News and Research Stories

August 16, 2012

Sustainable seafood: healthy for people and oceans

Leah Gerber

photo: John from Tulsa, USA

Gerber

Sustainable seafood is good both for the ocean environment and human health. In the first analysis of its kind, Leah Gerber (2011) and her colleagues brought together several types of sustainability rankings, along with species-specific health metrics, including omega-3 fatty acid and mercury content. The team hopes that the results will help inform consumers about the health risks and benefits of different seafood choices, while addressing the ecological impacts of fishing and fish farming. “We want to help people choose fish that are both eco-friendly and healthy,” Gerber says.

Tags:

August 9, 2012

Canada's energy strategy: decision-making needed for the long haul

Joe Arvai

photo: Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park

Arvai

For Joe Arvai (2011), an energy strategy provides decision-making support in the way a financial planner helps clients with investments. Under circumstances where each decision-maker has different objectives and tolerance for risk, it's critical to have a mechanism for making difficult and interrelated choices over time, rather than focusing on a particular outcome at a single point. To be a world leader in energy strategy, Canada needs to build a more sensible, credible and defensible decision-making process instead of focusing on a single energy development approach, Arvai says.

Tags:

July 31, 2012

"Homegrown" fuels for economy and sustainability

Madhu Khanna

photo: Warren Gretz, DOE/NREL

Khanna

A policy promoting cost-effective, low-carbon "homegrown" fuels as alternatives to oil could benefit the US economy as well as the environment. Madhu Khanna (2009) and her colleagues propose a national Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which would provide flexibility to energy companies to meet national carbon reduction targets using any mix of fuels they want. Recognizing that the scientific consensus on climate change cannot motivate all stakeholders, they highlight the standard as "a major win for American consumers, businesses, and farmers, with large positive effects on our economy and our national security in the long run."

Tags:

July 26, 2012

Call for swift action to save the Antarctic

Diana Wall

photo: Jens Bludau

Wall

Experts in everything on the Antarctic terrestrial and marine environments, including Diana Wall (1999), got together for the first time, and have articulated issues of urgency in the region. Stress on Antarctic ecosystems and species are increasing due to climate change and growing interest in the region's resources. The group emphasizes the need for better ways to use scientific information and speedy decision-making in the policy arena to address these challenges. All Antarctic visitors, operators, and national programs must take action, they say.

Tags:

July 18, 2012

A Turnaround plan for fisheries

Rashid Sumaila

photo: John Wallace, NOAA/NMFS/
NWFSC/FRAMD

Sumaila

Global fisheries currently lose about US$13 billion per year, largely owing to overfishing. Rashid Sumaila (2009) and his colleagues estimate that if governments invested in rebuilding them, fisheries could produce about US$54 billion per year. They also estimate that the benefits would begin to surpass the cost of the investment in as few as 12 years. “If the environmental and sustainability reasons alone can’t convince global governments to take action, the financial incentives should,” Sumaila says.

Tags: