Packaging policy is an integral policy field of circular economy politics in a globalized world. International treaties deliver a common ground for regional and national legislation, which needs to be implemented according to the legislative agenda. The European Union aims to take over global leadership in this field and has hence articulated it’s strategy through the European Green Deal. Circular economy is set out to transform under this approach. As a part of the transformation process,...

We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives. The Wealth of the Commons explains how millions of commoners have organized to defend their forests and fisheries, reinvent local food systems, organize productive online communities, reclaim public spaces, improve environmental stewardship and re-imagine...

Solving the global climate crisis through local partnerships and experimentationGlobal climate diplomacy—from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement—is not working. Despite decades of sustained negotiations by world leaders, the climate crisis continues to worsen. The solution is within our grasp—but we will not achieve it through top-down global treaties or grand bargains among nations.Charles Sabel and David Victor explain why the prof...

Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S.’s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments’ progress has been lackluster. That’s not to say leadership is absent; it just often comes from the bottom up rather than the top down. Action—on climate, species loss, inequity, and other sustainability crises—is being driven by local, people’s, women’s, and grassroots movements around th...

You will never look at your cell phone, TV, or computer the same way after reading this book. Greening the Media not only reveals the dirty secrets that hide inside our favorite electronic devices; it also takes apart the myths that have pushed these gadgets to the center of our lives. Marshaling an astounding array of economic, environmental, and historical facts, Maxwell and Miller debunk the idea that information and communication technologies (ICT) are clean and ecologically b...

This open access book focuses on the meanings, agendas, as well as the local and global implications of bioeconomy and bioenergy policies in and across South America, Asia and Europe. It explores how a transition away from a fossil and towards a bio-based economic order alters, reinforces and challenges socio-ecological inequalities. The volume presents a historically informed and empirically rich discussion of bioeconomy developments with a particular focus on bio-based energy. A series o...

This open access book presents multiple disciplinary perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for sustainable development in the South African mountain city of Phuthaditjhaba. These challenges are embedded in the complex environmental, socio-cultural and political contexts of the region. Established as the capital of the QwaQwa ‘homeland’ under Grand Apartheid, this city is now home to between 400,000 – 700,000 people but in many areas lacks formal infrastructure and services. Each...

This book focuses on innovation in the agri-food system and the new paradigm drawn by bioeconomic approaches and principles. It draws on contributions presented during the 29th EURAGRI annual conference held in Luxemburg (September 2015) as well as on other workshops organised as part of EURAGRI. EURAGRI is an informal gathering of EU research and higher education organisations and ministries interested in agri-food research. It works as a platform of exchange and discussion on topics of c...

This open access book presents and discusses current issues and innovative solution approaches for land management in a European context. Manifold sustainability issues are closely interconnected with land use practices. Throughout the world, we face increasing conflict over the use of land as well as competition for land.Drawing on experience in sustainable land management gained from seven years of the FONA programme (Research for Sustainable Development, conducted under the ausp...

Labour law is a necessary discipline for achieving sustainable environmental companies, both to make the regulation of labor rights more effective and to realize a vigorous contribution to the mitigation of climate change. Labour and the environment are not strictly separable. The integration of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a remarkable event that directly connects with the hard core of fundamental rights and freedoms at work. The goals ...

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.With Agenda 2030, the UN adopted wide-ranging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that integrate development and environmental agendas. This book focuses on the political tensions between the environmental objectives and socio-economic aspects of sustainable development.The collection provides an introduction to interlinkages, synergies and trade-offs between the ‘green’ and other goals, such as gender equality and ...

This book examines the role of local food movements, enterprises and networks in the transformation of the currently unsustainable global food system. It explores a series of innovations designed to re-integrate sustainable modes of food production and encourage food sovereignty.It provides detailed insights into a specialised network of social actors collaborating in novel ways and creating new economic arrangements across different geographical locales. In working to devise ‘loca...