Urban Climate Change Crossroads

Urban Climate Change Crossroads PDF Author: Maria Paola Sutto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317004027
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book

Book Description
Urban climate change is a crossroads in two very different senses. One is historical. With the world now more than half urban, and given the ecological consequences of the world's high-consumption urban centers, we are at an ecological crossroad. We either head off the worst of ecological collapse through concerted and forward-looking action, or we face a 'Mad Max future' of dystopia, violence, and upheaval. The second crossroad is intellectual. Our individual disciplines are unable to grasp the magnitude of the economic-ecological challenges ahead. For that we need to work holistically, calling on the knowledge of climatologists, engineers, sociologists, economists, public health specialist, designers, architects, community organizers, and more. The intellectual crossroad is nothing less than a new intellectual field of Sustainable Development. Based on a major international forum held in Rome in 2008, this volume brings together leading climate change experts to engage with the climate change discourse as it shifts from mitigation to adaptation, with particular attention to the urban environment. In doing so, it provides important insights into how to deal with the first crossroad, by achieving the second. It represents a new generation of thinking involving not only science, but the broad array of fields that must be called upon to effectively address the global climate crisis: from ecological science to political science; from economics to philosophy to architecture; and from public health to public art. It is a pioneering effort to broaden the discursive field, and is likely to remain a landmark study on the subject for a generation.

Urban Climate Change Crossroads

Urban Climate Change Crossroads PDF Author: Maria Paola Sutto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317004027
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book

Book Description
Urban climate change is a crossroads in two very different senses. One is historical. With the world now more than half urban, and given the ecological consequences of the world's high-consumption urban centers, we are at an ecological crossroad. We either head off the worst of ecological collapse through concerted and forward-looking action, or we face a 'Mad Max future' of dystopia, violence, and upheaval. The second crossroad is intellectual. Our individual disciplines are unable to grasp the magnitude of the economic-ecological challenges ahead. For that we need to work holistically, calling on the knowledge of climatologists, engineers, sociologists, economists, public health specialist, designers, architects, community organizers, and more. The intellectual crossroad is nothing less than a new intellectual field of Sustainable Development. Based on a major international forum held in Rome in 2008, this volume brings together leading climate change experts to engage with the climate change discourse as it shifts from mitigation to adaptation, with particular attention to the urban environment. In doing so, it provides important insights into how to deal with the first crossroad, by achieving the second. It represents a new generation of thinking involving not only science, but the broad array of fields that must be called upon to effectively address the global climate crisis: from ecological science to political science; from economics to philosophy to architecture; and from public health to public art. It is a pioneering effort to broaden the discursive field, and is likely to remain a landmark study on the subject for a generation.

Urban Climate Change Crossroads

Urban Climate Change Crossroads PDF Author: Richard Plunz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982217405
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book

Book Description


Climate Governance at the Crossroads

Climate Governance at the Crossroads PDF Author: Matthew J Hoffmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190452897
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book

Book Description
The global response to climate change has reached a critical juncture. Since the 1992 signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the nations of the world have attempted to address climate change through large-scale multilateral treaty-making. These efforts have been heroic, but disappointing. As evidence for the quickening pace of climate change mounts, the treaty-making process has sputtered, and many are now skeptical about the prospect of an effective global response. Yet global treaty-making is not the only way that climate change can be addressed or, indeed, is being addressed. In the last decade myriad initiatives have emerged across the globe independently from, or only loosely connected to, the "official" UN-sponsored negotiations and treaties. In the face of stalemate in the formal negotiations, the world is experimenting with alternate means of responding to climate change. Climate Governance at the Crossroads chronicles these innovations--how cities, provinces and states, citizen groups, and corporations around the globe are addressing the causes and symptoms of global warming. The center of gravity in the global response to climate change is shifting from the multilateral treaty-making process to the diverse activities found beyond the negotiating halls. These innovations are pushing the envelope of climate action and demonstrating what is possible, and they provide hope that the world will respond effectively to the climate crisis. In introducing climate governance "experiments" and examining the development and functioning of this new world of climate policy-making, this book provides an exciting new perspective on the politics of climate change and the means to understand and influence how the global response to climate change will unfold in the coming years.

Climate Change and Cities

Climate Change and Cities PDF Author: Cynthia Rosenzweig
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139497405
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book

Book Description
Urban areas are home to over half the world's people and are at the forefront of the climate change issue. The need for a global research effort to establish the current understanding of climate change adaptation and mitigation at the city level is urgent. To meet this goal a coalition of international researchers - the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) - was formed at the time of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York in 2007. This book is the First UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities. The authors are all international experts from a diverse range of cities with varying socio-economic conditions, from both the developing and developed world. It is invaluable for mayors, city officials and policymakers; urban sustainability officers and urban planners; and researchers, professors and advanced students.

