This report argues that production and consumption patterns are integrally linked: that the entire use cycle must be considered if environmental effects are to be understood, potential interventions identified, and effective policy approaches articulated.

Digital communication has altered the flow of global information,evolved consumer values and changed consumption practices worldwide.New Perspectives on Critical Marketing and Consumer Society provides an illuminating, challenging and thought-provoking guide for all upper-level students of marketing,branding and consumer behaviour.

Educational Trends Exposed explains and critically reviews eighteen of the most prevalent trends sweeping schools, colleges and universities over the last decade and beyond. Amid the buzz from news outlets, websites and social media peddling ‘this works’ approaches and ‘quick fix’ solutions, this book provides educators with a practical tool to help answer important questions such as: what does this trend actually involve? Is it worth the investment of time and resources? Does it work – what does research say? Do the claimed benefits to students outweigh any downsides? In this timely book, David Armstrong and Gill Armstrong cast a critical, expert eye over these trends, referencing the latest research and offering a framework for considering educational trends, empowering readers as informed critical consumers. They argue that trends disclose deeper truths about the state and direction of contemporary public education in Australia, England and the US and provide original, thought-provoking analysis. This book demonstrates that a greater understanding of trends can teach some important lessons, including how parents, teachers and educational decisions makers can agitate and collaborate for a modernised and more socially equitable education system. Educational Trends Exposed is essential reading for pre- and in-service teachers, and all educational decision makers who are faced with a choice of which trend, if any, to follow.

While overconsumption by the developed world's roughly one billion inhabitants is an abiding problem, another one billion increasingly affluent "new consumers" in developing countries will place additional strains on the earth's resources, argue authors Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent in this important new book. The New Consumers examines the environmental impacts of this increased consumption, with particular focus on two commodities -- cars and meat -- that stand to have the most far-reaching effects. It analyzes consumption patterns in a number of different countries, with special emphasis on China and India (whose surging economies, as well as their large populations, are likely to account for exceptional growth in humanity's ecological footprint), and surveys big-picture issues such as the globalization of economies, consumer goods, and lifestyles. Ultimately, according to the orman Myers and Jennifer Kent, the challenge will be for all of humanity to transition to sustainable levels of consumption, for it is unrealistic to expect "new" consumers not to aspire to be like the "old" ones. Cogent in its analysis, The New Consumers issues a timely warning of a major and developing environmental trend, and suggests valuable strategies for ameliorating its effects.

By the year 2025 nearly 2 billion people will live in regions experiencing absolute water scarcity. In the face of this emerging crisis, how should the planet's water be used and managed? Current international policy sees nature competing with human uses of water. Hunt takes issue with this perspective. She suggests that nature is the source of water and only by making the conservation of nature an absolute priority will we have the water we need for human use in future. It is essential , therefore, to manage water in ways that maintain the water cycle and the ecosystems that support it. This book looks at the complexity of the problem. It provides a wide array of ideas, information, case studies and ecological knowledge - often from remote corners of the developing world -- that could provide an alternative vision for water use and management at this critical time. Essential and compelling reading for students on courses related to water resource management and development; water managers and decision makers, and non-specialists with an interest in global water issues.

The Consumer Society Reader features a range of key works on the nature and evolution of consumer society. Included here is much-discussed work by leading critics such as Jean Baudrillard, Susan Bordo, Dick Hebdige, bell hooks, and Janice Radway. Also included is a full range of classics, such as Frankfurt School writers Adorno and Horkheimer on the Culture Industry; Thorstein Veblen's oft-cited writings on "conspicuous consumption"; Betty Friedan on the housewife's central role in consumer society; John Kenneth Galbraith's influential analysis of the "affluent society"; and Pierre Bourdieu on the notion of "taste." "Consumer society--the 'air we breathe,' as George Orwell has described it--disappears during economic downtruns and political crises. It becomes visible again when prosperity seems secure, cultural transformation is too rapid, or enviornmental disasters occur. Such is the time in which we now find ourselves. As the roads clog with gas-guzzling SUVs and McMansions proliferate in the suburbs, the nation is once again asking fundamental questions about lifestyle. Has 'luxury fever,' to use Robert Frank's phrase, gotten out of hand? Are we really comfortable with the 'Brand Is Me' mentality? Have we gone too far in pursuit of the almighty dollar, to the detriment of our families, communities, and natural enviornment? Even politicians, ordinarily impermeable to questions about consumerism, are voicing doubts... [and] polls suggest majorities of Americans feel the country has become too materialistic, too focused on getting and spending, and increasingly removed from long-standing non-materialist values." —From the introduction by Douglas B. Holt and Juliet B. Schor

World Resources 2000-2001, People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life focuses on the critical link between ecosystems and people and provides an overview of current global environmental and economic trends using hundreds of indicators in more than 150 countries. Until now there has not been a comprehensive, formalised process to assess human damage to our ecosystems, to establish a baseline for future actions, or to disseminate information that would aid the formulation of better policies world-wide. This book is the first reliable, comprehensive base of evidence for taking stock and taking care of the world's diverse ecosystems. • deals with the critical issues that focus on the link between ecosystems and people • highlights the goods and services that ecosystems provide and illustrates the benefits of a better understanding and better management of the planet's natural wealth • reports on pilot studies by leading scientists and international institutions assessing the state of the world's ecosystems - forests, croplands, grasslands, freshwater systems and coastal areas • increases the understanding of human dependence on nature • raises awareness of environmental threats • provides examples of wise stewardship from all corners of the globe • focuses on four main issues: population and human well-being, food and water security, consumption, energy and wastes, trace emissions since the Kyoto protocol • gives data tables for more than 150 countriesIt demonstrates the power of information and new digital technologies to transform the way we interact with our environment and is particularly important for environmentalists, scientists, professionals, journalists, policy-makers and students. This special Millennium Edition of the World Resources Institute's biennial report published by Elsevier Science in September 2000 in partnership with the World Resources Institute, the UN Environment Program, the UN Development Programme and the World Bank. NEW FROM APRIL 2001 - http://www.enviromod.subnet.dk/Ecological and Environmental Modeling - An Interactive Internet Course