Mario A. Maggioni
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207183
- eISBN:
- 9780191708886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207183.003.0011
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This chapter contains a theoretical analysis of the rise and fall of clusters. It is shown how a major technological innovation sets a process of creative destruction into motion, where new clusters ...
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This chapter contains a theoretical analysis of the rise and fall of clusters. It is shown how a major technological innovation sets a process of creative destruction into motion, where new clusters appear and replace clusters based on obsolete technologies. In the last stage when the cluster matures, it either achieves a national or international leadership in a given sector or technology. The decisive element appears to be a different institutional framework. Using simulation techniques, it is shown how policies that support firm-based micro-level incentives seem to be critical rather than policies aimed at strengthening the ‘carrying capacities’. Most European policy makers overemphasize the latter type of policies as a means to initiate cluster emergence and growth.Less
This chapter contains a theoretical analysis of the rise and fall of clusters. It is shown how a major technological innovation sets a process of creative destruction into motion, where new clusters appear and replace clusters based on obsolete technologies. In the last stage when the cluster matures, it either achieves a national or international leadership in a given sector or technology. The decisive element appears to be a different institutional framework. Using simulation techniques, it is shown how policies that support firm-based micro-level incentives seem to be critical rather than policies aimed at strengthening the ‘carrying capacities’. Most European policy makers overemphasize the latter type of policies as a means to initiate cluster emergence and growth.
Alfonso Moreno
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199228409
- eISBN:
- 9780191711312
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228409.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter attempts to calculate the grain production and carrying capacity of Attica by analyzing five key variables: land, use of the land, crop yields, population, and consumption. Previous ...
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This chapter attempts to calculate the grain production and carrying capacity of Attica by analyzing five key variables: land, use of the land, crop yields, population, and consumption. Previous scholarly attempts to calculate these variables are surveyed. As part of the study of land, soil and climate are examined, as well as the extent of arable space, taking into account the use of terracing. As part of the study of land use, the conventional and revised models of Greek farming are compared. The results confirm the continuing usefulness of the former, which would indicate that half of the cultivable land of Attica required fallowing each year, and that natural fertilizers were insufficiently available to overcome this need or to escape relatively low yields. It is argued that the figures of imported grain transmitted by Demosthenes are reliable, and that recent attempts to demonstrate the opposite are unsatisfactory.Less
This chapter attempts to calculate the grain production and carrying capacity of Attica by analyzing five key variables: land, use of the land, crop yields, population, and consumption. Previous scholarly attempts to calculate these variables are surveyed. As part of the study of land, soil and climate are examined, as well as the extent of arable space, taking into account the use of terracing. As part of the study of land use, the conventional and revised models of Greek farming are compared. The results confirm the continuing usefulness of the former, which would indicate that half of the cultivable land of Attica required fallowing each year, and that natural fertilizers were insufficiently available to overcome this need or to escape relatively low yields. It is argued that the figures of imported grain transmitted by Demosthenes are reliable, and that recent attempts to demonstrate the opposite are unsatisfactory.
David A. Cleveland
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520277410
- eISBN:
- 9780520957084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520277410.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
There is an inherent tension between human impact (the product of the size of the human population, people's level of food consumption, and the technology used to produce food) and the ability of the ...
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There is an inherent tension between human impact (the product of the size of the human population, people's level of food consumption, and the technology used to produce food) and the ability of the environment to supply food (the human carrying capacity). The “zone” is the place where human impact overlaps carrying capacity, either for a given location or for the whole planet. The way in which we understand and respond to the zone depends on basic assumptions about natural resources and human nature, and it is at the core of defining and solving the food crisis. This is illustrated using a calculation of human carrying capacity based on water needed to grow rice to provide calories for the human population.Less
There is an inherent tension between human impact (the product of the size of the human population, people's level of food consumption, and the technology used to produce food) and the ability of the environment to supply food (the human carrying capacity). The “zone” is the place where human impact overlaps carrying capacity, either for a given location or for the whole planet. The way in which we understand and respond to the zone depends on basic assumptions about natural resources and human nature, and it is at the core of defining and solving the food crisis. This is illustrated using a calculation of human carrying capacity based on water needed to grow rice to provide calories for the human population.
