Useless arithmetic : why environmental scientists can't predict the future / Orrin H. Pilkey & Linda Pilkey-Jarvis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pilkey, Orrin H., 1934-2024.

Contributor:

Pilkey-Jarvis, Linda.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmental protection--Decision making--Mathematics.

Environmental protection.

Environmental policy--Mathematics.

Environmental policy.

Ecology--Mathematical models.

Ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (247 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Writing for the general, nonmathematician reader and using examples from throughout the environmental sciences, Orrin Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis show how unquestioned faith in mathematical models can blind us to the hard data and sound judgment of experienced scientific fieldwork. They begin with the extinction of the North Atlantic cod on the Grand Banks of Canada, and then they discuss the limitations of many models across a broad array of crucial environmental subjects. Case studies depict how the seductiveness of quantitative models has led to unmanageable nuclear waste disposal practi

Contents:

Contents; Preface; CHAPTER ONE: Mathematical Fishing; CHAPTER TWO: Mathematical Models: Escaping from Reality; CHAPTER THREE: Yucca Mountain: a Million Years of Certainty; CHAPTER FOUR: How Fast the Rising Sea?; CHAPTER FIVE: Following a Wayward Rule; CHAPTER SIX: Beaches in an Expected Universe; CHAPTER SEVEN: Giant Cups of Poison; CHAPTER EIGHT: Invasive Plants: An Environmental Apocalypse; CHAPTER NINE: a Promise Unfulfilled; Appendix; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-221) and index.

ISBN:

9786613791153

9781281790187

1281790184

9780231506991

0231506996

OCLC:

826476602