Discussion Question 11 (Solutions and Review) comments due Nov 23rd

Conservation biologists have been remiss by failing to link human health to healthy ecosystems. Consider an ecosystem of any size in your region and ask how might protecting or restoring that ecosystem benefit human health?

Discussion Question 12 (Solutions and Review) comments due Nov 23rd

Discuss some of the potential opportunities for and problems with possible ecotourism ventures near you. What issues would need to be addressed to ensure that ecotourism would be sustainable and not damaging to natural areas?

Whooping Cranes

Since we mentioned Whooping Cranes in the last class (as one of the drivers of the original Endangered Species Preservation Act) and we will discuss some of the problems of captive breeding in the next class I thought it would be relevant to post a video of the Whooping Crane breeding program, and, particularly, how they teach them the migration route. Although the video is really quite uplifting it does end with a bit of a downer.

Exporting pollution

There are a number of reports about the export of electronic waste from the west to developing countries such as Ghana. The New York Times had a photo-essay recently about Agbogbloshie, a slum in Accra, the 
capital of Ghana, where adults and children burn computers from abroad 
to get at the precious metals inside. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Last year the PBS show Frontline had a segment on this same place: Ghana - Digital Dumping Ground. It really makes you think twice about what you do with your old computer.

November 15th Monarch Docent Training

The City of Goleta's monarch docent training has been scheduled for Monday, November 15. Here are the details:

Monarch Butterfly Docent Program

Interested in learning more about butterflies?

Already a fan of monarchs?

Become a Monarch Butterfly Docent!

Since 2007, the City of Goleta has trained volunteer docents to provide information to visitors at the Elwood Main monarch butterfly overwintering site, located along Devereux Creek.

Each fall, monarch butterflies in the western United States migrate to the coast of California from various locations west of the Rocky Mountains. Goleta is home to one of the premiere monarch butterfly overwintering
sites in California.

The butterflies arive in mid-October and remain until mid-to-late February. Each winter, our docents can be found at the Elwood Main site
on Saturdays and Sundays between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Interested in volunteering?

Attend our docent training session!
Monday, November 15
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at Goleta City Hall
130 Cremona Drive, Suite B
Pizza provided

RSVP with Jessica Haro at 961-7510 or jharo@cityofgoleta.org

Grizzly Bear Economics

I only got around to looking at the Sunday paper this morning and there's an interesting article in the LA times this weekend about Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone.

Grim outlook for grizzlies in Yellowstone region
With milder winters affecting their food and hibernation habits, they're forced into a meat-dependent diet – putting them at odds with humans and livestock. They could end up as despised as wolves.

An interesting connection to our discussion on economics is the suggestion that the resumption of hunting may actually benefit the grizzlies in the long run.


"Public tolerance is starting to wane somewhat," said Mark Bruscino, bear management supervisor for Wyoming's Department of Game and Fish.

To Bruscino, it's simply wise game management to "harvest" animals, and might be better for bears. "Right now there's no value on bears," he said. "If people are allowed to compete for a limited number of hunting licenses, people will start to [ascribe] more value to bears."

The animals may be a victim of the success of conservation efforts. In 2007, the species was considered to have recovered enough to be taken off the endangered species list. But a court overturned that decision last year and returned the bears to "threatened" status, a decision U.S. Fish and Wildlife is appealing.

Wildlife officials meeting last week in Montana concluded the region's grizzly population is about 600, nearly three times the 1975 numbers. Some concluded that the increased bear conflicts signal that the region has reached its carrying capacity for grizzlies.

Ballotpedia again

 

Having recently discovered Ballotpedia I have been meaning to find some time to browse the fate of measures and amendments affecting conservation in the recent election in states other than California. Not exactly comprehensive but here are a couple from neighboring states that caught my eye.

Oregon Lottery Funds for Natural Resources Amendment, Measure 76 called for continuing lottery funding for parks, beaches, wildlife habitats, wastershed protection that are set to expire in 2014. The measure passed by a 2:1 margin. It is interesting that this passed so easily when California's proposition 21 (car license fees to fund State Parks) failed - although they do differ in several important ways.

The Arizona Land Conservation Fund Transfer, also known as Proposition 301, would have transferred $123.5 million from a land-conservation fund to the general fund. The measure was introduced in order to help balance the state budget. In a state that voted for a GOP sweep of statewide offices the proposition failed  by a margin of 3:1. It would be nice to read this as a vote for conservation but the Arizona Republic suggests it shows public distrust of politicians - by refusing to allow the Legislature to raid funding for early-childhood education and health and land-conservation programs - which is, I suppose, a vote for Conservation.

Dam Goats

I'm usually on top of the internet memes but this photograph of goats on a dam was apparently all over the internet recently. Although many people thought it was a fake it is in fact real - albeit not in the US as it was reported. The pictures are in fact from the Cingino Dam in Italy  The goats are attracted to the dam's salt-crusted stones because they don't get enough of the mineral in their vegetarian diets.

There are a couple more pictures at the National Geographic Website. I thought you might enjoy.

Happiness in Bhutan

Last week I briefly mentioned Bhutan, a small country on the Eastern end of the Himalayas, as a country that has a lot of forest left. Bhutan is largely a budhist country and it is one of the few countries in the world to have embraced happiness. Bhutan is the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world based on a global survey. The government must consider every policy for its impact not only on Gross Domestic Product, but also on GNH: "Gross National Happiness".

I mention Bhutan and happiness because it illustrates why this topic is important to conservation - Bhutan's gross national happiness measure has led to decrees that 60 percent of the country remain covered in forest.

However other measures, whether you agree with them or not, involve a lot more government intervention than most Americans would he happy with. The examples are from this BBC article in 2006 but there are lots of articles on Bhutan and its quest for happiness - just google Bhutan and happiness.

• Bhutan was the last nation in the world to introduce television in 1999. Recently they banned a number of channels including international wrestling and MTV, which they felt did little to promote happiness.
• Bhutan has banned plastic bags and tobacco on the grounds that they make the country less happy.
• Bhutan had one traffic light but they got rid of it because people found it frustrating. There's a person directing traffic there now.

Easterlin Paradox

The data I presented in class about happiness is actually so well discussed that it has its own name - The Easterlin Paradox

1) Within a society, rich people tend to be much happier than poor people.
2) But, rich societies tend not to be happier than poor societies
3) As countries get richer, they do not get happier.

Richard Easterlin offered one explanation to his paradox, arguing that only relative income matters to happiness not absolute income.

Recently two young economists from the University of Pennsylvania presented a rebuttal of the paradox arguing that money indeed tends to bring happiness, even if it doesn’t guarantee it. This debate, with a response Richard Easterlin is nicely summarized in a NY Times article, Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All. For a more in depth analysis the Freakonomics blog had a six part series on the economics of happiness which reanalyzes the traditional story.

• The Economics of Happiness, Part 1: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 2: Are Rich Countries Happier than Poor Countries?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 3: Historical Evidence
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 4: Are Rich People Happier than Poor People?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 5: Will Raising the Incomes of All Raise the Happiness of All?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 6: Delving Into Subjective Well-Being