Economic and Environmental Analysis
The Center for Sustainable Economy provides expertise in the areas of economic and environmental analysis. Our economists help expose the true costs associated with both public and private sector decisions to deplete natural capital, exacerbate sprawl, and make decisions that increase inequality in our society. Conversely, we document the true benefits associated with protection of natural areas, local self reliance, affordable housing, and other sustainable policies. Because many of these benefits and costs are not experienced as market transactions, we employ a range of techniques for assessing non-market impacts in addition to more traditional techniques such as regional modeling that consider effects on jobs and income.
CSE works with biologists, environmental planners, hydrologists, and geographic information specialists to document the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of intensive land uses such as logging, grazing, mining, oil and gas leasing, road building, and urban development. We also work with counties, cities, and businesses to calculate and identify measures they can take to reduce their ecological footprint.
Recent examples of our economic and environmental analyses include:
Arizona’s San Pedro River is one of the nation’s hotspots of biological diversity, providing critical habitat for over 350 species of birds, 80 mammals, two native and several introduced species of fish, and more than 40 species of amphibians and reptiles Groundwater pumping jeopardizes the health of the river, and Ft. Huachuca is by far the biggest culprit. CSE completed a study for the Center for Biologcial Diversity that points out serious shortcomings of
Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Delong Mountain Terminal Project: Critique and Independent Assessment of Key Parameters.
Fishprint of Nations 2006 trends and recommendations for our oceans. CSE, in conjunction with Redefining Progress and The Ocean Project, has released The Fishprint of Nations 2006, a comprehensive analysis of humanity’s current and projected impact on the Earth’s marine ecosystems. The study, adapted from the popular Ecological Footprint analysis tool, found that present levels of seafood consumption are dangerously unsustainable. The global catch of seafood is roughly 157% over sustainable yield levels. The report details the need for protected marine areas and a reworking of our seafood consumption habits in order to avoid widespread fisheries collapse in the next half century. Read:
Economic and Community Benefits of Protecting New Mexico's Inventoried Roadless Areas. CSE estimates that New Mexico's inventoried roadless areas on national forest lands generate tens of millions of dollars in economic benefits each year in the form of carbon sequestration, water filtration, backcountry recreation, game and non-game wildlife habitat, and scenery. We also found that counties with significant concentrations of roadless areas outperformed counties without by an average of 1.28% across four key economic performance measures. Prepared for Forest Guardians, Santa Fe. Read:
Carbon Footprint Analysis for Kaiser Permanente Food Procurement Alternatives in Northern California. CSE (formerly Ecology and Law Institute) worked with Community Alliance with Family Farmers to develop then analyze the environmental benefits of a local food procurement program for a system of 19 hospitals managed by Kaiser Permanente in northern California. CSE's analysis demonstrated that modest measures to substitute fruits and vegetables grown by California farmers for foods imported from Mexico, South, and Central America could reduce the carbon footprint associated with foods procured for Kaiser's hospitals by 20%. Read: