About the Book
Food, water and energy form some of the basic elements of sustainability considerations. This ground-breaking book examines and decodes these elements, exploring how a range of countries make decisions regarding their energy and bio-resource consumption and procurement. The authors consider how these choices impact not only the societies and environments of those countries, but the world in general.
To achieve this, the authors review the merits of various sustainability and environmental metrics, and then apply these to 34 countries that are ranked low, medium or high on the human development index. The book assesses their resource capacities and the environmental impacts, both within and outside their country boundaries, from consuming food, water, and energy. The final section uses the lessons derived from the earlier analyses of resource consumption to explore the importance of geography, climates and sustainable management of forests and other natural resources for building resilient societies in the future.
Table of Contents:
PART 1: From the Beginning
1. Sustainability - Clues for Positive Societal and Ecosystem Change
2. Learning From the Past: Why Societies Collapsed or Survived
PART 2: Scientific Approach to Decoding Sustainability
3. Today: Decoding Country Resource Stories
PART 3: The Real Country Stories
4. Fossil Energy Endowments and Externalities
5. Forests - the Backbone and Circulatory System for Human Societies
6. The Soil and Water Connection to Food: Adapt, Mitigate, or Die
PART 4. Climate and Soils: Unavoidable Constraints To Solar Capital
7. The Future: Climate Change as a Global Driver Impacting Sustainability
8. Where the Past and Future meet: Soils or the Unseen Earth that Nurtures Societies
9. The Ultimate Constraint to Human Sustainability: Solar Income
PART 5. Societies Adapt To a Quagmire of Resource Choices
10. Debunking Sustainability Myths
11. Portfolio for Managing Natural and Human Capital
12. Sustainable Ecosystems: Investments in Human and Natural Capital
References
About the Author :
KRISTIINA A. VOGT is a professor of ecosystem management and founder (and co-coordinator) of the Forest Systems and Bioenergy program at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. She was one of the founders of a start-up bioenergy company, Renewol, producing a mobile methanol generator to use low quality wood and cellulosic waste and is currently the Chair in Renewol LLC. She also is the Vice-President for Bio-Energy, Interforest LLC. She was born in Turku, Finland. She obtained the Professor rank at Yale where she was appointed the Margaret K. Musser Professor of Forest Ecology. She has an honorary Master's degree in the Arts from Yale University. In 2000, she joined the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington as a Dean and Professor, and continues in her capacity as a Professor. She is a co-investigator on a multi-million dollar Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) grant funded by the NSF entitled 'Bio-resource Based Energy for Sustainable Societies'. This award supports the development of a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate education and research program in Bioresource-based Energy for Sustainable Societies focusing on producing PhD graduates from American Indian tribes. Her research focus can be summarized as: Interdisciplinary research in organizing problem solving, developing interdisciplinary educational consortium and developing tools to solve complex interdisciplinary problems around the world in conservation, bioenergy and forestry. She has conducted research in Iceland, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, Belize, Indonesia, and in Alaska, Puerto Rico as well as within the continental US. Professor Vogt has authored or co-authored seven books and published over 135 refereed articles including 'Forests and Society. Sustainability and Life Cycles of Forests in Human Landscapes' (CABI), 'Ecosystems: Balancing Science with Management' (Springer-Verlag) and 'Forest Certification: Roots, Issues, Challenges and Benefits' (CRC Press). She has published on a range of topics varying from global forest carbon budgets, belowground ecology in an ecosystem context, the role of species in conservation, nutrient cycling, invasive species, restoration ecology, ecosystem based assessments including human values and non-human constraints, and bioenergy by linking biomass to produce transportation fuels and electricity in the western US and in Indonesia. She has a BA degree in Biology from the University of Texas and obtained her MS and PhD degrees in Biology from New Mexico State University. TORAL PATEL-WEYNAND is an Affiliate Associate Faculty at the University of Washington (UW) and an Associate of the Forest Systems and Bioenergy, UW. She has been a biologist in the U.S. Geological Survey, BRD/Biological Informatics group. She supervised and managed the International Biological Informatics Group and engaged in cooperation through multilateral and bilateral activities and professional meetings. Furthermore, she coordinated the International Program to address gaps in conservation networks and assist in developing bilateral and regional initiatives that help link biological networks and databases to geospatial information systems to improve the predictive capability of models which aid in policy formulation and decision making. She served as co-lead on the Pacific Biodiversity Information Facility and the Ocean Biogeographic Information Network and work closely with Japan, Australia and New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries