Sustainability Commons^™

Interview With Ryan Temple, Hfhc, 2006 (Audio), Ryan Temple

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Ryan Temple by Amber Kinter at Portland, Oregon on August 4th, 2006.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Sarah Deumling, Zena Timber, 2006 (Audio), Sarah Deumling

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Sarah Deumling by Glenn Esler at Rickreall, Oregon on August 4th, 2006.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Richard Pine, O'Neill Pine Company, 2006 (Audio), Richard Pine

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Richard Pine by Margie Crawford in Salem, Oregon on August 3rd, 2006.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Adam Olsen, Parr Lumber, 2006 (Audio), Adam Olsen

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Born in Portland, Adam Olsen worked for Parr Lumber for ten years as a contractor salesman.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Peter Hayes, Hyla Woods, 2006 (Audio), Peter Hayes

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Peter Hayes by Glen Esler on July 28th, 2006.

The interview index is available for download.

The Value Of New Jersey's Ecosystem Services And Natural Capital, Robert Costanza, Matthew A. Wilson, Austin Troy, Alexey Voinov, Shang Liu, John D'Agostino

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes the results of a two-year study of the economic value of New Jersey's natural capital. Natural capital consists of those components of the natural environment that provide a long-term stream of benefits to individual people and to society as a whole; the value of natural capital is defined in this report as the present value of that benefit stream. Many of the benefits provided by natural capital come from ecological systems ('ecosystems'); an ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and their nonliving environment, all interacting as a functional unit. The benefits provided …

Toward An Ecological Economy, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This section comments on an article by Lester Brown published in the July 2006 issue of The Futurist describing what an ecological economy might look like, at least in its technical dimensions. Brown points out that if economic progress is to be sustained, the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy must be replaced with a new economic model. To do this, we need to create a new vision of what the economy is, what it is for and how to measure success. There is substantial new psychological research in the emerging science of happiness that shows the limits of conventional economic income …

Linking Ecology And Economics For Ecosystem Management, Stephen Farber, Robert Costanza, Daniel L. Childers, Jon Erickson, Katherine Gross, Morgan Grove, Charles S. Hopkinson, James Kahn, Stephanie Pincetl, Austin Troy, Paige Warren, Matthew Wilson

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article outlines an approach, based on ecosystem services, for assessing the trade-offs inherent in managing humans embedded in ecological systems. Evaluating these trade-offs requires an understanding of the biophysical magnitudes of the changes in ecosystem services that result from human actions, and of the impact of these changes on human welfare.We summarize the state of the art of ecosystem services?based management and the information needs for applying it. Three case studies of Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites?coastal, urban, and agricultural? illustrate the usefulness, information needs, quantification possibilities, and methods for this approach. One example of the application of …

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: The Geography Of Water, Vivek Shandas, Alton Straub, Yongxia Kou

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Describes the geography of water in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area: groundwater, rivers, irrigation, water supply, and sewer lines.

Interview With Myo Demayo, Urbanstead Farm (Audio), Myo Demayo

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Myo DeMayo by Tyler Anderson.

The interview index is available for download.

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Changes In Riparian Vegetation Buffers In Response To Development In Three Oregon Cities, J. Alan Yeakley, Connie P. Ozawa, A. M. Hook

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Riparian vegetation buffer loss was investigated for three cities with contrasting local regulatory controls in urbanizing northwest Oregon. The cities examined were Hillsboro, Oregon City and Portland, all having experienced high rates of population increase in the 1990s. All cities are covered under Oregon’s land use law that provides goals for the protection of open space and natural resources. On the municipality level, regulatory controls in Portland included a system of environmental zoning for riparian area protection, while regulatory controls on development in riparian areas in Hillsboro and Oregon City were less stringent. Digital aerial photographs covering buffer areas within …

Street Trees In The Urban Forest Canopy: Portland, Oregon, Joseph Poracsky, David Banis

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attempts to identify the contribution of street trees to the overall urban forest of a city have been rare and lack consensus on how to measure that contribution – percentage of trees, percentage of canopy cover, or percentage of leaf area. The actual numeric values presented in the literature also vary over a broad range and often are based on estimates, extrapolations from aggregated data, or simply stated with no empirical data referenced. This study was undertaken to evaluate the contribution of street trees to canopy in Portland, Oregon. The study involved both visual and digital analysis of multi-band aerial …

When Scoundrels Rule: Review Of The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, And The Environment In An Age Of Terror, By David W. Orr, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book Review of The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror. David W. Orr. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2004.

