Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199653645
- eISBN:
- 9780191742033
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653645.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Most of their history human beings have lived in comparatively small and close‐knit societies, with a primitive technology that allowed them to affect only their most immediate environment. Their ...
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Most of their history human beings have lived in comparatively small and close‐knit societies, with a primitive technology that allowed them to affect only their most immediate environment. Their moral psychology is therefore adpated to make them fit to live in these conditions; it is myopic, restricted to a concern about kin and people in the neighbourhood in the immediate future. But by scientific technology humans have radically changed their living conditions, while their moral psychology has remained fundamentally the same through this change, which is occurring with an accelerating speed. Human beings now live in societies with millions of citizens, and with an advanced scientific technology that enables them to exercise an influence that extends all over the world and far into the future. This is leading to increasing environmental degradation and to deleterious climate change. The advanced scientific technology has also equipped human beings with nuclear and biological weapons of mass destruction, which might be used by states in wars over dwindling natural resources, or by terrorists. Liberal democracies cannot overcome these threats merely by developing novel technology. What is needed is an enhancement of the moral dispositions of their citizens, an extension of their moral concern beyond a small circle of personal acquaintances and further into the future. Otherwise, human civilization is jeopardized. It is doubtful whether this moral enhancement could be accomplished solely by means of traditional moral education. Therefore, we should explore, in addition, the prospects of moral enhancement by alternative, biomedical means.Less
Most of their history human beings have lived in comparatively small and close‐knit societies, with a primitive technology that allowed them to affect only their most immediate environment. Their moral psychology is therefore adpated to make them fit to live in these conditions; it is myopic, restricted to a concern about kin and people in the neighbourhood in the immediate future. But by scientific technology humans have radically changed their living conditions, while their moral psychology has remained fundamentally the same through this change, which is occurring with an accelerating speed. Human beings now live in societies with millions of citizens, and with an advanced scientific technology that enables them to exercise an influence that extends all over the world and far into the future. This is leading to increasing environmental degradation and to deleterious climate change. The advanced scientific technology has also equipped human beings with nuclear and biological weapons of mass destruction, which might be used by states in wars over dwindling natural resources, or by terrorists. Liberal democracies cannot overcome these threats merely by developing novel technology. What is needed is an enhancement of the moral dispositions of their citizens, an extension of their moral concern beyond a small circle of personal acquaintances and further into the future. Otherwise, human civilization is jeopardized. It is doubtful whether this moral enhancement could be accomplished solely by means of traditional moral education. Therefore, we should explore, in addition, the prospects of moral enhancement by alternative, biomedical means.
Alfred Greiner and Willi Semmler
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328233
- eISBN:
- 9780199869985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328233.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter presents an overview of the five chapters (Chapter 2-6) in Part I of the book. It discusses the economic models that study the link between economic growth and the environment. It ...
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This chapter presents an overview of the five chapters (Chapter 2-6) in Part I of the book. It discusses the economic models that study the link between economic growth and the environment. It focuses on a class of models in which economic activities lead to environmental degradation, and through this economic activity negatively affects the utility of households or the production activities of firms.Less
This chapter presents an overview of the five chapters (Chapter 2-6) in Part I of the book. It discusses the economic models that study the link between economic growth and the environment. It focuses on a class of models in which economic activities lead to environmental degradation, and through this economic activity negatively affects the utility of households or the production activities of firms.
Alfred Greiner and Willi Semmler
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328233
- eISBN:
- 9780199869985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328233.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter describes scientific knowledge concerning greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the change in global average surface temperature. It considers the climate system of the Earth is in terms of ...
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This chapter describes scientific knowledge concerning greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the change in global average surface temperature. It considers the climate system of the Earth is in terms of its global energy balance using so-called energy balance models (EBM).Less
This chapter describes scientific knowledge concerning greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the change in global average surface temperature. It considers the climate system of the Earth is in terms of its global energy balance using so-called energy balance models (EBM).
Margaret Jane Radin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155333
- eISBN:
- 9781400844838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155333.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Company and Commercial Law
This book examines standardized form contracts, also known as boilerplate. In the past, “contract” was interpreted as a bargained-for exchange transaction between two parties who each consent to the ...
