarah HarperDemographic ageing is a reality - within 25 years half the population of Western Europe will be over 50, one quarter over 65, and the Less Developed Countries will contain one billion elderly people. Ageing Societies examines the myths, challenges and opportunities behind these figures. Ageing Societies explores three areas:§ the growing necessity for extending economic activity into later life and the implications of societal ageing for the intergenerational contract and the provision of social security § the changes in modern families and the implications the changes have for the provision of support and care for the ageing population § the biggest demographic challenge of all: ageing in the Less Developed Countries where there is little or no infrastructure to provide long-term care or social security.Combining bio-demography, sociology, economics and development studies, Ageing Societies highlights the opportunities of an ageing population for a mature society. Age-integrated and flexible workforces, increased labour mobility, intergenerational integration, age equality and politically stable age-integrated societies are the potential benefits of a demography which will be with us for the majority of this century.
Ageing, Wellbeing and Climate Change in the Arctic: An interdisciplinary analysis (Routledge Advances in Climate Change Research)
by Shahnaj Begum Marjaana Seppänen Paivi NaskaliThe Arctic and its unique natural resources have become objects of increasing concern. Rapid climate change and ageing of the population are transforming the living conditions in the region. This translates into an urgent need for information that will contribute to a better understanding of these issues. Ageing, Wellbeing and Climate Change in the Arctic addresses the important intersection of ageing, wellbeing and climate change in the Arctic region, making a key interdisciplinary contribution to an area of research on which little has been written, and limited sources of information are currently available. The book explores three key areas of discussion. First, various political issues that are currently affecting the Arctic, such as the social categorisation of elderly people. Second, the living conditions of the elderly in relation to Arctic climate change. Third, the wellbeing of elderly people in terms of traditional knowledge and lifestyles. The book also features contributions from a number of key researchers in the field which examine a broad range of case studies, including the impact of climate change on health in Lapland and elderly people and geographical mobility in Norway. This book will be of great interest to scholars of climate change, gerontology and social policy.
Agency in Poverty and War: Consciousness in Rural Human Development (Routledge Studies in Hazards, Disaster Risk and Climate Change)
by Vivianna Rodriguez CarreonThis book examines how people's self-awareness is affected by both internal and external factors amid war and poverty. It explores how agency has influenced the inward human development of rural women who face triple disadvantages related to gender, ethnicity, and access to economic power.It presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the intersection of war and poverty through narratives of surviving women. It advances understandings of how rural people, peasants, and Indigenous Peoples of Peru, particularly women, have experienced poverty and war as a combination of oppression, repression, and aggression. It explores their agency is affected and how it evolves during and after conflict in their search for truth and justice. It does this by taking the capability approach combined with insights from perspectives on raising consciousness and inner transformation in human development in which awareness of rural people’s experience enables them to be free and can move them from survival to conscious agents.This book offers new narratives to evaluate the hazards of poverty and war and the potential human security for rural people agency and empowerment in building peace. It will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of development studies, peace and security, political Latin America geography, rural communities, peace and conflict studies, human development and political studies.
Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth
by David C. KortenThe author of When Corporations Rule the World presents a critical handbook for economic revolution in this revised and updated edition.Despite the lessons learned from the economic meltdown of 2008, we are more vulnerable than ever to the same kind of economic havoc. Wall Street executives have returned to their culture of massive bonuses, and our leaders in Washington remain unwilling to make desperately needed fundamental changes to the economy. Change will instead have to come from below. Agenda for a New Economy is the handbook for that revolution.In this revised and updated edition David Korten has fleshed out his vision of the alternative to the corporate Wall Street economy: a Main Street economy based on locally owned, community-oriented “living enterprises” whose success is measured as much by their positive impact on people and the environment as by their positive balance sheet. We will lose nothing in the process because, as Korten ably demonstrates, the supposed services Wall Street offers are simply a con game. And Korten now offers more in-depth advice on how to mount a grassroots campaign to bring about an economy based on shared prosperity, ecological stewardship, and citizen democracy.
An Agenda for Sustainable Development Research (World Sustainability Series)
by Walter Leal Filho Amanda Lange Salvia Claudio Ruy Portela de VasconcelosThis book involves establishing a set of priorities and a roadmap that can guide scholarly and practical efforts towards sustainability goals. It encourages collaboration across disciplines to address complex sustainability issues that span social, economic, and environmental domains. It also supports the development of robust methodologies for conducting research, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. But despite the importance of and the need for an agenda for sustainable development research, many efforts are isolated and thematically disconnected. Also, it is difficult to find information on how sustainability research is being undertaken and on the wide range of methods being used. Against this backdrop and in order to facilitate a broad discussion on the contribution of sustainable development research, this book is being produced. The book gathers inputs from universities and research organisations working on matters related to sustainable development research in a variety of contexts. It also provides a platform for the dissemination of information on the latest initiatives, paving the way for technology transfer and networking. Furthermore, the book intends to provide a fertile basis upon which universities, research centres, and practitioners may cooperate more closely in this key area. Last but not least, a further aim of the book is to present methodological approaches and experiences deriving from case studies and projects, which aim to show how sustainability research may be implementing across a range of disciplines. Thanks to its scope and interdisciplinarity, this books makes an excellent reading to everyone interested on sustainability research.
