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“Dunlap is one of the foremost researchers on the unfolding relationship between ecocide, colonialism, extractivism, and green capitalism.... An important book” Peter Gelderloos, author of The Solutions are Already Here “Vital for understanding the forces driving violence against land and water defenders around the world” Alleen Brown, investigative journalist“A passionate account of the harms of green capitalism” Professor Anna Feigenbaum, author of Tear Gas“One of the most compelling, demystifying, and provocative calls to action in the face of the violent collapse of modernity. A must-read” Dr. Carlos Tornel, author of Gustavo EstevaThis System is Killing Us is an insider look at the catastrophic effects that energy infrastructure and mining are having on communities and our planet. Xander Dunlap spent a decade living and working with Indigenous activists and land defenders across the world to uncover evidence of the repression people have faced in the wake of untamed capitalist growth.By centring the struggles of people whose lives are being systematically destroyed, Dunlap reveals gaps within the current official debates around climate change. This includes reviewing feuds between socialist modernism and degrowth. While changing public policy could play a constructive role in remediating climate catastrophe, by understanding the successes and failures of those “on the front lines”, it becomes clear that ecologically decentralized self-organization could be the only way out of this environmental nightmare.Xander Dunlap is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Global Sustainability, Boston University, USA, and a visiting research fellow in the Global Development Studies Department, University of Helsinki, Finland. Xander has written many books, most recently Enforcing Ecocide, and is a long-time participant in anti-police, squatting and environmental movements.

Political strategies for tackling climate change and other “long problems” that span generationsClimate change and its consequences unfold over many generations. Past emissions affect our climate today, just as our actions shape the climate of tomorrow, while the effects of global warming will last thousands of years. Yet the priorities of the present dominate our climate policy and the politics surrounding it. Even the social science that attempts to frame the problem does not theorize time effectively. In this pathbreaking book, Thomas Hale examines the politics of climate change and other “long problems.” He shows why we find it hard to act before a problem's effects are felt, why our future interests carry little weight in current debates, and why our institutions struggle to balance durability and adaptability. With long-term goals in mind, he outlines strategies for tilting the politics and policies of climate change toward better outcomes.Globalization “widened” political problems across national boundaries and changed our understanding of politics and governance. Hale argues that we must make a similar shift to understand the “lengthening” of problems across time. He describes tools and strategies that can, under certain conditions, allow policymakers to anticipate future needs and risks, make interventions that get ahead of problems, shift time horizons, adapt to changing circumstances, and set forward-looking goals that endure. As the climate changes, politics must, too. Efforts to solve long-term problems—not only climate change but other issues as well, including technology governance and demographic shifts—can also be a catalyst for a broader institutional transformation oriented toward the long term. With Long Problems, Hale offers an essential guide to governing across time.

A scathing critique of proposals to geoengineer our way out of climate disaster by the bestselling author of How to Blow Up a PipelineIt might soon be far too hot on this planet. What do we do then? In the era of'overshoot,'schemes abound for turning down the heat–not now, but a few decades down the road. We're being told that we can return to liveable temperatures by means of technologies for removing CO2 from the air or blocking incoming sunlight.If they even exist, such technologies are not safe.They come with immense uncertainties and risks. Worse, like magical promises of future redemption, they might provide reasons for continuing to emit in the present. But do they also hold some potentials? In Overshoot two leading climate scholars subject the plans for saving the planet after it's been wrecked to critical study. Carbon dioxide removal is already having effects, as an excuse for continuing business as usual, while geoengineering promises to bail out humanity if the heat reaches critical levels.Both distract from the one urgent task: to slash emissions now. There can be no further delay. The climate revolution is long overdue, and in the end, no technology can absolve us of its tasks.

The attempted cures for climate change are generally worse than the disease—especially for the poor. In this groundbreaking volume, experts in all the fields related to climate change explain for laymen what we know about climate change and evaluate from a Christian perspective the proposed responses.Demands to transform the global energy infrastructure to depend heavily on wind, solar, and other renewables are harmful to people in America and the world–especially to the poor. Meanwhile, continued large-scale use of traditional energy sources like nuclear, hydro, and fossil fuels would reduce poverty while doing less harm to the environment.Climate and Energy: The Case For Realism combines outstanding climate science, physics, economics, environmental science, political science, ethics, and theology to present a well-reasoned understanding of human-induced climate change and how to respond to it.

Can humanity work together to mitigate the effects of climate change? Climate Games argues we can. This book brings together a decade and a half of experimentation, conducted by researchers around the world, which shows that people can and will work together to prevent disasters like climate change. These experiments, called economic games, put money on the line to create laboratory disasters. Participants must work together by spending a bit of money now to prevent themselves from losing even more money in the future. Will people sacrifice their own money to prevent disaster? Can people make wise decisions? And can people decide wisely on behalf of others? The answer is a resounding yes. Yet real climate change is a complex social dilemma involving the world's nearly eight billion inhabitants. In the real world, the worst effects of climate change are likely to be felt by developing countries, while most of the decisions will be made by rich, industrialized countries. And while the world as a whole would be better off if all nations reduced their greenhouse gas emissions, any given nation could decide it would be even better off if it continued emitting and let other nations take care of the problem. These disaster experiments test how real people respond to climate change's unique constellation of challenges and deliver a positive message: People will prevent disaster.

