Perspectives In Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies pertain to a systematic analysis of the natural and man-made world encompassing various scientific, economic, social and ethical aspects. Human impacts leading to large scale degradation of the environment have aroused global concern on environmental issues in the recent years. The apex court has hence, issued directive to impart environmental literacy to all. In this book the fundamental concepts of environmental studies have been introduced and analysed in a simple manner strictly as per the module syllabus designed by the U.G.C. for undergradute courses in science, humanities, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, commerce, management and law. Besides the undergraduate students of all disciplines the book will also be useful for those appearing in various competitive exams since environmental issues now find a focus in most of such examinations. The contents of the book will be of interest to all educationists, planners and policy makers. Key features of the book include a simple and holistic approach with illustrations, tables and specific case studies mainly in the Indian context. The basic terminologies have been defined in the text while introducing the topics and some useful terms mentioned in the text have been explained in the glossary for an easy grasp by students of all disciplines.

This collection traces the development and findings of curriculum studies of environmental education since the mid-1970s. Based on a virtual special issue of the Journal of Curriculum Studies, the volume identifies a series of curriculum challenges for and from environmental education. These include key questions in curriculum politics, planning and implementation, including which educative experiences should a curriculum foster and why; what the scope of a worthwhile curriculum should be and how it should be decided, organised and reworked; why distinctive curricula are provided to different groups of students; and how curriculum should best be enacted and evaluated? The editor and contributors call for renewed attention to the possibilities for future directions in research, in light of previously published work and innovations in scholarship. They also offer critical commentary on curriculum, critique and crisis in environmental education, through new material and previous studies from the journal, by addressing three key themes: perspectives on curriculum and environment education; accounting for curriculum in environmental education; and changes in curriculum for environmental education.

The sixth edition of Environment and Society continues to connect issues about human societies, ecological systems, and the environment with data and perspectives from different fields. While the text looks at environmental issues from a primarily sociological viewpoint, it is designed for courses in Environmental Sociology and Environmental Issues in departments of Sociology, Environmental Studies, Anthropology, Political Science, and Human Geography. Clearly defined terms and theories help familiarize students from various backgrounds with the topics at hand. Each of the chapters is significantly updated with new data, concepts, and ideas. Chapter Three: Climate Change, Science and Diplomacy, is the most extensively revised with current natural science data and sociological insights. It also details the factors at play in the establishment of the Paris Agreement and its potential to affect global climate change. This edition elevates questions of environmental and climate justice in addressing the human-environment relations and concerns throughout the book. Finally, each chapter contains embedded website links for further discussion or commentary on a topic, concludes with review and reflection questions, and suggests further readings and internet sources.

The inception of this volume can be traced to a series of Environmental Psychology Colloquia presented at the University of California, Irvine, dur ing the spring of 1974. These colloquia were held in conjunction with Social Ecology 252, a graduate seminar on Man and the Environment. Although the eight colloquia covered a wide range of topics and exemplified a diversity of research techniques, they seemed to converge on some common theoretical and methodological assumptions about the na ture of environment-behavioral research. The apparent continuities among these colloquia suggested the utility of developing a manuscript that would provide a historical overview of research on environment and be havior, a representation of its major concerns, and an analysis of its concep tual and empirical trends. Thus, expanded versions of the initial presen tations were integrated with a supplemental set of invited manuscripts to yield the present volume of original contributions by leading researchers in the areas of ecological and environmental psychology.