both bilaterally and in multilateral fora on biological data sharing. She also served as the U.S. delegation lead to United Nations Environment Programme on Strengthening the Scientific Base of UNEP. Prior to this, she served as technical advisor to the Department of State and as USGS liaison on Cooperation with the Rio Conventions, including the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on wetlands, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as other international initiatives and organizations such as UNEP, IUFRO/GFIS and the Arctic Council, among others. From 2001-2004, she was the Senior Science Policy analyst for the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, Office of Global Change, Washington, DC. She has a BA in Economics from the Bombay University in India, a BA from Temple University in Pennsylvania, a MS (environmental policy and planning) from George Washington University in Washington DC and a PhD (Ecosystem Ecology) from Yale University. She has co-authored or edited several books including 'Forests and Society. Sustainability and Life Cycles of Forests in Human Landscapes' (CABI) and 'Ecosystems: Balancing Science with Management' (Springer-Verlag). MAURA SHELTON is a Research Associate with the Forest Systems and Bioenergy in the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. She is presently an NSF IGERT Bioenergy Fellow developing geospatial techniques to determine appropriate sites from biomass removal that include cultural attributes. She is developing the decision tools for determining how biomass can be removed from forests without impairing their resiliency to disturbances and to maintain their provision of ecosystem services. She is also coordinating the capacity of indigenous communities in the Philippines and in Indonesia as well as an American Indian tribes' to manage their own energy systems and to determine how much forest materials can be sustainably collected. She has previous experience working on capacity building in the Philippines and in China. She is working with an Indonesian non-profit to develop their capacity to train villagers in the use of spatial data to assess their forest resources. She is a co-collaborator for a chapter in an upcoming book 'Bio-resource Based Energy for Sustainable Societies' from Nova Science Publishers. She has previous careers in economics and financial analysis and secondary education. She holds a Bachelors and Masters of Science in Economics from Baylor University and a teaching certificate from Seattle University. DANIEL J. VOGT, Associate Professor in Soils and Ecosystem Ecology of the College of Forest Resources, came to the University of Washington in July 2000 from Yale University. At the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale, Daniel was a teaching faculty member in Ecosystem Ecology and Forest Soils and also the Director of the Greeley Analytical Laboratory. Professor Vogt received degrees from New Mexico State University (Biology B.S. in 1968, and Agronomy M.S. in 1976), and from the University of Washington (Forest Resources Ph.D. in 1987). He is an internationally-recognized scholar with over 50 author credits, including co-authorship of books on 'Ecosystems: Balancing Science with Management' (Springer, 1996 and a Chinese translation), 'Forest Certification: Roots, Issues, Challenges and Benefits' (CRC Press, 1999), and 'Forests and Society: Sustainability and Life Cycles of Forests in Human Landscapes' (CABI Publishing, 2006). His research interests include studies on many different ecosystems from around the world including boreal, temperate and tropical biomes. He is also currently a senior consultant of Interforest, LLC, a sustainable forestry consulting firm, and a partner in a start-up bioenergy company, Renewol, which employs a mobile generator that uses low quality wood and cellulosic waste to produce methanol. JOHN C. GORDON is Chairman of Interforest, LLC, a sustainable forestry consulting firm, and a founder of the Candlewood Timber Group, Inc., a sustainable forestry company with forestland and operations in Argentina. He is also Pinchot Professor Emeritus of Forestry and Environmental Studies at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he was Dean from 1983-1992, and again in 1997-98. Before that he was Head and Professor, Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Professor of Forestry at Iowa State University, and Principal Plant Physiologist in the Pioneering Project in Wood Formation, USDA Forest Service, Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He has a B.S. (forest management) and a Ph.D. (plant physiology and silviculture) from Iowa State University, and has been a Fulbright Scholar in Finland (University of Helsinki) and India (GKVK State Agricultural University, Bangalore). His primary expertise is in the biological basis of forest productivity, the management of research, and forest policy and management. He has consulting experience with public and private organizations, including forest product firms, the Intertribal Timber Council, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. He has authored, coauthored or edited over 150 papers and books, including 'Environmental Leadership: Developing Effective Skills and Styles' (Island Press) and 'Environmental Leadership Equals Essential Leadership' (Yale Press) both with Joyce Berry. He has overseas experience in a variety of places, including India, Pakistan, China, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Finland and Scotland. He also is currently a partner