Here's our top picks short list below, and explore more titles by topic on other pages of this research guide!
Beyond the Bottom Line by Beyond the Bottom Line: Integrating the UN Global Compact into Management Practice is the first book to look at how the Ten UN Global Compact Principles and the sustainability agenda can be incorporated into business practice. The UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative and, with over 12,000 participating organizations, provides a major influence on global business sustainability practices. Its mission is to guide organizations in how to (1) do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and (2) take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation. This new book addresses head-on some of the most persistent managerial challenges faced by businesses and organizations today. To what extent are businesses able to practice responsible management with regard to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact? How can managers of organizations comprehensively and pragmatically address the risks and responsibilities concerning these complex and changing issues in their policies and practice? It also offers a platform for academics to confront some of the most intriguing intellectual challenges on this topic.
The Climate Change Crisis by This book explores how the world community will respond to the unfolding humanitarian crisis caused by climate change. It recognises climate change as the greatest threat to human development in the 21st century, bringing with it: flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, health crises, threats to human security and severe harm to economic development. The Climate Change Crisis addresses climate change and its impact as a major threat for countries around the world. Through a collection of interviews with leading environmentalists and exploration into new innovations that can offer hope and protection for billions of people, this book presents an interdisciplinary approach towards understanding the paramount health and development challenges of climate change. This timely and informative book cuts across several disciplines, including human rights, public policy, international relations, national refugee policy, and migration studies.
Climate Change in Human History by Climate Change and Human History provides an up-to-date and concise introduction to the relationship between human beings and climate change throughout history. Starting with periods hundreds of thousands of years ago and continuing up to the present day, the book illustrates how natural climate variability affected early human societies, and how humans are now altering climate drastically within much shorter periods of time. For each major period of time, the book will explain how climate change has created opportunities as well as risks and challenges for human societies. The book introduces and develops several related themes including: Phases of climate and history Factors that shape climate Climate shocks and sharp climate shifts Climate and the rise and fall of civilizations Industrialization and climate science Accelerating climate change, human societies, and the future An ideal companion for all students of environmental history, Climate Change and Human History clearly demonstrates the critical role of climate in shaping human history and of the experience of humans in both adapting to and shaping climate change.
Climate Change Law by Over the past thirty years, a body of law dealing with the issue of climate change has taken form. This rapidly emerging body of law runs the gamut from state and local regulations to federal policies and international agreements and includes both public and private sector involvement. Climate Change Law is based on the view that this issue is just too important to leave to specialists alone. It is the first book to offer a concise, readable treatment of this entire body of law. The focus is on core concepts of climate change law, rather than all of the complex details. The book begins by discussing the scientific and policy issues that frame the legal scheme, including the state of climate science, the meaning of the social cost of carbon, and the variety of tools that are available to reduce carbon emissions. It then covers in turn the international, national, and state efforts in this sphere. Finally, the book turns to the challenge of adapting to climate change, before exploring the concept of geoengineering and the potential challenges associated with using geoengineering as a tool for addressing climate change. The book is designed to be accessible to a broad range of readers, not just those who have backgrounds in climate science, environmental economics, or law.
Climate Without Nature by This book offers a critical reading of the Anthropocene that draws on archaeological, ecological, geological, and ethnographic evidence to argue that the concept reproduces the modernist binary between society and nature, and forecloses a more inclusive politics around climate change. The authors challenge the divisions between humans as biological and geophysical agents that constitute the ontological foundations of the period. Building on contemporary critiques of capitalism, they examine different conceptions of human-environment relationships derived from anthropology to engage with the pressing problem of global warming.
Design for a Sustainable Culture by As culture is becoming increasingly recognised as a crucial element of sustainable development, design competence has emerged as a useful tool in creating a meaningful life within a sustainable mental, cultural and physical environment. Design for a Sustainable Cultureexplores the relationship between sustainability, culture and the shaping of human surroundings by examining the significance and potential of design as a tool for the creation of sustainable development. Drawing on interdisciplinary case studies and investigations from Europe, North America and India, this book discusses theoretical, methodological and educational aspects of the role of design in relation to human well-being and provides a unique perspective on the interface between design, culture and sustainability. This book will appeal to researchers as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students in design and design literacy, crafts, architecture and environmental planning, but also scholars of sustainability from other disciplines who wish to understand the role and impact of design and culture in sustainable development. 
