December 2007 archive

Dangerous trees?

Arboricultural Journal 2007, Vol. 30, pp. 95103  This is the published version of a paper prepared for a conference on The Future of Tree Risk Management, held in London on 15 September 2006.  Abstract Britain, in the view of former Prime Minister Blair, is in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks …

Continue reading

The cost of inaction: why cost-benefit analysis seldom settles arguments

Draft for WHO Workshop, Rome, 13-14 December 2007. The cost of inaction: economic valuation in environment and health. Contemplation of the costs of inaction usually provokes questions about the benefits of inaction, which leads to cost-benefit analysis. Cost-benefit analysis, as a method for settling arguments about action or inaction is enormously seductive. You simply add …

Continue reading

The demise of the free-range child

In 1971 Mayer Hillman conducted a survey of how English children got about: at what age were they allowed to play in the street, ride a bike, get to school on their own, visit friends and get about the neighbourhood? In 1990 Mayer persuaded me to join him in re-surveying the same schools he had …

Continue reading