"Top-ranked annual books on sustainable development."--GlobeScan survey of sustainability experts

The environmentalist's bible' Times Higher Education Supplement. 'Essential reading' The Good Book Guide. 'The most comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible summaries ... on the global environment' E. O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize winner. Celebrating its 25th year of publication, State of the World 2008 suggests that something huge and even revolutionary is struggling to be born as policymakers, business leaders and others around the globe create the architecture of sustainable economies. Featuring chapters on renewable energy, innovations in clean production, commons resources, trade policy, finance for sustainability, new economic yardsticks, and many other topics, State of the World 2008 is the first global-level publication to showcase a wide range of diverse innovations and to demonstrate their near-term potential to put whole societies on a sustainable path. Published annually in 28 languages, State of the World is relied upon by national governments, UN agencies, development workers and law-makers for its authoritative and up-to-the-minute analysis and information. It is essential for anyone concerned with building a positive, global future.

'The environmentalist's bible,' Times Higher Education Supplement. 'Essential reading,' The Good Book Guide In this 24th edition of State of the World, long established as the most authoritative and accessible annual guide to our progress towards a sustainable future, continues to provide the studies that pay particular attention to cities. In 2007, world population will tip from mostly rural to mostly urban. Already, some 1 billion individuals, one in every three urbanites, live in 'slums', some 90% of which are found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Published annually in 28 languages, State of the World is relied upon by national governments, UN agencies, development workers and law-makers for its authoritative and up-to-the-minute analysis and information. It is essential for anyone concerned with building a positive, global future. Featuring case studies of cities from Melbourne to Malmö to Timbuktu. This year's edition covers: an urbanizing world; providing clean water and sanitation; farming the cities; greening urban transportation; energizing cities; natural disaster risk in cities; charting a new course for urban public health; strengthening local economies; and, fighting poverty and environmental injustice in cities.

Today we hear much talk of crisis and comparisons are often made with the Great Depression of the 1930s, but there is a crucial difference that sets our current malaise apart from the 1930s: today we no longer trust in the capacity of the state to resolve the crisis and to chart a new way forward. In our increasingly globalized world, states have been stripped of much of their power to shape the course of events. Many of our problems are globally produced but the volume of power at the disposal of individual nation-states is simply not sufficient to cope with the problems they face. This divorce between power and politics produces a new kind of paralysis. It undermines the political agency that is needed to tackle the crisis and it saps citizens’ belief that governments can deliver on their promises. The impotence of governments goes hand in hand with the growing cynicism and distrust of citizens. Hence the current crisis is at once a crisis of agency, a crisis of representative democracy and a crisis of the sovereignty of the state. In this book the world-renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and fellow traveller Carlo Bordoni explore the social and political dimensions of the current crisis. While this crisis has been greatly exacerbated by the turmoil following the financial crisis of 2007-8, Bauman and Bordoni argue that the crisis facing Western societies is rooted in a much more profound series of transformations that stretch back further in time and are producing long-lasting effects. This highly original analysis of our current predicament by two of the world’s leading social thinkers will be of interest to a wide readership.

Relying on a wealth of data, Goklany shows how innovation, increases in affluence, and key institutions have combined to address environmental degradation that sometimes results from growth. The evidence on the use of cropland, trends in air pollution, and diverse experiences in water usage counters the gloomy outlook of some environmentalists. Goklany explains why the state of the world is improving and offers a realistic assessment of the sustainability of the human enterprise, setting priorities for dealing with such challenges as climate change.

This casebook collects 64 case studies each of which raises an important and difficult ethical issue connected with planning, reviewing or conducting health-related research. The book's purpose is to contribute to thoughtful analysis of these issues by researchers and members of research ethics committees (REC's known in some places as ethical review committees or institutional review boards) particularly those involved with studies that are conducted or sponsored internationally. . This collection is envisioned principally as a tool to aid educational programs from short workshops on research.

What kinds of experiences do we have with the poor and the oppressed around the world? What do we really know about the ins and outs of the lives of those who exist in a world of extreme poverty or oppression? Global Scenes of Biblical Injustice simplifies and synthesizes the bewildering array of research and technical data which exists regarding these issues. Through the use of colorful, informative, and thoughtful vignettes, this book paints an easily understandable picture of the true nature of what may be called biblical injustice. This thought-provoking book incorporates challenges for a Christian response regarding those whose daily plights fly in the face of what Scripture teaches about justice.