Power Hour: Pierre Desrochers on Capitalism and Our Environment

On this month’s Power Hour, I interview Pierre Desrochers of the University of Toronto. Since later this month many people will be celebrating Earth Day, I wanted to expose listeners to one of the world’s leading researchers on the real, positive relationship between capitalism and our environment.

Dr. Desrochers is a human encyclopedia on all things industrial progress, and this interview is jam-packed with insights and stories, including:

  • How capitalists and entrepreneurs pioneered recycling–“making wealth out of waste”–centuries ago.
  • When it makes sense to recycle and when it doesn’t.
  • His new book “The Locavore’s Dilemma–In Praise of the 10,000 mile Diet”, and why local agriculture is often vastly inferior to global, industrial agriculture.
  • What “green” Vermont was like before industrial capitalism made it bloom.
  • How air and water quality have improved dramatically over the centuries.

Download Episode 13 with Pierre Desrochers