In which we learn that one bat is worth 11-16 years of human life in Britain, that I once tortured James O'Malley in a desert, and the true meaning of 'Glorp'.
In a development which will come as no surprise to anyone, bats are also more valuable than women. Lighting is one of the key factors for women's safety at night, but in a straight fight between this and the needs of bats, the bats win. And there is loads of research on what kind of lighting they need and guidance and laws to follow. Research and guidance on lighting for women's safety? A big fat zero.
That's a fascinating/frustrating example, thanks for sharing. Something relevant that came up when I was looking into this is that the areas affected have grown massively due to the decision that each bat colony needs something like 100 sq km of regulated area around it. So suddenly these rules on lighting apply to vast swathes of the country.
Nuclear decommissioning activity is a good example of misaligned costs that would be worth exploring. Infinitely elastic budgets and timelines, with no sign of any economic assessment. A forecast cost of 136 billion to complete decommissioning activity at Sellafield!
They didn’t really think it was worth £100m to save some bats, they thought it was worth £100m to use the preferred alignment for the multibillion pound railway line that runs through the tunnel. It doesn’t quite amount to the same thing, though I agree that it is a ridiculous thing to build and that whichever wildlife preservation groups have insisted on it are in severe danger of making conservation of rare species the new “‘elf and safety gone mad”.
In a development which will come as no surprise to anyone, bats are also more valuable than women. Lighting is one of the key factors for women's safety at night, but in a straight fight between this and the needs of bats, the bats win. And there is loads of research on what kind of lighting they need and guidance and laws to follow. Research and guidance on lighting for women's safety? A big fat zero.
That's a fascinating/frustrating example, thanks for sharing. Something relevant that came up when I was looking into this is that the areas affected have grown massively due to the decision that each bat colony needs something like 100 sq km of regulated area around it. So suddenly these rules on lighting apply to vast swathes of the country.
Nuclear decommissioning activity is a good example of misaligned costs that would be worth exploring. Infinitely elastic budgets and timelines, with no sign of any economic assessment. A forecast cost of 136 billion to complete decommissioning activity at Sellafield!
That's a really nice idea, thanks for the suggestion.
They didn’t really think it was worth £100m to save some bats, they thought it was worth £100m to use the preferred alignment for the multibillion pound railway line that runs through the tunnel. It doesn’t quite amount to the same thing, though I agree that it is a ridiculous thing to build and that whichever wildlife preservation groups have insisted on it are in severe danger of making conservation of rare species the new “‘elf and safety gone mad”.
Yes, those were good links I wouldn’t have found on my own. Thank you