On April 22 we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. This is also the last time I will teach the environmental policy course I began teaching in 1970 at Indiana University. When I began teaching environmental courses, many of my colleagues looked toward two reforms for ecological salvation: an environmental ethic to regulate […]
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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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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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“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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LAST week, the Mont Pelerin Society met in Cannes, France, to celebrate the work of its founder, Nobel Prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek. The Mont Pelerin Society is the world’s foremost group of classical liberal academic, business and governmental leaders. Six of its 500 members, including Milton Friedman, Gary Becker and George Stigler, a Seattle […]
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THIS is my last column until I return from Montana next autumn. While there, I’ll continue working on the three E’s of environmental policy: ecology, economics and ethics. Only systems that link freedom to act with responsibility for the results of the action work well in dealing with them. Others fail. Linking action with accountability […]
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I OFTEN defend the habitat of species I care for deeply: grizzly bears, wild trout and birds of all kinds. But, like most people, I care even more about preserving the quality of my own habitat, my neighborhood and community. Within that habitat, we not only worry about pollution and disease, we are concerned with […]
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