What will our energy future look like? Of course, I have no special insights, but I see two interesting trends. Here’s the first. In large, complex economies, meaningful energy transitions occur gradually across many decades. Vaclav Smil, from the University of Manitoba, offers these compelling observations. In most of the world’s developed economies it took […]
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I find the smell of roasting pork a great and powerful magnet. A neighbor and his family were recently roasting half a hog for a graduation party, and I was pulled forcefully toward it. The hog was cooking on a remarkable machine, surely the finest barbeque I’ve seen. It was made one winter by the […]
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Over millennia, plants and animals have adapted to changing climates by migrating to more favorable locales. If the climate continues to change in a manner consistent with current expectations, most warming will occur in the high latitudes. In order for plants and animals to adapt, large areas of habitat, especially those along north-south gradients, must […]
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Religion was central to my early work in political economy. I lived among the Hutterite Brethren in the late 1960s, visiting and staying with two-dozen Hutterite colonies in the Northern Plains. My goal was to explain what conditions enabled a communist society to survive, and in their case even thrive. This fieldwork occasionally involved driving […]
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What accounts for Detroit’s failure to produce a commercially viable electric car? When I discuss this question with students, I sometimes get conspiracy theories. They cite the 2006 documentary film “Who killed the electric car.” The film attributes the demise of GM’s all-electric car, the EV-1, to collusion among the carmakers, the government, and oil […]
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I intend this column to be helpful advice to women. It’s about a sad subject, the plight of pine trees in our urban, suburban, and rural landscape and the casualties that follow. Mountain pine beetles have hit our trees. These creatures attack most pines, particularly ponderosa, lodgepole, and Scotch; trees we treasure around our homes […]
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Although today we must report to the IRS, there are solid reasons to be optimistic about our future. Many people find the positive cultural and environmental qualities of our valley, and indeed our region, compellingly attractive. Despite obvious current setbacks, our situation is enviable on multiple dimensions. Most importantly, accomplished, highly successfully people find Bozeman […]
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Each summer FREE organizes and hosts a series of small academic conferences in the Bozeman area. In addition to academics and professional environmentalists, we work with opinion leaders and decision makers throughout America. Our arena is public policy focused on environmental issues viewed broadly. We foster understanding and are non-partisan. FREE has involved Article III […]
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Many of my friends are worried about their future and that of our nation. This is surely understandable. Jobs are insecure, retirement funds are dissipating, and our governments are poised to become significantly more intrusive and constraining. As a result of these obvious problems, many fear that American policies are moving us toward the European […]
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The fallout from global economic recession ripples through Montana. In addition to unsettling lives, the economic downturn has important consequences for Montana’s energy policies. Here are some. Governor Schweitzer hopes Montana can be a leading producer of synthetic fuels, and he’s advocated for the construction of a 22,000 barrel-per-day coal to liquid plant near Roundup. […]
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