Posts in category: แนะนำทรัพยากร

 

 

Climate change and natural disasters have always been hot topics of discussion and debate from the living rooms of citizens to meetings to civil society organizations’candlelight vigils. The consensus from the scientific and academic community on the threat of climate change clashes with the lack of consensus from business and government leaders, while citizens question the scientific data on climate change and if it really affects their cities. Many cities have stepped up to provide united experience-backed testimonies explaining this threat and how climate change contributes to natural disasters, habitat destruction, and food shortage. This book brings together lucid essays and case studies from both scholars and individuals on the front lines who manage international collaborations, lead local communities, provide services for people impacted by disasters, and drive policy change that will lead to a sustainable future.

 

 

 

At a time when the human impact on the environment is more devastating than ever, business initiatives frame the quest to’green’capitalism as the key to humanity’s long-term survival. Indeed, even before the rise of the environmental movement in the 1970s, businesses sometimes had reasons to protect parts of nature, limit their production of wastes, and support broader environmental reforms. In the last thirty years, especially, many businesses have worked hard to reduce their direct and indirect environmental footprint. But are these efforts exceptional, or can capitalism truly be environmentally conscious?Green Capitalism? offers a critical, historically informed perspective on building a more sustainable economy. Written by scholars of business history and environmental history, the essays in this volume consider the nature of capitalism through historical overviews of twentieth-century businesses and a wide range of focused case studies. Beginning early in the century, contributors explore the response of business leaders to environmental challenges in an era long before the formation of the modern regulatory state. Moving on to midcentury environmental initiatives, scholars analyze failed business efforts to green products and packaging—such as the infamous six-pack ring—in the 1960s and 1970s. The last section contains case studies of businesses that successfully managed greening initiatives, from the first effort by an electric utility to promote conservation, to the environmental overhaul of a Swedish mining company, to the problem of household waste in pre-1990 West Germany. Ranging in geographic scope from Europe to the United States, Green Capitalism? raises questions about capitalism in different historical, sociocultural, and political contexts.Contributors: Hartmut Berghoff, Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Brian C. Black, William D. Bryan, Julie Cohn, Leif Fredrickson, Hugh S. Gorman, Geoffrey Jones, David Kinkela, Roman Köster, Joseph A. Pratt, Adam Rome, Christine Meisner Rosen.

 

 

 

Dust is a ubiquitous feature of the cosmos, impinging directly or indirectly on most fields of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Dust in the Galactic Environment, Second Edition provides a thorough overview of the subject, covering general concepts, methods of investigation, important results and their significance, relevant literature, and some suggestions for promising avenues of future research.Since the publication of the first edition of this popular graduate text, major advances have been made in our understanding of astrophysical dust, especially in the light of exciting new results from space- and ground-based telescopes, together with advances in laboratory astrophysics and theoretical modeling. This new, expanded edition highlights the latest results and provides a context for future research opportunities. The first chapter provides a historical perspective for current research and an overview of interstellar environments and the role of dust in astrophysical processes, followed by a discussion of the cosmic history of the chemical elements expected to be present in dust and an examination of the effect of gas-dust interactions on gas phase abundances. The next several chapters describe the observed properties of interstellar grains, such as their extinction, polarization, absorption, and emission characteristics. Then, the book explores the origin and evolution of dust, tracing its life cycle in a succession of environments from circumstellar shells to diffuse interstellar clouds, molecular clouds, protostars, and protoplanetary disks. The final chapter summarizes progress toward a unified model. Dust in other galaxies is discussed as an integral part of the text rather than as a distinct topic requiring separate chapters.Containing extensive references and problems to aid understanding and illustrate basic principles, the book is ideally suited for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses. It will also be an invaluable reference for postgraduate students and researchers working in this important field.

