3 Burst results for "Eric Holstein"
BrainStuff
"eric holstein" Discussed on BrainStuff
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That's because VMware delivers the multi cloud choice, security, and control you need to accelerate innovation, deliver great apps and drive business forward. VMware, the smarter way to cloud. Learn more at VMware dot com slash welcome. Since I paid off my credit card debt with a loan from happy money, I'm saving money. My credit score is improved and the anxiety is gone. Happy money offers personal loans with low fixed rates and your best interests at heart. Apply today at happy money dot com. Happy money. Fund your happy. NML S ID number one three 9 6 8 zero 5. Not all applicants may qualify. Loans are not offered in Massachusetts and Nevada. Happy money works with lending partners who originate the loans. Additional terms, conditions and eligibility requirements may apply. Welcome to brain stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, brain stuff Lauren vogelbaum here. The sharing economy has changed everything from how people get around a city to how they rent rooms while traveling. And now it's even seeping into a college. In California's Sacramento valley, farmers are temporarily leasing, flooded rice paddies to the nature conservancy, so the migratory shorebirds have a place to stop and feed while traveling the Pacific flyway, which is the major north south route that extends from Alaska to Patagonia. In the program, dubbed bird returns has been in development by the nature conservancy since 2014 and is helping conservationists deal with these short term needs of migrating birds. And because of urbanization, agriculture and climate change, the migrating birds have less access to wilderness to mate, feed, nest and rear their young. At the same time, the project gives farmers the opportunity to support conservation efforts. And maybe earn a little extra money without negatively impacting crop production. During February and March of 2014, the pilot season for the program, just 2% of Sacramento valleys, some 500,000 acres of rice fields. That's around 200,000 hectares, were turned into shallow water for shorebird habitat. Event season, the pop up wetlands supported more than a 180,000 birds, representing 57 different species. On average, the researchers found three times more bird diversity and 5 times greater density on rice paddies that participated in the program compared to unenrolled fields. Migrating animals like shorebirds are in jeopardy, as their ranges cover vast swathes of land. A study published in the journal science in 2015 reported that just 9% of over 1400 migratory bird species had access to protected areas for all the stages of their annual cycle. In California in particular, 90% of original wetland habitat has been lost to agriculture and urban development. Since the nature conservancy was founded in 1951, it's worked conserve habitat by working with landowners to purchase land or permanently limit the use of their land in order to maintain its wildness. Each agreement is worked out individually, a process that's expensive and can take months or years to develop. For the article this episode is based on, how stuff works spoke with Mark Reynolds, PhD, the lead scientist for the nature conservancies, California, migratory bird program. He explained that he and his colleagues, including sandy matsumoto, the team's project manager, and Eric holstein, the team's economist, thought that the demand for purchasing migrating bird habitat could bar exceed their resources. Quote, we were looking at our habitat needs and thinking, how do we buy our way to success? Sandy said, do we need to buy land for the whole year? It looks like the animals need it part of the time. Eric, with his background in economics, said we could do a reverse auction. I said a reverse what? A reverse auction overturns the conventional role of buyer and seller. Instead of buyers competing to outbid each other to obtain a good or service, a seller's compete to offer their goods or services to one buyer at a competitive price. And the sellers, in this case, are the owners of rice fields, which are typically farmed in California from April through August or May through October. During the growing seasons, the fields are normally flooded, but they're also flooded during the off seasons to decompose the rice double after harvest. A Reynolds and his colleagues saw an opportunity to work with the farmers to provide temporary wetland habitat for shorebirds passing through. So in early 2014, the nature conservancy issued an invitation to rice farmers to submit bids that itemized their costs to flood fields for four, 6 or 8 weeks at a time, beginning in February of that same year. The farmers set their own prices, and the nature conservancy was able to select the highest quality habitat for the lowest total cost. They repeated the process in the fall of 2014, and every year since then, a house stuff works also spoke with John Brennan, a partner at Brennan jewett and associates. A firm that manages rice sales for the Robin's rice company. He explained that the farmers are very receptive to this concept. Quote, to the extent that they can get their costs covered to do it, they're even more receptive because they see it as a, something that they're excited about and a way to make an environmental difference, and be something that really helps secure the longevity of the rice industry in California. To figure out where and when, shorebirds most needed wetland habitat for their migrations, Reynolds and his colleagues worked with experts at Cornell University's lab of ornithology, which collects information about birds through its citizen science project, E bird. And this online checklist allows bird enthusiasts across the country to tabulate the kinds of birds they see when they see them how many and where. Using data from E bird and grant money from NASA, the Cornell team built high powered computer models that predicted at weekly intervals, the presence and abundance of birds at different locations. From these models, Reynolds and his colleagues created maps to visualize and prioritize where and when habitat was needed most. But once they knew the locations, they requested bids from the local rice farmers. They adjust the program based on weather conditions during times of drought, the nature conservancy would pay more, and during times of excessive rain, it would pay less. When they extrapolated the potential costs for the project out, and they found the highest possible cost per year based on the average bid, was $1.4 million. But that's significantly higher than what the nature conservancy actually paid. Meanwhile, the estimated cost to restore rice fields to wetland habitats equal to that land area. Would cost around $25 million and maintenance fees would come in at about a $100,000 a year.
