Accidental Environmentalism

by Tibor R. Machan

Environmentalists tend to believe that the best way to achieve their ends is to empower governments to command us all to act as environmentalists would want us to act - stop using SUVs, save endangered species, preserve wetlands, recycle, and so forth.

But this approach is not a reliable way to deal with environmental problems. Yes, at some particular time a government may make the laws and issue the regulations environmentalists want (although even at their most conscientious these regulations may fail, since environmentalists are not exactly sure what policies will do the environment the most good, what standards should be deployed, how to prioritize, and so on. ) But governments, be they mostly democratic or more dictatorial, tend to follow fashion. This year it may be environmentalism, but next it will be traffic congestion, the following some health concern, and after that who knows what will take center stage.

And all along, of course, innumerable special-interest projects continue to drive the politicians’ agendas.

If, however, individuals have something to gain from acting prudently in their lives - from conserving, preserving, saving, being frugal, having restraint - environmentalism could well be afoot without folks even knowing they are falling in line with the movement. Some of us travel a lot, for example, and stay at hotels or motels where efforts are being made to cut back on the use of amenities. Instead of bedding and towels being replaced each day, they are now often reused, with the establishment’s urgings and with full consent of the guests who don’t mind very much using the same sheets and pillowcases for several days, as long as they can be accommodated in case of special need. I have noticed that hot water is sometimes shut off in the wee hours of the morning, something that can actually inconvenience certain guests - but then they can stay elsewhere, should it matter to them a lot.

When private property rights are strictly identified and protected, there is actual economic value in being environmentally prudent. Just as one may not dump one’s trash on the property of one’s neighbor, other kinds of pollution, once clearly identified, can also be curtailed, with the overall effect being to make the environment more pristine.

Of course, such unintended environmentalism rests in large measure on the belief that people are not intentionally reckless, at least not when the cost has to be borne by them and they will be held accountable if they try to escape it. This goes for small estates as well as massive industrial firms. Yet, sadly, too many avid environmentalists work toward undermining the system of private property rights, a system that could be their best friend. One need but recall the conditions in the Soviet bloc countries - and, indeed, notice those in some of the countries that still haven’t recovered from their Soviet era mismanagement - to learn how the tragedy of the commons ruins the environment in many places around the globe. What happened in most of these places is that some grand, national plan to promote industrialization overshadowed even the slightest efforts by citizens to care for their environment. They had no say over the matter - it was all dealt with from above.

In the approximately free world, in contrast, two things have contributed to relatively sound environmental policies: the greater respect and protection afforded to private property rights and the greater wealth, by far, of a citizenry that can afford to be picky about the environment. Poor countries, the ones suffering from central government mismanagement, fail to be heedful of this, and as a result their environment is, in pretty lousy shape.

One thing too many environmentalists don’t welcome about this the private property approach is that it leaves matters to local control, all the way down to individual citizens being free to decide how to deal with the environment. Like all utopian dreamers, these environmentalists trust some superior agency. And that is how they tend to defeat their very own professed objectives.

Machan is the RC Hoiles Professor of business ethics - free enterprise at the Argyros School of Business Economics, Chapman University, and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He also advises Freedom Communications, Inc., on public policy issues.