This is a guest post by Shawn Regan, vice president of research at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana. He is also the executive editor of PERC Reports. By Shawn Regan Free market environmentalism used to involve academic study showing ways that private property rights can protect the environment, often when the government…
Recycling Is in a Tumult as 2020 Ends
Covid-19 is adding to the turmoil in recycling, especially curbside recycling. Curbside recycling was already struggling because of China’s 2017 prohibitions and restrictions on recycled material. Covid-19 has further reduced the ability of towns and cities to pay the costs of recycling. School closures and online classes have dried up both sources and markets for…
The Troubled Art of Restoration Ecology
Liam Heneghan is a restoration ecologist, whose professional field—only forty years old, if that—is full of uncertainties. Its goal is to reverse environmental damage and restore land to a more pristine past. He explains: “Where ecosystems have been degraded because of human activity—including an overexploitation of useful species, invasion by exotic pests, erosion of soils,…
Where Are the Environmental Critics of China?
When it comes to climate change, China talks about reducing emissions but keeps building coal plants. So why are environmental groups so soft on China? Francis Menton explains on the Manhattan Contrarian. He notes what two leading environmental groups say about China (and there are more examples): Environmental Defense Fund, “Why China is at the…
The Future of Wildlife Funding: Hunters and Non-hunters
This post by contributor Wallace Kaufman is a reply to Sterling Burnett’s post, “Where Are the Eco-tourists’ Dollars?” For openers, let me suppose that I am a lion, a giraffe, or a Cape buffalo. I ask myself, “Who is going to save me from a poacher?” And “Who will put up the most money to…
Where Are the Eco-tourists’ Dollars?
Reports from Africa confirm what I’ve written about the continuing criticality of hunting to wildlife conservation, along with the inability, unwillingness, or lack of awareness of the need for the eco-tourism industry to step up to the plate, replace hunters’ dollars, and protect wildlife. Domestic and international travel bans and internal economic shutdowns brought international…