Ecological Science And Sustainability For The 21st Century, Margaret A. Palmer, Emily S. Bernhardt, Elizabeth A. Chornesky, Scott L. Collins, Andrew P. Dobson, Clifford S. Duke, Barry D. Gold, Robert B. Jacobson, Sharon E. Kingsland, Rhonda H. Kranz, Michael J. Mappin, M. Luisa Martinez, Florenza Micheli, Jennifer L. Morse, Michael L. Pace, Mercedes Pascual, Stephen S. Palumbi, Oj Reichman, Alan R. Townsend, Monica G. Turner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ecological science has contributed greatly to our understanding of the natural world and the impact of humans on that world. Now, we need to refocus the discipline towards research that ensures a future in which natural systems and the humans they include coexist on a more sustainable planet. Acknowledging that managed ecosystems and intensive exploitation of resources define our future, ecologists must play a greatly expanded role in communicating their research and influencing policy and decisions that affect the environment. To accomplish this, they will have to forge partnerships at scales and in forms they have not traditionally used. These …

A System Dynamics Model Of The Pacific Coast Rockfish Fishery, Wayne Wakeland, Olgay Cangur, Guillermo Rueda, Astrid Scholz

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a model of the dynamic behavior of the yellowtail rockfish of the Pacific Coast of the United States. The purpose of the model is to generate endogenously the historical data for fish population, fishing vessels, regulatory parameters, and fish harvest. The model was subjected to a variety of tests to determine its sensitivity to changes in key parameters and initial values, including extreme conditions. Model results indicate that acceptable biological catch and fleet capacity must be adjusted quickly in response to changing conditions, in order to improve fishery sustainability. Additional analysis reinforces the policy of setting the …

Estimating Watershed Biodiversity: An Empirical Study Of The Chesapeake Bay In Maryland, Usa, Junko Morimoto, Helena Voinov, Matthew A. Wilson, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

There has been increasing demand for rigorous methods for evaluating biodiversity, one of the ecosystem services that sustains and fulfills human life. After carefully examining the literature, we found three key points that should be taken into account when we evaluate biodiversity. The first point is that any "indicator species" tends to be a leaky target of biodiversity. The second point is that "buffering" that is useful for representing the ecological concept of boundaries should have scientific meanings. The third point is that a "watershed" that integrates most natural processes is advantageous as the spatial range for evaluation. Based on …

Sex, Politics, And Sustainability: Review Of Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look At Human Behavior, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book Review of "Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior" by Bobbi S. Low. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2001.

Integrated Ecological Economic Modeling Of The Patuxent River Watershed, Maryland, Robert Costanza, Alexey Voinov, Roelof Boumans, Thomas Maxwell, Ferdinando Villa, Lisa Wainger, Helena Voinov

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Understanding the way regional landscapes operate, evolve, and change is a key area of research for ecosystem science. It is also essential to support the "placebased" management approach being advocated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other management agencies. We developed a spatially explicit, process-based model of the 2352 km2 Patuxent River watershed in Maryland to integrate data and knowledge over several spatial, temporal, and complexity scales, and to serve as an aid to regional management. In particular, the model addresses the effects of both the magnitude and spatial patterns of human settlements and agricultural practices on hydrology, plant …

