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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Artificial Modifications Of The Coast In Response To The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Quick Solutions Or Long-Term Liabilities?, M. Luisa Martinez, Rusty A. Feagin, Kevin M. Yeager, John W. Day, Robert Costanza, Jim A. Harris, Richard J. Hobbs, Jorge López-Portillo, Ian J. Walker, Eric Higgs, Patricia Moreno-Casasola, Julio Sheinbaum, Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia
Artificial Modifications Of The Coast In Response To The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Quick Solutions Or Long-Term Liabilities?, M. Luisa Martinez, Rusty A. Feagin, Kevin M. Yeager, John W. Day, Robert Costanza, Jim A. Harris, Richard J. Hobbs, Jorge López-Portillo, Ian J. Walker, Eric Higgs, Patricia Moreno-Casasola, Julio Sheinbaum, Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill threatened many coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico during the spring and summer of 2010. Mitigation strategies included the construction of barrier sand berms, the restriction or blocking of inlets, and the diversion of freshwater from rivers to the coastal marshes and into the ocean, in order to flush away the oil, on the premise that these measures could reduce the quantity of oil reaching sensitive coastal environments such as wetlands or estuaries. These projects result in changes to the ecosystems that they were intended to protect. Long-term effects include alterations of the hydrological …
Valuing Ecological Systems And Services, Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski, David E. Ervin, Randall Bluffstone, Darrell Brown, Heejun Chang, Veronica Dujon, Elise F. Granek, Stephen Polasky, Vivek Shandas, J. Alan Yeakley, James Boyd
Valuing Ecological Systems And Services, Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski, David E. Ervin, Randall Bluffstone, Darrell Brown, Heejun Chang, Veronica Dujon, Elise F. Granek, Stephen Polasky, Vivek Shandas, J. Alan Yeakley, James Boyd
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
Making trade-offs between ecological services and other contributors to human well-being is a difficult but critical process that requires valuation. This allows both better recognition of the ecological, social, and economic trade-offs and also allows us to bill those who use up or destroy ecological services and reward those that produce or enhance them. It also aids improved ecosystems policy. In this paper we clarify some of the controversies in defining the contributions to human well-being from functioning ecosystems, many of which people are not even aware of.We go on to describe the applicability of the various valuation methods that …
The Perfect Spill: Solutions For Averting The Next Deepwater Horizon, Robert Costanza, David Batker, John W. Day, Rusty A. Feagin, M. Luisa Martinez, Joe Roman
The Perfect Spill: Solutions For Averting The Next Deepwater Horizon, Robert Costanza, David Batker, John W. Day, Rusty A. Feagin, M. Luisa Martinez, Joe Roman
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
In this article the authors comment on the oil spill incident from the Deepwater Horizon, particularly on its economic and ecological damages. The authors highlighted the disaster as an event wherein much is needed to be learned so that future oil spills can be avoided. One lesson refers to the valuability of natural capital assets and other public entities that are at risks due to private interests and that better regulations and incentives are needed to protect these assets against risks.
Planetary Boundaries: Exploring The Safe Operating Space For Humanity, Johan Rockström, W. L. Steffen, Kevin Noone, Åsa Persson, F. Stuart Chapin Iii, Eric Lambin, Timothy M. Lenton, Marten Scheffer, Carl Folke, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Björn Nykvist, Cynthia A. De Wit, Terry Hughes, Sander Van Der Leeuw, Henning Rodhe, Sverker Sörlin, Peter K. Snyder, Robert Costanza, Uno Svedin, Malin Falkenmark, Louise Karlberg, Robert W. Corell, Victoria J. Fabry, James Hansen, Brian Walker, Diana Liverman, Katherine Richardson, Paul Crutzen, Jonathan Foley
Planetary Boundaries: Exploring The Safe Operating Space For Humanity, Johan Rockström, W. L. Steffen, Kevin Noone, Åsa Persson, F. Stuart Chapin Iii, Eric Lambin, Timothy M. Lenton, Marten Scheffer, Carl Folke, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Björn Nykvist, Cynthia A. De Wit, Terry Hughes, Sander Van Der Leeuw, Henning Rodhe, Sverker Sörlin, Peter K. Snyder, Robert Costanza, Uno Svedin, Malin Falkenmark, Louise Karlberg, Robert W. Corell, Victoria J. Fabry, James Hansen, Brian Walker, Diana Liverman, Katherine Richardson, Paul Crutzen, Jonathan Foley
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one or more planetary boundaries may be deleterious or even catastrophic due to the risk of crossing thresholds that will trigger non-linear, abrupt environmental change within continental- to planetary-scale systems. We have identified nine planetary boundaries and, drawing upon current scientific understanding, we propose quantifications for seven of them. These seven are climate change (CO2 concentration …
Ecological Economics: Reintegrating The Study Of Humans And Nature, Robert Costanza
Ecological Economics: Reintegrating The Study Of Humans And Nature, Robert Costanza
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
Ecological economics is a transdisciplinary effort to link the natural and social sciences broadly, and especially ecology and economics. The goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the complex linkages between ecological and economic systems, and to use that understanding to develop effective policies that will lead to a world that is ecologically sustainable, has a fair distribution of resources (both among groups and generations of humans and between humans and other species), and efficiently allocates scarce resources including natural capital. This will require new approaches that are comprehensive, adaptive, integrative, multi-scale, and pluralistic, and that acknowledge the huge …
Modeling Coastal Landscape Dynamics, Robert Costanza, Fred Hal Sklar, Mary L. White
Modeling Coastal Landscape Dynamics, Robert Costanza, Fred Hal Sklar, Mary L. White
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
Examines methods used to predict the way ecological systems respond to human modifications. Coastal marshes; Process-based dynamic spatial ecosystem simulation models; Coastal ecological landscape spatial simulation model; Scenario analysis.
Social Traps And Environmental Policy, Robert Costanza
Social Traps And Environmental Policy, Robert Costanza
Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations
In recent years, scientific understanding and public awareness of environmental problems have increased tremendously. Yet our ability to manage these problems effectively has in too many cases gotten worse, not better. By studying real-world social traps and laboratory examples, we can learn effective escapes.