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In The Moth Snowstorm Michael McCarthy, one of Britain's leading writers on the environment, proposes this joy as a defence of a natural world which is ever more threatened, and which, he argues, is inadequately served by the two defences put forward hitherto: sustainable development and the recognition of ecosystem services. Drawing on a wealth of memorable experiences from a lifetime of watching and thinking about wildlife and natural landscapes, The Moth Snowstorm not only presents a new way of looking at the world around us, but effortlessly blends with it a remarkable and moving memoir of childhood trauma from which love of the natural world emerged. It is a powerful, timely, and wholly original book which comes at a time when nature has never needed it more

"Robert William Sandford's latest RMB manifesto invites the reader to separate the hype from the hope with respect to the outcomes of the 2015 Paris climate conference and in relation to humanity's dangerous new era--the Anthropocene. In responding to the urgency--and the opportunity--of getting sustainable development right, the United Nations engaged in numerous program announcements and international conversations during the final months of 2015. Most notable were the Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris and the long anticipated launch of Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among the many other indicators of quickening public awareness of climate issues, these two illustrate that sustainability and climate change are two sides of the same coin: in order to make any headway on the one, we must also deal with the other. Both affect all of humanity, and North America is something of a test case. North America in the Anthropocene maintains that human beings have entered a new historical epoch--the Anthropocene--in which our own economic activity has reached such planetary scale and power that we can no longer count on Earth's natural systems and functions to absorb negative human impacts on landscape and biodiversity. Whether we like it or not, we have to assume responsibility for staying within Earth-system boundaries. Climate stability is only one of those boundaries, but it is a critical one. This book attempts to address the question of why, when we clearly know the enormous risks we face, we are still not doing what is necessary to prevent climate disaster. The author introduces contemporary thinking by leading philosophers, ethicists and social scientists who do not believe that more information and greater individual thoughtfulness are necessarily going to be adequate to penetrate the thick skin of the status quo when it comes to addressing the climate threat. Rather, we need to better understand human nature and organizational inclinations and squarely face habits of collective thought that are holding us back from action. We also need to be frank about the ways in which disaster provides opportunity for rapid change in established public mindsets. The central tenet of this book is that what we as a society are facing is nothing less than a struggle to redefine our entire dominant mythology. If we want to survive and prosper in the Anthropocene, we will have to invent--and continuously reinvent--a ne ...

Intro -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Prologue: The New Weather -- 1. A New Branch of Research: The Role of the Climate in Our Weather -- 1. Cause and Effect: How We Created Our Weather -- 2. Sowing the Seeds of Doubt: Climate Change Deniers -- 3. Revolution in Climate Science: Turning the Field on Its Head -- 4. The Human Factor: Calculating the Influence of Climate Change on the Weather -- 5. Heat Waves, Downpours, and More: The Role of Climate Change in the Weather -- 2. Consequences: The Power of Attribution Science -- 6. Ignore Climate Change and Suffer Its Wrath -- 7. Facts Not Fatalism: Identifying the Causes of Disasters in Order to Act -- 8. A Question of Justice: The Cost of Climate Change and the Responsibilities of Industrialized Countries -- 9. Countries and Corporations on Trial -- 10. Climate Change in Everyday Life: Seeing the Weather From a New Perspective -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Editorial Note -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Copyright Page.

Is this the Anthropocene? The age in which humans have become a geological force, leaving indelible signs of their activities on the earth. The narrative of the Anthropocene so far is characterized by extremes, emergencies, and exceptions-a tale of apocalypse by our own hands. The sense of ongoing crisis emboldens policy and governance responses that challenge established systems of sovereignty and law. The once unacceptable-geoengineering technology, for example, or authoritarian decision making-are now anticipated and even demanded. In this book, Amanda Lynch and Siri Veland propose a reframing of the Anthropocene-seeing it not as a race against catastrophe but as an age of emerging coexistence with earth system variability.

"A practical and poetic manifesto promoting new concepts of environmental learning: why environment, inequity, democracy, and diversity are connected challenges, how to navigate the rapid pace of change in the Anthropocene, how to better understand social and ecological networks, how to think about migration both ecologically and culturally, and how to bring a cosmopolitan perspective to place-based approaches. Covers this conceptual ground with clarity, focus, warmth, memoir, mindfulness practices, curricular ideas, and compelling narrative. It invites readers to participate as educational explorers, encouraging them to reflect on their life experiences, enabling them to better understand how and why environmental learning is crucial to human flourishing"--

