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Across the Ussuri Kray: Travels in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains
by Vladimir K. ArsenyevIn Russia's Far East sits the wild Ussuri Kray, a region known for its remote highlands and rugged mountain passes where tigers and bears roam the cliffs, and salmon and lenok navigate the rivers. In this collection of travel writing by famed Russian explorer and naturalist Vladimir K. Arsenyev (1872-1930), readers are shuttled back to the turn of the 20th century when the Russian Empire was reeling from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and vulnerable to its Far Eastern neighbors. What began as an expedition to survey the region's infrastructure for the Russian military turned into an adventure through a territory rich in ethnic and ecological diversity. Encountering the disappearing indigenous cultures of the Nanai and Udege, engaging the help of Korean farmers and Chinese hunters, and witnessing the beginning of indomitable Russian settlement, Arsenyev documents the lives and customs of the region's inhabitants and their surroundings. Originally written as "a popular scientific description of the Kray," this unabridged edition includes photographs largely unseen for nearly a century and is annotated by Jonathan C. Slaght, a biologist working in the same forests Arsenyev explored. Across the Ussuri Kray is a classic of northeast Asian cultural and natural history.
Act III in Patagonia: People and Wildlife
by William ConwayFrom tracking elephant seals in the Atlantic to following flamingos in the Andes, Act III in Patagonia takes readers to the sites where real-life field science is taking place. It further illuminates the ecology of the region through a history that reaches from the time of the Tehuelche Indians known by Magellan, Drake, and Darwin to the present.
Acting Locally: Local Environmental Mobilizations and Campaigns (Environmental Politics)
by Christopher RootesLocal campaigns are the most persistent and ubiquitous forms of environmental contention. National and transnational mobilisations come and go and the attention they receive from mass media ebbs and flows, but local campaigns persist. The persistence or re-emergence of local campaigns is also a reminder that it remain possible to mobilise people around environmental issues, and they have often served as sources of innovation in and re-invigoration of national organisations that have allegedly been co-opted by the powerful and incorporated into the established political and administrative system. But local environmental campaigns have been relatively neglected in the scientific literature. Drawing on examples from Britain, France, Greece, Ireland and Italy, this book seeks to redress that neglect by examining the networks among actors and organisations that connect local mobilizations to the larger environmental movement and political systems, the ways in which local disputes are framed in order to connect with national and global issues, and the persistent impacts of the peculiarities of place upon environmental campaigns. This book was previously published as a special issue of Environmental Politics
Acting Out (Summer Camp Secrets #2)
by Katy GrantThis was it. I was about to leave my past behind me and start my new life. All I had to do was say good-bye to my family and get on the bus. My mom clutched my arm. "Promise me you'll wear your headgear," she said, loud enough for twenty people to hear. Was that the most important thing she had to say to me before I left for a whole month?
Action for the Environment: Clean Air
by Rufus BellamyAction for the Environment. All around the world today, people are taking Action for the Environment. From small, local projects to large, global initiatives, people are finding ways to help prevent environmental damage. This new series helps build a foundation for a sustainable future by looking at: THE KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS, WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP. Other titles in the series: Garbage Disposal, Water Supplies, Saving Wildlife, Energy Supplies, Transportation Solutions, Protecting Habitats, Food for All.
Action Research for Climate Change Adaptation: Developing and applying knowledge for governance (Routledge Advances in Climate Change Research)
by Arwin Van Buuren Jasper Eshuis Mathijs Van VlietGovernments all over the world are struggling with the question of how to adapt to climate change. They need information not only about the issue and its possible consequences, but also about feasible governance strategies and instruments to combat it. At the same time, scientists from different social disciplines are trying to understand the dynamics and peculiarities of the governance of climate change adaptation. This book demonstrates how action-oriented research methods can be used to satisfy the need for both policy-relevant information and scientific knowledge. Bringing together eight case studies that show inspiring practices of action research from around the world, including Australia, Denmark, Vietnam and the Netherlands, the book covers a rich variety of action-research applications, running from participatory observation to serious games and role-playing exercises. It explores many adaptation challenges, from flood-risk safety to heat stress and freshwater availability, and draws out valuable lessons about the conditions that make action research successful, demonstrating how scientific and academic knowledge can be used in a practical context to reach useful and applicable insights. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of climate change, environmental policy, politics and governance.
