'Blue' Environmentalism - The Ecology of Liberty It was one of the
earliest-and most graphic-attempts to blame pollution on
overpopulation. In his classic book Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich
described an evening he spent in Delhi, India: "The streets seemed
alive with people," he wrote. "People eating, people washing . . .
people defecating and urinating. . . . As we moved slowly through the
mob . . . the dust, noise, heat, and cooking fires gave the scene a
hellish aspect." The solution, Ehrlich then concluded, was compulsory
population control.
But theologian Michael Novak says the problem is not too many people;
it's too much poverty. And the most effective way to lift the poor out
of poverty-and thus cut down on pollution-is by promoting capitalism,
private enterprise, and freedom, what Novak calls "the ecology of
liberty."
As Novak writes in National Review, "Where people are poor,
environmental conditions tend to be abysmal. And if the twentieth
century proved anything, it was that the best way to end poverty isn't
red-the color of socialism-but blue, the color of liberty, personal
initiative, and enterprise."
For instance, worldwide, more than a billion people live without clean
drinking water. This is especially true in Africa, thanks to perpetual
civil wars, dishonest governments, and badly managed finances.
Of course, Africa faces technical challenges to clean water-but there
is no reason these challenges cannot be conquered, as they've been
conquered elsewhere, Novak writes. And that can only happen if other
obstacles-political, cultural, and economic-are addressed using
economic incentives.
For example, Africans have become accustomed to subsidized or no-cost
water. At the same time, farmers and industries that pollute the water
pay no price for doing so. So without any incentive to save and protect
clean water, water is treated recklessly.
The solution is not fewer people polluting, but incentives for
conscientious use of water and penalties for irresponsible use. Those
who build and maintain treatment facilities could be offered financial
incentives; polluters could be penalized.
Bringing clean water to the whole world requires imagination and
enterprise, capital and organizational skills, according to Novak. The
institutions best equipped to supply these elements are in the
corporate business sector. Novak notes, "Blue Environmentalism
encourages the highest possible level of practicality and private
enterprise."
This principle of liberty-which applies to all environmental
concerns-is one of the guiding principles of what Novak labels "Blue
Environmentalism." When people make free choices, "they normally
calculate the costs and benefits of their actions," Novak writes.
"These costs and benefits should be so aligned as to promote the common
good, while respecting free choice."
Although many environmental activists are loathe to admit it, this is
one more reason for America to encourage the spread of democracy around
the world: It will result in a cleaner planet. And that's something to
remember during the preparations for Creation Sunday 2005. What
treaties and bureaucracies often can never achieve, free individuals
and free markets often can.