Partha Dasgupta
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198288350
- eISBN:
- 9780191596094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198288352.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections: (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of ...
More
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections: (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of environmental resources, which are here treated as renewable natural resources; (3) needs, stress, and carrying capacity: land and water; (4) environmental shadow prices, project evaluation, and net national product (NNP); (5) markets and their failure: unidirectional and reciprocal externalities; (6) property rights on land; (7) public failure and the erosion of local commons; and (8) work allocation among women and children and the desirable locus of environmental decisions. An extra and separate section (designated Chapter *10) gives theoretical presentations on four aspects of the net national product in a dynamic economy: (1) the economics of optimal control; (2) NNP in a deterministic environment; (3) the current‐value Hamiltonian as a measure of sustainable well‐being (sustainable development); and (4) future uncertainty.Less
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections: (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of environmental resources, which are here treated as renewable natural resources; (3) needs, stress, and carrying capacity: land and water; (4) environmental shadow prices, project evaluation, and net national product (NNP); (5) markets and their failure: unidirectional and reciprocal externalities; (6) property rights on land; (7) public failure and the erosion of local commons; and (8) work allocation among women and children and the desirable locus of environmental decisions. An extra and separate section (designated Chapter *10) gives theoretical presentations on four aspects of the net national product in a dynamic economy: (1) the economics of optimal control; (2) NNP in a deterministic environment; (3) the current‐value Hamiltonian as a measure of sustainable well‐being (sustainable development); and (4) future uncertainty.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801478239
- eISBN:
- 9780801466212
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801478239.003.0016
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Environmental Geography
This chapter provides an overview of sustainability and how it can be maintained in a world of limited resources. It posits some definitions of the term “sustainability,” noting that any workable ...
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This chapter provides an overview of sustainability and how it can be maintained in a world of limited resources. It posits some definitions of the term “sustainability,” noting that any workable definition thereof requires some combination of ethical, social, economic, environmental, and operational components. Two questions thus arise in obtaining a definition of sustainability: one of equity, the other of costs; and the two are closely related. The chapter then turns to the issue of defining a list of basic requirements for human survival, before turning to the larger issue of the Earth's “carrying capacity,” so to speak, and how it involves social, ethical, and economic as well as physical and biological considerations.Less
This chapter provides an overview of sustainability and how it can be maintained in a world of limited resources. It posits some definitions of the term “sustainability,” noting that any workable definition thereof requires some combination of ethical, social, economic, environmental, and operational components. Two questions thus arise in obtaining a definition of sustainability: one of equity, the other of costs; and the two are closely related. The chapter then turns to the issue of defining a list of basic requirements for human survival, before turning to the larger issue of the Earth's “carrying capacity,” so to speak, and how it involves social, ethical, and economic as well as physical and biological considerations.
Jonathan S. Friedlaender
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300307
- eISBN:
- 9780199790142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300307.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This introductory chapter describes the outline, focus, and themes of the book. The book describes the genetic and linguistic diversity in the key region of Northern Island Melanesia. Recurrent ...
