From 1976 until 1980, I was at the University of Chicago Press doing book development. Projects varied dramatically, from an Atlas of the Great Apes to  A River Runs Through It. I was very young for the responsibility I had, poorly prepared…but they trusted me and I thrived.

In doing some research this afternoon I ran across the recent Press catalog. What a feast of ideas and thought! The Press was always dynamic and interesting, but now -with all the collaborations with publishers – it is huge. The breadth of work is enormous.

After yesterday’s dirge on original thought, I was ready for their catalog.

P.S. I was also pleased to see The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn was STILL one of their best-selling books.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/resources/Fall2009_UChicagoPress_all.pdf

I recently find myself struggling for original thought. As you might have noticed, my posts recently have been sparse and relay ’something else’ said or done. Generally, my body feels uncomfortable. Not unhealthy, just disquiet.

I’ve been particularly disturbed by our American economy. Not the money problems, but the social issues that caused the money problems. A friend advises to never underestimate the influence of unintelligent and ill-informed decisions.  Well, at the moment, I feel awash in the effect of bad decisions. It leaves me unsettled about my own ability to be responsible and effective. It leaves me unable to think well.

I can usually overcome the distress by reconnecting with nature -getting the ugly abstractions out of my head and rolling around in the dirt a bit. The other remedy is experiencing kindness and concern from someone -it always relieves my anxiety.

The bonus comes when release of distress is accompanied by inspiration -those profound moments when you are calm, inpired, and the mind is creative. Age has allowed me to better understand all of those processes. Age has also allowed those processes to engage more complex issues.

I found it interesting on the news this morning that Arizona State University’s commencement speaker was Barack Obama. The School had decided to not give him an honorary degree because of the earliness of his ‘body of work.’ Mr. Obama took this in good stride.

It was a thoughtful decision by the School and an example, to all of us, of the worth of original work. We should do more to recognize good work -particularly financial recognition.

Last weekend I was in a discussion with my investment group, and mentioned that my primary ‘charitable’ giving was by very heavy tipping of thoughtful, poorly paid service workers. My wife finds this hard to understand, but the more I do it, the more it makes sense -especially around holidays. We live in a time where money flows in some very irresponsible ways – the more we work (spend money) to solve those problems, the better.

The evolution of ecosystem service markets is dependent upon the ability to accurately measure.

In order to measure, a number of other issues become important. Scale, for example, is relevant to the level of precision. Temporal issues need to be considered because of the ‘changes’ that occur over time with what you are measuring.  In essence, any measurement is a function of a number of physical and chemical condtiona and properties.

Thanks to computers (and the people that concieved of and built them), we are able to model many of those spatial and temporal effects and can ‘measure.’ 

We’ve recently been involved in a number of issues with regional land surveyors. It would seem that with the advent of very high accuracy GPS, GIS, and database systems we would be able to make stable high accuracy ground measurements. Once those measurements are made, we would only need to remeasure if the physical conditions related to the measurements changed. Well, as it works out, the professional of land surveying rest on the fundamental premise that the ‘measurer’ is the standard for measurement …..not the physical measure itself.

I can understand that the history of land surveying is based upon judgements from previous physical descriptions of the land (‘twenty-seven steps east to maple tree’). In that historical context, the standard for measurement WAS the ‘measurer’s interpretation. Today, GPS, with proper control standards, allows the tool to be the standard, and that tool is more accurate than other human measuring methods.

All of this silly talk is merely to say that, as we are better able to measure and quantify environmental conditions and ecosystem services, we also need to be aware of existing historical standards and practices and be willing to ‘update’ those policies as we improve the environment by properly valuing it.

I have had three very busy weeks of completing proposals and starting to work on our new project, the Nature Services Trust and Exchange.

I apologize for dropping away from the Blog.

EcoAsset Markets has been hit with the perfect storm. At the same time that the national real estate and credit markets have collapsed….and so has our real estate practice….the opportunities and interest in green market economies has soared. It has left me, and my colleagues, scrambling to adjust to new demands. The shift has been invigorating, allowing us to concentrate on the work I consider most valuable…both economically valuable and environmentally valuable.

It has also left me with lots of thoughts and observations about economics…more on that later!

