Robert J. Smith

Adjunct Analyst

R.J. Smith is an adjunct scholar in environmental policy at CEI. Mr. Smith also serves as director of the Center for Private Conservation (CPC), a former CEI project. The CPC documents, prepares case studies on, and publicizes noteworthy examples of private conservation and stewardship on private lands in the U.S. and abroad.

Combining a natural sciences background in geology from Stanford University with social sciences and economics from New York University, Mr. Smith began to apply market and property-rights solutions to environmental issues when he was president of an Audubon Society chapter in 1970. He coined the term “free-market environmentalism” in his book, Earth’s Resources: Private Ownership vs. Public Waste.

Mr. Smith was consultant to the Department of the Interior and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, and he served as a special assistant at the EPA. He was a consultant to the Edison Electric Institute and director of environmental studies at the Cato Institute. Currently he works on wildlife, endangered species, property rights, and property stewardship.

Mr. Smith is a popular speaker and has lectured and debated widely, including in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Belgium, England, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

recent op-eds & articles

Ecoterrorism Kills
By Robert J. Smith, October 30, 2007

Spaceship Earth: An Astronaut is up above the Clouds
By Iain Murray, Robert J. Smith, August 8, 2005

Green War Gets Radical
By Robert J. Smith, February 26, 2005

A New Beginning for our Forests
By Robert J. Smith, December 8, 2003

Burn Baby, Burn?
By Robert J. Smith, August 22, 2002

» Read more op-eds & articles.

recent studies

Cypress Bay Plantation, Cummings, South Carolina
By Robert J. Smith, November 30, 2000

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association
By Robert J. Smith, March 31, 1999

Natural Bridge of Virginia
By Robert J. Smith, June 1, 1998

The Roney Land and Cattle Company, Inc.
By Robert J. Smith, January 31, 1998