A ) The Tragedy of the (Global) Commons

Meaning and debate:

The complex bundle of issues surrounding

- population growth,

- environmental degradation

- resource depletion

usually referred to as the global commons,

In considering the dilemmas of population growth, resource depletion, and

environmental degradation, many have found it useful to think of them as commons

problems, invoking the metaphor of the tragedy of the commons to illustrate these

complicated issues in simple terms.

Metaphor of tragedy of the commons:

The metaphor of the tragedy of the commons attempts to explain why people over-

use common resources by referring to a time in history when many towns had tracts

of land open to all, which were known as commons.

this land was common, not private, property.

individual herders, who controlled the size of their herds, enjoyed the full benefi t

of each additional animal they grazed on the commons while bearing only a portion of

the costs.

As a result, there was always a ratio-

nal incentive for herders to increase the size of their herds. But as herds grew larger,

eventually too many animals grazed and the commons were destroyed. The carrying

capacity, so to speak, of the commons was exceeded, with a predictable result.

application

Many see our current global problems in similar terms.

The commons in this

case is not grazing land per se, but all the resources we need to sustain the human
herd—energy supplies, food, clean air, clean water, and so on. These are our global

commons.

B ) A World of Plenty: Competing visions of the threat to global

commons

Examining competing visions of the future, Barry Hughes distinguishes neo-

traditionalists from modernists.

The neotraditionalist approach

- is embodied in

the analysis and predictions of the Club of Rome.

- The label neotraditionalism stems

from a distinction often drawn between so-called traditional and modern societies.

Traditional societies tend to accept a fatalistic view of people as constrained by natural

limits, whereas modern societies are characterized by a faith in people’s ability to

overcome the limits imposed by nature.

- The notion that people need to adjust to

inherent limits to growth is, according to Hughes, a traditionalist view

The modernist vision

- Modernists believe that Hardin and the Club of Rome, like

Malthus before them, are wrong, and largely for the same reasons.

- This vision of the

future rests on a few critical assumptions.

A ) First, global population is likely to level off

at about 8 to 9 billion by the end of the century.

B ) Second, many of the supposed limits

to population and economic growth are likely to be overcome by human ingenuity

and technological advances.

C ) Third, many of the problems cited by the Club of Rome

are the result of bad policies, not any inherent limits to growth. In sum, the predic-

tions of the Club of Rome are likely to be seen a hundred years hence

D ) greatly exaggerated (global warming)

E ) nonexistent (food availability)

F ) amenable to technological solutions (energy).

C ) debates

1 ) The population growth

traditional argument:

Periodically throughout human history people have worried about the unavailability of sufficient
resources to sustain given levels of population.

Thomas Malthus In his An Essay on the Principle of

Population (1789), Malthus predicted a dreary future for humankind. The basic

problem was that the population was growing geometrically (1,2,4,8,16), whereas

food production grew arithmetically (1,2,3,4,5). If these trends were extrapolated

into the future, the point would eventually be reached at which there would be too

many people and too little food. As a result, famine would become commonplace,

and this in turn would lead to all sorts of social and political unrest.

The

key fl aw, Although population growth continued at an even faster rate than Malthus

anticipated, revolutions in farming techniques and technology led to an even more

dramatic increase in the food supply. Rather than population outstripping the food

supply, the reality was exactly the opposite.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a revival of the sorts of concerns raised by
Malthus. Why did people start to worry again?

- The most important reason was the

dramatic increase in global population beginning in the 1950s.

During the latter half of

the twentieth century, global population grew almost 2 percent a year,

well above the historical average.

- resource shortages: In addition to the global population explosion, resource shortages began to raise

concerns about the long-term sustainability of existing levels of consumption. The

most dramatic of these were the oil and gas shortages in the 1970s

Modernist argument:

The doubling of population every thirty-fi ve or forty years as far as the

eye can see would indeed pose major problems.

-Fortunately, modernists argue, this

is unlikely to happen. Adhering to the theory of demographic transition, they see

population growing in spurts that eventually level off.

- The dramatic increase in global population in the middle and latter half of the twentieth century was
an unusual occurrence that will not be sustained.

2 ) Too many people, too few resources

traditional

A ) In 1968, a group of concerned scientists came together in Rome for a project that

would shape future debate about the problems of population growth and resources.

Known as the Club of Rome.

2 ) The result was a study called Limits to Growth.

Their basic conclusion was simple: a world of limited

resources cannot sustain an unlimited population.

Once these limits were surpassed, “the

most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both pop-

ulation and industrial capacity” and a declining standard of living for everyone

3 ) a limit to the number of people the world can sustain, referred to as the world’s carrying
capacity.the only way out of this is the world must achieve zero population growth. ZPG: Reduce the
number of people being born or increase the number of people dying.

2.A ) Energy as resource:

traditional

A ) Oil:

- The problem is

that demand for fossil fuels is rising steadily, largely as a result of the growth of the

Indian and Chinese economies.

