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Automating the money (collection) business
Chasing late payments a cashflow and productivity drain…
Switched on CIO: Gerard Naish on automating Ports of Auckland
With analytics, integration and blockchain along for the ride…
Five ways to botch your RPA rollout
A software robot army, ready and willing to do your bidding? Not quite…
Field service at the sharp end of digital transformation
Doing the same thing again and expecting a different result is, apparently, at least one definition of insanity…
Transformation efforts should focus on digital onramps
Smooth entry and exit needed onto the digitisation highway…
The end of the world will arrive through sheer indolence…
Those who spend time on LinkedIn will have noted the preponderance of doomsday articles foretelling mass unemployment as the evil force of automation continues to take hold everywhere from McDonalds joints to supermarkets, those bastions of employment for all. Take a look at this one, which breathlessly intones that 'Amazon Go is going to ruin 3,424,200 jobs in the U.S. alone'.
Ruin. Millions. Right down to the last 200 jobs. In a single industry. And just one country. Forget about asteroids impacting the planet and Donald Trump's presidency, if this goes on for very much longer, the clear and present danger is a mass extinction from an absence of work.
Except, history tells us an awful lot about automation and its impact on employment. Scholars will recall that the first great wave of automation took place hundreds of years ago, and even has a snazzy title. Let's not be so fast as to forget the Industrial Revolution, replete with angry burghers waving pitchforks to prevent the mechanisation of work formerly done manually. Maths and those touting the '4th Industrial Revolution' tells us there must have been another two such great upheavals since.
Amazon Go is, of course, the grocery shops being introduced by the world's scariest bookseller. No queues, no checkouts, no cash. Stroll in, grab your stuff and get out, it is all automated.
In a chat with iStart, Wayne Harper, Zebra Technologies APAC CTO, said that automation is where the world is heading and pointed out that, just as history has shown, it is the menial tasks which are front and centre for automation (tasks, one hopes, like typing stories).
Much of that will be in physical jobs, but not exclusively. "It's also a lot of menial data sorting which will be addressed through artificial intelligence; this is about running and processing algorithms and thought processes, along with driving robotic processes like recording shopping purchases [as in Amazon Go stores]."
Who benefits from automation
Harper said what many people tend to miss when they look at the coming waves of automation is what the benefits of that automation are and to whom they accrue. A common misconception is that it is only some fat cats who benefit.
But, in the case of Amazon Go, applying a 'cui bono' quickly establishes who else benefits: the shopper, if he or she chooses to buy his or indeed her groceries in that way. The multitude of shoppers benefits from, perhaps, cheaper goods, greater convenience, more choice, more competition. The many (shoppers, 325,000,000) benefit while the few (3,424,200 in the USA) may, at the least, have to endure short-term adjustment.
You'll see this in Countdown, Coles or Aldi. Those who choose to use the self-service checkouts benefit from doing it themselves. Those who don't care for it, choose a manned (or womanned) checkout point.
Economists and common sense tell us that choice is a good thing. If you don't like automated shops, chances are, there will be options available as the market is unlikely to introduce automated stores simultaneously. Supply and demand will dictate how far automation will go in this industry and any others looking to provide a better customer experience.
But what about the supermarket checkout workers? What becomes of them and those millions of jobs? "I get asked a lot if AI and automation is going to replace workers," said Harper. "No. It is changing the way people work and as it is coming in, it is making people's work simpler and easier. In some ways, it makes work less taxing on people's minds."
Are tools that new?
Wait a minute, this sounds familiar. Tools make work easier, which is exactly what the first stone age man to swing a flint axe discovered. So much faster than gnawing through a branch (anthropology is not our strong point. We assume this is how it was done prior to axe technology). A spinning jenny made weaving cloth a lot easier, too. And those HP Scientific calculators were far more fun than doing calculus in a workbook.
Again, looking to history tells us that when technology, tools and automation are increased, there tends to be a net benefit to humanity. The spinning jenny didn't only make clothing cheaper for the public (that's the cui who bonod) it also boosted employment in the weaving business. The Industrial Revolution then changed jobs, leading to the introduction of many new types of vocations even as it drove out old, often tedious and menial ones.
There are other 'Bonos', too, and while none is likely to sing songs, they may well succeed in saving Africa. As Harper explained: "One area where I see AI and automation changing the workforce is helping maintain older workers in the job force, as they will be assisted in performing their tasks."
With people around the world living longer, thanks in no small part to the continuous wave of technology, that is surely a good thing. "The changing nature of work is probably one of the biggest fears we see today, but it is also one of the biggest opportunities. AI, automation and mechanisation, these things aren't done in a vacuum, they are done for the people. The benefits of technological advancement accrue to humanity and they result in us all living longer," Harper concluded.


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4:25pm: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times talked to Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman, who said the team is open to exploring a long-term deal with Upton.
10:15am: The Rays' biggest additions this winter have been catcher Kelly Shoppach and closer Rafael Soriano, as well as the re-signing of extra outfielder Gabe Kapler. Their losses have included Mitch Talbot, Akinori Iwamura, Gregg Zaun, and Jesse Chavez (who was acquired for Iwamura and then traded for Soriano).
They've also got one arbitration case in B.J. Upton. A hearing seems silly given a gap of only $300K. Upton isn't worried about the difference and even told MLB.com's Bill Chastain he's "definitely all for" discussing a long-term deal. The Rays might want to see if Upton's power returns before offering multiyear security.
Is that it for the Rays this winter? Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune suggests they're still looking for another reliever. An earlier article from Topkin indicated manager Joe Maddon wanted more competition in the pen and at second base. Among right-handed relievers, Kiko Calero might be the best remaining free agent. He shouldn't cost much. Chan Ho Park, Russ Springer, Mike MacDougal, and Kevin Gregg are lingering as well.
There's also the Jim Thome rumor, which Mooney notes would make a lot more sense paired with a Pat Burrell trade.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm sure you've seen a lot of what Collabor88 has to offer for their 1 year anniversary. I have to say I wanted all of this collection and it was so hard to limit myself! Adorkable released a set of 5 pinwheel poses for the event that are absolutely adorable. I had to show you at least one. I also wanted to show you the newest release from MY UGLYDOROTHY. Her name is Heather and comes in 8 makeups, teeth/no teeth options and 3 skin tones. For a closer look and more C88 goodies keep reading!
Skin: MY UGLYDOROTHY – Heather in Burley 08 w/teeth (New!)
Hair: D!va – Manon in Cat's Eye Type A (New! @ C88)
Eyes: Insufferable Dastard – Brooding Eyes in Light Blue
Necklace: MG – Jewelled Owl Short in Silver (New! @ C88)
Top: Auxillary – Slouchy Top Oh Deer (New! @ C88)
Skirt: Auxillary – Alluring Mini Mesh A (New! @ C88)
Feet: SLink – Womens Natural Barefeet Mesh
Pose with Prop: aDORKable – Pinwheel (New! @ C88)
Pose below: croire