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This book examines standardized form contracts, also known as boilerplate. In the past, “contract” was interpreted as a bargained-for exchange transaction between two parties who each consent to the exchange. Bargained-for exchange represents contract in a world of voluntary agreement—World A (for Agreement). Standardized form contracts, on the other hand, belong to World B (for Boilerplate). World B doesn't fit the theory, the rationale, of contract law. This book explores judicial oversight of boilerplate through the legal doctrines of unconscionability and voidness as against public policy, among others. It also considers the problem of boilerplate rights deletion schemes as well as attempts to bring such schemes under the aegis of traditional contract theories. This chapter provides an overview of worlds A and B as well as varieties of World B contracts, boilerplate as a method of contract formation, and two problems arising from boilerplate: normative degradation and democratic degradation.Less
This book examines standardized form contracts, also known as boilerplate. In the past, “contract” was interpreted as a bargained-for exchange transaction between two parties who each consent to the exchange. Bargained-for exchange represents contract in a world of voluntary agreement—World A (for Agreement). Standardized form contracts, on the other hand, belong to World B (for Boilerplate). World B doesn't fit the theory, the rationale, of contract law. This book explores judicial oversight of boilerplate through the legal doctrines of unconscionability and voidness as against public policy, among others. It also considers the problem of boilerplate rights deletion schemes as well as attempts to bring such schemes under the aegis of traditional contract theories. This chapter provides an overview of worlds A and B as well as varieties of World B contracts, boilerplate as a method of contract formation, and two problems arising from boilerplate: normative degradation and democratic degradation.
Margaret Jane Radin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155333
- eISBN:
- 9781400844838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155333.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Company and Commercial Law
This chapter examines whether the standard judicial oversight of contract law could be improved to do a better job of alleviating normative and democratic degradation. It first considers whether ...
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This chapter examines whether the standard judicial oversight of contract law could be improved to do a better job of alleviating normative and democratic degradation. It first considers whether boilerplate rights deletion schemes are “sturdy indefensibles” and explains why it would be very difficult to enhance the ability of the standard oversight measures of traditional contract law. It then discusses possible improvements to other traditional methods of oversight, focusing in particular on the suggestions of Robert Hillman and Omri Ben-Shahar. It also explores the dilemma that arises when rights deletion is disallowed and concludes with the argument that current oversight measures might be improved by reducing the reliance on sweeping inferences based on assumptions and producing more empirical data that courts would actually take into account.Less
This chapter examines whether the standard judicial oversight of contract law could be improved to do a better job of alleviating normative and democratic degradation. It first considers whether boilerplate rights deletion schemes are “sturdy indefensibles” and explains why it would be very difficult to enhance the ability of the standard oversight measures of traditional contract law. It then discusses possible improvements to other traditional methods of oversight, focusing in particular on the suggestions of Robert Hillman and Omri Ben-Shahar. It also explores the dilemma that arises when rights deletion is disallowed and concludes with the argument that current oversight measures might be improved by reducing the reliance on sweeping inferences based on assumptions and producing more empirical data that courts would actually take into account.
Matthew Paterson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199265206
- eISBN:
- 9780191601866
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199265208.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The environment has emerged as a key issue in global politics since the early 1970s, and the issues that comprise the ‘environmental crisis’ are widely regarded to have had significant impacts on ...