Geographies of Transport and Mobility by Geographies of Transport and Mobilityaims to provide a comprehensive and evidenced account of the intellectual and pragmatic challenges for personal mobility in the twenty-first century. In doing so, it argues that geographers have a key role to play in shaping academic and policy debates on how personal mobility can become more sustainable. The book is structured in three parts. Part I explores how personal mobility has evolved since the mid-nineteenth century, plotting the intricate relationship between new forms of mobile technology, urban planning and design and social practices. Part II examines how researchers study transport and mobility, and outlines the different intellectual trajectories of transport geography and geographies of mobilities. Part III then outlines and discusses the discourse of sustainable mobility that has emerged in recent years; the ways in which social, economic and environmental sustainability can be promoted through different strategies, focusing on behavioural change and urban design. Geographies of Transport and Mobility provides a unique perspective on personal mobility by demonstrating how the way we travel has developed through complex economic and social processes. It argues that this historical context is critical for considering how mobility in the twenty-first century can be more sustainable, not just environmentally, but also economically and socially. As such, it argues for a renewed focus on sustainable place making as a way to radically shift mobility practices. Geographies of Transport and Mobilityis designed to appeal to advanced level undergraduate students and researchers in the fields of geography, anthropology, psychology, sociology and transport studies.
The Greening of Everyday Life by The Greening of Everyday Life develops a distinctive new way of talking about environmental concerns in post-industrial society. It brings together several conceptual frameworks with a diversity of case studies and practical examples of efforts to orient everyday material practices towardgreater sustainability. The volume builds upon internal criticisms of dominant strands of contemporary environmentalism in post-industrial societies, and develops a new approach which emerges from a number of disciplines, but is unified by a normative concern for the material objects and practicesfamiliar to members of societies in their everyday lives. In exploring alternatives, the chapter authors utilize conceptual frameworks rooted in environmental justice, new materialism, and social practice theory and apply it to the everyday; attention to urban biodiversity, infrastructure for stormwater run-off, green home remodelling, household toxicity, community gardens and farmers markets, bicycling and automobility, alternative technologies, and more.With contributions from leading international and emerging scholars, this volume critically explores specific strategies and actions taken to generate homes, communities, and livelihoods that might be scaled-up to promote more sustainable societies.
The Hard Work of Hope by An impassioned prescription that seeks to develop effective solutions to the growing urgency for global action on climate change. The Hard Work of Hope builds on events that have transpired since December 2015, including initial implementation of the UN's 2030 Transforming our World global sustainable development agenda; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; the commitment of the Canadian federal government to establish a climate action plan; and the UN Climate Summit in Marrakesh, Morocco, which aimed to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. This latest RMB Manifesto emphasizes three themes: the growing urgency for global action regarding climate change; the fact that future development must not just avoid causing damage but strive to be ecologically and socially restorative; and the reality that effective solutions require changes to technology, restoration of biodiversity and increased public awareness. Though contemporary politics and the state of the environment seem grim in this "post-truth world," there will always be hope. But that hope will require hard work by everyone if our planet is to remain a desirable place to live in a warming world.
The Long Road to Sustainability by For the last few thousand years, humanity has struggled to achieve sustainable development. Gillespie sees the problem as multi-faceted: a three legged stool of economic, social, and environmental conundrums have stalled the quest for the long term viability of both our species and the ecosystems in which we reside. Gillespie moves from the low life expectancy, excessive deforestation, and wetland drainage of the medieval period, through the species loss, coal burning, free trade, and poor waste management of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to the more recent concerns of climate change, unsustainable fisheries, and chemical pollutants. By delivering a comprehensive examination of human survival over the past millennium, Gillespie illustrates that the challenges we face are not new - that we now have the means to counter them, is.
