Thank you for this call Rebecca and curious what you come up with. While
y'all are digging, if you could also prioritize non-white authors and
perspective, that would be great. Since the white European perspective is
what got us in this mess in the first place.
Amy

-------
Amy Freitag
NOAA NCCOS Social Scientist
[email protected]

On Fri, Sep 4, 2020, 8:14 AM Gruby,Rebecca <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Thank you for this excellent discussion! I Tweeted about this issue
> yesterday and it’s receiving quite a bit of attention, including from many
> non-social scientists who are learning about ToC critiques for the first
> time. I promised to share a reading list with anyone who emailed me and I’m
> getting flooded with requests. What an awesome opportunity, and I don't
> want to waste it.  What are your favorite ToC critiques written for *public
> and non-specialist audiences*? Ideally open access. Looking for material
> that is accessible to everyone.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Rebecca
> ____________________________
>
> Dr. Rebecca Gruby
> Associate Professor
> Dept. of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources
> Colorado State University
>
> Phone: +1 (970) 491-5220
> Skype: Rebecca.Gruby
> Office: Forestry, Rm. 234
> Web: Gruby Lab  <https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/rebeccagruby/>
> Human Dimensions of Large Marine Protected Areas
> <https://humansandlargempas.com/>
>
> Visit CSU Land Acknowledgment <https://landacknowledgment.colostate.edu/> for
> history of Native peoples and nations that lived and stewarded the land
> where the university now resides.
>
>
> On Sep 3, 2020, at 6:54 PM, kashwan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Dear GEP Colleagues,
>
> Thank you for such an insightful thread  -- I couldn't agree more with the
> suggestion from Dimitris that there is definitely an ISA Workshop and
> potentially a writing project that would be extremely valuable in the
> classroom.
>
> There is a common that between two recent comments that I would like to
> build on: 1) DG Webster's insightful comments on the contingency of the
> tragedy of commons related to the nature of power distribution, and 2)
> Jen's fantastic solution to the racist legacies of Hardin's life and work.
> I think both these comments show us a way out of what I see as the
> confounding of analytical and empirical arguments related to the tragedy of
> commons. Let me explain.
>
> At the core of it, tragedy is a behavioral argument. As many have pointed
> out, the pasture was used as a metaphor, not as an empirical example
> (though it may have been inspired by misinformed writings on the historical
> British commons). Ostrom took on the core behavioral argument and exposed
> the contingency/incompleteness of the arguments that informed Hardin's
> arguments (and still do for much of the work in game theory and
> rational-choice theory in mainstream Economics and Public Choice
> literature). That's why I believe that Jen's solution to the problem is
> brilliant, because if  one talks about Ostrom's work in its totality, the
> analytical core of Hardin's argument is fully covered. We don't miss
> anything at all by not discussing Hardin's writings, with the advantage
> that one doen't have to make students read such an obviously racist piece.
> And, by the way, correct me if I am wrong, no matter how hard one tries,
> some students will invariably use the written word to reinforce their
> pre-existing biases (and label the professor as a liberal brain-washer in
> the process). That's why I am going to adopt Jen's solution in future
> classes.
>
> A second point on the analytical-empirical confounding. From this vantage
> point, bringing in the question of historical commons (which is discussed
> in Susan Buck's essay) or the question of scale that is often brought up in
> different contexts, is a bit of a distraction from the core analytical
> point of the behavioral roots of the tragedy. In that context, I think DG
> Webster's comments (and the attached article) presents an analytically
> oriented way of engaging the scale question within the same framework
> (without making it overly empirical). When it comes to the interests of the
> powerful, tragedies of the commons have been avoided in many cases (it's a
> different matter that they have been resolved in ways that continue to
> provide the powerful actors a distinct advantage in the post-solution
> world. Hope that makes sense.
>
> I would argue that these two types of confusions and the related
> misunderstanding of the tragedy argument partly explain the continued use
> of the tragedy metaphor and associated frameworks by some on the left (as
> Jan mentioned). Plus, there is also a deep love for technocratic solutions
> (as in technocratic socialism).
>
> Lastly, coincidentally, I have been working on two different dimensions of
> the same debate about the racist legacies of American environmentalism --
> will separately share a piece that I wrote for the Conversation on the same
> topic (though it doesn't refer to Hardin per se).
>
> Best,
> Prakash
>
> On Wednesday, September 2, 2020 at 7:28:15 PM UTC-4 j.e.selby wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Thanks for a great thread everyone (and apologies that this comes after
>> the thread has died down - email problems).