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2017 is just around the corner! For those who want to start their year more organized and ready, a planner is a must-have. Especially, if you're a little bit on the OC-side of journaling, making lists, or photo-journaling as a hobby – then this is the fun party to be in!
The #M72017 Planner Party by National Book Store will happen on November 26, 2016 at the Glorietta 1 Events Area. Be there between 2pm to 5pm to attend our creative workshops:
- Bullet Journaling by Summer Salvador (@plannersandjournals)
- Creative Planning by Liona Guzman (@lionachinky)
- Photo Journaling by Rian Alonte (@makingideashappen)
Registration is FREE and starts at 10 am. Each guest will be asked to fill out the registration form upon arrival on a first come, first served basis. Only 50 participants will be accommodated so be there early!
More FREEBIES at the Planner Party!
Aside from our featured workshops, we made sure that you can get crafting immediately. We've lined up an assortment of free stamp buffets and sticker bars for you and your friends. We're also giving away journals and planners from Leuchtturm (see planner below).You can also get to score freebies from Filofax, Kate Spade, Ban.do, and Itoya.
To let you in on a sneak peek, here are three 2017 planners we definitely recommend for planning and creative enthusiasts like you:
kate spade New York
The wide assortment of kate spade planners come in a variety of styles, sizes, and designs. They have 12 or 17 month agendas, making planning for the entire year a breeze. Monthly and weekly views, as well as dedicated notes and celebration sections, keep all of your appointments and thoughts organized in a super stylish package.
Catering to both the professional and the playful, Filofax features a highly varied selection of high quality planners. They come in a variety of planners to complement different lifestyles, ensuring a perfect match for days spent at the desk or on-the-go.
If you're serious about fun, then ban.do's planners are the ones for you. Their 17 month agendas are already cute to look at, but are even better to use. They come with stickers, notes pages, storage pocket, coloring pages, and much more.
This planner is wrapped in stylish textured covers. It has an elastic band that goes with a pen holder. It's a simple and practical find for anyone who needs pages for both monthly and daily planner notes.
This no-nonsense planner is great for people who want to don the corporate, professional look. Designed with sleek leatherette covers, it has a well organized layout of monthly and weekly planner pages. Because you don't want to lose another important contact info, it includes a section for telephone numbers and notes.
Compact in size but fully-loaded. The Leuchtturm 1917 is a 16-month planner made up of high quality sheets. It is an all-in-one planner with numbered notebook pages, project plans, two bookmarks, self-adhesive labels, and expandable pockets. We think this one fits someone who's always on the go working on a variety of projects at at a time. It also comes in a wide variety of colors to delight every personality.
Some Tips for the #My2017 Planner Party
Check out our selection here for more 2017 planner choices. Don't forget to bring your own journals and planner accessories on the event. You can get a variety of washi tapes, decorative accessories, and more at the store. Do check out our Arts & Crafts section at the NBS online store to get started.
Remember: All you need is creativity and passion to make 2017 your best year ever!
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text: Intel Intel Intel Core i9-9940X Processor (19.25MB Cache , Up to 4.50 GHz) Discontinued Discontinued Key Specifications Cores: 14 / Threads: 28up to 4.5GHz / 19.25M cacheLGA2066 SKU:#041516 Warranty3 years by Intel Product No.:BX80673I99940X Short link:http://i.nvade.it/aNC See specifications from the manufacturer Description Specifications Intel® Turbo Boost TechnologyHigher Performance When You Need It MostIntel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.01 accelerates processor and graphics performance by increasing the operating frequency when operating below specification limits. The maximum frequency varies depending on workload, hardware, software, and overall system configuration.The Ultimate Creator PC PlatformMade to create, the latest Intel® Core™ X-series processor family is powered by up to 18 cores and 36 threads to address the simultaneous, compute-intensive demands of Creators. All skus enable system configuration flexibility for specific creator usages with access to 44 PCIe* lanes, quad channel memory, plus support for Thunderbolt™ technology and high-speed storage like Intel® Optane™ SSDs. Finally, these new processors are fully unlocked1 and feature solder thermal interface material (STIM) for extreme overclocking.2 Get the power and convenience of a full studio in your PC, helping accelerate your creative work flow from beginning to end.Intel® Core™ X-Series Processor FamilyThe X-series processor family is designed to scale to your performance needs by delivering options ranging from 8 to 18 cores for extreme performance, the latest technological advancements from Intel and headroom for the future. This platform comes with Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, which optimizes lightly-threaded performance by identifying your processor's fastest two cores and directing your most critical workloads to them.3 It also comes ready to install Intel® Optane™ memory and Intel® Optane™ SSDs for amazing system responsiveness. Support for immersive 4K visuals, four channel DDR4 2666 memory, Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel® AVX-512), Thunderbolt™ 3 delivering a 40Gb/s bi-directional port for almost any peripheral you want to connect and up to 8 SATA ports for a RAID storage array makes this the ultimate desktop platform.Your Fastest Path From Creativity To ProductivityYour creativity is limitless and once you are in the flow of ideas, you need a system that will keep up. The uncompromising performance in a PC powered by the Intel® Core™ X-series processor helps you to find your fastest path from creativity to productivity. The Intel® Core™ X-series processor family with core count options, including 10, 14 or even 18 cores, delivers amazing performance when multiple real-time workloads are stacked. Spend more time creating while your Intel® Core™ X-series processor powered system simultaneously handles uploading massive 4K files, rendering effects and other compute intensive workloads in the background. And with the updated Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, you have the control to give priority to the apps that need the power of the two fastest cores.3 Quad channel memory also helps deliver improved responsiveness, decreased start up time and allows you to move fluidly between content creation applications when working with large files. With an Intel® Core™ X-series processor you can take on more work and focus on creating with the confidence that your results will be as remarkable as you imagined.Need a break from developing the newest CG game character on your Intel® Core™ X-series processor based PC? Fire up your gaming service and become immersed in the action of your favorite AAA game title or the latest virtual reality thriller. These unlocked processors deliver breakthrough performance for both gaming and content creation alike, so there is no need to worry about losing your gaming edge. In fact, you can maintain an amazing gaming experience, stream, record and share all while your game development project continues to render in the background.Game + Stream + CreateNeed a break from developing the newest CG game character on your Intel® Core™ X-series processor based PC? Fire up your gaming service and become immersed in the action of your favorite AAA game title or the latest virtual reality thriller. These unlocked processors deliver breakthrough performance for both gaming and content creation alike, so there is no need to worry about losing your gaming edge. In fact, you can maintain an amazing gaming experience, stream, record and share all while your game development project continues to render in the background.Intel® X299 Chipset And Intel® Core™ X-Series Processor Family for the Ultimate Creator PlatformThe Intel® X299 chipset paired with the Intel® Core™ X-series processors provide a world class platform for content creation, gaming and over-clocking.2 Whether it is responsiveness, expandability or performance you crave, this platform has you covered. Integrated USB 3.0 makes moving files to your tablet and smartphone blazing fast. The platform also provides RAID support on PCI Express* and Serial ATA storage devices, fast data transfers with support for PCIe* 3.0 storage devices and finally, Intel® Optane™ memory support. Want to push the envelope with overclocking? The Intel® X299 chipset and Intel® Core™ X-series processor family bring new unlocked base clock capabilities.2 Unlock your individual cores and memory frequencies to amazing levels while having the flexibility to keep other areas within specification. With support for Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (Intel® XMP), Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU), and the Intel® Performance Tuning Protection Package Plan the capabilities of the Intel® X299 chipset and the Intel® Core™ X-series processor family will challenge every overclocking world record. Warranty Warranty 3 years by Intel ProcessorProcessor family9th gen Intel® Core™ i9Processor frequency3.3 GHzProcessor cores14Processor socketLGA 2066Component forPCProcessor lithography14 nmBoxYCooler includedNProcessor manufacturerIntelProcessor modeli9-9940XProcessor threads28System bus rate8 GT/sProcessor operating modes64-bitProcessor seriesIntel® Core™ X-seriesProcessor cache19.25 MBProcessor cache typeSmart CacheCompatible chipsetsIntel® X299Processor boost frequency4.4 GHzBus typeDMI3Processor codenameSkylakeProcessor ARK ID189125Generation9th GenerationMemoryMemory channelsQuad-channelMaximum internal memory supported by processor128 GBMemory types supported by processorDDR4-SDRAMMemory clock speeds supported by processor2666 MHzECCNGraphicsOn-board graphics adapterNDiscrete graphics adapterNOn-board graphics adapter modelNot availableDiscrete graphics adapter modelNot availablePowerThermal Design Power (TDP)165 WFeaturesExecute Disable BitYMaximum number of PCI Express lanes44PCI Express slots version3.0Supported instruction setsAVX 2.0,AVX-512,SSE4.1,SSE4.2Scalability1SCPU configuration (max)1Embedded options availableNThermal solution specificationPCG 2017XPCI Express CEM revision3.0Market segmentDTHarmonized System (HS) code8542310001Processor special featuresIntel® Hyper Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology)YIntel® Turbo Boost Technology2.0Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI)YEnhanced Intel SpeedStep TechnologyYIntel 64YIntel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)YIntel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)YIntel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0YIntel® Optane™ Memory ReadyYAVX-512 Fused Multiply-Add (FMA) units2Operational conditionsTjunction88 °CTechnical detailsProcessor cache19712 KBProduct typeProcessorBus bandwidth8Bus type unitsGT/sLaunch dateQ4'18StatusLaunchedMaximum memory128 GBProcessor brand nameIntel Core i7 X-series\nIntel Core i7 X-series processorLast change63903513Product familyIntel Core ProcessorsIntel Turbo Boost Max Technology frequency4.5 MHzBus speed8 GT/sWeight & dimensionsPackage width44 mmPackage depth116 mmPackage height101 mmPackage weight87 gOther featuresMaximum internal memory131072 MB


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So today I turn 50. I spent a few minutes looking up what your typical computer looked like then and I decided the IBM System/360 was about right. It was a business machine. Personal computers did not exist then as, well, it was almost the dark ages…
A few days ago I tweeted a copy of a "motivational poster". I don't normally like motivational posters but this one struck a chord with me as it was a lesson I took a long time to learn. Not everyone will be your cup of tea. Which is a very British (I think) way of saying you don't like something or someone. "Ohh, that Mavis, she's just not my cup of tea!".
If you had a friend who always told you that your were the best, that you had no faults, and that everything you did was great – would you trust them? I know I would not. I am fully aware that I am not perfect(*). I used to see this sometimes in relationships too, especially when I was younger. One of them would be so desperate for their boyfriend/girlfriend to like them that they would never criticise the light of their life. The relationship never lasted as it was, well, creepy and false.
I used to work with a man called Nick(*). Nick was friendly enough, he was good at programming and he had very few annoying personal habits. Nick was easy to work with.
Earlier this week Daniel Westermann asked a question on twitter: "What is community?"
Many of you know what a "Smart-Arse" is. For those who do not…
A "Smart-arse" a person who is irritating because they behave as if they know everything or try to catch you out by misleading you.
A smart person will look at your problem and say something like "have you tried checking the array size?" and, 8 times out of 10, their input will help you solve your problem. It may not be THE answer but it makes you think about root causes.
A Smart-arse will say something more like "well, I would never have your problem as I would not have joined a company full of Java Nerds!!!". Yeah, maybe that would have avoided my specific problem #1, but it is of no practical worth right now. .
A few days ago a friend, Robert Lockard, started a discussion on Facebook about bad bosses and the strange things they did. I mentioned how one of my first bosses had refused to do my leaving presentation, arguing with his boss (very loudly so all could hear, despite it being in "an office" – a plastic box in the corner) that he did not want to be nice to me and do the presentation. Neither did his boss!
…The People!
When you design a system for end users, a good designer/developer considers the "UX" – User eXperience. The system has to be acceptable to the end user. This is often expressed as "easy to use" or "fun" or "Quick". But in reality, the system can fail in all sort of ways but still be a success if the end user gets something out of using it. I've said it before and I'll say it again and again until I give up on this career. In my opinion:
User Acceptance is the number one aim of any I.T. system.
If I got you all to write down the top 5 things that make working bearable, and then got you to make a list of the top 5 things that make working enjoyable, I have a suspicion there will be one thing high on the "Enjoyable" list that may not even be on the "Bearable" list:
Being in a good team.
This one thing can make a real difference to your working life. I know this is true for me and it's something I've heard other people say a lot. The team you are in can make up for a lot of negative things about any given job. I've found myself in roles where I am unsuitable for the task, or under a ridiculously high workload, even being paid much less than I know I am worth. But if I have been in a good team, working with people I like (well, at least some of them!) it makes it all a lot better. A lot, lot better. Think about the jobs or roles you have most enjoyed in your life. In any of them did you not like the team you were in?
Today I saw some cracking photographs of a lighthouse. How many of us have at some point wondered if it might be nice to be a lighthouse keeper? The solitude, the scenery, the stoic fortitude in the face of the storm – quite literally. (Thank you Brendan Tierney for the photo I've stolen from him).


