Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
can make conservation efforts more precise and cost-
effective.
■
Determine the world's marine hot spots and assign them
the same priority for immediate action as for those on land.
■
Concentrate on protecting and restoring everywhere the
world's lakes and river systems, which are the most threat-
ened ecosystems of all.
■
Ensure that the full range of the earth's terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems is included in a global conservation
strategy.
■
Make conservation profitable.
This involves finding
ways to raise the income of people who live in or near
nature reserves so they can become partners in their
protection and sustainable use.
■
Initiate ecological restoration products worldwide
to
heal some of the damage we have done and increase
the share of the earth's land and water allotted to the
rest of nature.
4.
In the early 1990s, Miguel Sanchez, a subsistence
farmer in Costa Rica, was offered $600,000 by a hotel de-
veloper for a piece of land that he and his family had
been using sustainably for many years. The land con-
tained an old-growth rain forest and a black sand beach
in an area under rapid development. Sanchez refused the
offer. What would you have done if you were a poor sub-
sistence farmer in Miguel Sanchez's position? Explain
your decision.
5.
Should there be a ban on the use of off-road motorized
vehicles and snowmobiles on all public lands in the
United States or in the country where you live? Explain.
6.
Are you in favor of establishing more wilderness areas
in the United States, especially in the lower 48 states (or
in the country where you live)? Explain. What might be
some drawbacks of this move?
7.
If ecosystems are undergoing constant change, why
should we
(a)
establish and protect nature reserves and
(b)
carry out ecological restoration?
8.
Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. List
the three most important features of your policies for us-
ing and managing
(a)
forests,
(b)
parks, and
(c)
aquatic
biodiversity.
According to Wilson, such a conservation strategy
would cost about $30 billion per year—an amount that
could be provided by a penny tax per cup of coffee.
This strategy for protecting the earth's precious
biodiversity will not be implemented without bottom-
up political pressure on elected officials from individ-
ual citizens and groups. It will also require cooperation
among key people in government, the private sector,
science, and engineering using adaptive ecosystem
management (Figure 8-25).
LEARNING ONLINE
The website for this topic includes review questions for
the entire chapter, flash cards for key terms and concepts,
a multiple-choice practice quiz, interesting Internet sites,
references, and a guide for accessing thousands of
InfoTrac
®
College Edition articles.
Visit
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging
to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect.
A
LDO
L
EOPOLD
http://biology.brookscole.com/miller11
Then choose Chapter 8, and select a learning resource. For
access to animations, additional quizzes, chapter outlines
and summaries, register and log in to
CRITICAL THINKING
1.
Explain why you agree or disagree with
(a)
the four
principles that biologists and some economists have sug-
gested for using public land in the United States (p. 159)
and
(b)
the nine suggestions made by developers and re-
source extractors for managing and using U.S. public
land (p. 159).
at
esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
using the access code
card in the front of your topic.
Active Graphing
Visit
http://esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
to
explore the graphing exercise for this chapter.
2.
Explain why you agree or disagree with each of the
proposals for providing more sustainable use of forests
throughout the world, listed in Figure 8-15, p. 164. Which
two of these proposals do you believe are the most im-
portant? Explain.
3.
Should developed countries provide most of the
money to preserve remaining tropical forests in develop-
ing countries? Explain.