This volume provides a fresh look at critical environmental issues at they pertain to the world's freshwater bodies of water, from an international viewpoint. The goal of this book is to explore how human population growth and behavior have changed the world's lakes and rivers, especially in negative ways, and how modern society has responded to the challenges these changes present -- often through increased educational efforts, better conservation, and management of the environment. The first part of this work provides background information -- how the freshwater bodies of waters' ecosystems formed, the relative size and locations of the world's lakes and rivers, key animal and plant species that live in the lakes and rivers, and how the health of the freshwater bodies of water affects our planet's environment as a whole. The second part contains in-depth chapters examining seven different geographically diverse locations. An overview of each area details its unique features, including geology, weather conditions, and endemic species. The text also examines the health of the natural environment and discusses the local human population. Short and long term environmental impacts are assessed, and regional and international efforts to address interrelated social, economic, and environmental issues are presented in detail. The third part of this book studies how the cumulative levels of pollution and aggressive resource consumption affect the lakes and rivers on a global scale. It provides readers with examples of local and regional ecological impacts, as responses to these problems. Sometimes, these unique efforts have resulted in a balance between resource conservation and consumption.

Applied Natural Science: Environmental Issues and Global Perspectives provides the reader with a complete insight into the natural-scientific pattern of the world, covering the most important historical stages of the development of various areas of science, methods of natural-scientific research, general scientific and philosophical concepts, and the fundamental laws of nature. The book analyzes the main scientific trends and developments of modern natural science and also discusses important aspects of environmental protection. Topics include: The problem of "the two cultures": the mathematization of natural sciences and the informatization of society The non-linear nature of the processes occurring in nature and society Application of the second law of thermodynamics to describe the development of biological systems Global problems of the biosphere Theory and practice of stable organic paramagnetic materials Polymers and the natural environment Key features include: An interdisciplinary approach in considering scientific and technical problems A discussion of general scientific trends in modern natural science, including globalization challenges in nature and society, the organic chemistry of stable paramagnetic materials, the fundamentals of the environmental chemistry of polymeric materials, etc. A justification of applying classical (non-equilibrium) thermodynamics to studying the behavior of open (including biological) systems Of particular importance in the book is the discussion of some problems associated with the place of man in the biosphere, issues of the globalization of science and technology, new ideas about the universe, and the concept of universal evolutionism. At the same time, the book discusses more specific issues related to solving major global and regional environmental problems (particularities of organic paramagnetic materials, the influence of polymers on the man and environment, etc). All this leads to the fundamental conclusion of the unity of animate and inanimate nature, as well as improvement of the process of cognition of the real world, which consists in objective and natural changing of world views. The book is intended for professors, teachers, and students of classical and technological universities who are interested in the development of the foundations of modern natural sciences, as well as for professionals working in the field of chemical physics and applied ecology.

Environmental problems of pollution and degradation are a major source of concern globally. At all levels, efforts are being made to protect and preserve the environment from further deterioration. Measures are being taken at international, national and regional levels by governments and organisations to spread the awareness and concern for the environment and ecosystem, but these are not yet yielding the expected returns. Research has indicated that humans must be guided by values, beliefs, and individual motivating factors if attitudes are to be converted in actual behaviour. This book presents an empirical research study on the relationship between the measures of ecological concern and its demographic and psychosocial determinants. It discusses the various models of environmental concern and tracks the human-environment relationship as studied by environmental psychologists and sociologists. The book will be of great use to the students, academics, researchers and scholars in a variety of fields, including human ecology, eco-philosophy, sustainable development, environmental psychology, environmental sociology, environmental economics, environmental studies, and conservation psychology, and will further the reader’s understanding of the role of human factors in ecological protection. It will also be of value to policy makers and the general reader interested in understanding behavioural and psychosocial perspectives on environmental concern.

Women make up the vast majority of activists and organizers of grassroots movements fighting against environmental ills that threaten poor and people of color communities. [This] collection of essays ... pays tribute to the ... contributions women have made in these endeavors. The writers offer varied examples of environmental justice issues such as children's environmental-health campaigns, cancer research, AIDS/HIV activism, the Environmental Genome Project, and popular culture, among many others. Each one focuses on gender and sexuality as crucial factors in women's or gay men's activism and applies environmental justice principles to related struggles for sexual justice. Drawing on a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, the contributors offer multiple vantage points on gender, sexuality, and activism.-Back cover.