When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to “natural disasters” or “acts of God.” But what if they’re neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves?That’s the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first book to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a “perfect storm,” but a tragedy of our own making—and one that could become commonplace.The author...

Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed.Bringing together leading researchers—inc...

In clear and accessible language, Generation Us explains the phenomenon of global warming, outlines the threat it presents to future generations and offers a path toward solutions to the problem. The reality of global warming has long been accepted within the scientific community, yet it remains a hotly debated topic at the political and social level. Why is this? Is it the fact that the ultimate effects of global warming will not be felt in our lifetimes? Do we really feel no moral respon...

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 c...

A leading scientist argues that we must consider deploying climate engineering technology to slow the pace of global warming.Climate engineering—which could slow the pace of global warming by injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere—has emerged in recent years as an extremely controversial technology. And for good reason: it carries unknown risks and it may undermine commitments to conserving energy. Some critics also view it as an immoral human bre...

A sweeping study of how capitalism first promoted fossil fuels with the rise of steam power—and contributed to the worsening climate crisisThe more we know about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels we burn. How did we end up in this mess? In this masterful new history, Andreas Malm claims it all began in Britain with the rise of steam power. But why did manufacturers turn from traditional sources of power, notably water mills, to ...

The Oak Ridges Moraine is a unique landform that generated heated battles over the future of nature conservation, sprawl, and development in the Toronto region at the turn of the twenty-first century. This book provides a careful, multi-faceted history and policy analysis of planning issues and citizen activism on the Moraine’s future in the face of rapid urban expansion.The Oak Ridges Moraine Battles captures the hidden aspects of a story that received a great deal of att...

Sandy was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history after Katrina, but the waters had barely receded from the Jersey coast when massive efforts began to “Restore the Shore.” Why do people build in areas open to repeated natural disasters? And why do they return to these areas in the wake of major devastation? Drawing on a variety of insights from environmental sociology, Superstorm Sandy answers these questions as it looks at both the unique character of the Jersey Shore and the mor...

Today's "extreme weather events" (record-breaking heat waves, droughts, and melting ice caps) foreshadow an increasingly unstable and dire future. Yet, despite all, the US government continues to reject the Kyoto Protocol, to deny the catastrophic consequences of oil dependency, and to define the politics of oil as the politics of U.S. unilateralism, domination, and war.Dead Heat argues that justice—not rhetoric and "aid" but real developmental justice for the people of developing w...

The role of cities in addressing climate change is increasingly recognised in international arenas, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda. Asia is home to many of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts and, along with Africa, will be the site of most urban population growth over the coming decades.Bringing together a range of city experiences, Responding to Climate Change in...

Rapid environmental change calls for individuals and societies with an ability to transform our interactions with each other and the ecosystems upon which we depend. Adaptive capacity - the ability of a social-ecological system (or the components of that system) to be robust to disturbances and capable of responding to changes - is increasingly recognized as a critical attribute of multi-level environmental governance. This unique volume offers the first interdisciplinary and integrative p...

Mitigation will not be sufficient for us to avoid climate change and we will need to adapt to its consequences. This book targets the development of adaptation policy in European countries with different relations between central and regional/local government.