Download The nature of the problem, and its relationship to culture

Nature, culture, politics
What is the value of fairy shrimp to us?
The environmental problematic
• Environmental damage at
all levels
• Uncertainty about costs &
consequences
• Commitment to market
economy
• Low or no valuation of
ecological resources
• Inefficient use of resources
& ecological “space”
• Reluctance to expend funds
• Reluctance to cooperate w/
other countries
Nature has shaped human societies
• Kaplan’s “geopolitics”—
geoculture?
• Spatial organization
• Modes & relations of
production
• Human migrations across
continental spaces
• Exchange & trade
• Rise & decline
Human culture has shaped nature
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agricultural transformation
Massive deforestation
Soil erosion
Dams, rivers, lakes
Battlefields
Cities & suburbs
Highways
Carbonization
Even UCSC is “Second
Nature”
How should we treat nature?
How does nature relate to us (humans)?
Profit is a critical motivating factor in the
functioning of capitalism
Without the possibility of profit and accumulation, individuals will
not strive to produce more than needed for subsistence—and there
would be little innovation and only limited production—or, so goes
the common argument… And this requires property
Classically speaking, nature is regarded as a
bundle of resources to be exploited for profit
Depending on who “owns” the resource, rents and
royalties may be paid, but profit is only realized
through use in goods that can be sold in markets
For the most part, nature is treated as essentially “free”
and there is no inherent penalty to its degradation,
depletion or destruction
Except that, if we destroy it, we also destroy
our civilization and ourselves (Apocalypse)
The “value” of something depends on a
price established by supply and demand
Since nature has no obvious “price,” how can
value be established?
It is argued that people take “greater care” of things &
resources are utilized more carefully if they own them
If one wishes to save a stand of redwoods, one is free to do so.
But the return on cutting may exceed that from ecotourism
This is sometimes explained by the
“tragedy of the commons”
• Story of cows & commons
(Garrett Hardin, 1968)
• People naturally selfish &
self-interested
• Free public goods are
overused
• Unrestrained, people will
deplete natural resources
• People will protect that
which they own
• But open access commons
cannot be privatized
• Hence, “mutual restraint
mutually agreed upon”
What, exactly, is a “commons?”
• A commons is a shared resource that
is socially-organized and managed to
the benefit of participant-users
• The traditional commons is a
resource to which a community of
users had regulated access
• A common-property resource (CPR) is
limited to a specified group
• An open-access resource allows
unregulated use (“first come, first
served”) & tends toward “crowding”
• A “public good” can be open access
(highways) or a CPR (national parks)
The move to privatization of commons, intended to
regulate use, also facilitates commodification,
exploitation and accumulation
And it tends to ignore that
which lacks economic “value”
Much of human social life is rooted in “commons”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Language
Civil behavior
Manners
Roads & traffic
Knowledge
Education
Social relations
Families & households
Is “tragedy of the commons” an accurate parable?
Perhaps we need to put a concrete value on the environment
Whether & how to “value” nature is a political
question
• Individual decision on value
may lead to destruction
• Social decision regarded as
infringement on freedom
• Different people may hold
different values of nature
• Resource, inspirational,
recreation, ecological
• Collective action difficult to
motivate, e.g. climate change
• But what if failure to act
results in very high costs?
• Success may require bribes,
payoffs, etc.
This political struggle is repeated over and over
• In the U.S., across a broad
range of public & private
goods & spaces
• Internationally, in the
climate change meetings
(Cancun, mid-December)
• In proposals to nationalize &
privatize fisheries
• Efforts to redirect California
water to Delta & fish
• Even is so-called resource
wars across the world
• So, what is to be done?