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Monday, March 12, 2012 Issue 43

T H E

E D I T O R I A L L Y

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 119

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

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N E W S P A P E R

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T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

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T E N N E S S E E

Economist strategizes against deforestation Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief Conservation works best where it’s often most contested: developed and populated areas. Environmental economist Alex Pfaff believes parks should be created where they will be most effective for blocking deforestation. He met with students and faculty at the Baker Center on Thursday to discuss specifics on preventing environmental degradation in a lecture titled “Avoided Amazonian Deforestation and Policy Design.” “I’m very interested in impacts of policies,” Pfaff said. “If you can see policy Type 1 has more impact than policy Type 2, that can be more of an influence for changing policy on the ground ... you point to places and actions that will do more, versus places and actions that will do less.” Pfaff asserts that land conservation can be fine-tuned to achieve greater impacts in protecting the environment. “If you think that protected areas here and there have different impacts, then where they are positioned determines impact,” Pfaff said. “Who makes these decisions also matters. It’s pretty likely that a federal actor will put protection in a different area than a state actor.” In conducting his research, Pfaff focuses on exposing the specific characteristics of land reserve locations to determine which yield most benefit for society. “The basic idea is to split up space, and ask what the impact will be,” Pfaff said. His findings have specific implications for planning preservation regions. “Is it correct that protected areas in threat zones have greater impacts than protected areas farther from cities?” Pfaff said. “Yes. Parks closer to roads have larger impacts. Conservation impacts vary over space.” Surprisingly, road positioning is a major factor in the effectiveness of land preserves in blocking deforestation. “Different places in space have different economic activity going on, in which a park will

intervene,” Pfaff said. “Here I told you if a park is far from a road, it’s not doing much.” Parks situated in sparsely populated areas, however, are not always ill-placed. “Conservation has tended to be in lower threat zones,” Pfaff said. “That doesn’t mean it’s not optimal. There are many costs and benefits to be taken into consideration. Here I am only focusing on impacts on the rate of deforestation. It might still be worth it, but if you only have 100 bucks would you want to put it in a place with greater impact or less?” State and federal governments take dissimilar approaches to conservation. “Would you want to hand money to federal actor or local actor?” Pfaff asked. “I argue it matters for deforestation. There is a large difference in impact between state and federal protection. Any location choice has implications for impact. Federal sustainable parks have more impacts.” The deforestation rate is only one of many factors involved in environmental protection, and while Pfaff focuses on spatial configurations, he was careful to stress the importance of other factors like species habitat, as well. “The private and the public sectors are playing this interactive game,” Pfaff said. “Let’s say then you place a park. Could you have an extra effect of shaping where development goes? Sure. People are evaluating their future payments from being in a certain place.” During the course of his lecture, Pfaff was intent on providing workable solutions to immediate threats in the developing world. “He works frequently with projects focusing on developing countries,” Jacob LaRiviere, professor of economics, said. “His work has been supported by grants from numerous agencies.” Pfaff is an associate professor of public policy, economics and environment at Duke University. From his base in Durham, N.C., Pfaff focuses his attention on the relationship between economic development and natural resources. This event was part of a series sponsored by the Baker Center’s Interdisciplinary Group on Energy and Environmental Policy.

• Photo courtesy of Eborutta

Trees lie devastated after an eruption at Mount Saint Helens in the summer of 2003. Alex Pfaff, an environmental economist who spoke at UT, helped inform students about the conservation efforts for developed and populated areas.

Show hopes to end discrimination Student artworks Victoria Wright Student Life Editor

lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered social issues have slowly turned into a modern civil rights movement. “Between all these different things that are happening, I think there’s more community than there ever has been,” Wright said. “I think it’s come to a crisis point where it’s going to break now. There’s just too many of us.” While about 15 million Americans qualify themselves on some area of the LGBT spectrum, an exact number for UT students is not conducted. According to the commission, the university does not ask students to declare their sexual orientation, and for some students, participating in Wright’s project is an act of “coming out.” Jennifer Moshak, commission co-chair and associate athletic director for sports medicine, said the event is an effort for the commission to eliminate bias and discrimination against LGBT students.

In an effort to dissolve discrimination, one woman is using her camera lens to capture LGBT people, as they are. Documentary filmmaker and photographer iO Tillett Wright will visit Knoxville to photograph LGBT students and other individuals for her nationwide project titled “Self-Evident Truths.” Wright held her first portrait session on Sunday at Lox Salon in the Old City and will be in Knoxville until Tuesday. Wright, who qualifies herself on the LGBT spectrum, will also host a reception on the lecture on Monday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Clarence Brown Theatre. UT’s Commission for LGBT People and Ready for the World wrote a letter to sponsor Wright’s visit to UT. Amid a planned appeal for the ban of gay marriage in California, See TRUTHS on Page 3

Josef Beal • The Daily Beacon

Christopher Herbert reads from his book “The Boiling Season” during the first meeting of the Worlds in Their Words series on Monday, March 5. Future performances in the series will be held on March 12, and April 2, 11 and 16 in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of Hodges Library.

win cash prizes Christopher Elizer Staff Writer UT student art is on display in Hodges Library as part of the Student Art in the Library exhibition. Artwork in the exhibit was selected by a committee of library staff from many submissions, each the work of a UT student. The first- and second-place winners both received cash prizes. The second-place winner, Stacey Austin-Heil, is currently a junior seeking her B.F.A. in graphic design. Her painting called “The Last Supper Club” is a spoof piece on Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” “Art is important in my life for a couple of reasons,” Austin-Heil said. “I’ve been able to make a living painting faux finishes and murals, I’ve become involved in the Maryville local art scene and I’ve participated in several Knoxville shows which have allowed me to meet people with similar interests and to grow as an artist. Art has driven my creativity and allowed for an outlet of that creative need.” Art was a part of AustinHeil’s life even at a young age. “My grandmother was an artist and she used to sell her paintings along the Santa Barbara Beach in California,” Austin-Heil said. “After her passing, I inherited some of her paintings, as well as some of her art supplies. This really helped me pursue my interest in art. I’ve always drawn and painted since I was a child.” The first-place winner, Courtney Kovacs, became interested in art during college. Kovacs is pursuing her master’s degree in the advertising program at UT, and plans to graduate with an M.S. in communications in May. Kovac received her B.A. in art

while minoring in English and journalism at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark. “Art wasn’t always important to me,” Kovacs said. “I enjoyed looking at it, but I was pretty sure it was something I could never do. This changed when I decided to take a drawing class as an elective in college, and I ended up truly enjoying the process as well as the results. I’ve never had a great deal of technical skill, but I appreciate and admire the skill and creativity I see around me every day.” Kovacs’ piece “Connections” is inspired by the connection between the artist and the audience of the artwork. “At the time that I created it I was feeling a lot of frustration with life, and with my choice to be an art major; I was making things but often they didn’t really mean anything to me,” Kovacs said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted, or where my passion was. At some point I reached the realization that the only thing that was important, that really mattered, was other people. The reason for creating art was to have someone else experience it, to create a bond between the artist and the audience through shared meaning.” Both winners’ artwork, as well as pieces by several other students, will be on display in Hodges Library Room 135 through the rest of the semester. “I think students that check out the art competition will see that it is varied in the type of art presented and that anyone can enter,” Austin-Heil said. Austin-Heil also encourages others to participate in the show, even if they have never tried making art before. “I don’t think you have to be an artist to enter this show,” Austin-Heil said. “You just have to do it.”


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