Before Thomas Jefferson penned in The Declaration of Independence, writing that we are endowed with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” it was philosopher John Locke who believed “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” Indeed, private property rights are critical to a nation’s economic growth and prosperity. Whether or not a country has established private property rules is a key indicator in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. But property rights also play an …
Heritage Foundation Religion and a Free Society fellow Ryan Messmore comments on Earth Day at crosswalk.com: The concept of stewardship involves taking care of something that belongs to somebody else. For Christians, stewardship of the environment recognizes that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). … Practices that actually generate worse suffering among people cannot be justified as good stewardship. Yet too often this is what happens in the name of environmental protection.
Great post by the New York Times John Tierney titled Use Energy, Get Rich and Save the Planet: When the first Earth Day took place in 1970, American environmentalists had good reason to feel guilty. The nation’s affluence and advanced technology seemed so obviously bad for the planet that they were featured in a famous equation developed by the ecologist Paul Ehrlich and the physicist John P. Holdren, who is now President Obama’s science adviser.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbCI68eSNsA[/youtube] To celebrate Earth Day, here is Kermit the Frog singing his standard “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Sing along with the updated 2009 lyrics below. It’s so expensive being green, Having to pay for all the things big government needs, When I think it could be nicer not being taxed, for energy, or my car, or my home’s heating, things like that. It’s so expensive being green, It seems the taxes blend in with so many ordinary policies these days, And people tend to pass them over, because they’re not standing out …
Deep in southern Siberia not far from Russia’s border with Mongolia is the “Blue Eye of Siberia” … the deepest and largest (by volume) fresh water lake in the world. Formed in an ancient rift valley, Lake Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plant and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Despite its 25 million year age, Baikal’s life sustaining beauty almost did not survive communist rule. Russian scientists believed that Baikal’s pure water would help produce better rayon cord …
Tomorrow not only is a major showdown between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary, it’s also Earth Day – when environmentalists celebrate the founding of their movement. Both Democratic presidential candidates have pandered significantly to the Earth-first crowd, promising millions in federal dollars for “green collar” jobs as well as supporting a cap-and-trade approach to cutting carbon emissions. Both policies appear sound on a cursory glance, but a close review exposes them as nothing more than clever marketing designed to deceive Americans into ignoring real and high costs. …
