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Tallis H, Polasky S, Hellmann J, Springer NP, Biske R, DeGeus D, Dell R, Doane M, Downes L, Goldstein J, Hodgman T, Johnson K, Luby I, Pennington D, Reuter M, Segerson K, Stark I, Stark J, Vollmer-Sanders C, Weaver SK. Five financial incentives to revive the Gulf of Mexico dead zone and Mississippi basin soils. J Environ Manage 2019; 233:30-38. [PMID: 30554022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
A central challenge in the Mississippi River Basin is how to continue to support profitable agricultural production, provide water supply, flood control, transportation, and other benefits, while reducing the current burden of environmental degradation. Several practices have been shown to reduce nutrient runoff and water pollution, and improve soil fertility, while often yielding profits for farmers. Yet many of these beneficial practices remain underutilized. Participants at an expert workshop identified five candidate financial mechanisms that could increase adoption of these beneficial farming practices in four focal Midwest states in the next five years: crop insurance premium subsidies, transformation of the private service provider business model, expansion and targeting of 2019 U.S. Farm Bill funding, development of new state funds, and direction of post-disaster federal funds towards habitat restoration, particularly in floodplains. This study provides rough approximations of the change in nutrient runoff and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the annualized costs, and the nutrient and GHG reductions per dollar likely to result from deployment of each financial mechanism. Based upon these approximations, the adoption of these programs could reduce annual nitrate flows at the outlet of the Ohio and Upper Mississippi River Basins by 25%, surpassing the intermediate 2025 target (20% reduction) and achieving more than half of the long-term target (45% reduction) set by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. These approximations also illustrate that these five mechanisms could provide the same GHG reductions (∼43 Tg CO2e yr-1) as taking 12 coal-fired energy plants offline. The total cost of these five financial mechanisms is estimated at ∼$2.6 billion, or 64 g of nitrates and ∼17 kg of CO2e per dollar spent. These proposed solutions all face political, financial, cultural or institutional challenges, but with industry support, creative political action, and continued communication of both private and public benefits, they can create meaningful nutrient reductions and rebuild soils by 2022.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stephen Polasky
- Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA; Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota St. Paul, MN, USA
| | - Jessica Hellmann
- Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
| | | | - Rich Biske
- The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ian Luby
- Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota St. Paul, MN, USA
| | | | | | | | - Isis Stark
- The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA
| | - John Stark
- The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA
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Qiu J, Game ET, Tallis H, Olander LP, Glew L, Kagan JS, Kalies EL, Michanowicz D, Phelan J, Polasky S, Reed J, Sills EO, Urban D, Weaver SK. Evidence-Based Causal Chains for Linking Health, Development, and Conservation Actions. Bioscience 2018; 68:182-193. [PMID: 29988312 PMCID: PMC6019009 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/bix167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Sustainability challenges for nature and people are complex and interconnected, such that effective solutions require approaches and a common theory of change that bridge disparate disciplines and sectors. Causal chains offer promising approaches to achieving an integrated understanding of how actions affect ecosystems, the goods and services they provide, and ultimately, human well-being. Although causal chains and their variants are common tools across disciplines, their use remains highly inconsistent, limiting their ability to support and create a shared evidence base for joint actions. In this article, we present the foundational concepts and guidance of causal chains linking disciplines and sectors that do not often intersect to elucidate the effects of actions on ecosystems and society. We further discuss considerations for establishing and implementing causal chains, including nonlinearity, trade-offs and synergies, heterogeneity, scale, and confounding factors. Finally, we highlight the science, practice, and policy implications of causal chains to address real-world linked human-nature challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangxiao Qiu
- School of Forest Resources and Conservation at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center at the University of Florida, in Davie, Florida
| | - Edward T Game
- The Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Virginia
- University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia
| | - Heather Tallis
- The Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Virginia
- University of California, in Santa Cruz, California
| | - Lydia P Olander
- Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina
| | | | - James S Kagan
- Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University, in Corvallis
- Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon
| | | | - Drew Michanowicz
- Department of Environmental Health at Harvard University, in Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Jennifer Phelan
- National Atmospheric Deposition Program—Critical Loads of Atmospheric Deposition, at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, and Research Triangle Institute International, in North Carolina
| | - Stephen Polasky
- College of Biological Sciences and Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul
| | - James Reed
- Center for International Forestry Research, in Bogor, Indonesia, and with the Lancaster Environment Centre at the University of Lancaster, in the United Kingdom
| | - Erin O Sills
- Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh
| | - Dean Urban
- Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina
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Abstract
Serial electrocardiograms (ECGs) of 49 patients receiving adriamycin were analyzed for the development of persistent changes. The ECG changes were compared with those of a control group of 20 patients receiving other chemotherapeutic drugs, which were comparable to the additional chemotherapy received by the adriamycin patients. The only chronic ECG changes noted with adriamycin over control were the loss of P wave amplitude in the greater than 500 mg/m2 dose subgroup and the clockwise rotation of the precordial QRS in the 250-500 mg/m2 dose subgroup. In contrast, systolic time intervals demonstrated a gradual diminution in left ventricular function at increasing doses of adriamycin. The electrocardiogram itself appears to be of limited value in the assessment of cardiac toxicity with adriamycin therapy.
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