Introduction to Sustainability (eBook)

Robert Brinkmann (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2020 | 2. Auflage
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-119-67548-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Introduction to Sustainability, Second Edition,?reviews all the major themes in the cutting-edge field of sustainability. The book is suitable for introductory interdisciplinary courses on sustainability, as well as those in the fields of geography, geology, sociology, planning, political science, and anthropology. Allowing students to see the world in new ways while also encouraging them to become part of the change needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the planet, this book is an invaluable introduction to this multifaceted and ever-changing subject.  

Now fully revised and updated, this second edition includes new material on the most recent developments in the field of sustainability; environmental sustainability issues like water, food, and energy; social sustainability themes like environmental justice and transportation; and economic sustainability topics like green businesses and economic development. The book concludes with a chapter on sustainability issues in college and universities. Brinkmann intersperses many fascinating case studies and text boxes that encourage students to deeply explore the material. This is a book that not only organizes the complex field of sustainability, but also encourages students to take action to make the world a better place. 

ROBERT (BOB) BRINKMANN is the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Northern Illiinois University where he is also a Professor in the Department of Geology and Environment and is the author of many books and research articles in the field of sustainability. Bob has served as an officer in many organizations including Chair of the Board of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute.

Inhalt

Cover 1
Title Page 5
Copyright 6
Contents 7
Acknowledgments 17
About the Author 19
About the Companion Website 21
Chapter 1 Roots of the Modern Sustainability Movement 23
Meaning of Sustainability 23
Nineteenth Century Environmentalism 25
Pinchot, Roosevelt, and Muir 27
Aldo Leopold and the Land Ethic 28
Better Living Through Chemistry, The Great Smog of 1952, and Rachel Carson 30
Environmental Activism of the 1960s and 1970s and the Development of Environmental Policy 32
The Growth of Environmental Laws in the 1960s and 1970s 35
The First Earth Day 36
International Concerns 36
Ozone and the World Comes Together 37
Globalization and the Brundtland Report 38
Deep Ecology 40
Environmental Justice 41
Measuring Sustainability 43
The Climate Change Challenge 45
The Road Ahead 46
Organization 48
Chapter 2 Understanding Natural Systems 51
The Earth, its Layers, and the Rock Cycle 51
The Rock Cycle 54
Biogeochemical Cycles 55
Water and the Water Cycle 56
The Carbon Cycle and Global Climate Change 59
Global Climate Change and the Carbon Cycle 60
The Sulfur Cycle 62
The Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles 64
Nitrate Pollution of groundwater 67
Organisms and Ecosystems 68
Urban Ecosystems 71
Understanding the Anthropocene 75
Chapter 3 Measuring Sustainability 79
The United Nations Millennium Goals 80
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 81
National sustainability planning 82
Canada 86
Bhutan 89
Regional sustainability planning 91
Local sustainability measurement 95
Green local governments in Florida 97
Specific community plans 101
PlaNYC 101
London and sustainability 103
Small towns and sustainability 106
Business sustainability 107
Chapter 4 Energy 111
World Energy Production and Consumption 111
Traditional or “Dirty” Energy Resources 113
Oil 113
Oil shale and tar sands 115
Natural gas 117
Coal 119
Coal mining 120
Pollution from coal 121
Green energy 122
Biomass 122
Biomass: wood, manure, peat, and other organic sources 122
Burning of garbage: waste?to?energy 123
Conversion of biomass to liquid or gas fuel 124
Wind energy 125
Solar energy 127
Passive solar energy 127
Active solar energy 128
Concentrated solar power 129
Critiques of solar power 129
Nuclear energy 129
Other innovations 132
Energy efficiency 132
Living off the grid 134
Chapter 5 Global Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Management 135
The end of nature? 135
The science of global climate change: The greenhouse effect 136
Water vapor 138
Carbon dioxide 138
Ancient carbon 139
Methane 140
Sinks of carbon 142
Forests 142
Reefs 142
The IPCC and evidence for climate change, and the future of our planet 143
Ocean acidification 144
Phenological changes 145
Conducting greenhouse gas inventories 146
Step 1 Setting boundaries 147
Step 2 Defining scope 147
Step 3 Choosing a quantitative approach 148