This monograph is designed to provide a comprehensive and accessible reference to Net Zero efforts globally. Firstly, the book explains the basics of Net Zero, Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG), and the global climate change struggle. A chapter on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), as standardisation and screening of sustainability follows. Next comes a chapter on carbon pricing and carbon tax. After these background chapters, the book continues with eight chapters that cover Net Zero across a variety of economic sectors: energy supply, business sector, transport, residential, industrial processes, waste management, public (and government), and agriculture, forestry and land use. These economic sectors are adopted from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and UK National Statistics. Each chapter includes basic background information, technical or scientific, and a policy section. The sector-based chapters also include sectoral emissions analysis, review, and then a horizon scanning for innovative companies and their business models. This will enable non-experts from the business sector to read and understand the dynamics and trends in other sectors. Similarly, students and fresh graduates will easily follow the chapter (or the industry) that interests them and comprehend the basics and contemporary business trends. By joining research work with the business models of 400 noteworthy and innovative companies, this book constructs a vital bridge between academia, practical reality, policy, and business implementation, with a keen focus on environmental value.

How the subtle but significant consequences of a hotter planet have already begun—from lower test scores to higher crime rates—and how we might tackle them todayIt's hard not to feel anxious about the problem of climate change, especially if we think of it as an impending planetary catastrophe. In Slow Burn, R. Jisung Park encourages us to view climate change through a different lens: one that focuses less on the possibility of mass climate extinction in a theoretical future, and more on the everyday implications of climate change here and now.Drawing on a wealth of new data and cutting-edge economics, Park shows how climate change headlines often miss some of the most important costs. When wildfires blaze, what happens to people downwind of the smoke? When natural disasters destroy buildings and bridges, what happens to educational outcomes? Park explains how climate change operates as the silent accumulation of a thousand tiny conflagrations: imperceptibly elevated health risks spread across billions of people; pennies off the dollar of productivity; fewer opportunities for upward mobility.By investigating how the physical phenomenon of climate change interacts with social and economic institutions, Park illustrates how climate change already affects everyone, and may act as an amplifier of inequality. Wealthier households and corporations may adapt quickly, but, without targeted interventions, less advantaged communities may not.Viewing climate change as a slow and unequal burn comes with an important silver lining. It puts dollars and cents behind the case for aggressive emissions cuts and helps identify concrete steps that can be taken to better manage its adverse effects. We can begin to overcome our climate anxiety, Park shows us, when we begin to tackle these problems locally.

The world is on the cusp of one and a half degrees of warming - just the rise it has committed itself to avoiding. Heat at such levels would be intolerable. Even before one and a half, seasons of climate disaster have struck with ever more devastating force, and yet a notion has taken hold that the cause is now lost: the intolerable has become unavoidable. The limit will be overshot - perhaps two degrees as well - and the best we can do is cool down the Earth at some later point, towards the end of the century, by means of technologies not yet proven.How did this happen? How could the idea of overshoot gain such traction? What forces are driving us into a climate that people - particularly poor people in the global South - won't be able to cope with? In Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, Andreas Malm and Wim Carton present a history of the present phase of the crisis, likely to extend decades into the future, as the fossil fuel industry swims in the largest profits ever made. Money continues to flow into the construction of pipelines, platforms, terminals, mines - assets that will have to be destroyed for the planet to remain liveable. Too much heat has become officially acceptable because such revolutionary destruction is not. But should the rest of us abide by that priority?Unflinchingly critical of business-as-usual and the calls for surrender to it, sweeping in scope, stirring and sobering, Overshoot lays out the stakes for the climate struggle in the years ahead.

This proposed book aims to present an analysis of several crisis issues induced by global climate changes and implications at the micro-level, particularly from the perspective of ground-based study. Climate crisis leads to several socio-ecological issues which need to discuss with some empirical case studies from the contextual global evidences. Climatic crisis generates several social responses which are associated with mitigating issues in addition to sustainable development goals. Under these circumstances, several loopholes interlinked with climatic crisis need to expose in the present-day context. This book argues that it is important to understand the issues from multiple dimensions. It identifies some important dimensions to discuss in the process. Themes we purpose to cover are: several field-based studies are included for which micro-level field-based data would incorporate to understand current crisis induced by climate change, thus exposing the vulnerabilities of the communities which would be incorporated in different chapters with adequate representation of qualitative methods, modelling-based geospatial approach. Therefore, some secondary data-based studies have also been included to provide a broader picture. Additionally, this book aims to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the issues mainly from the lenses of Geography, Economics, and Sociology as well as Environmental Studies too. Given the focus of this study, it is believed that an approach that harmonizes the cognitive domain from different discipline is appropriated. A combination of chapters using qualitative as well as quantitative methods also made this book exclusive from others. We believe that this edited book surely contributes the knowledge domain with some relevant chapters'discussion in the contemporary time and leads to reduce the gap of knowledge.

We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. As Greenland melts, Australia burns, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we think we know who the villains are: oil companies, consumerism, weak political leaders. But what if the real blocks to progress are the ideas and institutions that are supposed to be helping us? Five Times Faster is an inside story from Simon Sharpe, who has spent ten years at the forefront of climate change policy and diplomacy. In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change, science is pulling its punches, diplomacy is picking the wrong battles, and economics has been fighting for the other side. This provocative and engaging book sets out how we should rethink our strategies and reorganise our efforts in the fields of science, economics, and diplomacy, so that we can act fast enough to stay safe.

This thoroughly revised third edition offers comprehensive coverage of the economics of climate change and climate policy, and is a suitable guide for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. Topics discussed include the costs and benefits of adaptation and mitigation, discounting, uncertainty, equity, policy instruments, the second best, and international agreements.Key features:In-depth treatment of the economics of climate changeCareful explanation of concepts and their application to climate policyCustomizable integrated assessment model that illustrates all issues discussedSpecific usage guidelines for each level of readerCompanion website with data, quizzes, videos, and further readingDiscussion of the latest developments in theory and policyGreater attention to policy and market imperfections than in the second edition.This book is an essential text for students in economics, climate change, and environmental policy, an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners, and a key text to support professors in their teaching.

