Global Climate Change, Environment and Energy: Global Challenges and Opportunities to Global Stability.

• Author: Nuroglu, Elif
• Position: Book review

Global Climate Change, Environment and Energy: Global Challenges and Opportunities to Global Stability

Edited by Filiz Katman

Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, 265 pages, $48,51, ISBN: 978-1443866934.

This book discusses global climate change by focusing on the interdependence between energy and the environment. According to the editor, the issue of global climate change needs an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, this book aims to identify the challenges and the necessary policy recommendations to overcome these challenges.

The book analyzes environmental issues under three main chapters. The first chapter discusses the issues of global climate, environment and energy with respect to global challenges and opportunities for stability. The articles in this chapter focus on security to which global climate change can be seen as a contemporary threat (article 1 by Katman herself). The second article discusses the paradigm shift in Millennium Development Goals, where the consideration of science as a basic principle is suggested as the most important component, and the responsibilities of the public and private sectors should be balanced. It is also important to note that acceptance and awareness of environmental problems in society are key factors, and that bottom-up, not top-down management style is important to achieve environmental goals. For sustainable development and environment protection, the participation of local actors are crucial to making legal regulations more useful and successful.

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Chapter two is composed of six articles devoted to analyses of the influence of Global Climate Change on the Environment. Here, ecocentrism--a new ethical approach--is suggested to guide decision makers and citizens in establishing a sustainable balance between environmental protection and economic development, and to approach the environment as a whole from individual perspectives to institutions, from state administration to international organizations. Moreover, Voluntary Carbon Markets are proposed to bring environmental concerns to the market level and to raise awareness across all social levels, companies, individuals, institutions and organizations. Tree fields are touted as important models for Turkey, which could provide a source of income for low income families while decreasing the amount of corbon emissions. It is argued that by spreading the responsibility for the environment...