Product Description
In recent years, scholars in international relations and other fields have begun to conceive of security more broadly, moving away from a state-centered concept of national security toward the idea of human security, which emphasizes the individual and human well-being. Viewing global environmental change through the lens of human security connects such problems as melting ice caps and carbon emissions to poverty, vulnerability, equity, and conflict. This book examines the complex social, health, and economic consequences of environmental change across the globe.

In chapters that are both academically rigorous and policy relevant, the book discusses the connections of global environmental change to urban poverty, natural disasters (with a case study of Hurricane Katrina), violent conflict (with a study of the decade-long Nepalese civil war), population, gender, and development. The book makes clear the inadequacy of traditional understandings of security and shows how global environmental change is raising new, unavoidable questions of human insecurity, conflict, cooperation, and sustainable development.

Contributors: W. Neil Adger, Jennifer Bailey, Jon Barnett, Victoria Basolo, Hans Georg Bohle, Mike Brklacich, May Chazan, Chris Cocklin, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Indra de Soysa, Heather Goldsworthy, Betsy Hartmann, Robin M. Leichenko, Laura Little, Alexander López, Richard A. Matthew, Bryan McDonald, Eric Neumayer, Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, Karen L. O'Brien, Marvin S. Soroos, Bishnu Raj Upreti ... Read more

Product Description
Global environmental change represents an immediate and unprecedented threat to the food security of hundreds of millions of people, especially those who depend on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods. As this book shows, at the same time, agriculture and related activities also contribute to climate change, by intensifying greenhouse gas emissions and altering the land surface. Responses aimed at adapting to climate change may have negative consequences for food security, just as measures taken to increase food security may exacerbate climate or other environmental change. The authors show that his complex and dynamic relationship between climate change, agriculture and food security is also influenced by additional factors. Agricultural and food systems are heavily influenced by socioeconomic conditions, which in turn are affected by multiple processes such as macro-level economic policies, political conflicts and the spread of infectious diseases.

This book provides a major, accessible synthesis of the current state of knowledge and thinking on the relationships between global environmental change and food security. While some other books look at the links between climate change and agricultural production, they do not extend this to food security. In contrast, this book addresses the broader issues, based on a novel food system concept and stressing the need for actions at a regional, rather than just an international or local, level. It reviews new thinking which has emerged over the last decade, and looks forward towards adaptation and mitigation strategies for the next decade. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first textbook to consider all aspects of the cryosphere system in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate.

• Considers all six aspects of the cryosphere – ice sheets, glacier ice, permafrost, river and lake ice, sea ice and snow – in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate.
  
• Describes a new concept of cryosphere transience and landscape transition which links climate, hydrology, ecology and geomorphology.
  
• Looks at the evidence, process, and patterns of cryosphere change, on local and global scales.
  
• Provides a wealth of data to inform the current global environmental change debate.

Customer Reviews (1)

Perfect for undergraduate intro class on cold region issues
The quality of the research and writing in this critical assessment of the cryosphere is unmatched.This book is highly relevant for our critical understanding of one of the world's most rapidly changing environment.I highly recommend this book--well suited to undergraduate geography courses. ... Read more

Product Description

This policy-focused, global and multidisciplinary security handbook on Facing Global Environmental Change addresses new security threats of the 21st century posed by climate change, desertification, water stress, population growth and urbanization. These security dangers and concerns lead to migration, crises and conflicts. They are on the agenda of the UN, OECD, OSCE, NATO and EU. In 100 chapters, 132 authors from 49 countries analyze the global debate on environmental, human and gender, energy, food, livelihood, health and water security concepts and policy problems. In 10 parts they discuss the context and the securitization of global environmental change and of extreme natural and societal outcomes. They suggest a new research programme to move from knowledge to action, from reactive to proactive policies and to explore the opportunities of environ-mental cooperation for a new peace policy.