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This introductory chapter describes the outline, focus, and themes of the book. The book describes the genetic and linguistic diversity in the key region of Northern Island Melanesia. Recurrent themes of the book are laid out. These are: the influence of the island biogeography (a series of stepping-stone islands extending from Southeast Asia into the Pacific); the dynamics of small populations (even some of the larger islands had carrying capacities of under 1,000 people in pre-Neolithic times); very limited marital migration distances in inland (bush) communities vs. more extensive marital migration rates along shoreline communities; intensifying mobility after the isolation of initial settlement, aided by better seafaring technology in the Holocene; and later immigration of distinct peoples from Island Southeast Asia, who spoke Austronesian (Oceanic) languages and settled along the shorelines and the small islands, so that language distinctions are associated to a degree with the pattern of diversity. The succeeding chapters are summarized.Less
This introductory chapter describes the outline, focus, and themes of the book. The book describes the genetic and linguistic diversity in the key region of Northern Island Melanesia. Recurrent themes of the book are laid out. These are: the influence of the island biogeography (a series of stepping-stone islands extending from Southeast Asia into the Pacific); the dynamics of small populations (even some of the larger islands had carrying capacities of under 1,000 people in pre-Neolithic times); very limited marital migration distances in inland (bush) communities vs. more extensive marital migration rates along shoreline communities; intensifying mobility after the isolation of initial settlement, aided by better seafaring technology in the Holocene; and later immigration of distinct peoples from Island Southeast Asia, who spoke Austronesian (Oceanic) languages and settled along the shorelines and the small islands, so that language distinctions are associated to a degree with the pattern of diversity. The succeeding chapters are summarized.
Kent Weeks and Nigel Hetherington
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9789774166082
- eISBN:
- 9781617975493
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166082.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Methodology and Techniques
The estimated carrying capacity of the Valley of the Kings is about a thousand visitors per hour. This is calculated with reference to parking areas, average length of visit, and waiting times at ...
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The estimated carrying capacity of the Valley of the Kings is about a thousand visitors per hour. This is calculated with reference to parking areas, average length of visit, and waiting times at tomb entrances. Surveys of visitor numbers reveal consistent peak periods at specific times of the day. The number of visitors per day, and the flow of visitors through the site, can be controlled in several ways: allowing a maximum number of visitor in the Valley at any one time; restricting the size of tour groups; expanding the opening hours; enforcing parking restrictions; building full-size replicas of specific tombs; using a signaling system to indicate when particular tombs are temporarily full of visitors; ticketing systems that would encourage visits to less popular tombs; forbidding guides to lecture inside tombs; maps and signs; and physical barriers to control lines outside tomb entrances.Less
The estimated carrying capacity of the Valley of the Kings is about a thousand visitors per hour. This is calculated with reference to parking areas, average length of visit, and waiting times at tomb entrances. Surveys of visitor numbers reveal consistent peak periods at specific times of the day. The number of visitors per day, and the flow of visitors through the site, can be controlled in several ways: allowing a maximum number of visitor in the Valley at any one time; restricting the size of tour groups; expanding the opening hours; enforcing parking restrictions; building full-size replicas of specific tombs; using a signaling system to indicate when particular tombs are temporarily full of visitors; ticketing systems that would encourage visits to less popular tombs; forbidding guides to lecture inside tombs; maps and signs; and physical barriers to control lines outside tomb entrances.
Alon Tal
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300216882
- eISBN:
- 9780300224955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300216882.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter examines the question of how many people can live in the land of Israel. It considers the implications of the present food supply on potential population levels. It begins by addressing ...
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This chapter examines the question of how many people can live in the land of Israel. It considers the implications of the present food supply on potential population levels. It begins by addressing the question of how many people lived in Israel during its different historic periods before the advent of global trade that allowed for the meaningful importation of calories. It then reviews the initial deliberations about the land's potential absorptive capacity. Self-sufficiency was the starting point for traditional discussions about carrying capacity levels. A society's ability to provide itself with energy and food was deemed fundamental to its long-term survival. For a brief period during the first half of the twentieth century, whether the land of Israel could provide food and a decent living for a rapidly growing population was the subject of fierce debate. The argument still casts a shadow on present discussions of carrying capacity.Less
This chapter examines the question of how many people can live in the land of Israel. It considers the implications of the present food supply on potential population levels. It begins by addressing the question of how many people lived in Israel during its different historic periods before the advent of global trade that allowed for the meaningful importation of calories. It then reviews the initial deliberations about the land's potential absorptive capacity. Self-sufficiency was the starting point for traditional discussions about carrying capacity levels. A society's ability to provide itself with energy and food was deemed fundamental to its long-term survival. For a brief period during the first half of the twentieth century, whether the land of Israel could provide food and a decent living for a rapidly growing population was the subject of fierce debate. The argument still casts a shadow on present discussions of carrying capacity.
