Those of us working to preserve wildlife habitat and open space will be more successful when we grasp a key principle; all resources, including land, gravitate toward highest valued uses. With agricultural prices nearing historical lows, the pressures forcing farmers and ranchers out of agriculture are increasing. Although some people may object to this claim, […]
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Modernization, the replacement of machines for muscle, is a universal social solvent. Even when resisted by traditional leaders, modernization erodes established social, economic patterns, and threatens ecosystems. As my friend Reverend Glover Wagner recently observed in another context, “The mind rebels at such a thought, but that’s the way God wired the universe”. The reason […]
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When I unpack the complaints of most environmentalists, I find a common theme. In their view, most people want the “wrong” things. Many enviros fault people who prefer snowmobiles to cross-country skies, Humvees over Hondas, or T-bones instead of tofu. SUVs are subject to especially intense criticism. They see the production and consumption of these […]
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The Club of Rome’s “Limits to Growth” report of 1970 stated: “We can thus say with some confidence that… population and industrial growth will certainly stop within the next century, at the latest”. The cause of this projected arrest was a projected scarcity of natural resources. The report’s authors did not understand why scarcity has […]
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Last week wholesale gasoline prices hit a historic low (Alas, not at the pump in Montana however.) and crude oil is just over $11.00 per barrel. But it wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. On the first Earth Day, ecologist Kenneth Watt stated: “By the year 2000, …there won’t be any crude oil”. And […]
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It’s time for some good news about America. By historical standards, the vast majority of Americans are exceedingly well off. This is important because richer is healthier, safer – and more environmentally sensitive. We have greatly improved environmental quality since the first Earth Day. However, the easy problems have been solved. More complex issues of […]
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Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. -Emma Lazarus Environmentalists have long held that environmental problems come down to one issue: population. All of our environmental woes, from species extinction to global warming, can […]
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Some day, a politician will offer reforms harmonizing environmental quality with responsible liberty and modest prosperity. This niche in our political ecology is vacant. Incentives to fill it have been weak. This, however, is rapidly changing. Republican representative Sherwood Boehlert of NY said, “There were some valuable lessons learned by some who ignored environmental policy […]
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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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1995 will be the silver anniversary of Earth Day. This will be a significant event, for it marks a full generation since we formally recognized our environment’s fragility and value. To celebrate the anniversary, I suggest that we begin a campaign to buy Siberia. This would be America’s Earth Day present to the world. Buying […]
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