Environmental Changes: Global Challenges(No. 1 Environmental Web S.)

This book introduces global environmental issues through two case study examples: small oceanic islands and the continent Antarctica. Both locations were 'discovered' relatively recently, and thus give us a clear and dramatic record of human impact. The book looks at how we deal with human-induced environmental change on an increasingly interconnected planet, and ways in which distant places are linked. It considers the severity and complexity of environmental problems, and how we can distinguish the human contribution to local and global environmental change from that which is caused by the Earth's natural variability. This leads on to the challenge of how we manage and direct our relationships with the physical world and the ecosystems we are part of. It also raises the vital question of who gets to participate in decision-making processes.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTSShrinking worlds: islands and environmental change - Introducing The Environmental Web- Connected planet, divided world - Troubled waters: the predicament of islands- Global environmental change: substantiating the charges - Sustainability in a dynamic worldIsland life: adventures in isolation and openness - Tropical island Edens - Threats to island life - Lessons from small islands- Environmentalism and the idea of 'Eden'- Islands and the origin of species- The vulnerability of island life - Island ecosystems and island social systems- Coevolution of ecosystems and social systemsWeathering extremes: the challenge of dynamic systems- Steering through stormy weather59- Reef wars: catastrophe and the coral-seaweed competition 59- Sustainability and ecosystem dynamics 66- Heavy weather: agriculture and climatic variability 69- Global governance: obligations in a connected world 77Island Antarctica- Early 'discoveries' of Antarctica - The discovery of 'real' Antarctica - Antarctic geography- A short interlude -- using the Internet for research - Antarctic climate - How Antarctica became ice covered Perception and reality -- the 'invisible' ecosystemThe Southern Ocean- Antarctic habitats - Ecosystems from top to bottom: leopards and leopard seals- The 'grass of the sea' - Krill -- an 'invisible' herbivore - The blue whale -- a marine anteater?- Production and biomass -- putting some numbers into the ecosystem - The ice-ocean ecosystem - Planet engineering with plankton Exploitation to the endgame: Antarctic governance- Exploitation continues apace- Understanding the impacts of unsustainable development: The Discovery Investigations- The International Whaling Commission- A modern land rush: territorial conflicts in Antarctica- The post-war human invasion - Antarctic tempers rise - Peace breaks out: The International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 - The Antarctic Treaty - The failure of the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA)150- Antarctica today