by Laura E. Huggins Last summer, PERC held a workshop on the tough questions for free market environmentalism (FME). The resulting discussions focused on FME’s strengths and potential limitations. Topics included local versus centralized control, possible free market solutions to climate change, and how liability and torts could be used as an incentive to preventContinue reading “Tough questions for free market environmentalism?”
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Green-Washing Energy Efficiency
It is often believed, and in fact intended, that regulations requiring increased energy efficiency will reduce energy consumption. In reality, however, the opposite may be true. Look back to 1975, and the original Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards. The CAFE standards required increased fuel efficiency for cars from a fleet average of 18 milesContinue reading “Green-Washing Energy Efficiency”
Green-Washing Energy Efficiency
Regulations requiring greater fuel efficiency in cars create unintended consequences such as more driving and more energy use because of the car’s fuel efficiency.
Boycott World Water Day!
Who really owns water, the matrix of life, and how much water we can own, and should have the right and ability to save and trade water we don’t use with others in our system for a price we voluntarily negotiate?
Fighting Over Fracking
by Laura E. Huggins There is a battle brewing between the energy industry and environmentalists concerning the dangers of removing natural gas from shale using a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking involves pushing millions of gallons of water (mixed with sand and chemicals) through wells at high pressure to fracture the shale. Roughly half the fracking fluid remainsContinue reading “Fighting Over Fracking”
Libya’s water supply: The Great Man-Made River
It’s the world’s largest irrigation project. Qaddafi calls it the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The Economist explains: Much of Libya’s water supply used to come from expensive desalination plants on the coast, which left little water to irrigate land—vital in this largely desert country. Moreover the coastal aquifer historically used in Tripoli was becomingContinue reading “Libya’s water supply: The Great Man-Made River”
Resources Versus Refuse in Recycling
Almost every state has a policy to discourage dumping trash, or waste, into the landfill. Reducing waste makes sense and saves resources. But is it logical to reduce the amount of waste put into the landfill when the alternative comes at a higher cost? Some policies encourage exactly that. Waste is something that is lowContinue reading “Resources Versus Refuse in Recycling”
Wolf compensation fund begins in Oregon
by Shawn Regan The AP reports: An Oregon county has approved a compensation fund for ranchers who lose livestock to wolves in the northeastern corner of the state, next to Idaho and Washington. The Community Alliance Livestock Fund, or CALF, was approved unanimously on Monday by Wallowa County commissioners, who hope it canContinue reading “Wolf compensation fund begins in Oregon”
Monday PERC Links
1. How the market can keep streams flowing, from Rob Harmon on TEDx. See also his interview with David Zetland. Related: is water a big deal? 2. Should the government subsidize renewable energy? (video) 3. Indian entrepreneur turns pachyderm poop into paper. 4. Energy subsidies: what are the facts? From Steve Hayward. 5. You canContinue reading “Monday PERC Links”
Growing crops without sun or soil?
by Laura E. Huggins In a “Techno-Agrarian Manifesto,” Reason’s Greg Beato asks if vertical farming is the future of agriculture. Medical ecologist and author Dickson Despommier describes the vertical farm as a utopian future where green skycrapers rise out of the “squalid urban blight” to produce high tech veggies. Imagine green beans on the ground floorContinue reading “Growing crops without sun or soil?”