1st Edition
An Introduction to Environment, Society and Sustainability
This timely and innovative book delves into the complex interplay of human activities and natural limits in generating today’s sustainability challenges. By contrasting the pressures of growing populations with ecological footprints associated with consumption, the volume navigates the contested terrain where human societies generate environmental impacts.
Adorned with illustrative figures, examples and case studies throughout, this book presents insightful analysis of ecological, economic, technological, and social justice responses to the challenges faced by human civilization, including land degradation, climate change, pollution, and overexploitation of natural resources. Many of these issues are wicked problems, characterized by incomplete information, multiple stakeholders, and contested approaches to addressing them. In simple terms, sustainability issues are an interplay between population growth and rising consumption, which are placing impossible demands on finite resources. Potential solutions to the crisis are split between green growth approaches that emphasize technology and institutional capacity to guide economic growth in more sustainable ways, and degrowth approaches that call for a fundamental rethinking of the way we structure society and generate value. This book emerged from a student seminar where undergraduate and graduate students highlighted sustainability topics of concern, helped consider their framing, and then assisted with co-writing several of the chapters. The volume encourages readers to consider structural questions that underpin sustainability dilemmas, and begins with four theoretical frameworks for understanding sustainability issues: ideas from the natural sciences, the population/consumption debate, economic frameworks, and ethical approaches. It then uses a systems approach to apply these theoretical ideas to complex global systems such as the atmosphere, oceans, and agriculture.
This volume will be of pivotal interest to students, scholars and academics in the fields of environmental studies, environment and society, human geography and environmental geography, as well as those with an interest in these areas more generally.
1. Introduction to Sustainability and the Human-environment System
Human-environment Interactions
The Population-environment-development Nexus
A Brief History of Sustainability
Sustainability as a Concept
Diagrammatic Representations of Sustainability
Sustainable Development Goals
Wicked Problems and Systems Thinking
Structure of the Book
2. Biophysical Perspectives on Sustainability
Part One: Ecological Approaches
Energy flows
Population dynamics: Carrying capacity and trophic cascades
Disturbance and succession
Land degradation
Part Two: Biogeochemical cycles and nutrient flows
The hydrological cycle
Nutrient cycling
The carbon cycle
The greenhouse effect
The nitrogen cycle
The phosphorus cycle
The sulfur cycle
Pollution
Conclusion
3. Population and Consumption
Part One: Population Approaches
Population as problem: Malthus and the neo-Malthusians
Spaceship Earth—Earth as a bounded system
Part Two: Consumption Patterns
I=PAT and ecological footprints
The role of technology
The role of institutions
Conclusion
4. Economic Perspectives on Sustainability
Part One: The Capitalist Economy
Economics and sustainability
Part Two: Policy Responses
Neoliberal responses to environmental problems: Green growth
Questioning the global capitalist model: Degrowth
Conclusion
5. Ethical Approaches to Sustainability
Part One: Sustainability and Human Rights
Reproductive rights and social justice
Consumption and equity issues
Environmental justice
Part Two: Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics and anthropocentrism
Animal ethics
Conclusion
6. Earth’s Atmosphere
With Uma Baysal
Evolution of the atmosphere
Characteristics of the atmosphere
Air pollution
Consequences of pollution
Climate change
Impacts of climate change
Governance and institutions in addressing climate change
The rise of the electric car
Conclusion
7. Oceans
With Sidney Barbier
The oceans in physical systems
Oceans and a changing climate
Nutrient and sediment loading
Pollution
Biodiversity and marine ecosystems
Overfishing
Aquaculture
Conclusion
8. Fresh Water
With Sidney Barbier
Water quantity
Groundwater
Surface water
Climate change
Water quality
Sedimentation and water clarity
Chemical pollution
Nutrient loading
Biological contamination and disease
Environmental justice
Conclusion
9. Wildlands
With Julia Entwistle
The value of biodiversity and wildlands
The state of global wildlands
Protected areas
The Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve
Solutions and tradeoffs in wildland conservation
Land sparing vs land sharing
Economic considerations and protected areas
Ethical considerations and protected areas
Conclusion
10. Agriculture
With Jecca Bowen
Categorizing agriculture: Type, purpose, and approach
Evolution of agriculture
Agriculture and soil quality
Agriculture and water
Agriculture and health
Agriculture and climate change
Case study: Corn production in the US Midwest
Conclusion
11. Urban Systems
With Namrata Chatterjee
Urbanization
Sustainability in the city
Solid waste
Urban congestion and air pollution
Blue and green spaces in cities
Urban sprawl: growing up or growing out?
Urban slums
Conclusion
12. Conclusion
Population
Consumption and degrowth
Green growth and technology
Governance and institutions
Conclusion
Biography
Helen Hazen is a teaching professor at the University of Denver. After completing an undergraduate degree in geography at Oxford University, she worked in the field of environmental conservation before earning a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Hazen has published on a variety of aspects of human-environment interactions, including the role of the World Heritage Program in environmental protection and biases in ecosystem protection. Her teaching interests focus on health, environment, and sustainability and have led to the publication of undergraduate textbooks in health geography and population geography.
Paul Sutton is a professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Denver. Dr. Sutton is also a member of the board of trustees for the small town of Morrison, CO (pop ~350). He also serves on the board of the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Dr. Sutton obtained his B.S. from Union College in Chemistry, his M.A. in Statistics and PhD in Geography from UCSB. His research interests are in the general area of human-environment relations with a particular interest in population geography, sustainability science, and ecological economics.