Property Rights and the Environment

In the modern day and age, pollution is a major problem. Almost every day we hear about greenhouse gasses and smog, so how can we fix this and other related problems? As it turns out, there is a very simple solution to the issue, and that is private property. with private property, there would be incentive to not pollute. People could sue big factories for property invasion via air and soil pollution. This would provide a major incentive to invest in air scrubbers and cleaner methods of production. Additionally, there is the issue of paper versus plastic (in packaging). If dump cites could charge based on what is being dumped, people would voluntarily choose paper wrapped items over those wrapped in plastic. This is because the dump cite owners would keep getting sued for dumping plastic, and would therefore charge more to dump that materiel in the first place. Consumers would think when buying items at the store, “I should get the paper wrapped item because the disposable wrapping costs less to recycle.” Product manufacturers using plastic as packaging would get a decrease in sales revenue and have to eventually switch over to paper packaging, or at least decrease the quantity of plastic packaging that they use. Think about a public forest that is home to lots of deer. If privately owned, you would kill only the deer that you need and leave the majority to reproduce so that there will be more in following years. However, if publicly owned, these same woods would be entirely devoid of any and all game after the first couple of hunting seasons. This is because if you preserve some deer for the next season, some idiot is going to come hunting tomorrow and kill everything in sight, making it more profitable to simply kill whatever you can now.

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