Humans & Environmental Change: Semester Review
Transcript of Humans & Environmental Change: Semester Review
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HUMANS & ENVIRONMENTALCHANGE
SEMESTER REVIEWSteve Zavestoski
ENVA 109Fall 2010
University of San Francisco
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HUMANS HAVE ALWAYSALTERED THE ENVIRONMENT
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BUT ARE WE CONDEMNED TO
TRAGEDIES OF THE COMMONS?
Hardin argued:
“Each man is locked into a system that compels himto increase his herd without limit—in a world that islimited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men
rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a societythat believes in the freedom of the commons.Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.”
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BUT ARE WE CONDEMNED TO
TRAGEDIES OF THE COMMONS?
Ostrom countered:
“...it is possible for individuals facing a Commons
Dilemma in natural settings to design their owninstitutional arrangements that change the verystructure of the situation in which they findthemselves.”
“Individuals clearly have the mental ability ‘to stepoutside’ the confines of a given situation, devisesolutions, and implement them. This should fortify our
faith in the ability of humans to govern themselves.”
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BUT THERE ARE OBSTACLES...
Commons dilemmas are complex conjunctions of ecological and social realities defined by six specific types
of “commons complexities:”Multiple Resources in the Commons
Technology in the Commons
Culture in the Commons
Power in the Commons
Capitalism in the Commons
Ego/Self in the Commons
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MULTIPLE RESOURCESIN THE COMMONS
A commons can have multiple resources that mayor may not be of interest to humans
Use of one resource in a common can affect use of other resources (negatively or positively)
A commons resource may be exhausted not
through overuse, but by devaluing it relative toanother resource
“Overlapping commons” is a related complexity inwhich a resource, or the consequences of its use,
may occur in more than one commons
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TECHNOLOGYIN THE COMMONS
Use of technology can hasten the decline of acommons
Technology (e.g., chemical fertilizers) can haveunintended consequences in and beyond thecommons in which they are used (see problem of “overlapping commons”
A technological orientation leads to belief intechnology as sole source of solutions (whichdiverts attention from social changes as causesand solutions)
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CULTURE
IN THE COMMONSCultures usually emerge and evolve to “fit” a population to itsenvironment (i.e., to manage a commons), but may later become detached or disconnected from the environment they
inhabit and depend uponCommons often have people from multiple cultures, withdiffering beliefs, values and practices, drawing on their resources
Hardin implies that commons tragedies result from auniversal tendency to act in our own self-interest, but how wedefine our self-interest varies from one culture to the next
People acting meaningfully, and even morally, within their cultural context may inadvertently be causing a commons
breakdown
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POWERIN THE COMMONS
Power is unequally distributed to individuals ina commons
Misuse of power can be prevented throughsocial “checks:”
Government (democracy)
Culture (religion, tradition, etc.)
Authority (e.g., science)
But social checks can become subsumed by
those in power
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AUTHORITY AND POWER
Power: the ability to impose one’s will on others; theability to influence outcomes through persuasion
Authority (politics): the ability to make laws or permit something; people obey authority out of respect
Authority (sociology): a basis for validity andtrustworthiness
When power can be used to declare authority,checks on the use of power in the commons are
undermined
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CAPITALISM
IN THE COMMONSUnder capitalism, we perceive individuals as rational, self-interested actors
Cost-benefit orientation dominates decision-making
“Efficiency” is valued above all else
Price vs. valueprices trump societal values that may not be reflected in themarketplace
ExternalitiesMarkets fail to put prices on all costs, results in problem of free-riders
Privatization (can’t assign property rights to everything)
Free markets never really exist
“Getting the price right” always a challenge
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EGO/SELFIN THE COMMONS
Acting in one’s own self-interest when the self is narrowlydefined prevents realization of collective goods
A narrowly defined self leads to forms of social and politicalorganization, cultural beliefs and practices, and uses of technology that perpetuate overuse of CPRs
Repression of the ecological unconscious leads to other
societal psychoses*
*psychosis: a severe mental disorder in which thought andemotions are so impaired that contact is lost with externalreality