Thread by @kegill

When the entire globe is "the commons" ... #climateChange is poised to be the last "tragedy of the commons"

A reminder that @TheEconomist is not a far-left publication. Natural resource economists have been silent here for far too long.

economist.com/leaders/2018/0…

Another 50-year mark:
Science published
The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin
on 13 Dec 1968

science.sciencemag.org/content/162/38…

Cartoon, Kirk Anderson, Pioneer Press

https://twitter.com/tulenheimo/status/382527247770341378

"The tragedy of the commons develops in this way. Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons...As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain... "

"The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another... But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons."

Image: godpoliticsbaseball.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-tr…

"Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all."

We have learned nothing:

"For that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest..."
From Aristotle, 350 BCE

Source: classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poli…

Planet earth is a commons.

Hardin was worried about over-population, which is part of the challenge of relying on coal and petroleum products for energy (aptly noted by @TheEconomist )

"In a reverse way, the tragedy of the commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in..."

In the context of this thread, CO2 is pollution.

Image:
mashable.com/2017/10/30/rec…

"...we are locked into a system of 'fouling our own nest,' so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free-enterprisers..."

The myth of the rational actor is the worst "truth" that modern economics has foisted on us.

"When men mutually agreed to pass laws against robbing, mankind became more free, not less so."

So should it be with a unified global response to the commons that is the planet in face of #climateChange.

Image:

https://twitter.com/bbcweather/status/1025693606366113795

Back when @seattletimes devoted two full pages to issues in the Sunday paper, they examined climate change in-depth. It convinced me then that the issue was real. Here's a 2005 piece by @SandiDoughton

seattletimes.com/seattle-news/s…

News organizations need to devote serious resources to education - they are still major setters of agenda. No more false equivalence from corporate-funded #climatechange "skeptics"

Congress needs to grow a spine and think of our grandchildren. Ditto state and local politicians.

Investors need to grow a spine and ditch oil-based energy. Congress could help here with tax rates on gains, (very high, oil, and low, alternative).

National gasoline/diesel tax to subsidize alternatives and reward behavioral change. No road subsidies for states that fail reduce per capita use.

Tax the hell out of McMansions. And cap water use for lawns.

Subsidize and escalate development of mass transit.

Tax credits to businesses that encourage work-from-home and close-to-home remote co-working spaces (@pchee)

Incentives for distributed solar panels (on homes) with penalties for power companies that don't participate

Carbon tax.

There's more. Lots more.

And it's long past time to act.

Because "freedom in a commons brings ruin to all."

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