Protecting the Aberdares ecosystem required keeping the local people from poaching the wildlife, grazing it with livestock, and cutting the indigenous trees for firewood. A 24-mile electric fence enclosing 850 square miles (one-quarter the size of Yellowstone National Park) could accomplish this task, but only if the locals saw a direct benefit from it. ByContinue reading “Electrifying Pachyderms”
Types Archives
PERC Enviropreneur applies market-based strategies to restoring coral reefs
Brett Howell, a former PERC Enviropreneur, is exploring how to apply market-based approaches to making coral reef restoration financially sustainable.
A study: Building roads to cure congestion is an exercise in futility
Traffic congestion is a huge problem, but building more roads only compounds the problem. University of Toronto Professor Matt Turner says studies show that mass transit also is not panacea. Perhaps it is time to try the market with congestion pricing.
Children on farms: A conceit over fatalities
The U.S. Department of Labor proposes sweeping new regulations to limit child labor. Not all agricultural work is inherently dangerous, and sweeping generalizations will do more harm than good.
Economic Prosperity for North American Indians
The link between natural resources, institutions, and economic prosperity is nowhere more apparent than on American Indian reservations
Comments on PERC Reports Summer 2011
A Solution in Search of a problem Thanks to Spencer Banzhaf for his article, “The Case for Cap-and-Trade” as a market application to fossil fuel use. Certainly, once a cap-and-trade system is operating, prices would be set by market trading, responding either to pricing (or taxing) emissions; or setting a quota on allowable emissions. TheContinue reading “Comments on PERC Reports Summer 2011”
Halloween fright, population fear are both fantasy
As our quality of life continues to improve, the world’s prevailing sentiment continues to be one of a disastrous future, all because the population has reached 7 billion. Are these worries real or just a scare tactic?
Endangered species and the roles of science and policy
Whether a given species is at risk of extinction may be a scientific question, but what to do about it is not. What conservation measures should be adopted to address such threats, and at what cost, are policy
questions, says Jonathan Adler
The Leaky Ark
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1973 and today is viewed as the most powerful environmental law in the nation as well as one of the most controversial.
“Decoupling” the listing decision how the species should be protected how it should be protected could
allow more creative measures tailored the needs ad and circumstances of each species.
How about a Green Tea Party
Terry Anderson of PERC supports the Green Tea Party in 2012 and its preseidential candidate Kermit the Frog. Kermit promises environmental quality with limited government and budget cuts.