Digitalizing Sustainability outlines why ‘business as usual'isn't working and sets out five Transformational Forces which can be used to innovate and scale sustainability solutions using digital means.This transformation will be powered by a range of digital technologies that have the potential to ideate, propel and scale sustainability solutions in an exponential manner over the next decade. This book introduces the Five Forces of Digital Transformation. These forces all share a common root – they are powered by digital technologies that enable them to operate at the speed and scale that we need to achieve global transformation for people and planet. Working together, these forces help overcome many of the barriers and pitfalls that humanity has faced in trying to achieve sustainability 2.0 and will help you tackle these questions: Why has sustainability 1.0 failed us? What are the bugs and bad code in our operating systems that we must address to have any hope of creating a sustainable civilization? What are the Five Forces of Digital Transformation that will forge a sustainable and resilient future for our people and planet? What are the core priorities going forward for coalitions of the willing to harness these forces for sustainability and resilience? Disruptive and innovative, this book provides readers with a clear path forward to a sustainable digital future. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in the adoption of digital technologies for driving solutions to global sustainability challenges.

Catastrophic climate change overshadows the present and the future. Wrenching economic transformations have devastated workers and hollowed out communities. However, those fighting for jobs and those fighting for the planet have often been at odds. Does the world face two separate crises, environmental and economic? The promise of the Green New Deal is to tackle the threat of climate change through the empowerment of working people and the strengthening of democracy. In this view, the crisis of nature and the crisis of work must be addressed together—or they will not be addressed at all.This book brings together leading experts to explore the possibilities of the Green New Deal, emphasizing the future of work. Together, they examine transformations that are already underway and put forth bold new proposals that can provide jobs while reducing carbon consumption—building a world that is sustainable both economically and ecologically. Contributors also debate urgent questions: What is the value of a federal jobs program, or even a jobs guarantee? How do we alleviate the miseries and precarity of work? In key economic sectors, including energy, transportation, housing, agriculture, and care work, what kind of work is needed today? How does the New Deal provide guidance in addressing these questions, and how can a Green New Deal revive democracy? Above all, this book shows, the Green New Deal offers hope for a better tomorrow—but only if it accounts for work's past transformations and shapes its future.

The overwhelming scientific evidence indicates that planet Earth is in the process of undergoing dramatic climate change, which threatens to undermine the quality of life around the world. Irrationality of Capitalism and Climate Change demonstrates how the roots of humanity's assault on the environment are directly associated with the origins of capitalism, an irrational social system in which reproduction of capital on a global scale is destructive to the environment. The author begins with a philosophical analysis of the role that reason and passion assume in social systems., then traces the local and regional environmental effects of preindustrial social systems. The author argues that nations are faced with a global challenge, to construct life-affirming policy that functions as an alternative to the global devastation that the accumulation of capital causes. The book concludes by proposing rational socialism, a life-affirming social system that functions in harmony with the environment.

Winner of the American Meteorological Society's Louis J. Batton Book of the Year AwardFrom a writer and expert who has been at the center of the fight for more than thirty years, a brilliant, big-picture reckoning with our shocking failure to address climate change. Fire and Flood focuses on the malign power of key business interests, arguing that those same interests could flip the story very quickly—if they can get ahead of a looming economic catastrophe.Eugene Linden wrote his first story on climate change, for Time magazine, in 1988; it was just the beginning of his investigative work, exploring all ramifications of this impending disaster. Fire and Flood represents his definitive case for the prosecution as to how and why we have arrived at our current dire pass, closing with his argument that the same forces that have confused the public's mind and slowed the policy response are poised to pivot with astonishing speed, as long-term risks have become present-day realities and the cliff's edge is now within view. Starting with the 1980s, Linden tells the story, decade by decade, by looking at four clocks that move at different speeds: the reality of climate change itself; the scientific consensus about it, which always lags reality; public opinion and political will, which lag further still; and, perhaps most important, business and finance. Reality marches on at its own pace, but the public will and even the science are downstream from the money, and Fire and Flood shows how devilishly effective moneyed climate-change deniers have been at slowing and even reversing the progress of our collective awakening. When a threat means certain but future disaster, but addressing it means losing present-tense profit, capitalism's response has been sadly predictable. Now, however, the seasons of fire and flood have crossed the threshold into plain view. Linden focuses on the insurance industry as one loud canary in the coal mine: fire and flood zones in Florida and California, among other regions, are now seeing what many call “climate redlining.” The whole system is teetering on the brink, and the odds of another housing collapse, for starters, are much higher than most people understand. There is a path back from the cliff, but we must pick up the pace. Fire and Flood shows us why, and how.

Professor William Nordhaus was honored with a Nobel Prize in Economics for his lifetime contributions to research and policy on climate change and macroeconomics. This book contains a collection of essays written by eleven leading climate change economists describing precisely how Professor Nordhaus changed climate change economics. The essays highlight the major contributions that Professor Nordhaus has made to understanding climate change. The book also discusses the important contributions Professor Nordhaus has made to develop effective policies to manage greenhouse gases both now and far into the future. Several authors also thank Professor Nordhaus for the influence he has had on the trajectory of their own careers. Finally, the essays press forward and discuss how the entire field continues to work on perfecting both climate change economics and policy.

