Drawing on an unusually rich empirical base, this timely and compelling book examines how environmental values are constructed and legitimized within the policy process. It trains the spotlight on four environmentally significant countries - China, Japan, India, and the United States - representing a wide diversity of cultural, social, economic, and political characteristics. Through a combination of case studies and comparative analysis, the contributors illuminate cultural assumptions, standards, and analytic techniques that shape environmental actions and policies around the world. "Forging Environmentalism" provides valuable direction regarding what can be done to secure public support for environmental policies. Incorporating expert legal, economic, philosophical, sociological, and political perspective points the way toward the possibilities for a convergence of environmental norms and values across diverse cultures.

China’s huge environmental challenges are significant for us all. They affect not only the health and well-being of China but the very future of the planet. In this trailblazing book, noted China specialist and environmentalist Judith Shapiro investigates China’s struggle to achieve sustainable development against a backdrop of acute rural poverty and soaring middle class consumption. Using five core analytical concepts to explore the complexities of this struggle - the implications of globalization, the challenges of governance; contested national identity, the evolution of civil society and problems of environmental justice and equity - Shapiro poses a number of pressing questions: Do the Chinese people have the right to the higher living standards enjoyed in the developed world? Are China's environmental problems so severe that they may shake the government's stability, legitimacy and control? To what extent are China’s environmental problems due to patterns of Western consumption? And in a world of increasing limits on resources and pollution "sinks," is it even possible to build an equitable system in which people enjoy equal access to resources without taking them from successive generations, from the poor, or from other species? China and the planet are at a pivotal moment; the path towards a more sustainable development model is still open. But - as Shapiro persuasively argues - making this choice will require humility, creativity, and a rejection of business as usual. The window of opportunity will not be open much longer. Chapter 1 - 'The Big Picture' - is available online.

There is a broad consensus that climate change presents the international community with a formidable challenge. Yet progress on all fronts-prevention, mitigation, and adaptation-has been slow. Ved P. Nanda finds an explanation for this disparity in the sharp divide between the developed and developing countries. Developing countries demand that major industrialized nations provide the necessary resources and technology to address climate change, while many developed countries seek firm commitments and timetables on action from the developing countries. The result is a stalemate. Climate Change and Environmental Ethics contains first-rate research and thinking from scholars from multiple disciplines-ethics, ecology, philosophy, economics, political science, history, and international law. What distinguishes this volume from recent work on climate change are two of its special features. One is the multi-disciplinary backgrounds of the scholars, their stellar experiences, and the wisdom with which they express not simply their philosophy and theory but also their suggestions for concrete, specific action in practical terms. The second is the special niche this volume fills in its overarching theme of the need for a renewed environmental ethic that can bring together these disparate but interconnected views. This volume explores alternative ways of conceiving our relation to the natural world. A spirit of international cooperation and collaboration is needed to meet the challenge. The reader is complelled to think anew about our understanding of the scientific and technical issues, as well as our values and ethical responsibilities regarding climate change.

There is a broad consensus that climate change presents the international community with a formidable challenge. Yet progress on all fronts-prevention, mitigation, and adaptation-has been slow. Ved P. Nanda finds an explanation for this disparity in the sharp divide between the developed and developing countries. Developing countries demand that major industrialized nations provide the necessary resources and technology to address climate change, while many developed countries seek firm commitments and timetables on action from the developing countries. The result is a stalemate. Climate Change and Environmental Ethics contains first-rate research and thinking from scholars from multiple disciplines-ethics, ecology, philosophy, economics, political science, history, and international law. What distinguishes this volume from recent work on climate change are two of its special features. One is the multi-disciplinary backgrounds of the scholars, their stellar experiences, and the wisdom with which they express not simply their philosophy and theory but also their suggestions for concrete, specific action in practical terms. The second is the special niche this volume fills in its overarching theme of the need for a renewed environmental ethic that can bring together these disparate but interconnected views. This volume explores alternative ways of conceiving our relation to the natural world. A spirit of international cooperation and collaboration is needed to meet the challenge. The reader is complelled to think anew about our understanding of the scientific and technical issues, as well as our values and ethical responsibilities regarding climate change.

