Sustainability & Environmental Studies

LC Subject(s):
Sustainability-Encyclopedias. Environmental quality-Encyclopedias-Environmental protection-Encyclopedias-Sustainable development-Encyclopedias

Description:
Analyzes myriad human-initiated processes and tools developed to foster sustainable natural resource use, preservation, and restoration. It also examines how humans interact with plant, marine, and animal life in both natural and human-altered environments.

"Providing robust coverage of the field of environmental issues and policy, this collection, which includes magazines and academic journals, provides instant access to the multiple viewpoints of this volatile field of study, including perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests."

This special issue focuses on water, and man's struggles to obtain it. Though water seemingly covers our world,97% is salty, 2% is locked up in snow and ice, and less than 1% is available for human use. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live where water is scarce. The good news is that improved technology has driven the costs of desalinated water in S. California to only about one-third higher than fresh water. Forty percent of households in sub-Saharan Africa are over one hour from the nearest water. Two-thirds of our fresh water is used to grow food. Americans use about 100 gallons of water/day at home; millions of the world's poorest subsist on less than five. Almost half the world doesn't have water piped to their homes. Dirty water and lack of toilets/proper hygiene kill 3.3 million/year. The biggest problem with water assistance programs in undeveloped nations is that about half fall into disrepair for lack of parts or technical repair skills. Privatization often brings high prices. Beijing aims for 100% reuse of waste-water by 2013. Melting glaciers portend the eventual depletion of Asia's greatest rivers. China aims to build 59 reservoirs to capture/save glacial runoff.