Author: Gerry McGovern Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1916444628 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 154
Book Description
Speaking out when it's unpopular. Back in the day, Henry David Thoreau raged at the robber barons-the big shots of their age, despoiling the environment in the name of progress. Deep in the throes of the seemingly unstoppable growth of tech, a modern-day Thoreau has emerged in the guise of Gerry McGovern-decrying the massive, hidden negative impacts of tech on the environment. McGovern has thoroughly documented in World Wide Waste how tech damages the Earth-and what we should be doing about it. It is not just the acres of discarded computer hardware conveniently dumped in Third World countries. Every time an email is downloaded it contributes to global warming. Every tweet, search, check of a webpage creates pollution. Digital is physical. Those data centers are not in the Cloud. They're on land in massive physical buildings packed full of computers hungry for energy. It seems invisible. It seems cheap and free. It's not. Digital costs the Earth.
Author: Silpa Kaza Publisher: World Bank Publications ISBN: 1464813477 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 244
Book Description
Solid waste management affects every person in the world. By 2050, the world is expected to increase waste generation by 70 percent, from 2.01 billion tonnes of waste in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes of waste annually. Individuals and governments make decisions about consumption and waste management that affect the daily health, productivity, and cleanliness of communities. Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding, transmitting diseases, increasing respiratory problems, harming animals that consume waste unknowingly, and affecting economic development. Unmanaged and improperly managed waste from decades of economic growth requires urgent action at all levels of society. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 aggregates extensive solid aste data at the national and urban levels. It estimates and projects waste generation to 2030 and 2050. Beyond the core data metrics from waste generation to disposal, the report provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector. Solid waste management accounts for approximately 20 percent of municipal budgets in low-income countries and 10 percent of municipal budgets in middle-income countries, on average. Waste management is often under the jurisdiction of local authorities facing competing priorities and limited resources and capacities in planning, contract management, and operational monitoring. These factors make sustainable waste management a complicated proposition; most low- and middle-income countries, and their respective cities, are struggling to address these challenges. Waste management data are critical to creating policy and planning for local contexts. Understanding how much waste is generated—especially with rapid urbanization and population growth—as well as the types of waste generated helps local governments to select appropriate management methods and plan for future demand. It allows governments to design a system with a suitable number of vehicles, establish efficient routes, set targets for diversion of waste, track progress, and adapt as consumption patterns change. With accurate data, governments can realistically allocate resources, assess relevant technologies, and consider strategic partners for service provision, such as the private sector or nongovernmental organizations. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 provides the most up-to-date information available to empower citizens and governments around the world to effectively address the pressing global crisis of waste. Additional information is available at http://www.worldbank.org/what-a-waste.
Author: Tristram Stuart Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393077357 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 480
Book Description
The true cost of what the global food industry throws away. With shortages, volatile prices and nearly one billion people hungry, the world has a food problem—or thinks it does. Farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets and consumers in North America and Europe discard up to half of their food—enough to feed all the world's hungry at least three times over. Forests are destroyed and nearly one tenth of the West's greenhouse gas emissions are released growing food that will never be eaten. While affluent nations throw away food through neglect, in the developing world crops rot because farmers lack the means to process, store and transport them to market. But there could be surprisingly painless remedies for what has become one of the world's most pressing environmental and social problems. Waste traces the problem around the globe from the top to the bottom of the food production chain. Stuart’s journey takes him from the streets of New York to China, Pakistan and Japan and back to his home in England. Introducing us to foraging pigs, potato farmers and food industry CEOs, Stuart encounters grotesque examples of profligacy, but also inspiring innovations and ways of making the most of what we have. The journey is a personal one, as Stuart is a dedicated freegan, who has chosen to live off of discarded or self-produced food in order to highlight the global food waste scandal. Combining front-line investigation with startling new data, Waste shows how the way we live now has created a global food crisis—and what we can do to fix it.
Author: Efstratios N. Kalogirou Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1351977911 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 275
Book Description
Through Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technology, plants use waste as a renewable fuel to co-produce electricity, heating, and cooling for urban utilization. This professional book presents the latest developments in WtE technologies and their global applications. The first part of the book covers thermal treatment technologies, including combustion, novel gasification, plasma gasification, and pyrolysis. It then examines 35 real-world WtE case studies from around the world, analyzing technical information behind planning, execution, goals, and national strategies. Results through the years show the benefits of the technology through the life cycle of the products. The book also examines financial and environmental aspects.
