Climate Change and Sustainability
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperature, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions, largely driven by human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Sustainability involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, often through responsible resource management and environmental conservation efforts. Both concepts are critical in understanding the interactions between human societies and the natural environment.
6 Key excerpts on "Climate Change and Sustainability"
eBook - ePubThe Economics of Property and Planning
Future Value
- Graham Squires(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Global warming from CO 2 release is often paired up with or seen as a significant cause of climate change. Climate change can be described as a clear, sustained change in climate over several decades or longer. The components of climate are temperature, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, or winds. Furthermore, such changes must constitute a clear trend and be clearly distinguished from the small random variation in these parameters that takes place all the time. In defining the issue, ‘climate change’ is seen as attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. Therefore, climate change can be seen as the variability in climate, whereas global warming is seen as an increase in global temperatures measured over recent decades. Plus, climate change and global warming have the potential to seriously disrupt many of the environment, economy, and places on which human society depends. Due to the multiple agents and institutions involved in global warming and climate change, the local level has many complex economic issues in property and planning. These local issues could be directly addressing global environmental concerns such as release of CO 2 or adaptation and mitigation of climate change at a household or neighbourhood scale. These local issues may also be crosscutting with concerns for problems that are also pressing concerns for stakeholders in a locality, such as residents, community groups, local authority, and city leaders. Initial thought in this area of study can be traced by to ecological concepts of the neighbourhood to more contemporary thinking on neighbourhood planning...
eBook - ePubSustainability Unpacked
Food, Energy and Water for Resilient Environments and Societies
- Kristiina Vogt, Toral Patel-Weynand, Maura Shelton, Daniel J Vogt, John C. Gordon, Cal Mukumoto, Asep. S. Suntana, Patricia A. Roads(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...A large land-base does not provide food security if most of it is located in areas where temperature limits plant growth. In Russia, the overriding climate control of a land's productive capacity is clearly evident. Understanding the variable impacts of climate change across the diversity of biomes is fundamental to decoding sustainability and human survival. Humans have a long history of dealing with the impacts of climate change in environments that are either conducive for their survival or where human survival is mostly at the subsistence level. Furthermore, because climate change is not going to be uniformly layered across the globe, understanding the interplay between climates and the provision of bio-resources is crucial for society. Thus, climate change will strongly influence human development and wellbeing, as well as determining where it will be easier for humans to survive. Even though climate is a great social equalizer because it does not selectively impact just the poor or the rich, people across the entire human development spectrum are forced to adapt. All members of human society have to adapt to the changing climate or any other constraints that have been introduced into their environment. However, rich people, with more mechanisms in place to adapt to an altered environment, are less susceptible to climate change. Why People Migrate: Geography and Climate Influences on Humans Past human responses to changing climates: Become a foreigner It is not new for humans to migrate and expand their resource footprint at the same time. History has shown that humans pursued ephemeral and seasonal resources like many other animals. Humans have a history of being ‘foreigners’...
- Hongtu Zhao(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
...Chapter Twelve Climate Change and Sustainable Development Abstract Over the years, the substantial breakthrough in global climate negotiations has been much less than expected, and some countries’ stance has even regressed. In addition to the wide gap in positions and the game of interests, the cognitive confusion on climate change and the weak foundation of global climate change policy are the important reasons. The core of saving the earth is to save the mankind itself, as only when human beings can change the out-dated conceptions, optimize the policy and the system, and advance the technology can the mankind’s living environment be improved, and the sustainable growth and the development be realized as soon as possible. Keywords Climate change; sustainable development; global warming; greenhouse gases; clean energy; global climate negotiation Climate change is one of the most important issues in the international community. It is necessary for mankind to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming, which has already become the mainstream view and the theoretical foundation for relevant negotiations in the United Nations. Meanwhile, climate change is a rather complex issue, involving many aspects, such as climate, politics, economy, energy, and environment. Despite the intense interest game between countries and groups in international climate negotiations, even in academic circles and public sector, there are many different opinions and heated debates on such basic issues as whether climate change itself is a problem or what kind of problem it is. The climate itself is constantly changing, but now climate change has become a problem mainly because of human’s concern that the abnormal climate changes will bring great harm or disaster to mankind. Historically, mankind has been frightened by climate change and its related disasters. Except praying for good weather and harvest, human was largely helpless and let nature take its course...