Now in its second edition, Global Capitalism and Climate Change: The Need for an Alternative World System examines anthropogenic climate change in the context of global capitalism, a political economy that emphasizes profit-making, is committed to on-going economic growth, results in massive social inequality, fosters a treadmill of production and consumption, and is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Looking ahead, Hans A. Baer explores the systemic changes necessary to create a more socially just, democratic, and environmentally sustainable world system capable of moving humanity toward a safer climate. This book is recommended for readers interested in anti-systemic efforts, including eco-anarchism, eco-feminism, the de-growth perspective, Indigenous voices, and the climate justice movement.

The Great Adaptation tells the story of how scientists, governments and corporations have tried to deal with the challenge that climate change poses to capitalism by promoting adaptation to the consequences of climate change, rather than combating its causes. From the 1970s neoliberal economists and ideologues have used climate change as an argument for creating more'flexibility'in society, that is for promoting more market-based solutions to environmental and social questions. The book unveils the political economy of this potent movement, whereby some powerful actors are thriving in the face of dangerous climate change and may even make a profit out of it

This book is an urgent call to reimagine our social, political and economic systems so that we might transform to a sustainable society. It considers whether an alternative economic model is possible and examines the factors needed to enable such a transition to occur. The scale and pace of change is unprecedented and the author examines the actions that have to be taken by governments, business and individuals if we are to address the environmental disaster that confronts us. Much needs to change but ultimately, this is a book of hope, believing that evolution to a better, more sustainable society is possible.

When capitalism doesn't fight climate change but rather tries to make a buck out of itThe Great Adaptation tells the story of how scientists, governments and corporations have tried to deal with the challenge that climate change poses to capitalism by promoting adaptation to the consequences of climate change, rather than combating its causes. From the 1970s neoliberal economists and ideologues have used climate change as an argument for creating more'flexibility'in society, that is for promoting more market-based solutions to environmental and social questions. The book unveils the political economy of this potent movement, whereby some powerful actors are thriving in the face of dangerous climate change and may even make a profit out of it.

A polemic about global warming and the environmental crisis, which argues that ordinary people have consistently opposed the destruction of nature and so provide an untapped constituency for climate action. Crimes Against Nature uses fresh material to offer a very different take on the most important issue of our times. It takes the familiar narrative about global warming — the one in which we are all to blame — and inverts it, to show how, again and again, pollution and ecological devastation have been imposed on the population without our consent and (often) against our will. From histories of destruction, it distils stories of hope, highlighting the repeated yearning for a more sustainable world. In the era of climate strikes, viral outbreaks, and Extinction Rebellion, Crimes Against Nature moves from ancient Australia to the ‘corpse economy'of Georgian Britain to the ‘Kitchen Debate'of the Cold War, to present an unexpected and optimistic environmental history — one that identifies ordinary people not as a collective problem but as a powerful force for change.

The effort to address climate change cuts across a wide range of non-environmental actors and policy areas, including international economic institutions such as the Group of Twenty (G20), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These institutions do not tend to address climate change so much as an environmental issue, but as an economic one, a dynamic referred to as'economisation'. Such economisation can have profound consequences for how environmental problems are addressed. This book explores how the G20, IMF, and OECD have addressed climate finance and fossil fuel subsidies, what factors have shaped their specific approaches, and the consequences of this economisation of climate change. Focusing on the international level, it is a valuable resource for graduate students, researchers, and policymakers in the fields of politics, political economy and environmental policy.

This volume presents an in-depth analysis of climate change problems and discusses the proliferation of renewable energy worldwide—in conjunction with such important questions as social justice and economic growth, providing an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable development. Exploring various responses to human-induced climate change, the book offers a critical reflection on climate change and clean energy and highlights the fundamental problems of international energy justice and human rights. Examining these and other climate-related issues from legal, business, political, and scientific perspectives, the volume also analyzes the impact of economic factors and policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The current generation owes a moral and political obligation to the next generation and beyond, in terms of their real inheritance: the three interlinked existential crises represented by climate change, the multiple crises of the global environment and the conventional and nuclear arms race. This book is an attempt to reach out to the next generation to start shaping their own collective future through the greening of socialism on a global basis as an affirmative survival response to these crises which will have to be confronted in the course of the twenty-first century. It starts with a clear recapitulation of the major historical event-structures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which have been responsible for the genesis of these crises and links them to the possible choices and actions for the next century and beyond. These crises are no longer separable in terms of the consequences they entail for global humanity. Nor is it possible to separate our relationship with Nature as a whole from our relationship with each other at a global level. Consequently, the resolution of these crises is no longer a matter of mere technical or economic fixes, they will involve the major part of humanity as actors intervening into shaping their own future. The decisive moment for social and political change is fast approaching, with a clear choice to be made between systemic change or continuing with fragmented systems which are inexorably driving us towards the possibility of human extinction along with the extinction of major life-forms on earth. The building blocks of a desirable and sustainable future are already available to us but the powerful and entrenched economic and political structures of the world are in continuous denial of the possibilities of the future through systemic changes. This book lays out the above argument in a concise and logical framework that ranges across several disciplines from political economy and history to ecology and the sciences and technology. It is then up to the next generation to make their own choices about the future in the light of the mounting evidence about the urgency of systemic change. The decisive moment is now. This book is an honest account linking the past, the present and the likely future. It is a challenging read for those who will rise to the challenge.

EXPAND YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AFFECTS BUSINESS, THE ECONOMY, AND YOUR LIFE WITH THIS ESSENTIAL RESOURCE Environmental Policy: An Economic Perspective offers readers a comprehensive examination of the ever-broadening scope and impact of environmental policy, law, and regulation. Editors Thomas Walker, Northrop Sprung-Much, and Sherif Goubran walk readers through a variety of subjects while maintaining a global perspective on the expanding role of environmental law. This book takes a pragmatic and practical approach to its subject matter, showing readers the real impact across the world of different kinds of environmental policy. Among other topics, Environmental Policy: An Economic Perspective tackles: Climate change legislation Water conservation and pricing Biodiversity of the marine environment Wildlife ranching Emission trading schemes Green job strategies Sustainable investing Written for undergraduate and graduate students in any field affected by environmental legislation and policy, this book also belongs on the shelves of anyone who seeks to better understand the increasingly important role of environmental policy on their business and life.