Product Description
This book marks a watershed in the social sciences. The qualitative, critical perspective of sociology and allied disciplines challenges the technocentric `managerialism' which dominates environmental policy, its discourse and its impact. The authors explore the relationship between social theory and sustainability in an attempt to transend technical rhetoric and embrace a broader understanding of `nature'. ... Read more

Product Description
The international community is increasingly confronted with global environmental problems, which lead to distributional conflicts, unresolved equity issues and asymmetric distribution of the costs and benefits of environmental policy. The complexity of such problems requires the development of an international institutional framework, capable of coping with the long-run international aspects of global environmental change.

This book analyses some of the difficulties in the construction of such a framework and offers suggestions on how they might be overcome. The contributions in The Economics of Global Environmental Change address international trade, land-use change, biodiversity preservation, the management of water resources and the composition of water-related conflicts, global warming and strategic aspects of international environmental agreements.

This book provides an in-depth insight to the current state-of-the-art for both economists and non-economists interested in global environmental change. It will also be of great interest to those wanting an introduction to the economic perspective of an increasingly relevant environmental core problem, as well as to students and researchers in political science.

Contributors include: M. Cogoy, J. Eyckmans, M. Finus, E. Fraser, B. Friedl, B. Gebetsroither, M. Getzner, K. Hubacek, T. Kluge, S.A. Mason, A. Muller, K.W. Steininger, C. Van Beers ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Will prove to be of immense and timely interest
The latest edition to the Edward Elgar Publishing series 'New Horizons In Environmental Economics', "The Economics Of Global Environment Change" is co-edited by Mario Cogoy (Professor of international Economics, University of Trieste, Italy) and Karl W. Steininger (Professor of Economics, Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, Austria). Benefitting from the contributions of acknowledged experts in their fields, this informed and informed compendium of information is organized into three main sections beginning with an introduction and overview of the subject of global climate change and its economic implications. Four major papers comprise the section on 'The Economics Dimensions of Global Environmental Change"; three contributions comprise the third section addresses issues related to 'International Cooperation in Global Environmental Change'. The contributors address the issues of distributions conflicts, unresolved equity issues, asymmetric distribution of the coasts and benefits of environmental policy, the d4evelopment of an international institutional framework, long-run international aspects of global environmental change; international trade, land-use change, biodiversity preservation, management of water resources and conflicts, as well as global warming and strategic aspects of international environmental agreements. An impressive and seminal body of work in compliance with the highest standards of research and scholarship making it an essential addition to academic, corporate, governmental, and environmental organization reference collections, "The Economics Of Global Environment Change" will prove to be of immense and timely interest to economists, environmentalists, academicians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the economic impact of global warming. ... Read more

Product Description
Examines the importance of climate as one of the major forcing functions in the global environmental change process.Emphasizes both humaninduced climatic change and natural climatic change.Provides a comprehensive historical context and important projection for the future. Softcover. ... Read more

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This text focuses on the atmosphere and how it works as a global entity to maintain a given global climate or ozone shield and how it is influenced by human activity. A complete reference for students of environmental science and related fields, it introduces aspects of global change from a meteorological perspective. An accompanying guide to the Internet helps keep readers up to date on the latest information in the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent technical introduction to global climate change
Whether you are entering a geophysical academic field or just interested in the process of global climate change and whether or not it is happeing, this book provides an excellent introduction to what is really going on in the atmosphere.
Covering not only global warming, but also long term climate change (ice ages), El Nino Southern Oscillation, the ozone hole, and changes in the carbon cycle, this book uses less than 150 pages to provide the reader a strong grasp of how the atmosphere might be changing.
What is missing from the book?Attention is focused only on the technical mechanisms of the role of the atmosphere in global climate change.The book does not address the role of human activites and hence is able to mostly maintain balance.Thus, it is a must read no matter which side of the global warming debate you stand on. ... Read more

Product Description
Considers alterations to the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and other elements as a result of industrial/technological development and agriculture, which have significantly altered the natural environment. Revised new edition. Paper. ... Read more

