Quality of life is an increasingly important factor when firms and families locate. The character of the natural and built environment of a community is important. We have a wonderful natural environment and are above average on the latter. Ed McMahon of the Conservation Fund recently spoke to a packed (SRO) auditorium at the Museum […]
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PBS recently aired a fascinating documentary, “The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy.” Part of the series focused on the sorry economic performance of countries in the developing world. Instead of blaming the usual suspects, e.g., colonialism and insufficient foreign aid, the series explored more fundamental and subtle barriers to progress. Economic progress […]
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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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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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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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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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ECONOMIES are like ecosystems in that everything is tied to everything else. We cannot do only one thing. Protecting owls by limiting timber harvest has multiple consequences, mostly unintended. People anticipate outcomes, estimate how regulations affect their security and livelihood, and often change their behavior accordingly. Regulations that ignore this interconnectedness can make matters worse, […]
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THE debate over old-growth forests pits preservationists against those depending on this timber for their livelihood. With each side committed to different uses of nature, conflict seems inevitable, for not all good things go together. This conflict is heightened by public ownership and political control. Special-interest groups are special precisely because they focus on their […]
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IS RANCHING on the federal range an environmentally destructive anachronism? Many environmentalists seem to think so. Less than 30,000 ranchers graze cattle on 350 million acres of federal lands, an area twice the size of Texas. Environmentalists hope the public lands will be, as the bumper sticker intones, “Cattle Free by ’93.” Grazing has also […]
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