Lecture 36 Friday April 22, 2005

The Progressive Era: A Darker Side

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Announcements:

(1)           Two Handouts: Gary Alt’s Pennsylvania deer mgt. program

 

 

I.. Background of Louis Warren’s discussion of game laws turn of the century

A. Context: “More Pesky Philosophical Problems”

B. Warren discussion of Bannock Indians hunting elk in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1895.

Frederick Jackson and Garrett Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons” model

1896 Supreme Court decision

C. Warren's critique of Hardin, who observes, “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.”

Warren writes,

“Like other secular prophecies, Hardin’s vision was founded on historical interpretation. ‘As the human population has increased,’ [Hardin] argued, ‘the commons has had to be abandoned in one aspect after another.’ Human history accordingly becomes the story of a global commons increasingly hedged as more people settle on it . . . etc.”

See also David Feeny, Susan Hannah, and Arthur F. McEvoy, "Questioning the Assumptions of the 'Tragedy of the Commons' Model of Fisheries," Land Economics (May 1996), 72(2): 187-205.

D. Evidence of the influence of Hardin includes Dayton Duncan, Miles from Nowhere (1994)

[SLIDE] also cf. Gary Harding quote relying on Hardin:

“Before the agricultural revolution, a commons tragedy was rare. It usually involved declining resources due to natural events, such as ice-ages. The tragedy of the commons has become more and more frequent since the agricultural revolution and its concomitant population growth. Its frequency has accelerated with the industrial revolution and the resultant population explosion. Now, the commons includes the whole Earth.”

 

 

Don't forget to check out the following links to Garrett Hardin related articles and information:

 

"Tragedy of the Commons" related:

Garrett Hardin, "Tragedy of the Commons" (1968) fulltext online
Louis Andrews:
"Stalking the Wild Taboo - Stalkers: Hardin: The Tragedy of the Commons"
Luke Wallin: "American Metaphors of Being-in-Nature"
Tobias Haller lecture notes:"Tragedy of the Commons: Common Property Resource Management"
David Bollier: “Commons Sense: Community Ownership and the Displacement of Corporate Control”
David Bollier: “Reclaiming the American Commons”
David Bollier, Public Assets, Private Profits: Reclaiming the American Commons in an Age of Market Enclosure (book, large file)
De Young, R. (1999) “Tragedy of the commons.”
Elinor Ostrom: HOW INEXORABLE IS THE "TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS”? INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL DILEMMAS
Michael Alvard and David Nolin: “Rousseau’s Whale Hunt? Coordination among Big-Game Hunters”
Low, B., Ridley, M. (1993) "Can Selfishness Save the Environment?" Atlantic Monthly 272(3):76-86.