Mitigating Climate Change at the Municipal Scale

Mitigating Climate Change at the Municipal Scale PDF Author: Kent L. Hurst
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
The failure of international negotiations toward a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol to limit global greenhouse gas emissions has highlighted not only the problematic associated with a global agreement on such a scientifically and politically complex issue, but also the importance of sub-national action in lieu of such an agreement. This is especially true in the United States where any national climate protection framework seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. In the absence of any such policy leadership from Washington, it is increasingly falling to states, regional organizations, and municipalities to craft emissions reduction strategies that will contribute meaningfully to global climate protection. In support of these efforts, a municipal climate protection movement has emerged, spearheaded largely by nonprofit advocacy groups, attempting to motivate and coordinate action in communities and regions across the country. However, even these efforts have proven to be sporadic, halting, and economically contingent. The Dallas/Fort Worth region is representative of many metropolitan areas across the country, especially those in the nation's South and West, in which planners have a vital role to play in promoting and securing a climate protection agenda. As one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is an excellent crucible in which to study prospects for meaningful local and regional action toward mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Characterized by sprawling, low-density development, thoroughly dependent on the automobile for transportation, and facing a future of increasingly tenuous fresh water supplies as its climate becomes even drier and hotter, the region's population is expected to double over the next 20 years. It comprises a large number of politically independent, fractious, and economically conservative municipalities, suffers from weak regional policy coordination, and is hostage to ingrained development practices that continue to thwart cooperation toward mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and compromise local and regional sustainability in the face of impacts deriving from global climate change. If that weren't enough, it stands in one of the most politically conservative areas of one of the most politically conservative states in the country. However, major political and institutional forces militate against local planners making meaningful progress toward greenhouse gas emissions reductions in their communities. These forces can be understood through the analytical lens of ecological modernization, a dominant discourse in U.S. environmental affairs that emphasizes the possibilities for win-win resolutions of the struggle between economic growth and environmental preservation through the application of technological innovation in a market economy. Both the premises and criticisms of ecological modernization discourse can be used to analyze the promises and challenges facing local and regional planning initiatives in North Texas to address the climate protection agenda. Dominance of the ecological modernization discourse at local and regional scales is examined in a variety of artifacts, including institutional and municipal planning documents and proclamations; regional planning initiatives; national survey data; and transcripts of interviews with area politicians, administrators, and planners. In addition, results from recently completed national survey of public sector planners are introduced to explore professional and community attitudes and initiatives toward climate protection. This analysis of the challenges facing its urban planners suggests a number of transformative moves that the American urban planning institution must take to motivate real progress toward meaningful climate change mitigation.

The Urban Whale

The Urban Whale PDF Author: Scott D. Kraus
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674034759
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 566

Get Book

Book Description
In 1980 a group of scientists censusing marine mammals in the Bay of Fundy was astonished at the sight of 25 right whales. It was, one scientist later recalled, "like finding a brontosaurus in the backyard." Until that time, scientists believed the North Atlantic right whale was extinct or nearly so. The sightings electrified the research community, spurring a quarter century of exploration, which is documented here. The authors present our current knowledge about the biology and plight of right whales, including their reproduction, feeding, genetics, and endocrinology, as well as fatal run-ins with ships and fishing gear. Employing individual identifications, acoustics, and population models, Scott Kraus, Rosalind Rolland, and their colleagues present a vivid history of this animal, from a once commercially hunted commodity to today's life-threatening challenges of urban waters. Hunted for nearly a millennium, right whales are now being killed by the ocean commerce that supports our modern way of life. This book offers hope for the eventual salvation of this great whale.

Climate Change and U.S. Cities

Climate Change and U.S. Cities PDF Author: William D. Solecki
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610919793
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Get Book

Book Description
Approximately 80% of the U.S. population now lives in urban metropolitan areas, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. At the same time, the built infrastructure sustaining these populations has become increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Stresses to existing systems, such as buildings, energy, transportation, water, and sanitation are growing. If the status quo continues, these systems will be unable to support a high quality of life for urban residents over the next decades, a vulnerability exacerbated by climate change impacts. Understanding this dilemma and identifying a path forward is particularly important as cities are becoming leading agents of climate action. Prepared as a follow-up to the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), Climate Change and U.S. Cities documents the current understanding of existing and future climate risk for U.S. cities, urban systems, and the residents that depend on them. Beginning with an examination of the existing science since 2012, chapters develop connections between existing and emerging climate risk, adaptation planning, and the role of networks and organizations in facilitating climate action in cities. From studies revealing disaster vulnerability among low-income populations to the development of key indicators for tracking climate change, this is an essential, foundational analysis. Importantly, the assessment puts a critical emphasis on the cross-cutting factors of economics, equity, and governance. Urban stakeholders and decision makers will come away with a full picture of existing climate risks and a set of conclusions and recommendations for action. Many cities in the United States still have not yet planned for climate change and the costs of inaction are great. With bold analysis, Climate Change and U.S. Cities reveals the need for action and the tools that cities must harness to effect decisive, meaningful change.

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads PDF Author: Robert V. Percival
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1783470852
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book

Book Description
This timely volume considers the future of environmental law and governance in the aftermath of the "Rio+20" conference. An international set of expert contributors begin by addressing a range of governance concepts that can be used to addres

Cool Cities

Cool Cities PDF Author: Benjamin R. Barber
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300224206
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
Introduction : politics not science -- Part One. Making politics work for science. The social contract and the rights of cities -- The devolution revolution and the politics of COP 21 -- Climate change in the anthropocene -- The facts are mute, money talks -- Privatization and market fundamentalism -- Political institutions old and new : cities not nation-states -- The road to global governance -- Climate justice : making sustainability and resilience complementary -- The end of sovereignty redux : a global parliament of mayors -- Part Two. Making democracy work for politics. Common principles and urban action -- The politics of commensurability and the challenge of trust -- City sovereignty and the need for urban networks -- A practical climate action agenda -- Exemplary cities -- Trust among cities : an index of commensurability -- Realizing the urban climate agenda

Global Capitalism and Climate Change

Global Capitalism and Climate Change PDF Author: Hans A. Baer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666901792
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book

Book Description
Now in its second edition, Global Capitalism and Climate Change situates anthropogenic climate change in the context of global capitalism as it stands today and explores the systemic changes necessary to create a more socially just, democratic, and environmentally sustainable world system.