>>
>> My own (still developing) approach to these issues is different again. I
>> am increasingly of the view that I can’t ignore questions of race, and
>> instead need to put them front and centre (including facing up to my own
>> previous neglect/underestimation of them). So when I teach IR theory I now
>> want students to know that as a modern field it started as the study of
>> racial hierarchies and race development. I can no longer teach Kant or
>> Hegel without also teaching their deeply racist anthropologies and
>> geographies. When I teach Israeli-Palestinian politics, I find the part
>> played by racist ideas in shaping the conflict historically (including
>> racialised representations of the environment) difficult to ignore. And on
>> environmental politics, I very much agree with Dimitris that racist ideas
>> go well beyond Hardin. Indeed, when I look at issues of environmental
>> security, I would say that a very large proportion of both public and
>> policy commentary, and academic research on the subject, operates with
>> assumptions which are in key respects racialised legacies of European
>> colonialism. Even the most left wing (including post-colonial) authors
>> sometimes buy into these frameworks. And given this, I see it as crucial to
>> try to sensitive students to these issues. There’s no point blacklisting
>> Hardin if we continue to teach authors where similar assumptions are but
>> better hidden.
>>
>> As regards solutions, well that depends what problems we are looking for
>> solutions for. Solutions to environmental problems (or bad policy thereon)
>> are one matter. But another, all too obvious at the moment, is race
>> conflict. And given especially that eco-fascist ideas seem to be on the
>> rise again, with the grave possibility that they might develop further
>> (just wait for the far right to start embracing climate change more fully,
>> and using this as an additional rationale for nativism and white
>> supremacism), it seems to me that educating students about this dark side
>> of environmental politics is an important responsibility.
>>
>> Best wishes, and thanks all again,
>>
>> Jan
>>
>> PS: new email address - I've moved to University of Sheffield since
>> lasting posting.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jan Selby
>> Professor of Politics and International Relations
>> Department of Politics and IR
>> University of Sheffield
>> https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/politics/people/academic-staff/jan-selby
>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheffield.ac.uk%2Fpolitics%2Fpeople%2Facademic-staff%2Fjan-selby&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649838184&sdata=3ngEbY9ZgMGEdqzBhYQ7Wp%2ForLLGbRgOrctvKdo6b7c%3D&reserved=0>
>> https://politicsecology.wordpress.com/
>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpoliticsecology.wordpress.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649848177&sdata=57zGz%2BRmb2wbnP51WGk7Ph%2BZYxhQsXsLuHz68lg9rHw%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 1 Sep 2020, at 11:51, Jennifer Allan <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> Thank you for the wonderful discussion and resources. I've made a
>> slightly different choice on this question: I chose not to directly teach
>> the work of a racist, who was also wrong. I agree there are insights for
>> environmental politics, but they are covered by prisoner's dilemmas,
>> Ostrom's work on the commons, and other ideas cited above.
>>
>> I do this for two reasons. First, I ask my students if they have heard
>> the phrase "tragedy of the commons" or the basic argument (after I outline
>> it). Maybe one student has. In other words, I would be introducing this
>> phrase - and all its baggage - into their repertoire, and perpetuating its
>> continued use in various circles. Second, I'm not comfortable giving a
>> diverse student population a reading with such problematic racist language.
>> A lot could be done to prep students and to debrief with them, but I've
>> made the decision to not put my students in that situation in the first
>> place and risk further marginalizing some of them from academia.
>>
>> I talk to my students that this is an idea that they may hear about. That
>> it's become a popular stand in for many of the complex ideas that we
>> discuss in class. I explain that when people use it, they strip it of its
>> ideological foundations / project, and forget that it's empirically wrong.
>> I provide some of the resources already cited above, but I do not direct
>> them to the original work.
>>
>> I don't claim this is the best response to this difficult issue, but it's
>> the one I've decided for the time being.
