RACHEL Carson’s ecological wake up call, “Silent Spring,” initially appeared as a series of essays in The New Yorker in June, 1962. Her work launched America’s modern environmental movement and set the stage for the Earth Day celebration of 1970 On April 10, 1995, just a few days short of the 25th anniversary of Earth […]
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OCCASIONALLY on the way to work, I see people in wheelchairs working their way south along the sidewalk of Sand Point Way. When they reach 41st Avenue Northeast, the sidewalk ends. These people then wheel themselves into Sand Point’s rush-hour traffic and travel down the street until the sidewalk resumes a block later Officials should […]
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“THE Tragedy of the Commons” is the best known article on ecology. It was printed in Science magazine in 1968 and has been reprinted hundreds of times in dozens of fields ranging from anthropology to zoology. Its essential message is profound yet simple: If a valuable resource is open to all, if it is common […]
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MANY environmentalists oppose hunting. They find the idea of killing animals for sport repulsive and incomprehensible. For these people, sport hunting is an obsolete remnant of our barbaric past, one excised by civilized cultures This position is empathically understandable, but logically paradoxical because hunters are important supporters of wildlife habitat protection. Hunters save habitat as […]
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THE idea of national parks is one of America’s best. Approval ratings exceed 90 percent. But political federal management of the parks is a terrible idea. Politics promotes ecological destruction and ethical corruption Two recent books, “Playing God in Yellowstone” and “Rocky Times in Rocky Mountain National Park,” publicize what experts have known for years: […]
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I’M home at the ranch for the holidays, recalling Christmas traditions. Both my family and my wife feed our animals special rations on Christmas morning. My grandmother would bake oatmeal biscuits with lots of meat trimmings for their dog and a warm corn mash for her chickens. Granddad would give the cows and sheep leafy, […]
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WHAT is a hero? In literary epics such as “Gilgamesh,” the “Illiad,” or “Beowulf,” heroes are those who defy pain and death to live out a personal code of unqualified honor. In economists’ parlance, heroes risk significant personal costs to help others. Heroism continues today, though it is, as always, in short supply. The familiar […]
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HOW HAS Forbes magazine, the self-described capitalist tool, become a green advocate? The influential people at Forbes see markets as the most ethical and efficient means to coordinate much of society. In contrast, political management implies economic inefficiencies and ecological destruction. These are logical consequences of political incentives. A recent Forbes feature by Ellie Winninghoff […]
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IN addition to their disappointment with the elections, major environmental groups are learning the pain of limits to growth. From 1990 to 1993, membership fell 33 percent for Greenpeace and 35 percent for the Wilderness Society. The Sierra Club has lost 130,000 members and has accumulated deficits of nearly $3 million. Although groups such as […]
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“THE Tragedy of the Commons” appeared in Science magazine in 1968. Though written by an ecologist, Garret Hardin, the article is a classic of political economy. Understanding the logic of this article should be a requirement of running for political office. It explains how and why we should expect waste when biological resources such as […]
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