I found this via Technorati, a review of a couple of environmental economics blogs:
People with awful jobs often have great senses of humor. Try hanging out with some longtime jail guards or social workers and getting them talking. They’ve seen it all, man, and they just have to laugh about it. If you’re at a conference of psychiatrists, crash the “forensics” table: the docs that deal with really sick violent people all day. The probability is high you’ll have a blast — while over at the “therapists to the healthy and alienated” table, that p fast approaches zero.
That’s what I was thinking this week as I read through recent entries at two surprisingly entertaining sites about economics. ...
Environmental and Urban Economics is written by an economist interested in green issues. I don’t understand many of the references to economic theory here, but it’s clear there’s an admirable wit and informality at work. I like it. Environmental Economics covers the same territory, with less rambling and a bit more focus on the news of the day.
Um. No comment.
Crap, I can't help it: I don't understand many of Kahn's references to economic theory either.
Update: I didn't realize the first 2 paragraphs above applied to us until a re-read (i.e., I have nothing better to do). And check out some other reviews below ...
Here is "Bottleman's" review of The Commons Blog:
... a free-market environmentalism blog named after Garrett Hardin’s essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” (isn’t that kind of like naming a book on heartbreak Love and then crediting inspiration for the title to the J. Geils Band song “Love Stinks”?). I can’t buy the argument here, which is that private ownership of land inspires stewardship of that land’s resources (which resources are we talking about? trees? precious metals? flat, houseworthy lots?). But there’s a long suggested reading list and a footnoted overview of free-market environmentalism which I found interesting.
And a comment from "Peter," a former libertarian (emphasis added below):
that is a wonderful analogy, for the commons blog. all you really need to know about that site is that they feature the one and only, randall o’toole (aka, rot), known for travelling all over the country pedaling misleading statistics on the danger, and inefficiency of light-rail. some think he’s an idiot, i think he is brilliant. he can take literally any statistic on any subject, and use it to prove the either a) light rail will make that problem worse, or b) use it to prove that light rail will fail. he also has a legion of followers able to espouse his litany as if their lives depended on it.
yes, based on that alone, you can write this site off as greenwash. it is a “free market” fundamentalist site with environmentalist window dressing. there are other sites that honestly address the idea of market based solutions to environmental problems, such as the one i think bottleman reviewed, env-econ.net (though there *are* a couple AGW deniers there).
in order to buy their argument that “private ownership of land inspires stewardship of that land’s resources”, you have to understand where they are coming from: they think private ownership of everything is the solution to everything. one thing they get right is that historically, the government has given a big helping hand to the extraction/pollution industries… think oil depletion allowances, well below market rate mining/drilling rights on public land, paving roads into public forests, grandfathering in big polluters, limiting liability, etc. however, “post hoc ergo propter hoc”, does not cut it here, the government is guilty, but private owners are not therefore innocent. (the government’s biggest assist to polluters actually came through legal changes in tort law during the early industrial era that transformed the common law tradition to limit liability in favor of economic use of property. but you don’t see any libertarians advocating for a return to common law, do you? no they was poetic over the coase theorem).
the reason i know so much about, and am so very intolerant of, libertarians is only because i used to be one, and i have to constantly fight off that impulse. kind of like how most homophobes are actually a little bit gay, i guess. anyway, ever wonder why libertarian rants are so cheap and pervasive on the internet? because the supply is way greater than the demand! hey wait, i thought people were only motivative by profit incentive in the free market? there’s something wrong with this equation… :) i can’t believe i just wrote that much on this subject. keep the reviews coming!
And here is the review of my favorite environmental blog to borrow from, Gristmill:
Gristmill is one of the biggest and best environmental blogs. Its close association with the magazine Grist keeps it superinformed, and the site certainly hosts some of the headiest discussion of environmental issues on the web.
One memorable series of stories from Jason D. Scorse looked at tensions between conservationists and animal rights advocates. The blog format really shone here… the discussion was voluminous, fascinating, and even occasionally footnoted. Though the content of that discussion was mostly from the “theological” school of environmental discussion (heavy on systematic theory), it was both intelligent and lively, and it demonstrated a real divide between two passionate groups of people who you’d think ought to be allies. Simultaneously, it showed how blogs are different from magazines.
Gristmill is certainly worth reading on a regular basis. But despite Grist’s tagline (”environmental news and humor”) the blog is deadly earnest, and I pity those who live in this headspace 24/7.
Env-econ.net's own Jason D. Scorse!