Action Research for Sustainability: Social Imagination Between Citizens and Scientists
by Jonas EgmoseHow can action research further new research orientations towards sustainability? This book, empirically situated in the field of upstream public engagement, involving local residents, researchers and practitioners in bottom-up processes deliberating on urban sustainability, answers this question by analysing processes of social learning. The book addresses the need to move towards sustainability at societal level as a democratic challenge questioning the way we live on planet earth. By conceptualising sustain-ability as an immanent and emergent ability of ecological and social life, continuously to renew itself without eroding its own foundation of existence, it argues that since sustainability cannot be invented but only supported (or eroded) by science, we need to reframe science in the role of sustaining sustain-ability. Through analyses of a three year action research programme, aiming to provide local citizens with a greater say in the future of urban sustainability research, this book shows how action research can make important methodological contributions to processes of social learning between citizens and scientists by enabling free spaces in peoples everyday life and within academia, where aspects of un-sustainability can be addressed and new imaginations of more sustainable futures emerge.
Active Hope
by Joanna Macy Chris JohnstoneThe challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power. Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects, the authors guide us through a transformational process informed by mythic journeys, modern psychology, spirituality, and holistic science. This process equips us with tools to face the mess we're in and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society.
Active Hope (revised): How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power
by Joanna Macy Chris JohnstoneThe challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, war, political polarization, economic upheaval, and the dying back of nature together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. This revised, tenth anniversary edition of Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face these crises so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power. Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects, the authors guide us through a transformational process informed by mythic journeys, modern psychology, spirituality, and holistic science. This process equips us with tools to face the mess we’re in and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society.
Active Landscape Photography: Diverse Practices (Active Landscape Photography)
by Anne C GodfreyDiverse Practices, the third book in the Active Landscape Photography series, presents a set of unique photographic examples for site-specific investigations of landscape places. Contributed by authors across academia, practice and photography, each chapter serves as a rigorous discussion about photographic methods for the landscape and their underlying concepts. Chapters also serve as unique case studies about specific projects, places and landscape issues. Project sites include the Miller Garden, Olana, XX Miller Prize and the Philando Castile Peace Garden. Landscape places discussed include the archeological landscapes of North Peru, watery littoral zones, the remote White Pass in Alaska, Sau Paulo and New York City’s Chinatown. Photographic image-making approaches include the use of lidar, repeat photography, collage, mapping, remote image capture, portraiture, image mining of internet sources, visual impact assessment, cameraless photography, transect walking and interviewing. These diverse practices demonstrate how photography, when utilized through a set of specific critical methods, becomes a rich process for investigating the landscape. Exploring this concept in relationship to specific contemporary sties and landscape issues reveals the intricacy and subtlety that exists when photography is used actively. Practitioners, academics, students and researchers will be inspired by the underlying concepts of these examples and come away with a better understanding about how to create their own rigorous photographic practices.
Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics
by Margaret E. Keck Kathryn SikkinkSurvey of non-governmental organizations' role in pressing for improvements in areas such as human rights, environmental stewardship and more.
