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Soaring High

Philanthropy Magazine January/February 2004 By Thomas J. Bray The environmental movement has blossomed into one of the most powerful political, social, and economic forces of our time. As a result, environmental philanthropy had burgeoned to an estimated $3.5 billion a year by the late 1990s. More than 4,000 nonprofit environmental groups, ranging from the well-knownContinue reading “Soaring High”

Record Shows Profit-Seeking Drives Green Innovation

By Jane S. Shaw David Driesen is disappointed that market mechanisms such as trading pollution credits do not automatically spur innovations that further reduce pollution. But that’s taking a short-term view. Trading reduces the often heavy cost of regulation, freeing up funds for other uses. And the success of the private sector in using itsContinue reading “Record Shows Profit-Seeking Drives Green Innovation”

The Property Rights Path to Sustainable Development

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas October 23, 2003 “You can’t have a free society without private property.” – Milton Friedman By Terry L. Anderson and Laura E. Huggins Sustainable development has become the byword of environmental policy. The term has been around for about thirty years but has only recently become popular (see International Institute forContinue reading “The Property Rights Path to Sustainable Development”

Another Take on Free Market Environmentalism

PERC’s Conference for Journalists Emigrant, Montana October 4, 2003 Friendly  Critique By David Roodman Thank you. In this morning’s program, Rick and I are set up to take opposite views on a fundamental philosophical question. Despite that, I think both of us will acknowledge that neither extreme view is tenable. Free-market environmentalism is neither perfectlyContinue reading “Another Take on Free Market Environmentalism”

A Grazing Buy-Out?

Rocky Mountain NewsFall 2003 By Holly Lippke Fretwell Although little noticed by most Americans, grazing on federal land is a big business. Ranchers across the West lease permits to graze their cattle on about 250 million acres of federal land, an area more than twice the size of California. Some environmental groups, concerned that cattleContinue reading “A Grazing Buy-Out?”

The Potential of High Technology for Establishing Tradable Rights to Whales

Chapter 6 from The Technology of Property Rights By Gregory B. Christainsen and Brian C. Gothberg We do not own this Earth, we simply borrow it from our childr Am I prepared to die to defend the whales? The answer is yes. I would consider it an honour to die in their defense.1 – CaptainContinue reading “The Potential of High Technology for Establishing Tradable Rights to Whales”

Pork Politics at its Worst

Orange County RegisterAugust 29, 2003 By J. Bishop Grewell “Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before,” wrote Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels,” “would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the wholeContinue reading “Pork Politics at its Worst”

Can We Expect Environmental Progress From the Bush Administration?

President Bush had numerous chances to show that conservative principles include conservation, yet at midterm scores low grades for implementing the tenets of free market environmentalism, which emphasizes establishing incentives and clarifying property rights within a growing economy that values environmental quality. Instead his administration continues an unfortunate trend of making the Republican Party lookContinue reading “Can We Expect Environmental Progress From the Bush Administration?”