Santa Fe Institute Events Wiki - User contributions [en]

2010 Global Sustainability Summer School-ParticipantSuggestions

2010-07-27T14:43:48Z

Sposner:

{{GSSS 2010}}

A few of us thought it might be helpful to have a section of books or readings that participants thought were valuable to the sustainability discussion, or at least good reads! Feel free to change categories, add books, or contribute your own thoughts to books already listed.

== Environmental Studies ==
* "Classics in Environmental Studies" - Nico Helissen (1997).
: Contains excerpts of books and reports from Malthus and Carson to Harrison and Gore. A good way to ramp up quickly on some of the commonly discussed environmental literature. Note the copyright is quite old, so newer stuff is not found in the book.

== Change / Sustainability ==
*Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed. 2007. Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Patton. 
 
A MUST READ:
The Collapse of Complex Societies, by Joseph Tainter (1988) 
Review from Amazon: "Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future. Dr. Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses." 
A clever approach to a tricky idea - [http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-15-want-to-join-the-voluntary-human-extinction-movement The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement]

* Global Sustainability - A Nobel Cause. When we were at SFI last week, some of you saw the book on display that [Veronika] was involved in editing. [Veronika] just wanted to mention that the book is an open access publication. You can freely download all chapters at: http://www.nobel-cause.de/ It is a book targeted at a broad audience, but some of the essays are definitely interesting for experts as well. If you want to read again about Geoffrey West's research, [Veronika] strongly recommends chapter 2.

*Climate Change and the Integrity of Science -- This is the letter to Science with many authors that John Schellnhuber showed in his 3rd lecture [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/sci;328/5979/689?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=mccarthy&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT.pdf link]

*The bridge at the edge of the world: capitalism, the environment and crossing from crisis to sustainability. 2008. James Gustave Speth.

== Science of Climate Change ==
Here is a good and easy to read text about the effect from increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. The text explains why one cannot conduct a laboratory experiment to measure the impact from increasing CO2 levels and it offers good arguments against to common skeptic argument of ''CO2 saturation''.
*http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/06/a-saturated-gassy-argument/

 
== Economics ==
 
I think this is the paper driving many of Doyne's comments on CBA, though I should probably ask the man himself :^) 
I assigned it to my CBA class last semester, after a long semester of hard work on CBA, they were not pleased... he he he 
Martin L. Weitzman (2009). Additive Damages, Fat-Tailed Climate Dynamics, and Uncertain Discounting. 
Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Vol. 3, 2009-39. 
http://www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/journalarticles/2009-39 

*[[2010_Global_Sustainability_Summer_School-PES|Payment for Ecosystem Services]]

 

== Ecological Economics ==
 
This is a web-based course on ecological economics with open access to course materials. *http://metacourses.org/ecologicaleconomics/
 

== Policy instruments ==
The book [http://www.amazon.com/Instruments-Environmental-Natural-Resource-Management/dp/1891853120/ ''Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management''] by [http://www.hgu.gu.se/item.aspx?id=3368 Thomas Sterner] provides a good overview over available policy instruments for the environment, how they function and what kinds of costs they imply.

== Energy Matters ==

How we [http://boingboing.net/2010/07/14/how-we-subsidize-fos.html subsidize fossil fuels]. (Via [http://chartporn.org/ chartporn])

== Fun ==
* "Encounters with the Archdruid" - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McPhee John McPhee] (1971).
: A narrative of three journeys with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brower David Brower], first executive director of the Sierra Club and founder of Friends of the Earth. In each journey, David Brower is paired with a mineral engineer, a dam builder, and a real estate developer. A fabulous and quick read with many take aways.

* "Control of Nature" - another great John McPhee book

* Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Marc Reisner. 1993. - Fantastic (if interestingly verbose) account of western water policy.

* George Carlin - Save the planet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

* Story of Stuff - http://www.storyofstuff.com/

* Beak of the Finch: A story of evolution in our time. Jonathan Weiner.

* Desert Solitaire. Edward Abbey.

* [http://www.tsspivet.com/ "The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet"] by Reif Larsen. Excellent story of a twelve-year-old cartographer's journey to a fellowship at the Smithsonian. Beautiful illustrations. Geographers should especially appreciate the detail of the drawings and mapping of the world.

