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The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake

Abstract

This report takes a fundamental look at our human experience as compared
to the beliefs of Garrett Hardin. In Hardins report, The Tragedy of the Commons, he
tells a morbid story of how the concept of a commons is the leading cause for the
environmental degradation we find ourselves creating every day.
I respectfully disagree with his opinion. With such a diverse world with so
many people, commons are in fact one of the only established sources of unity.
These commons enable people to band together to push for a common goal.
The problem is not that the commons exist; it is that we are becoming
fundamentally opposed to pursuing common gains. We have largely abandoned
politics, and replaced them with the carelessness of idiotship. This lack of personal
accountability to the commons is what is leading us to pollute in excess, over-
populate, increase wealth disparity, and systematically destroy the life source of our
species.
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
Introduction
We live in a very peculiar time in human history. We are systematically
destroying the planet that we depend on, and we are doing so with stippling
efficiency. This issue has been known about for many decades, exemplified by the
release of the first IPCC report in 1988. And since that first report the IPCC, which is
arguably the largest collective scientific assessment in human history, scientists
have concluded time and time again that we are in fact destroying our planet.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s this overwhelming problem became so
large as to be impossible to ignore further, the issue was that it was presented in a
political fashion instead of in its true form: scientific. As we debated over the
actuality of the issue, both the causes and effects increased. We have sadly arrived
at a point in history where global environmental damage due to increasing human
pressures is no longer deniable from any knowledgeable persons perspective.
As we look to quickly revert the hardships that we have placed on this planet
we are caught awkwardly between our predisposed desire to grow and the
increasing desire to leave a planet that our children can live on. Although it may be
simple for some to understand that the survival of the human species depends
directly on the sustainability of our earth, the majority still pollute unnecessarily,
over-consume, and reproduce past the point of sufficiency. Luckily for us though,
Garrett Hardin eluded to the reason for this lack of personal accountability long ago
in The Tragedy of the Commons (1).
In his paper, Hardin explained how the commons mentality was the main
reason for the wicked things we have done to the environment. I respectfully
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
disagree. The cause for the environmental degradation is a general decrease in
interest in the commons, not the actual commons. This fact is clearly shown via the
massive escalation in global environmental degradation in the past century,
including rising average temperatures, rising CO2 emissions, rising ocean levels, and
much more.
Literature Review
On the National Academies website they explain that CO2 concentration in
the atmosphere has risen about 40% since the beginning of the industrial
revolution (2). This is a very troubling figure, as CO2 is the primary greenhouse
gas, accounting for nearly 84% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions according to the
EPA (3). Also according to the EPA, the greatest source of CO2 emission within the
U.S. is due to fossil fuel combustion (4). This CO2, which humans happily produce
left and right, is the direct cause of a rise in average global temperature, and a rise in
the sea level.
The Tragedy of the Commons was written in a hypothetical manner, simply
stating the possibility of worst-case scenarios across humanity. Unfortunately today
we have the physical evidence to prove that the commons philosophy has led our
planet down a dangerous and nearly irreversible path. This is primarily evident in
our current human population dilemma.
According to R.L McConnell and Daniel Abel of Environmental Issues, the
carrying capacity for any species can be determined by four factors: births, deaths,
immigration, emigration (5). The reason that we cannot easily determine the
carrying capacity for Humans is because we introduce a fifth factor, consumption.
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
Consumption is no small factor either; it is an equal participant in the coup against
our planet. Even though we do not know our official carrying capacity we have a
very good estimator, poverty. Poverty by definition is the inability to care for ones
self, something that should be an easily accomplished feat if we were within our
carrying capacity. According to Anup Shah of globalissues.org, almost of the world
population live on less the $2.50 USD a day (6). Clearly we have procreated past the
point of our natural carrying capacity, and we continue to do so easily as we care
less and less about our effects on the commons, and those that the commons
support.
The true cost of our lack of interest in the commons infrastructure is sadly
also evident in the change in our pollution levels in the past few centuries.
According to the IPCC 5
th
Assessment Report, the change in global average heat
content is rapidly increasing due to the ever-increasing Carbon emissions (7). This
heating of the upper ocean is causing an even steeper climb in sea level, due to the
fact the CO2 present in seawater creates a positive feedback loop (8). The most
troubling graph presented within the IPPC 5AR is the exponential increase in
atmospheric CO2, which is reaching the hockey stick bend much earlier than
predicted (9). Once CO2 bends upwards it will be nearly impossible to reverse the
damages caused by it.
One of the most evident backers in my theory that we are suffering due to a
lack of interest in the commons comes with energy demand. Energy demand is a
consequence of income growth, which is a direct descendant of growth in
consumption according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (10). It is
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
important to remember that as one persons personal income grows, the rest of the
people in the commons must forfeit that amount. As we no longer have the same
respect for the commons as we did, we see the disparity
According to the EIA we are expected to see an 85% increase in global energy
demand from 2010 to 2040 (11). This nearly exponential growth pattern is driven
mostly by developing countries, which are predicted to use coal and liquid fuels
primarily, with renewables and nuclear bringing up the rear (12). Developing
countries are just as aware of the environmental issue at hand as developed
countries, but because of our commons mentality they pursue growth and
consumption rather than sustainability.
Discussion
It is strikingly evident that we have created a world doomed to collapse upon
itself. Through greed, unsustainable growth, and lack of accountability we are
leaving our children with a world worse off then our own. All due to the
preconceived notion that with more material objects we have the possibility for
greater happiness poisonously mixed with the sense that others will handle the
consequences of our actions down the road. Fed by the no longer existent desire to
band together as a community to for the common good.
We can physically see the average temperatures rising across the globe,
along with increased global CO2 concentration, rising ocean levels, ever-increasing
population, and mounting pollution. We are on a downward spiraling path towards
environmental destruction, which undoubtedly which would lead to the demise of
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
our own species along with plethora other. We are in fact systematically
extinguishing the human species.
We are so very fortunate though that we have recognized the true impact of
our actions on the environment, even if it is a few decades late. Now that we have
scientific evidence revealing the true scope of our actions on the environment we
can attempt to begin the remediation process. This trend is also highly visible as the
EIA predicts that hydro and other renewables will surpass the use of coal, liquid
fuels, and natural gas by 2020 (12).
A moral lack of accountability to the common human progression will lead to
irreversible trend of self-destruction. I hate to imagine the sad realization Hardin
must have experienced before his death in 2003, when we all saw how correct his
predictions were. Today we are struggling to quickly instill practices of increased
efficiency to mitigate the effects of our insufficiency, from the perspective of
consumption. Though this is helping, nothing will change until each individual
accepts the full price of his or her actions. We must first preach the benefits of
politics concerning the environmental commons before we can make significant
changes in the lives of generations to come, we are stuck in a rut of idiotship which
will be the end of us.
The key to combating this fallacy in human composition is education. From
an early age humans should be taught the ideals of sufficiency, sustainability, and
personal accountability. Rather than pursuing the classical industrial concepts of
conquering nature using unlimited resources, we must educate generations to
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
come to follow the ideals of the new ecological approach of working with nature
using our legitimately finite resources.
The single greatest thing that can be taught to our children is the concept of
non-excludable personal accountability. If each and every person were to fully own
the extended consequences of their actions it would automatically lead to
sufficiency and sustainability. Knowing that our actions have consequences beyond
what is directly in front of us will help promote this sense of accountability, not only
in ourselves but also by social pressures from the others affected by our actions.
Educating the future is the most efficient method of creating a better world,
but there are many things that we can do now to significantly reduce the stress that
we are placing on our planet. The easiest method of sustainability fortunately also
happens to have some of the greatest positive consequences. This method is simply
energy waste reduction. According to The National Academies, in 2008 out of the
USs total 99.2 quadrillion btus of energy demanded 57.07 quadrillion btus of it
were wasted (13).
Waste reduction is also extremely simple and easy to take part in. Some
simple methods of waste reduction that everyone can easily do are carpooling,
turning off the lights, using high efficiency machines, and adjusting the thermometer
to more similarly reflect the outside temperature. If we all took part in reducing our
own energy waste we would see significant energy demand drops literally over
night.


