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Vacay

I'm leaving in a few hours for a red-eye flight (with two small kids! nice knowing you) to Tennessee for what I used to call a "vacation," before I had children. Now it's called "parading the children before the relatives like show ponies."

I'll be back next week. Until then, I leave you in the capable hands of our other posters. Peace.

A challenge to all of those enamored with common property ownership

It seems like almost everyone who commented on my piece "The 4 E's for environmental improvement" took issue with point #2 -- that we establish property rights for all resources that are open access. (While I stand by this point, please also take some time to digest the other 3.)

Love the earth? Die.

The TerraPass blog points to a new study out from U. Penn professor Karl Ulrich called "The Environmental Paradox of Biking" (PDF). The rather jarring conclusion is that switching people over from cars to bicycles has, at present, no net environmental benefit.

"Wha ...?!" you say.

Well, here's the thing. Just by being alive, you're sucking up resources. In particular, lots and lots of fossil fuels are required to transport food to you. If you stop driving everywhere and bike instead, you'll live longer. So you'll suck up more resources. So it's a wash.

If you really love the environment, you'll drive your car ... off a bridge.

Ouch.

She will rap the critics’ knuckles

You know a company is eager to improve its public image when it starts hiring nuns.

The Apollo creed

You can't swing a drowned polar bear without hitting a new report that says America needs a massive, Apollo-like program to rebuild its bloated, fossil-dependent industry into something more sustainable. The latest isn't about sustainability per se, but rather my nemesis, the dread "energy security." The Southern States Energy Board commissioned a report (PDF) charting America's survival in an age of precious oil, as the age of cheap oil passes.

The study's conclusions are about what you'd expect -- and exactly the problem with the whole energy security notion: Essentially, a military-industrial problem is identified and a military-industrial solution is proposed (coal-to-liquids, enhanced oil recovery, even oil shale for @$%#'s sake). There's a nod toward biomass, but no real effort at sustainability.

Lazy People Can Save the Planet

Use the dishwasher if you want to save water, U.K. study concludes We know your type: Your dirty dishes are piling up as you sit immobilized by the question of […]

SoyChlor plant

A reader wrote to ask me to draw attention to it -- it needs a national audience -- so here you go:

A SoyChlor plant in Jefferson, Iowa is alleged to damage property, kill plant and animal life, and make people and even children sick with hydrochloric acid.

You'll be shocked to hear that the plant has not yet faced any fines or repercussions.

A “simple remedy” for global warming

Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has been criticized for not offering enough ideas to solve global warming. But his documentary has not only far exceeded box office expectations, grossing three times the early estimates already; it has also brought in waves of new ideas from well-known thinkers in a variety of fields.

As long as global warming was thought to be a murky scientific controversy, so-called opinion leaders could safely ignore the subject. But now that -- as science reporter Eugene Linden remarked in an interview a couple of months ago -- "the naysayers and deniers are starting to look more and more like idiots," the experts are scrambling for unclaimed ground on which to plant their flag and show their smarts.

The “Four E’s” of environmental improvement

I recently attended a conference on common property resources where the majority of participants were skeptical, if not downright antagonistic, to free market principles.

During one lengthy exchange in which I challenged the presenters to provide clear evidence that common property ownership led to superior environmental and social outcomes than private ownership, the moderator turned to me and asked what recommendations I, as an economist, had for improving the environment.

It was an interesting moment, because the participants had by now realized that I was somewhat of an anomaly at the conference (since I do believe in free market principles) and they were genuinely curious as to what I considered solutions to environmental problems.

Brad Pitt talks NOLA green building on Today show

See Brad Pitt on the Today show talking about a competition he's underwriting with Global Green to judge eco-friendly apartment designs for New Orleans.

And watch out for a Gristmill post coming soon from Global Green head Matt Petersen about the sustainable design competition and efforts to rebuild and green a still-devastated New Orleans.