Unsustainable World

Using a cross-disciplinary, science- and economics-based approach, this book provides a sobering and comprehensive assessment of the multifaceted barriers to achieving sustainability at a global level. Organized into three parts, the book defines sustainability in part I and sets the context of the historical and current difficulties facing the world today. In parts II and III, it outlines the sustainability challenges faced in transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture, and then in turn addresses the solutions, conditional solutions, and nonsolutions to these challenges. These include electric and autonomous automobiles, nuclear power, renewable energy, geoengineering, and carbon capture and storage. The author attempts to differentiate among those proposed solutions and discusses which are most promising and which are infeasible, counterproductive, and potentially a waste of time and money. In each of the book’s chapters, the scientific evidence is presented in detail, in keeping with the advice of the young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, to let the science speak for itself. The author outlines why sustainability is unlikely to be achieved in several key areas of human endeavor and readers are challenged to weigh the scientific evidence for themselves. Using an economic business-based approach, this book introduces students and general readers to the challenges of sustainability and the environmental difficulties facing humanity today.

A Financial Times Best Book of the Year A hardheaded book that confronts and outlines possible solutions to a seemingly intractable problem: that helping the poor often hurts the environment, and vice versa. Can we fight poverty and inequality while protecting the environment? The challenges are obvious. To rise out of poverty is to consume more resources, almost by definition. And many measures to combat pollution lead to job losses and higher prices that mainly hurt the poor. In Unsustainable Inequalities, economist Lucas Chancel confronts these difficulties head-on, arguing that the goals of social justice and a greener world can be compatible, but that progress requires substantial changes in public policy. Chancel begins by reviewing the problems. Human actions have put the natural world under unprecedented pressure. The poor are least to blame but suffer the most—forced to live with pollutants that the polluters themselves pay to avoid. But Chancel shows that policy pioneers worldwide are charting a way forward. Building on their success, governments and other large-scale organizations must start by doing much more simply to measure and map environmental inequalities. We need to break down the walls between traditional social policy and environmental protection—making sure, for example, that the poor benefit most from carbon taxes. And we need much better coordination between the center, where policies are set, and local authorities on the front lines of deprivation and contamination. A rare work that combines the quantitative skills of an economist with the argumentative rigor of a philosopher, Unsustainable Inequalities shows that there is still hope for solving even seemingly intractable social problems.

This book is an urgent call to reimagine our social, political and economic systems so that we might transform to a sustainable society. It considers whether an alternative economic model is possible and examines the factors needed to enable such a transition to occur. The scale and pace of change is unprecedented and the author examines the actions that have to be taken by governments, business and individuals if we are to address the environmental disaster that confronts us. Much needs to change but ultimately, this is a book of hope, believing that evolution to a better, more sustainable society is possible.

Aimed at an audience, including both budding social activists and young people studying the environment and international development, this book explains how these crises share the same historical roots. Brilliantly combining a huge amount of up-to-date information, visual charts, and clear explanation, Patrick Hossay shows how an historical path of colonialism, capitalist development and industrial growth has yielded bad results. He proposes a fundamental restructuring of the way business is done, and the book suggests ways in which we can work for lasting change.

The UNEP's third Global Environment Outlook (GEO-3) presents a 30-year retrospective analysis of environmental conditions and trends, and associated policy responses. UNEP's multi-disciplinary methodologies for predicting future world environment scenarios are described, including scenarios for CO2 emissions. The publication concludes with tabulated data (economic, social, energy, food and agriculture, and environmental) from seven world regions. Related UNEP publications include "Global environment outlook 3: past, present and future perspectives" (ISBN 9280720872, 2002).

The field of sustainability continues to evolve as a discipline. The world is facing multiple sustainability challenges such as climate change, water depletion, ecosystem loss, and environmental racism. The Handbook of Sustainability will provide a comprehensive reference for the field that examines in depth the major themes within what are known as the three E’s of sustainability: environment, equity, and economics. These three themes will serve as the main organizing body of the work. In addition, the work will include sections on history and sustainability, major figures in the development of sustainability as a discipline, and important organizations that contributed or that continue to contribute to sustainability as a field. The work is explicitly global in scope as it considers the very different issues associated with sustainability in the global north and south

Where Your Happiness Hides gives readers real hope for a happier life. Even before the pandemic, many people struggled to find consistent fulfillment. This has been exaggerated in the turbulent times we have been witness to in recent years. This book shines a light on why happiness is so elusive for many of us and shows you where to find your greatest joy. The book doesn’t just leave you guessing as to what may be blocking your happiness. It spells out the 22 core limiting beliefs that most people are likely to be struggling with and shows them how to undertake a wonderful and natural journey of personal transformation. It also includes a simple code of happiness that is not widely understood, yet is so core to us all finding joy. This book is practical and simple, and your author has been there done that, paving the way for you to do the same far more easily and without the need for extra cost. You already have all you need to apply the book’s natural guidance. What have you got to lose, other than worry! Why not replace worry with wonder? It’s much more fun! This book is about finding personal happiness In 2023 your author will be releasing a follow up book designed to assist organisations to find collective joy and greater success. You won’t want to miss either of these exciting and life changing books. Be true to you and let Where Your Happiness Hides light up your life. You deserve that!

This book is an introduction to the many challenges of sustainability. The first half of the book develops a framework for sustainability thinking. The second half considers application areas and personal and corporate responses to sustainability challenges. Basic facts, figures, and information related to sustainability are presented in a way that should convey to readers a sense of scale for the many sustainability challenges we face. Throughout, the end-of-chapter projects and discussion questions focus on tradeoffs among competing goods and the ethical and social implications of decisions related to sustainability. This book was written for a university seminar course on sustainability but could be used in other small-group discussion settings. It is intended to be easy to read but hard to digest.