humans & environmental change: semester review

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HUMANS & ENVIRONMENTALCHANGE

SEMESTER REVIEWSteve Zavestoski

ENVA 109Fall 2010

University of San Francisco



HUMANS HAVE ALWAYSALTERED THE ENVIRONMENT



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.”



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.”



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



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



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)



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



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



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



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



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

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