PDS AP Environmental Science 8th Period 2011-12

Well, the first unit is behind us… I was sharing some info about hunting and “the commons” on the review day, and that got me thinking a bit more about the Tragedy of the Commons from the the first unit (see previous student post).

Mr. W

As I shared with you, I took a trip to Laurinburg, NC (my hometown) for the opening day of dove hunting season. Mourning doves are migratory game birds meaning they can cross county and state lines. Even though the hunt was on private land, the birds are considered a public resource and so, regulated by the government to prevent a “tragedy.” So, yes, they represent a “commons” of sorts.

So, how does the government regulate this (commons) resource in the public’s interest? First, one must acquire a license to legally hunt the birds. So, the number of people who can “harvest” the resource is limited to those who will pay the fee. Second, there is a season established for the hunt. A hunting season limits the amount of time people can harvest (and typically protects the birds during mating season). Third, daily “bag limits” establish a quota for the number of birds one can legally harvest per person per day.

Do all these regulations prevent abuse of the resource (birds)? No. Abuse occurs by people who have no license (poachers), hunt out of season, and kill more than the legal limit. Regulations do little good unless there is some enforcement. So, some of the funds from the purchase of licenses go toward paying for wildlife officers who can arrest or fine offenders.

Speaking of funds, many hunters join conservation organizations like Ducks Unlimited. These organizations use donations for projects like habitat protection or improvement. Hunters often get a bad rap, but those that hunt within legal limits and give back through conservation groups help encourage sustainable use. Is it hard to think of a hunter as a good steward?

Tags: hunting, The Tragedy

Yesterday in class we did a simulation that was called “Gone Fishing” and was designed to simulate a situation that Garrett Hardin called “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

Each group started with a plate (lake) with a maximum of 16 fish at any time(carrying capacity)

And played the game by these rules:

1. You must “fish” by sucking up a fish with a straw and moving it to your boat (napkin)

2. You can only fish once (1 minute) each “year” (1 round)

3. The entire group gets one minute to fish, and after each round the first person to fish will change.

4. Each year (round) the fish reproduce once- (Ex. 1 –> 2, 2 –> 4)

5. Take as many fish as you would like on your turn, but if you have fewer than 2 fish after the round ends then your family starves (migrates or dies)

6. Any fish over 2 can be sold for a profit (mint)

For the first few rounds we weren’t allowed to talk, so a few groups ended up running out of fish quite early. What we found during the second attempt when we could talk was that if everyone took the minimum necessary to survive, (2 fish each) then the fish would reproduce and we would never run out. But as soon as someone took 3 or more to make a minty profit, the entire group ran out of food after two or three rounds and either starved or migrated because the fish could never recover and return to the original 16 that supported everyone.

When we went back into the classroom to discuss Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons), we came to the conclusion that public property tends to be exploited or degraded due to self interest. The general thought is “If I don’t, someone else will,” and there are examples of this everywhere. At Providence Day, the senior lounge and dining hall are among the most popular common areas.

We also reviewed how the atmosphere and the oceans are the only true commons that the globe shares, and many environmentalists agree that maintaining them is and will continue to be the world’s trickiest problem. Hardin proposed two solutions that would help in maintaining the commons- privatization of the industry or government regulation. We only touched on these issues as a class before we ran out of time, but we came to a general consensus that neither has gotten to the point where we need it to be if we are going to maintain our oceans and atmosphere.

Tags: fishing, The Tragedy

To close out our discussion of the history of US environmentalism, students created whiteboard presentations listing what they thought were the primary/secondary view points, key beliefs, and key individuals for each movement.  Here is a picture of each board in case you did not get to write everything down.  Do you agree with everything your classmates wrote? Does anything need correcting?

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Remember, all of the people, events, and movements we looked at (handout and movie) set the context for this course!

Tags: environmentalism

Today we reviewed the data Mr. Willard  collected about our ecological foot print. This included the amount of carbon emissions each student produced, how much land was needed to accomodate their lifestyle, and a calculation of how many earths would be necessary if every person were to live that life style. The class average was 5.8 earths which is lower compared to the national average of 6.35. The land we use isn’t just the land we live on, its the land thats used for our food, for our travel, water, coal and many other amenities. How much money your parents make may affect your foot print value and how much we depend on technology in the home. In conclusion the method to calculating the amount of impact comes down to the number of family members, affluence, and the technology used.

Impact= population X affluence X tech

This can be considered per capita or measured by country. Our foot print is important to consider because what we take now may not be there for future generations. The Lorax made that pretty clear. “Unless” we can take lessons from that, and the more resourceful text The Truax, then we may be able to sustain this earth.

Small step, Big foot print

http://iisakeco.glogster.com/what-is-your-ecological-footprint/

Tags: ecofootprint, sustainability