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Steve Jobs to Be Immortalized on 2015 Collectible Stamp
Other notables include James Brown, Johnny Carson, and the cast of Peanuts.
Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission.
Steve Jobs is the latest American icon to be given the stamp treatment. The Washington Post obtained a document containing the U.S. Postal Service's roadmap of upcoming stamps, and the Apple co-founder is scheduled for a 2015 collectible stamp.
Mr. Jobs is in good company: The Class of 2015 includes other national treasures like Johnny Carson, Christmas carols, and water lilies. Even a reissue of the best-selling Elvis Presley stamp will make an appearance. While some of the announced stamps are still being designed, the look of Mr. Jobs' emblem has been finalized.
The details of upcoming stamps are typically kept secret in order to generate hype and sales for the USPS. This classified list is complied by the Postal Service's marketing staff and what the Washington Post calls "a committee of prominent Americans appointed by the postmaster general to come up with ideas."
Via: The Washington Post
Hero Image: Adapted from a photo by Flickr user "sjrankin" (CC BY-NC 2.0)


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Visual content makes up 93% of all human communication, and is processed by the human brain an amazing 60,000 times faster than written information. It's not surprise, then, that visuals generate much more audience engagement than text alone. With this in mind, you'll want to find images for Powerpoint presentations that help you deliver impact and tell your story effectively – and we don't mean tacky clip art or cheesy stock images (these will only devalue your messaging).
Find images for PowerPoint presentations
There are plenty of sources out there on the web that you can use to find effective images, but it can be difficult to know where to start looking. Use this list of reputable sources to help you find photos and graphics that suit your brand, subject, and message.
Subscription stock image libraries
Now don't get us wrong, stock image libraries can be a mixed bag – with their content ranging from cheesy, to weird, to just plain inexplicable – but if you're willing to do some selective digging, you can find some great stuff.
Three of the biggest players like paid-for stock images game are Shutterstock, iStockPhoto (by Getty Images) and Adobe Stock – each has huge databases of photos, visuals and scalable vector graphics – the latter of which can be scaled to any size without the loss of resolution.
The obvious advantage of these services is the astronomical amount of variety they offer: with the right search terms you can find a high-resolution image to fit just about any type of content. But you'll have to pay for the convenience, with each of them offering pay-per-download and monthly subscription options (which could be worth considering if your company produces a lot of presentations and other visual content).
A blogroll that updates with 10 new beautiful, free photographs every 10 days, Unsplash is a great service with no membership required and no restrictions on use.
Unplash's photos feel a lot less staged and more authentic than you'd find in stock libraries because, well, they are – work is submitted by photographers from around the world, then chosen and curated by the site's team.
Unsplash might not have the sheer variety offered by paid-for libraries, but the quality is simply amazing.
Death to the Stock Photo
Started by two photographers, Death to the Stock Photo grew out of brands' and content creators' needs for images that matched their visual aesthetics.
You sign up using your email address and a curated monthly selection of gorgeous, authentic-looking photos is then delivered right to your inbox for free.
There's also a premium monthly subscription option that grants unlimited access to the full archive for a reasonable monthly fee. A percentage of the profits from the premium option is then invested into the creative projects of the site's members.
Companies who use Death to Stock include the likes of UBER, TED, Pinterest and Buffer.
Stock photo usage rights
When trying to find good images for images for PowerPoint presentations, it's important to always check the usage rights of your desired photo. Even many free-to-use visuals require the proper attribution, so it's a good idea to have a look at the license type before going ahead.
Companies who use Death to Stock include the likes of UBER, TED, Pinterest and Buffer.
The folks over at Canva have compiled a huge list of free stock photos sources that you can use to find visuals for your presentations.


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Summit Amusement is a family-owned business specializing in coin-operated amusement and vending machines with over 75 years of experience. It started out with the Penny Arcade at the Minnesota State Fair, where Tommy Shogren operated it every year and then sold it to Todd Erickson in 1975. Todd expanded his inventory and then started Summit Amusement with a full-line route. Now, Summit Amusement takes care of local bars, taverns, movie theaters, ski resorts, bowling facilities, restaurants, laundromats and so much more. Todd's son Nicholas now takes care of the route. Todd runs the photo booth division renting photo booths to weddings, corporate events, graduations, reunions, bar mitzvahs and other events. Summit Amusement operates all over Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
We offer full service on all coin operated amusement machines. In our inventory, we have video games, pinball machines, pool tables, air hockey tables, photo booths, Foosball tables, dart boards, novelty machines and much more.


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We've been smoking weed for a long, long time. Anthropologists think humans first used cannabis about 10,000 years ago, on the island of Taiwan. For some perspective, that's back then woolly mammoths were still dipping their tusks into the icy-cool waters of the glacier-fed Willamette.
And yet, because prohibition of cannabis coincided with the industrial revolution, one of mankind's all-time favorite plants was excluded from the modern economy.
In Oregon, that continued until last year. We've since seen the vital medical marijuana system blossom into our state's most exciting and important industry since logging. The culture and commerce of marijuana is shifting. Cannabis consumers are becoming consumers.
That's where this magazine comes in. The Potlander is your guide to Portland cannabis in the consumer era. We're here to celebrate the best stuff happening in the industry and guide casual users toward the very best experiences.
For that reason, this edition no longer has a comprehensive list of every pot shop in town, but rather limits itself to our 75 favorites. Some are beautiful rooms with great budtenders, some offer great bargains, many work with tiny craft growers or have unique house-grown flower, some are just in otherwise underserved neighborhoods. We know some will disagree with our choices, but our writers have visited every shop in the city within the past year and have full editorial independence to make decisions based on the expertise we've gained while covering this growing industry.
This magazine is published by Willamette Week, a 40-year-old alternative newspaper with a Pulitzer Prize.
We published a regular cannabis column years before legalization, back when we were the only general-interest publication in the state to do so. We've sought to maintain the same high standard our readers expect of everything we do.
Consumerism does create a few undesirable side effects. Capitalism tends to concentrate wealth in the hands of wily entrepreneurs. Low-quality products can thrive with slick marketing. Some shoppers will demand absurdly low prices and punish producers who invest in their products. The government isn't always fair to industries it has the power to tightly regulate.
But things are moving in the right direction. One Portland cannabis shop has unionized budtenders, edibles will soon be available recreationally, and there's more high-quality product on Oregon shelves now than ever before. Unlike our northern neighbors, you can legally grow your own if you want to stay totally off the grid.
What follows is our guide to all that and more. We've picked our favorite strains by activity, shown you where to smoke with friends, made road trips to dispensaries across the state and Washington, and charted the wonders of Sandy Boulevard, the greatest stoney street in the world. We hope you find it useful and accurate, and that you enjoy all that consumerism has to offer.


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This is the Crossword Puzzle. Click here to see the comics.
The Awesome FRMS Crossword
FRMS Student Council Newspaper Committee
EclipseCrossword © 2000-2007
Click a word in the puzzle to get started.
You have completed this crossword puzzle.
If you would like to be able to create interactive crosswords like this yourself, get EclipseCrossword from Green Eclipse—it's free!
If you can't figure out a word, you can press "Solve" to see the answer. But don't do this unless you're really stuck.


