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As we were working on the paperwork for tax exempt status for the Pacific Mountain Institute, John and I had numerous discussions about what we were trying to accomplish with this entity. At one point I described a perspective that I think summarizes where we hope to fill a gap.

When looking at environmental and social problems, there have traditionally been two approaches: Top down regulations and legislation from government entities and Bottom up grass roots efforts by the public. While both of these avenues for effecting change have seen varying amounts of success there remains a gap in effectiveness between the two approaches.

Governments can not and should not regulate decisions made by individuals that fall within their rights to have free choice. Governments should and do protect individuals from unsafe and destructive behavior in a broad sense, but on individual decisions like how much energy an individual uses to heat his or her house, the government has no role.

Over the next several weeks and months, this site will provide more detail about the Pacific Mountain Institute and its projects. Please come back to check on our progress.