Mother Nature is fighting back. Every week or so we have another one of nature”™s “surprises” ”“ rain in biblical proportions (8 inches in Roscoe, 5 inches in Queens), a tornado that removed a whole town ”“ and the hurricane season has barely begun. How to cope? Up to now we have just scratched our heads and wondered what happened, with little understanding of how these events may be connected. The following is a historical perspective and its relevance for today and some ideas as to how business can not only cope but get on top of nature”™s violence.
Free to destroy
Garrett Hardin, in 1968, used the concept of the “Tragedy of the Commons” to illustrate his concerns about the ability of the planet to survive the overuse of its natural resources. The basis for the “tragedy” was found in a pamphlet in 1833 in England. The story goes like this: “Picture a theoretical pasture open to all. Herdsmen are allowed to use the ”˜commons,”™ an unfenced pasture, without cost. Each herdsman soon realizes that he could keep as many cattle as he wants on the commons, with good return and no extra cost. Such an arrangement worked for centuries because tribal wars and disease kept the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning and the self-interest of the individual herdsman overcomes the ability of the commons to sustain itself. Because it is free the desire of the herdsmen to make full use of the resource is overwhelming, until tragedy occurs and the resource is lost to all.”
Today, the National Parks present a contemporary instance of the “tragedy.” Parks are open to all at the moment but the numbers who want to enjoy them are soaring. The parks are limited ”“ there is only one Yosemite ”“ but, while the public use of the parks is soaring, funding to maintain the parks is static or even dropping. The favorite vehicles in the parks are ATVs, snowmobiles and large SUVs causing further damage to the environment. The bottom line ”“ our national treasure, the federal park system is in serious decline ”“ the 21st-century example of the “Tragedy of the Commons.”
More on nature”™s bounty
The air is free to all. There is no charge. Hence in the industrial age there was no thought of the need to put any controls on the use of the air. Only with the passage of the Clean Air Act by Congress in 1972 was there a coherent thought about the price being paid for polluting the air that everyone breathes. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the need to include carbon dioxide as an air pollutant and therefore covered by the Clean Air Act. Efforts to continue cleaning up the air we breathe are ongoing. As described in prior articles, complex market systems are being devised to get control of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile in China when the sun shines through the dense layer of industrial pollution it is a day for celebration.
In this region water is so little thought of as a finite resource that the residents of New York City were only metered for their water usage in the last few years. Fire hydrants are regularly opened on hot days in the city in spite of efforts to control the practice. A drought is considered a passing aberration in these parts. A few years ago the tenuousness of our water supply came to the fore. A severe drought created the need to use Hudson River water to supplement the diminishing upstate reservoirs. The city of Poughkeepsie depends on the Hudson for its water supply, which is above the point of salty water from the sea. If too much Hudson water is pulled out below the city the salt moves up river, endangering the Poughkeepsie water supply.
Globally, however, the picture is a matter of permanent shortage. It may be hard to believe but we are drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank. The water we have today is all we are ever going to have. At present there are 11,000 desalinization plants worldwide, 60 percent of them in the Middle East. A real business opportunity for investors wanting to expand the shrinking supply of global potable water is at hand. Globally, 85 percent of freshwater is now used for agriculture, largely from inefficient subsidies and protections for agricultural interests. For instance, California, essentially a dessert, grows crops more appropriate for a tropical climate. Historic water rights make it possible. Market strategies are being introduced here as well.
Land, another resource, though hardly free, is used as if each property usage has no impact on any other. Recent flooding in the region suggests this outlook needs to be re-examined. Impermeable surfaces contribute to floods and also impede the rain from recharging watertables below the surface.
A new concept with a lot of promise is the planting of roof gardens on commercial buildings. This strategy absorbs water and carbon dioxide, as well as cools the building. This is an example of nature being used effectively in a shrinking world.
Effective partnerships needed
The environmental community and corporate interests cannot remain in opposition any longer. The film “An Inconvenient Truth” appears to have reduced the hostile dynamic somewhat and may be contributing to the development of a more collaborative spirit. New partnerships that bypass the government are becoming increasingly common and may be more effective than cumbersome bureaucracies. Meanwhile, the developing world, now likely to be the first victims of sea level rise, is hoping for a bigger piece of the resource pie. The painful truth, however, is that in order for that to happen with the current world population we would need the resources of two more planet Earths to bring everyone up to the resource absorption of the industrialized world. This does not even take into account the needs and desires of future generations.
The real problem for this country and the region is conquering the tendency to deny that there is a real problem that cannot be delegated to someone else. As the discussion of global warming and our carbon footprint gains more attention, the uneven dispersion of the earth”™s treasures and the consequent greenhouse gases will be hard to ignore.
Maureen Morgan, a transit advocate, is on the board of Federated Conservationists?of Westchester. Reach her at HYPERLINK “mailto:mmmorgan10@optonline.net” mmmorgan10@optonline.net.
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