eBook - ePubClimate Change and Sustainable Development
Mitigation and Adaptation
- Dalia Štreimikienė, Asta Mikalauskiene(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...As can be seen, climate change also has a direct impact on economic growth opportunities and many important social factors as well as political and social issues. In addition, the effects of climate change can be identified domestically and globally. TABLE 2.6 The Impact of Climate Change on Different Dimensions of Sustainable Development Dimensions of Sustainable Development Impact of Climate Change Domestically Outside the Country Economy Increased vulnerability of agricultural technologies enhances inequality As the negative effects of climate change in developing countries increase, inequality increases as well Health The poorer people suffer from lower general health standards and reduced access to healthcare Effects of floods and diseases are more important in developing countries Social security All sectors are affected but those that depend mainly on natural resources are affected the most Greater impact in developing countries Gender As the main users of natural resources, women are individually affected by climate change Economic gender inequality increases Access to the welfare of society Government cost-sharing to mitigate the effects of climate change impacts everyone, but it will mostly affect the poor Adaptation costs are higher in poor countries Political and social freedoms With the possibility of social destruction, freedoms can be ruined The impact of migration can be felt in all countries Source : Created by authors. The most significant thing when. selecting the climate change policy and measures for its implementation is to take into account its impact on sustainable development and to harmonise climate change policies with those of sustainable development; otherwise, the climate change mitigation can have even more negative effects than climate change itself. This is particularly the case with developing countries, which are the most vulnerable to climate change but have limited possibilities to adapt to it...
eBook - ePubPublic Health
Policy and Politics
- Rob Baggott(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Bloomsbury Academic(Publisher)
...Climate Change and Sustainable Development 11 In the past, environmental health interventions have concentrated on the polluting effects of specific industrial and technological production processes and significant causes of accidents and injuries. Although these remain important problems, attention has now shifted towards global environmental threats, such as ozone layer depletion, global warming and climate change (Landon, 2006). This chapter explores these issues in the context of policies to promote sustainable development. Global Environmental Threats Ozone Layer Depletion Ozone layer depletion, initially found over Antarctica but since spreading over populated areas, is a serious problem. It is attributed to chloroflourocarbons (CFCs), by-products of industrial processes, refrigerators, and aerosol sprays. Ozone depletion exposes humans to higher levels of ultraviolet light, with adverse implications for health. It has been estimated that a 10 per cent drop in ozone levels in the stratosphere could lead to 300,000 extra cases of skin cancers worldwide (UNEP, 1992). Ozone depletion also damages immune systems. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is associated with increased susceptibility to infections (Godlee, 1992). Cataracts have been linked to ultraviolet light, a particular problem in ageing populations. Eyes and skin can be damaged in the short term by overexposure to UV light, increasing conditions such as erythema (inflammation of the skin) and keratitis (inflammation of the cornea). In addition, plants and animals may be damaged by UV exposure, although some are more resistant than others (Landon, 2006). The net indirect effect on ecological systems, crop yields, food systems and human health is therefore difficult to estimate. Global Warming and Climate Change Since the 1980s, much attention has been given to the rise in global temperatures and associated climatic changes known as global warming...
eBook - ePubSustainable Space Tourism
An Introduction
- Annette Toivonen(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Channel View Publications(Publisher)
...Even though the negative impact of climate change may still appear far away, the cost of action is paid now. The negative effects of climate change are also most pronounced in poorer countries, which have less weight in global decision-making than their wealthy counterparts. Governments are in a key position to tighten emissions trading screws and use existing tools such as carbon taxes or certain business support to promote sustainable development. A key aspect is that if societies understand the depth of change, it becomes more possible to implement it within the framework of a democratic society. As the Arctic area has harsh environmental conditions that in some parts could mimic the space environment, the region could be used to enhance future sustainable planning as an Earth-bound study example to replicate levels of environmental impacts and other security concerns faced in the remoteness. Sustainability in the tourism industry could be achieved by engaging the industry, governance and regulation, researching market benefits and the role of the media industry in opinion forming and using the ideas developed in social sciences to explore decision-making and social trends. The focus should be on sustainable science and this is to be achieved by understanding the sociology and psychology of the new types of tourism behaviour....
