One of the great gifts of being in Wisconsin is being surrounded by natural beauty that matches anything in America. This beauty is worth conserving.
Today is Earth Day. On Earth Day, there’s much talk about conservation, and — often falsely — much talk about how growth must be stopped, or slowed, to save the planet. Libertarians favor free markets and individual choice, and so schemes to inhibit those markets and choices are, to us, unwise.
Let’s be clear, though: we do not favor markets because we’re libertarians; we’re libertarians because we favor markets. We see the power of individual choice, and that guides our political philosophy and economic thinking.
There are two articles that describe well how many libertarians feel about Earth Day. Over at Reason, Ronald Bailey writes that environmental conditions, over the last few decades, have in many cases actually improved. He makes the powerful point that economic growth and success, rather than inhibiting environmental improvement, actually makes environmental progress possible. Bailey writes that
During a panel discussion held at AEI on the occasion of the release of the Index [of Leading Environmental Indicators], AEI scholar Roger Bate highlighted the point that wealth creation and the institutions that underpin wealth creation (property rights, rule of law, democratic governance) precede environmental clean up. Policies that slow down economic growth also slow down eventual environmental improvement.
Over at Cato, Indur Goklany’s, “On Earth Day, Remember the Humans,” reminds readers “we should renew our promise to keep the environment clean—without adding to human misery or stalling improvements in the human condition.”
Prosperity though well-functioning markets makes environmental and human progress possible. This material progress keeps people fed and healthy, and should not be inhibited. Both environmental gains and fulfillment of human needs and wants are possible.