Nathan F. Sayre
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226083117
- eISBN:
- 9780226083391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226083391.003.0005
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
Chapter 4 looks at the scientific struggle to determine carrying capacities and the political struggle to impose them on ranchers in the form of stocking rates. It took the Forest Service decades of ...
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Chapter 4 looks at the scientific struggle to determine carrying capacities and the political struggle to impose them on ranchers in the form of stocking rates. It took the Forest Service decades of concerted effort just to develop a basic inventory of its rangelands, and even when data were available the problem of converting an ever-changing volume of forage into a fixed number of livestock was a matter of chronic uncertainty and debate. Fixing stocking rates to match average conditions ensured that there would be excess grass in wet years and excessive livestock in dry ones; perennial disputes with ranchers predictably ensued. Publicly, the agency made bold claims about the condition of the nation’s rangelands, invoking solid-looking numbers to defend itself against ranchers, rival agencies and critics in Congress. Internally, however, the scientists conceded that determining carrying capacities was fraught with problems. Then, at mid-century, an apparent solution was found: economical, standardized methods of quantifying both the successional stage and the volume of forage of a given range. It was not actually a solution, as would become apparent over time, but it represented an important final step in consolidating the authority of range science.Less
Chapter 4 looks at the scientific struggle to determine carrying capacities and the political struggle to impose them on ranchers in the form of stocking rates. It took the Forest Service decades of concerted effort just to develop a basic inventory of its rangelands, and even when data were available the problem of converting an ever-changing volume of forage into a fixed number of livestock was a matter of chronic uncertainty and debate. Fixing stocking rates to match average conditions ensured that there would be excess grass in wet years and excessive livestock in dry ones; perennial disputes with ranchers predictably ensued. Publicly, the agency made bold claims about the condition of the nation’s rangelands, invoking solid-looking numbers to defend itself against ranchers, rival agencies and critics in Congress. Internally, however, the scientists conceded that determining carrying capacities was fraught with problems. Then, at mid-century, an apparent solution was found: economical, standardized methods of quantifying both the successional stage and the volume of forage of a given range. It was not actually a solution, as would become apparent over time, but it represented an important final step in consolidating the authority of range science.
Ramprasad Sengupta
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198081654
- eISBN:
- 9780199082407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198081654.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The chapter focuses on the sustainable use of land which is fixed in availability and has competing uses for meeting the requirements of any economy. As agriculture for food supply is the most ...
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The chapter focuses on the sustainable use of land which is fixed in availability and has competing uses for meeting the requirements of any economy. As agriculture for food supply is the most critical use of land it outlines the theory of land use and rent with reference to soil or land quality and defines the carrying capacity of land in terms of providing life support to people in calorie units. It critically discusses the issue of food security with reference to the adequacy of carrying capacity of land and points to both the challenges of distribution as well as augmenting carrying capacity using biotechnology and developing genetically modified crops. It further discusses the actual pattern of land use and land degradation in India, and their causal factors, like soil erosion, chemical and physical degradation of land, poverty, overpopulation and dependency on ecologically fragile resources with their policy implications.Less
The chapter focuses on the sustainable use of land which is fixed in availability and has competing uses for meeting the requirements of any economy. As agriculture for food supply is the most critical use of land it outlines the theory of land use and rent with reference to soil or land quality and defines the carrying capacity of land in terms of providing life support to people in calorie units. It critically discusses the issue of food security with reference to the adequacy of carrying capacity of land and points to both the challenges of distribution as well as augmenting carrying capacity using biotechnology and developing genetically modified crops. It further discusses the actual pattern of land use and land degradation in India, and their causal factors, like soil erosion, chemical and physical degradation of land, poverty, overpopulation and dependency on ecologically fragile resources with their policy implications.