Step 4 Setting a baseline year 148
Step 5 Engaging stakeholders 148
Step 6 Procuring certification 149
Greenhouse gas equivalents used in greenhouse gas accounting 149
Greenhouse gas emission scopes 150
De minimis emissions 151
Computing greenhouse gas credits 151
Climate action plans 151
Religion and climate change 157
Evangelical Environmental Network 158
Young Evangelicals for Climate Action 158
Catholic Climate Covenant 158
Jewish Climate Change Campaign 159
The International Muslim Conference on Climate Change 160
Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change 160
Hindu Declaration on Climate Change 160
Art, culture, and climate change 161
Swoon 161
Raul Cardenas Osuna and Toro Labs 161
Isaac Cordal 162
Chapter 6 Water 165
Sources of Water 165
Consumption trends 170
Sources of water pollution 172
Agricultural pollution 172
Industrial pollution 172
Storm water pollution 173
Sewage 174
Leaking underground tanks 175
Landfills 175
Water management and conservation 177
National and regional water conservation and management 177
Water as a tool for regional development 178
Water supply management 179
Hard path water management 179
Soft path water management 180
Water management and innovation 181
Water quality 183
Understanding drainage basins 190
Drainage basins out of synch 191
Drainage basin pollution 191
Stream profile and base level 191
Lakes 191
Seas 193
Oceans 193
Chapter 7 Food and Agriculture 195
Development of modern agriculture 195
Meat production 199
Piggeries 200
Feed lots 201
Chicken houses 201
World agricultural statistics 203
Food deserts and obesity 204
Sustainable alternatives to the industrial food movement 207
Vegetarianism and veganism 207
Organic farming 208
Small farm movement 208
Locavores 210
Farm to table 211
Community sponsored agriculture 213
Community gardens 215
Farmers' markets 215
Beekeeping 217
The urban chicken movement 218
Guerilla gardening, freegans, and other radical approaches to food 218
Chapter 8 Green Building 223
LEED rating systems 223
Site selection 226
Brownfield development 226
Other aspects of sustainable building siting 229
Water use 229
Energy and atmospheric health 230
Materials and resources 232
Material re?use 233
Recycled content of construction material 233
Locally derived materials 233
Renewable materials and certified sustainable wood 234
Waste management 234
Summary 235
Indoor environmental quality 235
Ventilation and air delivery monitoring 235
Construction indoor air quality management 236
Use of low?emitting materials 236
Indoor chemical and pollution source control 237
Controllability and design of lighting and temperature systems 237
Access to daylight 237
Summary 237
Innovation 237
Regional priorities 238
Expansion of green building technology 238
Other green building rating systems 238
BREEAM 239
PassivHaus 241
Green building policy 242
Critiques of green building 243
The greenest building and historic preservation 244
Bank of America Building and the Empire State Building: two LEED certified buildings in the heart of New York 246
Small house movement 248
Further reading 251
Chapter 9 Transportation 253
Transportation options 254
Vehicles 254
Cars 256
Trucks 256
Vehicles and fuels 257
Electric cars 259
Automated Vehicles 260
Rail 260
Ship transport 261
Bulk carriers 261
Container ships 261
Tankers 262
Refrigerated ships 262
Roll?on/roll?off ships 262
Environmental issues associated with ship transport 262
Air transport 263
Space travel 265
Roads 267
Environmental issues with roads 268
Storm water pollution management 268
Street sweeping 272
Ground stability 272
Mass transit 274
Forms of mass transit 274
Railways 274
Light rail 275
Buses 275
Bus rapid transit 276
Ferries 276
Transit hubs and transit?oriented development 276
The future 277
Chapter 10 Pollution and Waste 281
Pollution 281
Chemical pollution 281
Metals 281
Organic compounds 282
Nutrients 283
Radioactive Pollutants 284
Pharmaceutical pollutants 285
Heat pollution 285
Light pollution 286
Noise pollution 287
Visual pollution 287
Littering 288
Understanding pollution distribution 288
The US approach to pollution 290
Clean Air Act 290
Clean Water Act 292
National Environmental Policy Act 293
Superfund 294
Sewage treatment 296
Sewage and sustainability 299
Garbage and recycling 299
Garbage composition 300
Managing garbage 300
Landfills 301
Reducing waste 302
Composting 303
Recycling 303
How sustainable is paper recycling? 307
Chapter 11 Environmental Justice 309
Social justice 309
Civil rights and the modern environmental movement in the United States 312
Lead pollution and the growth of the urban environmental justice movement 313
Environmental racism in the United States 315
Brownfields, community re?development, and environmental justice 317
US EPA and environmental justice 319
