Life on the Brink is an unusual volume in that it allows non-­‐academic, activist voices as well as  politicians,  environmental  studies  scholars,  and  social  scientists  to  participate  in  the  argument that concerns us all, the argument about the future of our planet and of humanity. The common …

Anthropocentrism is the belief that value is focused on human beings and that all other beings are means to human ends. Related to anthropocentrism, humanism privileges the aim of improvement of human welfare. Humanism has underwritten efforts to expose social injustices and improve the welfare of all …

The objective of this report is to examine what elements the International Institute for Animal Ethics should incorporate in order to create an effective animal ethics training programme. The research’s main question is as follows: “How can IIAE create an effective animal ethics training programme? ”. …

This entry begins by reviewing the definitions of “human”, “environment” and “dichotomy”, consequently turning to the debates concerning the human–environment relationship. Synthesizing various studies, the capability of advanced tool use; language, hyper-sociality, advanced cognition, morality, civilization, …

The city is nature. In many ways this bold statement can be contested, but at the same time wildlife is so abundant Rotterdam is called a wilderness park (Reumer, Wildpark Rotterdam. De stad als natuurgebied. Historische Uitgeverij, Groningen, 2014). One can discuss whether this is true or not, but more …

In this chapter we move back in time, to when it was not an usance to base our city designs on the natural systems of water and ecology. By the end of the 1980s the dogma of separation of functions, and dividing the city in areas for working, living, leisure and traffic was slowly abandoned and especially …

There is mounting evidence that efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of human activity on climate and biodiversity have so far been unsuccessful. Explanations for this failure point to a number of factors discussed in this article. While acknowledging cognitive dissonance as a significant contributing …

In this book, the phenomenon of technology will be approached and analysed from the perspective of natural ecology. And finally, it will address the question of how the autonomy of technology is shaped and what this could potentially mean for humans. This book will close by going into the question of …

Videogames have become educational, communicative and social tools among the young, favouring the acquisition of skills, abilities and values, encompassing an endless number of themes, and helping them to experience and to face, in the first person, a great diversity of environmental situations and ecology …

Coastal soft-sediment habitats are some of the most valued ecosystems due to their high productivity, sustaining coastal food webs. However, coastal soft-sediment habitats are under pressure due to human activity and sea level rise. To preserve or restore soft-sediment habitats different management strategies …