Librería Desdémona
Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
We live in a rapidly changing world.The significant factors causing environmental change today are the COVID-19pandemic and climate change. We cannot yet foresee when COVID-19 will end,even though it has been spreading since its first report in December 2019. As of May2021, more than 150 million people have been infected, and the number of COVIDrelateddeaths has exceeded 3 million people worldwide. With such direct damages,COVID-19 has profoundly influenced the living conditions of vulnerable peoplesuch as those living in poverty, non-regular workers, the elderly, children,and women.It has been pointed out that a potential cause of its occurrence and spread is theexpansion of human activities, which degrades natural ecosystems and increases therisks of encountering unknown viruses. Recent globalization trends have contributedto the rapid diffusion of the virus and the expansion of the pandemic. TheCOVID-19 pandemic also highlights essential issues in today’s society, such as therelationship between humans and nature, the vulnerable sides of globalization, andvarious socioeconomic divides among and within countries.Climate change has also been progressing, making its impacts more apparentglobally, particularly over the past 10 years. For example, India was hit by extraordinaryheatwaves of more than 50°C in 2019, and the Philippines has suffered fromsevere damage from super typhoons. Simultaneously, Japan has been experiencingthe increased impact of larger-scale floods caused by torrential rains and typhoons,which have caused escalating levels of damage. Bushfires in Australia in 2020 andCalifornia in 2021 gave a strong shock to the world. Although the times and placeswere different, all of these events were similarly reported using words such as'unprecedented' or 'once a lifetime' occurrences. Hence, it is clear that among thefeatures of today’s rapidly changing world is the reality that environmental changesare confronting us with unparalleled challenges and risks.
