There is nothing cheap about environmental policies that consume more than 2 percent of gross domestic product, and there is no aspect of governmental regulation that is more bureaucratic. Conservatives must get back to thinking about environmental policy as if people matter. For example, many environmentalists say they want to give trees, rocks, or endangered species legal standing. This means they want the government to regulate human activity for the good of nature. The conservative counter should be that we already have a way to give them standing private ownership.
Private property gives the owner a stake in preserving environmental assets.
Private property rights make the environment an asset rather than a liability. From elephants in southern Africa to rain forests in Central America to water in the Columbia River, enviro-capitalists are showing how markets and property rights can be the environment s best friend. Private conservation efforts came first. Even the formation of Yellowstone National Park can be credited mainly to private efforts by the Northern Pacific Railroad. In the case of public lands, environmentalists have put conservatives on the defensive by arguing that below-cost timber sales and other commodity production should be eliminated from the federal lands.