Hi All, For anyone teaching "tragedy of the commons" I suggest also assigning something that situates Garrett Hardin as a very important figure in the history of the nativist right-wing in the U.S., as well as attacks on the welfare state. It's important for students to understand he had a very clear ideological and normative perspective on issues of immigration, public goods, etc. See, e.g., https://thebaffler.com/latest/first-as-tragedy-then-as-fascism-amend
I would also suggest complementing with Elinor Ostrom's nobel-prize winning work on the many empirical examples of cooperation around resource and land use. Yours, Thea -- Thea Riofrancos (she/her) Assistant Professor of Political Science, Providence College Fellow, Radcliffe Institute (2020-2021) Fellow, Carnegie Corporation (2020-2022) http://www.theariofrancos.com/ On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 10:45 AM Firestone, Jeremy <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Roland, > > > > Yes, I have known this for many years. You might take a look at his paper > on Lifeboat Ethics. > > > > In addition, his observation while useful, is also incomplete, See e.g., > Feeny, > D., Berkes, F., McCay, B.J. *et al.* The Tragedy of the Commons: > Twenty-two years later. *Hum Ecol* *18, *1–19 (1990). > https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00889070 as well as the work by Elinor Ostrom. > > > > Jeremy > > > > > > Practice Safe Stints [image: Face Mask - Plain Black - Sassy Spirit] > > > > > > Jeremy Firestone > > Professor, School of Marine Science and Policy > > Director, Center for Research in Wind (CReW) > > Director, First State Marine Wind (FSMW) > > University of Delaware > > Newark, DE (USA) 19716 > > [email protected] > > www.crew.udel.edu > > > www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/ceoe/departments/smsp/faculty/jeremy-firestone/ > > https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=831LSZ8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao > > > > > > > > > > > > > > *From: *<[email protected]> on behalf of Ronald Mitchell < > [email protected]> > *Reply-To: *"[email protected]" <[email protected]> > *Date: *Monday, August 31, 2020 at 10:23 AM > *To: *GEP-Ed List <[email protected]> > *Subject: *[gep-ed] Tragedy of the Commons > > > > Colleagues, > > I have, like many I assume, taught the Tragedy of the Commons as part of > my international environmental politics course for years. I find it a > particularly useful concept as one means of making sense of what we are > doing to the planet. I also made a simple online game illustrating it @ > https://rmitchel.uoregon.edu/commons A high school teacher in Oman > registered and played it yesterday and brought to my attention an article > in *Scientific American* entitled: “The Tragedy of the Tragedy of the > Commons” with blurb: “The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s > most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe—plus > his argument was wrong.” More background is at: > https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/garrett-hardin > from the Southern Poverty Law Center. I am confident that some of you knew > this about Hardin already and that there will be a diverse set of views on > how this should influence the teaching of the Tragedy of the Commons > concept, if at all. But I wanted to bring it to the attention of people who > might not know about it. > > Best to all of you, Ron > > > The Tragedy of "The Tragedy of the Commons" > > > > By Matto Mildenberger on April 23, 2019 > > > > > https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-tragedy-of-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/ > > > > Fifty years ago, University of California professor Garrett Hardin penned > an influential essay in the journal Science. Hardin saw all humans as > selfish herders: we worry that our neighbors’ cattle will graze the best > grass. So, we send more of our cows out to consume that grass first. We > take it first, before someone else steals our share. This creates a vicious > cycle of environmental degradation that Hardin described as the “tragedy of > the commons.” > > > > It's hard to overstate Hardin’s impact on modern environmentalism. His > views are taught across ecology, economics, political science and > environmental studies. His essay remains an academic blockbuster, with > almost 40,000 citations. It still gets republished in prominent > environmental anthologies. > > > > But here are some inconvenient truths: Hardin was a racist, eugenicist, > nativist and Islamophobe. He is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center > as a known white nationalist. His writings and political activism helped > inspire the anti-immigrant hatred spilling across America today. > > > > And he promoted an idea he called “lifeboat ethics”: since global > resources are finite, Hardin believed the rich should throw poor people > overboard to keep their boat above water. > > > > To create a just and vibrant climate future, we need to instead cast > Hardin and his flawed metaphor overboard. > > > > People who revisit Hardin’s original essay are in for a surprise. Its six > pages are filled with fear-mongering. Subheadings proclaim that “freedom to > breed is intolerable.” It opines at length about the benefits if “children > of improvident parents starve to death.” A few paragraphs later Hardin > writes: “If we love the truth we must openly deny the validity of the > Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” And on and on. Hardin practically > calls for a fascist state to snuff out unwanted gene pools. > > > > Or build a wall to keep immigrants out. Hardin was a virulent nativist > whose ideas inspired some of today’s ugliest anti-immigrant sentiment. He > believed that only racially homogenous societies could survive. He was also > involved with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a hate > group that now cheers President Trump’s racist policies. Today, American > neo-Nazis cite Hardin’s theories to justify racial violence. > > > > These were not mere words on paper. Hardin lobbied Congress against > sending food aid to poor nations, because he believed their populations > were threatening Earth’s “carrying capacity.” > > > > Of course, plenty of flawed people have left