 

 

 

Interstellar dust grains catalyse chemical reactions, absorb, scatter, polarise and re-radiate starlight and constitute the building blocks for the formation of planets. Understanding this interstellar component is therefore of primary importance in many areas of astronomy & astrophysics. For example, observers need to understand how dust effects

 

 

 

Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the productivity and profitability of agriculture in North America. More variable weather, drought, and flooding create the most obvious damage, but hot summer nights, warmer winters, longer growing seasons, and other environmental changes have more subtle but far-reaching effects on plant and livestock growth and development.Resilient Agriculture recognizes the critical role that sustainable agriculture will play in the coming decades and beyond. The latest science on climate risk, resilience, and climate change adaptation is blended with the personal experience of farmers and ranchers to explore: The’strange changes’in weather recorded over the last decade The associated shifts in crop and livestock behavior The actions producers have taken to maintain productivity in a changing climateThe climate change challenge is real and it is here now. To enjoy the sustained production of food, fiber, and fuel well into the twenty-first century, we must begin now to make changes that will enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of North American agriculture. The rich knowledge base presented in Resilient Agriculture is poised to serve as the cornerstone of an evolving, climate-ready food system.Laura Lengnick is a researcher, policymaker, activist, educator, and farmer whose work explores the community-enhancing potential of agriculture and food systems. She directs the academic program in sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College and was a lead author of the report Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.

 

 

 

Covering the full life span of the project, from siting issues through specific design features to maintenance of the property and equipment, this is a comprehensive guide to designing, planning and building a solar house. The author uses his experience of living in a solar house to inform the reader of the technology and practices needed for the design, operation and maintenance of the solar home. Each of the technologies of the house, such as space heating and cooling, domestic hot water and electric power technologies, are critiqued from the point of view of the owner/resident, with the author using his thirty years experience of living in a solar home. This provides home owners who are thinking of going solar with first hand evidence of best practice, and provides the architect and designer with the knowledge of how to best satisfy their clients needs.

 

 

 

Climate change is one of the most challenging issues of our time. As key sites in the production and management of emissions of greenhouse gases, cities will be crucial for the implementation of international agreements and national policies on climate change. This book provides a critical analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change and the prospects for urban sustainability. Cities and Climate Change is the first in-depth analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change. The book argues that key challenges concerning the resources and powers of local government, as well as conflicts between local goals for economic development and climate change mitigation, have restricted the level of local action on climate change. These findings have significant implications for the prospects of mitigating climate change and achieving urban sustainability. This book provides a valuable interdisciplinary analysis of these issues, and will appeal to students and researchers interested in sustainability at local and global scales.

 

 

 

Following an overview of climate change and global crop productivity, the book is divided into 4 sections: the problem-changing biosphere (climatic change and variability, and agricultural contributions to greenhouse gas emissions); crop ecosystem responses to climatic change (rice, maize and sorghum, soyabean, cotton, root and tuberous crops, vegetable crops, tree crops, productive grasslands, rangelands, crassulacean acid metabolism crops, crop-weed interactions, pests and population dynamics, soil organic matter dynamics, and interactive effects of ozone, ultraviolet-B radiation, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide); mitigation strategies (crop breeding strategies for the 21st century, and role of biotechnology in crop productivity in a changing environment); and economic and social impacts (global, regional and local food production and trade in a changing environment).

 

 

 

Modern technology depends heavily on advances in the electrochemical field, but this field may not be receiving the research attention and funding it needs. This new book addresses this issue. It reviews the status of current electrochemical knowledge, recommends areas of future research and development, identifies new technological opportunities in electrochemistry, delineates opportunities for interdisciplinary research, and outlines the socioeconomic impact of electrochemical advances.

 

หนังสือเล่มใหม่จะพูดถึงความสำคัญของเคมีไฟฟ้าในเทคโนโลยีสมัยใหม่ ซึ่งแม้จะมีความก้าวหน้า แต่กลับขาดการสนับสนุนด้านการวิจัยและเงินทุน โดยจะทบทวนสถานะปัจจุบันของความรู้ในสาขานี้ แนะนำแนวทางการวิจัยและพัฒนาในอนาคต รวมถึงโอกาสทางเทคโนโลยีใหม่ๆ และการวิจัยแบบสหวิทยาการ พร้อมทั้งวิเคราะห์ผลกระทบทางเศรษฐกิจและสังคมจากความก้าวหน้าทางเคมีไฟฟ้า