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The environment has emerged as a key issue in global politics since the early 1970s, and the issues that comprise the ‘environmental crisis’ are widely regarded to have had significant impacts on international politics. At the same time, the international society or English School of International Relations tradition has rarely had much explicit to say regarding the implications of environmental degradation for International Relations, although at a first look, it is a surprise that English School authors have not looked to environmental politics for sources of support for their arguments. This chapter attempts to elaborate how such an engagement between international environmental politics and the English School might develop. It begins with an elaboration of Hedley Bull's (1977) passage on the environment in The Anarchical Society, and then proceeds through a discussion of contemporary accounts of ‘global environmental governance’, in terms of programmatic reform, international regimes, multilevel governance, deterritorialization, and corporate governance and governance from below. The conclusion reached is that despite a superficial attraction, discussions of global environmental governance undermine the image of international society in English School accounts in two principal ways: first, they show that thinking about international society (its norms, the tensions and conversation between the three traditions in English School, and so on) is limited by the lack of understanding of the specifically capitalist character of the states‐system; and second, they show that the image given in Bull – that any alternatives to the states‐system tend to founder on the claim that states will not voluntarily cede their authority – is misplaced, for practices of global governance are emerging in the environmental field that operate outside the states‐system but where states have never given permission in the manner envisaged by Bull and others to be necessary.Less
The environment has emerged as a key issue in global politics since the early 1970s, and the issues that comprise the ‘environmental crisis’ are widely regarded to have had significant impacts on international politics. At the same time, the international society or English School of International Relations tradition has rarely had much explicit to say regarding the implications of environmental degradation for International Relations, although at a first look, it is a surprise that English School authors have not looked to environmental politics for sources of support for their arguments. This chapter attempts to elaborate how such an engagement between international environmental politics and the English School might develop. It begins with an elaboration of Hedley Bull's (1977) passage on the environment in The Anarchical Society, and then proceeds through a discussion of contemporary accounts of ‘global environmental governance’, in terms of programmatic reform, international regimes, multilevel governance, deterritorialization, and corporate governance and governance from below. The conclusion reached is that despite a superficial attraction, discussions of global environmental governance undermine the image of international society in English School accounts in two principal ways: first, they show that thinking about international society (its norms, the tensions and conversation between the three traditions in English School, and so on) is limited by the lack of understanding of the specifically capitalist character of the states‐system; and second, they show that the image given in Bull – that any alternatives to the states‐system tend to founder on the claim that states will not voluntarily cede their authority – is misplaced, for practices of global governance are emerging in the environmental field that operate outside the states‐system but where states have never given permission in the manner envisaged by Bull and others to be necessary.
Koos Neefjes
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294894
- eISBN:
- 9780191599064
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294891.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Koos Neefjes of Oxfam takes turmoil and instability as his starting point. How will carefully crafted sustainability and justice principles fare in zones of conflict? How can measurements of ...
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Koos Neefjes of Oxfam takes turmoil and instability as his starting point. How will carefully crafted sustainability and justice principles fare in zones of conflict? How can measurements of environmental stock and flow be made under conditions of war or even genocide? Neefjes implies that they cannot, and he focuses instead on the causes of conflicts and the role that environmental factors might play in them. After examining a number of cases drawn from Africa he concludes that environmental degradation and resource distribution play an increasingly important role in conflicts, and that supporting local use and management of resources is of paramount importance.Less
Koos Neefjes of Oxfam takes turmoil and instability as his starting point. How will carefully crafted sustainability and justice principles fare in zones of conflict? How can measurements of environmental stock and flow be made under conditions of war or even genocide? Neefjes implies that they cannot, and he focuses instead on the causes of conflicts and the role that environmental factors might play in them. After examining a number of cases drawn from Africa he concludes that environmental degradation and resource distribution play an increasingly important role in conflicts, and that supporting local use and management of resources is of paramount importance.
Michael Redclift and Colin Sage
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295662
- eISBN:
- 9780191599521
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295669.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Identifies four critical dimensions of inequality that are relevant to any consideration of environment and resource degradation: first, the unequal distribution of historical responsibilities for ...
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Identifies four critical dimensions of inequality that are relevant to any consideration of environment and resource degradation: first, the unequal distribution of historical responsibilities for environmental change, notably climate change; second, the fact that global changes have unequal impacts on different regions and peoples of the world; third, the degree to which inequalities of interest promote different environmentalist agendas; fourth, the extent to which distributive problems lie at the heart of the failure to undertake effective and concerted action of the type envisaged at 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Begins by exploring the way in which environmental problems are constructed, both through structural processes, such as trade and technology transfer, and through attachment to cultural ‘models’ of development, disseminated on television screens and illustrated by new patterns of consumption. This social construction of environmental problems forms the backcloth against which the chapter analyses global inequality and the effects of economic globalization on the environment.Less
Identifies four critical dimensions of inequality that are relevant to any consideration of environment and resource degradation: first, the unequal distribution of historical responsibilities for environmental change, notably climate change; second, the fact that global changes have unequal impacts on different regions and peoples of the world; third, the degree to which inequalities of interest promote different environmentalist agendas; fourth, the extent to which distributive problems lie at the heart of the failure to undertake effective and concerted action of the type envisaged at 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Begins by exploring the way in which environmental problems are constructed, both through structural processes, such as trade and technology transfer, and through attachment to cultural ‘models’ of development, disseminated on television screens and illustrated by new patterns of consumption. This social construction of environmental problems forms the backcloth against which the chapter analyses global inequality and the effects of economic globalization on the environment.
