Seeing Like a Publicist

Chapter 1, Seeing Like a Publicist, locates the origins of public relations alongside emerging environmental narratives at the beginning of the twentieth century. The United States Forest Service, a federal bureau established during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, represented a vision of nature as resource for development, at odds with the romantic spirit of wilderness preservationists such as John Muir. Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot developed sophisticated mechanisms and messages to promote his commitment to a distinctly American culture of nature, qualifying and transforming the character of environmental information to the news-reading public in the process. Pinchot developed foundational concepts and practices of public relations that would leave deep grooves in the American experience of environmentalism.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL TURN IN NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS: JOHN KRUTILLA AND “CONSERVATION RECONSIDERED”

Environmentalism in the United States historically has been divided into its utilitarian and preservationist impulses, represented by Gifford Pinchot and John Muir, respectively. Pinchot advocated conservation of natural resources to be used for human purposes; Muir advocated protection from humans, for nature’s own sake. In the first half of the twentieth century, natural resource economics was firmly in Pinchot’s side of that schism. That position began to change as the postwar environmental movement gained momentum. In particular, John Krutilla, an economist at Resources for the Future, pushed economics to the point that it could embrace Muir’s vision as well as Pinchot’s. Krutilla argued that if humans preferred a preserved state to a developed one, then such preferences were every bit as “economic.” Either way, there were opportunity costs and an economic choice to be made.

Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - The Environmental Turn in Natural Resource Economics: John Krutilla and "Conservation Reconsidered"

Environmentalism in the United States historically has been divided into its utilitarian and preservationist impulses, represented by Gifford Pinchot and John Muir, respectively. Pinchot advocated conservation of natural resources to be used for human purposes; Muir advocated protection from humans, for nature's own sake. In the first half of the 20th century, natural re-source economics was firmly in Pinchot's side of that schism. That position began to change as the post-war environmental movement gained momentum. In particular, John Krutilla, an economist at Resources for the Future, pushed economics to the point that it could embrace Muir's vision as well as Pinchot's. Krutilla argued that if humans preferred a preserved state to a developed one, then such preferences were every bit as "economic." Either way, there were opportunity costs and an economic choice to be made.

Book Reviews

This section includes book reviews of Timothy Weaver’s Blazing the Neoliberal Trail: Urban Political Development in the United States and the United Kingdom by Michelle J. Atherton and Char Miller’s edited volume Gifford Pinchot: Selected Writings by Wesley Leckrone.

Drinks on Us: Defending the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

According to to Yuengling: the History of America’s Oldest Brewery, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) was designed to, in the words of then-Governor Gifford Pinchot, make liquor sales “as inconvenient and expensive as possible.” The PLCB is the state agency with sole control over the distribution and sale of alcohol in Pennsylvania. State House Republicans agree with Gov. Pinchot and have been arguing that it is time to privatize the PLCB. They charge that the agency is “archaic” and losing money. Supporters of the PLCB argue that privatization would result in higher prices for consumers and the loss of well-paying Pennsylvania jobs. While the PLCB does have some inherent features making it harder to buy alcohol, the best option for the citizens of Pennsylvania is a modernized PLCB.