One of the most useful, cost-effective methods of conserving land in America is in serious crisis. A series of scandals has revealed major abuses of conservation easements–”a legal tool increasingly used to protect private land from development. Landowners who donate easements to nonprofit conservation groups promise that the land will not be used forContinue reading “How To Avoid Tax Cheating”
Author Archives: admin
The Owens Valley ‘Water Grab’
Buying or selling water faces serious hurdles. An infamous episode in California can help us understand what they are so that entrepreneurs can begin to overcome them. Gary Libecap, an economic historian at the University of Arizona, studied the Los Angeles Water Board purchases of land and water in Owens Valley, California, between 1905Continue reading “The Owens Valley ‘Water Grab’”
Hatching at Home
Private landowners who also happen to love native fish have developed dozens of backyard incubators that are capable of hatching hundreds of thousands of eggs. According to Jerry Johnson at Montana State University, these units cost only a few hundred dollars, consisting of a 55-gallon plastic barrel, fake plastic gravel, and PVC pipes. They useContinue reading “Hatching at Home”
Name That Species
Looking for a chance at immortality? It could be as close as the dusty file cabinet at a nearby museum. Thousands of new animal and plant species are discovered every year, only to languish in storage?unnamed, undescribed, and thus without entry into the larger scientific world. So here is your chance. Ante up a bitContinue reading “Name That Species”
All That Glitters is Glass
If your landscape is in need of a little razzle-dazzle, EnviroGLAS Products Inc. of Plano, Texas, may have just what you need. Its colorful recycled glass aggregate, which comes with no sharp edges, is available in cobalt blue, green, mirror, plate, flint, or a mixture of any of the above. The glass, which would normallyContinue reading “All That Glitters is Glass”
Riding the Waves
In the basement of an engineering building at Northeastern University in Boston, a strange eggbeater-type machine is strapped to a gurney in the corner. It is this machine, actually a turbine, that 73-year-old Professor Alexander Gorlov believes will ‘someday help turn hydroelectric power into one of the most important and environmentally benign renewable energy sourcesContinue reading “Riding the Waves”
Common Sense Economics
Why economic understanding is an essential ingredient for life in today’s society.
Ten Key Elements of Economics
The Insider Spring 2005 By James Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, and Dwight R. Lee 1. INCENTIVES MATTER. All of economics rests on one simple principle: that incentives matter. Altering incentive, the costs and benefits of making specific decisions, alters people’s behavior Understanding incentives is an extremely powerful tool for understanding why people do the thingsContinue reading “Ten Key Elements of Economics”
Environmental False Alarms
The Weekly StandardApril 25, 2005 By Terry L. Anderson In his new book Collapse, Jared Diamond begins with a chapter on my home state of Montana. Although painting a romantic picture of “Big Sky Country,” he decries environmental tragedies including toxic mining waste, forest fires, soil exhaustion, water shortages, and invasive species. Diamond blames theseContinue reading “Environmental False Alarms”
Vision through a Narrow Lens
Energy & Environment Vol. 16 No. 3&4 2005 By Jane S. Shaw Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond’s new book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed argues that past societal collapses have occurred in large part because the societies failed to adapt to changing environmental conditions. He warns that modern societies and civilization tooContinue reading “Vision through a Narrow Lens”