It’s natural to think of our environmental problems as issues of science, technology, or markets. We learned of them from scientists. Technologists and business people said they could solve them, but they’re social.

The environment isn’t changing on its own. We’re changing it. Pollution destroys life, liberty, and property, mentioned throughout the US Constitution. We feel anxiety not from an effectively abstract “climate,” but because people can unilaterally destroy our life, liberty, and property with impunity.

Isn’t there an entity that is supposed to protect life, liberty, and property? According to even ardent supporters of limited government, it’s government. As Milton Friedman put it, “I’m not in favor of no government. You do need a government . . . There’s no other institution in my opinion that can provide us with protection of our life and liberty.” Ronald Reagan said, “I’m proud of having been one of the first to recognize that states and the federal government have a duty to protect our natural resources from the damaging effects of pollution.”

Nearly everyone agrees government should protect life, liberty, and property.

Without that protection, why create if someone can destroy your creation with impunity and profit from it? Without that protection, we lose hope for a better future and isolate, ultimately to what we and immediate family can protect.

We can restore that protection.

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