Why Civil Rights Metaphors Are Inappropriate for Getting Off Oil Writing on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” former green-jobs czar Van Jones invoked Dr. King to justify the environmental movement’s singular focus on stopping the Keystone XL pipeline: “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs […]
Read MoreOne of the great benefits of living here is the remarkable array of talented and interesting people one meets in the Bozeman area. For example, I’ve met three individuals who have recently worked in Antarctica. No surprise, such encounters are common here. Last Friday, Ramona and I were skiing in the Big Sky area and […]
Read MoreEconomics began as a branch of moral philosophy. Its founders, including Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, focused on social ethics. Economics gradually became more formal and mathematical. Physics became the ideal for economists to emulate, a systematic field divorced from moral content. Ever more abstract and divorced from the culture that guides and […]
Read MoreI welcome several changes in this New Year. And how fortunate we are to live here! On many cultural, commercial, and medical dimensions, life in and around Bozeman is ever better. Yesterday we had over 50 elk on our place. (Fortunately, our haystacks had been trucked off. Herds of elk eat and destroy them. […]
Read MoreThis week’s FREE Insight is a summary of the talk that I gave yesterday (11/5/13) at Harvard and will also present at NYU Law tomorrow (11/7/13). The full paper can be found by clicking here. I find fiduciary trusts attractive arrangements for managing parks and wild lands, especially after October 1. National parks […]
Read MoreHere is my recommendation for understanding how the policy world works: read the “Weekend Edition” of the WSJ and skim The Economist. Curious people will quite naturally latch on to interesting and policy relevant articles. A few individuals have an intuitive appreciation of systems. My suggestion will foster their understanding by providing logical […]
Read MoreWhat we can all learn from the late Ronald Coase about protecting wetlands and wildlife. The recent death of Ronald Coase has given rise to an outpouring of praise about his contributions to the field of economics and his influence on the complex world of institutional politics. In my interactions with Coase, he was always cautious and diffident about […]
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Summer in Montana is a time to celebrate–and to share with visitors. We have many and nearly all are environmentally sensitive. None visit us by accident or advertisement. Most fish, hike, ride, or bike. The vast majority of our guests recycle. So do we. But not everything. That distinction poses the paradox. Pacific Steel and Recycling […]
Read MoreIntroduction by John Baden, Chairman, FREE My friend and colleague, professor Jerry Johnson of Montana State University, just returned from two inspiring trips. One was to Lake Iliamna, the largest lake in Alaska. The other was the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s (GYC) first 400-mile bike trip through the Greater Yellowstone area. Jerry’s essay below focuses on the […]
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I enjoy summers in Montana immensely. Thanks to vastly improved technology – think internet, FedEx, better insulated homes and vehicles, food from everywhere all the time -and global warming, winters are great too. Further, in the Gallatin Valley civility, community, and culture remain intact and indeed flourish. Bozeman must be the mother lode of non-profits: […]
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