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Nearly half the buildings that will be standing in 2030 do not exist today. That means we have a tremendous opportunity to reinvent our urban areas, making them more sustainable and livable for future generations. This book providing statistics about changes in population, jobs, housing, non-residential space, and other key factors.

Climate change is a global problem, but the problem begins locally. Cities consume 75% of the world's energy and emit 80% of the world's greenhouse gases. Changing the way we build and operate our cities can have major effects on greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, communities across the U.S. are responding to the climate change problem by making plans that assess their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and specify actions they will take to reduce these emissions.This is the first book designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop Climate Action Plans. CAPs are strategic plans that establish policies and programs for mitigating a community's greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. They typically focus on transportation, energy use, and solid waste, and often differentiate between community-wide actions and municipal agency actions. CAPs are usually based on GHG emissions inventories, which indentify the sources of emissions from the community and quantify the amounts. Additionally, many CAPs include a section addressing adaptation-how the community will respond to the impacts of climate change on the community, such as increased flooding, extended drought, or sea level rise.With examples drawn from actual plans, Local Climate Action Planning guides preparers of CAPs through the entire plan developmprocess, identifying the key considerations and choices that must be made in order to assure that a plan is both workable and effective.

The environment that we construct affects both humans and our natural world in myriad ways. This title presents a diagnosis of - and offers treatment for - problems related to the built environment. Drawing on the scientific evidence, it imparts practical information, with an emphasis on demonstrated and promising solutions to the problems.

Presents a history of the field of ecological restoration as it has developed over the three decades. This title explores the development of the field and its importance to environmental management as well as to the larger environmental movement and our understanding of the world.

Examines past experience and future directions in the management of so-called 'wicked' environmental problems - those characterized by large-scale, long-term policy dilemmas and contentious political stalemates. This title offers approaches for managing environmental conflicts and shows how managers could apply these approaches.

Public transit is a tool for addressing a huge range of urban problems, including traffic congestion and economic development as well as climate change. This title supplies the basic tools, the critical questions, and the means to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing transit services.

There's a simple, straightforward way to cut carbon emissions - and we're rejecting it because of irrational political fears. This title weighs the merits of the four major approaches to curbing CO2: cap-and-trade; command and control regulation; government subsidies of alternative energy; and, carbon taxes.

Australia is similar to the United States in many ways, especially in its 'energy footprint.' This book looks at how 'green' solutions in Australia can benefit US cities. It describes 'green transport' projects, 'city farms,' renewable energy plans, green living programs, and more. It considers a host of public policy initiatives.

Restoration ecology is a field that integrates theory and knowledge from a range of disciplines, including the biological, physical, and social sciences as well as the humanities. This book offers a real-life introduction to the field and an interdisciplinary overview of the theory behind it.

Illustrating how architects and designers can use simple methods to address our innate needs for contact with nature. this book is an examination of how the inter-relationship between nature, architecture, and design is essential to human well-being. The author examines the inter-connectedness of people and nature.

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 the world, often in opposition to the agendas pursued by governments and big corporations.These diverse efforts are the subject of the latest volume in the Worldwatch Institute's highly regarded State of the World series. The 2014 edition, marking the Institute's 40th anniversary, examines both barriers to responsible political and economic governance as well as gridlock-shattering new ideas. The authors analyze a variety of trends and proposals, including regional and local climate initiatives, the rise of benefit corporations and worker-owned firms, the need for energy democracy, the Internet's impact on sustainability, and the importance of eco-literacy. A consistthread throughout the book is that informed and engaged citizens are key to better governance.The book is a clear-eyed yet ultimately optimistic assessmof citizens' ability to govern for sustainability. By highlighting both obstacles and opportunities, State of the World 2014 shows how to effect change within and beyond the halls of government. This volume will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics-and citizens looking to jumpstart significant change around the world.

