Free Market Environmentalism

Free market environmentalism is the theory that free markets are more conducive to environmental preservation than government regulation and government ownership of resources. For example, free market environmentalists believe that the Endangered Species Act is counterproductive because, by placing restrictions on land populated by certain species, it encourages the landowners to destroy habitats before anyone notices those species are present. Likewise, it encourages nearby landowners to preemptively destroy potential habitats before those species have an opportunity to move there.