BCB Eco- and Geo-informatics Blogs

This course on niche modeling started as a START-funded climate change capacity development programme (www.aiaccproject.org), and then it was developed further into an MSc-level course on niche modeling.

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Here is a quick guide to use of the extensive literature on ecological niche modelling.  The literature is available for a short period from this link.

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This assignment is for the 2008 class and replaces the assignment on South African issues that was done in the 2007 class.

The privately own motor car is one of the most visible agendas for addressing climate change concerns (especially carbon emissions).  Most manufacturers are investing considerable Research and Development budgets into alternative propulsions from hybrid cars to use of the hydrogen fuel cell.  Re-engineering conventional engines, especially modern diesel engines is also fertile opportunities for car manufacturers.  When there is any re-engineering involve costs obviously escalate.  Consequently it is not surprising the hybrid cars and modern diesel cars are still more expensive to purchase.  One other problem is the expense of the car to manufacture , technologically the Toyota Prius is one of the most efficient cars on the road (good fuel consumption and low carbon emissions) but its manufacture is environmentally expensive.  To illustrate a Prius sold in North America is partly powered by batteries where the nickel was mined/smelted in Canada (Sudbury) which has historically seen much environmental damage, although not as much as claimed.  This Nickel is shipped to Europe for further refinement then goes to China to made into “Nickel Foam” and then onto Japan to be used to complete the manufacture of the batteries.  The entire car is then exported from Japan back to North America.  In pure energy terms a Toyota Prius costs twice as much to produce as a GM Hummer (the Prius’ antithesis).  During operation it does indeed save energy over nearly all other vehicles – but the benefits only accrue (to balance the negatives) after 50 000 to 60 000 km.  Unfortunately the Prius has an operational life expectancy of only about 160 000 km, whereas theoretically a Hummer should last up to 450 000 km.  Although there have been articles say that a Hummer is more environmentally friendly - this blatant mis-representation.  So it is important that you maintain a healthy scientific scepticism since so much of the material carries an agenda that obscures the basic facts.

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Are man-produced emissions of green house gases, particularly carbon dioxide, responsible for the changes in climate that we are observing today? The 2007 movie “The Great Global Warming Swindle” released by Britain’s Channel 4, states categorically that we are not, attacking some of the basic science of climate change in addition to making several assertions about the political forces driving the idea of man-made climate change. In this paper, I will look at some of the evidence presented in the movie and compare it with three peer reviewed scientific publications on the science of climate change. 

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INCENTIVE REGULATORY BASED APPROACH
The coal fired power generation industry of South Africa is Eskom. Eskom is a state owned enterprise that generates, transmits and distributes electricity locally and regionally (AICC report, 2005). It provides lowest- cost electricity and safe ways for combustion of low-grade coal.

Eskom along with other state-owned enterprises has been corporative, now pays taxes and dividends and is subject to a shareholder performance contract. At the same time, the relationship of the state to the sector has been clarified through the creation of an independent electricity regulator that approves prices without political interference (Akinboade et al, 2003).

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Concern about global warming is sometimes framed as a regional debate as well as political debate. This assignment is a review of the video An Inconvenient Truth presented by the political and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore. The video is much interesting especially if you are more concern about the environment of today. The movie producers of this documentary use the method of Point Of View. Point Of View method is whereby the camera and the audience see a scene together with one of the actor sees it. The movie illustrated the impact of developed countries polluting their countries and the world as a whole. Al Gore shows the effects of global warming by illustrating his point using graphs, different footages taken in different years of melting glaciers, plants and animals being forced from their habitats, and the number of severe storms and droughts increasing caused by global warming and animated film illustrating how greenhouse gases are trapped on the ozone layer 1.

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1. WHAT IS MEANT “EFFICIENCY” AND “SAFETY “ STANDARD
Efficiency standards Efficiency standards are not meant to prevent emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. They deal with costs and benefits (United Nation, 2008). Efficiency standards do not compensate the victims; the social welfare is decreased (Goodstein, 1999: 56-57). For example a firm which is built next to the community. It releases toxic material to the river; people who get sick from drinking the water are not compensated.

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Environmental ethics
Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the moral relationship of human beings and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman contents
(Brennan, 2003). It states that the impact of human activity on the environment both locally and globally has resulted to enormous problems of ecological unsustainability and injustice. This assumption states that it is morally wrong for human beings to pollute and destroy parts of the natural environment and to consume a huge proportion of the planet’s natural resources (Brennan, 2003). It is therefore the moral obligation of human beings to love and respect the land, even though nature and man cannot communicate. There should be adequate human bases for humans, nonhuman individuals and the environment as a whole (Massanari, 1998) and (Goostein, 1999: 24). People have to restore the landform and surface ecology.

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Perceptions of the relationship between environment and economic development have changed significantly over the last two decades. Previously development was seen to be a beneficial process, while impacts on the environment were considered to be mainly harmful. Thus the typical decision problem for public authorities was to asses the tolerable cost of environmental damage in order to achieve the economic benefits of development. The new view of environment has a strong economic basis. The environment is now seen as a set of resources. Development involves a transformation of capital stocks to produce goods and services that are demanded by the community and if natural capital is not properly managed, the prospects for long-term economic development may be limited. The economic approach offers a logistical means of integrating applied science and public decision-making,
• of reducing conflicts in environmental and natural resource management, and
• of reaching balanced decisions on development and environmental protection (James, 1994).

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The two Fundamental assumptions of human welfare from a utilitarian perspective

Utility function is one of the two fundamental assumptions of human welfare. The utility function exemplifies a key assumption underlying most economic approaches to environmental issues. The assumption made by the utility function is that a fundamental trade-off between growth in consumption and improvements in the environmental quality.  This assumption believes that the opportunity cost of environmental cleanup is assumed to be slower growth in the output of market goods.  More is better assumption is regarded as the crucial assumption about the relationship of the utility consumption. Goodstein (1999) indicated that the more is better assumption provides the proponents of the efficiency standard with more power, while on the other hand, those proponents argues that it is incorrectly builds in a bias toward economic growth, ignoring the additional pollution it creates. Growth in this case refers to the increases in human happiness.  To the extent that more is not better, utilitarian arguments for protecting the environment at the expense of consumption growth become much stronger. 

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