You are here:
A color-blind pirate asks, “Do RRR’s make gray and green turn blue?”
Citation:
Bolgrien, Dave, B. Bellinger, T. Angradi, AND M. Starry. A color-blind pirate asks, “Do RRR’s make gray and green turn blue?”. Presented at St. Louis River Estuary Summit, February 26 - 27, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
not applicable
Description:
Researchers and managers often do “R” projects when attempting to change conditions in natural and socioeconomic systems. Outputs from restoration, remediation, redevelopment, rehabilitation, reinvestment, and reuse, etc (hence, “R”) projects vary by application but have only a single outcome of improving human well-being (think “blue”). Classifying some R activities as “green” (i.e., habitat restoration) and others as “gray” (i.e., brownfield redevelopment) constrain our ability to account for all actual and potential environmental, social, and economic benefits. Mutually accepted metrics and indicators linking outputs of green and gray R outputs to human well-being can only come from collaborations between the diverse practitioners of natural and social sciences. We will use port operations, brownfield redevelopment, and delisting of the beneficial use impairments in the St. Louis River estuary to illustrate the challenges and potential benefits of incorporating a multi-R approach.