Das Leitprinzip für Notstandsgesetze muss sein, dass diese den fortschreitenden Klimawandel aufhalten. Dafür sind wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Umbrüche notwendig, die mit erheblichen Risiken verbunden sind. Doch wir müssen sie eingehen – denn schlimmer wird es sein, nicht zu handeln. Freiheit darf nicht durch das Fehlen von Regulierung definiert werden, sondern indem diejenigen eingeschränkt werden, die unverantwortlich handeln.

Despite the growing consensus on the need for action to counteract climate change, complex economic and political forces have so far prevented international actors from making much headway toward resolving the problem. Most approaches to climate change are based in economics and environmental science; in this book, Parkash Chander argues that we can make further progress on the climate change impasse by considering a third approach—game theory.Chander shows that a game-theoretic approach, which offers insight into the nature of interactions between sovereign countries behaving strategically and the kinds of outcomes such interactions produce, can illuminate how best to achieve international agreements in support of climate-change mitigation strategies. Game Theory and Climate Change develops a conceptual framework with which to analyze climate change as a strategic or dynamic game, bringing together cooperative and noncooperative game theory and providing practical analyses of international negotiations. Chander offers economic and game-theoretic interpretations of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement and argues that the Paris Agreement may succeed where the Kyoto Protocol failed. Finally, Chander discusses the policy recommendations his framework generates, including a global agreement to support development of cleaner technologies on a global scale.

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.

As climate change has increasingly become the main focus of environmentalist activism since the late 1990s, the global economic drivers of CO2 emissions are now a major concern for radical greens. In turn, the emphasis on connected crises in both natural and social systems has attracted more activists to the Climate Justice movement and created a common cause between activists from the Global South and North. In the absence of a pervasive narrative of transnational or socialist economic planning to prevent catastrophic climate change, these activists have been eager to engage with advanced knowledge and ideas on political and economic structures that diminish risks and allow for new climate agency. This book breaks new ground by investigating what kind of economy the Climate Justice movement is calling for us to build and how the struggle for economic change has unfolded so far. Examining ecological debt, just transition, indigenous ecologies, social ecology, community economies and divestment among other topics, the authors provide a critical assessment and a common ground for future debate on economic innovation via social mobilization. Taking a transdisciplinary approach that synthesizes political economy, history, theory and ethnography, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate justice, environmental politics and policy, environmental economics and sustainable development.

In the decades since Geoffrey Heal began his field-defining work in environmental economics, one central question has animated his research:'Can we save our environment and grow our economy?'This issue has become only more urgent in recent years with the threat of climate change, the accelerating loss of ecosystems, and the rapid industrialization of the developing world. Reflecting on a lifetime of experience not only as a leading voice in the field, but as a green entrepreneur, activist, and advisor to governments and global organizations, Heal clearly and passionately demonstrates that the only way to achieve long-term economic growth is to protect our environment. Writing both to those conversant in economics and to those encountering these ideas for the first time, Heal begins with familiar concepts, like the tragedy of the commons and unregulated pollution, to demonstrate the underlying tensions that have compromised our planet, damaging and in many cases devastating our natural world. Such destruction has dire consequences not only for us and the environment but also for businesses, which often vastly underestimate their reliance on unpriced natural benefits like pollination, the water cycle, marine and forest ecosystems, and more. After painting a stark and unsettling picture of our current quandary, Heal outlines simple solutions that have already proven effective in conserving nature and boosting economic growth. In order to ensure a prosperous future for humanity, we must understand how environment and economy interact and how they can work in harmony—lest we permanently harm both.

Why do climate and financial crises pose such extreme risks? And what does it take to respond effectively to those risks? Extreme weather events – storms and sea-level rise, heat waves, droughts and floods – seem ever more common and extreme, while scientists warn of even greater climate risks ahead. Financial failures on the scale of 2008 make a mockery of the supposed efficiency of the market economy. None of this would be possible in the world as imagined by conventional economics – an imaginary land of gradualism, equilibrium, well-informed rationality and the win-win solutions dealt by the invisible hand. The erratic rhythm of boom and bust in financial markets could be explained either by the patterns of crowd-following behaviour among investors, or by the unequal distribution of wealth (and the impact of the largest investors on the markets). Climate crises reflect the fact that natural systems can reach tipping points or critical transitions, where gradual change gives way to large-scale discontinuous changes. The economics of climate change has lagged behind the science, understating the severity of the problem and the likelihood of a crash. While the causes of climate and financial extremes are distinct, the implications for public policy have much in common. The frequency of extreme events, of varying sizes, means that there is no way to predict the likely size of future crises. The traditional approach to risk aversion cannot account for longstanding patterns in financial markets. Better theories of risk call for more precautionary approaches to both financial and climate policy. In the frequent cases in which potential outcomes have unknown probabilities, the best policy is based on the worst-case credible scenario. When a single catastrophic risk commands everyone's attention, a World War II-style, costs-be-damned mobilization is the right response. There is no formula for perfect responses to extreme risks, but there are important guideposts that point toward better answers.