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When collectors think of baseball cards, Honus Wagner is one of the first names that come to mind. Most collectors already knows this but what we have here will floor even the most ardent and knowledgeable collectors. It is, arguably, the only known rookie card in existence of the legendary Honus Wagner!
This incredible card is truly one-of-a-kind and was issued during Wagner's very early playing days with the major league Louisville Colonels. Wagner was THE star of baseball from the very beginning. No wonder Henry Reccius used Honus "Hans" Wagner as the symbol and image of his Louisville-based cigar company.
This card first surfaced in 1998, when it was found in an old scrapbook of deceased Louisville resident Jesse Hathorn. It also contained other photographs and articles from the era of 1900. The uniform Wagner is wearing in the photograph is definitely a Colonels uniform of the period and was identified as such through photographic research by Mr. Phillip Von Borries, author of "Louisville Diamonds" and a noted Louisville historian. The card was then auctioned off in 1998 and has remained in private hands until this spectacular offering.
The card is made of medium stock with a reddish-orange color and measures 3-3/8 x 4-3/4". Notwithstanding the grade of PSA 1, this card still presents very well and has excellent eye appeal. It has some age wear, creasing, a 3/4" tear at the bottom right border, and wear to the corners which is consistent with the cards age. More importantly, the front of the card features a portrait of a young Honus (Hans) Wagner in a Louisville Colonels uniform pitching for "Henry Reccius, Manufacturer of Hans Wagner--10¢ Cigar" and "Koda Bowler Our Favorite Farmers' and Gardners' Favorite 5¢ Cigars."
On the reverse, there is a lengthy paragraph extolling the virtues of "Union Made" products and the workers who make them. The method in which this card was first distributed is unknown, but there is speculation from its size that it was either inserted in boxes of cigars or just handed to customers at the point of sale.
A "Honus Wagner" cigar box featuring this same image of Wagner was recently auctioned elsewhere and was shown to be from 1919, but the National Cigar Museum has confirmed that these were a completely different brand that was separate and distinct from the "Hans Wagner" cigars sold much earlier by Henry Reccius. In fact, the federally assigned factory number for Henry Reccius was Fact. 45, 5th Dist. KY. By 1893, they were already assigning factory numbers in the 600's in the 5th tax district in Kentucky, so Reccius was indeed assigned a very early number.
There is indisputable proof that Henry Reccius was making cigars as far back as 1870 when he was only 18 years old! The 1870 United States census of Louisville, Kentucky, lists "Henry Rewcius" as a cigar maker, and he was still living at home at that time with his two more famous brothers, John and Phil, who both went on to play professional baseball for the Colonels in the 1880's. In addition, the 1890 city directory for Louisville lists Henry Reccius as living on Elliott Street, and Louisville had 4-digit phone numbers prior to 1900. Accordingly, PSA had no problem authenticating this card as indeed having been distributed during the 1897-99 time period.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own the only rookie card of Honus Wagner. This fabulous card, remained unseen for nearly a hundred years, and may do so once it is purchased in this auction. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.


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The influential UK band Radiohead has ventured into censored Chinese cyberspace. The AP reports the band posted a message on the equivalent there to Twitter, through the widely used portal Sina.com.
The message read only "testing the weibo" ('weibo' roughly translates to microblog in Chinese). But who knows what this portends, as Radiohead has been highly outspoken against Chinese governmental policies, playing 'Free Tibet' concerts. In December, the band posted a note on its webpage pressing for the release of Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo.
A web-savvy group of gents, Radiohead has previously streamed live concerts and changed album marketing models with the self-release of In Rainbows through its website. Known for actively expressing free speech through the web, dissension from Chinese policy would be expressly forbidden on any such website, as Sina has as many as 100 employees censoring web feeds 24 hours a day.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Selected Reading: Associated Press


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VERMILLION, S.D. -- Brendan Johnson, the chief federal law enforcement officer for the state of South Dakota, will deliver the keynote address as the University of South Dakota celebrates its 127th Spring Commencement at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 10.
Johnson, a 1998 USD graduate with a B.S. degree in history and political science, was nominated by President Barrack Obama as the 40th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on Oct. 15, 2009. As South Dakota's chief federal law enforcement officer, he supervises the prosecution of all federal crimes and the litigation of civil matters in which the United States government has an interest. Prior to being confirmed as U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, Johnson was a partner at Johnson, Heidepriem, Abdallah and Johnson, LLP; and a state prosecutor in the Minnehaha County State's Attorney Office. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2001. Johnson and his wife, Jana, are the parents of four children.
In addition to Johnson's keynote address, USD will confer degrees to more than 1,200 candidates at the DakotaDome. The 127th Spring Commencement ceremony will also honor distinguished faculty from the 2013-14 academic year, including recipients of the Belbas-Larson Awards for Excellence in Teaching; the Richard and Sharon Cutler Awards in Liberal Arts; the John Wesley Jackson Memorial Award presented to the outstanding professor of law; and the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Professor Award.


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You are here
Flora Meilleur prepares protein solutions for structural investigation with neutrons. | Courtesy of ORNL Flickr / Jason Richards
Sometimes the right tool can shape the world . . . or even better, touch a life.
That's true for researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, who recently used one of their tools to discover new truths about Huntington's disease.
Huntington's disease is an inherited disorder of body and mind. It begins with a single errant gene, which causes a single misshapen protein (huntingtin), which leads to a devastating series of consequences. Some 1 in 10,000 Americans are affected by Huntington's, which causes involuntary movements, losses of emotion, dementia and other significant brain impairments. While there are a few treatments, there is no cure.
Everyone carries the huntingtin protein. Scientists aren't exactly sure what it does, but they believe it plays a role in nerve cells (neurons) in the brain, and know it is critical for life. They also know that misshapen huntingtin proteins pile up inside neurons as the disease progresses, in thin deposits known as fibrils, and believe that the earliest aggregates may be the most toxic.
So researchers at ORNL took a look at the misshapen form of huntingtin aggregates in the earliest stages of disease at the smallest scale so far resolved, the sub-nanoscale level, tenths-of-billionths of a meter. By comparison, a sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick, and a human hair is approximately 80,000 nanometers wide. They used a tool called "Bio-SANS" (Biological Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Instrument), at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Bio-SANS – the cornerstone of ORNL's Center for Structural Molecular Biology – uses neutrons (tiny electrically neutral particles), to study the structure of larger, biologically-important structures like proteins.
This approach has advantages that lead to advances. Using Bio-SANS, researchers can 'see' how biological structures look in solutions, their natural state. The tool can also pinpoint the placement of small atoms in great detail, which allows scientists to understand how those structures change over time.
Atomic architecture matters. And through Bio-SANS, ORNL scientists were able to see and study the entire growth curve of the misshapen huntingtin proteins: How their individual components came together, how their toxic aggregates formed, and joined together into fibrils inside the neuron. (Read more about their results in Biophysical Journal.
Knowing the shifting shapes of those noxious structures may allow scientists to devise medicines that prevent them from forming, or counteract their toxic properties. ORNL's tools are leading to better targets, and perhaps potential treatments. It's a real return to the taxpayer.
But the full benefit of the tools ORNL scientists are using to study Huntington's, and other diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, goes far beyond a better balance sheet or a publication in a prestigious scientific journal. It's the prospect that they'll contribute to a treatment, or perhaps even a remedy.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. HFIR and Bio-SANS are supported by the Office of Science.
For more information on the DOE Office of Science, please go to: http://www.science.energy.gov/


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No matter how I'm feeling, there is always a piece of music to fit my mood. I feel very connected to music, it can calm me, excite me, or soothe me depending on what I need in the moment. I love to make my own music, but I haven't done that consistently for a long time.
I inherited my Grandmother's piano eight years ago and it's been sitting quiet most of the time since then. It was the piano I learned on as a little girl and I'm happy to have it in my life. There have been days that I sit down and play all of my familiar tunes or a visiting friend tickles the ivories for a bit, but for the most part it remains a showpiece in my living room.
My daughters enjoy playing our piano too. I've started teaching them the basics and I hear them crafting their own tunes quite often. Piano lessons are imminent. I would love for my girls to connect to music the way I do. Music is revitalizing and inspirational and can be a beautifully supportive tool.
As the seasons start to change, I see an opportunity to recharge, refresh and revitalize! I am reaffirming my commitment to kindness and self-care. I have to be healthy, strong and happy to make sure my kids are as well. And, I see the chance to make a new, exciting pledge to get back to making music, so I picked a new song and sat down in front of the piano and began to play. I'm planning to put more piano into my life as a way to soothe myself and be a good model for my girls. While they watch me learn a new song by reading the music and practicing, I'm hoping they will be attracted to the process. This time I chose a song that I can sing and play at the same time and I feel like that act will be a nice way to unwind and relax myself and the girls. Hopefully I can build a nice, new repertoire.
Finding happiness isn't always about discovering something new, sometimes it's about rediscovering what you already knew you had.
photo is of my Grandmother's piano in my living room


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By John Hutchinson
We've been wrong about many things – never assume the obvious is true!
Being wrong about a sports game or the weather may not matter too much. But sometimes we need to get things right.
The right diagnoses of an illness and taking the right medicine may help us recover. I know of a lawyer who got it wrong in a legal issue which cost his clients dearly. They nearly lost their home.
We are entitled to opinions but, sometimes restricted by them. However, our quest must always be the truth. Truth liberates.
Jesus once said to His opponents, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
He had said incredible things, particularly about His eternal pre-human existence, and proclaimed that "I and (God the) Father are one". His resurrection from the dead, however, authenticated Him in every way. He is, as the Bible says, "the Son of God'"– "the Saviour of the world" – "the Way, the Truth and the Life." •


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|Space Buddies
DVD cover art
|Directed by
|Robert Vince
|Produced by
|Robert Vince
Anna McRoberts
|Written by
|Robert Vince
Anna McRoberts
|Based on
by Paul Tamasy
Aaron Mendelsohn
Kevin DiCicco
Robert Vince
Anna McRoberts
|Jason Earles
Diedrich Bader
Lochlyn Munro
Bill Fagerbakke
Kevin Weisman
Ali Hillis
C. Ernst Harth
Christopher Gauthier
Quinn Lord
|Music by
|Brahm Wenger
Gregory Prechel (composer, orchestrator, additional music)
|Kamal Derkaoui
|Edited by
|Kelly Herron
Keystone Entertainment
Key Pix Productions
|Distributed by
|Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release date
Running time
|84 minutes
|United States
|$9 million[1]
Space Buddies is a 2009 family comedy film. It is the third film in the Air Buddies franchise. It was released February 3, 2009. Like Air Buddies and Snow Buddies, it was released directly on DVD and became the first one to be released on Blu-ray.
The film starts as Buddha (Field Cate) and his owner, Sam (Nolan Gould) star-gazing. As a shooting star passes, Sam makes a wish that he can touch the moon. The next day is the day of his school field trip to Vision Enterprises to watch a test launch of the Vision 1 spacecraft. However, since no pets are allowed to go, he has to leave Buddha at home. Buddha meets up with his siblings; Rosebud (Liliana Mumy), Budderball (Josh Flitter), B-Dawg (Skyler Gisondo), and Mudbud (Henry Hodges), and invites them to come with him to go to see the test launch. They hide in the school bus which soon arrives at the Vision Enterprises. The dogs go to a space suit machine and put on space suits before following the students, who are being led by Dr. Finkel (Kevin Weisman). The dogs get aboard the space shuttle Vision 1. At Mission Control in the Vision Enterprises, Pi (Bill Fagerbakke) confirms they are ready for launch. Meanwhile, the dogs take a close look around until they are sealed in the shuttle, which prepares for launch. Astro (Ali Hillis), who will be piloting the shuttle from Earth, launches the shuttle, and it flies to space.
At Mission Control, the humans realize the third tank of gas in the shuttle was never filled. With ten hours until the gas runs out, they look for solutions. They eventually decide to pilot the spacecraft to the old R.R.S.S. (Russian Research Space Station). They contact the cosmonaut living in the space station, named Yuri (Diedrich Bader), telling him to refuel the Vision 1. As Vision 1 connects to the space station, the dogs decide to explore the space station, and they meet a dog called Sputnik (Jason Earles) who is under the care of Yuri. Sputnik explains that Yuri is quite content to stay in space, yet he wishes to go home. Yuri finds the dogs and becomes happy because the buddies can keep them company. The buddies are trapped in the kitchen, and are saved later by Sputnik. After Yuri connects the fuel hose to the Vision 1, the fuel starts to leak from the hose. Meanwhile, the buddies and Sputnik rush back to Vision 1 to escape. Yuri activates lock-down to trap the dogs. They manage to get to the Vision 1. Yuri tries to stop them, banging on the control switches. However, sparks drop on the fuel, causing an explosion. The dogs escape from the R.R.S.S. as it explodes. Yuri barely escapes using the Cosmopod escape vessel.
The Vision 1 travels to the moon. Soon after, the Vision 1 approaches and lands on the moon (Before this event had occurred, B-Dawg had mistaken the moon for the "Death Star"). They soon begin to get out of the Vision 1 and walk around the area within the place they had landed. Mission Control finds that the sounds from their helmets happen to be soft barks, and conclude they are golden retriever puppies, and this is broadcast on the news. The children find out through the news ("We're live at Vision Enterprises, where quite a furry tale is unfolding. It seems five golden retriever puppies have been accidentally launched into space."). The dogs, while on the moon, meet a ferret named Gravity (Amy Sedaris) who is their mission control assistant. But since their only communication is from audio, they don't know she's a ferret. She orders them to get back on the Vision 1.
When returning to Earth, the path is changed by an unworthy Dr. Finkel. The path's telemetry is reverted into a meteor shower. The "auto-avoidance system" takes control of the Vision 1, rotating and shifting heavily between every meteor in its path. However, the Vision 1's data communications antenna is busted the right when it becomes struck by a meteor. Budderball is sent to repair the antenna by doing a space walk outside of the Vision 1. At Mission Control, the adults are puzzled about the change of the telemetry course of the Vision 1 when Sam accuses Dr. Finkel of changing the path. As Dr. Finkel's denies it, Pi uses the security camera to confirm that Dr. Finkel was indeed at the desk at 7:49 pm, the time when the telemetry course was changed. As Dr. Finkel is taken away by security, Sam approaches Dr. Finkel and calls him "Dr. Stinkel."
The Mission Control center receives Yuri's distress signal in the Cosmopod before the Vision 1 enters the atmosphere through the blackout zone. They wait 4 minutes till they arrive, but they arrive early. The Vision 1 ends its mission by slowing down on the take-off strip. The dogs find out Gravity is a ferret, and so that Budderball replies he is related to skunks. Yuri crashes his pod, and is rescued by some soldiers, telling them he comes from space.
Pi awards the dogs wings of true heroism, with their title as "Space Buddies". Once at home, Buddha gives Sam a moon rock he had taken from his journey, fulfilling his wish of touching the moon. The film ends with Sputnik back at home with his old owner, Sasha, saying, "It is the journey and friendship that matters the most."
- Bill Fagerbakke as Pi
- Diedrich Bader as Yuri
- Kevin Weisman as Dr. Finkel
- Lochlyn Munro as Slats Bentley
- Ali Hillis as Astro Spalding
- Pat Finn as Bill Wolfson
- Nolan Gould as Sam
- Wayne Wilderson as Tad Thompson
- C. Ernst Harth as Guard at the gate to HQ
- Reese Schoeppe as Sasha
- Nico Ghisi as Bartleby
- Quinn Lord as Pete
- Gig Morton as Billy
- Jude Prescott as Alice
- Michael Teigan as Deputy Dan
Voice cast
- Skyler Gisondo as B-Dawg
- Field Cate as Buddha
- Liliana Mumy as Rosebud
- Henry Hodges as Mudbud
- Josh Flitter as Budderball
- Amy Sedaris as Gravity, a black-footed ferret
- Jason Earles as Sputnik, a Bull Terrier
The film was shot in these locations:[2]
- Abbotsford Airport, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
- Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- Fort Langley, Langley Township, British Columbia, Canada
- Langley, British Columbia, Canada
- Vancouver Film Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray February 3, 2009.[3]


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Ironfist has come and gone in a Flash-like Wally West. That's because the show was let down. Feel free to click here and find out why in our full Ironfist review. A mere few weeks after the release of the lackluster adventures of Danny Rand; Netflix is back at it again. This time they're teasing what everyone has been waiting for since it was first announced; The Defenders!
Netflix and Marvel are trying to make a small screen version of the Avengers with The Defenders. This superhero group will star DareDevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones & Ironfist. If I had to guess, The Hand will be the focal point after the events of season two of DareDevil & season one of Ironfist. I guess we'll have to wait and see when The Defenders releases August 18th, 2017. For now this short teaser Netflix released on Twitter will have do.
It's going down 8/18. #DEFEND pic.twitter.com/ALzi0WdELY
— The Defenders (@TheDefenders) April 4, 2017
Just a content creator using his influence to create an outlet to express his views on pop culture


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Friday, June 5, 2015
Happy 3rd Birthday, Daphne's Diary!
7 comments:
If I can get to a B & N, I am going to look for this one!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 5, 2015 at 9:06 AM
I found mine last Friday. Love this magazine. Its a great bookstore find every 6 weeks or so. Christy in Tulsa.ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for reminding me of this lovely magazine!ReplyDelete
I love your site and am not sure I said so before!
- AnonymousJune 5, 2015 at 3:59 PM
Thank you so much for posting this! Reminded me to check with my local B&N to see if they have received their copies, yet. Lovely post, too!! ~ Donna E.ReplyDelete
I am running to B&N tomorrow! Never had luck yet finding Daphne there - but not giving up - thanks Angela for the heads up - again! I too - love your blog! My favorite!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 7, 2015 at 9:25 PM
Just wanted to pass on some info about where you might find Daphne's Diary in the USA. My B&N only orders 3 copies, so they go rather quickly. But, I was in my local Michael's store, today and there at the checkout was the 02/2015 edition!!! So, if you are having trouble finding them at B&N, you might check at Michael's. ~ Donna E.ReplyDelete
What a nice issue! Thanks for the heads up.ReplyDelete


