blondbraintrust

Read it before the Bush Scientific Team edits it.
Institute of Arctic Biology - News

In the July 22, 2005 issue of the journal Science, co-author Terry Chapin,
professor of ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Institute of
Arctic Biology (IAB), and colleagues point out that modern land-use practices
may be trading short-term increases in food production for long-term losses in
the environment’s ability to support human societies.
The key to resilient and sustainable land use, according to the paper’s
authors, is closer collaboration between scientists and practitioners – linking,
for example, ecologists and land-use planners, climatologists and architects,
and entomologists (insect scientists) and physicians – and the development of
land-use strategies that recognize both short- and long-term needs.
“We need manager and policy makers who understand the ecological, economic,
political, and social connections and unintended consequences of land-use
decisions,” said Chapin, RAP’s director.

“All of the changes in local land-use are driven by human activities to meet local needs or create economic profits, but these changes have global consequences,” Chapin said. “We need to be aware of the local and global consequences of land-use change so that the true costs are considered when land-use planning and development take place.

“Alaska has many of the properties of a third-world economy,” Chapin said. “An extractive economy subject to changes in the world economy, tremendous amounts of natural resources, diversity of cultures – and we’ve got the money and the wealth to solve the problem if we know what to do,” he said. ( And that's exactly the way Bush and his energy cronies treat Alaska.)