Articles by Jason D Scorse
Jason Scorse, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Chair of the International Environmental Policy Program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. His book What Environmentalists Need to Know About Economics is available at Amazon.
All Articles
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No, seriously
I spend a lot of time contemplating priorities; it's the economist in me, I suppose. If I had my way, a campaign to end natural-resource subsidies would be near the top of the list for the environmental movement: it's a win-win-win situation for the environment, taxpayers, and innovation. The problem is that it's an opposition campaign; it's opposed to subsidies instead of "for" something. In addition, subsidies are not something people get very excited about (although they should).
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Do you care?
I presume all of you who reject my notion that animal welfare should be considered part of environmentalism see no problem with this development.
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Energy is better spent elsewhere
(Warning: If speaking frankly about religion's dark side upsets you, please read no further.)
There has been a lot of discussion on this site recently about the potential positive role religion (specifically Christianity) can have in solving our environmental problems.
Call me skeptical.
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How to protect biodiversity in the developing world
Indonesia poses a major challenge for environmental conservation. It is an archipelago of over 10,000 islands, the citizenry are relatively poor, the central government is extremely weak and corrupt, and yet it is home to some of the greatest biodiversity in the world, under constant pressure for exploitation. For these reasons, Indonesia has been a focal point for major international conservation groups -- the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund all have major operations in the country.
I recently returned from a nearly month-long trip to Indonesia, where I had the opportunity to meet with many of the people in the conservation community who have been instrumental in the formation of Indonesia's marine protected areas (MPAs). My appreciation for the complexity and difficulty of their work grew enormously. It is one thing as an academic to discuss environmental policy (even with lots of real-world examples), and another to get a sense of the struggles from people who confront them firsthand.
