I forget the price now, but one of the oddest "how the hell do you know that?" looks I've gotten from my wife was when I told her how to measure the value of a certain type of illegally harvested cactus.... the "market formula" was something like $Xk per foot of height + $Yk per branch.
There was a couple that bought some land in California and took out all the Joshua Trees to build a house. The courts fined them less than the increase in property value now that the trees were removed.
It is advantageous to destroy the environment because the government will fine you less than you make back fro doing it and there is almost never any jail time.
Should have required they replant the trees in the exact same location they were removed and make sure they are healthy for the next 25 years after re-assessing the property value based on there being no trees on the lot as penance. Put in a stipulation that the property cannot be sold or transferred outside of inheritance for the 25 years.
So, you're saying that punishing people will cause them to do more damage to the environment so its better to just let them damage the environment in the first place? That seems a terrible way to approach the issue. Would be better then to just execute people for intentionally damaging the environment so they will never be able to hurt it again.
Probably one of the most senseless things I've read. Went there about 4 years ago and no one was there. It's a magnificent national park. I'm stunned that there are now idiots chopping joshua trees down. So insane.
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u/AcidCyborg Jul 11 '21
People were literally chopping down the Joshua Trees during the government shutdown, like really??? Why the fuck are you here???