You could say we brought upon ourselves the economic and environmental tragedies of today. And you’d probably be correct. Everyone is still finger pointing because, by definition there can be no absolute answer, so it’s safe. Fairness is at the bottom of all of this, but where? And why.
Perhaps a narrow definition of private property got us here, whether it’s carbon credits, water or whatever, we could probably stand some examination of property and responsibility. It’s actually a very interesting problem this business of problem solving.
Climbing the wrong hill is something not easy to observe. If you travel in problem solving circles you can easily visualise the nature of the problem, the problem of solving the problem that is.
It’s easier to solve a problem if know where you are. For example imaging being on a journey, you are in a dense fog climbing a hill hoping to pass over a mountain range. But what if you knew there’s a higher hill that has an easier path across the range nearby, of what if the other hill has the path and yours doesn’t. Obviously you would back down and change hills in the latter case. But you are in a dense fog, remember? Mr. fog is making a hard time for you. And if you’ve got the crowd following you their all-knowing leader or you’re being swept up the wrong hill with the crowd what’s going to happen?
A big thanks and congrats to Lin Ostrom.
