The Law of unintended consequences.. ..manifests itself in the strangest of ways. Several conservation successes have been traced to the popularity of Viagra among Asian men, who are apparently dismissing folk remedies for impotence in favor of a proven technological alternative.

The results are preliminary, but the paper's authors, Frank von Hippel, of the University of Alaska, in Anchorage, and his brother Bill, of the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia, have shown that the trade in such exotica as seal penises is falling rapidly. They suspect, though they cannot yet prove, that this is because men with “vigour” problems who once placed their faith in penis soup have found that Viagra works rather better.

What todays watermelon environmental activists would have us do is to climb down from the technological ladder of progress, when it is increasingly obvious that the lions share of solutions to our environmental and conservation issues will come from climbing up that ladder, as fast as we can.. free markets drive technological innovations, which provide consumers with choices. Sometimes these choices can have remarkable effects, such as reducing the human-use footprint on the environment.