== Movies ==
* By Hayao Miyazaki - Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away
* By Makoto Shinkai - [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/the-place-promised-in-our-early-days/dvd The Place Promised in Our Early Days]
* By Robert Benigni - [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419198/ The Tiger and the Snow]

2010 Global Sustainability Summer School-Op-Ed

2010-07-22T19:46:17Z

Sposner: /* Drafts */

{{GSSS 2010}}

This page is intended for op-ed topics and discussion.

Jackman's Idea: Every year big box stores are built on acres of formerly fertile farm land to both the detriment and benefit of small communities. Every year many of those box stores fail or relocate, primarily for expansion. With the failure or departure of these store, we are left with rural "big box-store blight" - huge, unusable buildings and acres of paved, impermeable surfaces that mar the landscape. Upon abandoning retail locations, I think that box store retailers such as Walmart, Whole Foods, Kmart, Krogers, and many others have an obligation to restore the landscape to its original condition or renovate the buildings and parking lots to accommodate other (non-box store) uses. In an op-ed I would like to motivate the necessity for this policy as well as provide suggestions as to how this might be achieved. I expect that these methods will provide disincentives for some box-stores to locate in areas with this requirement, but this is not the objective. Rather, the objectives are to 1) motivate box-stores to locate carefully, 2) discourage them from moving for the purposes of expansion, and 3) maintain the environmental, social, and community value of the landscape. Perhaps not exactly to the point, but an interesting Ted video about [http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia.html reclaiming and retrofitting suburbia]. 

Way to go Duke... [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/duke_community/oped.html some helpful tips for writing and getting your op-ed published ]
 
 
Strumsky's Idea: Education and Irrationality: The solution offered for many major social problems is that we can educate our way out of them. This strikes me about as viable as being able to invent our way out of problems. There are too many examples of people having a clear, well informed understanding of a problem and they do not dispute the facts or data, yet choosing the irrational option (or to use game theory, selecting non-dominant strategies). The examples are everywhere; obesity is well understood, the facts and consequences for people’s health is not in dispute, yet obesity and its health consequences are on the rise - not just in the US, but globally. We can go on and on, alcoholism, drinking and driving, smoking, positions against healthcare reform by the individuals who are ill and uninsured. If we can not educate our way out of problems what do we do? We need another option.
 
 

[[M. K. Dorsey's Op-Ed Ideas, Some Old Ones & Pithy Strategic Banter]]

==Drafts==

[[Op/Ed Draft: "Owning coastal property might put you on the rocks" - Eli Lazarus]]
 
 
[[Media:Op_ed_ANITA_CARRASCO.doc‎| Op/Ed Draft: "A Tale of Violence" - Anita Carrasco]]
 
 
[[Media:OpEd_jackman_v1.doc‎| Op/Ed Draft: "Big Box Store Slight" - Dana Jackman]]
 
 
[[Media:Gallemoreoped.doc| Op/Ed Draft: "Fearing Fear Itself" - Caleb Gallemore]]
 
 
[[Media:Oped-Hongtao_Yi.doc| Op/Ed Draft: "Rare Earth Supply Faces Dramatic Decrease: Disaster or Opportunity?" - Hongtao Yi]]
 
 
[[Op/Ed Draft: "Bike Lanes or BP?" - John Baker (Note: I could use help with a better title. Suggestions?]]
‎ 
 
[[Media:Live learn and thrive.doc| Op/Ed Draft: "Live, Learn, and Thrive" - Yao Yin]]
‎‎ 
 
[[Media:The_False_Promises_of_Shale_Gas.pdf| Op/Ed Draft: "The False Promises of Shale Gas" - Joe Cresko]]
‎ 
 
[[Let the river in! - Dana Coelho]]
 
‎ 
[[Op/Ed Draft: Strong stands against natural gas drilling in PA - Maria Dillard]]
 
 
[[Sweden should aim for zero carbon as quickly as possible - David Bryngelsson]]
 
 
[[OpEd Draft: Further criticism of the airport expansion in the light of the coming taxation of airline tickets - Therese Hertel]]
 
 
[[Media:OpEd_Veronika_AviationLevy.doc‎| OpEd Draft: "Why not only Mr Schäuble should by happy about the aviation levy" - Veronika Huber]]
 
 
[[Op/Ed Draft: "Time is right for reform of national accounts" - Stephen Posner]]

Op/Ed Draft: "Time is right for reform of national accounts" - Stephen Posner

2010-07-22T19:45:16Z

Sposner: New page: The time is right for reform of national accounts Unless real reform is made to improve the way that federal government accounts for social and environmental conditions in this country, g...

