From the Financial Times Published: May 10 2011 The accident at Fukushima was a test for the global environmental movement. Concern about global warming over the past decade led many greens to reconsider their long-standing opposition to nuclear power. But old habits die hard. Caught between their anti-nuclear sentiments and their increasingly apocalyptic fears of […]
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This April is Earth Day’s 41st anniversary. In 1970, Yale law professor Charles Reich, published a remarkably popular, fundamentally naive book, The Greening of America. He argued that a new, non-materialistic, environmentally sensitive culture was emerging in a “Consciousness III.” Reich discounted the value of conventional religion. Instead, Greening celebrated the counterculture and fostered an […]
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There is a true, empirical, universal, statistical generalization that the Republican Party should understand if it expects to attract the American middle class. This generalization is especially applicable to college educated, well-off voters, the opinion leaders in most communities. Here it is: Accomplished, successful individuals normally become Green. In economic terms the demand for environmental […]
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Bozeman is remarkable for its many nonprofits devoted to environmental issues. Some, such as the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, are focused on land, water, and trails. Others are devoted to types of animals or fish, for example the Predator Conservation Alliance. In addition, several national organizations have local offices here. Each of these organizations is […]
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The BP gusher fouling the Gulf of Mexico, and ultimately much more, is surely one of America’s greatest environmental disasters. Just as surely, it’s not President Obama’s fault. Rather, it’s a function of physics and probabilities. Similar although smaller events occur approximately every 20 years. Union Oil’s Santa Barbara oil spill began on January 28th, […]
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This is the fourth summer FREE has offered conferences on environmental stewardship for religious leaders. This year’s are in June and September. The June slots are filled and we have just announced the September 13-17 offering, “Our Environment: Economics, Ecology, and Ethics.” The religious leaders program is popular and the conference location wonderful, Elkhorn Ranch […]
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The disaster earlier this month in a West Virginia coal mine killing at least 29 miners (and the wreck of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico) reminds us of the extreme hazards of that occupation; the human cost of supplying fifty percent of the nation’s electricity at an affordable price is […]
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If Congress passes climate change legislation, someone must manufacture and sell products and services to help companies meet lowered carbon emissions targets. With this in mind a friend asked if I saw profitable opportunities. Surely there is money to be made in alternative energy sources like biofuels, wind, and solar? Perhaps arbitraging the CO2 markets […]
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Domestic and international efforts to reduce CO2 emissions are dead in the water. Many will think this is bad news. I don’t. Here’s why. Policies such as the Kyoto Protocol and U.S. cap-and-trade legislation focus solely on reducing CO2 emissions. But these are symbolic acts, mere posturing, while doing little or nothing to achieve their […]
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If you think you’ve seen this column before you are correct. In the interest of promoting “local diversity,” the Bozeman Daily Chronicle no longer runs FREE’s columns each Wednesday but rather once every third week. However, each week we place a FREE Insight on our website. We posted a slightly longer version of this column […]
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