Graham Bell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198569725
- eISBN:
- 9780191717741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198569725.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Selection in complex and structured environments is likely to cause the divergence of differently adapted lines. This will lead to a diverse array of specialized types, or to one or a few broad ...
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Selection in complex and structured environments is likely to cause the divergence of differently adapted lines. This will lead to a diverse array of specialized types, or to one or a few broad generalists, or to some intermediate situation. The first section in this chapter is called GxE and details the ecogenetic landscape; the magnitude of GxE; inconsistency and responsiveness; the genetic correlation in relation to environmental variance; the outcome of selection in different environments; stability and responsiveness; and the evolution of stability and responsiveness. The second section is about specialization and generalization, and details niche separation; the cost of adaptation; divergent specialization; sources of antagonism: functional interference; sources of antagonism: mutational degradation; and the consequences of interference and degradation. It also gives an experimental adaptive radiation regarding pseudomonas and an historical adaptive radiation concerning anolis. The third section called Opportunities in space, obligations in time, explains simple environments; complex environments; the cost of adaptation in complex environments; structured environments; the outcome of selection in structured environments; fluctuating fitness; and the outcome of selection in variable environments. The final section is called Local adaptation and details the precision of local adaptation and gives reciprocal transplant experiments.Less
Selection in complex and structured environments is likely to cause the divergence of differently adapted lines. This will lead to a diverse array of specialized types, or to one or a few broad generalists, or to some intermediate situation. The first section in this chapter is called GxE and details the ecogenetic landscape; the magnitude of GxE; inconsistency and responsiveness; the genetic correlation in relation to environmental variance; the outcome of selection in different environments; stability and responsiveness; and the evolution of stability and responsiveness. The second section is about specialization and generalization, and details niche separation; the cost of adaptation; divergent specialization; sources of antagonism: functional interference; sources of antagonism: mutational degradation; and the consequences of interference and degradation. It also gives an experimental adaptive radiation regarding pseudomonas and an historical adaptive radiation concerning anolis. The third section called Opportunities in space, obligations in time, explains simple environments; complex environments; the cost of adaptation in complex environments; structured environments; the outcome of selection in structured environments; fluctuating fitness; and the outcome of selection in variable environments. The final section is called Local adaptation and details the precision of local adaptation and gives reciprocal transplant experiments.
Margaret Jane Radin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155333
- eISBN:
- 9781400844838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155333.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Company and Commercial Law
This chapter examines the normative degradation caused by the apparent lack of consent to boilerplate. It first considers the varieties of nonconsent to which consent is contrasted, including ...
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This chapter examines the normative degradation caused by the apparent lack of consent to boilerplate. It first considers the varieties of nonconsent to which consent is contrasted, including coercion and its related conceptions of force and duress; fraud, with its allied notions of misrepresentation and deception; and sheer ignorance. It then discusses problematic consent, focusing on situations involving “information asymmetry” and heuristic biases. It also explores strategies of assimilating World B to consent, with particular emphasis on the devolution of voluntary agreement. The chapter shows that consent is problematic even when recipients click a box that says “I agree,” because it remains unclear what they could actually be agreeing to.Less
This chapter examines the normative degradation caused by the apparent lack of consent to boilerplate. It first considers the varieties of nonconsent to which consent is contrasted, including coercion and its related conceptions of force and duress; fraud, with its allied notions of misrepresentation and deception; and sheer ignorance. It then discusses problematic consent, focusing on situations involving “information asymmetry” and heuristic biases. It also explores strategies of assimilating World B to consent, with particular emphasis on the devolution of voluntary agreement. The chapter shows that consent is problematic even when recipients click a box that says “I agree,” because it remains unclear what they could actually be agreeing to.
