Search

Climate change and urban development threaten health, undermine coping and deepen existing social and environmental inequities. A changing global environment requires transformative social responses: new partnerships, deep engagement with local communities, and innovation to strengthen individual and collective assets. The chapters of this edited volume have mainly been contributed by established and emerging scholars representing social work, sociology, development studies, law, government, social anthropology, urbanism, public policy, and other social sciences This book is to be used for academics, policy makers, social work students, lecturers and other stakeholders to promote advocacy for vulnerable client groups affected by climate change. It gives some measure of hope and makes the invisible visible, allowing for change.

Looming environmental and social breaking points, like climate change and massive inequalities, are becoming increasingly apparent and large in scale. In this book, Gaya Herrington puts today's key societal challenges in perspective. Her analysis, rooted in her research on a 50-year-old model of the world that forecasted the onset of global collapse right around the present time, brings some structure to what otherwise might feel like the overwhelming task of achieving genuine societal sustainability. Herrington's research, first published in 2020 in Yale‘s Journal of Industrial Ecology, went viral after it revealed empirical data tracked closely with the predictions of this world model, which was introduced in the 1972 best seller The Limits to Growth. Her book Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse contains an exclusive research update based on 2022 data and is written in a more personable and accessible style than the journal article. Herrington also elaborates more in this book on the many interlinkages between our economic, environmental, and social predicaments, and on what her findings indicate for future global developments. Herington lays out why “business as usual” is not a viable option for global society and identifies the root cause of this unsustainable path. Most importantly, her book teaches us what systemic changes humanity still has time to make to achieve a better tomorrow. A future in which society has transformed beyond the mere avoidance of collapse and is truly thriving. You can read more about the question if we are on the Verge of Global Collapse here.

Transitioning is a key concept for innovative management in several domains, particularly the challenges emerging from climate change. Transitioning to Clean Water and Sanitation will, thus, contribute to an understanding of how transitions are underway for adapting water and sanitation systems to the projected impacts of climate change, with the aim of ensuring clean water, improved sanitation and proper hygiene conditions for a better protection of health in all parts of the world. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5 °C states that climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth are projected to increase with a global warming of 1.5°C and to increase further to 2°C. In addition to water- and food-borne diseases, some vector-borne diseases (e.g., malaria and dengue fever) will become more frequent, including potential shifts in their geographical range. Climate change affects health through a range of different pathways amongst which water and sanitation play a major role in disease transmission. The increase of temperature and precipitation in many places in the world affect the transport and dissemination of infectious agents and the growth as well as survival of pathogens and vectors, particularly through water and sanitation systems. Therefore, any development perspective for the sustainable management of water and sanitation systems can no longer ignore the projected impacts of climate change in order to provide innovative solutions and grant successful management. Nor can we ignore the socio-political dimensions entailed therein and the persisting inequalities in the provision of clean water and sanitation across the globe in urban as well as rural areas. Thereby, water may both be the target and the source of conflict. This volume draws on a multi-disciplinary perspective to lay bare the possibilities and challenges for granting access to clean and safe water infrastructures. Transitioning to Clean Water and Sanitation is part of MDPI's new Open Access book series Transitioning to Sustainability. With this series, MDPI pursues environmentally and socially relevant research which contributes to efforts toward a sustainable world. Transitioning to Sustainability aims to add to the conversation about regional and global sustainable development according to the 17 SDGs. The book series is intended to reach beyond disciplinary, even academic boundaries.