The time is right for reform of national accounts

Unless real reform is made to improve the way that federal government accounts for social and environmental conditions in this country, gross domestic product (GDP) will continue to mislead us in an erroneous pursuit of economic growth, regardless of the consequences.

As our country’s leading economic indicator, GDP has consistently proven to be an inaccurate measure of prosperity. GDP omits key parts of the economy that contribute to high quality of life such as volunteerism and household work. It also counts many detrimental costs as though they are good for society, as in the way it increases due to money spent cleaning up human-caused pollution, commuting long hours to work, and depleting nonrenewable resources.

The metric is still used to represent national performance and overall well-being, though organizations and countries around the world are increasingly recognizing the need for better measures of progress. Among them are the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has hosted a series of global forums on measuring the progress of societies; the European Union, with its Beyond GDP Initiative; Bhutan, an Asian country where Gross National Happiness is an official government statistic; and France, which recently convened a commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress.

In the US, several efforts are underway to provide better information about environmental and social conditions to citizens and decision makers. These include the Genuine Progress Indicator, which has been applied in several states and is now reported by the Maryland government, and the State of the USA indicators due for release in 2010 by the National Academy of Sciences and other high-level organizations. The hard work will be to determine how to use these new sources of information to make budget decisions and evaluate policies.

Our continued industrial-age pursuit of consumption despite increasing environmental and social costs will leave future generations bewildered at our shortsightedness and selfishness. It is time for us to balance the checkbook, and revised national accounts that value social, economic, and environmental assets are a major step toward a more sustainable form of economic well-being.

Stephen Posner is an associate ecological economist with the World Resources Institute.

Nuclear Energy GSSS 2010 Debate

2010-07-15T03:32:07Z

Sposner: /* Topic Brainstorm */

{{GSSS 2010}}

==Topic Brainstorm==

Resolved: Nuclear energy production should not be a part of the US energy supply.

*Affirmative:

Critical readings & resources

--From [http://www.ieer.org/ The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research • IEER]

[http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/CarbonFreeNuclearFree.pdf Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy]
 [WARNING: link is to full text, 257 pgs.] 

[http://www.ieer.org/reports/Renewable_electric_system-Makhijani2009.pdf The Technical and Economic Feasibility of a Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free Energy System in the United States, Arjun Makhijani. March 4, 2009]

[http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0810/pdf/climate.2008.103.pdf Nuclear isn't necessary, from Nature Reports Climate Change]

--From [http://www.helencaldicott.com/index.htm Caldicott, H.]

[http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2010/03/03/2835725.htm Nuclear energy: money can't buy love] by David Noonan, ABC (Aus), 3 March 2010]

--From Union of Concerned Scientists: A Resurgence of Nuclear Power Poses Significant Challenges
[http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_and_global_warming/nuclear-resurgence.html]

--Natural Resources Defense Council: New Nuclear Power Plants Are Not a Solution for America's Energy Needs
[http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/plants/contents.asp]

*Negative:

2010 Global Sustainability Summer School-After Hours

2010-07-15T02:17:45Z

Sposner: /* Taos Field Trip */

{{GSSS 2010}}

==Taos Field Trip==
We've arranged a tour of an [http://earthship.com/ Earthship] in Taos on Saturday.

Please sign up here if you are interested in going.

1.Shirley 
2.Anita 
3.Tess 
4.Amanda 
5.Veronika 
6.Mary 
7.Dana 
8.Hitesh 
9.John 
10.Lawrence 
11.Steve 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 

==Synergia Ranch==
[http://www.synergiaranch.com/ Synergia Ranch] has invited us to dinner and a tour of their operations on Thursday the 15th (after the Biosphere Colloquium). Please sign up here so that we have an idea of who's going.

