Enviro-Capitalists

Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well is a 1997 book written by economists Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal.^[1] In this book, Anderson and Leal further developed the concept of free-market environmentalism, which they first described in their 1992 book Free Market Environmentalism.^[2] The book argues that privatization of sectors like wildlife conservation, aquatic habitat development and environment-friendly housing is beneficial and environmental protection should be done by private entrepreneurs, not by the federal government.^[3][4] Enviro-Capitalists received the 1997 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award.^[5][6]

Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well

Author	Terry L. Anderson Donald R. Leal
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Free-market environmentalism
Publisher	Rowman & Littlefield
Publication date	1997
Media type	Print (hardcover · paperback)
Pages	189
ISBN	978-0-8476-8382-6

Contents

The book is divided into nine chapters:^[7]

1. Nature's Entrepreneurs
2. Barons of Preservation
3. Mavericks of Conservation
4. The Business of Bambi
5. Buy That Fish a Drink
6. Eco-Developers
7. Going Global
8. Community Spirit
9. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Criticism of traditional environmentalism

Enviro-Capitalists claims that traditional environmentalists are driven by political opportunism. According to the book, major environmentalist organizations, most of them headquartered in Washington, DC, focus on politics, lobbying and fundraising, and people involved in these organizations spend their time in the United States Congress, not in the "wilds of nature". The book is critical of organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) who, it claims, are driven by political and financial agendas rather than environmentalism.^[8]

Environmental entrepreneurs

The book documents the activities and individual case studies of environmental entrepreneurs and enviro-capitalists like Tom Bourland,^[9] Peter S. O'Neil,^[10] Frank Crisafulli,^[11] Zach Willy, Andrew Parkey,^[12] Hugh Macrae,^[13] Tom Cade,^[14] Bob Elgas,^[15] Dalle Miller, Bob O'Brien, Greg Koonce,^[16] Dayton Hyde.^[17]

Reviews

True environmentalists, those who seek to protect the precious biological envelopes that support life and are not simply dedicated to the replacement of individual freedom with command and control regulation, will be encouraged to know that markets are on their side. Friends of liberty, who sometimes find themselves hard-pressed to defend markets in the face of attacks from environmentalists, will welcome the reinforcements provided by this excellent, if too-short book.

Economist Bruce Yandle on Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well^[1]

According to a review by economist Bruce Yandle in The Freeman, the authors of the book Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well, instead of depending on theories of free market environmentalism, emphasized the activities of historical and current entrepreneurs who invested in the environmental sector. How entrepreneurs have found niche markets for the conservation of species like the peregrine falcon is explained in the book. Yandle writes that those who mistakenly came to the conclusion that capitalism destroys nature will "find their prejudices strongly challenged" after going through this book. According to him, Enviro-Capitalists will convince the readers that entrepreneurs, if not delayed or discouraged by the government, are able to deliver environmental quality just as they deliver necessary features of life like food, clothing, communications, health care and others. Yandle concludes that this book proves the traditional assumption, that the government is the only solution for wildlife conservation, is wrong.^[1]

Andrew Dobson, professor at Keele University, wrote in the journal Environmental Values that the book is "a useful addition to the debate about protecting nature and making money".^[18]

Policy Review, published by the Hoover Institution, noted that the book views the growth of enviro-capitalism as a vindication of the views of conservationist Aldo Leopold.^[19]

Gregory Dunn, writing for the Religion & Liberty, a magazine published by the Acton Institute, noted that the book builds upon Anderson and Leal's earlier book Free Market Environmentalism. He writes that Enviro-Capitalists respects private and creative initiatives for the purpose of achieving environmental goals. According to Dunn, "Enviro-Capitalism is a persuasive argument that such an environment is not that of the heavy-handed approach of state regulation but a regime of markets, private property, and rule of law."^[20]

Michael E. Zimmerman wrote in Strategies: Journal of Theory, Culture & Politics that the book notes the difficulty of reconciling environmental protection and profit-seeking as profit seekers do not always consider the long-term positive effects of conservation, but at the same time the book pointed out that the passing of legislation for the national park system, including the Yellowstone National Park, was the result of lobbying efforts of people knows as "robber barons".^[21]

References

Footnotes

1. Yandle, Bruce (February 1999). . The Freeman. Vol. 49, no. 2. Irvington-on-Hudson, New York: Foundation for Economic Education. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
2. Fox 2008, p. 121
3. Anderson & Leal 1997, back cover.
4. "Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well". Ecosystem Marketplace. Washington: Forest Trends. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
5. Leal 2005, p. 267; Leal & Meiners 2002, p. 207.
6. . Bozeman, Montana: Property and Environment Research Center. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
7. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. V
8. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 2
9. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 4
10. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 12
11. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 16
12. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 18
13. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 33
14. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 52
15. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 54
16. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 104
17. Anderson & Leal 1997, p. 109
18. Dobson 1998, p. 489.
19. . Policy Review. No. 82. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution. 1997. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
20. Dunn, Gregory (1998). "Enviro-Capitalists". Religion & Liberty. Vol. 8, no. 3. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Acton Institute. pp. 13–14. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
21. Zimmerman 2000.

Bibliography

• Anderson, Terry L.; Leal, Donald R. (1997). Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-8382-6.
• Dobson, Andrew (1998). "Review of Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well, by Terry Anderson and Donald Leal, and Is Capitalism Sustainable? Political Economy and the Politics of Ecology, Edited by Martin O'Connor". Environmental Values. 7 (4): 488–490. doi:10.1177/096327199800700412. ISSN 1752-7015. JSTOR 30301680. S2CID 259156871.
• Fox, Glenn (2008). "Opening the Door to Environmental Goods and Services". In Schneider, Nicholas (ed.). A Breath of Fresh Air: The State of Environmental Policy in Canada (PDF). Vancouver: Fraser Institute. pp. 118–134. ISBN 978-0-88975-241-2. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
• Leal, Donald R., ed. (2005). Evolving Property Rights in Marine Fisheries. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-3494-0.
• Leal, Donald R.; Meiners, Roger E., eds. (2002). Government vs. Environment. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-2181-0.
• Zimmerman, Michael E. (2000). (PDF). Strategies: Journal of Theory, Culture & Politics. 13 (1): 89–110. doi:10.1080/10402130050007548. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 3, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

Further reading

• . Environment & Climate News. Heartland Institute. January 1999. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
• Fox, Glenn (2002). "Review of Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well, by Terry A. Anderson and Donald R. Leal". Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics. 50 (2): 221–222. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7976.2002.tb00429.x. ISSN 1744-7976.
• Hale, Bejamin (2008). "Private Property and Environmental Ethics: Some New Directions" (PDF). Metaphilosophy. 39 (3): 402–421. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2008.00550.x. ISSN 1467-9973. (PDF) from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2020.