StaggerLee

Here's an interesting article from the BBC about a study assessing the cost of environmental loss and comparing it to the current market troubles:

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.

The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide.

The study, headed by a Deutsche Bank economist, parallels the Stern Review into the economics of climate change.

It has been discussed during many sessions here at the World Conservation Congress.

Some conservationists see it as a new way of persuading policymakers to fund nature protection rather than allowing the decline in ecosystems and species, highlighted in the release on Monday of the Red List of Threatened Species, to continue.

Capital losses

Speaking to BBC News on the fringes of the congress, study leader Pavan Sukhdev emphasised that the cost of natural decline dwarfs losses on the financial markets.

"It's not only greater but it's also continuous, it's been happening every year, year after year," he told BBC News.

Teeb will... show the risks we run by not valuing [nature] adequately."

Andrew Mitchell

Global Canopy Programme

"So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today's rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year."

The review that Mr Sukhdev leads, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb), was initiated by Germany under its recent EU presidency, with the European Commission providing funding.

The first phase concluded in May when the team released its finding that forest decline could be costing about 7% of global GDP. The second phase will expand the scope to other natural systems.

Stern message

Key to understanding his conclusions is that as forests decline, nature stops providing services which it used to provide essentially for free.

So the human economy either has to provide them instead, perhaps through building reservoirs, building facilities to sequester carbon dioxide, or farming foods that were once naturally available.

Or we have to do without them; either way, there is a financial cost.

The Teeb calculations show that the cost falls disproportionately on the poor, because a greater part of their livelihood depends directly on the forest, especially in tropical regions.

The greatest cost to western nations would initially come through losing a natural absorber of the most important greenhouse gas.

Just as the Stern Review brought the economics of climate change into the political arena and helped politicians see the consequences of their policy choices, many in the conservation community believe the Teeb review will lay open the economic consequences of halting or not halting the slide in biodiversity.

"The numbers in the Stern Review enabled politicians to wake up to reality," said Andrew Mitchell, director of the Global Canopy Programme, an organisation concerned with directing financial resources into forest preservation.

"Teeb will do the same for the value of nature, and show the risks we run by not valuing it adequately."

A number of nations, businesses and global organisations are beginning to direct funds into forest conservation, and there are signs of a trade in natural ecosystems developing, analogous to the carbon trade, although it is clearly very early days.

Some have ethical concerns over the valuing of nature purely in terms of the services it provides humanity; but the counter-argument is that decades of trying to halt biodiversity decline by arguing for the intrinsic worth of nature have not worked, so something different must be tried.

Whether Mr Sukhdev's arguments will find political traction in an era of financial constraint is an open question, even though many of the governments that would presumably be called on to fund forest protection are the ones directly or indirectly paying for the review.

But, he said, governments and businesses are getting the point.

"Times have changed. Almost three years ago, even two years ago, their eyes would glaze over.

"Today, when I say this, they listen. In fact I get questions asked - so how do you calculate this, how can we monetize it, what can we do about it, why don't you speak with so and so politician or such and such business."

The aim is to complete the Teeb review by the middle of 2010, the date by which governments are committed under the Convention of Biological Diversity to have begun slowing the rate of biodiversity loss.

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Check out CouchSurfing.com, there are a dozen folks in Oakville you could try.

It's good, but not as good as any of their other albums. I was hoping for more.

I saw Land of Talk last night for their album release party and they rocked. Andrew Barr plays drums on their new album Some Are Lakes, but last night they had Loel Campbell from Wintersleep playing.

Peel it and eat it. It's good when slivered and served raw in salads. I've used it in kohlrabi and apple salad with mustard dressing and also with pea shoots and sesame dressing; both were tasty.

My younger me would be astounded to learn that I had become anything but a rock star.

But also:

that I'm a carpenter and farmer

that I have short hair

that I think cross-country skiing is cooler than downhill

that I want nothing more than to move home to small town Nova Scotia and settle down

Fuck I'm old.

The report from the JFA Institute says the total economic loss to victims of crime in 2002 was just over $15 billion

I'd guess that the total economic loss to victims likely includes such things as medical bills, income-loss replacement, and payments made for loss of quality of life, not just the value of goods stolen or damaged.

Speaking of undemocratic .. May and Dion did agree to not run candidates in each others ridings, which is arguably terribly undemocratic in that it denies constituents in those ridings the choice of whom to vote for.

Word. I was living in Central Nova when that foolishness was announced. Liberals in the riding are pissed, and very few will vote Green, they're far more likely to turn NDP or CPC. And when the Libs run their next candidate in the riding they'll have a hard time winning many of those folks back. May and Dion should mutually break that agreement; they still have time to round up a couple more candidates and put their names in.

The larger issue here is that the leaders debate has become an important part of our election process, but it's not regulated by legislation, so a media consortium gets to make the call about who participates. I don't often find myself advocating for government control of the press, but surely there should be some kind of standard criteria for inclusion in the debate. Harper said he would not participate if May were included in the debates, that it would be undemocratic if she were there; what he should have done is introduced legislation that provides fair criteria for inclusion in the debates and said that he would not participate unless those rules were followed. That would be democratic.

