State capitalism
January 30, 2012
The Economist is hosting (2012-01-29) an excellent, robust online debate “state capitalism is a viable alternative to liberal capitalism.” The moderator Adrian Wooldridge is reporting from Davos.
Ian Bremmer, Founder and president, Eurasia Group argues against the motion,
“State capitalism is not simply an economic system. It is a political invention designed to ensure that market activity and wealth serve the interests of the state and those who run it. This is the primary reason that it will not become a viable alternative to liberal capitalism.” He defined “state capitalism” as a “political construct in which the state is used to promote the interests of the political elite.” Extend the definition of the term to include any country that has a large state-backed country, he argues, and you end up lumping Norway along with China.”
Nation states operate most efficiently and effectively as a mutually agreed upon buffer between the market and civil society protecting the most vulnerable resources (human, natural, etc) from the excesses of either the market or civil society. In late capitalism, even without state-capitalism, public policies are already tightly aligned with market concerns thereby dissolving this protective buffer zone with unintended consequences on vulnerable resources for which the market is not answerable. Who will be answerable when state-capitalists do what the most efficient capitalists do, make more profits by taking risks, and ultimately err and plunder to the advantage of a few and the loss of the majority? What entity of governance can ensure equilibrium in trade relationships between capitalist-state-owned oil industries and democratic market liberal nation states?
Schindler’s science: a shift towards sustainable sands?
September 7, 2010
David William Schindler OC, D.Phil., FRSC, FRS (born August 3, 1940) is one of the world’s leading limnologists. He holds the Killam Memorial Chair and is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Schindler was born August 3, 1940 in Fargo, North Dakota and grew up in Minnesota lake country. He holds dual citizenship in Canada and the USA. After completing his bachelor’s degree in zoology from North Dakota State in 1962 he studied aquatic ecology at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. He worked first under Nikolaas Niko Tinbergen. But it was while working under Charles Sutherland Elton, one of the founders of ecology, who also established and led Oxford University’s Bureau of Animal Population, that he began formulating an interdisciplinary ecosystem approach to study water and ecology. Dr. Schindler was an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Trent University from 1966 to 1968. From 1968 to 1989, he founded and directed the Experimental Lakes Project of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans near Kenora, Ontario. This long-term study of freshwater is part of Schindler’s large body of scientific work which has influenced public policies regarding the protection of freshwater including the regulation of toxins and the limitation of eutrophication (excessive algal blooms) and acid rain in Canada, the USA and Europe.
This post, my new delicious entries, a Google Map in the making, and a considerable contribution to wikipedia article (above) and related articles on world renowned limnologist David W. Schindler are in response to the Calgary Herald article (2010-08-30) by Deborah Yedlin criticizing Schindler’s science.
A report by Erin N. Kelly, David W. Schindler, Peter V. Hodson, Jeffrey W. Short, Roseanna Radmanovich, Charlene C. Nielsen entitled “Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries” was published 2010-08-24 in the prestigious and influential journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in which the team of scientists show that the oil sands industry releases the 13 elements considered priority pollutants (PPE) under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act, via air and water, to the Athabasca River and its watershed.
“Contrary to claims made by industry and government in the popular press, the oil sands industry substantially increases loadings of toxic PPE to the AR and its tributaries via air and water pathways. This increase confirms the serious defects of RAMP (11–13), which has not detected such patterns in the AR watershed. Detailed long-term monitoring is essential to distinguish the sources of these contaminants and control their potential impacts on environmental and human health (13). A robust monitoring program to measure exposure and health of fish, wildlife, and humans should be implemented in the region affected by oil sands development (38, 39) (Kelly et al).”
The scientific journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is second only to the Journal of Biological Chemistry in the list of Top Ten Most-Cited Journals (All Fields), 1999-2009. Journals are ranked by total citations, based on papers published and cited in Thomson Reuters-indexed journals between January 1, 1999 and April 30, 2009 [*].
Yedlin has her finger on the pulse of the business world in general and the oil industry in particular but she is not a scientist. David W. Schindler is.
As I began to search out material to add to the paltry wikipedia entry I found mention of c. 250-300 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has nine honorary doctorates from universities within Canada and the United States. The list of provincial, national and international awards is lengthy.
I began to hear his name associated with best practices in the early 1990s when my husband was working on his MA then his PhD where terms like the ecosystem approach and water resource management were part of our everyday conversations. In recent years I have consulted his work to understand the Wabano Lake phenomenon.
The oil industry in Alberta is currently under attack by a well-orchestrated Rethink Alberta campaign which reminds me of the anti-sealhunt ads, posters, postcards. Nervous investors may reconsider placing money in funds associated with industries under heavy scrutiny by major companies and major campaigns. Many are convinced that the oil industry is immune to these attacks and will continue with business as usual, pushing for lax regulations and publicly-funded financial incentives to move ahead as fast as possible with expansion. Indeed potential customers for oilsands oil include governments of countries like Korea, Japan, China who my not be swayed by public outcry over dirty oil.