Activists beyond Borders
by Margaret E. Keck Kathryn SikkinkA masterful combination of emerging theory and empirical comparison of one of the most intriguing areas of transnational politics. Keck and Sikkink access a broad range of theory from social movements, international relations, and comparative politics research to glean from a wealth of their own research findings solid and thought-provoking conclusions about the most interesting and least well-understood area of contentious politics in the world today. -Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University (Government) "Activists beyond Borders is a searching exploration of advocacy networks, providing compelling accounts in areas such as human rights and environmental protection and an intriguing glimpse into the transnational politics of the twenty-first century. "-Robert O. Keohane, Duke University Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink examine a type of pressure group that has been largely ignored by political analysts: networks of activists that coalesce and operate across national frontiers. Their targets may be international organizations or the policies of particular states. Historical examples of such transborder alliances include anti-slavery and woman suffrage campaigns. In the past two decades, transnational activism has had a significant impact in human rights, especially in Latin America, and advocacy networks have strongly influenced environmental politics as well. The authors also examine the emergence of an international campaign around violence against women.
Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America (Second Edition)
by Ted SteinbergAs the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain began to pour into New Orleans, people began asking the big question - could any of this have been avoided? How much of the damage from Hurricane Katrina was bad luck, and how much was poor city planning? Steinberg's Acts of God is a provocative history of natural disasters in the United States. This revised edition features a new chapter analyzing the failed response to Hurricane Katrina, a disaster Steinberg warnedcould happen when the book first was published. Focusing on America's worst natural disasters, Steinberg argues that it is wrong to see these tragedies as random outbursts of nature's violence or expressions of divine judgment. He reveals how the decisions of business leaders and government officials have paved the way for the greater losses of life and property, especially among those least able to withstand such blows - America's poor, elderly, and minorities. Seeing nature or God as the primary culprit, Steinberg explains, has helped to hide the fact that some Americans are simply better able to protect themselves from the violence of nature than others. In the face of revelations about how the federal government mishandled the Katrina calamity, this book is a must-read before further wind and water sweep away more lives. Acts of God is a call to action that needs desperately to be heard.
Acts of Resistance: The Power of Art to Create a Better World
by Amber Massie-BlomfieldWhat is the purpose of art in a world on fire? Can it be a genuine form of political resistance? What is the purpose of art in a world on fire? In this exhilarating and deeply inspiring work, Amber Massie-Blomfield considers the work of artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers—such as Gran Fury, Billie Holiday, Alexis Wright, Claude Cahun, Rick Lowe, and Joseph Beuys—alongside collectives, communities, and organizations that have used protest sites as their canvas and spearheaded political movements. From writer Ken Saro Wiwa combatting oil pollution in Nigeria and Susan Sontag directing Waiting for Godot in besieged Sarajevo to the women stitching subversive patchworks in Pinochet’s Chile and the artist-activists who blocked the building of a new airport in France, with stories drawn from environmentalism, feminism, anti-fascism, and other movements, Acts of Resistance brings together remarkable acts of creativity that have shifted history on its axis.
Adani, Following Its Dirty Footsteps: A Personal Story
by Lindsay SimpsonAdani’s license to mine 60 million tonnes of coal for 60 years threatens Australia’s precious ancient source of groundwater in the Galillee Basin, a vast underground water reservoir, part of the Great Artesian Basin, occupying more than 20% of Australia. How could a company with a globally disastrous reputation for environmental destruction along with a dubious financial status woo an Australian Prime Minister, a State Premier and a handful of regional mayors to back a project to build Australia’s largest coalmine and the world’s largest coal terminal only kilometres from the Great Barrier Reef? This book documents the inconceivable story of how Australian governments abrogated their responsibilities to protect this world heritage icon; bypassing environmental safeguards, thereby irrevocably damaging Australia’s reputation as environmental steward of some of the world’s most valuable natural assets.
