Letters to the Editor

GLOBAL WARMING AND ETHICAL ISSUES There is much to celebrate and a mite to mourn in PERC’s dialogue on whether the victims of global warming are, by free market principles, entitled to compensation (March 2005). That the dialogue took place is the big celebration – a sign that the right is emerging from its longContinue reading "Letters to the Editor"

Terry Anderson, Jon Christensen

How To Avoid Tax Cheating

  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 "Riding the Waves"

Jane Shaw

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 "Riding the Waves"

Linda Platts

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 "Riding the Waves"

Linda Platts

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 "Riding the Waves"

Linda Platts

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 "Riding the Waves"

Linda Platts

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"

Mark Sagoff

The Catskills Parable

The Economist magazine recently observed that natural ecosystems have more economic value than many people think. It reported that in 1997 the government of New York City faced a choice: either to install a new water filtration plant at a cost of $4–6 billion, with $250 million a year in operating costs, or spend muchContinue reading "Riding the Waves"

Matthew White

National Heritage Areas

  Concerned about the creeping uniformity of modern suburban life, many people are seeking a renewed ?sense of place? in their communities. The popularity of historical societies and preservation projects is a sign of this trend. Some people have discovered that adding the words ?nationally significant? to their area or region can result in millionsContinue reading "Riding the Waves"

Bill Varettoni

Success Overdue at The Quincy Library

  Enthusiasm surged recently in southwestern Washington when a community coalition announced that it had come up with a plan for logging Gifford Pinchot National Forest that was supported by environmentalists and industry officials alike. “We’ve identified the common ground . . . and hope the Forest Service will use this model,” said coalition memberContinue reading "Riding the Waves"