There is a crisis of confidence in science, or at least in big science. Yet more than ever we need legitimate scientific knowledge claims to guide public policies particularly in those areas in which industry and the market fail us the most, in matters related to the environment.
To be continued
Links
A Timeline of Selected Events
1940 Schindler was born August 3, 1940 in Fargo, North Dakota.
1958 Charles S. Elton’s book entitled The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants was published by the University of Chicago Press. Schindler was influenced by his early reading of this book when he was a studying under limnology professor, Gabriel Comita at North Dakota State University in the summer of 1958(?). Schindler argues that Elton’s book is better written and more useful than Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (Zagorski 2006-05-09).
1961-1963 John F. Kennedy was President of the USA.
1962 After completing his bachelor’s degree in zoology from North Dakota State in 1962 he studied aquatic ecology at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. He worked first under [“Niko” Tinbergen]. But it was while working under [Sutherland Elton] that he began formulating an interdisciplinary [ecosystem approach] to study water and ecology.
1963 Lester (Mike) Pearson was Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968.
1963-1969 Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the USA.
1966 Schindler received his doctorate from Oxford University.
1966 Canadian government created the Freshwater Institute (FWI) to study the Algal blooms that were plaguing Lake Erie. The predecessor of the FWI was the Central Fisheries Research Station of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Established in Winnipeg in 1944, the station was moved to London, Ont, in 1957 and then back to Winnipeg as the FWI in 1966. New laboratory and office facilities were opened in 1973. The FWI provides facilities for fisheries and environmental research in inland and Arctic waters as well as for the non-research activities of the region, such as fish and marine mammal management and protection in the Arctic; Arctic oceans management programs; protection of fish habitat in the prairies and the Arctic; and the management of federal harbours (FWI).
1966 Fisheries scientist Waldo Johnson proposed to pollute several small lakes intentionally.
The Canadian government set aside lakes in northern Ontario called the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA). I am not sure of the exact location of these lakes but they appear to be to the south of HWY 17, East of Hwy 71 in the Dogtooth Lakes area which is in or near the Provincial Park by that name. See maps here, here and here. |
1966-1968 Schindler was an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Trent University.
1968-06 Schindler, D. W. 1968-06. “Feeding, Assimilation and Respiration Rates of Daphnia magna Under Various Environmental Conditions and their Relation to Production Estimates.” Journal of Animal Ecology. 37:2:369-385. British Ecological Society.
1968 Pierre Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada and remained in office until 1979. He was re-elected Prime Minister in 1980 and remained in office until 1984.
1968 Schindler was at the Freshwater Institute, Fisheries Research Board of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
1968 Schindler was invited to head the Experimental Lakes Project of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans near Kenora, Ontario. He conducted conducting experiments on whole ecosystems to directly test the effects including eutrophication of nutrient inputs, acid rain, climate change and other human insults on boreal aquatic ecosystems. His work has been widely used in formulating ecological management policy in Canada, the USA and in Europe. The Experimental Lakes Area was set aside for large-scale, whole-lake experiments. This had never done before. The project included a stellar staff of senior scientists. The Eutrophication Section was headed by well known ecologist Jack Vallentyne, who had recruited a group of about 15 senior scientists from around the world. Schindler was “one of the two or three youngest members of the group, and it was just a terrific environment for a young scientist to be in (Zagorski 2006).”
1968 Early stages of the oil sands development.
1969 Schindler was part of a team that studied Lake Winnipeg.
1969-1974 Richard M. Nixon was President of USA.
1973 The United States Congress passed the Endangered Species Act considered to be the most comprehensive and powerful piece of environmental legislation (Orians 1993).
1973
Dr. David W. Schindler separated Lake 226 with a a giant shower curtain and “treated one half with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous and the other half with carbon and nitrogen only (7). Aerial photographs captured the dramatic results: the phosphorous-treated half of the lake had become green and murky because of algal blooms, whereas the other half of the lake remained clear. Pictures can speak a thousand words, and the stark contrast of the two sides of Lake 226 caught the public’s eye and policymakers’ collective ear (Zagorski 2006-05-09).”1974-05-24 “In a now-famous experiment (Science, 24 May 1974, p. 897), the team divided Lake 226 with a plastic curtain and added phosphorus to one half. When it turned a distinctive murky green, they had their answer. It was an aerial photograph from this experiment that largely persuaded policymakers to phase out phosphorus from detergents. “I think that’s the single most powerful image in the history of limnology,” Elser says. When Schindler took the results— and the photo—to government hearings in Canada and the United States, he put ELA on the map as a hub of innovative,policy-relevant research.” |
1974 Gerald R. Ford was President of the USA from 1974-1977.
1976-1988 In the Experimental Lake Area Schindler tackled one of the most contentious issues of the day, acid rain. In a series of experiments conducted between 1976 and 1988, researchers added sulfuric and nitric acid, pollutants that lead to acid rain, to Lake 223 and others.