Adapt: How Humans Are Tapping into Nature's Secrets to Design and Build a Better Future
by Amina KhanAmina Khan believes that nature does it best. In Adapt, she presents fascinating examples of how nature effortlessly solves the problems that humans attempt to solve with decades worth of the latest and greatest technologies, time, and money. Humans are animals too, and animals are incredibly good at doing more with less. If a fly’s eye can see without hundreds of fancy lenses, and termite mounds can stay cool in the desert without air conditioning, it stands to reason that nature can teach us a thing or two about sustainable technology and innovation. In Khan’s accessible voice, these complex concepts are made simple. There is so much we humans can learn from nature’s billions of years of productive and efficient evolutionary experience. This field is growing rapidly and everyone from architects to biologists to nano-technicians to engineers are paying attention. Results from the simplest tasks, creating Velcro to mimic the sticking power of a burr, to the more complex like maximizing wind power by arranging farms to imitate schools of fish can make a difference and inspire future technological breakthroughs.Adapt shares the weird and wonderful ways that nature has been working smarter and not harder, and how we can too to make billion dollar cross-industrial advances in the very near future.
Adaptation and Change On the Galapagos Islands
by Helen Sillett"The vampire finch and the sneaker iguana have something in common. They both live on the Galapagos Islands, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. These islands are a natural wonderland full of strange and amazing birds and animals. Some people have heard about the Galapagos because of the giant tortoises (turtles) that live there. Maybe you have seen these animals in a book or on television. The Galapagos Islands are also famous because of a young man named Charles Darwin, who visited them in 1835. Later, Darwin went on to become one of the most important scientists the world has ever known."-Introduction
Adaptation and Evolution in Marine Environments, Volume 1: The Impacts of Global Change on Biodiversity (From Pole to Pole)
by Guido Di Prisco Cinzia VerdeThe poles undergo climate changes exceeding those in the rest of the world in terms of their speed and extent, and have a key role in modulating the climate of the Earth. Ecosystems adapted to polar environments are likely to become vulnerable to climate changes. Their responses allow us to analyse and foresee the impact of changes at lower latitudes. We need to increase our knowledge of the polar marine fauna of continental shelves, slopes and deep sea, as identifying the responses of species and communities is crucial to establishing efficient strategies against threats to biodiversity, using international and cross-disciplinary approaches. The IPY 2007-2009 was a scientific milestone. The outstanding contribution of Marine Biology is reflected in this volume and the next one on "Adaptation and Evolution in Marine Environments - The Impacts of Global Change on Biodiversity" from the series "From Pole to Pole", making these volumes a unique and invaluable component of the scientific outcome of the IPY.
Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies for Climate Change
by Ai Hiramatsu Kensuke Fukushi Akimasa SumiIn recent decades there has been a growing awareness of how intricate the interactions are between human beings and the environment. Fortunately, progress has been made in understanding this relationship, and new technologies have been effective in addressing environmental problems. However belatedly, there has been an acknowledgment of the incompatibility of the world's finite resources with humankind's increasingly greater needs for them, and of how such a challenge demands broadened collaboration among engineers, social scientists, politicians and financial powers. Global agreement that the essential issues of the twenty-first century cannot be solved by any one discipline has led to the concept of sustainability. The transdisciplinary contributions selected for inclusion in this book address these concerns with an overview of the diverse fields of study related to sustainability. This collection of work is intended to pave the way for further collaboration among scientists and nations as well.
Adaptation to a Changing Climate in the Arab Countries: A Case for Adaptation Governance and Leadership in Building Climate Resilience
by Dorte VernerIn the Arab countries, climate change is a risk to poverty reduction and economic growth, threatening to unravel many of the development gains that have been achieved. The Arab Region is already suffering adverse consequences from climate variability and change. This book provides information on climate change and its impact in the Arab Region, as well as technical guidance on climate adaptation options for policy makers. The areas addressed include the economic impacts of climate change (as measured by the reduction in household income and GDP); the impacts of climate change on the water, health, and tourism sectors; livelihoods and well-being in rural and urban areas; biodiversity; disaster risk management; as well as gender and other social relations. The report is written through a participatory and collaborative process, led by the World Bank in partnership with the League of Arab States, incorporating both regional and international experts on the topics.