The Indicator from Planet Money
"eric holstein" Discussed on The Indicator from Planet Money
"Eric holstein is an economist. But, at the environmental nonprofit where he works, the nature conservancy, he spends most of his time around ecologists. Do you dress differently than the ecologists? It's so funny. You're the first person that has to ask me that question. I thought about this a lot. I would have buttoned down, sure. Do I not do I try to fit in or is it so obvious because of what I say that I'm The Economist? Unlike a lot of economists and consultants who tend to wear suits, Erik started wearing t-shirts and fleeces out the way, which comes in handy because also unlike a lot of economists, he spends a lot more time near his new favorite bird, the Dunlop. It's a couple inches tall. It's got a ton of personality. Eric spends a lot of time looking at something called the Pacific flyway. It is a huge route for migratory birds. It stretches from the Arctic, down through California central valley, all the way to Patagonia in the southern hemisphere. Millions of birds, over 300 species, rely on this flyweight every year to feed and to breed. A 150 years ago, if we were a bird and we were flying, we would look down and we'd see in the right seasons as sort of mosaic of wetlands that would be full of invertebrates and bugs and things that we would be interested in landing and eating. Now what we're seeing is a patchwork pattern of all the wall crops. Over 90% of that wetland habitat in California is now farmland. They grow tomatoes, grapes, apricots, even rice, which might sound a little odd for water parched, California. But either way, what habitat remains is particularly precarious this year. It is shaping up to be a record drought in America's west this summer. And if the habitat along the Pacific flyway is not available, that threatens the survival of entire species. So just buying up all that farmland and turning it back into wetlands like turning it into mud. That was pretty out of the question. California central valley, some of the most productive and expensive farmland in America, and in the world, like on the order of billions of dollars, and Eric and his conservation group did not have billions of dollars. So Eric got this crazy idea. Maybe they could save the birds with economics. This is the indicator from planet money. I'm Stacey vann Smith. And I'm Darren Woods. I don't care too much for money, money, can't buy me mud. But we might be able to rent it. That's off to the brain. Support for NPR and the following message come from give directly, a charity that lets you send money to people living in extreme poverty. You probably grew up hearing that you can't just give money to poor people, but it turns out that view is wrong. Hundreds of studies have shown direct giving can have positive impacts on education, health, and earnings. More importantly, cash lets the people you're trying to help invest and what they need the most. This giving season, your first donation will be matched up to $1000 when you visit give directly dot org slash NPR. That's give directly dot org slash NPR. In 2013, Eric holstein was in a windowless boardroom in Sacramento. He was there with 15 or 20 conservationists. And they were talking about this curious thing that rice farmers do. Every year, they flood their fields, and it creates these kind of muddy areas, a little like a wetland. It's good for the fields, but it is also great for migratory birds. The water's there for the birds to drink and rest in, and it attracts insects for the birds to eat. It's pretty much as good for the birds as an actual wetland. But the farming cycle and the migratory cycle don't match up perfectly. So Eric and his colleagues in that windowless room were trying to figure out how to convince rice farmers to flood their fields a little earlier in the fall and keep those fields flooded a little later into the spring. But in a drought year, that's a tough ask for farmers. And that is when Eric had the stroke of genius. Hey, this is going to sound