Indigenous people and environmental justice 321
Exporting environmental problems 322
Environmental justice around the world 323
Environmental justice in Europe 324
Environmental justice in Asia and the Pacific 324
The Three Gorges Dam 324
Bhopal and environmental justice in India 325
Tuvalu and global climate change 326
Environmental justice in Africa 327
Environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean: oil pollution in Ecuador 328
Environmental justice in a Globalized World 330
Chapter 12 Sustainability Planning and Governance 335
Local governments and their structure 335
The role of citizens and stakeholders in local government 336
Community stakeholders 337
Boundaries and types of local governments 338
Leadership 341
Efforts to aid local governments on sustainability issues 341
Scale and local governments 343
Green regional development 344
Sustainable development 348
Globalization 349
Development of globalization 350
Drivers of globalization 351
Internet and communications 351
Transportation 352
Economic development 353
Transnational organizations 354
War and sustainability 361
Further reading 364
Chapter 13 Sustainability, Economics, and the Global Commons 365
The global commons 365
Economic processes that put the Earth out of balance 367
Social and economic theories 368
Neoclassical economics 368
Environmental critiques of neoliberalism 369
Environmental economics 371
Cost?benefit analysis and its application in environmental economics 371
Environmental impact assessment 373
Environmental ethics 374
Green economics 374
Non?capitalistic economies 375
Deep ecology 375
Ecofeminism 378
Destruction regardless of theory 378
Environmental economics: externalities 379
Measuring the economy 380
Green jobs 384
Environmental impact statement for the New Hudson River Bridge 391
Chapter 14 Corporate and Organizational Sustainability Management 393
Cognitive dissonance 393
Why are businesses concerned with sustainability? 394
Profit 394
Public relations 394
Altruism 394
Concern over the long?term sustainability of the industry 395
Professional standards and norms 395
Total quality management and sustainability 395
People, planet, and profits 396
Ray Anderson, the father of the green corporation and the growth of green corporate environmentalism 401
Anderson's legacy 402
Greenwashing in the corporate world 402
Green consumers 402
Global Reporting Initiative 404
Sustainability reporting in the S & P 500
Dow Jones Sustainability Index 407
Sustainability reporting 410
International Organization for Standardization (ISO): ISO 14000 and ISO 26000 410
ISO 14000 410
ISO 26000 410
Case studies of sustainability at the corporate level 411
Walmart 413
Unilever 415
Lessons from Walmart and Unilever 417
Can businesses with unsustainable products be sustainable? 418
Chapter 15 Sustainability at Universities, Colleges, and Schools 423
Curriculum at colleges and universities 423
Sustainability curriculum at K?12 schools 425
External benchmarking 427
American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education 427
Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments 428
Other external benchmarking organizations 430
Internal initiatives 431
Sustainability officers 432
Sustainability committees 433
Food service 433
Student and faculty activism 436
Building your own case study 439
Sustainability at Oxford: a campus commitment 440
Making school lunches healthier in the United States 441
The cow powered carbon neutral campus 443
Whitman College builds wind turbines on campus farm 443
Stanford University: dumping the car for bikes 444
Green fleets: The University of South Florida's biodiesel Bullrunner 444
Community engagement at Portland State University 445
Green buildings on college campuses: University of Florida goes for gold 446
Native and sustainable landscaping at one of the largest schools in the nation: Valencia College 447
Campus archaeology at Michigan State University 447
Index 449
EULA 467

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.12.2020
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Wirtschaftspolitik
• Schlagworte: economic sustainability topics • environmental justice • Environmental Science • Environmental Studies • environmental sustainability issues • Geographie • Geography • Geography Special Topics • green businesses • introductory interdisciplinary sustainability courses book, long-term ?planet sustainability • major sustainability issues • Nachhaltigkeit • social sustainability themes • Spezialthemen Geographie • ?sustainability case studies • sustainability economic development • Sustainability introduction • Transportation • Umweltforschung • Umweltwissenschaften • water, food, and energy sustainability issues
• ISBN-10: 1-119-67548-0 / 1119675480
• ISBN-13: 978-1-119-67548-8 / 9781119675488