Free Market Environmentalism for the Next Generation

A lot of environmentalists, including myself, have been frustrated over the years by the lack of successful outcomes from political environmentalism. I remember when I belonged to several environmental groups in the 1990s, I was struck by the vastly different approaches of 2 of the organizations, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Sierra Club (SC). TNC identified crucial environmental resources and purchased the property rights to them whereas SC tended to take other organizations/individuals to court in trying to prevent them from using environmental resources in ways they disagreed with, or they lobbied governments at various levels in order to get laws and regulations passed that favored their points of view. Not only was TNC more cost effective in their approach, they also tended to get better outcomes for the environment, from my point of view.In this book the principal authors (Anderson and Leal) are joined in various chapters by subject matter experts (SMEs) of forestry, wildlife management, fisheries management, surface water, groundwater, and air quality. They provide dozens of examples of successful outcomes using free market environmentalism approaches, often where political environmental approaches failed (sometimes horribly) in the past. Political environmentalism tends toward outcomes that are, at best, zero sum games (winners' gains are balanced by losers' losses) or often negative sum games (net loss overall to all parties from outcomes). Free market environmentalism often results in positive sum games (win-win outcomes). As long as property rights can be clearly defined and managed then free market environmentalism can work effectively.The book is strongly academic (many dozens of publications are cited throughout) and could serve as an undergraduate/graduate level text. I have a solid background in economics, but I appreciate the fact that this book is written more from an environmental resource management perspective than an economics perspective. It succinctly points out shortcomings of the strict approach of government policy driven by scientific research, which fails to address economic tradeoffs of policies or applies them too generically. A case in point is water nutrient loads allowed from sewage treatment plants (STPs). For some STPs in low population density areas it is easy for them to reach the required concentrations whereas for others in high population density areas it can be next to impossible to reach the same concentrations. By setting up a cap & trade system, STPs that get below scientifically set limits can sell credits to other STPs that are above them for rivers, lakes, etc. to get below the overall limits. Cap & trade systems only work where there is high demand for pollution credits. Where there isn't the price can end up dropping dramatically from initial offerings causing huge losses for parties who have previously purchased them at higher prices. Free market approaches can often better reach scientifically derived limits than can government regulations, alone.At present, there is no overall free-market solution to climate change given the complications of defining property rights to the atmosphere, though there are growing markets for renewable energy and carbon reduction goods and services. There potentially could also be a big market for land management property rights to encourage investment in more carbon-sinking land management approaches. Examples include holistic range management, soil carbon sequestration, and reforestation.

A different perspective not promoted by politicians.A good read for those truly concerned about the environment and wanting to take action.

It's not every day there is a current book that is very creditable on how to join businesses and environmentalist together to work on climate change in a mutually beneficial way! This book does that!

Excellent for all ages ... needs to be taught in high school environmental sciences courses ....

Tough to get into, seemed rather pretentious. I'll try again later, and update my review of my opinion changes

This is a book titled to draw in unsuspecting (perhaps inexperienced) environmentalists, but it is not about environment, conservation, resource management, ecology or anything related to environmental topics. It is about what the US Forest Service used to call Multiple Use, which amounts to using resources for industry. Not preserving, protecting, or even managing, just exploiting.

Is that your review Bucky? The book is shallow and the chapters are written by authors with little or no peer review. One would hardly call it fir for academia/