like the craziest idea you've ever heard, but what do you think about us designing a reverse auction where we basically ask rice farmers, how much we would have to pay them in order to create really nice wetland habitat with all the right bugs and animals in it. So this scheme, this reverse auction, instead of buyers bidding, it would be the seller putting up beds of how much money they would want to get. So in this case, the conservationists would ask the farmers, how much would they need to flood their fields for longer? And the farmers each would figure out how much that extra water and labor would cost them. And then they'd tell the conservationists, I would need this much to flood my fields, say, a $100 per acre. The response from conservationists, blank faces. I thought it very honestly that I had bungled it. I was pretty convinced it was dead at that point. But Eric kept refining the idea. Over the next few weeks, he talked to colleagues, and eventually they thought they had a good system. They said, let's try this out. So they held workshops with rice farmers to see if collaboration might be possible. The farmers arrived in their trucks, work clues still on, stood there, arms crossed, farmers are historically kind of suspicious of conservationists proposing to do things with their land and water. Those were tough conversations. It was really not easy. I remember hearing about the reverse auction and thought it was kind of a wild idea. This is rice fama, Nicole van flick. She runs a sushi rice farm called Mona farms, and she was in one of those rooms in the Sacramento valley, and she remembers a bit of skepticism from the other farmers, but Nicole, she eventually signs up. And she encourages other rice farmers to do the same. Soon, the very first reverse auction to pay rice farmers to flood their fields was announced for early 2014, and Nicole needed to get her bids in order. And to figure this out, she tallied up two main costs. The cost of water and the cost of labor. Labor because somebody has to keep the fields wet at the right amount for the birds each day. And on the night before the day of bidding, Eric holstein was feeling restless. I had sort of fears of that was going to be my last day of employment. High stakes. It felt like pretty high stakes, but about mid morning. I remember getting a phone call from the program director saying you're just not going to believe it. There are dozens of bids that have already been placed. The bids ranged from a couple of $100 per acre to tens of dollars per acre. There was even a far more or two willing to do it for free. Eric's overall budget was just several $1 million, and what this meant was that Eric could take all of those beds and met them out against crowd sourced bird migration data. And see what land would be the most valuable to migratory birds. And then pay for the rice farms in those areas to flood their fields. The nature conservancy could also reject beds that were too high and go with cheaper farms in good areas for the birds. Nicole van vleck, among several other farmers, was paid to flood her fields. And she says the results were almost instant. A phenomenal success. They do get their very quickly. You know, you just add water. It's just that water. Yeah, and it's not much. What you're hearing is from Nicole's farm. From the field, it is a fling of dunlin, those little birds. That is the collective noun for donlin by the way, Darien, it is a fling, it's like a murder of crows, except for much cuter. And Eric says across California, the reverse auction has had huge results. On some days, there was almost all the equivalent habitat available for the Pacific flyway that there would have been prior to industrial agriculture. Of course, there are other restoration efforts going on as well. But to restore all the habitat loss, that would mean buying up that farmland and Eric estimates who cost $4 billion. But the equivalent cost of running it through an auction system is a lot cheaper. That would be around $20 million a year. Less than a percentage.
