Charlotte Fowler, Biology Student at Christopher Newport University
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
Shifting baselines was a theory first made by scientists exploring urban children's perception of nature. In the same year, Daniel Pauly officially devised the term 'shifting baselines' to help prove how people are inaccurately perceiving the condition of the environment and nature.
The human race is reestablishing (shifting) their standard 'baseline' in each new generation. People use the image they obtained at the beginning of their conscious lives as what they accept as normal. They do not take into account anything that may have happened before their time. This is often referred to as generational amnesia which involves a loss of information without being aware of the loss. As Pauly explained in his TED Talk, "we are readjusting downwards." In the following section of the blog, we explore Pauly's model of the theory and the detrimental effects it has on the environment if we continue to be blind to the past.
Dr. E.J. Milner-Gulland expresses the importance of understanding shifting baselines syndrome in this quote, "If we don’t realize what we are losing we stand the risk of sleepwalking through the destruction of the natural world without taking action to remedy the situation."
The Brains Behind the Operation
Marine biologist, Daniel Pauly, coined this idea of ‘shifting baselines’ that was originally constructed as a response to the sustainability issues of fisheries. As a fisherman himself, he noticed the extravagant catches they were making, that they realized later was the bottom of the sea, was hurting the ecosystem down below. The hard sea bottom was now a mushy mess of mud that devastated the oceanic food web. These devastations were not being recorded in their catcher logs so were soon to be forgotten. Daniel Pauly recognized the issue in this and furthermore began his mission of studying and educating the public of the natural changes that were not being accounted for. Sustainability efforts could not be effective unless scientists and conservationists considered the loss before the loss. Below is a graph Daniel Pauly uses to explain his idea of shifting baselines and the result being generational decomposition of “some good thing” that could include biodiversity, orca population, etc.
Shifting baselines syndrome is one of the main restricting factors in achieving productive conservation models. You can make a difference in the progression of sustainability efforts by informing your family, your business, or local conservation organizations of the shifting baselines syndrome. If we are to act effectively in conserving the environment we need to make sure people are perceiving the problem and state of the environment accurately. Encourage them to consider the loss that came before them and spread the word to prevent generational and/or personal amnesia.
Thanks for reading!!
References
Papworth, S.K., Rist, J., Coad, L., & E.J. Milner-Gulland. Evidence for shifting baseline syndrome in conservation. Conservation Letters 2 (2009) 93–100.
Pauly, D. (2010, April). The Ocean’s Shifting Baseline. Daniel Pauly: The ocean’s shifting baseline | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_pauly_the_ocean_s_shifting_baseline?subtitle=en
Pauly, D. (1995, October). Anecdotes and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome of Fisheries. Elsevier Science Ltd. TREE vol 10, no. 10
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