Environmental Laws Vs. Economic Freedom Research Paper

Environmental Laws vs. Economic Freedom

The objective of this work is to provide an in depth analysis on environmental restrictions and economic freedom. This work will explain the rational and support the writer's view with research. Addressed will be topics including sustainability, change management, regulation and competition.

Defining Environmentalism and Economic Freedom

The work of Walter Block entitled "Environmentalism and Economic Freedom: The Case for Private Property Rights" states that an environmentalist "may be non-controversially defined as a philosophy which sets great benefit in clean air and water and to a lowered rate of species extinction." (1998) The definition of economic freedom is described as the "idea that people legitimately own themselves and the property they "capture" from nature by homesteading, as well as the additional property they attain, further, by trading either their labor or their legitimately owned possessions." (Block, 1998) The first view of the relationship existing between environmentalism and freedom is stated as appearing "direct and straightforward: an increase in the one leads to a decrease in the other and vice versa." (Block, 1998) The Marxist school of thought and those who are communist are "advocates of environmental concerns. People like these come to the ecological movement with an axe to grind.Their real interest is with power: running the lives of others, whether for their own good, for the good of society, or for the good of the unstoppable "forces of history." (Block, 1998) The "green" school of thought is such that sees environmentalist "as not a means toward an end, but as the very goal itself." (Block, 1998)

II. Climate Change a Poorly Understood Process

The work of Lee, Chung, and Koo (nd) addresses the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability and state "The relationship between economic growth and the environment is controversial. Traditional economic theory posits a trade-off between economic growth and environmental quality." (Lee, Chung and Koo, nd) Environmental sustainability is stated to be a method of "ensuring the needs of the present generation without compromising environmental carrying capacity for the future generation." (Lee, Chung and Koo, nd) In a response to the United Nations "Freedom 21 Agenda for Prosperity: Promoting Sustainability Through Political and Economic Freedom" it is reported that claims of United Nation officials have refuted by more than 17,000 scientists in the United States, with 2/3 of the scientists possessing advanced research masters or Ph.D. degrees in the hard sciences have "have signed a petition.....