Getting better all the time
The American Enterprise Institute has just published the 2004 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators by our friend Steve Hayward. The link provides the text in PDF format. Need we say it's brilliant? And that it only sounds boring?
This is the ninth edition of the AEI Index. For the first time, the Index contains a special section comparing U.S. environmental trends with trends in European Union nations -- a feature of special importance in the Kerry era. This year's Indicators show that the environment continues to be America’s single greatest policy success. Environmental quality has improved so much, in fact, that it is nearly impossible to paint a grim, gloom-and-doom picture anymore. According to the AEI summary:
Environmental quality is improving steadily and in some cases dramatically in key areas:Average vehicle emissions are dropping about 10 percent per year as the fleet turns over to inherently cleaner vehicles, including modern SUVs. Ninety-four percent of the population is served by water systems that have reported no violations of any health-based standards. There has been a 55-percent decline in toxic releases since 1988, even while total output of the industries covered by this measurement has increased 40 percent. Despite most popular assumptions, U.S. air quality trends are found to be at least equal, if not slightly better, than in Europe.
There have also been notable improvements in government reporting, with the EPA’s first-ever composite on national trends and state-based initiatives to improve water-quality monitoring. Private conservation efforts, such as Ducks Unlimited and the Peregrine Fund, and private water trusts have been highly successful.
And recent findings in climate-change science also give reason for hope. Because the climate models have been based on flawed economic assumptions, there is even greater uncertainty now in the range of CO2 emissions projections. This means the prognosis is probably not as grim as conventional wisdom would have us believe.
The Index shows that one of the few areas to show a decline in quality is that of public lands. While funding and land allotments have increased, quality has deteriorated by most significant measures. The root of the problem is an excess of political management, and the answer can be found in innovative solutions such as land trusts and resource leases.