1977 James Carter was President of the USA from 1977-1981.
1979 The Department of Fisheries and Oceans took over the management of Freshwater Institute and the Experimental Lakes which meant that departmental officials not scientists were in charge. This eventually changed the direction of research. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans focused on marine not freshwater and Experimental Lakes Project suffered from chronic underfunding.
1979-1990 Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister of UK.
1980 Since 1980, “Canada’s total energy production has increased by 87 percent, while its total energy consumption has increased by only 44 percent. Almost all of Canada’s energy exports go to the United States, making it the largest source of U.S. energy imports. Canada is consistently among the top sources for U.S. oil imports, and it is the largest source of U.S. natural gas and electricity imports. Recognizing the importance of the energy trade between the two countries, both participate in the North American Energy Working Group, which seeks to improve energy integration and cooperation between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico (EIA).”
1981 “Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions: Toward a Better Understanding of the Ecological Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion.” Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR)
1981 Schindler was head of the Committee on the Atmosphere and the Biosphere “Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions: Toward a Better Understanding of the Ecological Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion.” National Academy Press.
1981 Ronald Reagan was President of the USA from 1981-1989.
1982 Schindler was President of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography.
1984 Schindler was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award of the American Institute of Fisheries Biologists,
1984 Schindler was awarded the Frank Rigler Award of the Canadian Limnological Society.
1984 Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
1983 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).
1985 G.E. Hutchinson Medal of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography,
1986 “A publication by (Moon et al 1986) indicated that Suncor permitted effluent discharge of oil and grease to the Athabasca River at 420 kg per day (Moon et al 1986). Sometimes, operation problems resulted in excessive effluent discharge into the river (Moon et al 1986) In addition to water-born effluents, the two oil sands extraction plants (Suncor and Syncrude) emitted massive amounts of particulates in the atmosphere. Particulates mass emissions from the Suncor powerhouse stack ranged from 547 to 780 kg per hour; the Syncrude Canada main stacks mass emissions ranged from 713 to 1067 kg per hour (Moon et al 1986) cited in (Chen 2009-02).”
“This study examined trace metal levels in scalp hair taken from 122 children and 27 adult residents of three small northern Alberta (Canada) Indian villages, one of which is situated close to the world’s first tar sands oil extraction plants. The three communities studied were: Fort McKay (the exposed village), Fort Chipewyan (also in the tar sands ecosystem but distant from the plants), and Garden River (not in the tar sands ecosystem). Inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy was used to determine hair sample metal content. Nineteen metals were included in data analysis. Children from Fort McKay had the highest average hair lead, cadmium and nickel levels. Chromium levels were approximately equal in hair from Fort McKay and Garden River children, and significantly elevated above levels found in the hair of Fort Chipewyan children. Children from Garden River showed highest hair levels of eight metals: vanadium, aluminum, iron, manganese, barium, zinc, magnesium and calcium. Fort Chipewyan children had the highest hair levels of copper, but the lowest levels of all other metals. Among adults, hair lead, nickel and cadmium levels were highest in Fort McKay residents, while phosphorous and vanadium were highest in hair from Garden River residents. Bioaccumulation of lead, cadmium, nickel and chromium in hair from Fort McKay residents may be related to exposure to extraction plant pollution. Plant stack emissions are known to contain appreciable amounts of lead, nickel and chromium. Spills into the Athabasca River, until recently the source of Fort McKay drinking water, have been reported from plant wastewater holding ponds, known to contain elevated levels of lead, nickel and cadmium. An increased number of significant metal—metal correlations in hair metal levels for Fort McKay children suggests a richer source of multiple metal exposure, relative to children in the other two communities (Moon et al 1986).”
1988 Schindler was awarded the Naumann-Thienemann Medal of the International Limnological Society,
1989 Schindler left the Experimental Lakes Project which he had founded and managed since 1968.
1989-90 Schindler was a federal member of the Alberta Pacific Review Panel.
1989 Robert Hecky replaced Schindler as Director of the Experimental Lakes Project.
1989 George H. W. Bush President of the USA 1989-1993
1989-present “Dr. Schindler holds the Killam Memorial Chair and is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. He has studied the effects of climate warming, alien fish stocks, airborne contaminants and other human impacts on freshwaters of the Rocky Mountains.
1990 The U.S. Congress passed major amendments to the Clean Air Act that helped reduce acid rain (Science, 6 November 1998, p. 1024).
1990 Environmentalist, specialist in biosphere pollutants and water chemistry, David William Schindler received an honorary D.Sc. from the University of Victoria (1990).
1992 Dr. David Schindler received the Stockholm Prize, aquatic science’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for research studies carried out by the Freshwater Institute (FWI) at the Institute’s Experimental Lakes area field station in northwestern Ontario.