One Planet Is Enough by The present book offers a compelling sketch of how technological advances have shaped humankind's evolution and how they can unlock ways to combat climate change and environmental threats. It also reveals new perspectives on climate change and sustainable development by harnessing technology. Given today's conditions, only a homeless vegan could achieve a sustainable ecological footprint. In reality, it would be impossible, and even destructive, to attempt to save the planet by discontinuing consumption. It would disrupt evolution and threaten the driving forces of the technology that is our hope for combating climate change and environmental threats in the future. This is the opinion of Rune Westerg#65533;rd, engineer, entrepreneur, and environmental debater, with several decades of experience from the field of environmental and energy technology. He challenges many established truths on consumption and sustainability and demonstrates how and why they are flawed. From his point of view, both continued global growth and increased welfare are entirely possible within the ecological limitations of our planet. Once we learn to put technology to our best advantage, one planet will be enough.
The Paris Agreement by This book discusses the immediate and severe threat posed by global climate change and the various obstacles that stand in the way of action. Judith Blau presents scientific evidence relevant to The Paris Agreement (COP-21): an international treaty that promises to strengthen the global response to climate change. As she reckons with the dangers of catastrophic planetary heating, Blau discusses the clash between the deeply ingrained American tradition of individualism and the collective action and acknowledgement of intertwined fate needed to address climate change. She acknowledges that America's capitalist bent stands in contrast to the idea of the "commons"--a concept that we need to embrace if climate change is to be mitigated. The volume also explains the foundations of international human rights standards as they relate to climate change. Drawing from guiding principles of human rights and equality, the book concludes hopefully--suggesting that the people of the world can meet the challenge posed by climate change by at once acknowledging shared humanity and celebrating difference. 
Remaking Cities by Unprecedented challenges await the future of the world's cities. Accelerating population pressure, climate change, food insecurity, poverty and geopolitical instability - in the face of such problems our current attempts at producing a sustainable agenda for the world's cities appear fragmented and inadequate. Fresh thinking is needed. In Remaking Cities, renowned design theorist Tony Fry brings a conceptual design perspective to the challenge of urban sustainability and resilience. In a typically far-sighted and provocative work, Fry presents ideas and actions for 'metrofitting' - a new kind of practice in architecture and urban design. Metrofitting expands the technological concept of retrofit up to the city scale, placing social, cultural, political and ethical concerns at its heart. Metrofitting is not about visionary technology, it is about transforming existing cities by combining available resources with human creativity, prompted by new thinking about new and old urban problems. It requires overcoming outmoded Eurocentric assumptions of what constitutes a city, rethinking their forms and structures, and understanding their metabolic processes and social and economic functions. This book provides conceptually strong practical approaches that will ultimately change the whole way we view cities and the way the urban future is designed. Illustrated with international case studies of metrofitting in action, Remaking Cities will provoke and stimulate debate among architects, urban designers, and anyone concerned with the urban environment and social and cultural change.
The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice by The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice presents an extensive and cutting-edge introduction to the diverse, rapidly growing body of research on pressing issues of environmental justice and injustice. With wide-ranging discussion of current debates, controversies, and questions in the history, theory, and methods of environmental justice research, contributed by over 90 leading social scientists, natural scientists, humanists, and scholars from professional disciplines from six continents, it is an essential resource both for newcomers to this research and for experienced scholars and practitioners. The chapters of this volume examine the roots of environmental justice activism, lay out and assess key theories and approaches, and consider the many different substantive issues that have been the subject of activism, empirical research, and policy development throughout the world. The Handbookfeatures critical reviews of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodological approaches and explicitly addresses interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and engaged research. Instead of adopting a narrow regional focus, it tackles substantive issues and presents perspectives from political and cultural systems across the world, as well as addressing activism for environmental justice at the global scale. Its chapters do not simply review the state of the art, but also propose new conceptual frameworks and directions for research, policy, and practice. Providing detailed but accessible overviews of the complex, varied dimensions of environmental justice and injustice, the Handbookis an essential guide and reference not only for researchers engaged with environmental justice, but also for undergraduate and graduate teaching and for policymakers and activists.
