Executives from the Australian firm of Babcock and Brown Infrastructure (BBI) are wondering why their offer to buy Northwestern Energy is generating such resistance. The explanation is simple: Montanans believe they’ve seen this movie before and they don’t like the ending. Here’s why. The company, based in the Sydney down under, raises ghosts from our […]

Climate change is a huge problem on multiple dimensions. It is also a problem shrouded in uncertainty. What causes global warming? What proportion is anthropogenic? With what speed, and to what degree will the effects be felt? Will the worldwide benefits to agriculture be greater or less than the losses? Can anything be done to […]

In 1966, on a rainy summer day in the French Alps, Yvon Chouinard tested over a dozen ice axes to see if he could improve on the traditional design. He did, and with this innovation and dozens of others he transformed the outdoor recreation industry. If you own a pile coat, thank Yvon: he brought […]

Here’s another observation from my recent visit to Nicaragua: poverty is the worst polluter. In a country where one half of the population lives in poverty and 25 percent of its 5.5 million people struggle to survive on less than one dollar per day, environmental protection is not a high priority. I wonder how Roger, […]

If you believe global warming is occurring, and the great majority of Americans do, you may be asking yourself, “What do I do?” Here are a few suggestions for coping. First, I urge you to do those energy saving things that bring the most psychic unguent at the least cost to you: replace an incandescent […]

Like most of you I take safety, comfort, and a clean environment as givens. A recent trip to Nicaragua reminded me they are not. (Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. Only Haiti is poorer). My trip offered several take home messages. Here’s one. I have a wristband that reads, “I buy […]

Critics occasionally castigate economists for “knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing.” What economists measure best is not what matters most. (Love is not merely an interdependent utility function.) Because they are handy and comfortable with numbers, economists discount culture, a concept impossible to quantify with precision. Yet, Nobel economist Gary Becker […]

A climate change crusade is underway. We are all being called upon to stop Global Warming’s (GW) assault on Gaia. It’s the biggest Green movement since the first Earth Day in April of 1970. Earth Day has garnered widespread support by incorporating a full spectrum of causes. In Boston, they may rally around “sludge,” dioxins […]

How do you explain Bozeman’s spectacular boom? My response to this often asked question—“Why are you here?” After a moment of self-reflection, the usual answer provided is, “We decided this would be a great place to live.” Developments around the Gallatin Valley exemplify a national demographic trend: people want to move toward smaller, more “authentic” […]

In a few days, my mother celebrates her 95th birthday. She was born in the Midwest, went to a small Lutheran college near her parents’ farm, and began teaching in a Lutheran elementary school in 1934. She taught fourth grade for over 40 years before retiring to Holland, Michigan, where she still lives today. Throughout […]