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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THE 104th Congress convenes today. Many environmentalists see the new Republican majority as America’s repudiation of an environmentally friendly administration. Because the Clinton administration had a green facade, they fear that this change portends environmental doom The Clinton administration has a green posture. Vice President Gore wrote an impassioned green book, “Earth in the Balance.” […]
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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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THE University of Washington has just suffered a $12 million budget cut. Political pressures within the university are to spread the pain by giving each college and program a proportional cut. With each unit suffering, say, a 2.4 percent reduction, no one has a strong incentive to mobilize to protect their special, provincial interest. Such […]
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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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IS economics an enemy of ecology? Many environmentalists seem to think so. They portray economists as insensitive number crunchers with Republican leanings, people stricken by a ghoulish preference for money over ecological integrity. The perceived focus of economics – money, business and mathematics – is distasteful to people motivated by environmental concerns. But greens’ conventional […]
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