Taking the people out of the National Park
“I walked by a sign saying “no pets allowed” and noticed a set of coyote tracks less than a few feet below the sign. The tracks led well into the closed area. Apparently, coyotes don’t pay much attention to signs and string. As I worked my way toward the sandy point at the end of Cape Cod, the closed area extended to the waterline, blocking my path.”
Can we save the flood insurance program?
It’s time to modernize this program. We know the flood insurance program operates on a deficit, we know it’ll never be a profitable or beneficial system, and to continue it in its current form is a waste of taxpayer money. It is a program that encourages people to build and live in unnecessarily risky areas. The post-storm destruction causes environmental harm. Why then, should the flood insurance program continue unmodified?
Are fisheries management programs too passive?
“It’s important to know what population densities are, but ocean and inshore systems are so dynamic that small changes like a decrease in freshwater river input to a bay, a new, warmer water species adapting to a more northerly habitat, or a prime predator moving into a new area, can have huge impacts to a large ecosystem. When you consider all these unpredictable factors influencing a large system, modeling for the future is almost impossible…”
Is Oyster Aquaculture Preventing Wild Oysters From Returning?
“…The initial reason people started cultivating oysters was because the natural population was depleted, and the current regulatory structure ensures that aquaculture will continue indefinitely as the main conservation measure for oysters.”
A friendlier way to protect the environment…
“People on both sides of the issues need to understand that environmental preservation and improvement is not a zero-sum game. Compromise and cooperation can help earn trust from both sides, making future problems and use conflicts much easier to solve.”