Includes examples of sustainability that show how other cities can become greener and more livable. This title illustrates practices in urban planning.

It's a tough time to be a scientist: universities are shuttering science departments, federal funding agencies are facing flat budgets, and many newspapers have dropped their science sections altogether. But according to Marc Kuchner, this antiscience climate doesn't have to equal a career death knell-it just means scientists have to be savvier about promoting their work and themselves. In Marketing for Scientists, he provides clear, detailed advice about how to land a good job, win funding, and shape the public debate.As an astrophysicist at NASA, Kuchner knows that "e;marketing"e; can seem like a superficial distraction, whether your daily work is searching for new planets or seeking a cure for cancer. In fact, he argues, it's a critical componof the modern scientific endeavor, not only advancing personal careers but also society's knowledge.Kuchner approaches marketing as a science in itself. He translates theories about human interaction and sense of self into methods for building relationships-one of the mcritical skills in any profession. And he explains how to brand yourself effectively-how to get articles published, give compelling presentations, use social media like Facebook and Twitter, and impress potential employers and funders.Like any good scientist, Kuchner bases his conclusions on years of study and experimentation. In Marketing for Scientists, he distills the strategies needed to keep pace in a Web 2.0 world.

Outlines a tested interdisciplinary 'process model' for urban design. This title explains how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces. It illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images, and case studies.

Offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities. This title demonstrates that rules like zoning and subdivision regulation are primary determinants of urban form.

Offers an analysis of agricultural development and transitions toward more sustainable management in one region. Suitable for researchers, policymakers, and students alike, this title examines approaches to make agricultural landscapes healthier for both the environment and people.

Animals such as wolves, sea otters, and sharks exert a disproportionate influence on their environment; dramatic ecological consequences can result when they are removed from-or returned to-an ecosystem.In The Wolf's Tooth, scientist and author Cristina Eisenberg explores the concept of "e;trophic cascades"e; and the role of top predators in regulating ecosystems. Her fascinating and wide-ranging work provides clear explanations of the science surrounding keystone predators and considers how this notion can help provide practical solutions for restoring ecosystem health and functioning.Eisenberg examines both general concepts and specific issues, sharing accounts from her own fieldwork to illustrate and bring to life the ideas she presents. She considers how resource managers can use knowledge about trophic cascades to guide recovery efforts, including how this science can be applied to move forward the bold vision of rewilding the North American continent. In the end, the author provides her own recommendations for local and landscape-scale applications of what has been learned about interactive food webs.At their mfundamental level, trophic cascades are powerful stories about ecosystem processes-of predators and their prey, of what it takes to survive in a landscape, of the flow of nutrients. The Wolf's Tooth is the first book to focus on the vital connection between trophic cascades and restoring biodiversity and habitats, and to do so in a way that is accessible to a diverse readership.

On her deathbed, Sue asked her sister for one thing: to write about the connection between the industrial pollution in their hometown and the rare cancer that was killing her. Fulfilling that promise has been Nancy Nichols' mission for more than a decade. This title tells the story of her investigation.

Though seasonally dry tropical forests are equally as important to global biodiversity as tropical rainforests, and are one of the mrepresentative and highly endangered ecosystems in Latin America, knowledge about them remains limited because of the relative paucity of attention paid to them by scientists and researchers and a lack of published information on the subject.Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests seeks to address this shortcoming by bringing together a range of experts in diverse fields including biology, ecology, biogeography, and biogeochemistry, to review, synthesize, and explain the currstate of our collective knowledge on the ecology and conservation of seasonally dry tropical forests.The book offers a synthetic and cross-disciplinary review of recwork with an expansive scope, including sections on distribution, diversity, ecosystem function, and human impacts. Throughout, contributors emphasize conservation issues, particularly emerging threats and promising solutions, with key chapters on climate change, fragmentation, restoration, ecosystem services, and sustainable use.Seasonally dry tropical forests are extremely rich in biodiversity, and are seriously threatened. They represscientific terrain that is poorly explored, and there is an urgneed for increased understanding of the system's basic ecology. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests represents an important step in bringing together the mcurrscientific information about this vital ecosystem and disseminating it to the scientific and conservation communities.