Partha Dasgupta
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198288350
- eISBN:
- 9780191596094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198288352.003.0014
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections; (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of ...
More
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections; (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of environmental resources, which are here treated as renewable natural resources; (3) needs, stress, and carrying capacity: land and water; (4) environmental shadow prices, project evaluation, and net national product (NNP); (5) markets and their failure: unidirectional and reciprocal externalities; (6) property rights on land; (7) public failure and the erosion of local commons; and (8) work allocation among women and children and the desirable locus of environmental decisions. An extra and separate section (designated Chapter *10) gives theoretical presentations on four aspects of the net national product in a dynamic economy: (1) the economics of optimal control; (2) NNP in a deterministic environment; (3) the current‐value Hamiltonian as a measure of sustainable well‐being (sustainable development); and (4) future uncertainty.Less
The main part of this chapter discusses poverty in relation to the environmental resource base. It has ten sections; (1) the resource basis of rural production; (2) the characteristics of environmental resources, which are here treated as renewable natural resources; (3) needs, stress, and carrying capacity: land and water; (4) environmental shadow prices, project evaluation, and net national product (NNP); (5) markets and their failure: unidirectional and reciprocal externalities; (6) property rights on land; (7) public failure and the erosion of local commons; and (8) work allocation among women and children and the desirable locus of environmental decisions. An extra and separate section (designated Chapter *10) gives theoretical presentations on four aspects of the net national product in a dynamic economy: (1) the economics of optimal control; (2) NNP in a deterministic environment; (3) the current‐value Hamiltonian as a measure of sustainable well‐being (sustainable development); and (4) future uncertainty.
Jade S. Sasser
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479873432
- eISBN:
- 9781479860142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479873432.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Chapter 2 explores the history of how population came to be known as an environmental problem, emerging through debates about eugenics, war, geopolitical stability, and land use. I begin the chapter ...
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Chapter 2 explores the history of how population came to be known as an environmental problem, emerging through debates about eugenics, war, geopolitical stability, and land use. I begin the chapter by exploring how population was first identified as a central problem of state-making and security, and its role in the evolution of ecological sciences. Next, I trace the ways the environmental sciences and population politics have entwined and overlapped in subsequent decades. Throughout, I analyze the ways knowledge production linking population to environmental problems moved between political advocacy motivated by concerns about war and geopolitical security, concerns about planetary limits, and a site of scientific knowledge development and struggle.Less
Chapter 2 explores the history of how population came to be known as an environmental problem, emerging through debates about eugenics, war, geopolitical stability, and land use. I begin the chapter by exploring how population was first identified as a central problem of state-making and security, and its role in the evolution of ecological sciences. Next, I trace the ways the environmental sciences and population politics have entwined and overlapped in subsequent decades. Throughout, I analyze the ways knowledge production linking population to environmental problems moved between political advocacy motivated by concerns about war and geopolitical security, concerns about planetary limits, and a site of scientific knowledge development and struggle.
Alon Tal
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300216882
- eISBN:
- 9780300224955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300216882.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter addresses the question of how many people should live in the land of Israel. Israel “appropriates carrying capacity” from other places on the planet. An implicit assumption of present ...
