Economic Thinking Posts on Debate Topics
Global warming is expected by many to further endanger Green Sea Turtles. But until then, unusual cooling is endangering sea turtles, according to this 2010 article in the SunSentinel When the temperature drops very quickly...
Marine ecosystems and coastal areas around the world have been and are being transformed as U.S. shrimp imports from Asia surge. This is part of a broader expansion of “farming the sea.” According to...
Imagine an environmental conference bringing together leading environmental lawyers and scholars from across the political spectrum. In some cases those attending were the same scholars who as graduate students and activists helped pass major...
Conflicts over living resources arise mainly from the question of use versus preservation: use meaning harvesting a resource as needed by people; preservation meaning leaving nature alone so that people can’t have negative effects...
What if you could help restore the health of America’s coastal bays and estuaries at the dinner table? Concerns about non-point source pollution focus on fertilizers and other nutrients washed off lawns, gardens...
“Water Plant’s Long Journey” in the June 21 Wall Street Journal reports on a twenty years delayed Carlsbad, California desalination facility. For debaters researching marine natural resources, it should be no surprise that the most...
At the National Marine Protected Areas Center website you can find this explanation of government MPAs: MPAs are internationally recognized as a means for conserving natural, historic, and cultural marine resources. Through protection of...
After listening to a NPR segment on invasive and very large Burmese pythons in Florida (Animal CSI), I noticed a number of similar NPR segments: Pythons Blamed for Everglade’s Disappearing Animals, and Will Florida Pythons...
Jay Fidell, writing in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, argues against proposed state legislation that would block open-ocean fish farms. (State must save, not end, open-ocean fish farming, Feb. 6, 2011) Fidell notes: One-third of ocean...
“If it matters, measure it.” The Fraser Institute, a think tank in Vancouver, BC, argues that good public policy requires good data and constant measurement. For evaluating current marine natural resource policies as well...