Sustainable Resources
THE COST OF FUTURE FREEDOM by Samuel M. Dix '39 Energy Education Publishers, 1982 235 pp. $15.95
FORESTS IN DEMAND: Conflicts and Solutions by Professor Charles Hewett and Thomas Hamilton Auburn House, 1982. 265 pp. $19.95
A temporary pause in the ascent of oil and mineral prices has stilled concern for resource limits. But the secular rise in the economic, environmental, and political costs incurred by the nation to secure its natural resources continues, and it signals the need for fundamental re-examination of the procedures we use to allocate resources among competing needs. A variety of books has been prepared to examine present mechanisms and suggest alternatives. Two recent texts by Dartmouth men illustrate contrasting approaches to the issue.
Samuel Dix is a mechanical engineer who has come late in life to the study of energy. He focuses his text on oil, and his concern is for the role of markets in allocating its use. His book is composed of 25 short and discursive essays; they range from "Economics and Credit" to "Tk Truth About War, Perspective of Fre-Philosopher Alain." Underlying the texr Dix's analysis of physical trends in energy production. He perceives that the political and economic responses to enershortage do not offer much prospect of orderly transition to a sustainable energy Sys tern, and he poses many of the questions that must be explored as we work to phasout dependence on oil through an equitable orderly, and peaceful transition to longer-term sources. While he does not provide many answers, he does survey some of the pioneering literature in the field and thus gives the reader access to the theoretical foundations on which betteapproaches may be based.
Charles Hewett is a resource economist and forester. Throughout his professional life he has assessed competing demands or, the nation's forests. Presently, he is on the research faculty of the Resource Policy Center at Dartmouth's Thayer School. Thomas Hamilton is a professional analyst who heads the U.S. Forest Service's longterm planning activities. Together they have produced an important book. It takes stock of trends in the productivity and use of the nation's forests and assesses one mechanism that has been implemented to bring the trends into long-term balance the Renewable Resource Planning Act (R.P.A.).
The R.P.A. is this country's first formal attempt to bring long-range planning into federal resource policy. Over the past fiveyears, Hewett has organized an annual symposium at Dartmouth that brings together the senior corporate and public officials responsible for forestry policy in the United States. Their purpose has been to assess the role and the effectiveness of the R.P.A., looking beyond the current political debate and developing an image of our forests managed sustainably, for conflicting uses, and at high levels of productivity. This book brings together in a neatly structured package 25 of the best papers presented at the Dartmouth conferences.
.The stature of the contributors makes their book an important snapshot of the country's evolving philosophy governing renewable resource use. The authors include virtually all the senior managers involved in the act's implementation: the former chief the U.S. Forest Service, the deputy chief of the U.S.F.S. for programs and legislation, a past president of the Society of American Foresters, senior congressional staff members from the forestry' committees, and a number of the senior acdemic foresters responsible for design of the R.P.A. criteria and tools. This careful analysis of R.P.A. strengths and weaknesses is useful for those involved in forest management; it has lessons as well for those who, like Dix, seek alternatives to the market in controlling other resources.
Professor of engineering. Dennis Meadows is aco-author, other books, of Limits to Growth.
