Essential Concepts of Animals in Sustainability An A-Z Guide

This book compiles, discusses, and explains 126 key concepts relating to animals in sustainability in an easy-to-navigate A–Z format.

Essential Concepts of Animals in Sustainability is a roadmap of concepts that trace the connections of the planet with all its inhabitants – humans, non-human animals, other organisms, and ecosystems. This book provides an interdisciplinary introduction, drawing on the social, ecological and physical sciences, to examine the place of animals as members of communities in relation to humans, other organisms and the physical environment. Entries address the important role individual animals and species play in ecosystem management and environmental well-being, as well as addressing negative impacts on the environment, such as the methane produced by cattle. The book also focuses on the philosophical and ethical arguments that support protecting animals from human exploitation, including questions around emotion and sentience. Overall, this book provides students with a clear picture of the animal question in sustainability and will demonstrate that the ability to coexist is essential to the entire biophysical world.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of animal studies, zoology, conservation biology, environmental studies, ecosystem services, environmental humanities and sustainability.

Linda Kalof is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Environmental Science & Policy and Founding Director of the graduate specialization in Animal Studies at Michigan State University, USA. She has published 13 books, including Looking at Animals in Human History (2007), A Cultural History of Animals in Antiquity (2007), The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies (2017), and The Animals Reader, Second Edition (Routledge 2022).

Cameron T. Whitley is Professor of Sociology at Western Washington University, USA. With over six dozen publications, his research examines empathy for non-human animals, inclusive approaches to environmental justice, human-animal relationships in climate-induced disasters, and representations of animals with disabilities, with particular attention to care, vulnerability, and multispecies inequality. In 2023, he was awarded a five-year National Science Foundation Early CAREER grant.

Thomas Dietz is University Distinguished Professor Emeriti and Founding Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University, USA. His recent publications include Decisions for Sustainability: Facts and Values (2023). In 2024 he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences.