Ecosystem services: The economics debate

The goal of this paper is to illuminate the debate concerning the economics of ecosystem services. The sustainability debate focuses on whether or not ecosystem services are essential for human welfare and the existence of ecological thresholds. If ecosystem services are essential, then marginal analysis and monetary valuation are inappropriate tools in the vicinity of thresholds. The justice debate focuses on who is entitled to ecosystem services and the ecosystem structure that generates them. Answers to these questions have profound implications for the choice of suitable economic institutions. The efficiency debate concerns both the goals of economic activity and the mechanisms best suited to achieve those goals. Conventional economists pursue Pareto efficiency and the maximization of monetary value, achieved by integrating ecosystem services into the market framework. Ecological economists and many others pursue the less rigorously defined goal of achieving the highest possible quality of life compatible with the conservation of resilient, healthy ecosystems, achieved by adapting economic institutions to the physical characteristics of ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services is a valuable tool for economic analysis, and should not be discarded because of disagreements with particular economists\u27 assumptions regarding sustainability, justice and efficiency. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Bounding the Porous Exponential Domination Number of Apollonian Networks

Given a graph G with vertex set V, a subset S of V is a dominating set if every vertex in V is either in S or adjacent to some vertex in S. The size of a smallest dominating set is called the domination number of G. We study a variant of domination called porous exponential domination in which each vertex v of V is assigned a weight by each vertex s of S that decreases exponentially as the distance between v and s increases. S is a porous exponential dominating set for G if all vertices in S distribute to vertices in G a total weight of at least 1. The porous exponential domination number of G is the size of a smallest porous exponential dominating set. In this paper we compute bounds for the porous exponential domination number of special graphs known as Apollonian networks.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Research partially funded by CURM, the Center for Undergraduate Research, and NSF grant DMS-114869

What should be done with the revenues from a carbon cap and auction system?

In this article the author discusses the use of the revenues which can be generated from a carbon cap and auction system in the U.S. They believe that auction system will be politically feasible if all individuals share generated revenues equally. A significant fraction from the revenue should pay for related projects like researching and developing renewable energy in developing countries. The shareholders in this atmospheric commons should be both the current and future generations

Economia para um planeta pós-carbono

A energia desempenha um papel central na economia. Segundo a primeira lei da termodinâmica, a matéria-energia não pode ser criada ou destruída. Isto significa que toda a produção econômica exige a transformação de matérias-primas fornecidas pela natureza. De acordo com a segunda lei da termodinâmica, a energia é necessária para realizar essa transformação, mas o resultado líquido disso é um aumento na entropia, ou desordem. Em termos econômicos, recursos de baixa entropia são úteis e recursos de alta entropia não os são. O sistema econômico transforma recursos naturais de baixa entropia em produtos econômicos, inevitavelmente gerando nesse processo resíduos de alta entropia. O último recurso à nossa disposição é a matéria-energia de baixa entropia, uma parte disponível como estoques finitos de recursos naturais que, em geral, podemos consumir tão rápido quanto desejamos, e outra parte como um fluxo finito de energia solar, que atinge a terra em uma taxa fixa ao longo do tempo . Em última análise, uma economia sustentável não pode aumentar a entropia mais rápido do que a energia solar pode reduzi-la.

Preparando líderes para problemas wicked? Como os padrões revisados tratam da justiça e da justiça

The past 20 years have seen a shift in school leaders’ work that can best be characterized by an increasing complexity in expectations and greater demands for accountabilities. Educational leadership preparation programs and professional associations responded to these shifts, in part, with the development and proliferation of standards for both pre-service (ELCC and NELP) and practicing (ISLLC and PSEL) educational leaders. Both sets of standards have undergone significant revision in the last five years, largely in response to shifts in the work required of school administrators in today’s 21st century schools. However, what remains an open empirical question is whether the leadership standards are robust and pragmatic enough to tackle the various educational issues that school leaders face. In other words, do various school leadership standards prepare and assess school administrators appropriately? Using the wicked problems framework, we examine the extent to which the revised PSEL and NELP standards capture the challenging work required for school leaders to act as inclusive leaders and “equity-oriented change agents” (Maxwell, Locke, Scheurich, 2013, p. 1). We utilize qualitative content analysis (Weber, 1990) to analyze the content of the leadership standards, focusing in particular on the ways those standards represent evolving conceptions of equity and justice. These analyses suggest that although both sets of standards have changed considerably from their predecessors, they may not go far enough to help leaders determine how to implement the proper administrative authority to solve complex issues. This is particularly true as it relates to the persistent, wicked equity problems facing our schools.En los últimos 20 años, el trabajo del trabajo de los líderes escolares ha aumentado la complejidad en las expectativas y las mayores demandas de responsabilidad. Los programas de preparación para el liderazgo educativo y las asociaciones profesionales respondieron a estos cambios, en parte, con el desarrollo y la proliferación de estándares para todo tipo de líderes educativos en las escuelas actuales del siglo XXI. ¿Pero estos estándares preparan y evalúan a los administradores escolares de manera apropiada? Utilizando el marco de los problemas wicked, examinamos hasta qué punto los estándares revisados capturan el trabajo desafiante requerido para que los líderes escolares actúen como inclusivos y orientados a la equidad. Analizamos el contenido de los estándares de liderazgo y nos enfocamos en las formas en que esos estándares representan concepciones cambiantes de equidad y justicia. Estos análisis sugieren que, aunque los estándares han cambiado, es posible que no lleguen lo suficientemente lejos como para ayudar a los líderes a resolver problemas complejos, en particular los problemas de equidad persistentes y wicked en las escuelas de hoy.Nos últimos 20 anos, o trabalho dos líderes das escolas aumentou a complexidade das expectativas e as demandas por responsabilidades. Os programas de preparação para a liderança educacional e associações profissionais responderam a essas mudanças, em parte, com o desenvolvimento e a proliferação de padrões para todos os tipos de líderes educacionais nas escolas de hoje no século XXI. Mas esses padrões preparam e avaliam os administradores da escola adequadamente? Usando a estrutura de problemas wicked, examinamos até que ponto os padrões revisados capturam o trabalho desafiador necessário para os líderes das escolas agirem de maneira inclusiva e orientada para a equidade. Analisamos o conteúdo dos padrões de liderança e focamos nas maneiras pelas quais esses padrões representam concepções em mudança de justiça e justiça. Essas análises sugerem que, embora os padrões tenham mudado, eles podem não ir longe o suficiente para ajudar os líderes a resolver problemas complexos, particularmente problemas persistentes e wickedde equidade nas escolas de hoje.

