Supply-Side Sustainability PDF
Preview Supply-Side Sustainability
Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page i SUPPLY-SIDE SUSTAINABILITY Complexity in Ecological Systems Series Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page ii COMPLEXITY IN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS SERIES Timothy F. H. Allen and David W. Roberts, Editors Robert V. O’Neill, Adviser Robert Rosen Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life Timothy F. H. Allen and Thomas W. Hoekstra Toward a Unified Ecology Robert E. Ulanowicz Ecology, the Ascendent Perspective John Hof and Michael Bevers Spatial Optimization for Managed Ecosystems David L. Peterson and V. Thomas Parker, Editors Ecological Scale: Theory and Applications Robert Rosen Essays on Life Itself Robert H. Gardner, W. Michael Kemp, Victor S. Kennedy, and John E. Petersen, Editors Scaling Relations in Experimental Ecology S. R. Kerr and L. M. Dickie The Biomass Spectrum: A Predator-Prey Theory of Aquatic Production John Hof and Michael Bevers Spatial Optimization in Ecological Applications Spencer Apollonio Hierarchical Perspectives on Marine Complexities: Searching for Systems in the Gulf of Maine Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page iii SUPPLY-SIDE SUSTAINABILITY T. F. H. Allen Joseph A. Tainter Thomas W. Hoekstra Columbia University Press • New York Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page iv COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Publishers Since New York Chichester, West Sussex © Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allen, T. F. H. Supply-side sustainability / Timothy F. H. Allen, Joseph A. Tainter, Thomas W. Hockstra. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). –––X (cl. : alk. paper) . Ecology. . Sustainable development. I. Tainter, Joseph A. II. Hoekstra, T. W. III. Title QH .A —dc Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America c p Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page v For Josephine, Gwynedd, Harrison, Eleanor, and Jamie —T. F. H. Allen For Malaika, Emmet, Stephanie, David, and Stephen —J. A. Tainter For Joyce VanDeWater —T. W. Hoekstra Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page vi 7KLVSDJHLQWHQWLRQDOO\OHIWEODQN Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page vii CONTENTS Preface xi . The Nature of the Problem A New Global System Economics, Society, and Ecology Comprehending Sustainability Manage Systems, Not Outputs Manage Contexts Supply What Systems Need Let the Ecological System Subsidize Management Understand Problem Solving Sustainability in a Social Context Paying for Sustainability Maintaining the Political Context The Ecology of Sustainability Driven Between Disciplines by Technology Prediction in Large Systems Standard Practice for Different Reasons Social and Biogeophysical Integration I. COMPLEXITY, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY . Complexity and Social Sustainability: Framework Monitoring, Predicting, and Problem Solving Complexity and Problem Solving Producing Resources Resources, Intensification, and Sustainability Producing Knowledge Summary and Implications for Sustainability Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page viii Contents . Complexity and Social Sustainability: Experience Collapse of the Western Roman Empire Understanding Roman Unsustainability The Early Byzantine Recovery Collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate Development of Modern Europe Consequences of European Wars Implications for Sustainability Some Characteristics of Sustainability II. A HIERARCHICAL APPROACH TO ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY . The Criteria for Observation and Modeling The Organism Sustaining the Umwelt Habits and Familiar Settings Rare and Endangered Umwelts Stress and Unmet Umwelts The Human Umwelt and Sustainability of Other Species Living Systems Theory Minimal Viable Systems Organisms as Fragile Systems The Landscape Historical Landscapes in Context Implications of Landscapes in a Human Context Policy Implications on Landscapes Landscapes Cast the Problem The Population Sustainable Populations Sustainability in Aquatic Populations Sustainability and Human Populations Modern Conservation Biology Hierarchical Structure in Populations: Metapopulations The Community Community as Opposed to Population Forest Stand Simulators: Community–Population Hybrids Dynamics of the General Community Model Taking the Community Model Through Scale Changes Implications for Sustainability Conclusion viii Allen FM 11/10/02 5:47 PM Page ix Contents . Biomes and the Biosphere The Biome Criterion Biomes and Climate Change Sustainability of Agricultural Systems as Biomes Lack of Sustainability in Paleobiomes Global Ecology . Ecosystems, Energy Flows, Evolution, and Emergence Definition of Ecosystem The Essential Dichotomy in Biology The Duality of Evolution and Thermodynamics A Primer on the Mechanics of Thermodynamic Emergence The Thermodynamics of Ecosystems Experiments on the Generative Function Observations on Ecosystems and Sustainability Evolution, Emergence, and Diminishing Returns Implications for the Contemporary Period Supply-Side Sustainability and Resource Management Scale Conclusion . Retrospect and Prospects Sustainability and Problem Solving Unsustainable Problem Solving in Natural Resource Management Sustainable Problem Solving: Managing Systems Technological Optimism and Sustainability Models of Sustainable and Unsustainable Futures Management and Basic Research Energy Subsidies Societal Demands Ecosystems, Complex Societies, and Self-reflective Science References Index ix
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