in two start-up companies, Renewol, a bioenergy company producing a mobile methanol generator to use low quality wood and cellulosic waste, and Maximum Yield Associates, which does global searches for productive forest sites and advises on increasing forest plantation yields. CALVIN T. MUKUMOTO is the President of Renewol LLC, a start-up company producing a mobile methanol generator to use low quality wood and cellulosic wastes, and the Chief financial Officer for TSS Consultants. He is an experienced manager working at the senior executive level providing strategic business planning, business viability assessments, capital budget analysis, marketing, interim management, contract negotiation, project management, information systems development and turnaround management services. Prior to his current positions he was the Forest Resource Director for the Warm Springs Forest Products Industries in Oregon where he developed and implemented the expanded biomass plant for co-generation. He also has been a management consultant providing business management, marketing and planning services to forest products companies, American Indian Tribes and others. From 1980-1988, he was the Operations Manager for the Makah Tribal Council in Washington for the government of the Makah Indian Tribe. He has a BS (forest management) from Humboldt State University and a MBA and an Executive MBA program from the University of Washington. He also had an internship with Nissho Iwai Corporation in Japan, a forest products company. ASEP S. SUNTANA is a Research Associate in the Forest Systems and Bioenergy program at the University of Washington. He has over 15 years of practical experience in institutional development, capacity building and training on sustainable forest management, forest certification, community forestry, biodiversity, and environmental education in Indonesia. Since 2004, he has been working on the field of forest systems and bio-energy program, particularly in linking forest management systems, biodiversity conservation, sustainable bio-energy development, carbon mitigation, and sustainable rural livelihoods. He was one of the co-founders of the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute Foundation (Yayasan Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia/YLEI) in 1998 and also a Co-founder of RMI-the Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment in 1992. From 2000-2004, he was the Deputy Director of The Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute and continued after that time as their Liaison Officer while in the US. He directed the formulation of new programs particularly related to the community-based forest management certification system and plantation/man-made forest certification system; oversaw the design of programs; coordinated the implementation of the programs; developed and carried out monitoring and evaluation system. He obtained a BS degree from the Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in Indonesia and a MA degree from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He is also a PhD candidate in the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. He is also a LEAD fellow (Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) International and LEAD Indonesia Program) in Indonesia, China, and Canada (1998 - 2000). He contributed to the book 'Forests and Society: Sustainability and Life Cycles of Forests in Human Landscapes' (CABI). PATRICIA A. ROADS is the Communications Director for the Center for Adaptive Policies in Ecosystems International, a non-profit organization originally based in Washington and now in Iceland. Prior to this, she was a Systems Analyst, Field Engineer for National Cash Register (NCR). She also was an Engineering Educational Instructor for NCR USDPG and Financial Software Product Manager for NCR USDPG followed by Operations Manager for DB&C. She has considerable experience in publishing and writing op-ed pieces for the lay media as well as for the scientific media outlets on energy, use of forest materials for energy, rural community recovery efforts after disturbances and social adaptation to them. She was on the Steering Committee Member, a rapporteur and wrote the summary for the 'Forest and Agricultural Based Bio-energy and Carbon Mitigation', World Renewable Energy Regional Congress and Exhibition held in Indonesia in 2007. She has co-authored several publications and been an editor on publications produced by the Indonesian Institute for Forest Environment (RMI), Indonesia. She was a contributor to the 'Forests and Society: Sustainability and Life Cycles of Forests in Human Landscapes' (CABI) and she was a co-author for a chapter in an upcoming book entitled 'Bio-resource Based Energy for Sustainable Societies' (Nova Science Publishers).
Review :
'What is 'sustainability'? Taking a comprehensive yet simple approach, this book discusses the inter-linking and complex elements of sustainability and how they influence and are influenced by our society when it comes to making decisions about resource use. A must-read book for everyone interested in conservation, the environment and development.' Dicky P. Simorangkir, Forest Program Director, The Nature Conservancy, Indonesia 'A foundational reader that is encyclopedic in its scope and consideration of data to advance an analytical lens to plan and implement sustainable development that meets both the real-world tests of pessimists and ambitions of optimists.' Steve Rhee, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science and Technology Fellow, US State Department (2007-9)