This book deals with one of the most pressing social and environmental issues that we face today. The transition to a post-carbon society, in which the consumption of fossil fuels decreases over time, has become an inevitability due to the need to prevent catastrophic climate change, the increasing cost and scarcity of energy, and complex combinations of both of these factors. As the authors point out, this will not only entail political adjustments and the replacement of some technologies by others, but will be accompanied by social and cultural changes that bring about substantial modifications in our societies and ways of life. This book examines whether the current conditions, which date back to the crisis that began in 2007, favour a benign and smooth transition or will make it more difficult and prone to conflict. It argues that, even if this transformation is unavoidable, the directions it will take and the resulting social forms are much less certain. There will be many post-carbon societies, the authors conclude, and any number of routes to social change. Transitioning to a Post-Carbon Society therefore represents a significant contribution to global debates on the environment, and is vital reading for academics, policymakers, business leaders, NGOs and the general public alike.

How is the struggle against climate change financed? Climate Finance: Theory and Practice gives an overview of the key debates that have emerged in the field of climate finance, including those concerned with efficiency, equity, justice, and contribution to the public good between developed and developing countries. With the collaboration of internationally renowned experts in the field of climate finance, the authors of this book highlight the importance of climate finance, showing the theoretical aspects that influence it, and some practices that are currently being implemented or have been proposed to finance mitigation and adaptation policies in the developed and developing world.

This book explores the social implications and challenges of low-carbon development. The argument of the book is that a broad understanding of low-carbon development is essential for mitigating climate change and enabling development in a carbon-constrained world, but there are risks that low-carbon development might come at a price that is both social and economic. These risks need to be carefully assessed and reduced. The main aim of the book is to explore, critically analyse and propose different ways of understanding low-carbon development from a social perspective in both developed and developing countries. The author uses concepts such as low-carbon development, social policy, sustainable development and environmental justice to understand the social implications of low-carbon development projects.The book first elaborates the need to understand the social issues and challenges of low-carbon development in both developed and developing countries. It then discusses five contemporary challenges of low-carbon development: the social consequences of Chinese hydropower dams in the Mekong region; the cost of the transition to renewable energies such as wind energy in Germany; the challenges of carbon offsetting in Brazil; the nexus of fuel-inefficient housing and fuel poverty in England; solar power for refugees in Africa. The book fills a crucial gap for researchers, postgraduates, practitioners and policy-makers in the fields of climate change, development and social policy.Johan Nordensvärd is a Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Southampton, UK.

The success of the entire food supply chain depends on the prosperity of farms and local communities. The direct climate change risks faced by the agricultural sector are therefore also risks to businesses and food supply chains. Hence the importance of resilience at farm level, community level and business level when looking at food supply chain policy and management.Climate Change Adaptation and Food Supply Chain Management highlights the issue of adaptation to climate change in food supply chains, the management and policy implications and the importance of supply chain resilience. Attention is given to each phase of the supply chain: input production, agriculture, food processing, retailing, consumption and post-consumption. European case studies demonstrate the vulnerabilities of contemporary food supply chains, the opportunities and competitive advantages related to climate change, and the trans-disciplinary challenges related to successful climate adaptation. The authors argue for a redefinition of the way food supply chains are operated, located and coordinated and propose a novel approach enhancing climate-resilient food supply chain policy and management.This book will be of interest to students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers in the field of climate adaptation and food supply chain management and policy.

The 2nd edition of An Introduction to Climate Change Economics and Policy explains the key scientific, economic and policy issues related to climate change in a completely up-to-date introduction for anyone interested, and students at all levels in various related courses, including environmental economics, international development, geography, politics and international relations.FitzRoy and Papyrakis highlight how economists and policymakers often misunderstand the science of climate change, underestimate the growing threat to future civilization and survival and exaggerate the costs of radical measures needed to stabilize the climate. In contrast, they show how direct and indirect costs of fossil fuels – particularly the huge health costs of local pollution – actually exceed the investment needed for transition to an almost zero carbon economy in two or three decades using available technology.

How knowing the extreme risks of climate change can help us prepare for an uncertain futureIf you had a 10 percent chance of having a fatal car accident, you'd take necessary precautions. If your finances had a 10 percent chance of suffering a severe loss, you'd reevaluate your assets. So if we know the world is warming and there's a 10 percent chance this might eventually lead to a catastrophe beyond anything we could imagine, why aren't we doing more about climate change right now? We insure our lives against an uncertain future—why not our planet?In Climate Shock, Gernot Wagner and Martin Weitzman explore in lively, clear terms the likely repercussions of a hotter planet, drawing on and expanding from work previously unavailable to general audiences. They show that the longer we wait to act, the more likely an extreme event will happen. A city might go underwater. A rogue nation might shoot particles into the Earth's atmosphere, geoengineering cooler temperatures. Zeroing in on the unknown extreme risks that may yet dwarf all else, the authors look at how economic forces that make sensible climate policies difficult to enact, make radical would-be fixes like geoengineering all the more probable. What we know about climate change is alarming enough. What we don't know about the extreme risks could be far more dangerous. Wagner and Weitzman help readers understand that we need to think about climate change in the same way that we think about insurance—as a risk management problem, only here on a global scale.With a new preface addressing recent developments Wagner and Weitzman demonstrate that climate change can and should be dealt with—and what could happen if we don't do so—tackling the defining environmental and public policy issue of our time.

Global warming is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the twenty-first century. Environmental polices on the one hand, and economic and labour market polices on the other, often exist in separate silos creating a dilemma that Work in a Warming World confronts. The world of work - goods, services, and resources - produces most of the greenhouse gases created by human activity. In engaging essays, contributors demonstrate how the world of work and the labour movement need to become involved in the struggle to slow global warming, and the ways in which environmental and economic policies need to be linked dynamically in order to effect positive change. Addressing the dichotomy of competing public policies in a Canadian context, Work in a Warming World presents ways of creating an effective response to global warming and key building blocks toward a national climate strategy.