>> All the best,
>> Jen
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 7:35 PM 'Jonathan Rosenberg' via gep-ed <
>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Dimitris makes a great point.  On a personal note--I am currently
>>> teaching 2 courses:  Environmental Politics and Policy, and International
>>> Development.  It is instructive to consider how differently Theodore
>>> Roosevelt figures in the historical background for each of them.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Jonathan
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 1:29 PM Stevis,Dimitris <
>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ron and all:
>>>>
>>>> A very interesting discussion that cannot be limited to Hardin’s
>>>> misreading of history- as this old poem suggests -
>>>> http://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/“stealing-common-goose”#sthash.B7yCrydB.dpbs
>>>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-eu.mimecast.com%2Fs%2F5yz1CY5l2iAEVLvTNajF6%3Fdomain%3Donthecommons.org&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649848177&sdata=63hbeylY1GtfKYqXfWFbXZ2MiiYQyzryJB7m8yCAFYk%3D&reserved=0>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The environmental movement, in the US and other colonial countries, has
>>>> a significant share of racist, eugenisist etc founders, such as Muir,
>>>> Madison Grant,  Osborn Sr (Museum of Natural History), Julian Huxley
>>>> (UNESCO) and others
>>>> https://orionmagazine.org/article/conservation-and-eugenics/
>>>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-eu.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FDjtrC9gLlT2L4k6FEykDm%3Fdomain%3Dorionmagazine.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649848177&sdata=wGiKssO2ePRWiAlOp0u7UeAAF0Oidyat8ORgq6i7MTQ%3D&reserved=0>
>>>>  and
>>>> https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/environmentalisms-racist-history
>>>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-eu.mimecast.com%2Fs%2FiftdC0LX1hmqNG9c2Y9Wa%3Fdomain%3Dnewyorker.com&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649858173&sdata=h%2FgQUx6DbovCnf7eSNXZgdAHbjpzY34wOynA9EKKuMQ%3D&reserved=0>
>>>>  For
>>>> a longer account see
>>>> https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/border-walls-gone-green
>>>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-eu.mimecast.com%2Fs%2F8zGTCg2QrTGOEAjT35YYk%3Fdomain%3Dupress.umn.edu&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649858173&sdata=qf6vZUSAOyQZH%2Bp83DCezaPf66hwtSL1iPV95m0Fyw8%3D&reserved=0>
>>>>
>>>> It may useful for IEP to address these wider genealogy and how it has
>>>> influenced the framing and study of environmental politics, certainly for
>>>> the older amongst us. Focusing on Hardin is necessary but should not
>>>> obscure this broader and painful context within which he acquired
>>>> legitimacy. This is all the more timely as this story is used by the
>>>> neoliberal right to criticize environmentalism as a whole -
>>>> https://capitalresearch.org/article/a-darker-shade-of-green-environmentalisms-origins-in-eugenics/
>>>> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotect-eu.mimecast.com%2Fs%2Ft0SgCj8OxuRKonwi1--Y8%3Fdomain%3Dcapitalresearch.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Crebecca.gruby%40colostate.edu%7Cb4da3663c3e3435c76f408d8506d105d%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637347776649868166&sdata=%2BGH9x4nuRGlONPANyERaN1NPnVJ4SzEyqiJEAHvlOQE%3D&reserved=0>
>>>>
>>>> Perhaps there is an ISA workshop in this.
>>>>
>>>> D
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Aug 31, 2020, at 8:58 PM, Rafael Friedmann <[email protected]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I’d like to see examples of how we’ve been able to effectively counter
>>>> the interests of the few to continue with Business-as-usual
>>>> overexploitation or exclusion of externalities and limited analyses of
>>>> broader systemic impacts. This is the crux more than how much we liked or
>>>> not TOC and Hardin. Give me solutions! Give me examples of what has worked
>>>> – but on a massive scale—which is what is needed to actively and
>>>> successfully tackle the broad impacts we are seeing and will otherwise
>>>> experience with global climate change.
>>>>
>>>> Rafael
>>>> *From: *DG Webster
>>>> *Sent: *Monday, August 31, 2020 10:13 AM
>>>> *To: *Ronald Mitchell
>>>> *Cc: *GEP-Ed List
>>>> *Subject: *Re: [gep-ed] RE: Tragedy of the Commons
>>>>
>>>> Hi Ron,
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for raising the discussion. I was horrified when I first read
>>>> the full version of Hardin't ToC piece, having only read excerpts in
>>>> various courses. My last book, Beyond the Tragedy in Global Fisheries, is
>>>> essentially a long, drawn-out refutation of the ToC as the fundamental
>>>> problem in fisheries governance. It's probably too fisheries-centric for
>>>> most but the core concept of power disconnects links up Ostrom, Buck, and
>>>> other great suggestions here. In short: When the people making decisions
>>>> about resource use (through markets, government, etc.) are able to insulate
>>>> themselves from the costs of overexploitation, power disconnects are wide
>>>> and environmental damage will be high. When the people making decisions
>>>> about resource use are vulnerable to those costs, then power disconnects
>>>> are narrow and they're likely to figure out some way to manage resources
>>>> sustainably. This could include rules to govern the commons, but extends to
>>>> laws, science/tech, etc. More importantly, this perspective asserts that
>>>> social justice isn't a nice add-on to environmental protection but a
>>>> fundamental requirement. Of course, others make similar arguments, many in
>>>> re: pollution as Dana pointed out. Would be great to see more
>>>> interdisciplinary work on the concept. See attached for an
>>>> interdisciplinary paper that uses power disconnects as part of a critique
>>>> of ITQs and other panaceas in fisheries.
>>>>
>>>> best,
>>>> dgwebster
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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