David Orr has been one of the leading voices of the environmental movement, championing the cause of ecological literacy in higher education, helping to establish and shape the field of ecological design. This title brings together Professor Orr's most important works. It offers an introduction to the writings of David Orr.

Offers a road map for securing future energy supply while safeguarding wildlife. This title shows how science can help craft solutions to conflicts between wildlife and energy development by delineating core areas, identifying landscapes that support viable populations, and forecasting future development scenarios to aid in conservation design.

Coastal Governance provides a clear overview of how U.S. coasts are currently managed and explores new approaches that could make our shores healthier. Drawing on recent national assessments, Professor Richard Burroughs explains why traditional management techniques have ultimately proved inadequate, leading to polluted waters, declining fisheries, and damaged habitat. He then introduces students to governance frameworks that seek to address these shortcomings by considering natural and human systems holistically.The book considers the ability of sector-based management, spatial management, and ecosystem-based management to solve critical environmental problems. Evaluating governance successes and failures, Burroughs covers topics including sewage disposal, dredging, wetlands, watersheds, and fisheries. He shows that at times sector-based management, which focuses on separate, individual uses of the coasts, has been implemented effectively. But he also illustrates examples of conflict, such as the incompatibility of waste disposal and fishing in the same waters. Burroughs assesses spatial and ecosystem-based management's potential to address these conflicts.The book familiarizes students not only with current management techniques but with the policy process. By focusing on policy development, Coastal Governance prepares readers with the knowledge to participate effectively in a governance system that is constantly evolving. This understanding will be critical as students become managers, policymakers, and citizens who shape the future of the coasts.

Every day, we are presented with a range of "e;sustainable"e; products and activities-from "e;green"e; cleaning supplies to carbon offsets-but with so much labeled as "e;sustainable,"e; the term has become essentially sustainababble, at best indicating a practice or product slightly less damaging than the conventional alternative. Is it time to abandon the concept altogether, or can we find an accurate way to measure sustainability? If so, how can we achieve it? And if not, how can we best prepare for the coming ecological decline?In the latest edition of Worldwatch Institute's State of the World series, scientists, policy experts, and thought leaders tackle these questions, attempting to restore meaning to sustainability as more than just a marketing tool. In State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, experts define clear sustainability metrics and examine various policies and perspectives, including geoengineering, corporate transformation, and changes in agricultural policy, that could put us on the path to prosperity without diminishing the well-being of future generations. If these approaches fall short, the final chapters explore ways to prepare for drastic environmental change and resource depletion, such as strengthening democracy and societal resilience, protecting cultural heritage, and dealing with increased conflict and migration flows.State of the World 2013 cuts through the rhetoric surrounding sustainability, offering a broad and realistic look at how close we are to fulfilling it today and which practices and policies will steer us in the right direction. This book will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, and students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics.

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is the first comprehensive exploration of the status and future of natural capital and ecosystem services in American law and policy. The book develops a framework for thinking about ecosystem services across their ecologic, geographic, economic, social, and legal dimensions and evaluates the prospects of crafting a legal infrastructure that can help build an ecosystem service economy that is as robust as existing economies for manufactured goods, natural resource commodities, and human-provided services. The book examines the geographic, ecological, and economic context of ecosystem services and provides a baseline of the currstatus of ecosystem services in law and society. It identifies shortcomings of currlaw and policy and the critical areas for improvemand forges an approach for the design of new law and policy for ecosystem services. Included are a series of nine empirical case studies that explore the problems caused by society's failure to properly value natural capital. Among the case study topics considered are water issues, The Conservation Reserve Program, the National Conservation Buffer Initiative, the agricultural policy of the European Union, wetland mitigation, and pollution trading. The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is a groundbreaking look at the question of whether and how law and policy can shape a sustainable system of ecosystem service management. It is an accessible and informative work for faculty, students, and policy makers concerned with ecology, economics, geography, political science, environmental studies, law, and related fields.

