Berkshire Encyclopedia Of Sustainability The Law And Politics Of Sustainability

"In the 10-volume Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability experts around the world provide authoritative coverage of the growing body of knowledge about ways to restore the planet. Focused on solutions, this interdisciplinary publication draws from the natural, physical, and social sciences. The result is a unified, organized, and peer-reviewed resource on sustainability that connects academic research to real world challenges and provides a balanced, trustworthy perspective on the global environmental challenges in the 21st century."--Publisher's description.

The Law and Politics of Sustainability explores efforts made to address pressing environmental concerns through legislation, conventions, directives, treaties, and protocols. Articles explain the mechanics of environmental law, the concepts that shape sustainable development, case studies and rulings that have set precedents, approaches to sustainable development taken by legal systems around the world, and more. Experts and scholars in the field raise provocative questions about the effectiveness of international law versus national law in protecting the environment, and about the effect of current laws on future generations. They analyze the successes and shortcomings of present legal instruments, corporate and public policies, social movements, and conceptual strategies, offering readers a preview of the steps necessary to develop laws and policies that will promote genuine sustainability.

Afro-Eurasia: Assessing Sustainability focuses on the geographic area where humans originated and first began to make use of the natural world - Earth's largest landmass, stretching from Portugal in the west across the steppes of Russia and south across Africa to the Cape of Good Hope. By examining the history of human expansion, as well as 21st century pressures to address ecosystem damage across the region, international scholars and regional experts weave sustainability into core curricular subjects. The interdisciplinary coverage includes national and regional environmental histories, as well as business and commerce, migration, educational institutions, law and government, and the lifestyles of diverse populations.

The Future of Sustainability, the tenth and final volume of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability, brings together essays from a group of renowned scholars and well-known environmentalist thinkers. Crucial topics are considered in terms of the future of humanity and its relationship with the natural world, from the outlook for nuclear energy, cities, energy, agriculture, water, food security, mobility, and migration; the role of higher education; and the concept of collective learning. The volume concludes with a resource guide for teaching materials at several levels, a directory of leading undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in sustainability, and a combined index of the 10-volume set.

Measurements, Indicators, and Research Methods for Sustainability presents a thorough and accessible overview of the ways in which sustainability is charted worldwide. Some articles introduce basic concepts, such as quantitative versus qualitative data or the weak versus strong sustainability debate; others examine how indicators in specific areas (climate change and soil conservation, agriculture, and mining) have been applied (or not) to different regions. Research analysts explain the modes and media through which these measurements are broadcast, stressing the importance of developing methods that can be understood by both experts and ordinary citizens. They also examine the process of monitoring, itself a controversial topic affecting national or international policy, law, rules, and regulations.

Strategic Sustainability examines how organizations can implement environmental sustainability science, theories, and ways of thinking to become more competitive. Including examples and ideas implemented in various countries, it is based on known scientific principles about the natural world and organizational principles focusing on the work domain. The intersection of these two realms of research creates a powerful and new approach to comprehensive, seemingly contradictory issues. Daniel S. Fogel draws from disparate fields and creates a story about organizations, their future and how people are part of the problem and, more importantly, part of the solution. Readers will find ways to take action to improve organizations and avoid denigrating our natural environment, learning to be mindful of the urgency we should feel to improve our impact on the world. The focus on the natural environment provides a powerful focus for creating value in organizations and addressing the major challenges we all face. Advanced sustainability students, working professionals and board members, managers and legislators responsible for governing organizations or implementing public policy will find this book useful. A companion website features an instructor’s manual with test questions, as well as 38, 10-minute videos for classroom use.

This handbook explores the dynamic new field of Environmental Restorative Justice. Authors from diverse disciplines discuss how principles and practices of restorative justice can be used to address the threats and harms facing the environment today. The book covers a wide variety of subjects, from theoretical discussions about how to incorporate the voice of future generations, nature, and more-than-human animals and plants in processes of justice and repair, through to detailed descriptions of actual practices of Environmental Restorative Justice. The case studies explored in the volume are situated in a wide range of countries and in the context of varied forms of environmental harm – from small local pollution incidents, to endemic ongoing issues such as wildlife poaching, to cataclysmic environmental catastrophes resulting in cascades of harm to entire ecosystems. Throughout, it reveals how the relational and caring character of a restorative ethos can be conducive to finding solutions to problems through sharing stories, listening, healing, and holding people and organisations accountable for prevention and repairing of harm. It speaks to scholars in Criminology, Sociology, Law, and Environmental Justice and to practitioners, policy-makers, think-tanks and activists interested in the environment.

The Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Governance and Politics surveys the broad range of environmental and sustainability challenges in the emerging Anthropocene and scrutinizes available concepts, methodological tools, theories and approaches, as well as overlaps with adjunct fields of study. This comprehensive reference work, written by some of the most eminent academics in the field, contains 68 entries on numerous aspects across 7 thematic areas, including concepts and definitions; theories and methods; actors; institutions; issue-areas; cross-cutting questions; and overlaps with non-environmental fields. With this broad approach, the volume seeks to provide a pluralistic knowledge base of the research and practice of global environmental governance and politics in times of increased complexity and contestation. Providing its readers with a unique point of reference, as well as stimulus for further research, this Encyclopedia is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in the politics of the environment, particularly students, teachers and researchers.