1993 Jean Chretien was Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
1993 Bill Clinton was elected as President of the USA and remained in office until 2001.
1993 Schindler was awarded the Manning Award of Distinction for Innovation in Science.
1994 Schindler was awarded the first Romanowski Medal of the Royal Society of Canada.
1996 The Canadian federal government tried to shut Experimental Lakes Project and Director Robert Hecky resigned in protest.
1998 Schindler was awarded the Volvo Environment Prize.
1997 The Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) is a joint environmental monitoring program that assesses the health of rivers and lakes in the oil sands region of northeastern Alberta. The RAMP Regional Study Area (RSA) is defined by the northeastern Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. The RAMP RSA is bounded by the Alberta-Saskatchewan border on the east, the Alberta-Northwest Territories to the northeast, the Wood Buffalo National Park to the northwest and various demarcations including the Athabasca River and Cold Lake Air Weapons Range to the south. Within the Regional Study area is the Focal Study area and this area is defined by the watersheds in which oil sands development is occuring or will occur as well as portions of the Athabasca and Clearwater rivers found within the RSA. RAMP has focused on these main aquatic systems: The Athabasca River and Peace Athabasca delta. Tributaries to the Athabasca River including the Steepbank, Clearwater -Christina, Hangingstone, Ells, Tar, Firebag, Calumet, Muskeg, MacKay Rivers as well as several smaller tributaries Wetlands and lakes occurring near current and proposed oil sands developments (Isadore’s Lake, Shipyard Lake, McClelland Lake and Kearl Lake. Acid sensitive lakes in northeastern Alberta. Regional Lakes important to fisheries (RAMP website).
1997-2009 Dr. Hans Peterson founded the Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SDWF), a small non-profit foundation that specializes in helping aboriginal communities with their water problems and in educating students about protecting freshwaters. In 2010 Schindler chaired the board of directors of the Safe Drinking Water Foundation.
1991 Schindler was awarded the first Stockholm Water Prize.
2000 Schindler was awarded the NSERC Award of Excellence in Research.
2000-2003 Schindler was a member of Environment Canada’s Science and Technology Advisory Board.
2001-01 George W. Bush was elected as President of the United States.
2001 Schindler was nominated as membership of the Royal Society of London in 2000 and named as Fellow in 2001 (FRS).
2001 Schindler was awarded the Environment Canada’s Vollenweider Lectureship.
2001 Schindler was awarded the Canadian Nature Federation’s Douglas Pimlott Award for Conservation.
2001 Schindler was awarded the National Science and Engineering Research Council’s Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, Canada’s highest scientific honor.
2003 Paul Martin was Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
2003 Schindler received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal.
2003-05 Schindler received the Killam prize, awarded for outstanding career achievements.
2004-01 Schindler was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
2004 Schindler was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
2004 Schindler was elected as one of 100 Edmontonians of the Century, in honour of Edmonton’s centennial year.
2005 Schindler chaired Alberta Environment’s 2005 review of Lake Wabamun.
2005 Schindler was awarded the Alberta Centennial Medal.
2005 The RAMP report claimed there was no negative impact of the Oil Sands development on the regional water system.
2006 Stephen Harper was elected as Prime Minister of Canada.
2006 “Canada is a net exporter of oil, natural gas, coal, and electricity. It is one of the most important sources for U.S. energy imports. Canada is consistently the top supplier of oil imports to the United States. Canada produced 19.3 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) of total energy, the fifth-largest amount in the world. In 2006, the largest source of energy consumption in Canada was oil (32 percent), followed by hydroelectricity (25 percent) and natural gas (24 percent). Both coal (10 percent) and nuclear (7 percent) constitute a smaller share of the country’s overall energy mix (EIA).”
2006 Schindler was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement “In recognition of his discoveries, made through interdisciplinary experimental research and ecological hypothesis testing, that contribute to understanding how anthropogenic stressors affect the health of freshwater ecosystems.”
2006 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Ruth Patrick Award.
2006-05-09 Schindler and Donahue published their findings in the The National Academy of Sciences of the USA on “An impending water crisis in Canada’s western prairie provinces.”
2006 Dr. John O’Connor, a physician working in Fort Chipewyan, reported a high number of cases of cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of bile duct cancer, as well as high rates of other cancers (Chen 2009-02).
2007-03-22 At the University of British Columbia guest speaker Dr. Schindler presented his paper entitled “Western Canada’s Freshwater Supply in the 21st Century” in which he argued that Canada’s western prairie provinces (WPP) will experience severe water shortages as a result of natural drought, climate warming, damage to natural drainage patterns and human demands for water.
2007-11 Kevin P. Timoney’s report, “funded by the Nunee Health Board Society evaluated environmental contaminants in the area surrounding Fort Chipewyan. From 2001 to 2005, concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) rose within the sediment around Lake Athabasca. The report indicated that the treated drinking water in Fort Chipewyan was safe, but described high levels of arsenic, mercury and PAHs in fish, which is the main diet of many people in Fort Chipewyan, especially members of its Aboriginal communities (Chen 2009-02).”