- In recent years, the theory of peak oil has

Emerged.

According to this theory, trends over the

past few decades suggest that the world is approaching the point at which its people

will have consumed about half of the total oil supply.

- The

dramatic increases in the price of oil in 2007 and 2008 were taken by many as evidence

that peak oil was upon us.

Modernist argument:

B ) How do modernists respond to this logic of inevitable resource depletion? There

are essentially two major responses.

- First, the supply of these fossil fuels is greater than

most believe and likely to be more than suffi cient until viable alternatives are devel-

oped.

- Second, modernists are careful to differentiate energy from fossil fuels.

A host of theoretical alternatives to fossil fuels—hydroelectric, nuclear, solar,

wind, and so on—are available.

Critique: There are two problems at present. The technolo-

gies are not advanced enough and the energy produced through alternative means is

generally more expensive than fossil fuels.

2.B ) Food as a resource

traditional

we might assume people are starving today because food is in short supply,

increases in food production have come at a cost—in terms of soil erosion and

possible overuse of fresh water through irrigation

Modernist argument:

Modernists say More than enough food is being produced in the world to feed its

entire population. If there is a problem, it is one of distribution, not supply. Over the

past few decades, global food production has actually been increasing faster than world

population.

3 ) Biodiversity

traditional

concerns about biodiversity with

- the extinction of animal,

insect, and plant species;

- the shrinking of the world’s major rain forests;

- acid rain;

- the erosion of farmland;

- the scarcity of fresh drinking water;

- and the use of toxic chemicals that are fi nding their way into the human food chain.

the overall picture is that of a fragile ecosystem suffering a series of substan-

Modernist argument:

Modernists says that these are preventable problems

4 ) Environment

6. 1) Talk about global warming

6. 2 ) Ozone depletion

traditional

There is also the erosion of the

earth’s ozone layer. a thin layer of ozone in the strato-

sphere screens out the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, which contribute to a variety

of medical conditions, from skin cancer to cataracts. The depletion of ozone is the

result of emissions of chlorofl uorocarbons (CFCs). Even though the ozone holes

are currently located over unpopulated or sparsely populated areas, this is another

potentially dangerous consequence of human industrial activity (though successful

attempts have been made in the last two decades to reduce the use and production

of CFCs).
*(Here, insert about common and differentiated resp, debates between north and south)

Modernists says *insert modernist argument from global warming answers

D ) How to tackle these issues of global commons

D 1 ) Garrett Hardin

Garrett Hardin, one of the more controversial fi gures in debates about population

growth and its consequences.

 Hardin begins by pointing out the obvious: If the world has too many people, it

is because people are having too many children. Hardin believes that The only solution is to have
fewer

children.

What would restricting the “freedom to breed” entail?

Hardin would ask, why is it acceptable to offer tax

benefi ts for second and third children but not to impose tax penalties for additional

children?

 Even more controversial was Hardin’s opposition to proposals for the establish-

ment of an international food bank in the 1970s to assist countries in the event of fam-

ine. Famine, in Hardin’s view, is often a sign of overpopulation. Nations experiencing

repeated famines have failed to come to grips with the problem of population growth.

If the international community rushes in with food aid, this merely allows people to

survive and population to grow, resulting in what Hardin refers to as a population

escalator. Aid only rescues societies from their inability or unwillingness to control

their population.

These

critics of the Club of Rome see a world of plenty, not a world of limits.
D 2 ) intl cooperation

Disagreements about the use of such common

resources are always a potential source of confl ict. The need to protect the commons,

however, requires cooperation.

Exactly how diffi cult it is to overcome con-

fl icts and achieve cooperation to protect the global commons is one of the issues about

which familiar perspectives on international relations do have something to say.

Realist:

Given their general assumptions about international relations, it should come

as no surprise that realists tend to emphasize the potential for confl ict and obstacles

to cooperation in dealing with problems of the global commons. The most obvious

source of greater confl ict is the dwindling supply of critical resources. If supplies of

critical resources decline as demand remains the same or increases, this is a recipe for

confl ict. Scarcity always breeds confl ict as actors compete for control of, and access

to, the resources they need.

Liberals:

Liberals certainly recognize the diffi culties in solving global commons prob-

lems. The obstacles to coop-

eration have not always proven insurmountable.

Many cite the Montreal Protocol of 1987 as an example of successful action and

cooperation.

Marxists:

They feel the problem of the global commons is related to capitalism. To the extent that global
capitalism perpetuates a system of global eco inequality and pop problems that derive from global
poverty are seen as a consequence of global cap.

Feminists:
They acceot the proposition that far-reaching social and eco changes are essential if global disaster is
to be avoided. An essential change required is improvement of the status of women, particularly in
the developing world where pop growth remains high.

D3 ) Why is coop harder to come by

*insert notes from global warming/climate change answer