As a conservationist and a libertarian, I always find it interesting to
think how similar ecology and political economy are. Both are products of
nature — self-sustaining phenomena resulting from the aggregate of millions
of unrelated events.
The Nobel-laureate economist Friedrich Hayek coined a term for such
phenomena — the “spontaneous order.” Spontaneous orders arise without the
specific human intention to create them. Examples abound: the predator-prey
population cycle, the even spacing of cars across freeway lanes, the use of
money in society, and social rules of etiquette are just a few. All are the
result of individual actions that were never intended to gain the end
result. Or as Hayek put it, they are “the result of human action, but not of
human design.”
A notable feature of spontaneous orders, however, is that they do not
function as well, and sometimes not at all, when they are tinkered with.
Conservationists understand this well. This is why they make concerted
efforts to prevent the development of ecologically rich areas. They realize
that when humans interfere with ecology, it simply doesn’t function as well.
Unfortunately, the same people who are so committed to letting the
spontaneous order reign free within the environment fail to recognize the
damage and distortions to the environment caused by government’s
interventions. For example, taxpayer-subsidized highways flooded our economy
with (polluting) cars, a phenomenon that then led environmentalists to call
for nationwide emission controls on automobiles.
Moreover, in their attempt to save natural habitats, all too many
environmentalists fail to recognize the fundamental wrongfulness of using
government regulations to prevent landowners from using their own property
in their own way or of using taxation as a way to purchase such property
from landowners.
Though the conservation of wildlife habitat, clean air, and outdoor
recreational areas are considered by many of us to be laudable goals, they
should not be achieved through the coercive methods of government. The
spontaneous order of the market will provide these things if that is what
people place a value on, which obviously they do. For one thing, most
property owners take care of their own property because it’s in their
self-interest to do so. Moreover, there are millions of dollars donated to
conservation organizations by private individuals who wish to conserve those
ecological jewels that are not already owned by the government.
Thus, the moral and efficient approach would be to privatize conservation.
The government should place all federal lands, including national parks,
wildlife refuges, national forests, and wilderness areas into private hands,
including simply donating them to such nonprofit organizations as the
Audubon Society or the Nature Conservancy. Not only would such an approach
be based on moral principles, the spontaneous order of the market would
ensure a better and freer environment for everyone.
