Out of sight, out of mind. That's the general reaction to the crucial movement of oil around the world's oceans. Yet this vital supply chain that allows the world to function is constantly under enormous, largely unreported pressure. The uninterrupted flow of oil is essential to globalisation, and increasingly so as manufacturing and markets move Eastwards to Asia. However, it is threatened by conflicts between nation states, pirates and global warming.All too often the movement of...

During recent years, environmental debate worldwide has been dominated by climate change, carbon emissions and eff orts to achieve low carbon economies. But a number of academic, technical, political, business and NGO initiatives indicate that there is a new wave of environmental attention focused on a wholly different set of subjects: namely that of natural capital, ecosystem services and biodiversity, or in other words, what Nature does for us. From recycling miracles in the soil to the ...

For more than two decades, award-winning science and environmental journalist, Christian Schwägerl has researched how humans, nature, and technology interact. According to Paul Crutzen, we are now living in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, a time in which human dominance of Earth’s biological, chemical and geological processes is an undeniable reality, presenting us with a new role as planetary stewards.This is a thoroughly researched, comprehensive overview of o...

Leading Liberal Democrats and policy experts re-examine their political approach and propose a radical new direction for the party, setting the agenda for the next election and beyond. The Green Book cogently argues that a low-carbon economy and environmental investments are the best way to escape from sluggish growth, create new jobs and share prosperity. It is a clarion call for Liberal Democrats to treat the environmental crisis as a core challenge of economic policy, not a discrete pro...

What light does nearly twenty-five years of scientific study of the Exxon Valdez oil spill shed on the fate and effects of a spill? How can the results help in assessing future spills? How can ecological risks be assessed and quantified? In this, the first book on the effects of Exxon Valdez in fifteen years, scientists directly involved in studying the spill provide a comprehensive perspective on, and synthesis of, scientific information on long-term spill effects. The coverage is multidi...

Power to the People examines the varied but interconnected relationships between energy consumption and economic development in Europe over the last five centuries. It describes how the traditional energy economy of medieval and early modern Europe was marked by stable or falling per capita energy consumption, and how the First Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century--fueled by coal and steam engines--redrew the economic, social, and geopolitical map of Europe and the worl...

For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this “perpetual motion” of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is see...

Food versus Fuel presents a high-level introduction to the science and economics behind a well-worn debate, that will debunk myths and provide quality facts and figures for academics and practitioners in development studies, environment studies, and agricultural studies.Compiled by an internationally renowned scientist and authority, and to include perspectives from 'pro' and 'anti' biofuels experts and activists, from the North and South, the aim of this book is to bring a balance...

Energy plays a central role in shaping our society and infrastructure, making it increasingly important for today's leaders to understand the impact of energy decisions. Discussions about energy often neglect important historical lessons about previous energy transformations and provide inadequate consideration of context - Driven by Demand takes a fresh approach by exploring the emergence of energy systems, outcomes and priorities. It outlines select historical and current events, challen...

The electric utility industry in the US is technologically complex, and its structure as a classic network industry makes it intricate in business terms as well, so deregulation of such a complicated industry was a particularly detailed process. Steve Isser provides a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the history of the transformation of this complex industry from the 1978 Energy Policy Act to the present, covering the economic, legal, regulatory, and political issues and controversie...

This book investigates the current status and future prospects of energy relationships in the Euro-Mediterranean region. By adopting a political economy perspective, this book provides insight into regional cooperation in the fields of natural gas and renewable energy. The author posits that regional energy relations have yet to be examined through a comprehensive analytical framework in order to realistically assess the potential role of energy in acting as a catalyst for greater economic...

This book presents research on a kind of water use conflicts that is becoming more and more common and important: How to best manage moving water in times of increasing demand for electricity as well as environmental services. How should decisions be made between water use for electricity generation or for environmental and recreational benefits? The authors develop a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy which is used to derive a cost-benefit rule that can be used to as...