Can We Build Enough Nuclear Power Plants Fast Enough?In a recent (May 22, 2013) Wall Street Journal article, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger state that nuclear power “is the best chance we have to make big reductions in carbon emissions quickly.” In fact, however, “quickly” is impossible. A large number of new nuclear plants would have to be up and running in the … [Read more...]
Botkin Rule of Ecology #1
Over the years of working in the science of ecology, I have learned some basic rules. I find that many people are unaware of them, yet have firm convictions about what we should do about the environment. So I would like to share these rules with you. They are easy to understand, helpful, and even fun. I will post one of these at a time, adding to them frequently. These are … [Read more...]
The Balance of Nature Belief Is Alive and Vigorous, Even Though it Never Existed
I have written for more than 20 years that we need to move away from the ancient myth of the balance of nature---the idea that nature, undisturbed by people, is constant. This idea has formed the premises for many environmental laws and policies. Recently, some of the major U.S. Environmental organizations have expressed the need to move away from this ancient myth, a very … [Read more...]
REVIEW OF Saving a Million Species: Extinction Risk from Climate Change by Lee Hannah (ed). 2011. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
(This review was Published in Ecological Restoration Volume 31, Number 1, March 2013, pp. 99-100)(Copyright by the journal 2013; all rights reserved)Having begun research on possible ecological effects of global warming in 1968 and developing one the first major methods to forecast such effects on forests, I looked forward to reviewing Saving a Million Species, because … [Read more...]
Bridges, Wayfarers, and Risk Assessment
Thursday, May 23, 2013, the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon, state of Washington, collapsed. The immediate cause was a truck carrying an oversized load hitting the bridge. But a federal database had listed the bridge as “functionally obsolete.” This suggests that the feds knew that the bridge ought to have been repaired or replaced.As someone who … [Read more...]
Novel Ecosystems and the Balance of Nature
Two important books suggest major new ways we need to think about nature and our connection to it: Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order by Richard Hobbs, R.J., Eric Higgs, and Carol Hall and Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris. Both start with the premise that people have changed the environment in major ways, and … [Read more...]
Is There a Balance of Nature?
NO: THERE IS NO BALANCE OF NATURE, BUT WE KEEP ACTING AS IF THERE WAS.It is common to believe that nature --- our entire environment ---is constant, as long as people stay out of the way. But as an ecologist with more than 40 years’ experience in research, I have studied every aspect of our environment. And it is clear that there is no balance of nature. Everything … [Read more...]
Morph The Moose
A New Symbol For Our Times!As the summer wildfire season approaches, we need to rethink how we manage forest fires. It is time to say goodbye to Smokey Bear, because suppressing all fires leads eventually to very large, intense, and disastrous fires. Most forests in the United States used to burn relatively frequently before European settlement. These were the result … [Read more...]