Carbon Sequestration in Forest Ecosystems as a Strategy for Mitigating Climate Change

Under Kyoto, forestry activities that sequester carbon can be used to create CO2 offset credits that could obviate the need for lifestyle-changing reductions in fossil fuel use. Credits are earned by storing carbon in forest ecosystems and wood products, although CO2 emissions are also mitigated by delaying deforestation, which accounts for one-quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Non-permanent carbon offsets from forest activities are difficult to compare with each other and with mitigation strategies because they differ in how long they prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere. In this paper, we investigate issues of carbon sequestration in detail, but in particular we expand in comprehensive fashion on earlier work comparing carbon mitigation activities according to how long they can lower atmospheric CO2 levels. The duration problem is modeled theoretically. Meta-regression analysis with 1047 observations from 68 studies is then used to determine whether the duration problem leads to inconclusive results between carbon-uptake costs and carbon sequestration. In addition, from the regression analysis, it is possible to estimate potential costs of carbon uptake via forestry activities for various scenarios. It turns out that forestry activities are competitive with emissions reduction in tropical regions and, perhaps, in boreal regions, but certainly not in Europe.climate change, carbon offset credits from forestry activities, meta-regression analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q54, R15, Q23, Q27,

Costs of Creating Carbon Offset Credits via Forestry Activities: A Meta-Regression Analysis

The main focus of efforts to mitigate climate change is on the avoidance of fossil fuel emissions. However, the Kyoto rules permit the use of forestry activities that create carbon offset credits. These could obviate the need for lifestyle-changing reductions in fossil fuel use. It is necessary for policy purposes, therefore, to determine the cost effectiveness of creating forest sink carbon credits. In this study, meta-regression analyses with 1047 observations from 68 studies are used to determine factors that affect carbon sequestration costs. Results indicate that soil carbon is not very important, but that forest plantations and use of biomass for energy make forestry activities more attractive. It also turns out that forestry activities are competitive with emissions reduction in tropical regions and, perhaps, boreal regions, but certainly not in Europe. Finally, the regression estimates are used to project the potential costs of carbon uptake for various forest management scenarios.climate mitigation, forest carbon offset credits, meta-regression analysis

Is There a Duty?: Limiting College and University Liability for Student Suicide

This Note argues that nonclinician administrators employed by institutions of higher education do not have a special relationship with their students such that they have a duty to act with reasonable care to prevent a foreseeable student suicide. Courts that have in recent years ruled to the contrary have done so by incorrectly basing their duty-of-care analysis on foreseeability of harm alone. With an eye toward a proper duty-of-care analysis, this Note analyzes multiple factors to reach its conclusion, including the ideal relationship between colleges and their students and the burden on and capability of colleges to protect their students from a particular harm. Moreover public policy concerns weigh heavily against imposing a duty on nonclinician university administrators. This Note further argues that the tort doctrine of negligent performance of affirmative duties undertaken provides a better framework within which to assess the liability of institutions of higher education for student suicides by holding those institutions responsible for egregious missteps regarding student mental health problems. Liability pursuant to negligent performance of affirmitive duties undertaken requires that colleges and universities implement and operate their programs with due care, but leaves sufficient latitude for individual colleges and universities to explore suicide prevention techniques that are effective and feasible in light of their student body, resources, and overall educational philosophy

Is There a Duty?: Limiting College and University Liability for Student Suicide

This Note argues that nonclinician administrators employed by institutions of higher education do not have a special relationship with their students such that they have a duty to act with reasonable care to prevent a foreseeable student suicide. Courts that have in recent years ruled to the contrary have done so by incorrectly basing their duty-of-care analysis on foreseeability of harm alone. With an eye toward a proper duty-of-care analysis, this Note analyzes multiple factors to reach its conclusion, including the ideal relationship between colleges and their students and the burden on and capability of colleges to protect their students from a particular harm. Moreover public policy concerns weigh heavily against imposing a duty on nonclinician university administrators. This Note further argues that the tort doctrine of negligent performance of affirmative duties undertaken provides a better framework within which to assess the liability of institutions of higher education for student suicides by holding those institutions responsible for egregious missteps regarding student mental health problems. Liability pursuant to negligent performance of affirmitive duties undertaken requires that colleges and universities implement and operate their programs with due care, but leaves sufficient latitude for individual colleges and universities to explore suicide prevention techniques that are effective and feasible in light of their student body, resources, and overall educational philosophy