The new environmentalisms / Jill Ker Conway, Kenneth Keniston, and Leo Marx -- As the world runs out of breath: metaphorical perspectives on the heavens and the atmosphere in the ancient world / Gregory Nagy -- Climate and history: lessons from the Great Plains / Donald Worster -- Consumed by either fire or fire: a prolegomenon to anthropogenic fire / Stephen J. Pyne -- Only a world perspective is significant: settlement frontiers and property rights in early modern world history / John F. Richards -- Environmentalism and Indian peoples / Richard White -- Indigenous rights, environmental protection, and the struggle over forest resources in the Amazon: the case of the Brazilian Kayapo / Terence Turner -- Grassroots environmental activism: the toxics movement and directions for social change / Barbara Epstein -- Russian environmental movements / Oleg N. Yanitsky -- Gender and environmental action / Bina Agarwal -- Gender, environment, and nature: two episodes in feminist politics / Jill Ker Conway and Yaakov Garb -- Modernity and the environment as a public issue in today's Russia / Anton Struchkov -- Modernity and literary theory / Louis Menand -- Environmental degradation and the ambiguous social role of science and technology / Leo Marx

Section 1. Keynote papers -- section 2. Agriculture and food security -- section 3. Geomorphology, groundwater dynamics and geoinformatics -- section 4. Natural hazards/disasters and environmental challenges -- section 5. Human-environment interactions and climate change -- section 6. Environmental pollution and quality of life

Intro -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Disclaimer -- Contents -- About the Editors -- Contributors -- Part I: Introduction -- Chapter 1: Ecological Footprints in Changing Climate: An Overview -- Introduction: Concept of Ecology, Ecosystem, and Natural Resources -- Biological Capacity/Biocapacity and Ecological Footprint -- Climate Change -- Asia -- Central America and the Caribbean -- Africa -- Latin America and the Caribbean -- South-West Pacific -- Europe -- Components of Ecological Footprint and Climate Change Consequences -- Land/Soil Ecosystem -- Forest Ecosystem -- Aquatic Ecosystem -- Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, and Sustainability -- Ecosystem and Sustainability -- Summary and Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 2: Assessing Global-Scale Synergy Between Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development for Projected Climate Ch... -- Introduction to Climate Change -- Key Drivers of Projected Climate Changes, Risks, and Impacts -- Projected Changes, Risks, and Impacts Under Climate Change -- Scenarios Beyond Twenty-First Century -- Future Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies -- Basics of Decision-Making -- General Aspects of Mitigation and Adaptation Approaches -- Mitigation Pathways -- Adaptation Pathways -- Sustainable Development with Adaptation and Mitigation -- Response Options for Mitigation and Adaptation -- Integrated Response Options -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 3: Global Warming Impacts on the Environment in the Last Century -- Introduction -- Radiative Forcing to Climate Change -- Global Response to 1.5 C Global Warming -- Global Warming and the Environment -- Global Warming Impacts on Agriculture -- Global Warming Impact on Soil Resources -- Global Warming Impact on Water Resources -- Global Warming and Land Degradation -- Global Warming and the Forest Ecosystem.

The climate change is coming. To prepare for it, we need to admit that we can't prevent it. 'If you care about the planet, and about the people and animals who live on it, there are two ways to think about this. You can keep on hoping that catastrophe is preventable, and feel ever more frustrated or enraged by the world's inaction. Or you can accept that disaster is coming, and begin to rethink what it means to have hope.' The honesty and realism of Jonathan Franzen's writings on climate have been widely denounced and just as widely celebrated. Here, in his definitive statement on the subject, Franzen confronts the world's failure to avert destabilising climate change and takes up the question: Now what?

"How it is that humanity has brought itself, along with most other species, to the brink of extinction? In 'The Gilgamesh Gene Revisited', Russell-Jones provides a time-line analysis of man's relationship with the natural world that stretches back deep into pre-history and illuminates the origins of many of our most cherished fables, myths and religious creeds, which provide our belief systems governing our world and political thinking today. Extinction is avoidable but do we, as sentient beings, possess the ability to change the way we think? This question is fundamental to the survival of the human species. In this second edition, Dr Robin Russell-Jones expands on his vision of the human condition, providing new findings to many of our most abiding mysteries, including the origin of King Arthur and the Round Table, the Holy Grail and the meaning of the Trinity. Gilgamesh was a vainglorious king who ruled the city of Uruk in Ancient Mesopotamia, allegedly around 2750 BC. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest narrative in existence, and it contains the blueprint for much of our environmentally destructive behaviour today. This implacable pursuit of fame and fortune, at the expense of the natural world, has proven so successful that plundering the Earth's resources has become hard-wired into our thinking : hence the Gilgamesh Gene. As mankind rushes head-long into the Anthropocene, there is some hope as the author explains the steps we need to take to avert disaster : limiting human numbers ; getting away from ever-expanding GDP as the only definition of progress ; and urgently implementing the Global Carbon Incentive Fund as the most equitable, efficient and effective way of putting a price on carbon emissions globally."--taken from publisher web site

"Do you want to help save human civilisation? If so, this book is for you. How to Fix a Broken Planet describes the ten catastrophic risks that menace human civilisation and our planet, and what we can all do to overcome or mitigate them. It explains what must be done globally to avert each megathreat, and what each of us can do in our own lives to help preserve a habitable world. It offers the first truly integrated world plan-of-action for a more sustainable human society - and fresh hope. A must-read for anyone seeking sound practical advice on what citizens, governments, companies, and community groups can do to safeguard our future"--