Together, these ideas are sometimes considered oxymoronic. But that is, in fact, not the case at all. In concert they create a path toward enhanced environmental stewardship. Secure property rights motivate investment. To steward the environment requires an investment -- an investment to maintain conditions or to restore them to a previous state. And it is the signals from market interactions that demonstrate the environmental quality that is desired.
In the end, freedom is a key. Free to act while not reducing the freedoms of others. Free to interact in the marketplace. These freedoms have enabled our country to be among the richest in the world. Freedoms that have helped us become wealthier and healthier. Freedoms that have motivated a cleaner and more pristine environment. Our ancestors fought to earn us these freedoms hundreds of years ago.
The best way to protect our future freedoms is to ensure generations from today and tomorrow understand how important they are. Help make a difference by imparting the value of freedom.
Go to www.perc.org/support2.php if you would like to help PERC share the value of freedom.
Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
PERC’s publications, each designed to resonate with specific groups, move ideas generated at PERC to broader audiences.
Research is at the heart of PERC's work, with a focus on the question: What is the link between economic growth and environmental quality?
The goal of PERC’s programs is to fully realize the vision of establishing “PERC University,” where scholars, students, policy makers, and others convene to expand the applications of free market environmentalism.
PERC's fellowships share a common goal of exposing new scholars, students, journalists, and policy makers to free market environmentalism, as well as enable scholars already familiar with FME to explore new applications.
PERC continues to publish and present a broad range of research and discussion through podcasts, videos, and other multimedia channels.