Margaret Jane Radin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155333
- eISBN:
- 9781400844838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155333.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Company and Commercial Law
This chapter focuses on the democratic degradation that may be caused by the apparent replacement of the law of the state with the “law” of the firm when boilerplate is deployed in mass markets. It ...
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This chapter focuses on the democratic degradation that may be caused by the apparent replacement of the law of the state with the “law” of the firm when boilerplate is deployed in mass markets. It considers mass-market boilerplate rights deletion schemes and how the widespread use of boilerplate causes democratic degradation; for example, it threatens the distinction between public and private ordering, undermines the rule of law, and erases legal rights. The chapter also examines private law, the main legal infrastructure of the liberal notion of private ordering, and copycat boilerplate. Finally, it discusses technological protection measures (TPMs) and their implications for legal infrastructure, along with measures that might help to make TPMs less problematic from the point of view of the rule of law.Less
This chapter focuses on the democratic degradation that may be caused by the apparent replacement of the law of the state with the “law” of the firm when boilerplate is deployed in mass markets. It considers mass-market boilerplate rights deletion schemes and how the widespread use of boilerplate causes democratic degradation; for example, it threatens the distinction between public and private ordering, undermines the rule of law, and erases legal rights. The chapter also examines private law, the main legal infrastructure of the liberal notion of private ordering, and copycat boilerplate. Finally, it discusses technological protection measures (TPMs) and their implications for legal infrastructure, along with measures that might help to make TPMs less problematic from the point of view of the rule of law.
Mohamed T. El-Ashry
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195309454
- eISBN:
- 9780199871261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309454.003.0017
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter argues that the world's poor are the ones harmed the most by environmental degradation. This holds true because the poor are more directly dependent on local natural resources and are ...
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This chapter argues that the world's poor are the ones harmed the most by environmental degradation. This holds true because the poor are more directly dependent on local natural resources and are unable to afford a buffer from direct environmental harm. Several reasons why sustainable development has been such an elusive goal are discussed.Less
This chapter argues that the world's poor are the ones harmed the most by environmental degradation. This holds true because the poor are more directly dependent on local natural resources and are unable to afford a buffer from direct environmental harm. Several reasons why sustainable development has been such an elusive goal are discussed.
James Charlton
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520207950
- eISBN:
- 9780520925441
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520207950.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This book is a ringing indictment of disability oppression, which, it states, is rooted in degradation, dependency, and powerlessness and is experienced in some form by five hundred million persons ...
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This book is a ringing indictment of disability oppression, which, it states, is rooted in degradation, dependency, and powerlessness and is experienced in some form by five hundred million persons throughout the world who have physical, sensory, cognitive, or developmental disabilities. This book provides a theoretical overview of disability oppression that shows its similarities to, and differences from, racism, sexism, and colonialism. The book's analysis is illuminated by interviews conducted over a ten-year period with disability rights activists throughout the Third World, Europe, and the United States. The book finds an antidote for dependency and powerlessness in the resistance to disability oppression that is emerging worldwide. The interviews contain stories of self-reliance and empowerment evoking the new consciousness of disability rights activists. As a latecomer among the world's liberation movements, the disability rights movement will gain visibility and momentum from the elucidation of its history and its political philosophy of self-determination, which is captured in the title of the book. The book expresses the conviction of people with disabilities that they know what is best for them.Less
This book is a ringing indictment of disability oppression, which, it states, is rooted in degradation, dependency, and powerlessness and is experienced in some form by five hundred million persons throughout the world who have physical, sensory, cognitive, or developmental disabilities. This book provides a theoretical overview of disability oppression that shows its similarities to, and differences from, racism, sexism, and colonialism. The book's analysis is illuminated by interviews conducted over a ten-year period with disability rights activists throughout the Third World, Europe, and the United States. The book finds an antidote for dependency and powerlessness in the resistance to disability oppression that is emerging worldwide. The interviews contain stories of self-reliance and empowerment evoking the new consciousness of disability rights activists. As a latecomer among the world's liberation movements, the disability rights movement will gain visibility and momentum from the elucidation of its history and its political philosophy of self-determination, which is captured in the title of the book. The book expresses the conviction of people with disabilities that they know what is best for them.
