The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence — and how we can do better.An Australian millionaire’s plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic.These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract th...

The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence - and how we can do better.An Australian millionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic.These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract th...

A finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing AwardThe gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world--sand--and the crucial role it plays in our lives.After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other--even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble te...

The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence - and how we can do better.An Australian millionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic.These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract th...

The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence — and how we can do better.An Australian millionaire’s plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic.These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract th...

A finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing AwardThe gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world--sand--and the crucial role it plays in our lives.After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other--even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble te...

"Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics."--Utne Reader"Considered by most to be the dean of ecological economics, Herman E. Daly elegantly topples many shibboleths in Beyond Growth. Daly challenges the conventional notion that growth is always good, and he bucks environmentalist orthodoxy, arguing that the current fo...

Conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity are increasing and are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts worldwide. Changing patterns in land use, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and the threat posed by invasive species all challenge the way we currently maintain and protect biodiversity - from the local management of single species to the international management of resources. Integrating approaches from different academic disciplines, policy makers and pract...

As both the societies and the world in which we live face increasingly rapid and turbulent changes, the concept of resilience has become an active and important research area. Reflecting the very latest research, this book provides a critical review of the ways in which resilience of social-ecological systems, and the ecosystem services they provide, can be enhanced. With contributions from leaders in the field, the chapters are structured around seven key principles for building resilienc...

This book critically engages with how the conservation of tropical rainforests is financed. Beginning with the context of tropical deforestation, alongside an overview of tropical ecology, global environmental policy and finance, the book reviews several conservation financing instruments. These include ecotourism and private reserves, debt-for-nature swaps and government domestic budgetary expenditures for state and national parks.Tropical deforestation and forest degradation are ...

This is the first book to provide vital information on key local ecosystems, their functions, state of health, and their role in development in an Asian context, particularly on the Indian subcontinent. It addresses six major ecosystems on the Indian subcontinent – mountain, rural, desert, forest, urban, and freshwater – and discusses their functions, how they support livelihoods and the economy, the impacts on ecosystem services, and management issues. Asia is home to nearly one third of ...

This book focuses on various issues of energy, energy efficiency and environmental policy in China. It discusses different aspects on how China may maintain its fast economic growth through good management of energy consumption and development of various energy sources.