The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
Conclusion
Again have come to a point in our history where if action is not taken, we will
literally cause the extinction of our species, and many others around us. The
extreme effects that human pressures have put on this planet can no longer be
ignored; it is without a doubt time for a change. And as modern economics will
verify, a reduction in the demand of energy will result in three times that reduction
in supply.
Hardin was correct in that we have grown predisposed to trust in the
effectiveness of the commons. An unfortunate truth as it is this very thought
process that has led us into such a dire situation. Without personal accountability
we have overpopulated, over-polluted, and created irreversible changes to our
planet. We must first put our faith in each other to pursue the best possible
outcomes for the commons and then we will see significant impact.
Now that we know that we are in fact the reason for the terrifying situation
that we find ourselves in, we must act. By teaching our youth about modern
ecological principles such as sustainability, sufficiency, and personal accountability,
we can create a population better equipped to handle the problems that we are
going to leave them with. By promoting the debunking of rotten politics we can
push for an idiotship free world where the commons becomes utmost important.
It is a true shame that we knew about this pending situation as it built across
time and decided only to act when it was nearly too late. Along with teaching our
youth a more distinguished way of life, we must also enact every possible
countermeasure to revert the effects of our careless actions. This includes reducing
The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake
our dependence on non-renewable resources for fuel, reducing our waste energy,
and striving to increase efficiency in all that we do.
The true cost of our declining interest in the Commons is the extinction of our
species through the destruction of our world.


The Effects of Idiotship on the Commons and Earth William Blake

Bibliography

1) Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Sciencemag.org. N.p., 25 June
1968. Web.

2/13) "The National Academies." The Cost of Energy, Environmental Impact . The
National Academies, 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.

3/4) "Carbon Dioxide Emissions." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011.
Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

5) Abel, Daniel. "Population Size." Carrying Capacity. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr.
2014.

6) Shah, Anup. "Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. N.p., 7 Jan. 2013. Web.
31 Mar. 2014.

7/8/9) "IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." IPCC - Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.

10/11/12) "U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics
and Analysis."U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). US Government, 25 July
2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

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