Unfortunately it has left me with little time to keep the weblog timely. I am sorry.

2008 was a whopper. It also began to present a number of opportunities for those of us who want to see nature honestly valued in our national and world economies.

May 2009 be a year of respect for all living things.

My apologies for dropping the ‘posting’ ball last week. EAM has been starting a new – and exciting – project to develop a green bank for southern New England….and it has required a good deal of my time and energy for a month. More on that soon.

I also spent a good bit of last week in New York and visited Sloan Kettering for the second year follow up on my prostate cancer. It always leaves me a bit  pensive for a few days…then it generally takes 8 to 10 days for the pathology report.

Well, as good fortune would have it, this year’s biopsy was last Tuesday and they called me Thursday at 5pm with the results….which were encouraging. After a year of returning to cycling and eating in a more moderate fashion than my first year macrobiotic diet, the pathology report showed only one tiny area of cancer cells (of 14 biopsies, one biopsy has a very small amount of Gleason 3/3 cancer)…almost identical to last year’s report. So, no growth in a microscopic amount of cancer. Even the surgeon is  now comfortable with a ‘watchful waiting’ protocol…which last year he was very hesitant about.

I must say I had hoped to be free of any cancer cells (which the doctor sees as  almost impossible). So, I’m planning on renewing my dietary discipline, continuing the other treatments, and check in six months…I’m still hopeful for being free of the little buggers.

It is very comforting to realize that over two years I’ve gotten rid of most of the cancer cells.

So last week was lost to the reality of my fragile existence…and the peace of having good care.

The recent black hole in posting begs for an explanation. I enjoy posting and seldom miss during the workweek…but Thanksgiving threw in some curves.

Last Friday I was working – primarily to accommodate a specific task – and then the ’specific task’ did not happen. By the time I figured out what happened…I lost my window for working at the computer.

THEN…

Sunday we had tickets to the Patriots/Pittsburgh game. It was horrible weather…rain, wind and in the 40s. We managed to see three quarters before the Patriots exploded and the fans grew restless and pushy…mix together thousands of beer drinking football fans, terrible weather, and a bad home team performance.

So we went to the car, drove home, and on the way in the house (with wet clothes and shoes) I immediately fall and hit my face/arm/shoulder/leg. Call the EMT…finally decide I’m not delirious, but do need stiches in my lip…drive to the emergency room…receive 6 sutures of 6.0 Ethilon…and return home sore and grumpy.

The only good thing is it took my mind off our national financial meltdown.

Hope your Thanksgiving was better!

It is close to 3pm on the day before Thanksgiving…and I just had time to review some news sites.

A sweet lady in England is spending over $300k on a doghouse….

Thought you might like to look at it with your Internet bowser…oops, browser.

Have a ‘howl’ of a Thanksgiving!

I live in a small Massachusetts community with a Board of Selectmen and the usual small town governmental structure…planning, conservation, health and safety, etc. It has been a rural community with significant small farmland, but in the past 20 years has seen a lot of development. As with many small towns in New England, there are a few key residential developers…and these few often are on town committees.

Last night my wife and I watched two hours of a conservation committee meeting where one of these key developers needed a special permit on a retention pond that was build BEFORE he had permission….in a subdivision that was built BEFORE it was fully permitted. It was perhaps the most painful two hours of television I have ever watched.

Our town government is dysfunctional. We have a Chairman of Selectmen who is combative…and abrasive. He is also a poor communicator. Some folks tried to recall him, but the recall was defeated…so now we have bitter factions. The conservation committee was constantly tangled in procedural issues…eventually one woman member stomped out mid-sentence. One of our friends on the committee is a local respected attorney… and even he was frustrated to the point of nervously shuffling papers.

The developer kept running up to the microphone to make impassioned appeals and objections, his small and obedient lawyer right at his side each time. His primary adversary was the Chairman of Selectmen…and they are archrivals. Mr. Selectman also kept running up to the microphone to make impassioned objections.

The committee has spent $40,000 getting expert counsel…all of which has been paid by the developer (do not shed tears for the developer…his little operation probably bought the land for less than $500k and will make about $1M…even with the $40k). None of the expert counsel seemed to provide all that much light on the issue.

It was a zoo! By the end of two hours both my wife and I had indigestion.