John Paul's Camry (4 seats) 
1.JP 
2.Hitesh 
3.Stevie P. 
4.Robbie 

Doynemobile (2 seats) 
1.Doyne Farmer 
2.M. K. Dorsey

Dana's Car (4 seats) 
1.Dana C. 
2.Janeane 
3.Joe Cresko 
4.Tess 

George Johnson 
1. Yao 
2. Dana Jackman 
3 Shirley Papuga 
4. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 
5. Veronika

Debbie's Car 
1.David B 
2.Gabe C. 
3.Caleb G. 

Jim Crutchfield 
1.Jim Crutchfield 
2.Lawrence 
3.Eli Lazarus 
4.Deva 

Gina LaCerva 
1. Maria Dillard 
2. Carolina 
3. Anita 
4. Christian 

Donatella's Car 
1.Tao 
2.Amanda 
3.Mary T. 

Donatella's Second 
1.John B. 
2. 

Unassigned:

Anita 

==Soylent Green Showing!==

Doyne Farmer would like to have a showing of Soylent Green at his house. Please sign up here and JP will forward you more info. Depending on how many we have sign up, we'll assess transportation options.

John Paul's Car (4 seats) 
1.John Paul 
2.Mary Turnipseed 
3. 
4. 

1.[[John Paul]] 
2.[[Yao Yin]] 
3.[[Caleb Gallemore]] 
4.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
5.[[Mary Turnipseed]] 
6.[[Eli Lazarus]] 
7.[[Veronika Huber]] 
8. Tess 
9.
10. [[Dana Coelho]] 
11. Joe Cresko 
12. Gabe Chan 
13. Lawrence Lin 
14. Shirley Papuga 
15. [[Hongtao Yi]] 
16. M.K. Dorsey 
17. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 
18. Amanda James 

==Bandelier Field Trip==

Would anybody be interested in taking a field trip to [http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm Bandelier National Monument] for a hike? I'd like to go on Sunday July 18. We'll leave from St. John's at about 11:00 and hike for a few hours, then possibly take a trip up to the [http://www.vallescaldera.gov Valles Caldera] and Jemez Springs.

Please sign up if you're interested.

Sign Up
1.John Paul 
2.Yao 
3.Caleb Gallemore 
4.Gabe Chan 
5.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
6.Lisa Curran 
7.[[Dana Coelho]] - I would love a ride but can also drive if the need arises! 
8. Joe Cresko 
9. Lawrence Lin 
10. Amanda James 
11. Hongtao Yi 
12. Tess 
14. [[Michael Dorsey]] 
15. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 

== Farmers Markets ==

The [http://www.santafefarmersmarket.com/ Santa Fe Farmers' Market] is Open Every Tuesday and Saturday in the Santa Fe Railyard! 7am-Noon.

== Open Hours Gym ==

SAC Hours from May 31 – August 14 are:

Monday 6a-7p
Tuesday 6a-8p
Wednesday 6a-8p
Thursday 6a-7p
Friday 6a-7p
Saturday 10a-5p
Sunday CLOSED

There will be open volleyball on Mondays, 4:30-6:30p and open basketball on Thursdays from 4:30-6:30p.

2010 Global Sustainability Summer School-After Hours

2010-07-15T02:17:20Z

Sposner: /* Soylent Green Showing! */

{{GSSS 2010}}

==Taos Field Trip==
We've arranged a tour of an [http://earthship.com/ Earthship] in Taos on Saturday.

Please sign up here if you are interested in going.

1.Shirley 
2.Anita 
3.Tess 
4.Amanda 
5.Veronika 
6.Mary 
7.Dana 
8.Hitesh 
9.John 
10.Lawrence 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 

==Synergia Ranch==
[http://www.synergiaranch.com/ Synergia Ranch] has invited us to dinner and a tour of their operations on Thursday the 15th (after the Biosphere Colloquium). Please sign up here so that we have an idea of who's going.

