Robert Higgs Lecture

On Sept 29th I attended the Robert Higgs lecture, the perilous path to unlimited government. In this lecture Higgs gave an outline of American economic history. “Portentous and highly unfortunate choices and their legacies remain with us today and worsen the social economic problems we now face.” Decisions like the most recent bailout or the one trillion dollar war come to mind. In passing Higgs mentioned the concept of regulation-
“When the government requires us to take a certain action, or prohibit a certain action, or changes the terms on which we may take action, by taxing it, or requiring an action [...] we are less free to conduct our lives as we prefer. The decision we would have made is displaced by a decision by government officials." V (Higgs Lecture Sept 29th)
In our text, Environmental Law, Burns ET all discusses the concept of using government action, enacting legislation, using police officers to combat environmental crime etc. The current temperature of environmentalism echoes this sentiment. That government should regulate behaviors such as toxic spills, radiation poisoning and chemical waste dumps. But for most, big government battling big business does not resonate. What about regulations on a municipal/ ordinance level?
Should people be less free, i.e. have rules and regulations placed on their behaviors for the sake of the environment? Should a decision that is harmful to the environment be displaced?
The example of litter laws can answer this question. Litter is defined as (trash, wastepaper, or garbage lying scattered about) http://aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/litter. The advent of laws concerning litter was more about sanitation than the environment. The laws, (statues and ordinances) that were put in place worked on the Broken Windows theory. Or, that litter gave people permission to litter. The thought behind the ordinances and statues was to create an atmosphere that was intolerable to litter, fines up to a thousand dollars, court appearances etc.

The Higgs lecture left me with the tough question, what is more important freedom from government or the Earth?