One of Asia's best-respected writers on business and economy, Hong Kong-based author Mark L. Clifford provides a behind-the-scenes look at what companies in China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand are doing to build businesses that will lessen the environmental impact of Asia's extraordinary economic growth. Dirty air, foul water, and hellishly overcrowded cities are threatening to choke the region's impressive prosperity. Recognizing a business opportunity in solving social problems, Asian businesses have developed innovative responses to the region's environmental crises. From solar and wind power technologies to green buildings, electric cars, water services, and sustainable tropical forestry, Asian corporations are upending old business models in their home countries and throughout the world. Companies have the money, the technology, and the people to act—yet, as Clifford emphasizes, support from the government (in the form of more effective, market-friendly policies) and the engagement of civil society are crucial for a region-wide shift to greener business practices. Clifford paints detailed profiles of what some of these companies are doing and includes a unique appendix that encapsulates the environmental business practices of more than fifty companies mentioned in the book.

Introduction : the evolution of the East Asian eco-developmental state / Mary Alice Haddad, Stevan Harrell -- East Asian environmental advocacy / Mary Alice Haddad -- China's low-carbon energy strategy / Joanna Lewis -- Energy and climate change policies of Japan and South Korea / Eunjung Lim -- The politics of pollution emissions trading in China / Iza Ding -- Legal experts and environmental rights in Japan / Simon Avenell -- Local energy initiatives in Japan / Noriko Sakamoto -- Indigenous conservation and post-disaster reconstruction in Taiwan / Sasala Taiban, Hui-nien Lin,Kurtis Jia-chyi Pei, Dau-jye Lu, Hwa-sheng Gau -- Nature for nurture in urban Chinese childrearing / Rob Efird -- Sustainability of Korea's first "New Village" / Chung Ho Kim -- Environmentalism in China's Chengdu Plain / Daniel Benjamin Abramson -- Environmental activism in Kaohsiung, Taiwan / Hua-mei Chiu -- Indigenous attitudes toward nuclear waste in Taiwan / Hsi-wen Chang -- The battle over GMOs in Korea and Japan / Yves Tiberghien -- Grassroots NGOs and environmental activism in China / Jingyun Dai, Anthony Spires -- The eco-developmental state and the environmental Kuznets curve / Stevan Harrell.

Soon after the American Revolution, ?certain of the founders began to recognize the strategic significance of Asia and the Pacific and the vast material and cultural resources at stake there. Over the coming generations, the United States continued to ask how best to expand trade with the region and whether to partner with China, at the center of the continent, or Japan, looking toward the Pacific. Where should the United States draw its defensive line, and how should it export democratic principles? In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia, identifying recurring themes in American statecraft that reflect the nation's political philosophy and material realities. Drawing on archives, interviews, and his own experience in the Pentagon and White House, Green finds one overarching concern driving U.S. policy toward East Asia: a fear that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the United States and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward free flow of trade, values, and forward defense. By More Than Providence works through these problems from the perspective of history's major strategists and statesmen, from Thomas Jefferson to Alfred Thayer Mahan and Henry Kissinger. It records the fate of their ideas as they collided with the realities of the Far East and adds clarity to America's stakes in the region, especially when compared with those of Europe and the Middle East.

"The transition from Green to Sustainable needs new tools for thinking, new descriptors that speak of both mitigation of impact and resilience to adverse change. A number of recent Asian projects go beyond the current conventions of Greening. Individually they speak of the diversity of the region; collectively they illustrate six principles that could be a bridge to sustainability."--Back cover.

Economic development in Asia is associated with expanding urbanism, overconsumption, and a steep growth in living standards. At the same time, rapid urbanisation, changing class consciousness, and a new rural–urban divide in the region have led to fundamental shifts in the way ecological concerns are articulated politically and culturally. Moreover, these changes are often viewed through a Western moralistic lens, which at the same time applauds Asia’s economic growth as the welcome reviver of a floundering world economy and simultaneously condemns this growth as encouraging hyperconsumerism and a rupture with more natural ways of living. This book presents an analysis of a range of practices and activities from across Asia that demonstrate that people in Asia are alert to ecological concerns, that they are taking action to implement new styles of green living, and that Asia offers interesting alternatives to narrow Anglo-American models of sustainable living. Subjects explored include eco-tourism in the Philippines, green co-operatives in Korea, the importance of "tradition" within Asian discourses of sustainability, and much more.