Experiment design for systems biology

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biological Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-233).Mechanism-based chemical kinetic models are increasingly being used to describe biological signaling. Such models serve to encapsulate current understanding of pathways and to enable insight into complex biological processes. Despite the growing interest in these models, a number of challenges frustrate the construction of high-quality models. First, the chemical reactions that control biochemical processes are only partially known, and multiple, mechanistically distinct models often fit all of the available data and known chemistry. We address this by providing methods for designing dynamic stimuli that can distinguish among models with different reaction mechanisms in stimulus-response experiments. We evaluated our method on models of antibody-ligand binding, mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation, and larger models of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway. Inspired by these computational results, we tested the idea that pulses of EGF could help elucidate the relative contribution of different feedback loops within the EGFR network. These experimental results suggest that models from the literature do not accurately represent the relative strength of the various feedback loops in this pathway. In particular, we observed that the endocytosis and feedback loop was less strong than predicted by models, and that other feedback mechanisms were likely necessary to deactivate ERK after EGF stimulation. Second, chemical kinetic models contain many unknown parameters, at least some of which must be estimated by fitting to time-course data. We examined this question in the context of a pathway model of EGF and neuronal growth factor (NGF) signaling. Computationally, we generated a palette of experimental perturbation data that included different doses of EGF and NGF as well as single and multiple gene knockdowns and overexpressions. While no single experiment could accurately estimate all of the parameters, we identified a set of five complementary experiments that could. These results suggest that there is reason to be optimistic about the prospects for parameter estimation in even large models. Third, there is no standard formulation for chemical kinetic models of biological signaling. We propose a general and concise formulation of mass action kinetics based on sparse matrices and Kronecker products. This formulation allows any mass action model and its partial derivatives to be represented by simple matrix equations, which enabled straightforward application of several numerical methods. We show that models that use other rate laws such as MichaelisMenten can be converted to our formulation. We demonstrate this by converting a model of Escherichia coli central carbon metabolism to use only mass action kinetics. The dynamics of the new model are similar to the original model. However, we argue that because our model is based on fewer approximations it has the potential to be more accurate over a wider range of conditions. Taken together, the work presented here demonstrates that experimental design methodology can be successfully used to improve the quality of mechanism-based chemical kinetic models.by Joshua Farley Apgar.Ph.D

Sustainable Wellbeing Futures: A Research and Action Agenda for Ecological Economics

The editors of this timely book assert that these problems are not separate, but all stem from our overreliance on an out-dated approach to economics that puts growth of production and consumption above all else

Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: Lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability

COVID-19 has shone a bright light on a number of failings and weaknesses in how current economic models handle information and knowledge. Some of these are familiar issues that have long been understood but not acted upon effectively – for example, the danger that current systems of intellectual property and patent protection are actually inimical to delivering a cost-effective vaccine available to all, whereas treating knowledge as a commons and a public good is much more likely to deliver efficient outcomes for the entire global population. But COVID-19 has also demonstrated that traditional models of knowledge production and dissemination are failing us; scientific knowledge is becoming weaponized and hyper-partisan, and confidence in this knowledge is falling. We believe that the challenges that COVID-19 has exposed in the information economy and ecology will be of increasing applicability across the whole spectrum of sustainability; sustainability scholars and policymakers need to understand and grasp them now if we are to avoid contagion into other sectors due to the preventable errors that have marred the global response to COVID-19. Social media summary COVID-19 highlights both the failures of privatized knowledge and worrying fractures in the wider information ecology

Understanding human and ecosystem dynamics in the Kola Arctic: A participatory integrated study

. The Lake Imandra watershed is located in one of the most developed regions in the Arctic - the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Approximately 300 000 people live on the roughly 27 000 km2 watershed, making it one of the most densely populated areas of the Arctic. Most of the people are involved in large-scale mineral extraction and processing and the infrastructure needed to support this industry. This paper reports the results of a pilot project staged for the Lake Imandra watershed that has put human dynamics within the framework of ecosystem change to integrate available information and formulate conceptual models of likely future scenarios. The observation period is one of both rapid economic growth and human expansion, with an overall economic decline in the past decade. We are applying the Participatory Integrated Assessment (PIA) approach to integrate information, identify information gaps, generate likely future scenarios, and link scientific findings to the decision-making process. We found an increasingly vulnerable human population in varying states of awareness about their local environment and fully cognizant of their economic troubles, with many determined to attempt maintenance of relatively high population densities in the near future even as many residents of northern Russia migrate south. A series of workshops have involved the citizens and local decision makers in an attempt to tap their knowledge of the region and to increase their awareness about the linkages between the socioeconomic and ecological compone