Of 1080 and weedkillers
Since settlers introduced a host of pest species to Australia, the fight against the invasive animals and plants has been ongoing. Toxins or fossil fuel machinery are the main tools employed to eradicate the harmful non-native species.
Weedkillers with glyphosate are ubiquitous in the war on out of control weeds. For animal pest species sodium fluoroacetate (1080) bait is dropped from the sky or distributed on the ground.

"Since the 1950s, Australian governments, private contractors and property owners have used 1080 poison baits to kill “pest” animals such as foxes, rabbits, cats, pigs and wild dogs, including dingoes... Australia is only one of a handful of countries that allow the use of 1080 baits..."

The externalities of this cost effective method results in the killing of non-target species. Pet owners who bear witness to their pet dog's extended suffering from poisoning become traumatised. 'Out there' in the bush many Australian animals experience also such a cruel death that goes unseen.

https://theconversation.com/i-cant-get-it-out-of-my-mind-new-research-reveals-the-suffering-of-people-whose-dogs-died-after-eating-1080-poison-baits-206957
#InvasiveSpecies #Poison #Toxins #Pesticides #Glyphosate #SodiumFluoroacetate #ChemicalControl #NonTargetSpecies #ToxicLandscapes #Externality #Pets #Wildlife #So50s #Biodiversity

Of 1080 and weedkillers pt 2
The externalities of this cost effective method results in the killing of non-target species. Pet owners who bear witness to their pet dog's extended suffering from poisoning become traumatised. 'Out there' in the bush many Australian animals experience such a cruel death that goes unseen.

https://theconversation.com/i-cant-get-it-out-of-my-mind-new-research-reveals-the-suffering-of-people-whose-dogs-died-after-eating-1080-poison-baits-206957
#InvasiveSpecies #Poison #Toxins #Glyphosate #SodiumFluoroacetate #NonTargetSpecies #ToxicLandscapes #Externality #Pets #Wildlife #So50s #Biodiversity

Pt 1
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/110500433038129409

@breadandcircuses

I know you're being a bit whimsical with your wording, but I'll take the bait. Please don't take this critique personally, but as I'm sure you intend, it's very like the discussions one actually does hear a lot. Particularly:

> a very small price to pay for endless economic growth

The word "endless" is the tell here. Often if you look in these discussions there's some outright non-truth that we bat around as if true when it's not, and that's how we confuse ourselves.

We haven't had a serious societal discussion about the fact that this can't be endless, or what the consequences an end is. It's a finite world, and the presence of clean drinking water is ever more in jeopardy.

http://netsettlement.blogspot.com/2019/09/losing-ground-in-environment.html

#environment #capitalism #externality #oil #water #DrinkingWater #OilSpill #OiilSpills

@LeftistLawyer

Nicely expressed. I like the thermodynamics metaphor. Also the attempt to explain effects on the future in an intelligible way. These metaphors may not speak to everyone, but for those familiar with such things, it captures the problem in familiar terms.

While on topic of physics metaphors, you might also enjoy my essay Losing Ground in the Environment.
http://netsettlement.blogspot.com/2019/09/losing-ground-in-environment.html

#Capitalism #Environment #Externality #Profit #Metaphor #Physics #Society #Climate #ClimateCrisis

https://pca.st/episode/4cc88178-96a3-4b52-b071-e2a731262dc7

Great discussion on @riskybusiness as always on whether we need regulation to improve software security. I'm a free market person, yes hard to enforce, yes there will be unintended consequences. It will increase software costs and reduce supply.

But ..

We accept all of this where there are other terrible consequences for society for negligence. Bridges, law firms, medical industry...

It is well past time that software needs to be formally verified and certified. Malpractice for software engineering.

#cyber #regulation #externality

@TomasZdechovsky

protoze #externality

@davdittrich great post, but what exactly are you trying to tell us, when you say: "Nudges dominate taxes whenever the standard deviation of the behavioral #bias exceeds the magnitude of the average #externality."

Judging Nudging: Toward an Understanding of the Welfare Effects of Nudges Versus Taxes https://fieldexperiments-papers2.s3.amazonaws.com/papers/00765.pdf
"While nudges are effective in changing behaviour, they are not necessarily the most efficient policy: Nudges dominate taxes whenever the standard deviation of the behavioral #bias exceeds the magnitude of the average #externality."
#nudge #BoundedRationality #efficiency #effectiveness