John Paul's Camry (4 seats) 
1.JP 
2.Hitesh 
3.Stevie P. 
4.Robbie 

Doynemobile (2 seats) 
1.Doyne Farmer 
2.M. K. Dorsey

Dana's Car (4 seats) 
1.Dana C. 
2.Janeane 
3.Joe Cresko 
4.Tess 

George Johnson 
1. Yao 
2. Dana Jackman 
3 Shirley Papuga 
4. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 
5. Veronika

Debbie's Car 
1.David B 
2.Gabe C. 
3.Caleb G. 

Jim Crutchfield 
1.Jim Crutchfield 
2.Lawrence 
3.Eli Lazarus 
4.Deva 

Gina LaCerva 
1. Maria Dillard 
2. Carolina 
3. Anita 
4. Christian 

Donatella's Car 
1.Tao 
2.Amanda 
3.Mary T. 

Donatella's Second 
1.John B. 
2. 

Unassigned:

Anita 

==Soylent Green Showing!==

Doyne Farmer would like to have a showing of Soylent Green at his house. Please sign up here and JP will forward you more info. Depending on how many we have sign up, we'll assess transportation options.

John Paul's Car (4 seats) 
1.John Paul 
2.Mary Turnipseed 
3. 
4. 

1.[[John Paul]] 
2.[[Yao Yin]] 
3.[[Caleb Gallemore]] 
4.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
5.[[Mary Turnipseed]] 
6.[[Eli Lazarus]] 
7.[[Veronika Huber]] 
8. Tess 
9.
10. [[Dana Coelho]] 
11. Joe Cresko 
12. Gabe Chan 
13. Lawrence Lin 
14. Shirley Papuga 
15. [[Hongtao Yi]] 
16. M.K. Dorsey 
17. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 
18. Amanda James 

==Bandelier Field Trip==

Would anybody be interested in taking a field trip to [http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm Bandelier National Monument] for a hike? I'd like to go on Sunday July 18. We'll leave from St. John's at about 11:00 and hike for a few hours, then possibly take a trip up to the [http://www.vallescaldera.gov Valles Caldera] and Jemez Springs.

Please sign up if you're interested.

Sign Up
1.John Paul 
2.Yao 
3.Caleb Gallemore 
4.Gabe Chan 
5.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
6.Lisa Curran 
7.[[Dana Coelho]] - I would love a ride but can also drive if the need arises! 
8. Joe Cresko 
9. Lawrence Lin 
10. Amanda James 
11. Hongtao Yi 
12. Tess 
14. [[Michael Dorsey]] 
15. Cecilia Roa-Garcia 

== Farmers Markets ==

The [http://www.santafefarmersmarket.com/ Santa Fe Farmers' Market] is Open Every Tuesday and Saturday in the Santa Fe Railyard! 7am-Noon.

== Open Hours Gym ==

SAC Hours from May 31 – August 14 are:

Monday 6a-7p
Tuesday 6a-8p
Wednesday 6a-8p
Thursday 6a-7p
Friday 6a-7p
Saturday 10a-5p
Sunday CLOSED

There will be open volleyball on Mondays, 4:30-6:30p and open basketball on Thursdays from 4:30-6:30p.

2010 Global Sustainability Summer School-After Hours

2010-07-13T04:11:50Z

Sposner:

{{GSSS 2010}}

==Synergia Ranch==
[http://www.synergiaranch.com/ Synergia Ranch] has invited us to dinner and a tour of their operations on Thursday the 15th (after the Biosphere Colloquium). Please sign up here so that we have an idea of who's going.

John Paul's Camry (5 seats) 
1.JP 
2.Hitesh 
3.Stevie P. 
4 
5 

Doynemobile (2 seats) 
1.Doyne Farmer 
2.

Dana's Car (4 seats) 
1.Dana C. 
2.Janeane 
3.Joe Cresko 
4.Tess 

George Johnson 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

==Soylent Green Showing!==

Doyne Farmer would like to have a showing of Soylent Green at his house. Please sign up here and JP will forward you more info. Depending on how many we have sign up, we'll assess transportation options.

