industry | Ecology for the Masses

Tag Archives: industry

Environmental Responsibility in the Tourism Industry With Professor David Lusseau

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Image Credit: Pentapfel, Pixabay licence, Image Cropped

Fascination with nature drives a huge chunk of tourism worldwide. The plains of Africa, the Amazon Rainforest, the Swiss Alps and their associated species are huge economic drivers for their respective countries, and they (ideally) increase people’s appreciation of nature. There are plenty of great examples of ecotourism as a pathway for both education and conservation.

Yet when an industry is driven by money first, nature second, of course there are going to be manifold examples of businesses deprioritising the natural phenomena they are associated with, often to the direct detriment of that phenomena. Think the masses of pollution now found around Mt Everest, or the damage caused by avid snorkellers on the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve had my own experience with tourist companies deliberately spreading misinformation about the reef – more on that at this link.

The Forefront

Palm Oil vs. Whaling: When Any Action is Not Enough

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Clearing for palm oil forests in Borneo. Norway recently made headlines with a government mandated reduction in palm oil imports, but there were of course those who found a negative here (Image Credit: T. R. Shankar Raman, CC BY-SA 4.0, Image Cropped)

Around 7-8 months ago, Norway made the news when the government decided to place restrictions on the import of palm oil. Over the last few months, reports have shown that the move has made quite a difference, dramatically reducing the amount of palm oil brought into the country. I figured it would be hard to see this in a negative light.

But of course I was stupid enough to look at Facebook comments.

Opinions

Prue Addison: Integrating Sustainability Into Business

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Sam Perrin 3 comments

Prue Addison, who spoke at the recent Norwegian Ecological Society Conference, is attempting to bring conservation science to ‘the dark side’ – the world of business (Image Credit: Synchronicity Earth, CC BY 2.0, Image Cropped)

With the environmental movement having expanded so quickly over recent decades, it makes sense that many large corporations have started to incorporate sustainability and the environment into their business plans. But what are these business actions actually achieving? And who bridges the gap between the corporate world and the field of ecology?

At the recent Norwegian Ecological Society Conference, Tanja Petersen and I sat down with Doctor Prue Addison from the University of Oxford. Prue works with multinational corporations to aid them in integrating biodiversity considerations into their business operations. We asked her about the difference between business and academia, how she’s managed to transition between the two, and advice for others looking to make the same leap.

The Forefront

Fishers and Fish Science: The Australian Fish Scientist Perspective

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Sam Perrin One comment

Fishing is an important part of Australian society. So is communication between fish scientists and fishers strong enough? (Image Credit: State Library of Queensland, Image Cropped)

Last Thursday, I posted an article on the need for more contact communication the fish scientist community and the fishing community, which you can find here. It gives a breakdown of why better communication between the two groups is mutually beneficial, and how it could be improved. The piece was written after talks with a number of prominent Australian fish biologists, whose thoughts I’ve shared in more detail below.

The Forefront