Mathematics and Policy

I noticed that John Phipps had posted today about the poor state of American math and science education. At the end of his post, he drew a parallel to ‘why mathematical evidence seems to carry very little weight in policy debates’.
I’m well aware of the problems with using scientific and mathematical evidence in policy debates, [...]

KendaFest…pedal economics

I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the annual KendaFest mountain bike festival in the Berkshires. Because of my prostate cancer care, I’d missed out on the last couple…so it was great to go back. My abilities to climb on the bike seem good…so it was an extra treat that the ole’ cardio system was [...]

Cow Power

A report on the energy and emissions benefits of converting manure to biogas.
http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1748-9326/3/3/034002/erl8_3_034002.html

The Pros and Cons of Global Warming

http://climatedebatedaily.com/

Conservation Finance Blog

This is an excellent blog by Lars Christian Smith. Lars is an economist working on Protected Area Tradable Visiting Permits. There is also a list of other blogs of interest to environmental economics, ecosystem service markets, etc.
http://conservationfinance.wordpress.com/

WiserEarth.org

We’ve been developing a website to guide communities through evaluating how they might use environmental markets to benefit their conservation and environmental restoration goals. I’ve been researching various approaches to the website development…so looked at this site.
Paul Hawkin, who wrote ‘Natural Capitalism’, has worked over the past few years to create a social networking site, [...]

RGGI Auction Presentation

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has published this introductory presentation for bidders for their first auction in September:
http://www.rggi.org/auctions/documents/Auction_Webinar_Presentation_July_24_2008.pdf

Ecosystem Services: A 21st Century Policy Challenge

Attached is an issue of Choices Magazine which is a publication of the American Agricultural Economics Association. It is an interesting look at the farm as managed ecosystem. There is an article by the faculty at the University of Rhode Island concerning our USDA Conservation Innovation Grant…the Bobolink Project.
Here’s the link:
http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/pdf/block_9.pdf

Oil Shale

Yesterday the Department of Interior issued draft rules on oil shale exploration in Colorado, Utah and, Wyoming. As part of the rules, the royalty rates that companies pay for drilling on public lands would be reduced from 12 to 18 percent to 5 percent.
For an article:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/oil-shale-production-to-be-subsidized-under-bush-administration-plan.php

The Not-So-Good News

Today my colleague Peter sent me to the blog of James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency. Peter warned me that I was approaching a ‘black hole’ – so I’ll pass along the warning on his post titled ‘Event Horizon.’
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/
Hold on to your hat!