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This is one of the few books dealing with regime theory to be written from a legal point of view. Jurgielewicz's book is part of an effort to promote interdisciplinary research on the nature of the international legal order. Her work explores the concept of international regimes within the international legal order, utilizing the policy-oriented approach to international law. The study uses examples of global environmental change as models. By examining the general international law applicable to climate change and ozone layer depletion, the author attempts to explain the original need for regime formation in these areas. Next, Jurgielewicz looks at the role of regimes within international law, focusing on their formation, maintenance, source of legal obligation, and compliance mechanisms. The book concludes that regimes are present within the international legal order and play a vital role in maintaining that order. This book will appeal to students in law schools, graduate schools, or advanced undergraduate seminars covering international relations, international legal theory, international law, and international organizations. ... Read more

Product Description
Population and Food examines recent trends in food production and assesses the prospects for feeding humanity in the twenty-first century. With case studies from throughout the developed and developing world, the book suggests that food production in most world regions has kept ahead of population growth, that future food production prospects are encouraging, and that in all probability the people of the world will be better fed in the twenty-first than in the twentieth century. ... Read more

Product Description
This new undergraduate textbook provides a basic grounding in the science of global change. Although the climate has been changing constantly throughout Earth's history, human impacts on the system are relatively recent. The authors base the philosophy of the book on the view that an understanding of natural global change is necessary to assess the impact of human activity. Early chapters introduce the student to the basic science of earth systems. Later chapters consider anthropogenic effects against a background of natural climate change, and discuss the implications of continuing change for agriculture, health and demographic issues ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Clear Thinking
Highly recommended for those who know there must be more to global warming than just the last 100 years.Totally objective. ... Read more

Product Description
How will global environmental change affect the landscape and our interaction with it? Apart from climate change, there are other important catalysts of landscape change, including relief, hydroclimate and runoff, sea level variations and human activity. This volume summarizes the state-of-the-art concerning the geomorphic implications of global environmental change, analyzing such effects on lakes, rivers, coasts, reefs, rainforests, savannas, deserts, glacial features, and mountains. Providing a benchmark statement from the world's leading geomorphologists on the current state of, and potential changes to, the environment, this book is invaluable for advanced courses on geomorphology and environmental science, and as a reference for research scientists. Interdisciplinary in scope, with a primary audience of Earth and environmental scientists, geographers, geomorphologists and ecologists, it also has a wider reach to those concerned with the social, economic and political issues raised by global environmental change, and is useful to policy makers and environmental managers. ... Read more

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Highlighting fatal flaws in present economic and ecological approaches, the editors stress that neither the quest for sustainable development nor the process of environmental change itself can be understood without reference to the political process. ... Read more

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This exciting new reader in environmental history provides a framework for understanding the relations between ecosystems and world-systems over time. Alf Hornborg, J. R. McNeill, and Joan Martinez-Alier have brought together a group of the foremost writers from the social, historical, and geographical sciences to provide an overview of the ecological dimension of global, economic processes, with a long-term, historical perspective. Readers are challenged to integrate studies of the Earth-system with studies of the world-system, and to reconceptualize the relations between human beings and their environment, as well as the challenges of global sustainability. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

review
Broad coverage, but bound at times by ideological perspective and use of academic jargon.More concerned with the world system concept than the impact of humans on the environment and vice versa. ... Read more

Product Description
Environmental issues and questions of global change are now firmly established on the international political agenda. This volume provides a wide ranging survey of the treatment of environmental issues on international relations. ... Read more

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Experts report the state of the art in the study of global climate change using remote sensing techniques. Topics covered include the principles of remote sensing, the management of data, data requirements in climatology, the principles of modelling, the input of data into models, and the application of remote sensing to the atmosphere, ice and snow, seas and land.
The book is highly topical given the current great public and scientific awareness of possible man-made changes to the climate. It is essential reading for anyone new to the field, and invaluable as a reference work to those already working in it. ... Read more

