San Antonio College Library

Summaries of essays on sustainable human and economic development. Topics include: Population and the demographic transition; Agriculture and renewal resources; Energy and materials use; Globalization and corporate responsibility; Local and national strategies.

Our planet is undergoing extreme and shocking changes due to humankind's footprint upon it. And, while most involved focus on one or several specific aspects of the problem (pollution, groundwater depletion, species diversity), many are so encased in their own specialties or interests that they fail to see the greater problem--that our fragmented ways of thinking and acting are failing to resolve the environmental and related political situations...

Provides a behind-the-scenes look at how companies in China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand are building businesses that will lessen the environmental impact of Asia's extraordinary economic growth.

"Buildings are the nation's greatest energy consumers. Forty percent of all our energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and powering machines and devices in buildings. And despite decades of investment in green construction technologies, residential and commercial buildings remain stubbornly energy inefficient. This book looks beyond the technological and material aspects of green construction to examine the cultural, social, and organizational...

Popularized in the movies Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action, "environmental justice" refers to any local response to a threat against community health. In this book, Julian Agyeman argues that environmental justice and the sustainable communities movement are compatible in practical ways. Yet sustainability, which focuses on meeting our needs today while not compromising the ability of our successors to meet their needs, has not always partnered...

"In The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability, Ann Thorpe takes readers on a visual tour of the landscape of sustainability to show how it is critical to the work of designers, ranging from architects to graphic artists. The Designer's Atlas encourages "development that cultivates environmental and social conditions that will support human well-being indefinitely." Designers and consumers alike will be intrigued by the connections the author reveals...

"Put together by an outstanding network of experts from business (Microsoft, Sony, Philips, and AIG), consultancies, and academia, this book aims to teach and guide leaders, managers, practitioners, students, and professors in every sector of society, and in every industry, in creating a successful and sustainable enterprise. By making the steps needed clear, understandable, and simple to follow, the book naturally engages readers in their journey...

"Heat, light, industrial production, transport - every government, in its energy policy, has to balance the competing claims of economic benefit, public opinion, and environmental impact. In this book, leading representatives of the various types of energy generation - coal and oil, gas, nuclear power, and alternative technologies - set out the pros and cons of these energy sources and discuss their environmental consequences. Chapters deal with special...

Developing Ecological Consciousness is a marked departure from those standard environmental studies texts strongly focused on actions that humans need to take to fix the environment. Christopher Uhl explores the path to living in harmony with Earth, and believes it begins ? not with fixing the environment ? but with fixing ourselves ? specifically our perceptions about Earth.