2008 Schindler was appointed to the Alberta Order of Excellence.
2008 Schindler co-authored the book entitled The Algal Bowl: Overfertilization of the World’s Freshwaters and Estuaries with J.R. Vallentyne. In it they describes in accessible language the causes of algal blooms and ways that this excessive production could be avoided and even reversed.
2008-10-26/28 Schindler was a guest speaker along with other internationally distinguished scientists specializing in Lake Winnipeg’s watershed issues who presented at a conference at the University of Winnipeg entitled The Red Zone: Currents, Chemicals and Change Symposium held in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
2008 An anonymous donor endowed the $1 million David Schindler Professorship in Aquatic Science which will ensure that Trent University will be able to attract and retain the finest faculty in perpetuity.
2008(?) Schindler served on the Board of Directors of the provincial Safety, Security and Environment Institute.
2008(?) Schindler chaired the International Review Committee for the Alberta Ingenuity Water Research Center.
2009-05 Schindler received the Royal Canadian Institute’s Sandford Fleming Medal for public communication of science.
2009-02 Alberta Health Services (AHS) released a study entitled Cancer Incidence Cancer Incidence in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta 1995-2006 by Yiqun Chen. The study found that cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan were 30% higher than expected and that community residents had a much higher likelihood of suffering from rare auto-immune diseases than other Albertans.
2009-12-03 Schindler, David W. 2009-12-03. “Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Issues in the Canadian Boreal Biome: The Cumulative Effects of Human Disturbance and Changing Climate.” IAP: The Global Network of Science Academies
2010-08-24. A report by Kelly, Erin N. Kelly, David W. Schindler, Peter V. Hodson, Jeffrey W. Short, Roseanna Radmanovich, Charlene C. Nielsen entitled “Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries.” was published in the prestigious and influential journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
2010-01-12 Schindler presented IAP Conference on Biodiversity in London.
Academic and Honorary Degrees
Awards and Honours
Service in the International Scientific Community
Selected Webliography
Selected Awards and Honours
References
Related Reading
Elton, Charles S. 1958. The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. University of Chicago Press.
Yedlin, Deborah. 2010-08-31. “Athabasca water study misses bigger picture.” Calgary Herald.
Chen, Yiqun. 2009-02. Cancer Incidence Cancer Incidence in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta 1995-2006 . Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Moon J, Smith TJ, Tamaro S, Enarson D, Fadl S, Davison AJ et al. “Trace metals in scalp hair of children and adults in three Alberta Indian villages.” Sci Total Environ 1986; 54:107-125.
Spectrum management: black and white low resolution
March 9, 2010
At a 5000% mark-up, colour may be too expensive for most of us and we will be back to viewing the world in black and white, low resolution and high noise interference.
In Canada, radio airwaves or spectrum, a public resource, is managed by Industry Canada. The Canadian federal government with a $54 billion deficit hopes to gain c. $ 1 billion dollars through its spectrum 10-year licenses auction to cash in on cellphone industry’s astronomical profits (ex. 2006 total revenue $12.7 billion, 2008 total revenues c. 15.9 billion) Was the 2009 spectrum auction a bargain basement for telecommunications giants?
Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp, Canada’s largest cellphone providers have held spectrum licences for cellphone services in Canada. In 2006 alone Canada’s cellphone industry total revenue was $12.7 billion, 95% of this going to these three companies who- lacking competition- charged higher rates and provided poorer services than services in peer countries. In 2008 the total revenue for Canadian cellphone companies was $15.9 billion and in 2010 cellphone providers Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada Inc., Telus Corp, Fido and Virgin charged up to a 5000% mark-up even calculations included technology and overhead costs. Prices were so high and customer service so bad that Marketplace held a “Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill” contest (Mesley 2010-03-05).
It is no wonder that Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE: RCI) is listed by Forbes as having Aggressive Growth potential. Should we applaud the growth for Rogers investors or lament the management of the Spectrum commons?
“Spectrum is a catch-all term for the radio airwaves that many wireless gizmos use to communicate information. Radios use spectrum, as do the rabbit-ear antennas on older television sets. The CBC, for example, is broadcast free to many parts of Canada using a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cellphones, of course, also use it. Spectrum is divided into different frequencies and measured in units called hertz. The government extracts big revenue from selling spectrum licences to cellphone companies, because those licences are limited while demand is high. Other telecommunications providers would like to offer cellphone services but can’t, because they don’t have a spectrum licence. The auction is expected to earn the government at least $1 billion. A number of smaller regional companies, including Winnipeg-based Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. and Regina-based SaskTel, also have licences and offer cellphone services (Nowak 2008-05-26).
See map of cellphone costs worldwide.
