“Now I ask you: what can be expected of man as a being endowed with such strange qualities? Shower him with all earthly blessings, drown him in happiness completely, over his head, so that only bubbles pop up on the surface of happiness, as on water; give him such economic satisfaction that he no longer […]
Read more "It’s Still Worth Saving"I think we often underestimate how early environmental devastation came to the eastern states. Around 1800, the Connecticut River had been dammed and one of the inestimable runs of shad and Atlantic Salmon halted. Maine lost most of its evergreens (and hardwoods too) in the early 1800’s. It’s tall pines had gone for ship masts […]
Read more "Rise of the Elk"I can look around the forest and field of Westmoreland County and I can see environmental devastation. I can see fragmented forest that’s a dim reflection of the primeval Seventeenth Century canopy. I can see bright orange streams, tainted for decades by the arteries of acidic water ruptured during the heyday of deep bituminous coal […]
Read more "The Land of the Living"“You libtards need to go get jobs, grow up and quit whining about global warming!,” expressed one veteran Facebooker succinctly. “Maybe you need to grow a brain, quit denying science and move out of Kentucky,” replied his equally irate interlocutor, hollering from just across the ideological rift and winding down a rapid–fire IM fusillade. It […]
Read more "When Elephants Run Wild"Many of us were suspicious of global warming theory from the time we became aware of it, likely around 1990 for most of us. People on the political left would suggest that our misapprehensions were due to our blind faith in America and the free market, or just our fear of strange new theories. On […]
Read more "It’s not About the Environment After All"Here, I continue to make my case for the superiority of capitalism over socialism, in the realm of the environment and beyond… Suppose one farmer Wilson digs and then dams a tiny brook on his property to create a pond. Some decry his environmental insensitivity – he’s sinned against Gaia and will create […]
Read more "Capitalism as Sustainability 2"Let’s start easy on this one. I provide food, a living place and clothing for myself by caring for the needs of an elderly group of Pittsburgh’s citizens and the building they live in. The residents don’t give to my charity and I don’t threaten them at gunpoint to give me their money, yet […]
Read more "Capitalism As Sustainability Part 1"This is an excerpt from an article I’m working on for publication. This should be enough to show where my thinking’s running on something fairly theoretical. . Sometimes the most complex, thorough sets of facts and figures miss their mark, and miss the point. It’s an important element of libertarian theory that touches […]
Read more "Just Something I’ve Been Thinking About"How do you deal with change? This question addresses one of the most fundamental partitions among humans, I think. During my long walks through the eastern mountains, recounted in The Dying Fish, I became painfully aware that, really, it was all change. If there are others who think I’m right about this, then it seems […]
Read more "Warming to Change"It’s a land of 10,000 lakes, a place of resurgent wildlife and a place of grand summer vacations. Almost no-one goes there who doesn’t have to between November and April. I’m leaving for Minnesota in a little less than two weeks. I feel compelled to test the limits once again and attempt a long-distance solo […]
Read more "Minnesota"