Sustainable Agriculture Reviews by
Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. This book series gathers review articles that analyze these issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions.
Sustainability Ethics and Sustainability Research by
The book identifies the specific ethical aspects of sustainability and develops ethical tools to analyze them. It also provides a methodological framework to integrate ethical and scientific analyses of sustainability issues, and explores the notion of a new type of self-reflective inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research.
Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology by
This online encyclopedia provides comprehensive entries on dozens of topics. Keyword searches for terms is the easiest way to find entries. That said, of possibly interest are:
Landfill Closure and Reuse of Land
Recycling Collection and Materials Separation
Recycling Technologies
Resource Repletion, Role of Buildings
Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse
Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability (10-vol. Set) by 
Sustainability Science for Strong Sustainability by
Sustainability Science for Strong Sustainability investigates the core concepts, tools and institutional strategies of this evolving field. Prominent research programs within heterodox economics, the environmental sciences and transition theory are explored through diverse case studies, revealing challenges and advancements for transdisciplinary research. The need for reform of modern science is facilitated by consideration of action points to overcome the institutional barriers of putting sustainability science into practice.Up to date knowledge on the practice of transdisciplinary research for sustainability will benefit researchers in environmental economics and environmental management.
Sustainability Science by
Sustainability science is a new academic discipline emerging in response to threatened sustainability of the global environment. The purpose of this discipline is to help build a sustainable society by developing solutions to climate change, resource exhaustion, ecological destruction, and other environmental crises that threaten humanity. Sustainability science demands a realignment of existing academic disciplines.
Information, Models, and Sustainability by
This book reflects on the emerging trends, development, and challenges of policy on sustainability using information technology, and provides valuable insights to both research and practice communities. Sustainability has become an important focus for government, civil society and the corporate community world-wide. Growing interest in addressing environmental deterioration and associated social inequality and economic challenges is shifting focus to this important issue. The lack of fresh water and arable land, extreme weather, rising cost of relying on fossil fuels, and poverty and regional instability, are drawing attention to the need for government intervention and policy instruments that encourage the development of sustainable alternatives. Governments can play a very important role in facilitating sustainable development through better public policies. First of all, public investments can be directed toward establishing incentives for renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, and land and water conservation, or toward leveling the field for sustainable alternatives by phasing out the subsidies directed to unsustainable production and development. Second, regulatory and pricing mechanisms could help with the development of markets for sustainable products. This book engages policy informatics analytical and modeling approaches, stakeholder engagement in policy development, implementation and evaluation, and big data and policy informatics to generate valuable insights in the policy on sustainable energy, and will be on interest to researchers in public administration and sustainability, open data and information technology ecological economics.​
Working Together: collective action, the commons, and multiple methods in practice by
Working Together examines how different methods have promoted various theoretical developments related to collective action and the commons, and demonstrates the importance of cross-fertilization involving multimethod research across traditional boundaries.
Asset Building and Community Development, 4th ed. [have both print and ebook] by
Asset Building and Community Development, Fourth Edition examines the promise and limits of community development by showing students and practitioners how asset-based developments can improve the sustainability and quality of life.
Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology by
Spanning the chain of research, from designing a project through methods of data collection and interpretive analysis, the Handbook features new chapters on ethnography of online communities, social survey research, and network and geospatial analysis. Considered discussion of ethics, epistemology, and the presentation of research results to diverse audiences round out the volume. The result is an essential guide for all scholars, professionals, and advanced students who employ fieldwork.
Citizenship, Sustainability and Enviromental Research by
This innovative book uses a little-known methodological research tool to study ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), the subject of the book, is a novel and interesting social phenomenon which seems to constitute a more ecologically rational and socially inclusive form of economic activity. LETS is a system for exchanging goods and services without the use of formal, legal tender. Unlike barter, LETS members buy and sell using their own nominal currency units, but the currency in which trade is conducted is purely a means of exchange, not a commodity in itself or a store of value. The authors of this book examine LETS, and in particular they discuss whether LETS can be viewed as an aspect of the 'greening' of citizenship, with the potential to contribute to the transition to, and maintenance of, a more sustainable society. They describe the part LETS can play in raising environmental awareness; offering more sustainable practices of production and consumption and helping to create in the community the preconditions for sustainability. In their study of LETS, the authors use Q methodology, (a qualitative methodology for the systematic study of subjectivity and shared discourses) and at the same time they evaluate its usefulness for social scientific environmental research. They find that it is a powerful methodological approach which is consistent with many of the core principles, values and aims of ecological economics. They also conclude that Q has the potential to contribute to environmental policy analysis and the creation of a more participative, democratic and effective form of environmental policy making. This book will be of great interest to all social scientists interested in social movements, environment and citizenship, and in particular those wanting to understand the application of Q methodology for social science research.
