Blog
Environmentalism of the rich - Book Review
Peter Dauvergne bridges contemporary struggles against corruption and inequality in developing countries to European colonization. In doing so, he exposes the origins of capitalism’s insatiable hunger for vulnerable communities with valuable resources.
Catch-22 in South Padre Island
Developers can improve how they assess environmental impacts of their projects, exemplified by the South Padre Island bridge. I explore the challenges of justifying the development of new infrastructure for social and economic benefits at the expense of the surrounding environment, which, for SPI, is the foundation of their ecotourist economy. I also highlight how the methods employed in this assessment overlook the complex, interconnected character of nature.
Plant growth and herbivory in a mangrove system - article review
Florida’s increasing human population, along with more intensive agricultural practices and thus increases in nutrient runoff to coastal estuaries, serve as the general motivation for assessing mangrove responses to various nutrient regimes. Considering the ecosystem services that mangroves provide; including protection from erosion, water filtration, and nursery habitat for fish; the authors also chose to evaluate ecosystem functions of red mangroves. The authors aimed to evaluate tree growth, nutrient levels, and herbivory impacts across two similar mangrove islands that differed primarily in the nutrient inputs that they naturally received.