Somebody Else's Problem by Gold winner of the AXIOM Business Book Award in the category of Philanthropy, Non-Profit, Sustainability. Please see: http://www.axiomawards.com/77/award-winners/2017-winners Consumerism promises a shortcut to a 'better' life through the accumulation of certain fashionable goods and experiences. Over recent decades, this has resulted in a rising tide of cheap, short-lived goods produced, used and discarded in increasingly rapid cycles, along the way depleting resources and degrading environmental systems.Somebody Else's Problem calls for a radical change in how we think about our material world, and how we design, make and use the products and services we need. Rejecting the idea that individuals alone are responsible for the environmental problems we face, it challenges us to look again at the systems, norms and values we take for granted in daily life, and their cumulative role in our environmental crisis.Robert Crocker presents an overview of the main forces giving rise to modern consumerism, looks closely at today's accelerating consumption patterns and asks why older, more 'custodial' patterns of consumption are in decline. Avoiding simplistic quick-fix formulas, the book explores recommendations for new ways of designing, making and using goods and services that can reduce our excess consumption, but still contribute to a good and meaningful life.
Sustainability Policy, Planning and Gentrification in Cities by Sustainability Policy, Planning and Gentrification in Citiesexplores the growing convergences between urban sustainability policy, planning practices and gentrification in cities. Via a study of governmental policy and planning initiatives and informal, community-based forms of sustainability planning, the book examines the assemblages of actors and interests that are involved in the production of sustainability policy and planning and their connection with neighbourhood-level and wider processes of environmental gentrification. Drawing from international urban examples, policy and planning strategies that guide both the implementation of urban intensification and the planning of new sustainable communities are considered. Such strategies include the production of urban green spaces and other environmental amenities through public and private sector and civil society involvement. The resulting production of exclusionary spaces and displacement in cities is problematic and underlines the paradoxical associations between sustainability and gentrified urban development. Contemporary examples of sustainability policy and planning initiatives are identified as ways by which environmental practices increasingly factor into both official and informal rationales and enactments of social exclusion, eviction and displacement. The book further considers the capacity for progressive sustainability policy and planning practices, via community-based efforts, to dismantle exclusion and displacement and encourage social and environmental equity and justice in urban sustainability approaches. This is a timely book for researchers and students in urban studies, environmental studies and geography with a particular interest in the growing presence of environmental gentrification in cities.
Trace by Sand and stone are Earth’s fragmented memory. Each of us, too, is a landscape inscribed by memory and loss. One life-defining lesson Lauret Savoy learned as a young girl was this: the American land did not hate. As an educator and Earth historian, she has tracked the continent’s past from the relics of deep time; but the paths of ancestors toward her--paths of free and enslaved Africans, colonists from Europe, and peoples indigenous to this land--lie largely eroded and lost. In this provocative and powerful mosaic of personal journeys and historical inquiry across a continent and time, Savoy explores how the country’s still unfolding history, and ideas of "race,” have marked her and the land. From twisted terrain within the San Andreas Fault zone to a South Carolina plantation, from national parks to burial grounds, from "Indian Territory” and the U.S.-Mexico Border to the U.S. capital,Trace grapples with a searing national history to reveal the often unvoiced presence of the past. In distinctive and illuminating prose that is attentive to the rhythms of language and landscapes, she weaves together human stories of migration, silence, and displacement, as epic as the continent they survey, with uplifted mountains, braided streams, and eroded canyons.
What Is Critical Environmental Justice? by Human societies have always been deeply interconnected with our ecosystems, but today those relationships are witnessing greater frictions, tensions, and harms than ever before. These harms mirror those experienced by marginalized groups across the planet. In this novel book, David Naguib Pellow introduces a new framework for critically analyzing Environmental Justice scholarship and activism. In doing so he extends the field's focus to topics not usually associated with environmental justice, including the Israel/Palestine conflict and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. In doing so he reveals that ecological violence is first and foremost a form of social violence, driven by and legitimated by social structures and discourses. Those already familiar with the discipline will find themselves invited to think about the subject in a new way. This book will be a vital resource for students, scholars, and policy makers interested in transformative approaches to one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and the planet.