[IfOnlyYouKnew]

That libertarian fantasy is unworkable from start to finish: How do you even know who's behaving badly, if one of the major changes is that environmental impact studies are no longer required for many projects?

And, assuming you somehow can get that information (which you can't), how you would you boycott some oil exploration contractor eight levels removed from the consumer? How do you boycott Monsanto/Bayer, which sell to farmers who sell to wholesalers who sell to every mill in the country who sell to every single bakery?

[padobson]

How do you boycott Monsanto/Bayer, which sell to farmers

You organize the farmers to boycott.

If you can raise $1mm from various environmental activist communities to lobby congress, you could just as easily raise the same million and organize a boycott that directly targets the revenue source of the bad actor.

[SketchySeaBeast]

How does raising $1mm - which is nothing spread out across any number of farmers going to affect the revenue stream?

[padobson]

Don't get lost in the weeds here. The main thing to understand is that if something has value, there is a market-based approach to get that value.

I don't need to argue that the environment and endangered species have value. They clearly do. I'm arguing that activists should act more like entrepreneurs and find a way to use market forces to extract that value - in this case, protecting species and their environments.

I've thrown out hypothetical examples, but I'm not an environmental activist, I don't pretend to understand the market. But I know the market is there, because this thread is dedicated to discussing the market opportunity.

[SketchySeaBeast]

The market-based approach is to lobby - it's the fastest and most efficient way, and America's brand of capitalism has figured it out. Ironically to go with the more common market, you'd need anti-lobby legislation.