School of forestry and environmental studies

School Notes: School of the Environment
September/October 2014

Ingrid C. “Indy” Burke | http://environment.yale.edu

F&ES welcomes new faculty

Four scientists have joined the faculty this semester. Dr. Craig Brodersen joins the school as an assistant professor of plant physiological ecology. Brodersen studies the relationships between plant structure and function and has helped pioneer the 3D imaging of plants using high-resolution X-ray technology. Dr. Liza Comita comes to F&ES as an assistant professor of tropical forest management. Comita researches the regeneration ecology of tropical tree species and how spatial and temporal variations in regeneration dynamics act to maintain diversity. Dr. Justin Farrell, who examines the cultural causes of environmental conflict and how/why people respond to environmental challenges, joins the school as an assistant professor in sociology. And Dr. Simon Queenborough has been appointed the Musser Director of the F&ES-based Tropical Resources Institute. Queenborough, who explores the ecology of plants in tropical systems—especially in the diverse forests of the Amazonian Ecuador—will also serve as a lecturer and research scientist at the school.

Moving “natural capital” from metaphor to reality

Economists have long touted the importance of quantifying nature’s value—from the natural treatment of pollution by wetlands to the carbon storage capacity of forests—and including it in measures of national wealth. But so far, achieving an actual measurable value for this “natural capital” has remained elusive, says F&ES professor Eli Fenichel. In a recent paper published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource EconomistsFenichel and a colleague detailed an approach to calculating a fair and consistent price for natural capital stocks that is grounded in the same theory of economic capital that governs the pricing of other capital assets, from stock prices to factories. 

Examining cookstove adoption in India

More than 3 billion people worldwide still rely on the burning of wood, plant matter, and other waste materials for cooking and indoor warmth, emitting sooty pollution that causes an estimated 4 million premature deaths annually and exacerbates global climate change. And while a variety of cleaner, low-cost cookstove alternatives have emerged, adoption in many parts of the developing world remains slow. This summer, a team of researchers led by F&ES professor Robert Bailis began a three-year study to assess which cookstove technologies are most likely to be accepted by local communities in India, identify obstacles to their adoption, and determine potential health and climate benefits of widespread use. The project is being supported by a $1.5 million grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The comment period has expired.