Most folks who make New Year’s resolutions begin today. The first three items on the official U.S. Government web site are: lose weight, pay off debt, and save money. But of course these goals don’t apply to the federal government. (Nobel Prizes are given to economists who explain why these goals are antithetical to modern […]

This year, I believe for the first time since 1957, Christmas and Hanukkah begin on the same day. (Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights commemorating the rededication to Judaism of the Temple in Jerusalem.) This concurrence of celebratory dates reminds me of a childhood Christmas on our family farm. Far more importantly, this conjunction […]

I was recently in Texas meeting with folks devoted to the preservation and improvement of their state’s wildlife habitat — university researchers, ranchers, public officials, and NGO leaders. The take-home lesson was that private ownership offers no magic elixir. Texas conservationists face problems that challenge us in Montana — habitat fragmentation, water allocation, and invasive […]

How will we meet our future energy demands and what are the environmental consequences of our choices? We’ll have a better chance at crafting successful policies if we recognize three vexing realities. First, fossil fuels are our cheapest, most available sources of energy. “Renewables” (e.g., solar and wind) will play only a limited role in […]