News
Conference: Biodiversity and society: understanding connections, adapting to change
Book: Transitions - Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development in Australia
Call for Pre-Proposals for one year of research grants related to global environmental change in Africa
Vacancie: Professor of sustainable resource use
Call for Papers: Journal of Industrial Ecology - Special Issue on Applications of material flow analysis
Announcement: Video and discussion - MEAT THE TRUTH, Livestock farming creates major environmental problems: A reduction in meat consumption is inevitable
Book: Fundamental principles of energy
Conference Transitions towards sustainable agriculture, food chains and
peri-urban areas
Conference: The 2008 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Industrial Ecology
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Conference: Biodiversity and society: understanding connections, adapting to change
The conference is entirely dedicated to biodiversity science and its
connections to human sciences. In keeping with the Conference
title, scientists worldwide are invited to submit proposals for
symposia on the following topics:
• Strengthening biodiversity science
Evolution of biodiversity – Inventorying biodiversity –
Monitoring biodiversity changes – Drivers of biodiversity
changes – Prediction of biodiversity changes – Biodiversity
and ecosystem functioning – Linking ecosystem functioning
to ecosystem services
• Supporting the science – policy interface
Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity – Valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services – Economic incentives – Biodiversity and development
• Integrated approaches to topical issues
Agrobiodiversity – Biodiversity and health – Freshwater
biodiversity – Invasive species – Marine biodiversity –
Mountain biodiversity – Etc.
• Focus on African issues is welcome
Symposium submission available online here
Submission deadline is 15 September 2008
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Book: Transitions - Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development in AustraliaFormidable challenges confront Australia and its human settlements: the mega-metro regions, major and provincial cities, coastal, rural and remote towns. The key drivers of change and major urban vulnerabilities have been identified and principal among them are resource-constraints, such as oil, water, food, skilled labour and materials, and carbon-constraints, linked to climate change and a need to transition to renewable energy, both of which will strongly shape urban development this century.
Transitions identifies 21st century challenges to the resilience of Australia’s cities and regions that flow from a range of global and local influences, and offers a portfolio of solutions to these critical problems and vulnerabilities. The solutions will require fundamental transitions in many instances: to our urban infrastructures, to our institutions and how they plan for the future, and perhaps most of all to ourselves in terms of our lifestyles and consumption patterns.
With contributions from 92 researchers - all leaders in their respective fields - this book offers the expertise to chart pathways for a sustainability transition.
Additional information can be found here
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Call for Pre-Proposals for one year of research grants related to global environmental change in Africa
START, the global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training, seeks to enhance scientific capacity for global environmental change (GEC) research in developing regions is seeking Pre-Proposals from African scientists for one-year projects on global environmental change in Africa. The Pre-Proposal must provide specific information on how the proposed research will contribute to:
- Improving knowledge of the Earth’s changing climate and environment, including its natural variability, and/or how the research will improve understanding of the causes of observed variability and change.
- Improving quantification of the driving forces of changes in the Earth’s climate and systems.
- Reducing uncertainty in projections of how the Earth’s climate and related systems may change in the future.
- Understanding the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes.
- Assessing impacts, adaptation and risk management strategies related to climate variability and change.
Timeline
- Deadline for Pre-Proposals is midnight (24:00) US Eastern Time on Friday, 15 August 2008.
- Successful proponents will be invited to submit a full proposal by 25 September 2008.
- Full proposals must be submitted by 01 November 2008.
- Funding decisions will be made by mid January 2009.
Additional information can be found here
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Vacancie: Professor of sustainable resource use
The Institute of Social Ecology at Klagenfurt University in Vienna, Austria invites applications for the position of a Professor of sustainable resource use. The position will be a full professor (according to § 98 UG) for an initial period of three years that may then be transformed into an unlimited contract.
The successful candidate for this position requires, on the basis of a natural science background (preferably biology), a thorough understanding of approaches from social sciences and the humanities and experience in directing interdisciplinary research projects in the field of sustainability science. He or she is expected to contribute to an existing team by developing formalized methods for the empirical
analysis of system interrelations and long term trajectories in the societal use of materials, energy, water and land. The new position will be instrumental to advance research into integrated socioecological analysis and modelling and foster the integration of biophysical variables into macroeconomic models as part of international collaboration. The professor should help to establish international master and doctoral programmes in Human and Social Ecology by offering courses in English and by raising funds for doctoral candidates. Candidates should be able to teach in English and German, and have acquired a venia docendi (habilitation) or an equivalent. In case of equal qualification, female candidates will be preferred.
Letters of application can be sent until 23rd of July, 2008. Please find details here
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Call for Papers: Journal of Industrial Ecology - Special Issue on Applications of material flow analysis
Deadline: September 1, 2008
The Journal of Industrial Ecology invites you to submit articles for a special issue on Applications of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) by September 1, 2008.
Material flow analysis (MFA), the tracking and analysis of materials through the environment and the economy at various scales, is growing in sophistication and generating increased interest among environmental researchers around the world. MFA holds out the promise of a unique lens through which to examine environmental challenges, providing a valuable addition to the toolkit available to analysts and decision makers. Despite the dramatic growth in the methodological rigor of MFA, its practical utility remains to be fully appreciated. The goal of this special issue is to document examples of the practical use of MFA, explore the insights obtained from it, and assess the leverage for environmental problem solving that it provides.
MFA is often divided into two categories: economy-wide MFA (EW-MFA) and substance flow analysis (SFA).