Shows how climate change, free trade policies, genetic engineering, and loss of traditional knowledge are threatening our food supply. This book reveals just how much diversity has already been lost. It also shows what resilient farmers and scientists in many regions are doing to save the remaining living riches of our world.

The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide shows how streets of every size can be reimagined and reoriented to prioritize safe driving and transit, biking, walking, and public activity. Unlike older, more conservative engineering manuals, this design guide emphasizes the core principle that urban streets are public places and have a larger role to play in communities than solely being conduits for traffic.The well-illustrated guide offers blueprints of street design from multiple perspectives, from the bird's eye view to granular details. Case studies from around the country clearly show how to implement best practices, as well as provide guidance for customizing design applications to a city's unique needs. Urban Street Design Guide outlines five goals and tenets of world-class street design: Streets are public spaces. Streets play a much larger role in the public life of cities and communities than just thoroughfares for traffic. Great streets are great for business. Well-designed streets generate higher revenues for businesses and higher values for homeowners. Design for safety. Traffic engineers can and should design streets where people walking, parking, shopping, bicycling, working, and driving can cross paths safely. Streets can be changed. Transportation engineers can work flexibly within the building envelope of a street. Many city streets were created in a different era and need to be reconfigured to meet new needs. Act now! Implement projects quickly using temporary materials to help inform public decision making.Elaborating on these fundamental principles, the guide offers substantive direction for cities seeking to improve street design to create more inclusive, multi-modal urban environments. It is an exceptional resource for redesigning streets to serve the needs of 21st century cities, whose residents and visitors demand a variety of transportation options, safer streets, and vibrant community life.

A critical, research-based assessment of the role of native Americans in modifying the landscapes of pre-European America. Focused on the western seaboard, contributors examine the question of fire regimes, the single human impact which could have altered the environment at a broad landscape level.

For ecologist John Terborgh, Manu National Park in the rainforest of Peru is a second home; he has sphalf of each of the past twenty-five years there conducting research. Like all parks, Manu is assumed to provide inviolate protection to nature. Yet even there, in one of the mremote corners of the planet, Terborgh has been witness to the relentless onslaught of civilization.Seeing the steady destruction of irreplaceable habitat has been a startling and disturbing experience for Terborgh, one that has raised urgquestions: Is enough being done to protect nature? Are currconservation efforts succeeding? What could be done differently? What should be done differently? In Requiem for Nature, he offers brutally honest answers to those difficult questions, and appraises the prospects for the future of tropical conservation. His book is a clarion call for anyone who cares about the quality of the natural world we will leave our children.Terborgh examines currconservation strategies and considers the shortcomings of parks and protected areas both from ecological and institutional perspectives. He explains how seemingly pristine environments can gradually degrade, and describes the difficult social context -a debilitating combination of poverty, corruption, abuses of power, political instability, and a frenzied scramble for quick riches -in which tropical conservation must take place. He considers the significant challenges facing existing parks and examines problems inherin alternative approaches, such as ecotourism, the exploitation of nontimber forest products, "e;sustainable use,"e; and "e;sustainable development."e;Throughout, Terborgh argues that the greatest challenges of conservation are not scientific, but are social, economic, and political, and that success will require simultaneous progress on all fronts. He makes a compelling case that nature can be saved, but only if good science and strong institutions can be thoughtfully combined.

Examines: the knowledge base for ecoagriculture; what we have learned about managing landscapes to achieve multiple objectives at a landscape scale; incentives for farmers and investors to develop and invest in ecoagriculture systems; and pathways to develop, implement, manage, and scale up successful ecoagriculture.