Environmental Economics

Florida weather report

From last weeks NOAA's Fishnews:

South Atlantic Council and Committees to Meet; June 7-12 in Stuart, FL

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and its advisory panels and committees, will meet June 7-12, 2009, in Stuart, FL. A detailed agenda is provided in the Federal Register notice.

I got home last night after meeting for 2.5 days in the SSC conference room while the Hutchinson Island beach taunted me only a quarter mile away with half-way decent weather most of the time.

The news sounds really, really bad for snapper-grouper fisherman as catch limits, etc are getting more and more stringent in response to overfished stocks. I did my share of adding pressure to the fishery by ordering grouper at least once, but mostly I got the dolphin (i.e., mahi-mahi).

There is some good news, however, as various groups of fishermen are interested in LAPPs (i.e., individual transferable quotas) which is one way to rebuild stocks, reduce effort and allow fishermen to make more money. Socioeconomic analysis also got a boost with the near-establishment of a socioeconomic technical review panel to the SSC (the final vote is Friday).

And, this is really cool, you can watch the rest of the meetings (scheduled through noon on Friday) here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/safmctv.

I survived the blizzard of '09 (and have nothing better to do but brag about it)

          

Insert captions below ...

Boone weather update

From Ray's Weather Center (as of 8 am ... this is not a permanent link):

The reports I have from the NW NC Mountains this morning range from 6"-14" but would guess there are a few spots with more. I'm going to call it 12" outside our house (near the Blue Ridge east of Boone), but admittedly there's almost no way to measure it because of wind. I'll be investigating further this morning and update with more specific information.

From the Appstate website:

All classes are cancelled Monday, March 2. This includes evening classes on main campus.

That doesn't happen often ... given that I'm on sabbatical, I feel worse off since now my colleagues aren't teaching either (do those poor suckers still need to drive to Hickory to teach night classes off-campus? I vote yes!).

More locally, it is 8 degrees F, snow is still blowing (the snow shoveling I did yesterday is a joke ... hahahahahahahahah!), my water pump is frozen for the 4th time this winter (I'll get the hair dryer out later) and the kids are having fun (pics will be forthcoming).  

Picture of the Day: Part Deuce

A snowy day in Boone, NC (AKA my back yard):

 

Let's see, tomorrow I need to leave town by 10 am for a 2 pm meeting in Raleigh ...

Climate change

From the inbox:

• 2/21/09 7:44 pm: Watauga County Schools will operate on a one hour delay with limited bus routes.
• 2/22/09 6:27 am: Due to the additional snowfall, schools will now operate on a two-hour delay with limited bus routes.
• 2/22/09 7:36 am: Due to deteriorating road conditions in parts of the county, Watauga County Schools will be closed today.

Snow Day! ... means school on Saturday (PDF).

Picture of the Day

Kentucky Ice Storm 2009

Photo credit: Bruce LeFan

My best post of 2008

I left a comment on a green jobs post the day after pagan celebration of a Christian holy day:

That is why economics is known as the dismal science. We strange economists are most adept at recognizing the opportunity costs of various decisions. No one else really seems to care if opportunity costs offset some, or all, of the benefits of a good idea.

Opportunity cost is a strange notion to some (especially intro micro students) ... it is the value of the next best alternative whenever a choice is made. For example, if I purchase a $1000 flat panel LCD TV, the true cost of the TV is not $1000, but what I could purchase instead (such as $500 in each kid's college education 529 plan [sorry kids]).

In the case of green energy subsidies, if you are an economist then you must at least wonder if this is the best way to spend the money. There are benefits of pushing down the costs of green energy (e.g., improved air quality), and there are opportunity costs. Ignoring the opportunity costs is likely to lead to wasteful spending. Considering the opportunity costs is likely to lead to better social decision making -- regardless of whether the benefits of the subsidies exceed the costs.

The notion of opportunity cost, its recognition and the inevitable result that not all great sounding ideas are really great ideas, is the most important thing that economists bring to many policy discussions. Pointing out the unpleasantantries of opportunity cost is one of the purposes of this blog. The dismal part of the dismal science can not be avoided.

Friday Beer Post (John's)

Brewers find hoppy solutions:

Early this year, brewers and beer drinkers and writers fretted about a shortage of hops, a key ingredient in beer.

Prices went up $1 per six-pack and higher. Brewers talked of experimenting with alternative flavorings. Some wondered whether they would have to eliminate hoppy beers.

But now shelves are filled with aggressive fall seasonals -- ales and marzens and Pils-ners boasting impressive hoppiness.

What happened? Community.

Craft brewers are trading hops, letting smaller brewers piggyback on their hops contracts and just helping a fellow brewer out.

...

Hops-- pinecone-shaped flowers that give beer its flavor and bitterness -- are especially prominent in robust beers such as India Pale Ales and porters. But a drought in Australia and excessive rains in Europe dramatically thinned the worldwide supply.

One of the industry's biggest craft brewers, Samuel Adams, set the helpful tone this spring by releasing 20,000 pounds of hops in a sharing program with small brewers.

Here is a sincere thanks to the craft brewing community, and especially Sam Adams (I'll buy a sixer soon in honor). I about lost it earlier this year when Dogfish Head 60 was missing from the shelves and the explanation was the hops shortage.

Snow trends

"Climate change" from RaysWeather.Com Winter 2008-09 Fearless Forecast:

 

I'm bundling up

Forecasters say ...

Western North Carolina residents may see the first snowflakes of the year as cold temperatures hit the state's mountains.

And here it is from the local forecaster:

Daytime highs will be at sunrise. A cold front moving through early this morning is ushering in very cold air; expect steady or falling temperatures and windy conditions today. Tonight, snow flurries will develop. Snow flurries will continue Tuesday with a few heavier snow showers in the western upslope regions right along the NC/TN line. Snow flurries will end Tuesday evening. Tuesday's highs will be closer to normal for January 28 than October 28. Unseasonably chilly weather will continue into Wednesday. We'll look forward to Thursday when a warmup begins.

-- Insert "global warming my ass" joke here --