Introduction: The ecosystems around us in nature provide us with many services that humans benefit from, such as water filtration and clean air. However, these benefits are not something many people think about how we benefit from these services since they typically aren’t something we are used to paying for. Still, people benefit from the services offered by ecosystems everyday. Within cities, urban parks can be found throughout the USA. Some are home to forests, wetlands, grasslands, while others are manicured parks where plants and animals have adapted to form novel ecosystems. Nevertheless, measuring the economic value of those services, whether they are from novel or natural has always been a challenge. Some services such as air and water filtration are relatively simple to quantify, while other services like a park’s biodiversity are not. This …show more content…
The first three regressions use a similar dependent variable as Blomquist, while the last regression uses data only on renters. In the first 3 regressions in the sign for the coefficients change for renter, sunshine, sewer, and number of bedrooms. However, in the last regression only signs on the coefficients for crime, lot size, and sewer change. Most of these changes make little sense except for the change that relates to crime. For the second regression in Table 1 state fixed effects were added to help account for some of the missing climate variables in the model. Nonetheless, this did little to clear up the confusion from the regression model used in Table 1. The results largely the same except that the coefficient for park space has gone from 1.804% to 0.751%, and population growth went from negative to positive. The change for the park space coefficient is likely because of how ecosystems can vary based on the climate within a
In the piece “Selling out on nature” (McCauley, 2006), Douglas J. McCauley describes how conservation efforts are fueled by the economic advantages it possesses and are carried out solely for the purpose of benefiting our economic markets. McCauley states that ecosystem services are “economic benefits provided by natural ecosystems” (27), arguing that the only incentive for mankind to save nature depends on how profitable nature can be. He emphasizes that our attention should not be put forth in commodifying nature but rather, inculcating respect and love for it so that we can preserve it for many years to come. I oppose McCauley’s argument because it’s impractical and unachievable. Humanity will
The Biodiversity Treaty sanctioned that countries whose biological resources are exploited by bioprospecting companies have a right to share the financial benefits resulting from the sale of these resources (Adair, 1997). National parklands are owned by the federal government. Therefore, our national parks have the legal right to share in the financial benefits that
Since the maximum value of the predictor variable (calls) is used to formulate the given regression model is 201.00, which is less than 300, we cannot use the given regression model to accurately estimate the weekly sales for weekly call of 300. So we can’t say anything about the weekly sales when weekly calls are 300.
Films Media Group (2007). Lockdown: Tent City [Video file]. Retrieved from Films on Demand website: http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=7967&xtid=40796
Ahhh, parks. Not only are they a breath of fresh air to outdoor enthusiasts, but they also breathe life into the U.S. economy, with the national variety worth a combined $92 billion, according to figures reported by the National Park Foundation.
Wallace, (2007) defined ecosystem services (ES) as “the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, which include food, water, timber and cultural values”.
Urban parks are defined in their comparative and contrastive relationships to the urban environments surrounding them. Although frequently conceptualized as natural landscapes, the physical and social uses of parks give
Table (1): Socio -demographic characteristics of studied group (N=50): This table shows that: his table revealed that the studied sample ages ranged from 23 to 40 years and their years of experience ranged from 2 to 20 years. More than two third (78%) were male, more than half of them (52%) had a technical institute of nursing, (58%) were female (58%) were female, and the majority (90%) were married.
Watching movies is a leisurely activity enjoyed by many people. Not only are movies enjoyable to get a good laugh, cry, or just to relax to, but there are many things to be learned from movies as well. For this project I choose to examine two movies from a sociological perspective. The two movies I chose are, Law Abiding Citizen and 8 Mile.
In this paper I will examine the social structure theory, along with its definition and how the different types of theories make up the social structure theory. I will also attempt to discuss the strain, culture conflict, and social disorganization theory all of which make up the social conflict theory. I also wish to discuss the video “Tent City, Arizona” and answer the following questions, “How does the video you selected support a social structure theory? What is the primary subject or content of the video? What social issues are raised in the video? What major principles of sociological theory are addressed in the video? What might be some possible ramifications for social policy change?”
While genetic management of foods can be traced throughout history, the modern phenomena of GMOs and transgenic plants have come to light in just the last few decades. In today’s modern society, the science of biotechnology and the process of genetic modification are developing throughout the planet. As of 2004, 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries were using genetically modified crops. Today, approximately two- thirds of all food offered in supermarkets has been genetically modified. However, the subject of GMO’s is one of great controversy. Although this modern invention does have some positive results on the food industry it also has brought some negative consequences along with it.
Zerbe and Paulhus (1987) maintain that there are two aspects to social desirability response bias (hereafter referred to as SDFJ3). The first aspect is when individuals over-report activities that are deemed to be socially or culturally desirable. The second occurs when individuals under-report activ ities that are deemed to be socially or culturally undesirable. SDFJ3 could influence the results of most survey-based ethics studies because subjects try to provide ethically desirable answers; consequently, when research does not control for SDRB, the validity of findings may be questioned (Nyaw and Ng, 1994). Even though the need to control for SDBJ3 seems obvious, Randall and Gibson (1990) report that only one out of 96 business ethics articles
The Issue of National Park conservation has become a widely controversial issue today. With the National debt reaching 17 trillion dollars some politicians think it is alright to either sell off national park land to commercial foresters, miners, and even foreign nations or to just close some parks entirely to make up some of the national debt. They are completely unaware that the parks arent just a “pretty area of land for tourists”. Many cities depend on the parks for their well-being. A quote from a local newspaper in California supports this “National parks don’t boast concession stands or charge tax, but data indicates they bring in millions of dollars to local economies each year”(Tree). Supporters of cutting the parks include big CEO’s of major companies and some of them not even in this country.
Cost benefit analysis can be used to assist in the decision making of a proposed project. The proposed project is to make a scenic forested area into a national park. However there is controversy as the opposition wants to use the land for timber and agriculture. The first step in conducting a CBA is to identify the costs and benefits of the proposed project (Harris et al 2006). Benefits will include income gained as well as indirect benefits such as environmental benefits. The benefits of a national park are income from tourist and camping areas. The land can be used for carbon sequestration and to reduce pollution and natural disasters such as the effect of flooding. Costs include any direct expenses related to the project such as construction and maintenance costs. Costs also include opportunity costs such as income forgone from the agriculture and timber industries.
“Ecosystem service valuation” is the administration of monetary worth, relative worth, utility or importance to the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. In 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report (MEA) grouped ecosystem services into four broad categories: (i) “provisioning services” - production of food and water; (ii) “regulating services” - control of climate and disease; (iii) “supporting services” - nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and (iv) “cultural services” - spiritual and recreational benefits. Examples of these services have been articulated by mass media as the way rainforests and wetlands affect global climate systems, or the devastation of codfish populations by overfishing. As human populations grow, so do the resource demands imposed on ecosystems and the impact of our global footprints. We know for certain that without the services provided by the ecosystem, the Earth would be uninhabitable for humanity. In this paper I will discuss the positives and negatives of the monetary valuation of ecosystem goods and services to demonstrate that without a doubt, assigning such a system to these services will aid in the creation of more sustainable development outcomes.