If you haven't already, I recommend looking at the supplementary material
(methods documentation) for this study, available via the article in
Science (Feb 15, Vol. 319). This will allow you to review what data was
not included in the study.
L. Jodice
.At 12:46 AM 2/20/2008 +0000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
As usual, we have an otherwise commendable ecological research effort
falling just short of potent policy implications by relegating the causes
of environmental degradation to the phrase human activities. Where in
the policy arena will anyone find a table where policy makers are dealing
in "human activities?" Studies such as this would be much more
productive, policy-wise, if only they used more policy-relevant framing.
Lets consider the causes of oceanic degradation that Halpern et al. used
to produce their map: several categories of fishing, several categories
of pollution, invasive species, ocean acidification, benthic structures,
population pressure, commercial activity, and two categories of climate
change. How might we characterize these categories in policy-relevant
terms? As a prior president could have said, "Its the economy,
friends." Now that would indeed be policy-relevant, because in the policy
arena there is no shortage of tables fiscal and monetary policy tables -
with a big sign hanging overhead, "economic growth."
Are these causes of oceanic degradation really economic activities? Lets
take them one by one: Fishing is part of the agricultural/extractive
trophic level at the base of the human economy. Pollution is the
byproduct of the economic production process made inevitable by the second
law of thermodynamics. The spread of invasive species is a function of
international trade and interstate commerce. Ocean acidification and
climate change are each a function of fossil fuel combustion in a global
economy that is approximately 90% fossil-fueled. "Benthic structures" are
commercial infrastructure, most notably oil rigs. "Population pressure"
in policy-relevant terms means an increasing consumer base and labor
force. Its hard to get any more economically relevant than with the
phrase "commercial activity." The causes are practically a Whos Who of
the global economy, but it wont get pointed out unless someone does so.
Halpern et al. did a good job of documenting causes, but hopefully the
Halperns et al. of the future will put their resultsin more
policy-relevant terms by noting the connection of environmental pressures
to the policy goal of economic growth. Meanwhile and just as hopefully,
and in supplementary fashion, scientifically based professional societies
such as the ESA will help to channel such research by taking positions
on economic growth, such as the one now proposed by 60 (last count) ESA
members.
Cheers,
Brian Czech, Ph.D., President
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
SIGN THE POSITION on economic growth at:
http://www.steadystate.org/CASSEPositionOnEG.html .
-- "J. Michael Nolan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
An interesting article and map on the state of the world's oceans from
NPR. Thank you.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19085884&sc=emaf
Mike Nolan
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