Practical vs. romantic. (Science And Environment).(report on 'AEI's Environmental Policy Outlook' in Environment Outlook, August 2002)(Brief Article)

Steven Hayward and Christopher DeMuth, "AEI's Environmental Policy Outlook," in Environment Outlook, August 2002, (aei.org)

In this first edition of a new publication on environmental issues put out by the American Enterprise Instiute, AEI president Christopher DeMuth and AEI fellow Steven Hayward distinguish between "practical" and "romantic" environmentalism. Both practical and romantic environmentalists, say the authors, understand that pollution and environmental degradation are harmful, but that's where the similarity ends.

Practical environmentalism, the two argue, "is the world in which environmental standards are established and applied in a multitude of discrete circumstances." Practical environmentalists understand that preserving air, water, animal species, and open space requires cost-benefit analysis and that people must sometimes make trade-offs between the environment and other social goods. Romantic environmentalism, on the ...