passing it on

The philosopher Roger Scruton argues that environmentalism is a key conservative cause:

'spoliation occurs for one reason above all others, which is that human beings strive to externalize the cost of everything they do. If they cannot pass on the cost to their neighbors, they will pass it on to future generations. And the most effective instrument ever devised for externalizing the cost of individual actions is the state ...'

He argues that the state has caused huge environmental problems:

'the most effective way of ensuring that people internalize their costs is to ensure that they encounter, in fact or in feeling, those upon whom they would otherwise inflict them.'

Hat-tip: 2blowhards