Product Description
The human species faces a new threat to its health--perhaps to its survival.Our burgeoning numbers, the spread of technology, and our conspicuous consumption are overloading Earth's capacity to replenish and repair itself. Taking a unique perspective, Planetary Overload forcefully points out the consequences to human health of ongoing degradation of Earth's ecosystems. In a broad-based, accessible analysis, A.J. McMichael examines current ecological disruptions--land degradation, ozone depletion, temperature increases, and loss of genetic diversity through the extinction of species, among others--and compellingly demonstrates their potentially disastrous results, including food shortages, new and intensified disease patterns, rising seas, mass refugee problems, and cancers, blindness, and immune suppression from increased ultraviolet radiation. While other books on the subject analyze only the environmental impact of these problems, McMichael takes his analysis to an entirely new and disturbing extreme:he relates each of these insidious processes back to its ultimate impact on human health. He thoroughly considers these problems--and their scientific uncertainties--within a broad evolutionary, biological, social, and economic context.He also explores the underlying problems contributing to environmental breakdown, especially the relations between the world's rich and poor. This eloquent and alarming book will be of intense interest to environmentalists, public health professionals, policy makers, environmental studies and human ecology scholars, and anyone wishing a lucid, rational assessment of today's pressing ecological concerns.A. J. McMichael is the chair of the Australian Government's Environmental Health Committee and the co-author of The LS Factor:Lifestyle and Health (Penguin, 1987). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Planetary Overload
One of the few text books that I actually chose to keep from one of my college classes. A.J. McMichael makes some keen observations on the shift to the battle over resources in days present and ever increasingly so in days to come. Puts in perspective the plight of the Third World and developing nations and how the interplay of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism and other isms affect our global commons. A must for policy makers, politicians and anyone seeking answers behind some of the sensationalized TV footage we tend to see these days.

Amust for serious environmentalists and citizens
Dr.Tony McMichael, author of numerous IPCC and WHO reports on climate change, has here assembled an astounding array of information on the human species and how we have come to put our own health and the planet at risk. Designed for the general reader, though authoritative, Planetary Overload makes an ideal item for your personal bookshelf or for assignment in college classes.

McMichael is particularly good at putting human health in a social context since many current threats are on a population basis and fueled (literally) by human consumption, production, and population.

Planetary Overload presents a useful and interesting overview on human evolution, the connection between health and wealth in various countries,a section on global climate change and its direct and indirect health effects from heat, extreme weather events,the spread of infectious disease and the like. There are also startling summaries of the effects of urbanization and forest destruction, and, best of all, sane perspectives on the importance of politics and involvement for solving these growing health threats.

A brilliant synthesis of biology and medicine, economics, and politics, Planetary Overload puts McMichael in the first rank of concerned scientists and public intellectuals.

Ok general reading
This volume is interesting but it tries to cover too much. The author also makes too many unsupported claims and over-generalizations.

An ok introduction to the complex topics in this field. ... Read more

Product Description
This book explores the effectiveness of the response of environmental groups and organizations in Britain.Examining the relative European orientation of British environmental policy, and the impact of British concerns on European environmental policy, the book examines issues of environmental diplomacy, institutional dynamics, and policy debates relating to specific concerns such as pollution, land use, transport, and natural conservation. ... Read more

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Focusing upon energy conservation and the built environment, this book engages with areas of debate and policy currently dominated by technologists and natural scientists. Based upon empirical research, the book develops a sociological analysis of the science and technology of sustainability and energy efficiency. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating Subject
This is a most fascinating and well-written account of what would seem to be a most dry and uninteresting subject.Simon Guy brings to life the subject of insulation, explaining why people have resistance to change even when the change might be beneficial in the long run.The subject of this book applies well to the challenge of climate change and why it is so difficult to change attitudes and behavior to adopt the necessary changes in lifestyle to reduce our carbon footprint.This story is compelling, hard to put the book down. ... Read more