Command And Control Approach

Managing for Healthy Ecosystems

One of the critical issues of our time is the dwindling capacity of the planet to provide life support for a large and growing human population. Based on a symposium on ecosystem health, Managing for Healthy Ecosystems identifies key issues that must be resolved if there is to be progress in this complex area, such as: Evolving methods for regional ecosystem health assessment employing complex adaptive systems coupled with adaptive technologies to permit accurate determination of changes in regional and global environments Issues and methods for assessing, monitoring, and managing diversity and its impact on human health in the context of climate change, agroecosystems, restoration of forests, politics, culture, and tradition. Leading thinkers in the field provide a coherent synthesis and a benchmark for the practice of this emerging field worldwide. The more than 100 peer-reviewed papers are grouped into three major parts. The first, Emerging Concepts, explores the diverse meanings of ecosystem health within ecological, socio-economic, and human health perspectives, and the linkages to related concepts such as ecological integrity, sustainable development, and ecological footprints. The second part, Issues and Methods, introduces methods for assessing and monitoring ecosystem health, including strategies for gaining political and stakeholder input and support for science-based ecosystem management. The final part, Case Studies, reports experiences of interdisciplinary teams grappling with specific issues in a variety of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Acid in the Environment

The Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies at Connecticut College is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary program that builds on one of the nation's leading undergraduate environmental studies programs. The Center fosters research, education and curriculum development aimed at under standing contemporary ecological challenges. One of the major goals of the Good win-Niering Center involves enhancing the understanding of both the College com munity and the general public with respect to ecological, political, social, and economic factors that affect natural resource use. To this end, the Center has offered five conferences at which academicians, representatives of federal and state govern ment, and individuals from non-government environmental organizations are brought together for an in-depth, interdisciplinary evaluation of important environ mental issues. On April 1 and 2, 2005, the Center presented the Elizabeth Babbott Conant interdisciplinary conference on Acid in the Environment: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects. The Connecticut Institute of Water Resources at the Univer sity of Connecticut, the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program joined the Center as conference sponsors. During the past twenty five years acid rain, formally referred to as acid deposi tion, has been the focus of much political debate and scholarly research. Acid dep osition occurs when important precursor pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO^), mix with water vapor and oxidants in the atmosphere and fall back to earth in either wet or dry form.

The Economics of Pollution