Sustainable Practices

Personal Sustainability Practices is a collection of 19 academic and practitioner perspectives on the topic of faculty personal sustainability. The book addresses the issues of whether, how, where, and when faculty who teach, research, consult, and perform academic and community service are and need to be practicing and communicating their own sustainability behaviors to students and other stakeholders. The contributors represent multiple countries, disciplines, academic levels and affiliations, and orientations on those issues and on the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to their personal sustainability practices.

Climate change is widely agreed to be one the greatest challenges facing society today. Mitigating and adapting to it is certain to require new ways of living. Thus far efforts to promote less resource-intensive habits and routines have centred on typically limited understandings of individual agency, choice and change. This book shows how much more the social sciences have to offer. The contributors to Sustainable Practices: Social Theory and Climate Change come from different disciplines – sociology, geography, economics and philosophy – but are alike in taking social theories of practice as a common point of reference. This volume explores questions which arise from this distinctive and fresh approach: how do practices and material elements circulate and intersect? how do complex infrastructures and systems form and break apart? how does the reproduction of social practice sustain related patterns of inequality and injustice? This collection shows how social theories of practice can help us understand what societal transitions towards sustainability might involve, and how they might be achieved. It will be of interest to students and researchers in sociology, environmental studies, geography, philosophy and economics, and to policy makers and advisors working in this field.

Sustainability is a key issue and its impact on the construction industry, as one of the major users of the Earth's resources, is starting to take hold. This book deals with sustainability as it affects the construction industry, looking at the techniques and issues which designers, engineers, planners and construction managers will have to deal with in their day-to-day activities. It covers methods of analysis such as environmental impact assessment and cost-benefit analysis as well as topics on design and energy regulation and conservation. The book is an important introduction to the subject for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students. Given the importance and novelty of the subject, professionals in the construction industry will also find the book valuable.

Sustainability Principles and Practice gives an accessible and comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of sustainability. The focus is on furnishing solutions and equipping students with both conceptual understanding and technical skills. Each chapter explores one aspect of the field, first introducing concepts and presenting issues, then supplying tools for working toward solutions. Elements of sustainability are examined piece by piece, and coverage ranges over ecosystems, social equity, environmental justice, food, energy, product life cycles, cities, and more. Techniques for management and measurement as well as case studies from around the world are provided. The 3rd edition includes greater coverage of resilience and systems thinking, an update on the Anthropocene as a formal geological epoch, the latest research from the IPCC, and a greater focus on diversity and social equity, together with new details such as sustainable consumption, textiles recycling, microplastics, and net-zero concepts. The coverage in this edition has been expanded to include issues, solutions, and new case studies from around the world, including Europe, Asia, and the Global South. Chapters include further reading and discussion questions. The book is supported by a companion website with online links, annotated bibliography, glossary, white papers, and additional case studies, together with projects, research problems, and group activities, all of which focus on real-world problem-solving of sustainability issues. This textbook is designed to be used by undergraduate college and university students in sustainability degree programs and other programs in which sustainability is taught.

Solid waste management is a global concern, and landfilling remains the predominant management method in most areas of the world. This book provides a comprehensive view of state-of-the-art methods to manage landfills more sustainably, drawing upon more than two decades of research, design, and operational experiences at operating sites across the world. Sustainable landfills implement one or multiple technologies to control and enhance the degradation of waste materials to realize a multitude of potential benefits during or shortly after the landfill’s operating phase. This book presents detailed approaches in the development, design, operation, and monitoring of sustainable landfills. Case studies showcasing the benefits and challenges of sustainable landfill technologies are also provided to give the reader additional context. The intent of the book is to serve as a reference guide for regulatory personnel, a practical tool for designers and engineers to build on for site-specific applications of sustainable landfill technologies, and a comprehensive resource for researchers who are continuing to explore new and better ways to more sustainably manage waste materials.

Organizations and businesses are applying sustainable development concepts in their management strategies in order to improve and rethink products, processes, services, and policies which will have significant potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, excess consumption, and improve the quality of lives. Cases on the Diffusion and Adoption of Sustainable Development Practices is a collection of case studies on the concepts and theories of successful sustainable practices. It also identifies key mechanisms and strategies that have allowed the successful diffusion of these practices into communities, regions and nations around the world. This reference source is essential for professionals, researchers, educators and leaders in pursuit of innovative solutions in sustainable development.

The realm of sustainable development focuses on the ability to meet the demands of the present, while not compromising the demands of the future. The knowledge of balancing sustainable development goals with high performance is essential. Even more essential is sharing the practices and accomplishments within sustainable development so that it may be spread throughout many organizations and societal functions. The Handbook of Research on Novel Practices and Current Successes in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals provides valuable insights, challenges, and practices to highlight the key determinants in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This book presents a complex and thorough theoretical infrastructure concerning the Sustainable Development Goals, challenges and practices, as well as an important set of empirical results that will make a tremendous contribution to the analysis of the key determinants specific to the Sustainable Development Goals. Covering topics such as alternative consumption models, non-profit organizations, and sustainable communities, this is an essential text for academicians, scientists, researchers, students, PhD scholars, post-doctoral students, specialists, practitioners, governmental institutions, and policymakers worldwide.

Technology has long been an essential consideration in public discussions of the environment, with the focus overwhelmingly on creating new tools and techniques. In more recent years, however, activists, researchers, and policymakers have increasingly turned to mobilizing older technologies in their pursuit of sustainability. In fascinating case studies ranging from the Early Modern secondhand trade to utopian visions of human-powered vehicles, the contributions gathered here explore the historical fortunes of two such technologies—bicycling and waste recycling—tracing their development over time and providing valuable context for the policy successes and failures of today.

This volume explores interactions between academia and different societal stakeholders with a focus on sustainability. It examines the significance and potential of transdisciplinary collaboration as a tool for sustainability and the SDGs. Traditionally, academia has focused on research and education. More recently, however, the challenges of sustainable development and achieving the SDGs have required the co-production of knowledge between academic and non-academic actors. Compromising theory, methods and case studies from a broad span of transdisciplinary collaboration, Transdisciplinarity For Sustainability: Aligning Diverse Practices is written by specialists from various academic disciplines and represents an important step forward in systematising knowledge and understanding of transdisciplinary collaboration. They are designed to provide a roadmap for further research in the field and facilitate pursuing and realizing the SDGs. The book will appeal to researchers and postgraduate students in a variety of disciplines such as architecture, design, economics, social sciences, engineering and sustainability studies. It will also be of significant value to professionals who are engaged in transdisciplinary collaboration that supports sustainable development.

Sustainability defines the need for any society to live within the constraints of the land's capacity to deliver all natural resources the society consumes. This book compares the general differences between Native Americans and western world view towards resources. It will provide the ‘nuts and bolts’ of a sustainability portfolio designed by indigenous peoples. This book introduces the ideas on how to link nature and society to make sustainable choices. To be sustainable, nature and its endowment needs to be linked to human behavior similar to the practices of indigenous peoples. The main goal of this book is to facilitate thinking about how to change behavior and to integrate culture into thinking and decision-processes.