Suggested Topics for the Special Issue
The goal of this special issue is to document how, when and where MFA has been used for business, policy and related decision making and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of MFA for those purposes using concrete examples. Appropriate topics include, the use of MFA to:
- Identify sources of pollutants
- Identify the fate of chemicals or materials entering society
- Identify potential future pollution problems
- Quantify resource availability with respect to investment in industrial capacity by firms or governments
- Identify specific resource scarcities for the future in light of current and new developments in technology and society
- Identify gaps in emissions inventories at the facility, firm or regional level
- Assess effectiveness and identify side-effects of pollution oriented policies
- Develop management strategies for a sustainable use of resources
- Identify risk and risk management strategies with respect to pollution and resource scarcity.
How to Submit
Manuscripts should be original, previously unpublished, in English, and between 3,500 and 7,000 words in length. Submission implies that the manuscript has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers should be submitted electronically via Manuscript Central here . Details about the preparation of the manuscript can be obtained from the Journal's web page here
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Announcement: Video and discussion - MEAT THE TRUTH, Livestock farming creates major environmental problems: A reduction in meat consumption is inevitable
Meat the Truth is the very first documentary to address the relationship between livestock farming and climate change. The film is presented by the Dutch politician Marianne Thieme, member of parliament for the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands. Meat the Truth is based on authoritative and influential scientific sources from under others the Institute of Environmental Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which demonstrate that livestock farming is one of the most important causes of global warming. The conclusions reached by this Dutch production have already generated more societal debate than the underlying reports upon which it is based.
In the documentary it becomes clear that worldwide the livestock industry is a far greater cause of global warming than all of the cars, lorries, aeroplanes and ships added together. A dairy cow emits just as many greenhouse gasses as 4.5 cars. The issues of the impact of livestock farming on water shortages and the unequal distribution of food resources are also raised in this documentary. At the end of the film, practical solutions to tackle climate change at the level of the individual consumer are presented.
After the film there is time for a discussion with Karen Soeters, director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, Harry Aiking, associate profesor of the Institute for Environmental Studies and Kees Knip, science editor NRC Handelsblad.
Tuesday 27th of May 2008 15.30 hr Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
More information can be found here in Dutch
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Book: Fundamental principles of energy
The concept of energy as we now understand it—a conserved quantity that represents the ability to do work—has been with us for less than two centuries. Yet its central role in human affairs dates to the time of the first humans, its role in shaping the physical and biological nature of the Earth dates to the planet's birth, and the story of Big Bang itself is told in terms of energy and matter.
Advances in our understanding of energy have produced unparalleled transformations of society, as exemplified by James Watt’s steam engine and the discovery of oil and its use as a fuel. Formalization of the concept of energy and identification of the laws governing its use by 19th century physical scientists such Mayer and Clausius are cornerstones of modern science.
Crude oil gushing from the prodigious Spindletop, TX field in 1901. The discovery of other large oil fields in the early 20th century launched a global economic and population boom, as well as wide scale environmental change.
Enlarge
Crude oil gushing from the prodigious Spindletop, TX field in 1901. The discovery of other large oil fields in the early 20th century launched a global economic and population boom, as well as wide scale environmental change.
The study of energy has played a pivotal role in understanding the creation of the universe, the origin of life, the evolution of human civilization and culture, economic growth and the rise of living standards, war and geopolitics, and significant environmental change at local, regional and global scales.
additional information can be found here
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Conference Transitions towards sustainable agriculture, food chains and peri-urban areas
Wageningen, 26 - 29 October, 2008
The agro-food sector and peri-urban rural areas are changing. Food chains industrialise and globalise. In the rural areas in the vicinity of urban metropolises space becomes scarce and it has many ‘owners’. Farmers look for new roads in the tension between the demands of the
international food chains and the local requirements concerning nature and the environment. The structural changes in the scarcity of products, energy, space and nature lead to fundamental changes in the views on the role of agriculture in urban areas. This implies long- term societal change. In such transitions stakeholders such as consumers, citizens, policy makers and farmers change their views on their own role and contribution to the problems and the solutions. Sometimes new stakeholders enter the arena.
The conference will cover recent developments on a wide range of topics:
- New farm systems in peri-urban areas
- New institutional arrangements in the country side
- Urban views on peri-urban farming systems and new coalitions in the rural area
- Need for and experience with new policy instruments
- Changes in the agro-innovation system
- Methods for research on transition
Call for papers
The Programme Committee invites submissions - a 3-page abstract - on the abovementioned topics for:
- Contributed papers
- Poster presentations
Theoretical as well as empirical research results are welcome.
The deadline for submission is 29 February 2008.
Aditional information can be found here
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Conference: The 2008 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Industrial Ecology
GRCs are unique among research meetings for their quality of content, relatively small size (100-120 people), diversity of participants, cutting-edge science often still unpublished, and a schedule allowing for extended discussion and informal interactions. Background on Gordon Conferences can be found at < www.grc.org/about.aspx>. Celebrating their 75th anniversary, GRCs, are among the most prestigious research conferences in science and technology.
Industrial ecology is a highly interdisciplinary field that focuses on environmental challenges related to sustainable production and consumption often by examining materials and energy flows at various scales. The field includes concepts and tools such as life-cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, input-output analysis, industrial symbiosis, design for environment, and integrated product policy. For more information visit the website here
The theme of this year’s GRC is: Transforming the Use of Energy, Materials, Water, and Wastes. See the program here
Application information can be found here
Application deadline: July 27, 2008, but participation is limited to 120 attendees.
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