Agendas for Sustainability: Environment and Development into the 21st Century (Routledge/SEI Global Environment and Development Series)
by Mary MacDonaldAgendas and Sustainability considers the processes used for devising global environment and development agendas and provides practical suggestions for their future development and influence. A collaboration of the latest research from the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Earth Council, the book presents similarities and differences in problem definition, objectives, principles, priorities and actions across eleven of the major agendas put forward for environment and development after Rio. Points of divergence and areas of common ground are investigated for over 30 environment and development-related topics, such as biodiversity, consumption patterns, trade, urbanization, population, education, deforestation and water resources.
Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation
by Todd BenDor Jürgen ScheffranConflict is a major facet of many environmental challenges of our time. However, growing conflict complexity makes it more difficult to identify win-win strategies for sustainable conflict resolution. Innovative methods are needed to help predict, understand, and resolve conflicts in cooperative ways.Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation examines computer modeling techniques as an important set of tools for assessing environmental and resource-based conflicts and, ultimately, for finding pathways to conflict resolution and cooperation. This book has two major goals. First, it argues that complexity science can be a unifying framework for professions engaged in conflict studies and resolution, including anthropology, law, management, peace studies, urban planning, and geography. Second, this book presents an innovative framework for approaching conflicts as complex adaptive systems by using many forms of environmental analysis, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, evolutionary game theory, viability theory, and network analysis. Known as VIABLE (Values and Investments from Agent-Based interaction and Learning in Environmental systems), this framework allows users to model advanced facets of conflicts—including institution building, coalition formation, adaptive learning, and the potential for future conflict—and conflict resolution based on the long-term viability of the actors’ strategies.Written for scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers alike, this book offers readers an extensive introduction to environmental conflict research and resolution techniques. As the result of decades of research, the text presents a strong argument for conflict modeling and reviews the most popular and advanced techniques, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, and participatory modeling methods. This indispensable guide uses NetLogo, a widely used and free modeling software package, to implement the VIABLE modeling approach in three case study applications around the world. Readers are invited to explore, adapt, modify, and expand these models to conflicts they hope to better understand and resolve.
Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Behaviors (Understanding Complex Systems)
by Juan Manuel Corchado Javier Bajo Amparo Alonso-Betanzos Noelia Sánchez-Maroño Oscar Fontenla-Romero J. Gary Polhill Tony CraigUsing the O. D. D. (Overview, Design concepts, Detail) protocol, this title explores the role of agent-based modeling in predicting the feasibility of various approaches to sustainability. The chapters incorporated in this volume consist of real case studies to illustrate the utility of agent-based modeling and complexity theory in discovering a path to more efficient and sustainable lifestyles. The topics covered within include: households' attitudes toward recycling, designing decision trees for representing sustainable behaviors, negotiation-based parking allocation, auction-based traffic signal control, and others. This selection of papers will be of interest to social scientists who wish to learn more about agent-based modeling as well as experts in the field of agent-based modeling.
Agent-Based Models and Complexity Science in the Age of Geospatial Big Data: Selected Papers from a workshop on Agent-Based Models and Complexity Science (GIScience 2016) (Advances in Geographic Information Science)
by Liliana Perez Eun-Kyeong Kim Raja SenguptaThis book contains a selection of papers presented during a special workshop on Complexity Science organized as part of the 9th International Conference on GIScience 2016. Expert researchers in the areas of Agent-Based Modeling, Complexity Theory, Network Theory, Big Data, and emerging methods of Analysis and Visualization for new types of data explore novel complexity science approaches to dynamic geographic phenomena and their applications, addressing challenges and enriching research methodologies in geography in a Big Data Era.
Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems
by Michael Batty Alison J. Heppenstall Andrew T. Crooks Linda M. SeeThis unique book brings together a comprehensive set of papers on the background, theory, technical issues and applications of agent-based modelling (ABM) within geographical systems. This collection of papers is an invaluable reference point for the experienced agent-based modeller as well those new to the area. Specific geographical issues such as handling scale and space are dealt with as well as practical advice from leading experts about designing and creating ABMs, handling complexity, visualising and validating model outputs. With contributions from many of the world's leading research institutions, the latest applied research (micro and macro applications) from around the globe exemplify what can be achieved in geographical context. This book is relevant to researchers, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students, and professionals in the areas of quantitative geography, spatial analysis, spatial modelling, social simulation modelling and geographical information sciences.
