Linda Platts

From Demolition to Deconstruction

Normally, when a home or commercial building needs to be torn down, the owners call in the muscle—heavy equipment such as a trackhoe (backhoe on tracks) for the general bashing, and trucks to carry the debris to the dump. Now there is an alternative—one that could be more cost effective while saving landscaping from beingContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Joe Sehee

Green Burial: It's Only Natural

Can one last act really mean something?

Carolyn Nistler

Seeing Spots

A jungle story   Conjure an image of hunting prowess in dark, steamy jungles and a jaguar might leap into mind. Ancient Mayans, in fact, celebrated him as a deity. Like all large predators, jaguars evoke fear, awe, and respect—sometimes simultaneously. While jungle stories and legends abound, and the magnificent creatures indeed inhabit lush, greenContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Deroy Murdock

Market-Friendly Environmentalism in Midtown Manhattan

How private management has improved New York City's Central Park

James Lucas

Water Logged

It is the holy trinity of the new Green Economy–a company which improves the health of the natural ecosystem, makes places safer for people, and at the same time makes a profit. Tritom Logging Inc., of Victoria, British Columbia, is positioning itself to achieve all three.   For much of the past century, decisions haveContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Gijsbert Nollen

Transforming Pollution Into Profits

Every year, Thailand’s largest agroindustrial companies discharge approximately 175 million cubic meters (6.18 billion cubic feet) of water into open air lagoons, polluting stream, rivers, bays, and water tables. The discharge, a byproduct of the agroprocessing industry, contains agricultural pollutants such as manure, sewage sludge, and polluted wastewater. The wastewater also contains several greenhouse gases,Continue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Terry Anderson

Get 'er Done

When PERC started in 1980, it was a small think tank. People at PERC did research and published it in academic journals and university press books. Mainstream for us was having op-eds in newspapers—even some in the Wall Street Journal. As PERC matured, we knew that we were having an impact on the academy, butContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Daniel Benjamin

Dams:

ECONOMIST, n. a scoundrel whose faulty vision sees things as they really are, not as they ought to be.—after Ambrose Bierce Dams are often touted as engines of economic development, able to markedly reduce poverty. Irrigation made possible by dams, for example, is said to increase agricultural productivity and thus per capita income. But itContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"

Opinions

PERC Reports offers optimism and encouragement to climate change doomsayers. PERC advocates free market solutions for environmental problems, finding solutions where others find only frustration. The current issue (Fall 2007) uncovers a reason for faith in capitalism, the system that PERC fellow Brian Yablonski argues has fostered the reemergence of the American bison through ranchingContinue reading "Opinions"

Timothy M. Cranston

Impressions

  Up in Smoke   “A problem that the Forest Service created—excess fuels—prevents appropriate burning, and so the problem grows. It is one of the great paradoxes of fire suppression that the more effective we are at fire suppression, the more fuels accumulate and the more intense the next fire will be.” —USDA Forest ServiceContinue reading "From Demolition to Deconstruction"