Timeline
1789 Jeremy Bentham “considered protection from harm, as more basic (and an aim of regulation) than provision of enjoyments: “the care of providing for his enjoyments ought to be left almost entirely to each individual: the principal function of government being to protect him from suffering” (Bentham 1789/1948:301, quoted in Shrader-Frechette 1991:285). An assessor’s prima facie (at first sight) duty is to minimise the chance that an unsafe technology is implemented; in order to minimise public risk. This is a value judgement: is it more important to protect the public from harm (hazards from risky technologies, such as cellular towers), than to provide welfare (benefits from new technologies, such as third generation services and better cellular coverage)? The perception and response type I and type II errors in regulation reveal the rationality of the regulator. The research analyses the national
thresholds pertaining to RF human hazards and spurious emissions (Madjar 2008-08).”
1864 to 1873 James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1894), a Scot theoretical physicist, demonstrated that four relatively simple equations could fully describe electric and magnetic fields and their interaction. He described how charges and currents produce an Electro Magnetic Radio wave (Madjar 2008-08).”
1887, in the research laboratory of a young German physicist, Heinrich Hertz, the first radio transmitter began working briefly over a range of just a few metres (Madjar 2008-08).”
1895-05-07. Alexander Popov (1859-1906) demonstrated his instrument for the detection and recording of electrical oscillations (Madjar 2008-08).”
1895-spring In the spring of the same year, Guglielmo Marconi (1874- 1937) took his wireless experiments outdoors and soon discovered that an intervening hill was no barrier to the reception of electromagnetic waves (Madjar 2008-08).”
1987-1991 New Zealand was the first country to apply the Wireless Act in 1903 (one year before the UK); the first RF Auction in the world occurred there in 1989. Neo-liberal ideologues promoted structural adjustment program which was more drastic than that inaugurated by Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain (Herman and McChesney 1997:178-9). Their 1987-1991 auction of UHF spectrum resulted in the acquisition of RF (Herman and McChesney 1997:180) (Madjar 2008-08:47).”
2002 The economist Vernon L. Smith, the laureate of Nobel Prize 2002, published (Smith 1962) that only under perfect competition, the market price establishes equilibrium between supply and demand- at the level, where the value assigned to a good by a marginal buyer is as high as that of a marginal seller (Madjar 2008-08:47).”
Today there are more than 3 billion cellular telephones worldwide.
2007-11 Even though Canada’s cellphone industry made $12.7 billion in 2006, 95% of the total revenue went to Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp who charged higher rates and provided poorer services than peer countries because of lack of competition (Nowak 2008-05-26)
2008 In 2008 c. 60 % of Canadians subscribed to a cellphone service, subtantially behind the rest of the industrialized world. Countries such as Denmark and Norway where c. 90% of the population are subscribed and rates are much lower (Nowak 2008-05-26)
Instituting special breaks in the auction was the government’s way of spurring competition (Nowak 2008-05-26)
2008 The total revenue for Canadian cellphone companies was $15.9 billion and in 2010 cellphone providers Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada Inc., Telus Corp, Fido and Virgin charged up to a 5000% mark-up even when calculations included technology and overhead costs. Prices were so high and customer service so bad that Marketplace held a “Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill” contest (Mesley 2010-03-05).
2008-08 Haim Mazar Madjar defended his dissertation entitled “An Analysis of Regulatory Framework for Wireless Communications, Societal Concerns and Risk: the Case of Radio Frequency (RF) Allocation and Licensing” at Middlesex University in which he analysed the role of culture and geography in allocation and licensing of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum in different nations. Using an inter-disciplinary approach for example, he explored contrasting risk-management regulatory frameworks/attitudes in the UK, France, US and Ecuador. He summarized and used 3 alternative sociological theories including Mary Douglas et al.’s Cultural Theory (CT) re: categorising countries in terms of perceptual filters. Bounded Rationality (BR) is used to investigate and explain these apparent irrationalities. Rational Field Theory (RFT) showed how beliefs and values guide administrations in RF regulation. Wireless regulation is now divided into two major camps (the EU and the US), which differ in their risk concerns, approach to topdown mandated standards, allocation of RF spectrum to licence-exempt bands and type approval process.
2010-03-04 The Canadian federal government announced its response to the $54 billion deficit which will take the form of $17.6 billion savings (2010-1015) by streamlining and reducing the operating and administrative costs of government departments.
2010-03-04 The Canadian federal budget has confused opposition politicians and industry observers alike as to whether Canada will open its doors to foreign telecommunications companies. The government promised to increase competition and investment in the telecommunications sector, which will lead to greater innovation and lower prices for consumers by removing foreign ownership restrictions on satellites. However, critic Marc Garneau claimed the budget was an overall disappointment in terms of the digital economy as there is no national digital economy plan and future plans include vague allusions to further studies in terms of fast and affordable broadband internet access for all Canadians. Canada was a leader in the digital economy in 2000. Now we are behind other OCED countries. This federal budget promised more on outdoor recreational infrastructure than on high-speed internet in rural areas (Nowak 2010-03-04).