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This chapter addresses the question of how many people should live in the land of Israel. Israel “appropriates carrying capacity” from other places on the planet. An implicit assumption of present strategies holds that there will always be sources “out there” able to send Israel raw materials and food, along with sinks for absorbing its wastes. In the long run, this is a dangerous assumption. Limiting calculations to the physical dimensions of carrying capacity is a highly superficial exercise that emphasizes quantity over quality of life. Israel must begin to consider what its “optimal population levels” should be as opposed to what its “maximum population levels” might be. The future will be more agreeable and healthier for forthcoming generations if they are bequeathed the best possible life rather than the maximum number of countrymen with whom to compete for finite space and resources.Less
This chapter addresses the question of how many people should live in the land of Israel. Israel “appropriates carrying capacity” from other places on the planet. An implicit assumption of present strategies holds that there will always be sources “out there” able to send Israel raw materials and food, along with sinks for absorbing its wastes. In the long run, this is a dangerous assumption. Limiting calculations to the physical dimensions of carrying capacity is a highly superficial exercise that emphasizes quantity over quality of life. Israel must begin to consider what its “optimal population levels” should be as opposed to what its “maximum population levels” might be. The future will be more agreeable and healthier for forthcoming generations if they are bequeathed the best possible life rather than the maximum number of countrymen with whom to compete for finite space and resources.
Nathan F. Sayre
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226083117
- eISBN:
- 9780226083391
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226083391.001.0001
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
This book tells the history of scientific efforts to understand and manage rangelands—the grasslands, shrublands, savannas, tundra, steppe and deserts that comprise some two-fifths of Earth’s land ...
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This book tells the history of scientific efforts to understand and manage rangelands—the grasslands, shrublands, savannas, tundra, steppe and deserts that comprise some two-fifths of Earth’s land surface. Beginning around the turn of the twentieth century, the United States Forest Service employed scientists in hopes of rapidly discovering ways to heal damage from overgrazing, maximize the production of forage and livestock, and resolve conflicts about the use of public lands. But the scale and variability of rangelands defied the logics of capital, the state and science alike. Exterminating rodents and predators, suppressing wildfire, and assigning carrying capacities to fenced areas of rangelands were all imposed on western public lands for political and economic reasons, with science serving to justify these measures as apolitical and “natural.” Frederic Clements’ theory of plant succession dominated the discipline for most of the twentieth century, even as early range scientists recognized its flaws and attempted to voice their objections. Perennial conflicts between US federal land management agencies, ranchers, and environmentalists reflect their shared adherence to Clementsian ideas, which were displaced among scientists only after the Western Range model failed, repeatedly and conspicuously, in pastoral development projects in the Third World. Across the West today, community-based conservation initiatives suggest the promise of more collaborative, multi-scaled approaches to managing rangelands.Less
This book tells the history of scientific efforts to understand and manage rangelands—the grasslands, shrublands, savannas, tundra, steppe and deserts that comprise some two-fifths of Earth’s land surface. Beginning around the turn of the twentieth century, the United States Forest Service employed scientists in hopes of rapidly discovering ways to heal damage from overgrazing, maximize the production of forage and livestock, and resolve conflicts about the use of public lands. But the scale and variability of rangelands defied the logics of capital, the state and science alike. Exterminating rodents and predators, suppressing wildfire, and assigning carrying capacities to fenced areas of rangelands were all imposed on western public lands for political and economic reasons, with science serving to justify these measures as apolitical and “natural.” Frederic Clements’ theory of plant succession dominated the discipline for most of the twentieth century, even as early range scientists recognized its flaws and attempted to voice their objections. Perennial conflicts between US federal land management agencies, ranchers, and environmentalists reflect their shared adherence to Clementsian ideas, which were displaced among scientists only after the Western Range model failed, repeatedly and conspicuously, in pastoral development projects in the Third World. Across the West today, community-based conservation initiatives suggest the promise of more collaborative, multi-scaled approaches to managing rangelands.
Charles S. Pearson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190223915
- eISBN:
- 9780190223946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190223915.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The concept of optimal population has been floated since antiquity but is it sufficiently robust to serve as the basis for policy? This chapter analyzes four approaches: classical (Wicksell) based on ...