Resolving Canada-U.S. Trade Disputes in Agriculture and Forestry: Lessons from Lumber

Prominent trade disputes between Canada and the U.S. involve agriculture and forestry, with lack of transparency caused by Canadian non-market institutions a source of U.S. objections. Though there has been a recent flurry of activity in the binational dispute resolution panel on Canadian exports of wheat, one of every six panels since 1989 has involved softwood lumber. We examine lessons from the lumber dispute to shed light on U.S. objections to the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). We argue that U.S. lumber lobbyists will continue to use perceived Canadian institutional obscurity to keep pressure on policymakers, while the CWB system enables similar agricultural interests in to agitate for trade sanctions. Traditional strategies such as dispute resolution boards, appeals to the WTO, and bilateral policy reform can only buy Canada time – new strategies are needed if Canada is to maintain sovereignty over its trade institutions.

Public or private religiosity: which Is protective for adolescent substance use and by what pathways?

While it is well understood that adolescent religiosity is associated with the use and abuse of licit and illicit substances, few studies have revealed the pathways through which religiosity buffers youth against involvement in such behavior. The aim of this study is to examine the complexity of the relationships between religiosity, sensation seeking, injunctive norms, and adolescent substance use. Using a national sample of adolescents (N = 18,614), negative binomial regression and path analysis were used to examine the various components of the relationship between religiosity and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Results indicate that private religiosity moderates the relationship between key risk factors and substance use. Public and private religiosity were associated with tolerant injunctive substance use norms which, in turn, were associated with substance use. Implications for research and theory related to religiosity and adolescent substance use are discussed

Philosophy of History: Change, Stability and the Tragic Human Condition

This paper contends that the role of a philosophy of history in the twenty first century is as a meta-discourse which explains and attempts to understand the role of history as part of human being-in-the-world.  Such a philosophy of history will not, as in the past, take the form of a universal history. Instead it will take a phenomenological approach which seeks to explore the historical enterprise as a means through which human beings attempt to come to terms with the fact that, despite their craving for being, they live in a world which is marked by becoming.  Change and its implications are at the core of any philosophy of history.  History is an attempt to master change and to keep its somewhat frightening consequences under control.  Humans both crave being and stability and appreciate that change is their constant companion.  That is part of the tragic nature of human existenc

Limits of Naturalism: Plasticity, Finitude and the Imagination

This paper argues that the two primary features defining human beings are their finitude and plasticity and that this is the consequence that human beings live in a world which is constantly changing, hence historical.  This means that the relationship between humans and their world is constantly changing and hence that relationship cannot be understood in a simple naturalistic fashion.  Not only is there no ‘innocence of language', but humanity relates to the world in a variety of ways ranging from prose to poetry to art and music.  It is the continuous creation of this multiplicity of approaches to the world as the product of historical dynamism which constitutes the real meaning of naturalism

Effects of blood transfusion on exercise capacity in thalassemia major patients

Anemia has an important role in exercise performance. However, the direct link between rapid changes of hemoglobin and exercise performance is still unknown.To find out more on this topic, we studied 18 beta-thalassemia major patients free of relevant cardiac dysfunction (age 33.5±7.2 years,males = 10). Patients performed a maximal cardiopulmolmonary exercise test (cycloergometer, personalized ramp protocol, breath-by-breath measurements of expired gases) before and the day after blood transfusion (500 cc of red cell concentrates). After blood transfusion, hemoglobin increased from 10.5±0.8 g/dL to 12.1±1.2 (p<0.001), peak VO2 from 1408 to 1546mL/min (p<0.05), and VO2 at anaerobic threshold from 965 to 1024mL/min (p<0.05). No major changes were observed as regards heart and respiratory rates either at peak exercise or at anaerobic threshold. Similarly, no relevant changes were observed in ventilation efficiency, as evaluated by the ventilation vs. carbon dioxide production relationship, or in O2 delivery to the periphery as analyzed by the VO2 vs. workload relationship. The relationship between hemoglobin and VO2 changes showed, for each g/dL of hemoglobin increase, a VO2 increase = 82.5 mL/min and 35 mL/min, at peak exercise and at anaerobic threshold, respectively. In beta-thalassemia major patients, an acute albeit partial anemia correction by blood transfusion determinates a relevant increase of exercise performance, observed both at peak exercise and at anaerobic threshold