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Agricultural Dispersals in Mediterranean and Temperate Europe
Aurélie Salavert
Along with ceramics production, sedentism, and herding, agriculture is a major component of the Neolithic as it is defined in Europe. Therefore, the agricultural system of the first Neolithic societies and the dispersal of exogenous cultivated plants to Europe are the subject of many scientific studies. To work on these issues, archaeobotanists rely on residual plant remains—crop seeds, weeds, and wild plants—from archaeological structures like detritic pits, and, less often, storage contexts. To date, no plant with an economic value has been identified as domesticated in Western Europe except possibly opium poppy. The earliest seeds identified at archaeological sites dated to about 5500–5200
The Neolithic pioneers settled in an area that had experienced a long tradition of hunting and gathering. The Neolithization of Europe followed a colonization model. The Mesolithic groups, although exploiting plant resources such as hazelnut more or less intensively, did not significantly change the landscape. The impact of their settlements and their activities are hardly noticeable through palynology, for example. The control of the mode of reproduction of plants has certainly increased the prevalence of Homo sapiens, involving, among others, a demographic increase and the ability to settle down in areas that were not well adapted to year-round occupation up to that point. The characterization of past agricultural systems, such as crop plants, technical processes, and the impact of anthropogenic activities on the landscape, is essential for understanding the interrelation of human societies and the plant environment. This interrelation has undoubtedly changed deeply with the Neolithic Revolution.
Agricultural Subsidies and the Environment
Heather Williams
Worldwide, governments subsidize agriculture at the rate of approximately 1 billion dollars per day. This figure rises to about twice that when export and biofuels production subsidies and state financing for dams and river basin engineering are included. These policies guide land use in numerous ways, including growers' choices of crop and buyers' demand for commodities. The three types of state subsidies that shape land use and the environment are land settlement programs, price and income supports, and energy and emissions initiatives. Together these subsidies have created perennial surpluses in global stores of cereal grains, cotton, and dairy, with production increases outstripping population growth. Subsidies to land settlement, to crop prices, and to processing and refining of cereals and fiber, therefore, can be shown to have independent and largely deleterious effect on soil fertility, fresh water supplies, biodiversity, and atmospheric carbon.
Benefit Transfer for Ecosystem Services
Kevin J. Boyle and Christopher F. Parmeter
Benefit transfer is the projection of benefits from one place and time to another time at the same place or to a new place. Thus, benefit transfer includes the adaptation of an original study to a new policy application at the same location or the adaptation to a different location. The appeal of a benefit transfer is that it can be cost effective, both monetarily and in time. Using previous studies, analysts can select existing results to construct a transferred value for the desired amenity influenced by the policy change. Benefit transfer practices are not unique to valuing ecosystem service and are generally applicable to a variety of changes in ecosystem services. An ideal benefit transfer will scale value estimates to both the ecosystem services and the preferences of those who hold values. The article outlines the steps in a benefit transfer, types of transfers, accuracy of transferred values, and challenges when conducting ecosystem transfers and ends with recommendations for the implementation of benefit transfers to support decision-making.
Challenges to Environmental Valuation of Water in Light of Global Change
Vic Adamowicz and Diane Dupont
A number of challenges are faced by practitioners seeking to elicit values associated with water in a world of global change. These values are needed to assist in decision-making around the use of water as a country's key asset. Five different pathways show the complexity of the relationship between global change and environmental valuation of water: a climate change pathway, ecosystem infrastructure pathway, population/demographics pathway, income pathway, and technological change/innovation pathway. The challenges are most acute for water when it is related to ecosystem services since values need to be elicited through the use of non-market survey-based valuation techniques. In addition, environmental valuation will be important to inform the determination of water quality standards associated with different uses of water (drinking, recreation, etc.) and the allocation of resources to provide these different services. Several case studies illustrate issues and solutions. The article concludes with an appreciation of future challenges and opportunities.
Deliberative Monetary Valuation
Bartosz Bartkowski and Nele Lienhoop
While economic values of nonmarket ecosystem goods and services are in high demand to inform decision-making processes, economic valuation has also attracted significant criticism. Particularly, its implicit rationality assumptions and value monism gave rise to alternative approaches to economic nonmarket valuation. Deliberative monetary valuation (DMV) originated in the early 2000s and gained particular prominence after 2010, especially in the context of the United Kingdom National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA). It constitutes a major methodological development to overcome the limitations of conventional nonmarket valuation methods by incorporating deliberative group elements (information provision, discussion, time to reflect in a group setting) in the valuation process.
DMV approaches range from those that focus on facilitating individual preference formation for complex and unfamiliar environmental changes and stay close to neoclassical economic theory to those that try to go beyond methodological individualism and monetary valuation to include a plurality of different values. The theoretical foundation of DMV comprises a mix of economic welfare theory, on the one hand, and various strands of deliberative democratic theory and discourse ethics, on the other. DMV formats are mostly inspired by deliberative institutions such as citizens' juries and combine those with stated preference methods such as choice experiments. While the diversity of approaches within this field is large, it has been demonstrated that deliberation can lead to more well-informed and stable preferences as well as facilitate the inclusion of considerations going beyond self-interest. Future research challenges surrounding DMV include the exploration of intergroup power relations and group dynamics as well as the theoretical status and the validity of DMV results.
Early History of Animal Domestication in Southwest Asia
Benjamin S. Arbuckle
The domestication of livestock animals has long been recognized as one of the most important and influential events in human prehistory and has been the subject of scholarly inquiry for centuries. Modern understandings of this important transition place it within the context of the origins of food production in the so-called Neolithic Revolution, where it is particularly well documented in southwest Asia. Here, a combination of archaeofaunal, isotopic, and DNA evidence suggests that sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs were first domesticated over a period of several millennia within sedentary communities practicing intensive cultivation beginning at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Resulting from more than a century of data collection, our understanding of the chronological and geographic features of the transition from hunting to herding indicate that the 9th millennium
Economics, Agriculture, and Famines
Noel Russell
There are continuing developments in the analysis of hunger and famines, and the results of theoretical and empirical studies of hunger and food insecurity highlight cases where hunger intensifies sufficiently to be identified as famine. The varying ability of those affected to cope with the shocks and stresses imposed on them are central to the development of food insecurity and the emergence of famine conditions and to explaining the complex interrelationships between agriculture, famine, and economics.
There are a number of approaches to understanding how famines develop. The Malthusian approach, which sees population growth as the primary source of hunger and famine, can be contrasted with the free market or Smithian approach, which regards freely operating markets as an essential prerequisite for ensuring that famine can be overcome. A major debate has centered on whether famines primarily emerge from a decline in the availability of food or are a result of failure by households to access sufficient food for consumption, seeking to distinguish between famine as a problem related to food production and availability and famine as a problem of declining income and food consumption among certain groups in the population. These declines arise from the interaction between food markets, labor markets and markets for livestock and other productive farm resources when poor people try to cope with reduced food consumption. Further revisions to famine analysis were introduced from the mid-1990s by authors who interpreted the emergence of famines not as a failure in markets and the economic system, but more as a failure in political accountability and humanitarian response.
These approaches have the common characteristic that they seek to narrow the focus of investigation to one or a few key characteristics. Yet most of those involved in famine analysis or famine relief would stress the multi-faceted and broad-based nature of the perceived causes of famine and the mechanisms through which they emerge. In contrast to these approaches, the famine systems approach takes a broader view, exploring insights from systems theory to understand how famines develop and especially how this development might be halted, reversed, or prevented.
Economists have contributed to and informed different perspectives on famine analysis while acknowledging key contributions from moral philosophy as well as from biological and physical sciences and from political and social sciences. Malthus, Smith, and John Stuart Mill contributed substantially to early thinking on famine causation and appropriate famine interventions. Increased emphasis on famine prevention and a focus on food production and productivity led to the unarguable success of the Green Revolution. An important shift in thinking in the 1980s was motivated by Amartya Sen's work on food entitlements and on markets for food and agricultural resources. On the other hand, the famine systems approach considers famine as a process governed by complex relationships and seeks to integrate contributions from economists and other scientists while promoting a systems approach to famine analysis.
Economics of Invasive Species
Mark Eiswerth, Chad Lawley, and Michael H. Taylor
Introductions of non-native invasive species can harm ecosystems, heighten the risk of native species extinctions and population reductions, and lead to substantial economic damages on a worldwide scale. Increasingly, economists have made contributions that help other researchers, policymakers, and society better understand the economic implications of invasive species as well as the most economically efficient approaches for managing them. The complexity of invasive species management problems has pushed economists to ask novel economic questions and to develop new analytical approaches in order to address specific policy questions. There are three areas, in particular, where the economic analysis of invasive species management has led to significant innovations. First, there are substantial challenges to quantifying economic damages from invasive species for application in benefit−cost analysis. The challenges relate to defining the counterfactual state of an invaded ecosystem with and without management/policy and to the fact that, in a given ecosystem, estimates of economic damages are available for only a subset of the species and for only a subset of damages for any one species. Recent economic research has proposed innovative approaches to systematically dealing with these two issues in the context of invasive species that have implications for applied benefit−cost analysis more broadly. Second, unique among natural resource management problems, invasive species have the feature that their current and future extents are directly tied to a country's participation in international trade. This feature has led to innovative research into the design of efficient measures to prevent or delay invasive species introductions along national borders, and into the trade-offs between these measures and the use of border controls as protectionist tools. The issues of optimal inspection policy and the use of nontariff barriers as a form of covert protectionism both have implications beyond invasive species management. Third, researchers have developed bioeconomic models that integrate economic and biological factors in order to analyze strategies to more cost-effectively reduce the damages caused by invasive species. These modeling efforts have dealt with issues related to temporal and spatial dynamics of the biological invasions, imperfect information regarding the extent of the invasion and the effectiveness of management, linkages between management applied at different stages of an invasion, and complications arising from ecosystems' crossing over ecological thresholds due to invasions. In the face of increasingly rapid ecosystem change due to global climate change, increases in extreme weather, urban encroachment into wild lands, and other factors, many of these features of invasive species management problems are likely to become features of ecosystem management more broadly in the near future if they are not so already.