Webliography and Bibliography
Madjar, Haim Mazar. 2008-08. “An Analysis of Regulatory Framework for Wireless Communications, Societal Concerns and Risk: the Case of Radio Frequency (RF) Allocation and Licensing.” PhD Dissertation. Supervisors: Dr. Peter Hough; David Ball; June Burnham. School of Health and Social Sciences. Middlesex University.
Hazlett, T. W.; Munoz, R. E.; Square, V. “A welfare analysis of spectrum allocation policies.” utfsm.cl
“Economic analysis of spectrum allocation policies focuses on competitive bidding for wireless licenses. Auctions generating high bids, as in Germany and the UK, are identified as “successful,” while those producing lower receipts, as in Switzerland and the … ”
McMillan, J. 1995. “Why auction the spectrum?” Telecommunications Policy. Elsevier. stanford.edu [PDF]
“Of the alternative spectrum allocation methods — administrative process, lottery, first come first served, and auction — economic theory, as well as various countries’ experiences, show that auctioning works best. As well as raising revenue, an auction assigns licenses to the firms … ”
Mesley, Wendy. 2010-03-05. “Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill.” CBC Marketplace. http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/ID=1433056621
Noam, E. 1998. “Spectrum Auctions: Yesterday’s Heresy, Today’s Orthodoxy, Tomorrow’s” The Journal of Law and Economics. University of Chicago Press.
Nowak, Peter. 2008-05-26. “Wireless spectrum: Auction of radio airwaves will influence Canada’s prosperity.” CBC News
Nowak, Peter. 2010-03-04. “Budget sows confusion over telecom rules.” CBC News
CBC Recycles Anti-recycling Arguments
April 14, 2009
Anti-recyclers like the Cato Institute’s Grant Schaumberg, Katherine Doyle (1991), James DeLong of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (1994), Lynn Scarlett (1995) of the Reason Foundation, Jeff Bailey (1995) of the Wall Street Journal, Alan Caruba (2003-01), Daniel K. Benjamin (2003) of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), John Tierney (1996), J. Winston Porter of the Waste Policy Center in Leesburg, Va., Libertarian Michael Mungerar (2007) and La Giorgia (2009-01) argue that “the market” should determine what if anything is recycled. Anti-recycler Tierney claimed that the well-publicized 1000s-of-miles journey of the Mobro 4000, a barge carrying Long Islanders’ trash, trying to unload its cargo, incited a garbage guilt epidemic among Americans. He like other anti-recyclers, also claimed that the garbage crisis that emerged from this image continues today under false pretenses: there is no shortage of environmentally safe landfill sites; curbside recycling rarely pays for itself in direct returns; recycling is not economically efficient. (Tierney 1996-06-30)
Recycling advocates Richard A. Denison and John F. Ruston (1996) of the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC argue that the think tanks quoted by the anti-recyclers such as The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute (both based in Washington DC), the Reason Foundation (based in Santa Monica, CA) and the Waste Policy Center (based in Leesburg, VA) that tend to promote market interests over the state, minimal government intervention in general and government programs of any kind. At least some of these think tanks accept funding from companies involved in “solid waste collection, landfilling and incineration, the manufacturing of products from virgin materials, and the production and sale of packaging and consumer products. Many of the corporations that fund the anti-recyclers have a direct economic stake in maintaining the waste management status quo and in minimizing consumers’ scrutiny of the environmental effects of products and packaging.” (Denison and Ruston 1996-07-18)
Timeline
1960s A political movement to save the environment emerged called the greening of America
1960s Martin Lapierre’s father founded Profix Environnement, an industrial collector of corrugated cardboard based in Laval, Quebec by collecting used boxes and selling them back to manufacturers for reprocessing. Martin, who inherited the business estimated that the cardboard the firm has recycled over the years has saved at least 750,000 trees (“(La Giorgia 2009-04-09).
1970-04-22 20 million people celebrated the first Earth Day in the United States.
1970-04-22 United Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
1972 the Club of Rome published Limits to Growth arguing that the American way of life was not sustainable.
1980 Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana was formed by a group of economists claiming dedication to improving environmental quality through markets and property rights through research and outreach education. Research is at the heart of PERC’s work followed by outreach and education. PERC claims to have pioneered the approach known as free market environmentalism (FME).
