Test 1

Question 1

What are some characteristics of a commons?

Answer 1

a finite desired/valuable shared resource, “pasture that is open to all” or “open access”, eventually rivalrous

Question 2

What is the tragedy in the tragedy of the commons?

Answer 2

The tragedy is that adding more cattle/using more of the resource is rational because if you do not add cattle/use the resource then someone else will add their cattle, however, the resource will deplete and not be usable at some point.

Question 3

What are club goods?

Answer 3

goods that become open-access once you enter a club or group

Question 4

The pasture in Hardin’s writing is a placeholder for something, what is it? Why?

Answer 4

The pasture is a placeholder for population. The essay was written at the end of WW2 a time of great growth. (advancements in agriculture have changed outlooks since the time of writing)

Question 5

What is a tipping point?

Answer 5

the point where the “pasture” will collapse when too much of the resource has been used. Can be difficult to estimate before it is reached.

Question 6

What is the problem with trying to appeal to the conscience of the population? (Tragedy of the commons)

Answer 6

Conscience cannot limit the tragedy of the commons because the effect will vary and in the population example, the people who don’t limit themselves will prosper and those who limit will suffer greatly. Overtime, the people who dont limit will be the only people left and the pasture will be depleted.

Question 7

What are some solutions that Hardin gives for solving the strategy of the commons?

Answer 7

Government regulation and privatization

Question 8

What are some examples of tragedies? (tragedy of the commons)

Answer 8

-Forests
-National parks
-Parking lots
-Fisheries
-Atmosphere

Question 9

What is mutual coercion?

Answer 9

the state regulates access to benefit the public good, the population agrees to coercion.

Question 10

What are some pros and cons of using privatization to prevent the tragedy of the commons?

Answer 10

Pros: Adds accountability to how the “hurders” treat the commons, gives financial incentives to maintain the commons
Cons: Inequity between hurders depending on the quality of the land, if the herders still do not respect the land, they may still maintain a short-term mindset

Question 11

What are some pros and cons of using regulation and coercive laws to prevent the tragedy of the commons?

Answer 11

Pros: Fair access to resources, standardization could promote more sustainable practices
Cons: Regulations and laws may not be fair, weak regulations may be circumvented

Question 12

What is Weber’s definition of the State?

Answer 12

“human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory”

Question 13

What is Jessop’s definition of the state?

Answer 13

The state is a social relation and the state is made of an ensemble of institutions, organizations, and everyday practices that has a tenuous and unstable contract between the governors and the governed

Question 14

What are some examples of how the state governs?

Answer 14

-Public ownership
-Regulation
-Funding/appropriations
-Subsidies and taxes
-Land zoning
-Research and Development
-Investment
-Technology transfer
-Disclosure and accounting
-Prosecution/shaming

Question 15

What are some of the institutional logics that the State uses?

Answer 15

-Coercion
-Steering (instead of rowing)
-Power of the purse

Question 16

What is Steering?

Answer 16

Steering is the state’s role of guiding societal action toward a desired outcome.

Question 17

What are some ways that we can assess the state?

Answer 17

-Effectiveness (outcomes)
-Efficiency (money)
-Equity (fairness)

Question 18

Detail the development of the environmental state.

Answer 18

18th-19th century: Homestead Act and mining industry acts
Late 19th to early 20th: National parks are made
Post 1960s: building state capacities (major U.S. regulations)
Post 1990s: Shift to non-state governance

Question 19

What are some problems with relying on the state?

Answer 19

-Political deliberation takes time
-Centralized structure – aimed at simplicity
-Subject to the interests of powerful non-state actors
-“influence industry”
-Regular leadership change creates a lack of stability
-Budgetary limitations
-Lack of competition/ efficiency
-Bureaucracy – need we say more
-Corruption
-Information problem

Question 20

What are the two main critiques of the state?

Answer 20

-Simplification/reductive
-Neoliberal state

Question 21

What is neoliberalism?

Answer 21

-Deregulation or market-based policies
-Privatization of public services
-Role of the state is to safeguard the free market

Question 22

What is the reading example of state simplification?

Answer 22

The German state’s managed forest: Forestry is made into a problem of yield maximization, where the state got rid of all variables except the trees, led to a collapse of the forest structure.

Question 23

What is the main tool that the state and market use?

Answer 23

States rely on coercion, markets on competition

Question 24

What are cap and trade regulations?

Answer 24

• Decide a total cap
• Distribute allowances that total up to the cap
• Allow for trading
• This incentivizes industries to lower their emissions to save money.

Question 25

What six characteristics need to be in place for cap and trade regulations to work?