Problems of climate change, biodiversity and air pollution are clearly growing globally, but more particularly in Asia because of its economic importance and richness in nature. The increasing interest in environmental and resource economics applied in regions of Asia will make this book an outstanding resource to the existing literature, particularly in the fields of environmental and resource economics and the integration of applied content in traditional and agricultural development. At present there is no single handbook or text on the state of current knowledge in environmental economics in Asia or one which offers a comprehensive guide to students and academics on the subjects of environmental economics research. This book will help to fill the gap in the existing literature.

"Religion and ecology" has arrived. What was once a niche interest for a few academics concerned with environmental issues and a few environmentalists interested in religion has become an established academic field with classic texts, graduate programs, regular meetings at academic conferences, and growing interest from other academics and the mass media. Theologians, ethicists, sociologists, and other scholars are engaged in a broad dialogue about the ways religious studies can help understand and address environmental problems, including the sorts of methodological, terminological, and substantive debates that characterize any academic discourse. This book recognizes the field that has taken shape, reflects on the ways it is changing, and anticipates its development in the future. The essays offer analyses and reflections from emerging scholars of religion and ecology, each addressing her or his own specialty in light of two questions: (1) What have we inherited from the work that has come before us? and (2) What inquiries, concerns, and conversation partners should be central to the next generation of scholarship? The aim of this volume is not to lay out a single and clear path forward for the field. Rather, the authors critically reflect on the field from within, outline some of the major issues we face in the academy, and offer perspectives that will nurture continued dialogue.

Multidisciplinary Studies on the Environment and Civilization draws on research from a diverse range of fields across the humanities, social and natural sciences to discover what is needed to develop an affluent, sustainable and resilient world for the twenty-first century and beyond. The contributions throughout this volume build and promote frameworks for an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability both in and beyond Japan. Utilizing research efforts from a broad range of fields such as zoology, biological anthropology and archaeology, these multidisciplinary studies are brought together to assess the impacts humans have had on the environment as well as the role of civilization, culture and heritage in environmental history. This book provides a truly multidisciplinary approach to environmental issues and will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in fields such as climate, geology, plant taxonomy and marine science as well as those with an interest in Japanese history, archaeology, art and literature.

Environmentalism involves hundreds of international environmental groups, thousands of national groups, and tens of thousands of local ones. It also includes hundreds of international agreements, hundreds of national environmental agencies, and countless environmental sections in other organizations—from those in multinational corporations to ones in regional and international organizations. Such environmental concepts as sustainable development, the precautionary principle, corporate social responsibility, and eco-labeling percolate from all of these sources. Every year, new ideas, refinements, policies, institutions, markets, and problems continue to enter into environmental debates and discourses, making it nearly impossible to keep abreast of the changes constantly taking place. The A to Z of Environmentalism is a paperback edition of the Historical Dictionary of Environmentalism. It strategically skips across issues, concepts, time, organizations, and cultures, not with any pretense of producing a definitive dictionary but rather with the aim of producing an inclusive, wide-ranging, and global history of environmentalism. This goal is accomplished through a chronology, an introductory essay, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries.

Dealing with issues related to the modelling, monitoring and management of air pollution, this book includes papers presented at the 26th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution. The papers from this conference continue a wide ranging collection of high quality research works that develop the fundamental science of air pollution. Air pollution issues remain one of the most challenging problems facing society. The scientific knowledge derived from well-designed studies needs to be allied with further technical and economic studies in order to ensure cost effective and efficient mitigation. Increasingly, it is being recognised that the outcome of such research needs to be contextualised within well formulated communication strategies that help policy makers and citizens to understand and appreciate the risks and rewards arising from air pollution management. Details of the wide spread nature of the air pollution phenomena and in depth explorations of their impacts on human health and the environment are covered in this book.

"Meyer pioneers a uniquely political approach to environmental social criticism that follows from a startling central propostion: that it is not outright oppression and denialism that are the most significant impediments but what he aptly terms the 'resonance dilemma.' This is the failure of climate and environmental challenges - however important we may grant that they are - to strike us as integral everyday concerns. This lively, eloquent, accessible volume models the very style of social criticism that it calls for in response to this dilemma: a 'resonant' environmental criticism that works on (rather than against) everyday practices." Lisa Disch, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, author of Hannah Arendt and the Limits of Philosophy.