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Nicolas Buclet Waste management issues can be approached in several ways. The question of which treatment technique to adopt is essentially a downstream problem. In our view the issue needed to be tackled further upstream. Waste management is not only a technical problem, it is also an area which involves various actors throughout society. In this book, as in the previous volume (Buclet, Godard, 2000), the organisation of waste management is seen in terms of regimes. A regime is an entire form ofinstitutional, technical, economic and social organisation relating to a specific field, no matter how complex that field is. Regime formation is generally a long-drawn-out process, rooted in the mul...
Since 1993, crime in the United States has fallen to historic lows, seeming to legitimize the country’s mix of welfare reform and mass incarceration. The Upper Limit explains how this unusual mix came about, examining how, beginning in the 1970s, declining living standards for the poor have defined social and penal policy in the United States, making welfare more restrictive and punishment harsher. François Bonnet shows how low-wage work sets the upper limit of social and penal policy, where welfare must be less attractive than low-wage work and criminal life must be less attractive than welfare. In essence, the living standards of the lowest class of workers in a society determine the upper limit for the generosity of welfare and for the humanity of punishment in that society. The Upper Limit explores the local consequences of this punitive adjustment in East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood where crime fell in the 1990s. Bonnet argues that no meaningful penal reform can happen unless living standards and the minimum wage rise again. Enlightening and provocative, The Upper Limit provides a comprehensive theory of the evolution of social and penal policy.
In the same realm as social ecology, industrial ecology and the circular economy, a new interdisciplinary field is growing: territorial ecology. Based on the analysis of the metabolism of human societies at a local level, it helps us diagnose a socioecosystem. This diagnostic is not only based on what is circulating, but also on how it is organized and why. Who is at the origin of a flow? What are their motivations? Who has the power to make decisions about it? This methodology, taking into account both the material description of human societies and the analysis of decisionmaking processes, might also be relevant for territorial diagnostics. It leads us to a systemic view of the consequences of individual and collective actions on the sustainability of local socio ecosystems. Socio-ecological transition implies a substantial evolution of human societies. Innovation, be it technological, organizational or social, is intrinsically involved in this evolution. However, if transition calls for disruptive rather than incremental innovations, we must also assess these innovations with a systemic view of their consequences.
The accelerated pace of global consumption over the past decades has meant that governments across the world are now faced with significant challenges in dealing with the dramatically increased volume of waste. While research on waste management has previously focused on finding technological solutions to the problem, this book uniquely examines the social and cultural views of waste, shedding new light on the topic by emphasising the consumer perspective throughout. Drawing on a wide variety of disciplines including environmental, economic, social and cultural theories, the book presents philosophical reflections, practical examples and potential solutions to the problem of increasing waste...
This textbook provides an overview of different ways of conceptualising nature in epistemological terms, reflecting the tensions between the polarities of humans as masters or protectors of nature, or as part of or outside of nature.
Functional Economy is a concept that is often associated with ecological transition and sustainable development. It prioritizes the use of a service or good rather than its sale, and tends to encourage cooperation. This model supports the transition to a more ecological and equitable economic and social environment. This book presents the different approaches to the Functional Economy and the ways in which the various players (companies, public institutions and citizens) are adopting and adapting them through innovation. Depending on their degree of sustainability and their scope, these innovations can have major economic, social and environmental impacts. Particularly at the local territorial level, those involved in innovation need to be supported as closely as possible if they are to overcome the hurdles they face and reap the rewards of the transformations brought about by this socio economic model, which is built around functionality.
Our world overwhelms us with more and more data everyday. Yet we need to face many challenges in order to deal with its complexity – notably to discern the essential from the accessory, to exploit quality and not quantity, to explore the depth of our knowledge and to produce from it, in a reasoned way, effective ideas to be put into action. A synthesis of a triple experience in industry, pedagogy and academia, Knowledge and Ideation presents numerous concepts, such as the dematerialized knowledge object, inventive intellectual heritage, inventive potential, and knowledge-based ideation. This book develops and describes applications in the form of case studies while proposing prospects.
This crucial Handbook brings together the latest thinking on the circular economy, an area that has increasingly caught global attention. Contributors explore a broad range of themes such as recycling systems and new business models, as well as consolidating the many ways in which the topic has been dealt with in research, business and policy-making. The Handbook of the Circular Economy is not only relevant, but also essential for students, academics, and policy-makers trying to make sense of the plethora of ways in which the term has been applied and interpreted.
Are profits and sustainability compatible? This book brings unique perspectives to this key debate by exploring the history of green entrepreneurship since the nineteenth century, and its spread globally in industries including renewable energy, organic food, natural beauty, ecotourism, recycling, architecture, and finance. The book uses the lens of the extraordinary and often eccentric men and women who defied convention and imagined that business could help save the planet, rather than consume it. The social and religious beliefs that drove many of these individuals are explored as the book looks at how they overcame huge obstacles to execute their strategies. The green entrepreneurs seen ...