Christine Jurzykowski A love of animals could not keep red ink from spilling across the pages of Christine Jurzykowski’s account books at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. Jurzykowski and her partner Jim Jackson had purchased 2,700 acres of rolling Texas hill country with good intentions and hefty bank accounts and made it home to moreContinue reading “Enviro-Capitalists:”
Author Archives: admin
Government Obstacle:
Thwarted By Regulation David Cameron is a third-generation Montana rancher. A lanky, middle-aged man with a genial manner, he raises cattle and sheep. Cameron is also a biologist, recently retired from Montana State University. He and his family have a long tradition of protecting wildlife. Elk, deer, mountain lions, and bears inhabit his ranch.Continue reading “Government Obstacle:”
Nurturing Entrepreneurs:
1. LET PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THESE PIONEERS. Chances are, the readers of this issue of PERC Reports were unaware of most of the individuals mentioned here until now. Perhaps a few have visited Fossil Rim and some have read in PERC Reports about Orri Vigfœsson’s purchase of salmon fishing rights. But the environmental successes ofContinue reading “Nurturing Entrepreneurs:”
Enviro-Capitalists
Private solutions can and should be an important part of the effort to manage and conserve our natural resources. Citizens are frustrated with government policies that are costly, compromise private property rights, and still fail to preserve environmental quality. Where government bureaucracy has created roadblocks, individual entrepreneurs have generated innovative approaches to environmental problems.Continue reading “Enviro-Capitalists”
Bootleggers, Baptists, and Global Warming
When it comes to the treaty negotiations over climate change, Baptists are the environmental groups, and bootleggers are the companies, trade associations, and nations that are seeking favors through the global warming negotiations.
Looks Like Wood
The picnic table, the park bench and the boardwalk look like wood, but they are actually made from plastic. Impervious to water, salt, oil, chemicals, and insects, the building material comes from chipped and melted milk jugs and detergent bottles. This new use for high-density polyethylene is making profits for outdoor furniture manufacturers and checkingContinue reading “Looks Like Wood”
Looking Before We Leap
People are knowledgeable about the hazards faced by individuals in their age group. It is widely argued that individuals cannot accurately assess the environmental and workplace risks they face .1 One typical claim is that people poorly assess the hazards of dying: They wildly overestimate the likelihood that they will die of lightning strikes orContinue reading “Looking Before We Leap”
Forest Of Toyota
A group of researchers at Japan’s largest car manufacturer are concentrating on designer trees rather than fuel efficiency. This odd turn for Toyota is an effort to develop a new tree with a ravenous appetite for the noxious gases produced by gasoline-powered automobile engines. Since 1991, the company has been working on biology- based methodsContinue reading “Forest Of Toyota”
What We Did in Virginia
From January 1994 to January 1998, I was Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Republican administration of Governor George Allen. My goal was to change the paradigm that has governed environmental programs from the “fearsome master” approach to the “helpful servant” approach. I intended to do this by decentralizingContinue reading “What We Did in Virginia”
Politics-Green But Dirty
Businesses routinely lobby to avoid heavy burdens from government regulations. But some businesses lobby in favor of regulations that give them a market edge. Environmental regulations are riddled with provisions that are less about saving the planet than about helping a particular industry or special interest. The latest example comes from a business group thatContinue reading “Politics-Green But Dirty”