Because of the major opportunities and risks associated with it, and the complexity of the subject, bioenergy policy has in a short time become a challenging political task for regulators and planners – a task that can only be accomplished through worldwide cooperation and the creation of an international framework. This book's central message is that the sustainable potential of bioenergy, which can be tapped all over the world, should be utilized – provided that threats to sustainability...

The author of the #1 bestseller, The Weather Makers, pens "a brilliant examination of where we are with climate change and where we might be able to go" (The National Observer, Vancouver).Almost two decades ago, Tim Flannery's #1 international bestseller, The Weather Makers, was one of the first books to break the topic of climate change out into the general conversation. Today, Earth's climate system is fast approaching a crisis. Politic...

The Burning Question reveals climate change to be the most fascinating scientific, political and social puzzle in history. It shows that carbon emissions are still accelerating upwards, following an exponential curve that goes back centuries. One reason is that saving energy is like squeezing a balloon: reductions in one place lead to increases elsewhere. Another reason is that clean energy sources don't in themselves slow the rate of fossil fuel extraction.Tackling global...

"We are now so abusing the Earth that it may rise and move back to the hot state it was in fifty-five million years ago, and if it does, most of us, and our descendants, will die."-James Lovelock, leading climate expert and author of The Revenge of Gaia"I don't see why people are so worried about global warming destroying the planet - peak oil will take care of that."-Matthew Simmons, energy investment banker and author of Tw...

Climate change is the most important crisis humanity has faced, but we still confront huge barriers to resolving it. So, what do we do, and is there hope for humanity? The problem itself is complex, and there’s no single solution. But by understanding the barriers to resolving global warming and by employing a wide range of solutions-from shifting to clean energy to planting trees to reforming agricultural practices-we can get the world back on track.Just Cool It is David ...

How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization.Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling m...

This book collects the findings of a group of scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels over the past two decades. The evidence presented describes how global warming will impact where and how food is produced and discusses the significant consequences for food security, health and nutrition, water scarcity and climate adaptation. The book also highlights the implications for global food trade. The evidenc...

The exploding global consumption of meat is implicated in momentous but greatly underappreciated problems, and industrial livestock production is the driving force behind soaring demand.Following his previous ground-breaking book The Global Food Economy, Tony Weis explains clearly why the growth and industrialization of livestock production is a central part of the accelerating biophysical contradictions of industrial capitalist agriculture.The Ecological Hoofprint provides...

The financial crisis that has blighted the world's richest countries since 2008 was a turning point in human history because it ushered in an era in which economies will tend to shrink rather than grow. Incomes will decline becausethe natural resources required for growth — particularly oil, the lifeblood of the world economy — can no longer be extracted in growingquantities. Indeed, as this book shows, the financial crash itself was due to an irresistible force — the rising global demand ...

One of GreenBiz's Six Best Sustainability Books of 2016The next few decades will see a profound energy transformation throughout the world. By the end of the century (and perhaps sooner), we will shift from fossil fuel dependence to rely primarily on renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal power. Driven by the need to avert catastrophic climate change and by the depletion of easily accessible oil, coal, and natural gas, this transformat...

Today's generation has borrowed from the future by grabbing prosperity now and imposing the cost on the next generation.Award-winning writer and campaigner Chris Goodall argues that building a sustainable society is perhaps the greatest test that the world has ever faced.Here he provides the first coherent new explanation of what sustainability actually is before exploring nine key sustainability challenges, applying the theory of sustainability to look at food, travel, clot...

This timely book provides a thorough introduction to the inter-relationship of food and the environment. Its primary purpose is to bring to our attention the multiplicity of linkages and interconnections between what we eat and how this impacts on the earth’s resources. Having a better idea of the consequences of our food choices might encourage us to develop more sustainable practices of production and consumption in the decades ahead.Although human societies have, over time, brou...