George S Howard
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195189636
- eISBN:
- 9780199868605
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195189636.003.0013
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Science rarely allows its subject matter to show its ability to self-determine its actions. This chapter describes a method for quantifying the portion of variability in human behavior due to ...
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Science rarely allows its subject matter to show its ability to self-determine its actions. This chapter describes a method for quantifying the portion of variability in human behavior due to self-determination (or behavioral freedom of the will). The results of several programs of research reveal that humans often self-determine sizeable portions of their actions in a variety of domains. The problems of the 21st century are often group problems (e.g., environmental degradation) which humans might not be able to control volitionally.Less
Science rarely allows its subject matter to show its ability to self-determine its actions. This chapter describes a method for quantifying the portion of variability in human behavior due to self-determination (or behavioral freedom of the will). The results of several programs of research reveal that humans often self-determine sizeable portions of their actions in a variety of domains. The problems of the 21st century are often group problems (e.g., environmental degradation) which humans might not be able to control volitionally.
Adrian Newton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567448
- eISBN:
- 9780191717895
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567448.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
Forest conservation has become one of the most important environmental issues currently facing humanity, as a result of widespread deforestation and forest degradation. Pressures on remaining natural ...
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Forest conservation has become one of the most important environmental issues currently facing humanity, as a result of widespread deforestation and forest degradation. Pressures on remaining natural forests continue to intensify, leading to high rates of biodiversity loss. Understanding how human activities influence ecological processes within forests is essential for developing effective conservation action. This book describes research methods and techniques relevant to understanding forest ecology, with a particular focus on those that are relevant to practical conservation and sustainable forest management. This information is currently disparate and difficult to locate, and the intention here is to provide a comprehensive synthesis. Methods are presented for assessing forest extent and condition, structure and composition, and forest dynamics at a variety of scales. Techniques for assessing genetic variation and reproductive ecology, and for evaluating the habitat value of forests are also described. Particular emphasis is given to state-of-the-art techniques, such as remote sensing, GIS, computer modelling, and molecular markers. However, traditional methods of forest mensuration and ecological survey are also presented. The methods and techniques described are generally applicable to all forest types, including both temperate and tropical forest ecosystems.Less
Forest conservation has become one of the most important environmental issues currently facing humanity, as a result of widespread deforestation and forest degradation. Pressures on remaining natural forests continue to intensify, leading to high rates of biodiversity loss. Understanding how human activities influence ecological processes within forests is essential for developing effective conservation action. This book describes research methods and techniques relevant to understanding forest ecology, with a particular focus on those that are relevant to practical conservation and sustainable forest management. This information is currently disparate and difficult to locate, and the intention here is to provide a comprehensive synthesis. Methods are presented for assessing forest extent and condition, structure and composition, and forest dynamics at a variety of scales. Techniques for assessing genetic variation and reproductive ecology, and for evaluating the habitat value of forests are also described. Particular emphasis is given to state-of-the-art techniques, such as remote sensing, GIS, computer modelling, and molecular markers. However, traditional methods of forest mensuration and ecological survey are also presented. The methods and techniques described are generally applicable to all forest types, including both temperate and tropical forest ecosystems.
C. Neal Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195157451
- eISBN:
- 9780199790388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195157451.003.0012
- Subject:
- Biology, Biotechnology
Designer plants for environmental sensing and remediation are currently being produced in research labs. One such plant is designed to detect and report the presence of explosives, such as TNT, which ...