1987 A barge named the Mobro 4000 wandered thousands of miles trying to unload its cargo of Long Islanders’ trash, and its journey had a strange effect on America.” Anti-recycler Tierney claimed that the garbage crisis that emerged from this image continues today under false pretenses. He also claimed that there is no shortage of environmentally safe landfill sites. (Tierney 1996-06-30)
1987 America devised a national five-year plan for trash. The Environmental Protection Agency promulgated a “Waste Hierarchy” that ranked trash disposal options: recycling at the top, composting and waste-to-energy incinerators in the middle, landfills at the bottom. The E.P.A.’s five-year goal, to recycle 25 percent of municipal trash, was announced in a speech in early 1988 by J. Winston Porter, an assistant administrator of the agency. Even as Porter was setting the goal, he realized that it was presumptuous for a bureaucrat in Washington to tell everyone in America what to do with their trash. “After all the publicity about the barge,” Porter recalls, “I sat down with some engineers in my office to estimate how much municipal waste could be recycled. At that time, about 10 percent was being recycled. We looked at the components of waste, made a few quick calculations and figured that it was reasonable to reach a level of 25 percent within five years. It wasn’t a highly quantified thing. Some of the staff didn’t even want me to mention a figure. But I thought it would be good to set a target, as long as it was strictly voluntary and didn’t involve a lot of regulations.” Politicians across the country had bigger ideas. State and city officials enacted laws mandating recycling and setting arbitrary goals even higher than the E.P.A.’s. Most states set rigid quotas, typically requiring that at least 40 percent of trash be recycled, often even more-50 percent in New York and California, 60 percent in New Jersey, 70 percent in Rhode Island. Industries were pressured to set their own goals. Municipalities followed the Waste Hierarchy by building waste-to-energy incinerators and starting thousands of curbside recycling programs-all in the belief that it would be cheaper than landfilling. But the incinerators turned out to be disastrously expensive, and the recycling programs produced a glut of paper, glass and plastic that no one wanted to buy.” (Tierney 1996-06-30)
1989 J. Winston Porter left the Environmental Protection Agency and became president of a consulting firm, the Waste Policy Center in Leesburg, Va. By 1996 he was advising cities and states to abandon their unrealistic goals of recycling and he “ridiculed EPA policies he had helped implement saying, “People in New York and other places are tilting at recycling windmills. […] There aren’t many more materials in garbage that are worth recycling.” (Tierney 1996-06-30)
1991-09 anti-recyclers, Grant Schaumberg and Katherine Doyle, “Wasting Resources to Reduce Waste: Recycling in New Jersey,” Washington DC: Cato Institute,
1994-01-26 James DeLong, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington said, “The solution to the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) non-crisis is to recognize that trash disposal is a commodity, like coal or asparagus, and to treat it accordingly. The government could establish a few rules to avoid externalities and cost shifting, and then let the free market work. Operating within this framework, waste disposal companies, truckers, railroads, municipal officials, recyclers, waste generators and others could all perform their receptive functions. The result would be a complex amalgam of regional landfills, short- and long-haul transportation by truck and rail, incineration, recycling, and source reduction. In a few years people would wonder what all the shouting was about.”
1995 anti-recycler, Jeff Bailey, “Curbside Recycling Comforts the Soul, But Benefits are Scant,” Wall Street Journal,
1995-01-19 anti-recycler Lynn Scarlett (Reason Foundation) “A Consumer’s Guide to Environmental Myths and Realities,” Dallas, TX: National Center for Policy Analysis,
2002 “The continuing dialogue about recycling is well illustrated by the February 2002 response of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC)—one of many groups formed around this issue—to the white paper put out by the EPA. The NRC finds much to approve of in the EPA recommendations but returns to the fundamental issue of sustainability: can we go on producing and consuming and disposing of material goods at an ever-increasing rate?”
2003-09 Daniel K. Benjamin published the report entitled Recycling Rubbish: Eight Great Myths about Waste Disposal with Property and Environment Research Center.
2009-04-09 “From last year’s peak, prices [for recyclable material] have dropped 50 to 90 per cent,” said Mairi Welman of the Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC), a group of government and industry members with a stake in recycling ( “(La Giorgia 2009-04-09).
2009-01 Profix Environnement, an industrial collector of corrugated cardboard based in Laval, Quebec was struggling to survive as the price of cardboard dropped to zero (“(La Giorgia 2009-04-09).
2009 Quebec promised $4.8 million in loan guarantees to support its recycling industry, as well as legislation allowing recycling companies and municipalities to renegotiate contracts (“(La Giorgia 2009-04-09).
Webliography and Bibliography
DeLong, James V. 1994-01-26. “Wasting Away; Mismanaging Municipal Solid Waste.” Competitive Enterprise Institute Monograph.
Denison, Richard A.; Ruston, John F. 1996-07-18. “Anti-Recycling Myths Commentary on ‘Recycling is Garbage‘”.
La Giorgia, Giancarlo. 2009-04-09. “No cents in recycling as economy kills demand for material.” CBC News.
Munger, Michael. 2007-07-02. “Think Globally, Act Irrationally: Recycling.” July 2, 2007. Library of Economics and Liberty. Accessed 2009-04-13.
Tierney, John. 1996-06-30. “Recycling is Garbage.” New York Times Magazine.
Benjamin, Daniel K. 2003-09. Recycling Rubbish: Eight Great Myths about Waste Disposal PERC Reports: 21:3.
Caruba, Alan. 2003-01. “The Utter Waste of Recycling.”