Conducting Research Literature Reviews, 5th ed. by
Providing readers with an accessible, in-depth look at how to synthesize research literature, Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper is perfect for students, researchers, marketers, planners, and policymakers who design and manage public and private agencies, conduct research studies, and prepare strategic plans and grant proposals. Bestselling author Arlene Fink shows readers how to explain the need for and significance of research, as well as how to explain a study's findings. Offering a step-by-step approach to conducting literature reviews, the Fifth Edition features new research, examples, and references from the social, behavioral, and health sciences, expanded coverage of qualitative research, updated and revised meta-analysis procedures, a brand new glossary of key terms, double the number of exercises, and additional examples of how to write reviews.
Researching Sustainability: A guide to social science methods, practice, and engagement by
This book is for students and researchers across the social sciences who are planning, conducting and disseminating research on sustainability-related issues. Real-world sustainability problems cross many boundaries, and this is the first book to guide students and practitioners through the practical and theoretical challenges of doing interdisciplinary research in this vital and emerging area.
Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences by
Sustainability is a key concept used by social scientists interested in interactions between human society and the environment. This text offers a systematic and critical review of established and emerging methodological approaches, as well as tools for the integrated investigation of sustainability questions. Recognising the significance of scale for sustainability efforts and measurement, its scope ranges from the local to the global. Divided into five sections: Part I: examines the key challenges inherent to social scientific sustainability research, focusing in particular on methodological questions that arise from recent efforts towards greater disciplinary integration. Part II: discusses methodologies aimed at the investigation of attitudes and behaviour observable at the local level - from families and households to individual organisations within communities. Part III: focuses on comparative sustainability research across different levels of socio-political organisation - from cities and regions to nation-states. Part IV: covers recent developments which recognise the significance of time for sustainability research and which offer innovative methodological approaches that focus on life events and long-term outcome. Part V: offers a critical assessment of current and future trends in social-scientific sustainability researc. Bringing together contributions from international social scientists, this is the resource for academics and practitioners interested in sustainability research. It will be a core teaching text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sustainability and sustainable development, geography, environmental sociology and the environmental sciences.
Transdisciplinary Research and Practice for Sustainability Outcomes by
Transdisciplinarity is a form of research and practice that synthesises knowledge from a range of academic disciplines and from the community. There is now global interest and a significant body of work on transdisciplinarity and its potential to address the apparently intractable problems of society. This creates the opportunity for a specific focus on its practical application to sustainability issues. Transdisciplinary Research and Practice for Sustainability Outcomes examines the role of transdisciplinarity in the transformations needed for a sustainable world. After an historical overview of transdisciplinarity, Part I focuses on tools and frameworks to achieve sustainability outcomes in practice and Part II consolidates work by a number of scholars on supporting transdisciplinary researchers and practitioners. Part III is a series of case studies including several international examples that demonstrate the challenges and rewards of transdisciplinary work. The concluding chapter proposes a future research pathway for understanding the human factors that underpin successful transdisciplinary research. As Emeritus Professor Valerie Brown AO notes in her Preface, this book moves transdisciplinary inquiry into the academic and social mainstream. It will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of sustainability, qualitative research methods, environmental impact assessment and development studies.
Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability by
Transdisciplinarity is a new way of scientifically meeting the challenges of sustainability. Indeed, interdisciplinary collaboration and co-operation with non-academic 'practice partners' is at the core of this; creating contextualised, socially relevant knowledge about complex real-world problems. Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability breaks new ground by presenting transdisciplinary research in practice, drawing on recent advances by the vibrant transdisciplinary research communities in the German-speaking world. It describes methodological innovations developed to address wide-ranging contemporary issues including climate change adaptation, energy policy, sustainable agriculture and soil conservation. Furthermore, the authors reflect on the challenges involved in integrating non-academic actors in scientific research, on the tensions that arise in the encounter of theory and praxis, and on the inherently normative, political nature of sustainability research. Highlighting the need for academic institutions to be transformed to reflect transdisciplinarity, this timely volume will appeal to postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Sustainability Science, Transdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy of Science.
Researching the Social Economy by
** Chapter 13 Organic Farmers and the Social Economy: Positive Synergies for Community Development**
Researching the Social Economy is one of the first comprehensive research collections on the social economy in Canada. While the term "social economy" is used widely is Western Europe and Quebec, it has had minimal currency in English Canada, where the differences between the public and private sectors and among nonprofits, co-operatives, social enterprises, and community economic development organizations have been emphasized.
Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 6th ed. by
Research Methods in Anthropology is the standard textbook for methods classes in anthropology. Written in Russ Bernard's unmistakable conversational style, this guide has launched tens of thousands of students into the fieldwork enterprise with a combination of rigorous methodology, wry humor, and commonsense advice. Whether you are coming from a scientific, interpretive, or applied anthropological tradition, you will learn field methods from the best guide in both qualitative and quantitative methods.
