Chapter One

Article: "Waste must end, forest minister says" from The vancouver Sun, Section D Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Summary:
This newspaper article “Waste must end, forest minister says” from The Vancouver Sun discusses the issues in B.C concerning the industry and how logging companies plan to eliminate valuable tree resources. This article comments on Minister Pat Bell who plans to develop new bio-energy industry that will transform the way wood is used. Decision making is required for new regulations in order to remove barriers efficiently and effectively. Although logging companies are chopping down trees to use production of energy and goods, there are limits to the number of trees available to cut down. Right now in the economy, industry of bio-energy is not doing well as revenues and “[is] expected to plunge 36% this year”. Bell is aiming to give incentives to the loggers in the hopes that less waste can be left behind.

Connections:
An obvious connection in the article to the principles of Economics is scarcity. Economics is the study of scarcity because without it, the study of economics would not exist. In this article, trees are scarce resources available for loggers to cut down and use. In addition, decision making also links with chapter one such that the logging company has to make choices, form new regulations and economic policies that strengthen our economy. The opportunity cost of producing bio-energy in the industry can be the time and money spent on developing another efficient method of obtaining energy.

Reflections:
Economics seems to be a complex topic for one to fully understand. Although some of the key aspects and ideas may seem like common sense to me, there are complicated concepts that require deep thinking. After reading the article and the chapter, I realize that often times opportunity cost is not easy to identify. In this article, it is important for loggers to know the limited amount of resources that are available for them to use. Since trees are scarce goods, we, as rational persons, need to apply effective decision making and strategies that give us the lowest opportunity cost.