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Golf Courses Maybe Not Totally Evil
As a hater of golf courses, maybe I need to relax somewhat? "Two Swedish scientists found that a large majority (63 percent) of the 200+ golf courses they studied in the UK 'were found to have ecological values similar to or higher than nature-protected sites' such as forest areas, state parks, and biological preserves. They concluded that 'golf courses play an essential role in biodiversity conservation and ecosystems management.'"
Their biodiversity is offset by the dickishness of the country club set.
exactly- one minute you're sitting in peace and quiet watching a deer, next minute you're listening to a dentist tell an Obama joke.
OR! Obama making a dentist joke.
OR! Watching Obama, listening to a deer tell a dentist joke.
'biodiversity' = one Jewish family and an African American.
I have some questions about their criteria. Did they take into account potential use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as irrigation? Even if the UK findings hold, they are not necessarily valid for settings where golf courses require high levels of inputs and may create poorly measured or unmeasured externalities.
Yeah, it seems to me that the level of upkeep required of a golf course might affect those findings somewhat.
That being said! As someone who avowedly DOES NOT GOLF, but has walked/ridden along with golfers along some really beautiful courses, I have to say it's really quite lovely and tranquil. Especially when the beverage cart is following closely behind…
@Smitros: Especially in places where golf courses don't occur "naturally", like Vegas, Phoenix, LA, etc.
@Mantooth: Fore!
Well but they're talking about ecological value, not *environmental* value. In other words, I'm sure wildlife sanctuaries have upkeep costs which are environmentally negative, but they serve a valuable conservational purpose.
@CR: Yeah, this is what I was thinking. We have golf courses *in the desert* here. The researchers only studied courses in the rainy and verdant UK. Although, since their only criteria seemed to be "biodiversity," I suppose those Vegas and AZ courses do make habitats for all sorts of critters who would never otherwise be able to *live in the fucking desert.* (Like, you know, humans.)
This might only be marginally related, but the golf course they built in my industrial northern Jersey hometown a few years ago is the former site of an industrial waste dump (with dunes built from toxic New York Harbor dredge material). We didn't used to have egrets down there, and now we do!
It's not marginally related, the paper found that golf courses could help with SOME environmental goals in SOME cases, such as providing bird habitat in land that's been heavily modified. They can't replace natural ecosystems.
From the paper, "When golf courses are constructed in landscapes dominated by natural habitats, we are not likely to experience higher overall ecological values as a result of this change to the landscape."
This is why I shouldn't read freakonomics. That whole article gave me an aneurysm.
@bod: tell Chuck Wepner I'm a fan!
Keep your head down. You'll find inner peace.
I have a 1:05 tee time tomorrow. We need a 4th.
Playing golf on Saturdays is madness. Where are you playing?
This study was underwritten by the Natural Food Life Company, a division of Chem-Grow, an Allen Crayne acquisition, which was part of the Squimm Group. Their motto was simple: We keep you alive.
Please, Choire, I beg you, don't get your environmental information from Freakonomics.
I just glanced at the paper they cited. While some of the comparisons were to nature preserves, there were also comparisons to farmland, urban areas, even office parks. Compared to natural areas, golf courses only had higher biodiversity 19% of the time. A surprisingly high number, but far from 63% (the number when compared to every other land use, including office parks).
Secondly, right off the bat he implies that since the word "biodiversity" was coined in the 1980s, the concept itself is relatively new, which is it isn't. Biodiversity (called biological diversity or natural diversity) has been discussed and measured for over a century.
And to end this little rant, why is "playing the X card" a favorite method for belittling the views of others?
I appreciate golf courses. They make it much easier to avoid golfing-types. Now, if only they were all situated on islands far away…