High above West Africa’s Upper Guinean rain forest, tourists on gently swaying walkways stroll cautiously through the forest canopy. It is a nature experience still rare even in the realms of eco-tourism. Kakum National Park, the 140-square-mile preserve where the walkway is located, is home to several endangered species including the forest elephant. It isContinue reading “Treetop Walkway”
Author Archives: admin
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”
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”
Bilge Pill
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”
How Markets Save Salmon
I am a native of Iceland, where the entire economy is based on fishing. I have enjoyed fishing for salmon with a fly rod all my life. As a child, I can remember the rivers of Iceland teeming with fish. Today, we still have some of the best sport salmon fishing in the world,Continue reading “How Markets Save Salmon”
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”
PERC Research Associate Clay Landry Talks About Water Marketing
NWRA (National Water Resources Association): What is PERC’s mission and how are you included in groundwater marketing? LANDRY: We’re a non-profit organization – a think-tank is what some people like to call us– that looks at market solutions to environmental problems. PERC was a pioneer in the approach known as free market environmentalism. This isContinue reading “PERC Research Associate Clay Landry Talks About Water Marketing”
Straw Houses Withstand Huffs And Puffs
The EcoEnterprises Fund offers a new twist on venture capital by targeting environmentally responsible and conservation-minded businesses. The fund will invest an average of $100,000 to $200,000 in small start-up ventures in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund, also known as Fondo EcoEmpresas, is a joint effort of the Inter-American Development Bank and theContinue reading “Straw Houses Withstand Huffs And Puffs”