Environmental Economics

Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies

How do you reduce the environmental costs of food consumption?  Only eat local of course [sarc].  That's why Elizabeth Edwards--wife of presidential candidate John Edwards--is giving up tangerines:

The politics of global warming got very concrete, and oddly difficult, In a meeting with local environmentalists in the coastal town of McClellanville today, where Elizabeth Edwards raised in passing the importance of relying on locally-grown fruit.

"We've been moving back to 'buy local,'" Mrs. Edwards said, outlining a trade policy that "acknowledges the carbon footprint" of transporting fruit.

"I live in North Carolina. I'll probably never eat a tangerine again," she said, speaking of a time when the fruit is [sic] reaches the price that it "needs" to be.

The price it 'needs' to be is the price that results after all of the costs of production and consumption are fully internalized by buyers and sellers. 

A bison's ass

More from Bison Loop Road at Elk Island National Park outside Edmonton.

Still More Ethanol Dominoes--Starbucks Edition

This is just getting to be fun*.  Bad ethanol policy leads to increased demand for corn.  The price of corn goes up which raises the price of feeding livestock, like cows.  The increased cost of feeding cows leads to higher prices on cow related prodcuts, like milk.  Higher milk prices leads to higher prices on products that use milk, like STARBUCKS coffee:

Starbucks Corp will raise U.S. prices on coffee, lattes and other drinks by an average of 9 cents a cup next week to help offset soaring costs for milk and other commodities, a spokesman said on Monday.

The widely anticipated move marks Starbucks' second price increase in less than a year and comes a month after the coffee shop chain's chief financial officer warned it would be "very challenging" for Starbucks to meet the high end of its 2007 earnings forecast, in part because of rising dairy prices.

U.S. milk prices have soared recently amid strong global demand for dairy products and higher production costs.

*See here and here and here for other ethanol domino posts.

Bison burger

Last week I went to Elk Island National Park outside Edmonton. We saw dozens of bison on ... drumroll ... Bison Loop Road. Click the thumbnail for a larger image. Driving North and South on the main road we saw many large solitary bulls at the start of mating season. Poor bastards.

Later for lunch we have fast food style bison burger. I won't say yummy (the fast food preparation beat out the fine meat) but it really capped off the adventure.

This is what we mean by long-run adjustments to high gas prices

Gas prices go up and people don't react much--in the short-run.  But over longer periods of time, prolonged high gas prices will lead to adjustments in gas consumption.  How long does it take?  Well, we're just now starting to see the evidence that people are adjusting to the record prices set 3 months ago.  What type of adjustments you ask?  Adjustments like this (from CNN.com):

Irritated by the highest gas prices in U.S. history, John Thorner has a message for his 70 employees: Stay home.

Thorner is requiring all staff at the National Recreation and Park Association to avoid commuting at least one day a week -- either by working four long days and taking the fifth one off, or by working from home on the fifth day.

"The 70 people in our office drive an average of 30 miles a day. We did the math and figured that by having the employees not commute one day a week, we would be saving 100 gallons a week," says Thorner, executive director of the nonprofit, which is based in the suburbs of Washington.

"This is not a huge amount of gasoline, but it could serve as a model for other operations."

I'm not sure how long large-scale adjustments take, but I'm sure it is longer than 3 months.  My guess is that we are just starting to see the beginnings of adjustments and over the next six months or so, as long as gas hovers around $3/gallon, we'll see more and more stories like this one.

The World Clock

A friend sent me a link to the World Clock over the weekend.  I'm not sure there's much to analyze here, but watching the numbers turn is oddly captivating.

Beach nourishment in Hilton Head

I'm leaving for Hilton Head very soon and am most looking forward to seeing their brand new beach. From the Hilton Head government website:

The Town of Hilton Head Island has long recognized that its beaches are a vital asset to its residents and the Island ’s economy. In an effort to maintain the Island ’s beaches in the best possible condition, the Town utilizes beach restoration as part of its long-term strategy. In September of 2006, work will begin on the Town’s next beach restoration project. Town Council intends to fund the 16.6 million dollar project, as well as future renouishments, primarily by tourism via the Beach Preservation Fee.

Click the thumbnail on the right to see a picture during the project (here are more pictures) and here are some videos. I'll be posting more in-season photos later this week or next.

The half million milestone

At some point last week we hit 500,000 visits according to Sitemeter. The next milestone is 1,000,000 page views. I'll be sure to boast about that as well.

I'm going to Hilton Head

Field Research. To most, these two words suggestion rest and relaxation. But no, to me, it suggests a trip away from the office to investigate first hand the types of environments and activities that  environmental economists must thoroughly understand in order to develop realistic models. You may not have a deep understanding of the econometric models, ahem, but if you go to the beach often enough you might actually understand beachy behavior. Hence, I'm preparing for a beach trip. No heavy blogging but I will be sharing some pictures from last weeks field research (e.g., a bison's ass) and some beach pictures (e.g., Hilton Head's 2006-07 beach nourishment project).

Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems*

Economics is about how people respond to incentives.  Reader Eric Nordman points us to this perfect Friday story demonstrating the correct way to use incentives to further an environmental cause:

To shake up an often apathetic public, environmentalists have sometimes appealed to fear (warnings about rising seas, Al Gore’s movie) and theatrics (tree-hugging, crying American Indians on TV).

This weekend, they were trying something that was new, yet as old as human desire. At an eco-festival at a park on the East River in Manhattan, men and women mostly too young to recall the “Keep America Beautiful” Indian came across an aqua-blue sign that spelled it out in no uncertain terms: “Sign up for clean energy and drink free beer.”

Ladies and gentlemen, you have my attention.

*While I agree with the sentiment, I can't take credit for the title.  That honor belongs to Homer Simpson.