Happy to see this type of perspective on environmentalism/conservation. Although I'd argue that the free market creep into environmentalism started back in the 70s and has been a dominant feature since the late 80s/early 90s.
At the policy level. The Nixon-era environmental regulations were obviously terrible for extractive industries which then started using front groups and think tanks like Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) - also Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in the UK - to lobby for deregulation of industry under the guise of free market environmentalism. I think that the partial success of the Wise Use Movement, the IUCN's adoption of pro-industry conservation, and the creation of "collaborations" between environmentalists and the timber industry all represent examples of the free market ideology during the 80s/90s. What we're seeing now is less the creep of free market into environmentalism and more the after effects of it being implemented for decades.
Happy to see this type of perspective on environmentalism/conservation. Although I'd argue that the free market creep into environmentalism started back in the 70s and has been a dominant feature since the late 80s/early 90s.
interesting! like, you mean in the form of consume goods and shit, or like, at the state/federal policy level?
At the policy level. The Nixon-era environmental regulations were obviously terrible for extractive industries which then started using front groups and think tanks like Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) - also Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in the UK - to lobby for deregulation of industry under the guise of free market environmentalism. I think that the partial success of the Wise Use Movement, the IUCN's adoption of pro-industry conservation, and the creation of "collaborations" between environmentalists and the timber industry all represent examples of the free market ideology during the 80s/90s. What we're seeing now is less the creep of free market into environmentalism and more the after effects of it being implemented for decades.