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The concept of optimal population has been floated since antiquity but is it sufficiently robust to serve as the basis for policy? This chapter analyzes four approaches: classical (Wicksell) based on average not marginal utility; ethical, which brings in the Repugnant Conclusion; natural resource/carrying capacity; reproductive and fiscal externalities. All have serious weaknesses which suggest caution in population policy matters. Some of the difficulties are separating static and dynamic optimality with changing technology and preferences, measurement of economies and diseconomies of scale, incorporating spatial and inter-temporal distributional issues, and attributing utility to potential persons. The growth and decline of population may be more suitable for analysis than the level.Less
The concept of optimal population has been floated since antiquity but is it sufficiently robust to serve as the basis for policy? This chapter analyzes four approaches: classical (Wicksell) based on average not marginal utility; ethical, which brings in the Repugnant Conclusion; natural resource/carrying capacity; reproductive and fiscal externalities. All have serious weaknesses which suggest caution in population policy matters. Some of the difficulties are separating static and dynamic optimality with changing technology and preferences, measurement of economies and diseconomies of scale, incorporating spatial and inter-temporal distributional issues, and attributing utility to potential persons. The growth and decline of population may be more suitable for analysis than the level.
Patrick D. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252041037
- eISBN:
- 9780252099588
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252041037.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter considers the resurgence of the Survivalism on cable and public TV, and how it is introducing a new generation of media audiences to the Limits discourse. Focus is placed on identifying ...
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This chapter considers the resurgence of the Survivalism on cable and public TV, and how it is introducing a new generation of media audiences to the Limits discourse. Focus is placed on identifying the discourse’s defining characteristics through institutional practices, specific genres and reoccurring themes. The chapter traces two trajectories: “After Earth”/“Nature’s revenge” themed programming and more pedagogically-designed “Green lifestyle TV” in internationally networked cable channels like Animal Planet, NatGeo, and The Discovery Channel. The chapter argues that the revised rendering of the Limits discourse shifts emphasis away from over population and carrying capacity, primary concerns in the Limits discourse of the 1960s-70s, placing it instead on a more contemporary set of concerns. However, cable TV’s ability to translate the underlying concerns of a “new” Limits discourse has been limited, as entertainment programming that provides little actionable information has thrived, while a more instructive eco-conscious television has largely failed.Less
This chapter considers the resurgence of the Survivalism on cable and public TV, and how it is introducing a new generation of media audiences to the Limits discourse. Focus is placed on identifying the discourse’s defining characteristics through institutional practices, specific genres and reoccurring themes. The chapter traces two trajectories: “After Earth”/“Nature’s revenge” themed programming and more pedagogically-designed “Green lifestyle TV” in internationally networked cable channels like Animal Planet, NatGeo, and The Discovery Channel. The chapter argues that the revised rendering of the Limits discourse shifts emphasis away from over population and carrying capacity, primary concerns in the Limits discourse of the 1960s-70s, placing it instead on a more contemporary set of concerns. However, cable TV’s ability to translate the underlying concerns of a “new” Limits discourse has been limited, as entertainment programming that provides little actionable information has thrived, while a more instructive eco-conscious television has largely failed.
Ann Kinzig and Charles Perrings
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199679355
- eISBN:
- 9780191758423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199679355.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter considers the link between consumption and the sustainability of coupled social-ecological systems. The chapter argues that consumption affects the sustainability of the coupled system ...
