From today, the Environmental Resource and Management Masters’ students at SDU have a week and a day until they have to turn in their theses, so I’m sending out a little support music to them – it’s arranged so there is first the angst, then the reward. So I hope they make it to end of the thesis and the playlist! I learned that some of them have not heard some of these songs, so I’m also considering it as broadening the education platform Perhaps it’ll help you make your deadlines too! If you have Apple Music, it’s here. Otherwise, here it is by song, with video where possible. Feel free to ..read more

Want to see for yourself what all the hullaballoo about life in Denmark is really about? Want to work on resource economic issues regarding Aquatic Nature-based Solutions? Please consider and/or share widely this open position! https://www.sdu.dk/da/service/ledige_stillinger/1207441 Deadline May 22, 2023 Assistant professor in Renewable Resource Economics The Department of Economics (ECON) and Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics (SEBE) at the University of Southern Denmark invites applications for a four-year position as assistant professor. The starting date is flexi ..read more

I’ve written before about my use of glysophate (or RoundUp if you prefer the brand name) in my garden. Although I have since moved from Denmark to the Netherlands, the stuff is still in my shed. I very occasionally use it for those few long-rooted weeds that are nigh impossible to remove by hand because they’re stuck between a wall and the pavement. Yes, it’s potentially carcinogenic, but so are coffee, red meat and alcohol, and as with those: the dose matters. Moreover, the alternatives aren’t all that positive either, as I pointed out in that post. A recent study in this regard has been rais ..read more

Pratiwi, B. A., Kok, S., Kaiser, B. A., & Mahya, M. J. (2023) Cost-benefit analysis of mitigating subsidence damage in Semarang and Demak, Indonesia. Frontiers in Environmental Economics, 2, 5. Very proud to share this paper that started as Berlian Pratiwi’s Master’s thesis in the depths of Covid lockdowns. In bringing together the science of subsidence and the economics of water demand to compare water supply investment choices, the article exemplifies the benefits and importance of interdisciplinary work. Abstract: Since the early 1990s, the coastal Semarang City in Indonesia h ..read more

The Elite Centre of Aquatic Nature-based Solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation (Aqua-NbS) aims to scale up and integrate approaches of Aquatic Nature-based Solutions to expand the provision of multiple ecosystem services, including carbon storage, climate regulation, water filtration, coastal protection, and food-web support. We apply cross-disciplinary approaches that span the full land-sea continuum and incorporate a comprehensive range of technological, institutional, and socio-economic settings. Aqua-NbS will investigate aquatic habitats and their valuable ecosystem servic ..read more

The MERE group is excited to be part of two new centers starting under the auspices of the SDU Climate Cluster! We will be part of the tech-led Solar Energy Conversion and Storage (SOLEN) center, which will take a holistic approach to solar energy’s place in the ongoing energy transition. Amongst other questions about consumer behavior, external costs and benefits, innovation and adoption of new technologies like solar films, we expect to explore lessons from past energy transitions, including those pertaining to the integration of distribution and transmission systems as well as the drivers o ..read more

This weekend, Canada announced it has reached a $2.8 billion CDN (~$2 b USD) settlement with 325 First Nations in a class action lawsuit over damages to language, culture and community from residential schools and associated policies. The money will go to an independently managed 20 year trust fund – more details are in the CBC article in the link. But how much will this float up boats in Indigenous Canada? In the deal, “the band class members agreed to ‘fully, finally and forever’ release the Crown from claims that could conceivably arise from the collective harms residential schools inflicte ..read more

This wonderful quote from the character Edna Mode in The Incredibles seems a fitting way to start the year. It’s also fitting to introduce a newly published paper with my colleague Simon Sølvsten. At first glance, the work may seem like a departure from previous topics for me. In the paper, we investigate whether and how insurance contract prices reflect the adoption of loss prevention technologies like fire, burglar, or water alarms. We show that the industry must have some inefficiencies that prevent the benefits of loss prevention technologies in reducing insurance costs to filter in to pri ..read more

A new research project will pave the way for more sustainability and safe and healthy working conditions in the leather industry of Bangladesh. The project, which is part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s development cooperation Danida (the Danish International Development Agency), will be led by me. See SDU’s write up of the project here, or read it below: By Asta Holst Bach, asbac@sam.sdu.dk, 1/1/0001 In a new research project based in Bangladesh, SDU researcher Dewan Ahsan – in collaboration with both researchers and industry – will contribute to promoting sustainabl ..read more

Oh, wait, did I forget the word “eventually” there? Doomsday predictions from science go a long way back. The reverend Thomas Malthus has probably one of the most famous ones. His prediction didn’t become reality, but just because he and others have falsely cried wolf doesn’t mean there aren’t any. The Dagupta review also shows that we are likely to run into hard ecological limits, if we don’t rapidly change our behaviour. Hans Stegeman, sustainable investment banker, drew my attention in one of his posts to another such model that was published in scientific reports (a journal from the Nature ..read more