This book covers a variety of topics regarding environmental practices in our day-to-day lives, as well as topics concerning sustainable development as a broader concept embracing ecological, social, and economic aspects to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Starting with the traditional controversy between the neoclassical economy and sustainable economy, which may be overcome by scientific progress due to more intensive scientific studies of the sustainability paradigm, the book proceeds to discuss various problems and challenges regarding environmental protection and sustainable development in different countries and on different continents. This includes analyses of recent, sometimes fatal mining disasters in South and North America, challenges and opportunities for rural development in Africa and Australia, an exploration of the role of women for sustainable development in Palestine, water safety and water security issues in Asia and Australia, the environmental exploitation of popular tourism destinations like Acapulco, and deforestation in Malaysia, suggesting innovative approaches to turn challenges into opportunities to effectively tackle these problems. Other topics addressed involve sustainable energy creation for future generations, a research survey among Romanian students on sustainable consumption behavior, validity testing for a heat transfer model in a greenhouse, and a case study on sustainability risk management practices at Malaysia’s environmentally sensitive companies. The book closes with an examination of highly digitalized Smart Cities as a potentially valuable complement to conventional urban and rural lifestyles in connection with achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book’s forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.

This edited volume outlines the most innovative programs to address environmental challenges and improve the welfare of poor and marginalized populations.

Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. This book argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.

A sustainable future: a world in which sustainable development is possible and guaranteed? In this book, the Dutch Committee for Long-Term Environmental Policy, an expert advisory board to the Dutch Minister of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, shows possible ways in which society can move towards a sustainable future. The book goes in search of a new social order, an order in which sustainability is guaranteed. This search holds four main elements: signs of hope: which positive initiatives and developments exist which will lead to a sustainable future? transformations: which transformations are needed to reach a sustainable future? philosophical and methodological reflections: can one predict the future? institutions: what are the necessary changes in the basic institutions of society to reach a sustainable future? The committee has invited well-known experts from different disciplinary backgrounds to check the existing social order from a point of sustainability and to give recommendations for a sustainable future. The central conclusion is that we are in need of an evolving green strategy aimed at sustainability. The contours of this strategy are described and a large set of recommendations to reach a sustainable future are given. As the committee states: `There is no certainty and no statistical probability for a sustainable future, but there is at least a chance.'

Sustainable Planet is a two-volume resource that provides comprehensive coverage on the world's most pressing environmental issues, their impact in countries around the world, and how—or if—they are being addressed. Sustainable Planet: Issues and Solutions for Our Environment's Future examines contemporary challenges to sustainability, including population, climate change, decreasing biodiversity, land degradation, and water quality. Each chapter analyzes one of these challenges by first providing an introduction to the topic as well as key concepts to provide readers with a basic understanding of the issue. Essays deepen comprehension by investigating different aspects of the challenge. Case studies written by experts in the field follow. Each case study considers how a specific country is affected by the particular issue as well as the measures the country is taking to find solutions that will provide for a more sustainable future. The final chapter of the book explores sustainability at a global level by examining, through annotated primary documents, a number of multinational initiatives and alliances intended to create a more sustainable planet.

This book presents a broad discussion on sustainable development, rethinking and improving its effectiveness as a paradigm of today and tomorrow. Outstanding visionary thinkers and scientists offer their timely assessment on the future prospects of mankind: In what direction are we heading? How can the world become more just and equitable, and how can future development be sustained to adequately address economic, social, and – perhaps most important – environmental issues?

The UN World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resources or harming the environment. Written by an international group of politicians, civil servants and experts on the environment and development, the Brundtland Report changed sustainable development from a physical notion to one based on social, economic and environmental issues. This book positions the Brundtland Commission as a key event within a longer series of international reactions to pressing problems of global poverty and environmental degradation. It shows that its report, "Our Common Future", published in 1987, covered much more than its definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" for which it became best known. It also addressed a long list of issues which remain unresolved today. The book explores how the work of the Commission juggled contradictory expectations and world views, which existed within the Commission and beyond, and drew on the concept of sustainable development as a way to reconcile profound differences. The result was both an immense success and disappointment. Coining an irresistibly simple definition enabled the Brundtland Commission to place sustainability firmly on the international agenda. This definition gained acceptability for a potentially divisive concept, but it also diverted attention from underlying demands for fundamental political and social changes. Meanwhile, the central message of the Commission – the need to make inconvenient sustainability considerations a part of global politics as much as of everyday life – has been side-lined. The book thus assesses to what extent the Brundtland Commission represented an immense step forward or a missed opportunity.

This book focuses on the environmental components of sustainability, including aspects of resourcing and the environmental impacts of human societies. Marine and tropical forest ecosystems, food security and other natural resources, as well as technologies for the environmental control of societal impacts are examined. This volume is multi-disciplinary, but with a consistent focus on the natural environment. This 2-volume set discusses a wide range of topics concerning sustainability and human security in Asia, particularly South East Asia. The individual chapters have been contributed by authors from various fields, and due to the breadth of the material are separated into two thematic volumes. The set offers a valuable resource for professionals and researchers in the urban planning industry, postgraduates, policymakers, government officials and natural resources managers. In addition, it can be used in courses on Environmental Engineering, Agriculture and Forestry, Public Policy and Earth Science.