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This chapter considers the link between consumption and the sustainability of coupled social-ecological systems. The chapter argues that consumption affects the sustainability of the coupled system if it affects the capacity of the system to accommodate stress or shock. Consumption may be sustainable if it does not compromise the stability of the coupled system. This provides a new perspective on the problem of consumption. Instead of the balance between consumption levels and the carrying capacity of the environment implicit in many discussions of overconsumption, or in the use of metrics such as the ecological footprint, it focuses our attention on the impact of interventions on the stability of the ecological components of the coupled system. Formally, the chapter demonstrates that this depends on the observability and controllability of those components of the system.Less
This chapter considers the link between consumption and the sustainability of coupled social-ecological systems. The chapter argues that consumption affects the sustainability of the coupled system if it affects the capacity of the system to accommodate stress or shock. Consumption may be sustainable if it does not compromise the stability of the coupled system. This provides a new perspective on the problem of consumption. Instead of the balance between consumption levels and the carrying capacity of the environment implicit in many discussions of overconsumption, or in the use of metrics such as the ecological footprint, it focuses our attention on the impact of interventions on the stability of the ecological components of the coupled system. Formally, the chapter demonstrates that this depends on the observability and controllability of those components of the system.
William R. Thompson and Leila Zakhirova
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190699680
- eISBN:
- 9780190909574
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190699680.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
The British Industrial Revolution is one of the most famous economic growth stories. Once a peripheral economy, Britain later became the center of the world economy, occupying a position of global ...
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The British Industrial Revolution is one of the most famous economic growth stories. Once a peripheral economy, Britain later became the center of the world economy, occupying a position of global technological centrality. When the British moved into a mineral-based economy via their embrace of coal, they were able to move beyond the traditional constraints of organic economies. This was truly revolutionary and produced the sustainability that had eluded the Dutch. What propelled Britain beyond the Smithian trajectory was the combination of ample, inexpensive coal and steam engines. Growth becomes more sustainable only when new types of energy sources are utilized and suitable technology that makes use of the new fuels is innovated. Britain was able to do both because of the very distinctive package of facilitative factors that were brought together at the right time in a particular place.Less
The British Industrial Revolution is one of the most famous economic growth stories. Once a peripheral economy, Britain later became the center of the world economy, occupying a position of global technological centrality. When the British moved into a mineral-based economy via their embrace of coal, they were able to move beyond the traditional constraints of organic economies. This was truly revolutionary and produced the sustainability that had eluded the Dutch. What propelled Britain beyond the Smithian trajectory was the combination of ample, inexpensive coal and steam engines. Growth becomes more sustainable only when new types of energy sources are utilized and suitable technology that makes use of the new fuels is innovated. Britain was able to do both because of the very distinctive package of facilitative factors that were brought together at the right time in a particular place.
Christopher L. J. Frid and Bryony A. Caswell
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198726289
- eISBN:
- 9780191843815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198726289.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter considers the future ocean: how it will be used by humanity, the threats from marine pollution and other synergistic human pressures. By 2050, the global population will have doubled in ...
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This chapter considers the future ocean: how it will be used by humanity, the threats from marine pollution and other synergistic human pressures. By 2050, the global population will have doubled in less than 100 years. Thus, more food, energy, transportation and waste disposal will be required. Increasing demands will be placed on ecosystems and their natural resilience will be tested to the limit. The oceans are complex dynamic systems and predicting their future state is difficult. Adaptation to these changes will require a robust scientific understanding of human impacts, their nature and scale and the options for remediation. As new materials are developed the challenges to marine pollution science continue to arise. However, as demonstrated in this book cost-effective technological solutions are not always possible. It is therefore critical that natural scientists, engineers, economists and social scientists work together to make marine pollution ‘a solvable problem’.Less
This chapter considers the future ocean: how it will be used by humanity, the threats from marine pollution and other synergistic human pressures. By 2050, the global population will have doubled in less than 100 years. Thus, more food, energy, transportation and waste disposal will be required. Increasing demands will be placed on ecosystems and their natural resilience will be tested to the limit. The oceans are complex dynamic systems and predicting their future state is difficult. Adaptation to these changes will require a robust scientific understanding of human impacts, their nature and scale and the options for remediation. As new materials are developed the challenges to marine pollution science continue to arise. However, as demonstrated in this book cost-effective technological solutions are not always possible. It is therefore critical that natural scientists, engineers, economists and social scientists work together to make marine pollution ‘a solvable problem’.
