The Evolution of Evolution: From the Pre-Socratics to the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis

Guide to an exhibit held by Watkinson Library, 2004, to celebrate the Trinity College Library’s One Millionth Volume. In concise fashion, this exhibition traces the beginnings of a scientific approach to the natural world among the early Greek philosophers, examines in some depth the revolutionary work of Charles Darwin, and concludes with the integrated approach to evolution that developed in the work of naturalists and experimental geneticists during the mid-20th century. The display includes many first editions and landmarks texts that are central in the history of biological thought, the centerpiece being the Library’s millionth volume, the first American edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (New York, 1860)

Catalysts for Religious Change: Monuments of Reformation Printing

Guide to an exhibit held by Watkinson Library, 2006. The Reformation is perhaps the first great historical event where printing played an essential role. Indeed, as British historian Euan Cameron has pointed out, though printing did not cause the Reformation, it “was a catalyst, a precondition,” for it made possible swift, cheap, and widespread dissemination of information. This exhibition introduces some important aspects of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation by displaying a variety of printed materials. On a topic so wide ranging and complex, this can only be a sketch, but it will allow the viewer to perceive something of the energy and clash of ideas that this crucial period of history generated. For the sake of simplicity, the focus is upon the religious side of the Reformation, but one must always keep in mind the profound influence that it also had on the political and social history of the times. The show is arranged in the following manner. It begins with pre-Reformation criticism of the Catholic Church, in particular that of Savonarola, Sebastian Brant, and Erasmus. There follow cases on Luther and Lutheranism, Swiss Protestantism, especially Zwingli and Calvin, free thinkers and dissenters, the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Reformation in England, and the English Bible from Tyndale to the Authorized Version

“Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang”: Bird Extinctions Around the World Since 1600

Guide to Watkinson exhibition

Spatially Explicit Model of Deforestation in Bolivia

A GIS compiled by the Departmental Government of Santa Cruz, Bolivia offers data that may help to resolve some competing theories of tropical deforestation. The GIS contains many attributes relating to land use at two points in time, 1989 and 1994, and allow us to address questions like: 1. What has been the impact of past road construction on deforestation and land use? 2. What impacts might be expected from future road construction? 3. What impact do zoning policies such as forest concessions and protected areas have? 4. What influence do cultural factors have on forest clearing and fragmentation? We discuss our methodology and report interim results. We seek to provoke discussion on appropriate statistical procedures for such analyses

Spatial Regression Analysis of Deforestation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia

This paper applies a spatial economic regression model to analyze the relation between deforestation in the period from 1989 to 1994 and access to roads and markets, ecological conditions, land tenure, and zoning policies in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The data comes from a Geographic Information System (GIS) compiled by the Natural Resources Department of the Santa Cruz Government. Locations closer to roads and the City of Santa Cruz and that have more fertile soils and higher rainfall have a greater probability of being deforested. The same also applies to colonization areas. National parks and areas occupied by indigenous people do not have significantly less deforestation than sites with similar acess and ecological conditions. Forest concessions, on the other hand seem to protect forests

Bases para uma agenda de trabalho visando o desenvolvimento agropecuário sustentável

A sustentabilidade a longo prazo constitui o maior desafio da agenda internacional na década de 90. Este artigo traz uma reflexão sobre as dimensões envolvidas no caminho que leva a uma agricultura sustentável a partir de uma perspectiva latino-americana.Long-term sustainability is the greatest challenge on the internacional agenda in the 1990s. This article submits certain ideas about the dimensions involved in the route to sustainable agriculture within a Latin-American view

A Proposal for Stewardship Support to Private Native Forests in NSW

The Southern Cross Group is proposing a completely new approach to private forest management in NSW based on stewardship support. This means that incentives will be used to encourage landholders to manage their forests in a way that maintains their environmental and other values for the community, without compromising their value as a resource to the farming community. Importantly, the Southern Cross Group system will foster good outcomes through innovation rather than through cumbersome and onerous prescriptions. Private forests in NSW are important as a source of timber as well as for the conservation values they provide to the general community. Landholders should be encouraged to manage them in a way that preserves their productive capacity and their conservation values for the long term. At present, however, neither the current regulatory regime, including the Private Native Forest legislation and proposed code of practice, nor the current market regime encourages sustainable management of the State's private timber resources. The Southern Cross Group has designed an effective and simple way of fostering and rewarding good stewardship of private native forests. Good stewardship may be viewed as a 'duty of care' responsibility that should be enforced by legislation, or as an environmental service that should be recognised and rewarded. The distinction is academic: the reality is that incentives are more effective than punitive regulations. Good environmental outcomes for most forests depend on active management and, especially in the case of private native forests, on incentives for continuing management. The challenge is to devise an equitable scheme that sends the right signals for forest management, is cost-effective to administer, and represents a worthwhile investment in terms of the public good generated. We believe the way forward is with simple, transparent indicators that provide an immediate and ongoing incentive. Under our proposal, landholders will receive an annual cash payment as a reward for progress towards specific outcomes. Rather than complicated targets, we are proposing a simple, two-tiered system that will give enough incentive to landholders to provide the environmental services desired by the community. The first tier rewards and encourages landholders to regenerate more forest, to retain big trees, and to stimulate tree growth on private land. The second tier rewards and encourages stewardship of endangered species and ecological communities. These incentives will be simple to apply and audit, and will encourage landholders to learn about and encourage biodiversity on their land, and to consider it part of their income portfolio. This system will contribute to farmers seeing forests as core business, both as part of their income stream and as part of their environmental stewardship responsibilities. When all farmers view forests in this way, Australia will reap the benefit of forests that are more diverse and productive, and a forest estate that no longer continues to shrink