Economics of Low Carbon Agriculture
Dominic Moran and Jorie Knook
Climate change is already having a significant impact on agriculture through greater weather variability and the increasing frequency of extreme events. International policy is rightly focused on adapting and transforming agricultural and food production systems to reduce vulnerability. But agriculture also has a role in terms of climate change mitigation. The agricultural sector accounts for approximately a third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, including related emissions from land-use change and deforestation. Farmers and land managers have a significant role to play because emissions reduction measures can be taken to increase soil carbon sequestration, manage fertilizer application, and improve ruminant nutrition and waste. There is also potential to improve overall productivity in some systems, thereby reducing emissions per unit of product. The global significance of such actions should not be underestimated. Existing research shows that some of these measures are low cost relative to the costs of reducing emissions in other sectors such as energy or heavy industry. Some measures are apparently cost-negative or win–win, in that they have the potential to reduce emissions and save production costs. However, the mitigation potential is also hindered by the biophysical complexity of agricultural systems and institutional and behavioral barriers limiting the adoption of these measures in developed and developing countries. This includes formal agreement on how agricultural mitigation should be treated in national obligations, commitments or targets, and the nature of policy incentives that can be deployed in different farming systems and along food chains beyond the farm gate. These challenges also overlap growing concern about global food security, which highlights additional stressors, including demographic change, natural resource scarcity, and economic convergence in consumption preferences, particularly for livestock products. The focus on reducing emissions through modified food consumption and reduced waste is a recent agenda that is proving more controversial than dealing with emissions related to production.
The Economics of Oil Spills
Maria L. Loureiro and Maria Alló
Vessel oil spills are very serious natural hazards that have affected coasts worldwide for many decades. Although oil spills from tankers are highly publicized, very little is known about the role played by the incentives and regulatory instruments in place to prevent them. In order to shed some light on these issues, data were collected worldwide on large oil spills from multiple databases, starting in the 1970s, and merged with other socioeconomic records. A crucial concern is that that large oil spills have been undercompensated over time with respect to the damages caused. A meta-analysis was estimated in order to assess relevant factors affecting the damage claimed in oil spills and the compensations received by the affected parties. Meta-regression results show that the legislation applied (strict unlimited liability versus limited liability) played a crucial role in both the amount claimed and the final compensation received. Also, time-trend variables are shown as determining factors for both the damages and claims that are finally paid. To correct the large gap between damage claimed and compensation scenarios, it is recommended to strengthen compensation funds, while carrying out more comprehensive assessment studies which apply valuation methods comparable with those proposed by green capital initiatives for marine ecosystem services, and which could be used successfully during the litigation process.
Economics of Reforestation and Afforestation
Daowei Zhang
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been harvested or depleted, and afforestation is the establishing of a forest in an area where there were no trees. For economic and practical purposes, reforestation and afforestation have similar goals and processes and thus can be treated as identical activities. Although reforestation and afforestation have a long history, large-scale reforestation and afforestation activities started with industrialization, which caused scarcity in timber and forest-based ecosystem services. In a unified economic model of reforestation and afforestation, factors influencing investments in reforestation and in afforestation on private and public lands include timber prices, unit reforestation cost, interest rate, the responsiveness of tree growth to silviculture, and the value of nontimber benefits, such as ecosystem services. Market and public policies may facilitate, enhance, or hinder reforestation and afforestation activities, and nontimber benefits are an increasingly important motive for reforestation and, especially, afforestation efforts around the world.
The Economics of Watershed Management
Brent M. Haddad
Watersheds are physical regions from which all arriving water flows to a single exit point. The shared hydrology means that other biophysical systems are linked, typically with upper-gradient regions influencing lower-gradient ones. This situation frames the challenge of managing economic and other uses of watersheds both in terms of individual activities and their influence on other connected processes and activities. Economics provides concepts and methods that help managers with decision making in the complex physical, biological, and institutional environment of a watershed. Among the important concepts and methods that help characterize watershed processes are externalities, impacts of economic activity that fall upon individuals not party to the activity, and third parties, individuals impacted without consent. Public goods and common pool resources describe categories of things or processes that by their nature are not amenable to regular market transactions. Their regulation requires special consideration and alternative approaches to markets. Benefit-cost analysis and valuation are related methods that provide a means to compare alternative uses of the same system. Each is based on the normative argument that the best use provides the greatest net benefits to society. And intergenerational equity is a value orientation that argues for preservation of watershed processes for the benefit of future generations. The need for effective watershed management methods pushed 20th-century economists to adapt their discipline to the complexity of watersheds, from which emerged subdisciplines of natural resource economics, environmental economics, and ecological economics. The field is still evolving with a growing interest in data gathering through land-based low-cost data collection systems and remote sensing, and in emerging data analysis techniques to improve management decisions.
Environmental Economic Instruments in Mexico
Marisol Rivera-Planter, Carlos Muñoz-Piña, and Mariza Montes de Oca
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Please check back later for the full article.
While most attention on the use of economic instruments for environmental protection has centered on their applications in industrialized countries, middle-income countries have made important inroads as well. Among them, Mexico stands out for its application to the agenda of a wide array of green and brown issues. Starting in 2001, with the introduction of fees to access natural protected areas, followed in 2003, with the establishment of the Payment for Ecosystems Services program for forests, and then in 2014, the introduction of the environmental tax on pesticides, the use of complementary price signals through the fiscal system has sought to influence, in a decentralized manner, the decisions of both consumers and resource owners towards protecting key elements of Mexico's natural capital. As the central promise from economic instruments is to reduce compliance costs of reaching a certain goal by providing flexibility on how to meet individual obligations, the use of market-based mechanisms in regulations has also been explored with some success in Mexico. Partial incorporation of such a mechanism was applied to the design of its national Federal Fuel Efficiency standards for automobiles, by redefining compliance as meeting a corporate average standard starting from 2006 onwards. More recently, full use of market mechanisms was introduced, in 2016, into the strategy to reach Mexico's Clean Energy requirement goals. The demonstration by utilities of compliance with the milestone of the national 2024 goal of 35% share of clean energy in power generation can be done either by holding or purchasing Clean Energy Certificates in their secondary market. This allows utilities to separate the decision to purchase energy at the lowest cost, and to meet environmental requirements, also at their lowest cost.
Both tax and market mechanisms are converging with Mexico's Climate Change policy. The Fiscal Reform of 2014 introduced Mexico's first explicit carbon tax in the form of an excise tax applied to fossil fuels, just as its G20 commitments to phase-out negative carbon pricing (i.e., fossil fuel subsidies) were being fulfilled. With price signals pushing towards more energy efficiency and a lower carbon footprint for the economy, Mexico is on the right track for carbon pricing and is showing leadership at a global scale. It will be interesting to observe how this will mix with a proposed cap-and-trade carbon mechanism, obviously touted as a complementary instrument. The establishment of such a mechanism to meet the emission reduction goals of Mexico's Climate Change legislation and international commitments is the subject of intense debate and analysis. It represents an interesting decision point for a middle-income country such as Mexico, where all costs are local in nature, the emissions per capita are at the world's average, and indirect benefits of the energy transition are only partial. In the political economy debate, the linkage to international markets, such as California and Quebec, is not only an option but a central motivation to launch the market, as gains from trade are the driving force.
Environmental Economics and the Anthropocene
V. Kerry Smith
Geologists' reframing of the global changes arising from human impacts can be used to consider how the insights from environmental economics inform policy under this new perspective. They ask a rhetorical question. How would a future generation looking back at the records in the sediments and ice cores from today's activities judge mankind's impact? They conclude that the globe has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene. Now mankind is the driving force altering the Earth's natural systems. This conclusion, linking a physical record to a temporal one, represents an assessment of the extent of current human impact on global systems in a way that provides a warning that all policy design and evaluation must acknowledge that the impacts of human activity are taking place on a planetary scale. As a result, it is argued that national and international environmental policies need to be reconsidered. Environmental economics considers the interaction between people and natural systems. So it comes squarely into conflict with conventional practices in both economics and ecology. Each discipline marginalizes the role of the other in the outcomes it describes. Market and natural systems are not separate. This conclusion is important to the evaluation of how (a) economic analysis avoided recognition of natural systems, (b) the separation of these systems affects past assessments of natural resource adequacy, and (c) policy needs to be redesigned in ways that help direct technological innovation that is responsive to the importance of nonmarket environmental services to the global economy and to sustaining the Earth's living systems.
The Environmental Kuznets Curve
David I. Stern
The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a hypothesized relationship between environmental degradation and GDP per capita. In the early stages of economic growth, pollution emissions and other human impacts on the environment increase, but beyond some level of GDP per capita (which varies for different indicators), the trend reverses, so that at high income levels, economic growth leads to environmental improvement. This implies that environmental impacts or emissions per capita are an inverted U-shaped function of GDP per capita. The EKC has been the dominant approach among economists to modeling ambient pollution concentrations and aggregate emissions since Grossman and Krueger introduced it in 1991 and is even found in introductory economics textbooks. Despite this, the EKC was criticized almost from the start on statistical and policy grounds, and debate continues. While concentrations and also emissions of some local pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, have clearly declined in developed countries in recent decades, evidence for other pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, is much weaker. Initially, many understood the EKC to imply that environmental problems might be due to a lack of sufficient economic development, rather than the reverse, as was conventionally thought. This alarmed others because a simplistic policy prescription based on this idea, while perhaps addressing some issues like deforestation or local air pollution, could exacerbate environmental problems like climate change. Additionally, many of the econometric studies that supported the EKC were found to be statistically fragile. Some more recent research integrates the EKC with alternative approaches and finds that the relation between environmental impacts and development is subtler than the simple picture painted by the EKC. This research shows that usually, growth in the scale of the economy increases environmental impacts, all else held constant. However, the impact of growth might decline as countries get richer, and richer countries are likely to make more rapid progress in reducing environmental impacts. Finally, there is often convergence among countries, so that countries that have relatively high levels of impacts reduce them more quickly or increase them more slowly, all else held constant.
