Natural Resources, the Environment, and Human Welfare

by Edited by Ellen Frankel Paul , Fred D. Miller, Jr , Jeffrey Paul

• ISBN13: 9780521139748
• ISBN10: 0521139740
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-27
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Modern industrial societies have achieved a level of economic prosperity undreamed of in earlier times, but on the view of the contemporary environmental movement, this prosperity has come at the cost of serious degradations to the natural world. For environmental advocates, problems such as resource depletion, air and water pollution, global warming, and the loss of biodiversity represent dire threats to the well-being of human societies and the planet itself. But just how serious are these threats, and how should we go about confronting them? Do environmental problems call for more extensive governmental controls over industrial activity, energy policy, and the like, or is it possible to find solutions by harnessing the incentives of the free market?

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. v
Acknowledgments	p. xvi
Contributors	p. xvii
Liberty, Property, Environmentalism	p. 1
Who is the Invader? Alien Species, Property Rights, and the Police Power	p. 26
Politics and Property in Natural Resources	p. 53
Two Theories of Environmental Regulation	p. 95
The End of the Externality Revolution	p. 130
Freedom and Dependency in an Environmental Age	p. 151
The Call of Nature	p. 173
Do Global Warming and Climate Change Represent a Serious Threat to Our Welfare and Environment?	p. 193
History, Politics, and Claims of Man-Made Global Warming	p. 231
Suppressing Liberty, Censoring Information, Wasting Resources, and Calling it Good for the Environment	p. 272
Taking Property Rights Seriously: The Case of Climate Change	p. 296
Should Endangered Species Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Listed Species	p. 317
The Endangered Species Act, Regulatory Takings, and Public Goods	p. 353
Understanding the Precautionary Principle and its Threat to Human Welfare	p. 378
Index	p. 411
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