Environmental Politics

China is setting an example for the US - and the world - to follow. We should all take note. China has been able to manage the difficult task of reducing pollution without slowing down economic growth. What can the US take away from China’s unique experience? Although the world often pits the US against China, when it comes to saving the planet, any progress by any country in reducing emissions is good for everyone. China has presided over the fastest industrialization and the fastest cleanup in history - it is worth taking a closer look to see how we can do better.

Klimawandel, soziale Ungerechtigkeit, Ausbeutung... es steht nicht gut um unsere Welt. Das ist die Wahrheit. Leider. Doch Sven Plöger, Meteorologe und Klimaexperte und Christoph Waffenschmidt, Deutschland-Chef der weltweiten Hilfsorganisation World Vision, kennen auch eine andere, eine motivierende, Hoffnung machende Perspektive: Wir können etwas tun! Gemeinsam nehmen die beiden Freunde den Leser mit auf ihre ganz persönliche Reise zu Menschen rund um den Globus, die mutig losgehen und die Welt ein bisschen besser machen.

In a triumph of marketing, the Tasmanian salmon industry has for decades succeeded in presenting itself as world's best practice and its product as healthy and clean, grown in environmentally pristine conditions. But what are we eating when we eat Tasmanian salmon? Richard Flanagan's expose of the salmon farming industry in Tasmania is chilling. In the way that Rachel Carson took on the pesticide industry in her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, Flanagan tears open an industry that is as secretive as its practices are destructive and its product disturbing.

Imagine living without clean air. For the people who lived on the doorstep of Monkton Coke Works, their daily reality was a horrendous nightmare of hazardous and acrid sulfur dioxide emissions, all-pervading soot, and clamorous tannoys. Over decades, the facility grew unflaggingly, converting ever-increasing quantities of coal into coke without concern for the residents’ well-being.

One woman's enlightening trek through the natural histories, cultural stories, and present perils of thirteen national monuments.

Restored to Earth provides the first comprehensive examination of the religious and ethical dimensions and significance of contemporary restoration practice, an ethical framework that advances the field of environmental ethics in a more positive, action-oriented, experience-based direction. Van Wieren brings together insights and examples from restoration ecology, environmental ethics, religious studies, and conservation and Christian thought....

Four decades ago, the areas around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks sheltered the last few hundred surviving grizzlies in the lower 48 states. Protected by the Endangered Species Act, their population has surged to more than 1,500, and this burgeoning number of grizzlies now collides with the increasingly populated landscape of the 21st-century American West. Montana journalist Robert Chaney chronicles the resurgence of this charismatic species against the backdrop of the country's long history with the bear.

While politicians, entrepreneurs, and even school children could tell you that sustainability is an important and nearly universal value, many of them, and many of us, may struggle to define the term, let alone trace its history. What is sustainability? Is it always about the environment? What science do we need to fully grasp what it requires? What does sustainability mean for business? How can governments plan for a sustainable future?

In Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, Schwartz shows how now, perhaps more than ever, veganism offers a pathway for all of us of whatever faith (or no faith) to reduce hunger, conserve the environment, save water, reinstitute justice, and care for animals and the Earth. It is no coincidence, as Schwartz demonstrates, that many of these ideas are mandates in Jewish scripture, and that reincorporating a care for the world (tikkun olam) can itself reinvigorate the spirit of a faith and galvanize its practitioners to act.

Finally, a practical, realistic plan to rescue, preserve and enhance nature. This is an economist's approach to environmentalism, including a summary of Britain's green assets, a look towards possible futures and an achievable 25-year plan to a green and prosperous world. News about Britain’s wildlife and ecosystems tends to be grim. In Green and Prosperous Land, Dieter Helm, a member of the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and advisor to the government, shares a radical but tangible plan for positive change.

Down to the Wire is a sober and eloquent assessment of climate destabilization and an urgent call to action. David Orr describes how political negligence, an economy based on the insatiable consumption of trivial goods, and a disdain for the well-being of future generations have brought us to the tipping point that biologist Edward O. Wilson calls "[T]he bottleneck".

Today, there are over 100 nuclear reactors operating in our backyards, from Indian Point in New York to Diablo Canyon in California. Proponents claim that nuclear power is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels, and due to rising energy consumption and the looming threat of global warming, they are pushing for an even greater investment.

We live in a world awash in manmade chemicals, from the pesticides on our front lawns to the diesel exhaust in the air we breathe. Although experts are beginning to understand the potential dangers of these substances, there are still more than 80,000 synthetic compounds that have not been sufficiently tested to interpret their effects on human health.

Deepwater Horizon, das Abschmelzen des Polareises oder Fracking - der Mensch betreibt Raubbau an seiner Lebensgrundlage: der Erde. Die bekannte Umweltaktivistin Naomi Klein hat mit "Green New Deal" ihr bislang wichtigstes Buch geschrieben: Angesichts der unverminderten Zerstörung unserer Umwelt und laxen Gesetzen zeigt sie, warum die Vision einer grünen Zukunft nicht nur nötig, sondern absolut unumgänglich ist. Wir leben bereits mitten in der Klima-Katastrophe.

Shale gas extraction - commonly known as fracking - is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet - whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the land beneath our feet - is largely a private choice that millions of ordinary people make without the public's consent.

Unsere Welt steht an einem Kipp-Punkt, und wir spüren es. Einerseits geht es uns so gut wie nie, andererseits zeigen sich Verwerfungen, Zerstörung und Krise, wohin wir sehen. Ob Umwelt oder Gesellschaft - scheinbar gleichzeitig sind unsere Systeme unter Stress geraten. Wir ahnen: So wie es ist, wird und kann es nicht bleiben. Wie finden wir zu einer Lebensweise, die das Wohlergehen des Planeten mit dem der Menschheit versöhnt? Wo liegt der Weg zwischen Verbotsregime und Schuldfragen auf der einen und Wachstumswahn und Technikversprechen auf der anderen Seite?

Ein Plädoyer für eine inklusive und klimagerechte Verkehrswende – Mit Schwung, Know-how und Kreativität macht die Mobilitätsexpertin Katja Diehl Lust auf eine Gesellschaft, die gemeinsam eine attraktive und klimafreundliche Zukunft für alle baut. Eine Zukunft, die mehr Lebensqualität in Städten und auf dem Land bietet sowie moderne Formen von Arbeit berücksichtigt. "Jede:r sollte das Recht haben, ein Leben ohne ein eigenes Auto führen zu können." "Autokorrektur" will Kick Off einer Gesellschaft sein, die gemeinsam eine attraktive Mobiltätszukunft baut – und zwar schon heute.

Our planet is suffering from serious environmental problems: coastal flooding due to severe storms caused in part by atmospheric pollution, diminishing natural resources such as clean water, and so on. But while these problems plague planet Earth, two-thirds of our globe is ocean. The seas can be home to pioneers, seasteaders, who are willing to homestead the Blue Frontier. Oil platforms and cruise ships already inhabit the waters; now it's time to take the next step to full-fledged ocean civilizations.

This is a searing indictment of America's oil economy, in which Tamminen shows how demanding accountability could help pave the road to sustainable energy.

Vivimos tiempos extraordinarios: nunca antes ningún ser humano había experimentado una concentración de gases de efecto invernadero como la actual.