As China, India, and other industrializing giants grow, they are confronted with an inconvenient truth: They cannot rely on the conventions of capitalism as we know them today. Western industrialism has achieved miracles, promoting unprecedented levels of prosperity and raising hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet, if allowed to proceed unencumbered, this paradigm will do irreversible harm to the planet. By necessity, a new approach to environmentally conscious development is already emerging in the East, with China leading the way. Positioning its argument against zero-growth advocates and free-market environmentalists, Greening of Capitalism charts this transformation and sketches out a framework for more sustainable capitalism. State-mandated changes in energy use (as opposed to carbon taxes), a circular flow of resources (as opposed to emissions standards), and the introduction of new financial instruments that support green growth are cornerstones of China's framework. John A. Mathews argues that these tenets will be emulated around the world—first in India and Brazil. In light of this emerging shift, Mathews considers core debates over national security, international relations, and economic policy, ultimately addressing the question of whether these measures will be far-reaching or timely enough to prevent further damage.

This book presents an overview of the main research findings and case studies concerning education and skills for inclusive growth, green jobs and the greening of economies. Focusing on India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, it discusses government and business sector responses to these issues and how Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems and institutions are addressing both the renewal of curricula in the context of green growth dynamics, and patterns of training and skills development to meet demands. In addition, the book examines cross-country issues, concerns and prospects regarding education and skills for inclusive growth and green jobs for the four countries. These include critical themes and issues in the selected industry sectors triggering a demand for green jobs in the region; how industry is responding to those demands; areas impeding the transition from traditional to green practices; the importance of skills development; the role of TVET in addressing industry needs; and reasons for the slow response of TVET to green skills.While other studies conducted in Asia – and internationally - on the same topic have largely relied on secondary sources, this study conducted by the Asian Development Bank and the Education University of Hong Kong (ADB-EdUHK) is unique in that the findings, conclusions and recommendations reported on are based on primary data. As part of the study, TVET providers, business enterprises, policy makers and practitioners were surveyed using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. In addition, workshops were held in each of the four countries to ascertain the views of key stakeholders in government, nongovernment organisations, members of the international development community, TVET providers and members of the business sector.The book also provides summaries of the case studies undertaken for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam.

Rethinking Visual Narratives covers topics from the first millennium B.C.E. through the present day, testifying to the enduring significance of visual stories in shaping and affirming cultural practices in Asia. Contributors analyze how visual narratives function in different Asian cultures and reveal the multiplicity of ways that images can be narrated beyond temporal progression through a particular space. The study of local art forms advances our knowledge of regional iterations and theoretical boundaries, illustrating the enduring importance of pictorial stories to the cultural traditions of Asia. Contributors include Dominik Bonatz (Archaeologist Free University of Berlin), Sandra Cate (San Jose State University), Yonca Kösebay Erkan (Kadir Has University), Charlotte Galloway (Australian National University), Mary Beth Heston (College of Charleston), Yeewan Koon (The University of Hong Kong), Sonya S. Lee (University of Southern California), Leedom Lefferts (Drew University), Dore J. Levy (Brown University), Shane McCausland (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), Julia K. Murray (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Catherine Stuer (Denison University), Greg M. Thomas (The University of Hong Kong), Sarah E. Thompson (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Mary-Louise Totton (Western Michigan University).

This book is the first of its kind on environmental change research devoted to monsoon-arid environment evolution history and its mechanism involved. Capturing the most prominent features of Asian climate and environmental changes, it gives a comprehensive review of the Asian Monsoon records providing evidence for spatial and temporal climatic and environmental changes across the Asian continent since the Late Cenozoic. The dynamics underlying these changes are explored based on various bio-geological records and in particular based on the evidence of loess, speleothems as well as on mammal fossils. The Asian monsoon-arid climate system which quantifies the controlling mechanisms of climate change and the way it operates in different time scales is described. Attempts to differentiate between natural change and human-induced effects, which will help guide policies and countermeasures designed to support sustainable development on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the arid west.

In the emerging narrative of sustainable development in Asia, the essential challenge is to reduce the use of natural resources and environmental degradation alongside the increasing demand for goods and services. To achieve this, Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015, aims at reconciling the three goals of minimising the extraction of natural resources from the environment, limiting waste and emissions over the life cycle of goods and services and improving human development and wellbeing. Sustainable Asia: Supporting the Transition to Sustainable Consumption and Production in Asian Developing Countries provides an overview and analysis of the current status of SCP in Asian developing countries. The book focuses on projects supported by the EU-funded SWITCH-Asia Programme, a regional development cooperation programme promoting the adoption of SCP practices among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and consumer groups in Asia since 2007. For readers looking for a comprehensive introduction to the topic of SCP together with a detailed analysis of the current developmental situation in various Asian developing countries and key sectors such as manufacturing, tourism, renewable energy and agriculture, this book is an invaluable tool. The book examines in detail the SCP approaches and innovative solutions demonstrated by the SWITCH-Asia supported projects in Asia and thus serves as a reference for practitioners, researchers and policymakers alike.