You know something is fishy when economists say things are going well in Sudan.

Though that nation is torn by war and genocide, its Gross Domestic Product has risen steadily, said Ken Bagstad, a doctoral student at the Univeristy of Vermont who spoke on campus today.

GDP, the most commonly used indicator of economic health, is sick, critics say.  It tallies up all the money spent in a given period, but doesn’t consider what those dollars buy, Bagstad said.  It ignores unpaid work, the depletion of natural resources and the positive effects of investing in, for instance, disease prevention and wildlife habitat.

One potential alternative to this warped calculus is the Genuine Progress Indicator, an economic measure that accounts for factors ignored by GDP, such as income distribution, degradation of ecosystems and the cost of crime.

Bagstad presented research in which he compared the economy of an Ohio county with one in Vermont.  The counties scored about the same when measured by GPI, but the consumption in the Vermont county was lower, illustrating what Bagstad called “the two paths to GPI” - consume more, or reduce environmental and social costs.

“I don’t want to present GPI as the answer,” he said, “but it could be one answer” to the shortcomings of GDP. 

The presentation was sponsored by the Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project, which is also funding research similar to Bagstad’s to be conducted in the Lansing area by Robby Richardson (CARRS). 

-Andy McGlashen

David Poulson, associate director of MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, has started a new blog about the challenges of covering a rapidly changing planet in a rapidly changing media landscape.

Poulson is a 22-year veteran of the newspaper business and has blogged for the Great Lakes Town Hall and The Poynter Institute. His new blog, Cover the Planet, revolves around the same basic questions he’s pondered on those sites: With newspapers tanking left and right, how can quality journalism continue? And how can reporters best communicate the often complex environmental risks we face?

In a recent post, Dave points out something we were excited to find yesterday. Andrew Revkin of the New York Times, on his Dot Earth blog, linked to a video we took at the AAAS conference in a post about a minor controversy concerning Al Gore’s climate change slide show. The chain of Andys grows! We’re anticipating a phone call to announce a Webby nomination any minute now.

-Andy McGlashen

Having edited more than 1,500 pages covering 4,500 years of the history of human-animal interactions, Linda Kalof (Sociology) and co-editor Brigitte Resl of the University of Liverpool deserved a serious pat on the back.

They got more than that: The six-volume work, A Cultural History of Animals, was named a 2008 Outstanding Academic Title by Choice, a magazine published by the American Library Association.

Bernd Hüppauf of New York University called the project “an invaluable contribution to our understanding… A combination of surprise and entertainment with serious research gives these volumes a place in the best tradition of accessible science.”

Kalof is the founder and director of MSU’s Animal Studies Program.

Congratulations!

-Andy McGlashen

Michael Nelson (Lyman Briggs College; Fisheries & Wildlife; and Philosophy) has a new essay in the March issue of The Ecologist in which he argues that giving people hope for the health of our planet might keep them from taking real action to build a sustainable future.

Nelson and co-author John Vucetich of Michigan Tech argue that hope as a motivator is based on speculation about the future, and that we instead ought to be concerned with how to act virtuously now, regardless of what might lie ahead.

I spoke with Nelson about his argument and its origins.

-Andy McGlashen

A few of the presenters at AAAS made quick plugs for organizations and Web sites they’re affiliated with.  None of these promotional moments were egregious or annoying, all were made in the interest of promoting public understanding of science, and it so happens that some of the sites are really quite cool, so I thought I’d share these free info-goodies.

Maybe the coolest is Earth Portal, which calls itself “the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment.”  I say it’s what would happen if Wikipedia and National Geographic had a baby who grew up to be a scientist.  It features a tidy environmental news page, a forum where scientists can discuss the big issues and, my favorite, an Encyclopedia of Earth where you can get scientific information on a huge range of places, thinkers, critters and earthly phenomena.  But be warned: The portal sings quite a siren song, so don’t forget you have classes, research, a family, etc.

Last weekend was also the first time I’d heard of the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS).  It’s just what it sounds like: a group of individuals and organizations trying to help Joe the (insert non-scientific occupation) understand what science is and isn’t, and why it matters.  And as it turns out, the Kellogg Biological Station and MSU Museum are participants in the coalition.

It’s no surprise that climate change was a major point of discussion at AAAS, and among other things I learned about a recently launched site called Climate Central.  Its purpose is to get good climate science in the hands of policymakers and the general public, and it has the weight of some scientific heavy-hitters behind it (Gus Speth, Jane Lubchenco and John Holdren all sit on the Board of Directors).  The site is a bit sparse for now, but is expected to fill out this spring.  And until then, the videos are worth a look.

