Global Sustainability Cultural Perspectives and Challenges for Trans
This book offers new perspectives of transdisciplinary research, in methodological as well as theoretical respects. It provides insights in the two-fold bio-physical and the socio-cultural global embeddedness of local living conditions on the basis of se
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Global Sustainability Cultural Perspectives and Challenges for Transdisciplinary Integrated Research
Global Sustainability
Benno Werlen Editor
Global Sustainability Cultural Perspectives and Challenges for Transdisciplinary Integrated Research
Editor Benno Werlen Department of Geography University of Jena Jena, Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-16476-2 ISBN 978-3-319-16477-9 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-16477-9
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015941901 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
We live in the age of the anthropocene. Nature is no longer nature, but everywhere bears the deep imprint of human activity. Of course, human beings have long influenced the habitats in which they live. Some of the early civilizations, for example, by felling forests, or causing watercourses to dry up, created deserts where none existed before. Yet none intervened into the natural world by more than a small fraction of the degree to which our civilization does, and on an everyday basis. Climate change is perhaps the fundamental example of this transformation, caused by the burning of fossil fuels on a massive scale. The speed with which we are using up the world’s oil reserves, for instance, contrasts in an extraordinary way with the length of time it took for them to be laid down – which happened over many millennia. At current rates of consumption, we will burn our way through most of them in less than 200 years from the first time at which their commercial exploitation began. It is an awesome thought that we are busy changing the world’s climate – and on a permanent basis, since we know of no way of getting the greenhouse gases that are causing the world to warm up out of the atmosphere once they are there. Some will persist
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