Sustainability Today

This book contains additional research papers submitted for a meeting on sustainable development and planning organised in 2011 by the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT). WIT has a long and very successful record of organising conferences on the topic of sustainability, which requires an interdisciplinary approach. Any sustainable solutions that are derived solely from the perspective of a single discipline may have unintended damaging consequences that create new problems. Thus effective sustainable solutions require the collaboration of scientists and engineers from various disciplines, as well as planners, architects, environmentalists, policy makers, and economists. These experts must not only communicate with each other effectively, but also understand the social aspects of the problem at hand. The contents of the book reflect that interdisciplinary approach, and include the following topics: Sustainable Development and Planning; Energy and Sustainability; Food and Environment; Water Resources Issues; Sustainable Tourism; and Waste Management and Soil Recovery.