OK, I’m starting to rethink my statement about Earth Portal being the coolest, because for me, it’s hard to beat LandScope America.  It’s a collaboration between NatureServe and National Geographic that promotes conservation through public education.  The site is full of great photos and information about conservation priorities, and there’s an interactive map with stories and videos about ecosystems throughout the United States.

Enjoy!

-Andy McGlashen

Here are some more gadgets on display at AAAS 2009 in Chicago.

Featured below is the “Tactile,” an advanced structure set, two-slit interference and the hand crank Van de Graff generator.

The “Tactile” is about the size of a dinner table and maps the geological path of rainwater drainage in a given region. Notice how easily it changes focus and depth.

Pasco’s advanced structure set allows for stunningly accurate engineering simulation. Unlike most “toys,” the parts do not snap together but are bolted. This allows for more accuracy and durability of the simulation. The only difference between the structure featured below and a real bridge, the representative said, was that the model wasn’t steel.

Most of the gadgets featured in both posts are for sale.

The thing about a major conference like AAAS is that it’s humongous, and you can’t see it all. There are always a bunch of interesting things going on simultaneously, and you have to miss a lot of good stuff.

Truth is, we missed presentations by some of MSU’s best. Maybe that’s ok, since we were there to gather information from the wider world and bring it back here, but we still feel like bums.

But all is not lost - you can learn more about Spartan goings-on at the conference here.

As the past tense indicates, we’ve returned from the Windy City, and are glad to say that all of our luggage came with us. We also brought home a renewed sense of purpose as environmental journalism students, if I may speak for the other Andy. Much of what we heard was grim and challenging, and it didn’t come from some wacko with an agenda. The folks telling us about the very real dangers of climate change, biodiversity loss and a host of other problems were expert observers of our planet whose only agenda, it seems, was that life may go on. And when scientists sound such dire warnings, the rest of us had better listen up, and tell a friend.

-Andy McGlashen

After long, busy days of running from seminar to session to symposium at the AAAS meeting, it was a treat to attend two plenary lectures at the AAAS meeting that were a bit friendlier to the scientific dilettante.

On Friday, Sean Carroll, a well-known molecular biologist and geneticist from the University of Wisconsin, talked about the great intellectual and physical adventures that gave rise to the revolutionary idea of natural selection.

The lecture was based on Carroll’s new book, Remarkable Creatures, and offered a fascinating look at the intersection of science, history and biography. It told the story of Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates, all avid collectors of wildlife specimens (”They grabbed, pinned or pickled every bug or bird they ever saw,” Carroll said) who became close friends after years of toil, shipwrecks and fever-induced scientific epiphanies in godforsaken jungles.

While not as engaging a speaker as Carroll, Saturday night’s plenary speaker, Susan Kieffer of the University of Illinois, gave a talk that brought home the profundity of the human-wrought changes our planet faces, and how sudden they are when considered in the context of deep time (for an incredibly effective visual representation of that idea, scroll down a few slides in this PDF of her presentation).

Videos of these lectures, as well as the AAAS President’s Address and another plenary we couldn’t attend, are available here.

-Andy McGlashen

You’re sadly mistaken if you think AAAS is just a conference full of esoteric lectures and bar room hobnobbing.

Tucked away in the basement of the Hyatt Regency this year was some of the world’s brightest showing off their newest gizmos and gadgets.

Below are inventions used to catch illegal immigrants, measure the CO2 of a given point on earth and detect charges. There’s also a g-force measuring device used as the basis for Nintendo Wii remotes.

Enjoy.

— Andy Balaskovitz

When you’re a high caliber public speaker, you can deliver the same speech for weeks, months or even years with consistent interest and engagement.  It’s the same for a great Broadway play or Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Former Vice President Al Gore has this knack.

For anyone that has seen An Inconvenient Truth, the following videos are mostly facts you’ve already heard.  Yet, like a great concert, you can hear it over and over again without it getting old or redundant.

In his introduction (below), Gore reflects on a new administration and the side effects of getting old…

He then frames climate change as one of three crises America and the world faces. About five minutes into the clip below, his iPhone goes off…

From here Gore jumps into his signature (but updated) Powerpoint slideshow. In the clip below is a simple breakdown of how greenhouse gases work, both on Earth and Venus…

Part two of the presentation shows the Arctic represented as a beating heart and also some video footage of Dr. Katie Walker from the University of Alaska performing some risky methane experiments in the Arctic…

This next segment provides dramatic images of natural disasters, their increased frequency as part of global warming and how the Maldives has a portion of its government budget devoted to buying a new island…

Gore completes his slideshow with a look at American coal companies’ controversial clean coal advertising campaign, America’s history of stepping up in dire straits and the need for excellent science communicators…

In his closing remarks Gore makes a formal call to climate change action, questions science ethics and references an African proverb: ‘If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’

“We have to go far, quickly,” he said.

— Andy Balaskovitz