Back to A methodological review of U.S. indicator projects

j. Index of Leading Environmental Indicators for the U.S. and Canada This Index was created by the Fraser Institute and the Pacific Research Institute which proports to ìfoster individual liberty through free markets, private property rights, and limited government.î No public participation was welcomed in their process and they limited their project to environmental indicators. They divided up their concerns into primary and secondary environmental indicators. The primary indicator categories included air quality, water quality, natural resource use, land use and condition, and solid waste. The secondary indicators focused on carbon dioxide emissions, oil spills, pesticides, toxic releases, and wildlife. The first section of the report contests the belief that environmental health is deteriorating; their report is meant to "provide a yardstick for policy makers and the public to gauge year-on-year changes in our environmental performance." 14 Based upon their choice of indicators, they conclude that the quality of the environment is improving. Unlike the other reports, which all have an introductory section defining a healthy community, environment, and economy, this document has none. Basic environmental statistics, such as forest acreage, can be easily misinterpreted when presented alone. This report argues, for example, that increasing forest acreage in the U.S. is an example of improved environmental quality. The text notes that there are many problems in forest management today, emphasizing government inefficiency in the forest management. In other words, the forests are healthy; government management is not only unnecessary, but is undesirable. The text concludes by referring to reports indicating that we now have a surplus of forest wood protects. As much as "one-half of the trees in some western forests should be cut down."15 This index illustrates the importance of defining what is to be measured and using a democratic process to select indicators. It also demonstrates that the specific indicators chosen can drastically affect ones final conclusions. PRI's indicators do not span a wide enough range of topics to monitor environmental sustainability adequately.