behind noble ideas. That > Hardin’s tragedy was advanced as part of a white nationalist project should > not automatically condemn its merits. > > > > But the facts are not on Hardin’s side. For one, he got the history of the > commons wrong. As Susan Cox pointed out, early pastures were well regulated > by local institutions. They were not free-for-all grazing sites where > people took and took at the expense of everyone else. > > > > Many global commons have been similarly sustained through community > institutions. This striking finding was the life’s work of Elinor Ostrom, > who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics (technically called the Sveriges > Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel). Using the > tools of science—rather than the tools of hatred—Ostrom showed the > diversity of institutions humans have created to manage our shared > environment. > > > > Of course, humans can deplete finite resources. This often happens when we > lack appropriate institutions to manage them. But let’s not credit Hardin > for that common insight. Hardin wasn’t making an informed scientific case. > Instead, he was using concerns about environmental scarcity to justify > racial discrimination. > > > > We must reject his pernicious ideas on both scientific and moral grounds. > Environmental sustainability cannot exist without environmental justice. > Are we really prepared to follow Hardin and say there are only so many lead > pipes we can replace? Only so many bodies that should be protected from > cancer-causing pollutants? Only so many children whose futures matter? > > > > This is particularly important when we deal with climate change. Despite > what Hardin might have said, the climate crisis is not a tragedy of the > commons. The culprit is not our individual impulses to consume fossil fuels > to the ruin of all. And the solution is not to let small islands in > Chesapeake Bay or whole countries in the Pacific sink into the past, > without a seat on our planetary lifeboat. > > > > Instead, rejecting Hardin’s diagnosis requires us to name the true culprit > for the climate crisis we now face. Thirty years ago, a different future > was available. Gradual climate policies could have slowly steered our > economy towards gently declining carbon pollution levels. The costs to most > Americans would have been imperceptible. > > > > But that future was stolen from us. It was stolen by powerful, > carbon-polluting interests who blocked policy reforms at every turn to > preserve their short-term profits. They locked each of us into an economy > where fossil fuel consumption continues to be a necessity, not a choice. > > > > This is what makes attacks on individual behavior so counterproductive. > Yes, it’s great to drive an electric vehicle (if you can afford it) and > purchase solar panels (if powerful utilities in your state haven’t > conspired to make renewable energy more expensive). But the point is that > interest groups have structured the choices available to us today. > Individuals don’t have the agency to steer our economic ship from the > passenger deck. > > > > As Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes reminds us, “[abolitionists] wore > clothes made of cotton picked by slaves. But that did not make them > hypocrites … it just meant that they were also part of the slave economy, > and they knew it. That is why they acted to change the system, not just > their clothes.” > > > > Or as Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez tweeted: “Living in the > world as it is isn’t an argument against working towards a better future.” > The truth is that two-thirds of all the carbon pollution ever released into > the atmosphere can be traced to the activities of just ninety companies. > > > > These corporations’ efforts to successfully thwart climate action are the > real tragedy. > > > > We are left with very little time. We need political leaders to pilot our > economy through a period of rapid economic transformation, on a grand scale > unseen since the Second World War. And to get there, we are going to have > make sure our leaders listen to us, not—as my colleagues and I show in our > research—fossil fuel companies. > > > > Hope requires us to start from an unconditional commitment to one another, > as passengers aboard a common lifeboat being rattled by heavy winds. The > climate movement needs more people on this lifeboat, not fewer. We must > make room for every human if we are going to build the political power > necessary to face down the looming oil tankers and coal barges that send > heavy waves in our direction. This is a commitment at the heart of > proposals like the Green New Deal. > > > > Fifty years on, let’s stop the mindless invocation of Hardin. Let’s stop > saying that we are all to blame because we all overuse shared resources. > Let’s stop championing policies that privilege environmental protection for > some human beings at the expense of others. And let’s replace Hardin’s > flawed metaphor with an inclusive vision for humanity—one based on > democratic governance and cooperation in this time of darkness. > > > > Instead of writing a tragedy, we must offer hope for every single human on > Earth. Only then will the public rise up to silence the powerful carbon > polluters trying to steal our future. > > > > > > Ronald Mitchell, Professor > > Department of Political Science and Program in Environmental Studies > > University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1284 > > [email protected] > > https://rmitchel.uoregon.edu/ > > IEA Database Director: https://iea.uoregon.edu/ > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "gep-ed" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/MWHPR10MB1887327F23C496C9FA34F8A8CB510%40MWHPR10MB1887.namprd10.prod.outlook.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/MWHPR10MB1887327F23C496C9FA34F8A8CB510%40MWHPR10MB1887.namprd10.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "gep-ed" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/EE0AED7A-13AE-4CF2-8EE8-74681C0D5F6C%40udel.edu > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/EE0AED7A-13AE-4CF2-8EE8-74681C0D5F6C%40udel.edu?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. 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