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Designer plants for environmental sensing and remediation are currently being produced in research labs. One such plant is designed to detect and report the presence of explosives, such as TNT, which is used in landmines. Transgenic plants could someday be used to pinpoint the exact location of buried landmines. Along with phytosensing is the cleansing of soil environments by plants or phytoremediation. Research is being conducted for the detection and phytoremediation of explosives, heavy metals, and other pollutants. Plants could also be used to produce products that currently come from petroleum, such as plastics and biofuels. Many of the future uses of transgenic plants will be specifically designed to correct environmental problems and recover endangered species. For example, the American chestnut, which has been decimated by disease, could be made blight-resistant by a single transgene, allowing it to recover its dominance in the Appalachian Mountains.Less
Designer plants for environmental sensing and remediation are currently being produced in research labs. One such plant is designed to detect and report the presence of explosives, such as TNT, which is used in landmines. Transgenic plants could someday be used to pinpoint the exact location of buried landmines. Along with phytosensing is the cleansing of soil environments by plants or phytoremediation. Research is being conducted for the detection and phytoremediation of explosives, heavy metals, and other pollutants. Plants could also be used to produce products that currently come from petroleum, such as plastics and biofuels. Many of the future uses of transgenic plants will be specifically designed to correct environmental problems and recover endangered species. For example, the American chestnut, which has been decimated by disease, could be made blight-resistant by a single transgene, allowing it to recover its dominance in the Appalachian Mountains.
Partha Dasgupta and Karl-Göran Mäler (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199240708
- eISBN:
- 9780191718106
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199240708.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This text is the second of two volumes. Two and a half billion people are affected directly on a day-to-day basis by the allocation and use of local resources. Yet ‘official’ development economics ...
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This text is the second of two volumes. Two and a half billion people are affected directly on a day-to-day basis by the allocation and use of local resources. Yet ‘official’ development economics has concentrated on headline international issues and only recently begun to take account of the dependence of poor countries on their natural resources; the link between acute poverty and environmental degradation; and the problems associated with the management of local common property such as soil and soil cover, water, forests and their products, animals, and fisheries. The chapters cover emerging development issues, ranging from foundational matters to case studies. They address both analytic and empirical issues on the role of environmental resources in the development process, presenting explanations of existing situations and policies for the future.Less
This text is the second of two volumes. Two and a half billion people are affected directly on a day-to-day basis by the allocation and use of local resources. Yet ‘official’ development economics has concentrated on headline international issues and only recently begun to take account of the dependence of poor countries on their natural resources; the link between acute poverty and environmental degradation; and the problems associated with the management of local common property such as soil and soil cover, water, forests and their products, animals, and fisheries. The chapters cover emerging development issues, ranging from foundational matters to case studies. They address both analytic and empirical issues on the role of environmental resources in the development process, presenting explanations of existing situations and policies for the future.
Jana Evans Braziel
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496812742
- eISBN:
- 9781496812780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496812742.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
On the southern end of the Grand Rue, a major thoroughfare that runs through the center of Port-au-Prince, waits the Haitian capital's automobile repair district. This junkyard of steel and rubber, ...
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On the southern end of the Grand Rue, a major thoroughfare that runs through the center of Port-au-Prince, waits the Haitian capital's automobile repair district. This junkyard of steel and rubber, recycled parts, old tires, and scrap metal might seem an unlikely foundry for art. Yet, on the street's opposite end thrives the Grand Rue Galerie, a working studio of assembled art and sculptures wrought from the refuse. Established by artists André Eugène and Jean Hérard Celeur in the late 1990s, the Grand Rue's urban environmental aesthetics radically challenge ideas about consumption, waste, and environmental hazards, as well as consider innovative solutions to these problems in the midst of poverty, insufficient social welfare, and lack of access to arts, education, and basic needs. This book explores the urban environmental aesthetics of the Grand Rue sculptors and the beautifully constructed sculptures they have designed from salvaged parts and materials. The book constructs an urban ecological framework for understanding these sculptures amid environmental degradation and grinding poverty. The book regards the underdeveloped cities of the global South as alternate spaces for challenging the profit-driven machinations of global capitalism. Above all, the book presents Haitian artists who live on the most challenged Caribbean island, yet who thrive as creators reinventing refuse as art and resisting the abjection of their circumstances.Less
On the southern end of the Grand Rue, a major thoroughfare that runs through the center of Port-au-Prince, waits the Haitian capital's automobile repair district. This junkyard of steel and rubber, recycled parts, old tires, and scrap metal might seem an unlikely foundry for art. Yet, on the street's opposite end thrives the Grand Rue Galerie, a working studio of assembled art and sculptures wrought from the refuse. Established by artists André Eugène and Jean Hérard Celeur in the late 1990s, the Grand Rue's urban environmental aesthetics radically challenge ideas about consumption, waste, and environmental hazards, as well as consider innovative solutions to these problems in the midst of poverty, insufficient social welfare, and lack of access to arts, education, and basic needs. This book explores the urban environmental aesthetics of the Grand Rue sculptors and the beautifully constructed sculptures they have designed from salvaged parts and materials. The book constructs an urban ecological framework for understanding these sculptures amid environmental degradation and grinding poverty. The book regards the underdeveloped cities of the global South as alternate spaces for challenging the profit-driven machinations of global capitalism. Above all, the book presents Haitian artists who live on the most challenged Caribbean island, yet who thrive as creators reinventing refuse as art and resisting the abjection of their circumstances.
