Environmental Futures

As scientists and policymakers try to come to grips with problems such as climate change and risks to biodiversity, they turn more and more frequently to the method of scenario analysis to better understand the future of these problems. Over the last few years scenario analysis has become one of the key tools for bridging environmental science and policy. This is the first book to sum up the current practice of environmental scenario analysis and to propose directions for improving its quality and effectiveness. Chapters are written by an international group of distinguished scenario experts and provide an excellent starting basis for first-time scenario practitioners, as well as a collection of new ideas on improving scenario practice for experienced scenario analysts. * Comprehensive coverage and overview on environmental scenario analysis from a team of international experts* First book to address key contemporary issues involved with environmental scenario analysis* Gives guidelines for best practicesBenefits:* Excellent starting base for first-time scenario practitioners* Helps the reader to interpret scenarios and to place them into the correct context

This book explores the challenges of presenting sustainability as a more actionable or practical concept and identifying approaches that might offer useful assistance in addressing the temporal and spatial representation of sustainability. The underlying premise of this book is that sustainability is a state realized in the future. In that future there is a geographic arrangement of society and economy that agrees with its environmental setting. This future perspective introduces a little examined subject area that can lend significant content to the sustainability challenge: Futures Research.

The book comprises thirteen papers on environmental issues, with particular reference to future developments (for example, new technologies, paths in social and political theory, methodologies). It is divided into three sections, moving from social constructions of 'the environment' in the first section to questions of green political theory and practice in the second, and concluding with issues of environmental risk and future technologies. The work is interdisciplinary, with contributors ranging from philosophers to human geographers.

This edited collection invites educational practitioners and theorists to speculate on - and craft visions for - the future of environmental and sustainability education. It explores what educational methods and practices might exist on the horizon, waiting for discovery and implementation. A global array of authors imagines alternative futures for the field and attempts to rethink environmental and sustainability education institutionally, intellectually, and pedagogically. These thought leaders chart how emerging modes of critical speculation might function as a means to remap and redesign the future of environmental and sustainability education today. Previous volumes within this United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development series have responded to the complexity of environmental education in our contemporary moment with concepts such as social learning, intergenerational learning, and transformative leadership for sustainable futures. 'Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education' builds on this earlier work - as well as the work of others. It seeks to foster modes of intellectual engagement with ecological futures in the Anthropocene; to develop resilient, adaptable pedagogies as a hedge against future ecological uncertainties; and to spark discussion concerning how futures thinking can generate theoretical and applied innovations within the field.

Concerns about the exploitation of limited resources, optimum development trajectories, and climate change draw attention to the temporal horizons of our environment - Environmental Futures is a curated collection of essays that explores different ways of knowing the future and how these futures shape contemporary social worlds. Includes a range of detailed case studies, from ice melting in Antarctica to coal mining in Bangladesh, flooding in Colombia to climate modelling in Egypt Approaches prognosis as a cultural, political, and material process Reveals the ways in which authority and expertise may be reinforced, circumscribed, or contested in the process of making a prediction and its aftermath Offers novel insights on how and why futures come to be significant in the present

Climate change and ecological instability have the potential to disrupt human societies and their futures. Cultural, social and ethical life in all societies is directed towards a future that can never be observed, and never be directly acted upon, and yet is always interacting with us. Thinking and acting towards the future involves efforts of imagination that are linked to our sense of being in the world and the ecological pressures we experience. The three key ideas of this book – ecologies, ontologies and mythologies – help us understand the ways people in many different societies attempt to predict and shape their futures. Each chapter places a different emphasis on the linked domains of environmental change, embodied experience, myth and fantasy, politics, technology and intellectual reflection, in relation to imagined futures. The diverse geographic scope of the chapters includes rural Nepal, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, Sweden, coastal Scotland, North America, and remote, rural and urban Australia. This book will appeal to researchers and students in anthropology, sociology, environmental studies, cultural studies, psychology and politics.

This book explores a range of plausible futures for environmental law in the new era of the Earth’s history: the Anthropocene. The book discusses multiple contemporary and future challenges facing the planet and humanity. It examines the relationship between environmental law and the Anthropocene at governance scales from the global to the local. The breadth of issues and jurisdictions covered by the book, its forward-looking nature, and the unique generational perspective of the contributing authors means that this publication appeals to a wide audience from specialist academics and policy-makers to a broader lay readership.

Brings together leading thinking on issues of new professional practice and on the future of a sustainable built environment This book focuses on both construction and development issues, and examines how we can transition to a sustainable future by the year 2050—bringing together leading research and practice at building, neighbourhood, and city levels. It deftly analyses how emerging socio-economic, technological, and environmental trends will influence the built environment of the future. The book covers a broad spectrum of interests across the scales of buildings, communities and cities, including how professional practice will need to adapt to these trends. The broader context is provided by an analysis of emergent business models and the changing requirements for expert advice from clients. Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050: A Foresight Approach to Construction and Development features chapters covering: data and trends, including historical data and UK and international case studies; policies and practice related to the field; current state of scientific understanding; key challenges; key technological advances (including disruptive and systemic technological innovations); change issues and critical uncertainties; and future visions. It provides: A strong conceptual framework based on a ‘Foresight' approach Discussion of the key data and trends that underpin each chapter Coverage of both construction and property development Specially commissioned chapters by academics and practitioners A synthesis of the main findings in the book and key insights for the future to 2050 Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050: A Foresight Approach to Construction and Development is an important book for postgraduate students and researchers, construction, real estate and property development specialists, engineers, planners, architects, foresight and futures studies specialists, and anyone involved in sustainable buildings.

This book addresses the built environment through the lens of environmental architecture, and in a holistic manner. It moves gradually from psychophysiology and thinking-doing-feeling modalities, through environmental criteria to environmental modulation, concluding with a debate around mitigation and adaptation. Much use is made of re-interpreting past quotations seen as relevant for environmental architecture. No definitive conclusions are reached, but rather broad discursive messages are offered. The text will have lasting luminance for new generations involved with the built environment.

Across much of the industrialized world, rivers that were physically transformed and ecologically ruined to facilitate industrial and agricultural development are now the focus of restoration and rehabilitation efforts. River Futures discusses the emergence of this new era of river repair and documents a comprehensive biophysical framework for river science and management. The book considers what can be done to maximize prospects for improving river health while maintaining or enhancing the provision of ecosystem services over the next fifty to one-hundred years. It provides a holistic overview of considerations that underpin the use of science in river management, emphasizing cross-disciplinary understanding that builds on a landscape template. The book frames the development of integrative river science and its application to river rehabilitation programs develops a coherent set of guiding principles with which to approach integrative river science considers the application of cross-disciplinary thinking in river rehabilitation experiences from around the world examines the crossover between science and management, outlining issues that must be addressed to promote healthier river futures Case studies explore practical applications in different parts of the world, highlighting approaches to the use of integrative river science, measures of success, and steps that could be taken to improve performance in future efforts. River Futures offers a positive, practical, and constructive focus that directly addresses the major challenge of a new era of river conservation and rehabilitation—that of bringing together the diverse and typically discipline-bound sets of knowledge and practices that are involved in repairing rivers. It is a valuable resource for anyone involved in river restoration and management, including restorationists, scientists, managers, and policymakers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students.