1.[[John Paul]] 
2.[[Yao Yin]] 
3.[[Caleb Gallemore]] 
4.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
5.[[Mary Turnipseed]] 
6.[[Eli Lazarus]] 
7.[[Veronika Huber]] 
8. Tess 
9. Steve

==Bandelier Field Trip==

Would anybody be interested in taking a field trip to [http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm Bandelier National Monument] for a hike? I'd like to go on Sunday July 18. We'll leave from St. John's at about 11:00 and hike for a few hours, then possibly take a trip up to the [http://www.vallescaldera.gov Valles Caldera] and Jemez Springs.

Please sign up if you're interested.

Sign Up
1.John Paul 
2.Yao 
3.Caleb Gallemore 
4.Gabe Chan 
5.[[Hitesh Soneji]] 
6.Lisa Curran 
7. 
8. 

John Paul's Camry (5 seats) 
1.JP 
2.Yao 
3.Caleb Gallemore 
4.Gabe Chan 
5.Hitesh Soneji 

== Farmers Markets ==

The [http://www.santafefarmersmarket.com/ Santa Fe Farmers' Market] is Open Every Tuesday and Saturday in the Santa Fe Railyard! 7am-Noon.

Stephen Posner

2010-06-12T13:26:19Z

Sposner:

[[Image:posner pic.jpg|200px|thumb|left|smile]]

I am curious about the ecological and physical underpinnings of all economies. How do ecosystems support economic activity, and how are they impacted by it? How might we measure the sustainability of these relationships and the resilience of the systems at work?

As a research assistant at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, I focused broadly on sustainable development indicators and specifically on the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). The GPI uses monetary valuation to incorporate environmental, social, and economic information into a framework for guiding policy decisions (for example, the cost of nonrenewable resource depletion, the value of volunteer work, the cost of commuting). I applied the GPI at multiple scales in Maryland, where the state government recently presented GPI as their new measure of sustainable economic prosperity to capture what traditional economic indicators miss.

This past year I explored management strategies for reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions as an energy fellow with the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability and the Rocky Mountain Institute, where I also co-managed the first university Clean Energy Fund grant program and provided economic analysis to the university climate action plan (what will it cost for an institution to be carbon neutral, and how might they pay for it?).

I currently work as an economist with the World Resources Institute, measuring how businesses impact and depend on ecosystem services. This involves determining the economic value of services provided by nature for free, such as carbon sequestration, pollination, or recreational activities.

As I begin a PhD program in engineering and environmental sciences at Dartmouth, I am thinking about uncertainty in energy and climate models, ecosystem services, and how economic systems can adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions.

File:Posner pic.jpg

2010-06-12T13:21:42Z

Sposner:

Stephen Posner

2010-06-12T13:15:32Z

Sposner: New page: I am curious about the ecological and physical underpinnings of all economies. How do ecosystems support economic activity, and how are they impacted by it? How might we measure the sustai...

I am curious about the ecological and physical underpinnings of all economies. How do ecosystems support economic activity, and how are they impacted by it? How might we measure the sustainability of these relationships and the resilience of the systems at work?

As a research assistant at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, I focused broadly on sustainable development indicators and specifically on the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). The GPI uses monetary valuation to incorporate environmental, social, and economic information into a framework for guiding policy decisions (for example, the cost of nonrenewable resource depletion, the value of volunteer work, the cost of commuting). I applied the GPI at multiple scales in Maryland, where the state government recently presented GPI as their new measure of sustainable economic prosperity to capture what traditional economic indicators miss.

This past year I explored management strategies for reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions as an energy fellow with the University of Vermont Office of Sustainability and the Rocky Mountain Institute, where I also co-managed the first university Clean Energy Fund grant program and provided economic analysis to the university climate action plan (what will it cost for an institution to be carbon neutral, and how might they pay for it?).

I currently work as an economist with the World Resources Institute, measuring how businesses impact and depend on ecosystem services. This involves determining the economic value of services provided by nature for free, such as carbon sequestration, pollination, or recreational activities.

As I begin a PhD program in engineering and environmental sciences at Dartmouth, I am thinking about uncertainty in energy and climate models, ecosystem services, and how economic systems can adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions.