Ecological knowledge shrinks as economies grow
M
Sar ah Pilgrim
ost people realize that as will have to manage these resourcthors. In Indonesia, the scientists a society becomes more es in the future.” report a strong inverse correlation industrialized, individual In the past, valuable natural between income and the number knowledge about the natural world resources have been protected by of uses for local plants people rediminishes. New research pubkeeping them off-limits to developported, with people in wealthy villished in ES&T (pp 1004–1009) anament in designated national parks. lages knowing on average 18 fewer lyzes interviews done with people This approach can’t be used to pro- species uses than those in villages in various age groups with lower incomes. living in Indonesia, Rural U.K. resiIndia, and the U.K. to dents, for example, find out how much with a mean per capita ecological knowledge gross domestic prodis lost, when it is lost, uct (GDP) of $26,150, and how that loss afidentified the fewfects society’s ability est plants (on average to manage natural re24%), whereas people sources as industriliving in rural areas of alization occurs. The Indonesia, with a GDP findings indicate that of $2143, identified the future efforts to conmost (71%). serve biodiversity on There are many a global scale are at reasons for dwindling great risk. ecological knowledge Researchers from Researchers interviewed 1095 people to determine their knowledge in developed counof local terrestrial and marine resources. Among those interviewed the Department of tries, the researchers were former sea nomads of the Orang Bajo, who now live in the Biological Sciences at note. Yet they highWakatobi Marine National Park in southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. the University of Eslight the fact that most sex (U.K.) interviewed urban children spend 1095 people with different levels tect global biodiversity as a whole, very little time in unsupervised of economic development and rebecause it often requires movplay outdoors. A 2002 study by Dasource dependence, varying social ing people off their land, which vid Orr, professor of environmental and political norms and frame“damages the cultural, physical, studies and politics at Oberlin Colworks, and different environmental and social health of communilege, states that the average child protection institutions. They asked ties,” Pilgrim says. “Many of our in urban areas spent 42 minutes participants to identify and list indigenous groups live in mostly per day outdoors in 1997 compared uses for up to 50 local plant species untouched areas; therefore, they with 86 in 1981. Kids are outside and then examined the differences interact on a daily basis with some so little that they don’t even noin knowledge between sites as well of the world’s most valuable retice when a local species has been as within communities. source pools,” she says. wiped out, says Pretty. “You won’t “Preserving natural resources The pattern of acquisition was invest time in protecting somehas always been separate from clear: in industrialized regions, thing that you don’t love, and you social issues,” such as providing young people knew less than oldcan’t love something that you don’t housing and food, explains lead er folks. In Indonesia and India, know,” he adds. author Sarah Pilgrim, senior rehowever, young people knew the The loss of knowledge of the losearcher at the University of Essex. names of many local plants, yet cal ecosystem—of how to grow “Yet most of the world’s resources people tended to lose this knowlfood, use the local soil, and build are located where people are livedge as they became older, says shelters—will catch up with us in ing. So we’ve got to look at local Jules Pretty, professor of environthe near future, Orr explains. “We knowledge and management cament and society at the University are at the end of an era of cheap pacity, because the local residents of Essex and one of the paper’s aufossil fuel use, and our reliance
978 ■ Environmental Science & Technology / February 15, 2008
© 2008 American Chemical Society
on importing food, medicine, and products from a long distance” will soon be impractical. Few, if any, regulations exist to protect many natural resources, “so the trend is to overexploit and to underinvest,” Pretty says. “Climate change is a classic example of
this, and the same goes for the exploitation of resources in the open seas.” Recent estimates show that conserving biodiversity worldwide would cost $300 billion, the researchers note. Generally, a successful society can handle a small percentage of
“free riders,” or people who take advantage of natural resources, say 2 or 3 out of 30, Pretty says. “People don’t intend to break the rules, but they are doing so, and there is no knowledge on why abiding by the rules is so important.” —CATHERINE M. COONEY
The U.S. population should not rely on salt to provide enough iodine, according to the first survey of iodized salt from U.S. homes. More than half of 88 iodized salt samples analyzed contained less than the amount of iodine recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The results, published in ES&T (pp 1315–1323) by chemist Sandy Dasgupta at the University of Texas Arlington and colleagues, have implications for pregnant and nursing women as well as for children. The samples came from newly opened salt containers purchased by volunteers in 40 states. Fortyseven of the 88 samples had less than the FDA-recommended quantity of iodine (0.45 milligrams per kilogram), and 6 contained more. The researchers also found that salt lost iodine when the humidity was high. “There is no guarantee that the salt even contains the amount of iodine stated on the label,” says Dasgupta. “We found new containers of salt with almost no iodine at the top and four times more at the bottom. A pregnant woman or a woman nursing a baby could use that salt at the top for months and get next to no iodine,” he adds. Richard Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, a manufacturers group, contends that iodized salt should be homogenous and disputes the results because the sample collection relied on vol-
jupiterimages
Where is the iodine?
Fast-food outlets and restaurants usually do not use iodized salt.
unteers. The World Health Organization (WHO) assumes that salt loses about 20% of its iodine in the home. Dasgupta became interested in iodine as a result of his extensive work on perchlorate, a contaminant that can interfere with the thyroid’s ability to take up iodine. The thyroid uses iodine to make thyroid hormones, which direct brain development. Lack of sufficient iodine is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation in the world. Even a mild deficit, especially in pregnant women, infants, and children, lowers intelligence by 10–15 IQ points, according to the International Council for the Con-
trol of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, a nonprofit organization. Public-health studies from the past 30 years suggest that iodine levels in the U.S. population, particularly for women of childbearing age, are getting too low, says epidemiologist Kevin Sullivan at Emory University. Urinary iodine has plummeted by almost 50% in adults, and the frequency of moderate iodine deficiency in pregnant women has jumped from 1% to 7%. Thyroidologist Robert Utiger of Harvard Medical School believes that everyone should increase their iodine intake and expressed these views in a recent editorial (N. Engl. J. Med. 2006, 354, 2819–2821). Decreasing iodine levels reflect changes in American food and dietary habits. Several sources of iodine in the diet have been phased out. Iodine in milk has decreased because of changes in cattle feed and a phaseout of iodine dairy sanitizers. The most significant change may be the increasing trend of eating out and a growing reliance on processed foods. With very few exceptions, restaurants and fastfood outlets use noniodized salt, according to Hanneman. Companies that process food also eschew iodized salt, according to a spokesperson for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, judging that it can change the taste and flavor of food products. This is an oft-repeated myth, with no evidence behind it, says nutritionist Michael Zimmermann
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