Everyday Lifestyles and Sustainability: The Environmental Impact Of Doing The Same Things Differently

by Fabricio Chicca (Editor), Brenda Vale (Editor), Robert Vale (Editor)

Overview

The impact of humanity on the earth overshoots the earth’s bio-capacity to supply humanity’s needs, meaning that people are living off earth’s capital rather than its income. However, not all countries are equal and this book explores why apparently similar patterns of daily living can lead to larger and smaller environmental impacts.

The contributors describe daily life in many different places in the world and then calculate the environmental impact of these ways of living from the perspective of ecological and carbon footprints. This leads to comparison and discussion of what living within the limits of the planet might mean. Current footprints for countries are derived from national statistics and these hide the variety of impacts made by individual people and the choices they make in their daily lives. This book takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach by calculating the footprints of daily living. The purpose is to show that small changes in behaviour now could avoid some very challenging problems in the future.

Offering a global perspective on the question of sustainable living, this book will be of great interest to anyone with a concern for the future, as well as students and researchers in environmental studies, human geography and development studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138693876
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/09/2018
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Fabricio Chicca is a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Brenda Vale is a professorial research fellow in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Robert Vale is a professorial research fellow in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Africa 3. Asia 4. Europe 5. North America 6. Oceania 7. South America 8. Calculating the ecological footprints of the stories 9. Comparing the footprints 10. Food 11. Travel 12. Energy 13. Dwelling 14. Consumer goods 15. Conclusions