In Idaho, state wildlife biologists are doing something they never learned in college—teaching trout how to eat native foods. It seems that the hatchery-raised fish, fed a diet of protein pellets instead of stoneflies, have developed rather discriminating palates. They react to worms and other traditional fare the way most five-year-olds do to broccoli. This […]
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Deep ecologists urge us to “return to nature”. If we reconnect with nature in a primitive, spiritual way, we may spare mother earth. Reject science, technology, and the market for small-scale, Edenic lifestyles. I like their goals of environmental protection and sustainability, but their means are dangerously misguided. A “return to nature” will increase our […]
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Let’s celebrate our most creative laborers — the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have been neglected by economists and ignored or derided by environmentalists. Environmentalist Al Gore sees entrepreneurial innovation as “alchemy of a very dangerous form”. Economist Mark Casson notes that economic modelling “leaves no role for the entrepreneur.” The economics discipline has become ever more abstract […]
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Some books change our thinking about institutions long taken for granted. Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert explained how Western water flows uphill toward political payoffs. Alston Chase’s Playing God in Yellowstone exposed the politics which trump both science and economics in our national parks. They herald fundamental reform by publicizing the gaps between intentions and results. […]
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More young Americans believe in UFOs than believe they’ll receive Social Security. Only 25% of Americans trust the federal government. 30 years ago it was 75%. No wonder — the federal government now runs trillion-dollar deficits, dedicates 15% of its budget to pay interest on the national debt, and spends two-thirds of what remains on […]
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Our Stolen Future portrays a frightening world where synthetic chemicals assault our fertility, intelligence, and survival. But instead of delivering substance, it capitalizes on hype. It hit bookstores just in time for Earth Day and on the heels of the National Academy of Sciences’ investigation of synthetic estrogens. Thanks to the big behind-the-scenes boost given […]
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It’s clear the rural American West is in transition. Ways of life, deeply rooted in the culture of ranching, mining and logging, are challenged by new social and economic forces. Immigrants arrive with their wares stored in hard-drives rather than Conestoga wagons. People move to the region for its amenity values–wilderness, clean air, fish, wildlife […]
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As Americans flock to national parks this summer, we can learn a lot from national parks around the world. Field biologists the world over uniformly confirm the woeful conditions of national parks. The Nature Conservancy found many national parks in Latin America are at great risk. Even closer to home, Canada’s experiments with national parks […]
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It’s clear the rural American West is in transition. Ways of life, deeply rooted in the culture of ranching, mining and logging, are challenged by new social and economic forces. Immigrants arrive with their wares stored in hard drives rather than Conestoga wagons. People move to the region for its amenity values—wilderness, clean air, fish, […]
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The slogan in the 1994 election was “It’s the economy, stupid.” In the 1996 election, environmentalists tried to update this to: “It’s the environment, stupid.” After all, the environmental record of the 104th Congress is so misguided that even seasoned observers are left wondering if members of the Republican party are indeed brain damaged. Perhaps […]
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