Modern Geography has come a long way from its historical roots in exploring foreign lands, and simply mapping and naming the regions of the world. Spanning both physical and human Geography, the discipline today is unique as a subject which can bridge the divide between the sciences and the humanities, and between the environment and our society. Using wide-ranging examples from global warming and oil, to urbanization and ethnicity, this Very Short Introduction paints a broad pict...

It can be argued that the differences in content and approach between physical and human geography, and also within its sub-disciplines, are often overemphasised. The result is that geography is often seen as a diverse and dynamic subject, but also as a disorganised and fragmenting one, without a focus.Unifying Geography focuses on the plural and competing versions of unity that characterise the discipline, which give it cohesion and differentiate it from related fields of ...

This Very Short Introduction answers four basic questions: what is geography, how do geographers work, why is geography important, and where is the discipline of geography heading? Geography has always been important, though it has had only a short history as an academic discipline and is much misunderstood. Modern geography has come a long way from its historical roots in exploring foreign lands, in mapping the world and in describing the physical and human features of the Earth's surface...

In Australia, a ‘tribe’ of white, middle-class, progressive professionals is actively working to improve the lives of Indigenous people. This book explores what happens when well-meaning people, supported by the state, attempt to help without harming. ‘White anti-racists’ find themselves trapped by endless ambiguities, contradictions, and double binds — a microcosm of the broader dilemmas of postcolonial societies. These dilemmas are fueled by tension between the twin desires of equality a...

The public rely upon media representations to help interpret and make sense of the many complexities relating to climate science and governance. Media representations of climate issues – from news to entertainment – are powerful and important links between people's everyday realities and experiences, and the ways in which they are discussed by scientists, policymakers and public actors. A dynamic mix of influences – from internal workings of mass media such as journalistic norms, to extern...

Environmental education is a field characterised by a paradox. Few would doubt the urgency and importance of learning to live in sustainable ways, but environmental education holds nowhere near the priority position in formal schooling around the world that this would suggest. This text sets out to find out why this is so. It is divided into six parts: Part 1 is a concise history of the development of environmental education from an international perspective; Part 2 is an overview of the '...

How are human societies changing the global environment?Is sustainable development really possible?Can environmental risks be avoided?Is our experience of nature changing?This book shows how questions about the environment cannot be properly answered without taking a sociological approach. It provides a comprehensive guide to the ways in which sociologists have responded to the challenge of environmental issues as diverse as global warming, ozone depletion, bio...

In modern society, we tend to have faith in technology. But is our concept of ‘technology’ itself a cultural illusion? This book challenges the idea that humanity as a whole is united in a common development toward increasingly efficient technologies. Instead it argues that modern technology implies a kind of global ‘zero-sum game’ involving uneven resource flows, which make it possible for wealthier parts of global society to save time and space at the expense of humans and environments i...

Environmental Social Science offers a new synthesis of environmental studies, defining the nature of human-environment interactions and providing the foundation for a new cross-disciplinary enterprise that will make critical theories and research methods accessible across the natural and social sciences.Makes key theories and methods of the social sciences available to biologists and other environmental scientistsExplains biological theories and concepts fo...

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in...

The first comprehensive treatment of environmental philosophy, going beyond ethics to address the philosophical concepts that underlie environmental thinking and policy-making todayEncompasses all of environmental philosophy, including conservation biology, restoration ecology, sustainability, environmental justice, and moreOffers the first treatment of decision theory in an environmental philosophy textExplores the conceptions of nature and ethical presup...

Development has too often failed to deliver on its promises to poor nations. The policies imposed from above by international agencies and state bodies have frequently not met the needs and aspirations of ordinary people. Development agencies have been searching for sometime for alternative approaches. One of those being pioneered is 'indigenous knowledge', which aims to make local voices heard more effectively. However while it is increasingly acknowledged in development contexts, it is y...