Answer 25

- Pollution is traceable within cost - Pollution is measurable within cost - Knowledge of a pollution limit - Ability to enforce penalties - Parties are able to negotiate and deal - Initial allowances distributed effectively

Question 26

What are Ostrom's concerns about Hardin's views on the commons?

Answer 26

-Ostrom believes that Hardin is too pessimistic about people's abilities. -The only solutions given are external to the people who use the commons - Both privatization and state governance can worsen problems - Only talks about constraints and not what the people can do

Question 27

What is Ostrom's observation of people using common pool resources

Answer 27

- “Humans adopt a narrow, self-interested perspective in many settings, but can also use reciprocity to overcome social dilemmas” - For thousands of years, users have self organized to manage common-pool resources.

Question 28

What is Ostrom's definition of an institution?

Answer 28

“Institutions can be defined as a set of working rules that are used to determine who is eligible to make decisions in some arena, what actions are allowed or constrained, what aggregation rules will be used, what procedures must be followed, what information must or must not be provided, and what payoffs will be assigned to individuals dependent on their actions”

Question 29

What is common pool resource management theory?

Answer 29

Collective action for the sustainable use of a limited shared resource, where one person's use reduces availability for others. This type of management works by allowing the herders in a tragedy of the commons scenario to communicate with each other. When the herders communicate with each other they can choose to make agreements, rules, and punishments for overuse of the resource. This allows for the herders to work together to sustainably use the commons instead of allowing the tragedy to occur.

Question 30

What are the institutional design principles for common pool resource management?

Answer 30

1. Well-defined boundaries (exclusion) 2. Congruence between rules and interests 3. Broad engagement in rule-making 4. Monitoring 5. Graduated sanctions 6. Conflict resolution process 7. Right to make rules recognized by state 8. Nestedness of rules (when part of bigger system)

Question 31

How can the state both help and hinder common pool resource management?

Answer 31

HELP: ▪ Recognize local authority ▪ Facilitate organization/assembly of users ▪ Provide information to identify problems and solutions HINDER: - Intervening in rights - Maintaining ultimate control - Impose rules without local participation

Question 32

What is ecological interconnectedness?

Answer 32

The idea that all living organisms and their environments are connected and depend on each other. Humans live past their limit in adding to biodiversity loss, the nitrogen cycle, and climate change.

Question 33

What are socio-logical systems?

Answer 33

Systems that consider both sociological systems (social problems like gender equality) and ecological problems like climate change

Question 34

What are some main characteristics of adaptive governance?

Answer 34

- Emphasis on monitoring - Emergent - Ability to reorganize - Not one size fits all - Polycentric

Question 35

How was adaptive governance used in the Florida Everglades?

Answer 35

A flexible system of implementation was used where actions were dictated by monitoring data in order to help restore the Everglades.

Question 36

What were some lessons that were learned from using adaptive governance in restoring the Florida Everglades?

Answer 36

- Use existing institutional processes - phased implementation: Future plans informed by previous, Contingency options

Question 37

What are some problems with adaptive governance?

Answer 37

* Measurements are difficult and expensive * Insufficient focus on power and structure * Focus on monitoring, less on adapting * Sounds good but is it different/realistic/useful?

Question 38

How is consumption a “venue for political action”?

Answer 38

Consumers can choose to invest in corporations that reflect their views and actions

Question 39

Why are environmental labels important?

Answer 39

They are symbols that conscientious consumers and corporations can use to differentiate more sustainable corporations from non-sustainble ones.

Question 40

What are some challenges in relying on consumers to drive production changes?

Answer 40

* Consumers are not willing to pay * Long-term reliability of payments is low * Consumers have limited information * Individualization of social responsibility * False sense of climate action * Reproduction of economic inequalities and class differences * Perpetuates capitalist system * Incentivizes over consumption * Crowing out state actions/regulations

Question 41

What was the importance of the National report on the racial and socio-economic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites?

Answer 41

The study found that there was a significant correlation between hazardous waste sites and populations of African American and Latino communities

Question 42

Why would polluters site near these communities?

Answer 42

* Poorer communities - Less expensive * Less politically active * Low-levels of education * Less monitoring * Weak local government/representation

Question 43

What are the three main types of environmental justice and what do they mean?

Answer 43

1. Distributive – risk/reward 2. Recognition – uneven impacts 3. Procedural – inclusion of voices

Question 44

What are some characteristics of post-normal science?

Answer 44

* Facts are uncertain * Values are in flux * Stakes are high and decisions urgent

Question 45

What is polycentricity?

Answer 45

a system with multiple centers of power or control.