In today's fast-paced world, it's tough to find the time to read. But with Joosr guides, you can get the key insights from bestselling non-fiction titles in less than 20 minutes. Whether you want to gain knowledge on the go or find the books you'll love, Joosr's brief and accessible eBook summaries fit into your life. Find out more at joosr.com. You've probably heard warnings about climate change; and maybe, if you're like a lot of people, you haven't taken them too seriously. But climate change isn't a myth or a joke at all. It's a deadly serious threat backed-up by scientific fact that could destroy our way of life-and our entire planet. We've been warned for years about the effects of climate change, and soon we might find ourselves paying dearly for our negligence. This book contains shocking information about the negative effects our pollution is having around the world. Social activist, Naomi Klein, turns a spotlight on the industries and politicians who not only refuse to fight the issue, but sometimes even make things worse. Filled with critical information you need to know, This Changes Everything will open your eyes to the realities of the biggest threat this world faces today. You will learn: · What kind of increasingly destructive effects fossil fuels are having on Earth's living creatures · How politically conservative groups stop us from fighting climate change · How corporate greed takes advantage of programs designed to fight climate change.

An urgent case for climate change action that forcefully sets out, in economic, ethical, and political terms, the dangers of delay and the benefits of action.The risks of climate change are potentially immense. The benefits of taking action are also clear: we can see that economic development, reduced emissions, and creative adaptation go hand in hand. A committed and strong low-carbon transition could trigger a new wave of economic and technological transformation and investment, a new era of global and sustainable prosperity. Why, then, are we waiting? In this book, Nicholas Stern explains why, notwithstanding the great attractions of a new path, it has been so difficult to tackle climate change effectively. He makes a compelling case for climate action now and sets out the forms that action should take.Stern argues that the risks and costs of climate change are worse than estimated in the landmark Stern Review in 2006—and far worse than implied by standard economic models. He reminds us that we have a choice. We can rely on past technologies, methods, and institutions—or we can embrace change, innovation, and international collaboration. The first might bring us some short-term growth but would lead eventually to chaos, conflict, and destruction. The second could bring about better lives for all and growth that is sustainable over the long term, and help win the battle against worldwide poverty. The science warns of the dangers of neglect; the economics and technology show what we can do and the great benefits that will follow; an examination of the ethics points strongly to a moral imperative for action. Why are we waiting?

If you had a 10 percent chance of having a fatal car accident, you'd take necessary precautions. If your finances had a 10 percent chance of suffering a severe loss, you'd reevaluate your assets. So if we know the world is warming and there's a 10 percent chance this might eventually lead to a catastrophe beyond anything we could imagine, why aren't we doing more about climate change right now? We insure our lives against an uncertain future--why not our planet?In Climate Shock, Gernot Wagner and Martin Weitzman explore in lively, clear terms the likely repercussions of a hotter planet, drawing on and expanding from work previously unavailable to general audiences. They show that the longer we wait to act, the more likely an extreme event will happen. A city might go underwater. A rogue nation might shoot particles into the Earth's atmosphere, geoengineering cooler temperatures. Zeroing in on the unknown extreme risks that may yet dwarf all else, the authors look at how economic forces that make sensible climate policies difficult to enact, make radical would-be fixes like geoengineering all the more probable. What we know about climate change is alarming enough. What we don't know about the extreme risks could be far more dangerous. Wagner and Weitzman help readers understand that we need to think about climate change in the same way that we think about insurance--as a risk management problem, only here on a global scale.Demonstrating that climate change can and should be dealt with--and what could happen if we don't do so--Climate Shock tackles the defining environmental and public policy issue of our time.

A comprehensive examination of the inability of liberal capitalism to generate the technological innovations necessary to prevent dangerous climate change. The case is made for the need for institutional evolution to drive the climate innovation, and the potential for climate innovation in an increasingly economically interconnected world.

Too often amongst policy makers and thought leaders an assumption is made that we must make a choice between tackling climate change and having a strong economy; tackling climate change and allowing poorer nations to develop; tackling climate change and having a secure energy system. However, a decade of advanced modelling tested against historical data has provided wide evidence that well-chosen policies can be implemented that avoid these apparent either/or choices.This highly interdisciplinary book provides an overview of potential pathways for the decarbonisation of the global economy. By examining the entire global economy, we show policy-makers and thought-leaders that greatly reducing the risks of climate change can be consistent with energy security, economic development in poor nations, and vibrant economies in already developed nations. Advanced models of the relationships between the economy, energy and climate change pioneered at the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR) over the past decade provides a sound evidence base for decisions. This book examines not only the impacts of policies, but also the feasibility of bringing them forward and the ways in which energy, climate and economic policies can and must be joined up if climate, energy and economic goals are to be met globally.Economists, physicists, engineers, policy analysts, environmental scientists, climate scientists, political analysts, lawyers and computational scientists are brought together for the first time to produce analyses that make up a unique approach to a global problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later.

The most important book yet from the author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine, a brilliant explanation of why the climate crisis challenges us to abandon the core “free market” ideology of our time, restructure the global economy, and remake our political systems.In short, either we embrace radical change ourselves or radical changes will be visited upon our physical world. The status quo is no longer an option. In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn't just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It's an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies. She exposes the ideological desperation of the climate-change deniers, the messianic delusions of the would-be geoengineers, and the tragic defeatism of too many mainstream green initiatives. And she demonstrates precisely why the market has not—and cannot—fix the climate crisis but will instead make things worse, with ever more extreme and ecologically damaging extraction methods, accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism. Klein argues that the changes to our relationship with nature and one another that are required to respond to the climate crisis humanely should not be viewed as grim penance, but rather as a kind of gift—a catalyst to transform broken economic and cultural priorities and to heal long-festering historical wounds. And she documents the inspiring movements that have already begun this process: communities that are not just refusing to be sites of further fossil fuel extraction but are building the next, regeneration-based economies right now. Can we pull off these changes in time? Nothing is certain. Nothing except that climate change changes everything. And for a very brief time, the nature of that change is still up to us.