Pat Willmer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128610
- eISBN:
- 9781400838943
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128610.003.0029
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter focuses on the global pollination crisis. For nearly three decades now there has been evidence of declines in pollinators worldwide, and the problems were explicitly recognized in the ...
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This chapter focuses on the global pollination crisis. For nearly three decades now there has been evidence of declines in pollinators worldwide, and the problems were explicitly recognized in the United Nations Sao Paulo declaration (1998–1999). However, the ecosystem-level effects of this pollinator decline remain unclear. Therefore long-term data collections are needed to track the changes and to understand their underlying causes with a view to finding sustainable solutions. This chapter examines the needs for assessment of pollinator declines, along with some of the key threats to pollinators and to pollination services including: habitat degradation and destruction; habitat fragmentation; intensive agriculture; increasing prevalence of fires in areas where human impacts are substantial; introduced animal species and pollinators; invasive plant species and changing floras; diseases and other natural threats to key pollinators; and climate change.Less
This chapter focuses on the global pollination crisis. For nearly three decades now there has been evidence of declines in pollinators worldwide, and the problems were explicitly recognized in the United Nations Sao Paulo declaration (1998–1999). However, the ecosystem-level effects of this pollinator decline remain unclear. Therefore long-term data collections are needed to track the changes and to understand their underlying causes with a view to finding sustainable solutions. This chapter examines the needs for assessment of pollinator declines, along with some of the key threats to pollinators and to pollination services including: habitat degradation and destruction; habitat fragmentation; intensive agriculture; increasing prevalence of fires in areas where human impacts are substantial; introduced animal species and pollinators; invasive plant species and changing floras; diseases and other natural threats to key pollinators; and climate change.
Colin Dayan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691070919
- eISBN:
- 9781400838592
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691070919.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter describes how Herman Melville recognized the existence of what he had once called not “ordinarily human”: the chattels that gave new meaning to persons, the human anomaly constituted by ...
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This chapter describes how Herman Melville recognized the existence of what he had once called not “ordinarily human”: the chattels that gave new meaning to persons, the human anomaly constituted by law as property. Melville is obsessed with the making and unmaking of human materials as well as humans and animals. The chapter then assesses what it means in times of torture and dissembling to be like an animal. It all began with chattels. Their treatment helps one to understand the limits of cruelty. They are used as examples when humans need most to categorize, to dominate, and to justify slavery, genocide, and incarceration. The proximity between humans and animals is sometimes tenuous. Boundaries are permeable, and taxonomies are necessary to ensure the order of things. However, when the pressure is on to construct—legally and socially—degradation and inferiority, categories and terminologies get muddled. The hierarchies no longer hold.Less
This chapter describes how Herman Melville recognized the existence of what he had once called not “ordinarily human”: the chattels that gave new meaning to persons, the human anomaly constituted by law as property. Melville is obsessed with the making and unmaking of human materials as well as humans and animals. The chapter then assesses what it means in times of torture and dissembling to be like an animal. It all began with chattels. Their treatment helps one to understand the limits of cruelty. They are used as examples when humans need most to categorize, to dominate, and to justify slavery, genocide, and incarceration. The proximity between humans and animals is sometimes tenuous. Boundaries are permeable, and taxonomies are necessary to ensure the order of things. However, when the pressure is on to construct—legally and socially—degradation and inferiority, categories and terminologies get muddled. The hierarchies no longer hold.