Environmental Regulations in China
Haitao Yin, Xuemei Zhang, and Feng Wang
China's environmental challenges are unprecedented in terms of their size and severity. The country's constantly evolving regulatory systems are a blend of lessons learned from Western market- and information-based regulations, China's own unique political and administrative context as an authoritarian country, the complex relationship between its central and local governments, and the balance between the needs for environmental protection and economic growth. A close look at China's environmental regulatory system may offer useful insights to those working toward a more sustainable future.
In the 21st century, the environmental regulatory system in China is entering a new era. Over the last three decades, efforts have focused on developing regulatory standards for air, water, and solid waste, among many other pollutants. This regulatory system primarily follows a command-and-control approach and is often criticized for its failure to curb China's increasingly severe environmental degradation.
In the future, the Chinese government may pursue two routes. The first is to increase the use of market mechanisms and information tools to enable and incentivize more stakeholders, such as consumers, nongovernmental organizations, and communities, to engage in the development and enforcement of environmental regulations, for instance, through cap-and-trade systems, information-disclosure programs, and environmental insurance. However, existing evidence shows that the usefulness of these new instruments is limited.
Another route is to develop new mechanisms to strengthen the enforcement of traditional command-and-control regulations. Examples include making environmental performance a key performance indicator (KPI) in the performance appraisals of government officials or leveraging the power of financial sectors. These approaches are a footnote to the new argument in favor of environmental authoritarianism, which suggests that authoritarian regimes, setting authoritarian rules, may be more capable of handling complex environmental pressures. More studies need to be conducted on the effectiveness of these new approaches and the mechanisms by which they may achieve success.
Environmental Regulations in India
Rama Mohana R Turaga and Anish Sugathan
Pollution is one of the greatest causes of premature deaths and morbidity in the world, and this burden of pollution is disproportionately borne by the lower and middle income countries such as India—home to more than one-sixth of humanity. In India, due to the compound effect of its large population and high levels of environmental pollution, the human cost of pollution is among the highest in the world. The environmental degradation is partly a consequence of the development model pursued after independence in 1947 based on large-scale industrialization and exploitative resource utilization, with scant consideration for sustainability. Moreover, it is also due to the failure of the environmental administration, governance, and regulatory infrastructure to keep pace with the magnitude and pace of economic growth in India since economic liberalization in 1991.
Ironically, India was also one of the early pioneers of integrating environmental considerations into its legislative and policy-making process beginning in the early 1970s. The federal and state environmental regulation and policy framing institutions set up during this era, along with environmental legislation such as the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, are comparable in design, stringency, and comprehensiveness to other contemporary command-and-control environmental regulatory regimes in many industrially developed economies. However, the widening gap between de jure expectations of environmental compliance and the de facto state of affairs has been a great concern for environmental governance in the country.
The ongoing debates discuss several mechanisms to address the regulatory failures. The first is a greater emphasis on strengthening institutions and mechanisms that foster transparency and public disclosure by pollution sources with the intent to increase access to and credibility of information on pollution. Proponents argue this will help mobilize groups such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the general public to pressure the industry and government to improve regulatory enforcement. Second, there have been calls for wider adoption of market-based instruments that are more efficient than the traditional command-and-control approaches on which India relies. Again, information is a prerequisite for the functioning of such market-based regulatory mechanisms. Third, the legal infrastructure to facilitate expedited hearing of environmental litigation is being created. With the establishment of the National Green Tribunal in 2010, India is one of only three other countries in the world to have an exclusive judicial body to hear environmental cases. This is potentially a significant step in providing greater access to environmental justice. An emerging view, however, argues that the prevailing economic development model is incompatible with ensuring sustainable development and requires a radical rethink.
Environmental Regulations in Mexico
María E. Ibarrarán and Jerónimo Chavarría
In Mexico, the laws and norms that regulate the environment emerged at the end of the 19th century to standardize infrastructure construction and preserve nature. However, it was not until the early 1970s that the first formal government entity dedicated to promote environmental protection, the Vice-Ministry for Environmental Improvement, under the Ministry of Health, was founded, mostly responding to a government initiative rather than social pressure. Other laws were then issued and applied by the Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology. However, in the 1980s, civil society pressed for more regulations aimed at protecting the environment.
In the 1990s, the Ministry of the Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries (SEMARNAP) was created, focusing on natural resources, biodiversity, hazardous waste, and urban-industrial environmental problems. Its objective was to reduce the trends of environmental deterioration and to promote economic and social development under criteria of sustainability. This and other institutions have evolved since then, covering a larger set of topics and media. Nevertheless, degradation has not been stopped and is far from being reverted, because even though there is a toolbox of policies and instruments, many of them economic, they have not been fully implemented in some cases or enforced in others because of economic and political factors.
With the changes in institutions, legislation was also modified. Mexico became part of international environmental agreements and included the rights to a safe environment in the constitution. However, this legislation has not been enough to modify behavior because often the incentives either for regulators or for polluters themselves are not enough.
Environmental degradation is a market failure. It can be shaped as an externality that markets alone cannot solve either because of overproduction, abuse of open access resources, or underprovision of public goods. In any of these cases, resolution comes only through government intervention. Regulations must include consideration of the benefits and costs they impose to change behavior. However, regardless of formal regulation, there are still a host of environmental problems that affect both urban and rural communities and Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and there is a regulatory vacuum integrating environmental aspects with economic and social development issues. Examples of this are the Energy Reform of 2013 and the Law of Waters, as well as the Law of Biodiversity, where impacts on communities are often left aside, because of a de facto prevalence of economic activity over human rights. On the other hand, legal loopholes prevent adequate management of wildlife resources and sufficient treatment of hazardous waste discarded by industries, even if they are regulated. Furthermore, environmental regulations are based on corrective regulations, such as obligations, restrictions, and sanctions, but these have not strengthened their preventive character. It is still less expensive to pollute or degrade the environment than take measures not to. A shift in the paradigm toward policies that create incentives to protect the environment, both for polluters and regulators, may foster much better environmental quality.
Global and Regional Economic Damages from Climate Change
Anil Markandya, Elena Paglialunga, Valeria Costantini, and Giorgia Sforna
Economic damage from climate change includes several aspects that need to be considered at the global and regional levels to achieve an equitable common solution to global warming. The economic literature reviewed here analyzes this issue under three general perspectives.
First, the analytical estimation of the linkages between damages in monetary terms and climate variables, as projections of temperature, precipitation, and frequency of extreme events, is rapidly evolving. Damage functions are included in complex economic models in order to calculate the economic impact of the climate change on economic output and growth, thus informing the debate on the amount of resources that should be devoted to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and limiting climate damages. The choice of the geographical aggregation in this respect is a crucial aspect to be considered if policy advice is to be formulated on the basis of model results. The higher the level of regional detail, the more reliable the results are in terms of geographical distribution of economic damages.
Second, the precise estimation of the costs associated with different damages caused by climate change is attracting growing interest. Climate costs present a wide range of heterogeneity for several reasons, such as the different formulation of the damage function adopted, the modeling design of the economic impact, the temporal horizon considered, and the differentiation across sectors. Two broad categories of analysis are relevant. The first refers to the choice of the sectoral dimension under investigation, where some studies cover multiple sectors and their interactions, while others analyze specific sectors in depth. The second classification criterion refers to the choice of the economic aspects estimated, where a strand of literature analyzes only market-based costs, while other analyses also include non-market (or intangible) damages. The most common sectors investigated are agriculture, forestry, health, energy, coastal zones and sea level rise, extreme events, tourism, ecosystem, industry, air quality, and catastrophic damages. Most studies consider market-based costs, while non-market impacts need to be better detailed in economic models.
Third, the computation of a single number through the analytical framework of the social costs of carbon (SCC) represents a key aspect of the process of adapting complex results in order to properly inform the political debate. SCC represents the marginal global damage cost of carbon emissions and can also be interpreted as the economic value of damages avoided for unitary GHG emission reduction. Several uncertainties still influence the robustness of the SCC analytical framework, such as the choice of the discount rate, which strongly influences the role of SCC in supporting or not mitigation action in the short term.
Although the debate on the economic damages arising from climate change is flourishing, several aspects still need to be investigated in order to build a common consensus within the scientific community as a necessary condition to properly inform the political debate and to facilitate the achievement of a long-term equitable global climate agreement.
How Environmental Degradation Impoverishes the Poor
Edward B. Barbier
Globally, around 1.5 billion people in developing countries, or approximately 35% of the rural population, can be found on less-favored agricultural land (LFAL), which is susceptible to low productivity and degradation because the agricultural potential is constrained biophysically by terrain, poor soil quality, or limited rainfall. Around 323 million people in such areas also live in locations that are highly remote, and thus have limited access to infrastructure and markets. The households in such locations often face a vicious cycle of declining livelihoods, increased ecological degradation and loss of resource commons, and declining ecosystem services on which they depend. In short, these poor households are prone to a poverty-environment trap. Policies to eradicate poverty, therefore, need to be targeted to improve the economic livelihood, productivity, and income of the households located on remote LFAL. The specific elements of such a strategy include involving the poor in paying for ecosystem service schemes and other measures that enhance the environments on which the poor depend; targeting investments directly to improving the livelihoods of the rural poor, thus reducing their dependence on exploiting environmental resources; and tackling the lack of access by the rural poor in less-favored areas to well-functioning and affordable markets for credit, insurance, and land, as well as the high transportation and transaction costs that prohibit the poorest households in remote areas to engage in off-farm employment and limit smallholder participation in national and global markets.
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