My ravioli turned out pretty good considering it was my first time making it. I adapted a few recipes to use up some leftover ricotta, Swiss chard, spinach, parsley and basil that was in our fridge.

Pasta:

1 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs

Mix into a dough and knead until smooth. Let rest for 20min then roll out with pasta maker.

Filling:

1/4lb Swiss chard and

1/4lb spinach, steam the greens until wilted then drain and chop.

1 small onion diced and

1 clove garlic minced, fry in oil until soft then add chopped greens and

1/2 lemon's juice, cook a few minutes until liquid evaporates then transfer to a bowl and add

1/2 cup ricotta,

1/4 cup grated parmesan,

1/2 a lemon's grated rind,

1.5 tbsp chopped basil,

1.5 tbsp chopped parsley,

a little salt and lots of pepper

Sauce:

2 bulbs garlic, tops cut off then drizzled with olive oil, wrapped in foil and roasted at 400F for 45min.

4 tomatoes, cut in half and placed cut side down on foil lined baking sheet, roasted 15min.

Skin the garlic and tomatoes once cooked and then puree and add

1 tbsp red wine vinegar and

1/2 tbsp honey

Assemble ravioli using egg white to seal. Boil for 3-4min, top with sauce and more parmesan and parsley.

The ricer we bought has three interchangeable plates with different sized holes. We used the smallest one to make the gnocchi. The advantage is that it has very small holes and produces a very light, fluffy and consistent potato mixture, smoother than mashed potatoes, but not as gluey as whipped potatoes. It's also easy and a time-saver. It'll make spaetzle noodles using the largest plate, which is what we'll try with it next, and it's meant to be great for making baby-food too.

Last night's gnocchi turned out great, though next time we'll add a little more sage and pancetta. It made enough gnocchi to freeze some. We had it with balsamic roasted shallots and steamed broccoli, and made rhubarb grunt for dessert.

I'm going to make the ravioli tonight. We've got some swiss chard from the CSA box and a little leftover ricotta from a pie I made last week, so I'm thinking of something like this or this.

That's some good looking ravioli. We get a weekly CSA box too and also got some sage this week. We used some this morning when we had Turkish poached eggs with yogurt and spicy sage butter.

I was planning on making ravioli tonight, but my wife and I went shopping this afternoon and bought a potato ricer, which we've wanted for awhile, and we got some potatoes in our CSA box so we're making gnocchi with pancetta and sage instead.

Gnocchi:

2 1/4lbs floury potatoes, baked for an hour then peeled and riced

2 egg yolks, beaten and mixed with

2 tbsp grated parmesan, then mixed with the potato

1 1/2 cups flour, kneaded into potato to form a soft dough

Roll out the dough and cut into gnocchi. Boil in water for a few minutes until cooked.

Sauce:

1 tbsp butter, melt in frying pan and add

1/2 cup pancetta, cook and then add about

8 sage leaves shredded and

2/3 cup cream, reduce to form a sauce with salt and pepper to taste

Toss the gnocchi and sauce in a casserole dish. Top with 1/2 cup grated parmesan and bake at 400F for 10-15 min. Eat.

I quit at the same time as my wife; having someone else going through it with you can help a lot. Avoid your smoking friends for awhile, especially when drinking. In fact, it's best to lay off the booze for awhile as it increases the cravings and weakens the resolve. Anytime you feel like a smoke, remind yourself that a single cigarette will undo the effort you've put in so far and knock you back to square one. Quitting smoking sucks, but after awhile you'll stop envying smokers and start pitying them. It took me about three months to feel completely free, but the worst of it was over in about three weeks.

Calexico -- Feast of Wire

Howe Gelb -- 'Sno Angel Like You

Land of Talk -- Applause, Cheer, Boo, Hiss

Rhythm & Truth Brass Band -- Fife & Drum

The Holy Shroud -- Ghost Repeaters

Jay, you forgot to mention that Evolve will be happening simultaneously in England this year.

Nice. This was my first Calexico show and my first time in le National, and I was blown away by both the band and the venue. Thanks for the recording.

Yeah, great movie. The soundtrack album is good too.

A mystic walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, "make me one with everything."

Hot and sticky here in Montreal for the last few days with late afternoon thundershowers. Today is overcast and a little cooler.

Canada has a burgeoning biotechnology industry that the government is doing its best to promote, so it'll be close, but I think it has a chance of passing. The Bloc and NDP will support it en masse, and I would expect and bunch of Liberals and even a few Conservatives will voted in favour of it unless their parties tell them to do otherwise.

If it passes it will may well mean the end of GMOs on grocery store shelves, as the law reads that such products would have to be in clearly marked genetically modified sections of the store. (The second reading of the bill is here.) GMO crops would likely still be grown in Canada for export to the US, and for animal feed, as the bill does not require animals fed with GMOs to be labelled.

Sure hope the bill passes.

The new Nick Cave album. It's great -- pretty upbeat for Cave.