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This is environment/regulations month here at Paperitalo Publications. Issues surrounding the environment and regulations necessarily, unless you subscribe to conspiracy theories, involve the mitigation of risks.

I'll tell a story on myself to set the stage. My first car was a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle with a straight six engine and a three speed transmission (three on the tree we used to call them). I bought it from my parents. For those of you who go back this far in US history, this was the first year any pollution controls were put on cars. They were crude and consisted of an air pump that shoved exhaust back up into the engine in some fashion to complete the combustion process. Don't ask me how it worked; I was never interested in it. What I was interested in was that this device sat near the front of the engine and had its own belt that ran from the crankshaft to power it, just like the common fan belt of the day.

What I was interested in was that I drove fifty miles round trip to work each day and this thing, I thought was knocking about 3 or 4 mpg off my gas mileage. Gas was only 27 cents a gallon, but I made only $100 a week on my co-op job.

One Saturday I had the hood up looking at the engine and this thing. I noticed a belt that powered it and only it. After thinking a couple of minutes, I pulled out my pocket knife and cut the belt off. I then started the car and it ran fine. In fact, I got back the mileage I thought I should have.

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This story neatly tells my attitude toward environmental concerns and risk taking as a twenty-two year old--the risk being cutting the belt off. What if the car would not run?

I have moderated my views on the environment, on regulations and risk a bit in the ensuing forty-four years.

All I have to do is go to Guatemala City, a place I frequent occasionally, to appreciate modern automobile pollution control. As for risk--I am still out there a bit (I am going to be spending a good portion of the weekend of the 16th and 17th of July riding shotgun in a 2016 Corvette specifically set up for racing--on a new track in Michigan--and driven by a 73 year old professional race car driver).

So with this opening, let's set the stage for discussing environment, regulations (and risk) for the next few weeks. My long term broad definition of regulations, and I mean regulations concerning any matter, is this: regulations are imposed by those who have artificially gained power (elected officials, appointed moderators and others) on those who own assets. Yes, in the modern world, owning assets no longer means you have complete control of them. This is the (price) (privilege) (duty) of modern civilization.

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You may quickly jump to the vision of a pulp and paper mill when I use the word "asset" in this context. It is broader than that--think of the surgeon bound by many regulations. The surgeon's training is an asset in this context.

Power has been bestowed on regulators in many ways. Accidents that harmed or killed life have been the genesis of many regulations. Perceptions of harm have been the genesis of other regulations. An attempt by society to right long-term wrongs have played a significant role in creating regulations.

We can't go further without bringing up "policy" as well. Companies create policies in reaction to regulations, in order to have a unified approach to dealing with regulations.

On top of this, in the modern world, we have to bring up public relations. Many, many regulations have their genesis in public relations and public stunts. I am watching with great interest the lawsuit brought by Resolute Forest Products against Greenpeace which we have been covering extensively already. Greenpeace is a master at public relations. They started labeling Resolute as a bad player ("bullying" they called it) the minute after the suit papers were served.

But while you watch this tussle play out and, indeed, any time you see regulations come into play, just remember the definition I stated above and state again here for emphasis: Regulations are imposed by those who have artificially gained power on those who own assets.

So, what do you think? Take our quiz this week and let us know.

For safety this week, I think we can all agree we have many safety policies and regulations for a good purpose.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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