Adaptation to Climate Change: A Spatial Challenge
by Rob RoggemaAs it becomes clear that climate change is not easily within the boundaries of the 1990's, society needs to be prepared and needs to anticipate future changes due to the uncertain changes in climate. So far, extensive research has been carried out on several issues including the coastal defence or shifting ecozones. However, the role spatial design and planning can play in adapting to climate change has not yet been focused on. This book illuminates the way adaptation to climate change is tackled in water management, ecology, coastal defence, the urban environment and energy. The question posed is how each sector can anticipate climate change by creating spatial designs and plans. The main message of this book is that spatial design and planning are a very useful tool in adapting to climate change. It offers an integral view on the issue, it is capable in dealing with uncertainties and it opens the way to creative and anticipative solutions. Dealing with adaptation to climate change requires a shift in mindset; from a technical rational way of thinking towards an integral proactive one. A new era in spatial design and planning looms on the horizon.
Adaptation to Climate Change and Sea Level Rise: The Case Study of Coastal Communities in New Brunswick, Canada (SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science)
by Sebastian Weissenberger Omer ChouinardThe book provides a concise and interdisciplinary outlook on the impacts of climate change on coastal areas and how coastal communities adapt to them. The first chapter analyses how sea level rise, changing ocean conditions, or increased climate variability and the socio-environmental context of the coastal zone leads to vulnerable communities. The second chapter addresses adaptation strategies and tools, and gives some examples of their application around the world. The third chapter describes participative action research projects undertaken in New Brunswick and how this community based approach has enabled communities to increase their climate resilience.
Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability in Rural West Africa
by Joseph A. Yaro Jan HesselbergThis book presents conceptual and empirical discussions of adaptation to climate change/variability in West Africa. Highlighting different countries' experiences in adaptation by different socio-economic groups and efforts at building their adaptive capacity, it offers readers a holistic understanding of adaptation on the basis of contextual and generic sources of adaptive capacity. Focusing on adaptation to climate change/variability is critical because the developmental challenges West Africa faces are increasingly intertwined with its climate history. Today, climate change is a major developmental issue for agrarian rural communities with high percentages of the population earning a living directly or indirectly from the natural environment. This makes them highly vulnerable to climate-driven ecological change, in addition to threats in the broader political economic context. It is imperative that rural people adapt to climate change, but their ability to successfully do so may be limited by competing risks and vulnerabilities. As such, elucidating those vulnerabilities and sources of strength with regard to the adaptive capacities needed to support successful adaptation and avoid maladaptation is critical for future policy formulation. Though the empirical discussion is geographically based on West Africa, its applicability in terms of the processes, structures, needs, strategies, and recommendations for policy transcends the region and provides useful lessons for understanding adaptation broadly in the developing world.
Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture: Research and Practices
by Toshichika Iizumi Ryuichi Hirata Ryo MatsudaThis book highlights state-of-the-art research and practices for adaptation to climate change in food production systems (agriculture in particular) as observed in Japan and neighboring Asian countries. The main topics covered include the current scientific understanding of observed and projected climate change impacts on crop production and quality, modeling of autonomous and planned adaptation, and development of early warning and/or support systems for climate-related decision-making. Drawing on concrete real-world examples, the book provides readers with an essential overview of adaptation, from research to system development to practices, taking agriculture in Asia as the example. As such, it offers a valuable asset for all researchers and policymakers whose work involves adaptation planning, climate negotiations, and/or agricultural developments.
Adaptation to Climate Change in Southern Africa: New Boundaries for Development (Climate and Development Series)
by Steffen Bauer Imme ScholzAdverse climate impacts are already evident across Southern Africa and pose a serious threat to the development prospects of the region's societies. Sustainable development in this region will depend on the rapid development and implementation of effective adaptation measures. This volume identifies the new socioeconomic and political boundaries to development that result from ongoing climate change in Southern Africa. The collected papers explore the region's potential for a transition to development strategies that combine meaningful socioeconomic investment and adaptation measures while also improving livelihoods in the region. The chapters are backed up by detailed case studies which underscore the urgent need for national governments and multilateral agencies to develop strategies to support Southern Africa's societies in adapting to climate change.