Agent-Based Simulation of Vulnerability Dynamics: A Case Study of the German North Sea Coast (Springer Theses)
by Cilli SobiechThis thesis constitutes an extraordinary innovative research approach in transferring the concepts and methods of complex systems to risk research. It ambitiously bridges the barriers between theoretical, empirical and methodical research work and integrates these fields into one comprehensive approach of dealing with uncertainty in socio-ecological systems. The developed agent-based simulation aims at the dynamics of social vulnerability in the considered system of the German North Sea Coast. Thus, the social simulation provides an analytical method to explore the individual, relational, and spatial aspects leading to dynamics of vulnerability in society. Combining complexity science and risk research by the method of agent-based simulation hereby emphasizes the importance of understanding interrelations inside the system for the system's development, i.e. for the evolving. Based on a vulnerability assessment regarding vulnerability characteristics, present risk behavior and self-protection preferences of private households against the impacts of flooding and storm surges, possible system trajectories could be explored by means of simulation experiments. The system-analytical approach therefore contributes to an integrated consideration of multi-dimensional and context-sensitv social phenomena such as vulnerability. Furthermore it achieves conceptually and strategically relevant implications for risk research and complex systems research.
Agents and Implications of Landscape Pattern: Working Models for Landscape Ecology
by Dean L UrbanThis is an ecology textbook focused on key principles that underpin research and management at the landscape scale. It covers (1) agents of pattern (the physical template, biotic processes, and disturbance regimes); (2) scale and pattern (why scale matters, how to ‘scale’ with data, and inferences using landscape pattern metrics); and (3) implications of pattern (for metapopulations, communities and biodiversity, and ecosystem processes). The last two chapters address emerging issues: urban landscapes, and adapting to climate change. This book stems from two graduate-level courses in Landscape Ecology taught at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. The subject has evolved over time, from a concepts-based overview of what landscape ecology is, to a more applied practicum on how one does landscape ecology. As landscape ecology has matured as a discipline, its perspectives on spatial heterogeneity and scale have begun to permeate into a wide range of other fields including conservation biology, ecosystem management, and ecological restoration. Thus, this textbook will bring students from diverse backgrounds to a common level of understanding and will prepare them with the practical knowledge for a career in conservation and ecosystem management.
Ages, Geochemistry and Metamorphism of Neoarchean Basement in Shandong Province: Implications for the Evolution of the North China Craton (Springer Theses)
by Meiling WuFocusing on issues of when and how Archean crust in the craton was formed, this PhD thesis book presents major research outcomes of field based metamorphic, geochemical and geochronological investigations on Meso-Neoarchean basement rocks from Shandong Province in the Eastern Block of the North China Craton. Based on major findings and new data, the author proposes that the formation and evolution of Archean crust was governed by mantle plumes, not by plate tectonics. As one of the oldest cratonic blocks in the world containing rocks as old as 3. 85 billion years, the formation and evolution of North China Craton is still controversial. Therefore this book will be of value to anyone interested in the evolution of cratonic blocks and Precambrian geology.
The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
by Jeffrey D. SachsToday’s most urgent problems are fundamentally global. They require nothing less than concerted, planetwide action if we are to secure a long-term future. But humanity’s story has always been on a global scale. In this book, Jeffrey D. Sachs, renowned economist and expert on sustainable development, turns to world history to shed light on how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. <P><P>Sachs takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change, starting with the original settling of the planet by early modern humans through long-distance migration and ending with reflections on today’s globalization. Along the way, he considers how the interplay of geography, technology, and institutions influenced the Neolithic revolution; the role of the horse in the emergence of empires; the spread of large land-based empires in the classical age; the rise of global empires after the opening of sea routes from Europe to Asia and the Americas; and the industrial age. The dynamics of these past waves, Sachs demonstrates, offer fresh perspective on the ongoing processes taking place in our own time—a globalization based on digital technologies. Sachs emphasizes the need for new methods of international governance and cooperation to prevent conflicts and to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives aligned with sustainable development. The Ages of Globalization is a vital book for all readers aiming to make sense of our rapidly changing world.
Agglomeration and Firm Performance (Advances in Spatial Science)
by Fiorenza Belussi Jose-Luis Hervas-OliverThis contributed volume studies and explains the effect of agglomeration on a firm’s innovation and performance. It presents new cases as well as new topics within the agglomeration phenomenon, exploring also their role under the Great Recession. Beyond the analysis of regions or clusters, this volume focuses on firms within agglomerations and captures this phenomenon from different perspectives, contexts and diverse literatures. Specifically, it looks at the question under what circumstances exert generate benefits on firms’ performance, and how those gains are generated and distributed, usually asymmetrically, across agglomerated firms. In this context, the book addresses topics such as networks, collocation, labor mobility, firm’s strategies, innovation, competitiveness and collective actions across a diverse set of literatures, including economic geography, business economics, management, social networks, industrial districts, international business, sociology or industry dynamics.
Agglomeration of Iron Ores (Metals And Alloys Ser.)
by Ram Pravesh BhagatThis book focuses on agglomeration, or the size enlargement process, of iron ores. This process sits at the interface of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy. The book begins with a discussion of raw materials preparation and the beneficiation process. It then describes fundamental principles of the sintering and pelletization processes, including formation of green mix through granulation and green balls as well as chemical reactions during sintering. Finally, it offers a brief description of iron making processes and correlations related to the agglomerates: quality parameters and BF productivity and coke rate.