The Indicator from Planet Money
"eric holstein" Discussed on The Indicator from Planet Money
"This message comes from. Npr sponsor borough setting a new standard for furniture with innovative designs based on research for smarter simpler. Assembly gets seventy five dollars off. Today at borough dot com slash indicator support also comes from capital group home of american funds. Their fundamental research helps you say i can make more confident. Investment decisions visit capital group dotcom american funds distributors inc. In two thousand thirteen eric hosting was in a windowless boardroom. In sacramento he was there with fifteen or twenty conservationists and they were talking about this curious thing that rice farmers do every year they fled their fields and it creates these kind of muddy areas of little like a wetland. It's good for the fields but it is also great for migratory birds. The water's there for the birds to drink and rest in and in attracts insects for the birds to eat. It's pretty much as good for the birds as an actual wetland but the farming psycho and the migratory psycho. Don't match up perfectly. So eric and his colleagues in that windowless room with trying to figure out how to convince rice farmers to flood the fields a little earlier in the fall and keep those fields flooded a little later into the spring but in a drought year. That's tough ask for farmers. And that is when eric had the stroke of genius. Hey this is gonna sound like the craziest idea you've ever heard but wh what do you think about about us designing a reverse auction. Where we we basically ask rice farmers how much we would have to pay them in order to create really nice wetland habitat with all the rain bugs and animals in it could we create enough habitat in a really capitol efficient way so this scheme the reverse auction instead of buyers bidding. It would be the seller putting up bids of how much money they would want to get so in this case. The conservationists would ask the farmers how much would they need to flood their fields for longer than the farmers. Each would figure out how much extra water and labor would cost them. And then the. Tell the conservationists i would need this much to my fields say one hundred dollars per acre the response from conservationists blank faces very honestly that i had bungled it. I was pretty convinced. It was dead at that point. But eric kept refining the idea over the next few weeks he talked to colleagues and eventually they thought they had a good system. It said let's try this out so. They held workshops with rice farmers to see if collaboration might be possible. The farmers arrived in their trucks. Were clues still on stood their arms crossed. Farmers are historically kind of suspicious of conservationists proposing to do things with their land and water were tough conversations. It was really not easy. I remember hearing about the river suction and thought it was kind of a wild idea. This is rice pharma. Nicole van flick. She runs a sushi. Rice farm cold montana farms and she was one of those rooms in the sacramento valley and she remembers a bit of skepticism from the other farmers but nicole she eventually signs up and she encourages other rice farmers to do the same soon the very first reverse auction to pay rice farmers to flood their fields was announced for early. Two thousand fourteen and nicole needed to get her bids in order and to figure this out. She tallied up to maine costs. The cost of water and the cost of labor labor because somebody has to keep the fields wet at the right amount for the birds each day and on the night before the day of bidding. Eric holstein was feeling restless. I sort of fears of that was going to be my last day of employment high stakes. Who is it felt like pretty high stakes but about mid morning. I remember getting a phone call from the program director saying eric. You're just not going to believe it. There are dozens of bids that have already been placed the bids ranged from a couple of hundred dollars per acre to tens of dollars per acre. There was even a follow too willing to do it. for free. eric's overall budget was just several million dollars. And what this meant was that eric could take those bids and met them out against crowd. Sourced bid migration data and see. What land would be the most valuable to migratory birds and then pay for the rice farms in those areas to flood their fields. The nature conservancy could also reject bids that were too high and go with cheaper femmes in good areas for the birds. Nicole van black among several other farmers was paid to flood her fields and she says the results were almost instant phenomenal success. They do get there very quickly. You know you just add water. Just add water. Yeah and it's not much what you're hearing is from nicole's farm from the field it is a fling of dunlins those little birds that is the collective noun for deadline by the way during a fling like a murder of crows except for modest cuter. And eric says across california the reverse auction has had huge results. On some days there was almost all the equivalent habitat available for the pacific. Flyway that there would have been pryatta industrial agriculture. Of course there are other restoration if it's going on as well but to restore all the habitat loss that would mean buying up that farmland and eric estimates who cost four billion dollars but the equivalent cost of running it through an auction system is a lot cheaper that would be around twenty billion dollars a year less a percentage point of the cost of buying the land outright but this year with eight historic drought forecast. Eric says he got really nervous. I think that the water is so scarce that it's possible. Farmers will choose to not allocate any water and we will probably know in a couple of weeks. Well those two weeks there up now and the reverse auction just concluded and yeah. It was different this year. The morning of the final day of the auction there was only three or four bids representing just three hundred acres much lower than thousands last year. It was a nail biting moment but at about one pm on the final day. A bid from nicole plus bids from lots of other farmers started pouring in in total four thousand acres worth of farmland. So this year's ricefield flooding can go ahead and eric. He says the success this year. That's the beauty of the reverse auction system. It doesn't matter how bad the drought is. Every farmer still has their price. This episode was produced by julia. Richie with help from gilly moon. It was fact. Checked by michael. Aha k content edits the show and the indicator is a production of npr..