Renewable energy use in Japan: national policy, critical response and alternative paradigms
Recent national renewable energy policy in Japan is informed by a very real, severe and continuing energy security crisis and by the perceived need for a national response to global warming. The recent history of this policy response is described, as are the socio-political and economic circumstances which have shaped and constrained it. The substance of the critiques from significant RE energy generator and advocacy groups in light of perceived policy failures is provided. These critiques are based on the research evidence these groups have produced which demonstrates how the full range of RE resources available in Japan have been under-emphasized or ignored. These same groups and sub-national organizations have undertaken alternative RE policy development and implementation strategies which underpin a larger concern for the long-term sustainability of Japanese society. Several of the more striking of these alternatives, the Tδkyδ-Regional Network, the Energy in My Yard concept, and Sustainability Zones, are described.
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Conventional economics is increasingly criticized for failing to reflect the value of clean air and water, species diversity, and social and generational equity. By excluding biophysical and social reality from its analyses and equations, conventional economics seems ill-suited to address problems in a world characterized by increasing human impacts and decreasing natural resources. Ecological Economics is an introductory-level textbook for an emerging paradigm that addresses this fundamental flaw in conventional economics. The book defines a revolutionary "transdiscipline" that incorporates insights from the biological, physical, and social sciences, and it offers a pedagogically complete examination of this exciting new field. The book provides students with a foundation in traditional neoclassical economic thought, but places that foundation within a new interdisciplinary framework that embraces the linkages among economic growth, environmental degradation, and social inequity. Introducing the three core issues that are the focus of the new transdiscipline -- scale, distribution, and efficiency -- the book is guided by the fundamental question, often assumed but rarely spoken in traditional texts: What is really important to us? After explaining the key roles played by the earth's biotic and abiotic resources in sustaining life, the text is then organized around the main fields in traditional economics: microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics. The book also takes an additional step of considering the policy implications of this line of thinking. Ecological Economics includes numerous features that make it accessible to a wide range of students: more than thirty text boxes that highlight issues of special importance to students; lists of key terms that help students organize the main points in each chapter; concise definitions of new terms that are highlighted in the text for easy reference; study questions that encourage student exploration beyond the text; glossary and list of further readings; An accompanying workbook presents an innovative, applied problem-based learning approach to teaching economics. While many books have been written on ecological economics, and several textbooks describe basic concepts of the field, this is the only stand-alone textbook that offers a complete explanation of both theory and practice. It will serve an important role in educating a new generation of economists and is an invaluable new text for undergraduate and graduate courses in ecological economics, environmental economics, development economics, human ecology, environmental studies, sustainability science, and community development.
Transnational variation in linguistic politeness in Vietnamese : Australia and Vietnam
Over the past three decades, the Vietnamese language has undergone substantial changes, both in Vietnam, and in diasporic contexts such as Australia. Yet the nature of the variation resulting from those changes at the sociopragmatic level in expressing politeness is little researched. 
The question of whether there are differences in the politeness expressed by Vietnamese speakers living in Vietnam and Australia is the focus of this research.