Visions, Values, Valuation And The Need For An Ecological Economics, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Practical problem solving in complex, humandominated ecosystems requires the integration of three elements: (1) active and ongoing envisioning of both how the world works and how we would like the world to be, (2) systematic analysis appropriate to and consistent with the vision, and (3) implementation appropriate to the vision. Scientists generally focus on only the second of these steps, but integrating all three is essential to both good science and effective management. Subjective values enter in the vision element, both in terms of the formation of broad social goals and in the creation of a preanalytic vision,which necessarily precedes …

Government Sponsored Perversity. Review Of: Perverse Subsidies: How Tax Dollars Can Undercut The Environment And The Economy By Norman Myers And Jennifer Kent, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book review of Perverse Subsidies: How Tax Dollars Can Undercut the Environment and the Economy. Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent. Island Press, Washington (DC), 2001.

Building A Sustainable Future For Portland, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Economics As A Life Science: Review Of You Can't Eat Gnp: Economics As If Ecology Mattered By Eric A. Davidson And The Nature Of Economies By Jane Jacobs, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Two Book Reviews: You Can?t Eat GNP: Economics As If Ecology Mattered by Eric A. Davidson and The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs

Private Agro-Environmental Management: Green Business Rising, David E. Ervin, Frank Casey

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article focuses on the role of business environmental management (BEM) in the food industry. Types of BEM; Benefits of implementing the practice; Importance of giving producers flexibility; How private strategies and ventures may succeed. This article is adapted from a keynote address prepared for Challenging the Agricultural Economics Paradigm, a symposium honoring Luther G. Tweeten, Anderson Professor of Agricultural Marketing, Trade and Policy, September 10-11, 2000, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

Transgenic Crops: An Environmental Assessment, David E. Ervin, Sandra S. Batie, Rick Welsh, Chantal L. Carpentier, Jacqueline I. Fern, Nessa J. Richman, Mary A. Schulz

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The report focuses on the environmental impacts of transgenic crops, and covers biosafety regulations in the US and EU, intellectual property rights, and market and trade developments.

Smart For One, Dumb For All. Review Of: Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails To Satisfy In An Era Of Excess By Robert H. Frank, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book review of Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess. Robert H. Frank. Free Press, New York, 1999.

Portable Wood Burning Field Stove: United States Patent, John B. Hall

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ornamental design for a portable wood burning field stove.

Managing Our Environmental Portfolio, Robert Costanza, Herman E. Daly, Carl Folke, Paul Hawken, C. S. Holling, A. J. Mcmichael, David Pimentel, David Rapport

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

No set of issues has tended to separate economists and ecologists, especially in the mind of the public, more than those surrounding the linkages between economic growth, human carrying capacity, and the environment. The general lack of interest among the majority of economists in problems of the environment and a parallel lack of interest among the majority of ecologists in economic issues, combined with a lack of dialogue between the two groups, has allowed extreme positions to take hold in the public debate and to influence policy to an inordinate degree.

Human History As A Natural Science. Review Of: Guns, Germs, And Steel: The Fates Of Human Societies By Jared Diamond, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book review of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Jared Diamond. W. W. Norton, New York, 1997.

One Giant Leap. Review Of: Consilience: The Unity Of Knowledge By Edward O. Wilson, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book review of Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. Edward O. Wilson. Knopf, New York, 1998.

Globalization And The Sustainability Of Human Health: An Ecological Perspective, Robert Costanza, A. J. Mcmichael, Bert Bolin, Gretchen C. Daily, Carl Folke, Kerstin Lindahl-Kiessling, Elisabet Lindgren, Bo Niklasson

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The last half-century has seen momentous and accelerating changes in humankind's economic activities, political relations, and social and demographic profile. A prominent feature of this change is the increasing scale of human impact on Earth's natural biophysical systems: the climate system, stratospheric ozone, biodiversity, terrestrial and marine food-producing ecosystems, and the great cycles of water, nitrogen, and sulfur (Meyer 1996, Vitousek et al. 1997). These systems sustain the conditions on which life depends, and their weakening may therefore have profound long-term implications for human population health (McMichael 1993, Last 1997).