Local Politics of Global Local Politics of Global SustainabilitySustainability

Review: Allocation MatrixReview: Allocation Matrix

Rival

Non-rival

Excludable Non-Excludable

Market Good: Ecosystem structure,Waste absorption capacity (e.g. SO2)

Tragedy of the non-commons: patented information

Pure Public Good:Street lights, national defense, most ecosystem services, unpatented information

Open Access Regime:Unowned ecosystem structure, waste absorption capacity (e.g. CO2)

Non-rival, congestible

Club or Toll Good

Private property and ecosystem Private property and ecosystem structurestructure

• Inefficient: Owner ignores critical ecosystem services

• Unjust: Ecosystem services are public goods, destroyed for private gain

• Unsustainable: Profit maximization may still lead to extinction

Example: Brazil’s Atlantic RainforestExample: Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest

•Ecosystem services of rainforest valued at Ecosystem services of rainforest valued at $2006/ha/year$2006/ha/year•World’s highest biodiversity humid forest World’s highest biodiversity humid forest converted to pasture yielding $20/ha/yearconverted to pasture yielding $20/ha/year•Causes droughts, floods, erosion, biodiversity Causes droughts, floods, erosion, biodiversity loss, microclimate change, etc. loss, microclimate change, etc. •Greedy self interest creates invisible footGreedy self interest creates invisible foot

Private property and information Private property and information

• Inefficient: – Creates artificial scarcity– Patent = monopoly– Research ignores public goods

• Unjust– Knowledge is cumulative– Raises costs for research that promotes the public

good or serves the poor– Example: Golden rice, AIDS medicine

Patents and distribution (cont.)Patents and distribution (cont.)

• Samuel Slater, “Father of American Industry”

• Developed countries own 97% of all patents

The “Tragedy of the Non-Commons”The “Tragedy of the Non-Commons”

• Occurs when private ownership is ecologically unsustainable, socially unjust, and/or economically inefficient

• Any privately owned resource that provides non-rival benefits

• Sustainability is a non-rival benefit of healthy ecosystems

What is the Solution?What is the Solution?

It’s the system, stupidIt’s the system, stupid

• How do we create a system that allocates non-rival and/or non-excludable resources?– Must be fair– Must be sustainable– Be nice if it was efficient, too (policy lecture)

Capitalism vs. socialismCapitalism vs. socialism• Ownership by the individual or ownership by

society?• What is appropriate depends on the nature of

the resources and desirable ends• We need a hybrid system:

– Market allocation works for rival/excludable goods and services that only affect individual well-being

– We need another allocative mechanism for non-rival and/or non-excludable goods/bads that affect public well-being

Can Science Tell us How to Can Science Tell us How to Allocate?Allocate?

• How much natural capital needs to be left for future generations?

• How do we deal with uncertainty?• How do we deal with needs vs. wants?• Values matter• If the market economy can’t do it, and

science can’t do it, what is left?

Can the Political Process do it?Can the Political Process do it?

• As many types of political systems as economic systems

What we haveWhat we have• Representative democracy (?)

– Defends our rights and freedoms (?)– Is it participatory?

• Feeling of participation• Participation levels• Would you opt out of participating in the market?

– Is it democracy?"We can have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy, but we cannot have both."

-Justice Louis Brandeis

What we Have (cont.)What we Have (cont.)

• Economic sphere (wealth) dominates political sphere (power) and public sphere (participation)– Public sphere: “psychic and political space

and process within which people, acting as citizens, consider their common dilemmas and seek solutions”

– We are consumers first, citizens second • Unregulated capitalism destroys the

means of production

What we needWhat we need• Participatory, democratic decision making

processes – “strong democracy”– E.g. town meetings

What this requiresWhat this requires• Equal political rights

– One person one vote vs. one dollar one vote– Can’t let economic sphere influence political sphere– Nature abhors a vacuum

• Educated public– What do we learn and where do we learn it?– Who owns the airwaves?– We must educate each other in public dialogue

• Engaged public• Empowered public

Strong democracy and the political Strong democracy and the political conditioncondition

• Action– Participatory democracy is not a spectator

sport. We need to opt in.• Publicness

– Must continually answer question “when do private acts become public?”

• Necessity– “events have lives of their own. To refuse to

act is also to act”

(cont.)(cont.)• Choice

– Citizens set the agenda. • Reasonableness

– We must both talk and listen. Dialogue not debate• Conflict

– We must “transform conflict into cooperation through citizen participation, public deliberation, and civic education.”

• Absence of an independent ground– E.g. divine will, rights, freedoms

PDMP and sustainabilityPDMP and sustainability

PDMP and built capitalPDMP and built capital

• How do we supply public goods such as roads, bridges, streetlights, sewage systems?

• What would happen if we applied PDMP to urban sprawl?

• How does this relate to Diane Gayre’s and Melinda Moulton’s lectures?

• What is the impact of unregulated capitalism? (e.g. electricity)

PDMP and natural capitalPDMP and natural capital• What belongs to the public (THE

COMMONWEALTH) and what belongs to individuals?

• How do we deal with parks, air quality (SO2), water quality, etc.?

• The public determines scale, scale determines price– We decide as a society how to allocate natural capital

between ecosystem services and economic production.

– Market can decide how to allocate among different sectors of economy.

PDMP and social capitalPDMP and social capital• Continual process of education into

citizenship• “community is fostered by participation,

and participation by community”– Working with people to solve common

problems transforms them into a community– E.g. US senate (in a good year)

• Builds institutions, networks and trust• What is the impact of unregulated

capitalism on social capital?

PDMP and human capitalPDMP and human capital

• Participatory dialogue educates us on the critical issues

• Appropriate technologies and government sponsored research

• National health care• Mandatory education

– Whatever happened to civics?