Conservation – Page 32 – Southern Fried Science

Seven Billion Strawmen: Population Bombs and Demography

November 8, 2011December 9, 2011 Bluegrass Blue Crab 3 Comments

Conservation

As Halloween welcomed the world’s seven billionth person, there has been renewed interest in meeting the food, shelter, and water needs of a large and growing global population. One recent article in the Washington Post (10/30/11) attempted to make 7 billion a tangible number that kids can wrap their minds around by describing 7 billion M&M’s filling three Olympic-sized swimming pools. While I think this is a useful exercise, when thinking about 7 billion people, not all people can be counted equally. In terms of resource use, each of the over 300 million United States citizens are like bloated, entitled M&M’s squeezing their smaller brethren out of the pool.

in which four environmental scientists play Oilsprings of Catan, destroy world

November 7, 2011December 9, 2011 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

Conservation, Popular Culture

Catan: Oilsprings. image by Andrew Thaler

This weekend I assembled a small team of marine and environmental scientists, including a molecular ecologist, a human geographer with experience in environmental justice, a political ecologist with experience in common-pool resource theory, and a veteran of the US Commission on Ocean Policy with extensive experience in marine spatial planning, to test out the new expansion for Settlers of Catan, Catan: Oilsprings. Settlers of Catan is a popular and expansive board game that focuses on resource management, development, and trading. Oilsprings is designed to add an element of “Tragedy of the Commons” to the game by introducing a new resource, oil, which allows rapid development, but at a cost that affects all players.

Support “Shored Up”, a new documentary about beach renourishment

November 6, 2011December 9, 2011 David Shiffman 2 Comments

Conservation

Our friends from the fantastic ocean acidification documentary A Sea Change are working on an important new project. It’s called “Shored Up“, and it’s all about sea level rise and the strategies that coastal communities are using to try and keep their beaches.

One issue in particular, beach renourishment, has major environmental implications that aren’t often considered. Sand provides critical habitat for organisms other than tourists, and not all sand is the same: it differs in grain size, chemical composition, and other variables. Organisms that are adapted to one type of sand, such as beach-dwelling crabs and snails, often struggle to survive in another that’s dumped in huge quantities in their habitat. Additionally, the ecosystem where the sand comes from is often greatly disturbed by the huge sand-collecting dredges.

The movie doesn’t just focus on renourishment, however:

The historical origins of ‘whales as people’

October 30, 2011December 9, 2011 Andrew Thaler 7 Comments

Conservation, Popular Culture, Science

In an attempt to garner attention and raise awareness regarding the problematic use of orcas and other marine mammals in captivity for entertainment, PETA, an animal rights group, has sued Sea World, a corporation that builds and manages aquariums and marine parks. Opposition to Sea World’s brand of entertainment-driven aquariums is nothing new, but this fresh lawsuit adds a novel twist to the boilerplate “intelligent animals don’t belong in captivity” – PETA is suing Sea World for violating these oceanic dolphin’s constitutional rights under the 13th amendment.

The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution explicitly outlaws slavery or involuntary captivity:

Do environmental regulations harm the economy?

October 28, 2011October 31, 2011 David Shiffman 7 Comments

Conservation

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Image courtesy SlopeMedia.org

One of the main themes of the Republican Presidential primary campaign has been that government regulations- specifically, regulations designed to protect the environment and public health from industrial pollution- is damaging to the economy. Nearly all of the Republican Presidential candidates have expressed this view: Rick Perry wants to “lock the doors and turn off the lights” at EPA headquarters, Michelle Bachmann thinks it should be called the “job-killing organization of America“, and both Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain want to abolish the agency entirely.

Is there any truth to the idea that environmental regulations cost jobs and are slowing the economic recovery? On it’s face, the idea makes sense. A business has a finite amount of money, and the more money they have to spend on complying with environmental regulations, the less money they can spend on hiring workers. If a business has to pay for new technology to reduce the amount of pollution their manufacturing process produces, the money spent on that technology is money that can’t be spent on new workers. The real question, though, is not whether there are costs to environmental regulations- there obviously are, and they can sometimes be quite high to particular industries. The real question is whether the benefits of these environmental regulations outweigh the costs.

Western Australia’s sharks need your help!

October 23, 2011 David Shiffman 14 Comments

Conservation, Science

great-white-shark_559_600x450 — Great White Shark. Image courtesy animals.NationalGeographic.com

Last week, I wrote about three current shark conservation issues, including a proposed shark cull in Western Australia. Barbara Wueringer was able to deliver her letter to Western Australian government officials on Friday, and thanks to your help, it was signed by more than 100 scientists and conservationists from all over the world.

Yesterday, however, another swimmer was killed by a shark in Western Australian waters. George Thomas Wainwright, 32, was a native of Texas who had been working on a boat in Australia. This attack, which is the third in the last two months, has resulted in renewed calls for a “shark cull”. The proposed plan would involve both an attempt to kill the specific shark responsible for killing Mr. Wainwright and a more general killing of all the sharks in the area. It is believed that the shark that killed Mr. Wainwright was a great white shark, also known as a “white pointer” in Australia.

Culling, bycatch, and loopholes: three shark conservation petitions need your signatures!

October 19, 2011October 27, 2011 David Shiffman 9 Comments

Conservation

While we can all celebrate the recent passage of California’s shark fin ban, sharks still need your help! The government of Western Australia is planning a “shark cull”, intentionally killing large numbers of threatened species to reduce the probability of shark attacks. The Marine Stewardship Council is considering granting “sustainable” status to a fishery with huge shark bycatch issues (an issue we originally covered last year). The European Union, one of the largest shark fishing entities in the world, still has large loopholes in their shark fishing policy. In the past few weeks, I’ve been contacted by conservation organizations working on these issues, and they need our help! Please consider signing the petitions listed below, and please consider telling interested friends and colleagues. As I’ve written many times before here on Southern Fried Science, I don’t support just any petition, but these are all from legitimate people and organizations and I have chosen to sign all three.

Securing the Conservation of Sharks and Rays

October 10, 2011October 9, 2011 David Shiffman 5 Comments

Conservation, Science

At the 2nd International Marine Conservation Congress, Dr. Nick Dulvy and the IUCN Shark Specialist Group organized a special symposium called “Securing the Conservation of Sharks and Rays”. This symposium featured leading scientists, international policy experts, the founder of a creative non-profit, a National Geographic conservation photographer… and me. It was, without a doubt, the greatest professional honor of my (admittedly brief so far) career.

Thorny skate protection: NAFO falls short

September 26, 2011 David Shiffman

Conservation, Science

Last week, I previewed the annual NAFO meeting. Two elasmobranch conservation measures (reducing the Total Allowable Catch for thorny skates to the level that the scientific council recommended and requiring fishermen to report the species of the sharks they catch) were to be discussed. That meeting is now concluded, and the results, while not … Read More “Thorny skate protection: NAFO falls short” »

Shark Science Monday: WhySharksMatter discusses social media and shark conservation

September 19, 2011September 19, 2011 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Conservation

For this week’s edition of Shark Science Monday, check out this video of a presentation I gave at the 2nd International Marine Conservation Congress last May. My talk focused on how social media technology can benefit (and has already benefited) the shark conservation movement. It was part of a symposium organized by the IUCN Shark Specialist … Read More “Shark Science Monday: WhySharksMatter discusses social media and shark conservation” »