Low Carbon Development: Key Issues is the first comprehensive textbook to address the interface between international development and climate change in a carbon constrained world. It discusses the key conceptual, empirical and policy-related issues of low carbon development and takes an international and interdisciplinary approach to the subject by drawing on insights from across the natural sciences and social sciences whilst embedding the discussion in a global context.The first part explores the concept of low carbon development and explains the need for low carbon development in a carbon constrained world. The book then discusses the key issues of socio-economic, political and technological nature for low carbon development, exploring topics such as the political economy, social justice, financing and carbon markets, and technologies and innovation for low carbon development. This is followed by key issues for low carbon development in policy and practice, which is presented based on cross-cutting issues such as low carbon energy, forestry, agriculture and transportation. Afterwards, practical case studies are discussed from low carbon development in low income countries in Africa, middle income countries in Asia and Latin America and high income countries in Europe and North America.Written by an international team of leading academics and practitioners in the field of low carbon development, this book is essential reading for students, academics, professionals and policy-makers interested in the fields of low carbon development, climate change mitigation, climate policy, climate change and development, global environmental change, and environment and development.

Although climate change has become the dominant concern of the twenty-first century, global powers refuse to implement the changes necessary to reverse these trends. Instead, they have neoliberalized nature and climate change politics and discourse, and there are indications of a more virulent strain of capital accumulation on the horizon. Adrian Parr calls attention to the problematic socioeconomic conditions of neoliberal capitalism underpinning the world's environmental challenges, and she argues that, until we grasp the implications of neoliberalism's interference in climate change talks and policy, humanity is on track to an irreversible crisis.Parr not only exposes the global failure to produce equitable political options for environmental regulation, but she also breaks down the dominant political paradigms hindering the discovery of viable alternatives. She highlights the neoliberalization of nature in the development of green technologies, land use, dietary habits, reproductive practices, consumption patterns, design strategies, and media. She dismisses the notion that the free market can solve debilitating environmental degradation and climate change as nothing more than a political ghost emptied of its collective aspirations. Decrying what she perceives as a failure of the human imagination and an impoverishment of political institutions, Parr ruminates on the nature of change and existence in the absence of a future. The sustainability movement, she contends, must engage more aggressively with the logic and cultural manifestations of consumer economics to take hold of a more transformative politics. If the economically powerful continue to monopolize the meaning of environmental change, she warns, new and more promising collective solutions will fail to take root.

Climate Change and the Private Sector explores the challenges of transforming our energy infrastructure to become carbon neutral and adapting to climate change in the twenty-first century. It examines the critical role that the private sector must play in these challenges. To transform the global energy complex to be carbon neutral within a time frame designed to prevent irreparable damage to the environment presents unprecedented challenges. The private sector must deploy financial, material, and engineering resources on a scale never before undertaken — with government providing leadership, removing barriers and supporting industry efforts through policies that mobilize markets to achieve environmental objectives. A key element of supporting private sector initiative to address climate change is policies that help form and sustain markets that supply, finance and generate demand for the technologies necessary to transform our energy infrastructure. The characteristics and examples of these policies are explored in detail.Companies that respond to these challenges both by mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change will enhance their own competitiveness and contribute to society in the process. Companies that embrace the challenge to decarbonize their manufacturing operations, whether in response to regulation (or the threat of regulation) or market opportunities, invariably discover ways to improve their operations in the process that could potentially enhance their ability to produce better products, more efficiently. The book explores examples of companies that have redesigned their products and manufacturing processes, and in doing so transformed themselves and reshaped their industries. As in the case of companies mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, companies that lead their industries in adapting their own operations to a changing physical environment are more likely to ensure their resilience in a changing business environment. This book provides business, policy and academic audiences with an in-depth exploration of the subject, and a practical guide to action.

Deniers of climate change sometimes quip that claims about global warming are more about political science than climate science. They are wrong on the science, but may be right with respect to its political implications. A hotter world, writes Andrew Guzman, will bring unprecedented migrations, famine, war, and disease. It will be a social and political disaster of the first order. In Overheated, Guzman takes climate change out of the realm of scientific abstraction to explore its real-world consequences. He writes not as a scientist, but as an authority on international law and economics. He takes as his starting point a fairly optimistic outcome in the range predicted by scientists: a 2 degree Celsius increase in average global temperatures. Even this modest rise would lead to catastrophic environmental and social problems. Already we can see how it will work: The ten warmest years since 1880 have all occurred since 1998, and one estimate of the annual global death toll caused by climate change is now 300,000. That number might rise to 500,000 by 2030. He shows in vivid detail how climate change is already playing out in the real world. Rising seas will swamp island nations like Maldives; coastal food-producing regions in Bangladesh will be flooded; and millions will be forced to migrate into cities or possibly'climate-refugee camps.'Even as seas rise, melting glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas will deprive millions upon millions of people of fresh water, threatening major cities and further straining food production. Prolonged droughts in the Sahel region of Africa have already helped produce mass violence in Darfur. Clear, cogent, and compelling, Overheated shifts the discussion on climate change toward its devastating impact on human societies. Two degrees Celsius seems such a minor change. Yet it will change everything.