Author: Ron Gonen Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0593191854 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
The next revolution in business will provide for a sustainable future, from founder, CEO and circular economy expert Ron Gonen Our take-make-waste economy has cost consumers and taxpayers billions while cheating us out of a habitable planet. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Waste-Free World makes a persuasive, forward-looking case for a circular economic model, a “closed-loop” system that wastes no natural resources. Entrepreneur, CEO and sustainability expert Ron Gonen argues that circularity is not only crucial for the planet but holds immense business opportunity. As the founder of an investment firm focused on the circular economy, Gonen reveals brilliant innovations emerging worldwide— “smart” packaging, robotics that optimize recycling, nutrient rich fabrics, technologies that convert food waste into energy for your home, and many more. Drawing on his experience in technology, business, and city government and interviews with leading entrepreneurs and top companies, he introduces a vital and growing movement. The Waste-Free World invites us all to take part in a sustainable and prosperous future where companies foster innovation, investors recognize long term value creation, and consumers can align their values with the products they buy.
Author: Kate O'Neill Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0745687431 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 194
Book Description
Waste is one of the planet’s last great resource frontiers. From furniture made from up-cycled wood to gold extracted from computer circuit boards, artisans and multinational corporations alike are finding ways to profit from waste while diverting materials from overcrowded landfills. Yet beyond these benefits, this “new” resource still poses serious risks to human health and the environment. In this unique book, Kate O’Neill traces the emergence of the global political economy of wastes over the past two decades. She explains how the emergence of waste governance initiatives and mechanisms can help us deal with both the risks and the opportunities associated with the hundreds of millions – possibly billions – of tons of waste we generate each year. Drawing on a range of fascinating case studies to develop her arguments, including China’s role as the primary recipient of recyclable plastics and scrap paper from the Western world, “Zero-Waste” initiatives, the emergence of transnational waste-pickers’ alliances, and alternatives for managing growing volumes of electronic and food wastes, O’Neill shows how waste can be a risk, a resource, and even a livelihood, with implications for governance at local, national, and global levels.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Publisher: ISBN: 9780309458856 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 250
Book Description
An estimated 8 million metric tons (MMT) of plastic waste enters the world's ocean each year - the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute. Plastic waste is now found in almost every marine habitat, from the ocean surface to deep sea sediments to the ocean's vast mid-water region, as well as the Great Lakes. This report responds to a request in the bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act for a scientific synthesis of the role of the United States both in contributing to and responding to global ocean plastic waste. The United States is a major producer of plastics and in 2016, generated more plastic waste by weight and per capita than any other nation. Although the U.S. solid waste management system is advanced, it is not sufficient to deter leakage into the environment. Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste calls for a national strategy by the end of 2022 to reduce the nation's contribution to global ocean plastic waste at every step - from production to its entry into the environment - including by substantially reducing U.S. solid waste generation. This report also recommends a nationally-coordinated and expanded monitoring system to track plastic pollution in order to understand the scales and sources of U.S. plastic waste, set reduction and management priorities, and measure progress.
Author: Bill D. Moyers Publisher: ISBN: 9780932020956 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
Reveals the dangers facing our planet due to the lucrative and scandal-ridden business of trafficking in hazardous waste. Too often, the industrial world's worst poisons end up in countries where regulations are weak and seldom enforced. No country figures more prominently in this trade than the United States, which--as the world's top producer of hazardous waste--generates more than 500 million tons annually. In what amounts to the export of Love Canal, hazardous cargoes from America--used car batteries, dry cleaning fluids, banned pesticides, and the like--find dumpsites in the developing nations.
Author: Gunjal, Aparna B. Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1522577076 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 349
Book Description
The world population is expected to increase exponentially within the next decade, which means that the food demand will increase and so will waste production. There is a need for effective food waste management as wasted food leads to overutilization of water and fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the degradation of food. Global Initiatives for Waste Reduction and Cutting Food Loss explores methods for reducing waste and cutting food loss in order to help the environment and support local communities, as well as solve issues including that of land space. Covering topics that include food degradation, enzymes, and microorganisms, this publication is designed for policymakers, environmentalists, engineers, government officials, researchers, scientists, academicians, and students.
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Author: Gerry McGovern
Author: Caren Trafford
Author: Silpa Kaza
Author: Tristram Stuart
Author: Efstratios N. Kalogirou
Author: Ron Gonen
Author: Kate O'Neill
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Author: Bill D. Moyers
Author: Gunjal, Aparna B.