2nd lecture roots of environmental problems

Question 1

What are Needs and satisfiers?

Answer 1

Needs: Need for subsistence - satisfier:Food, water etc
Need for self-esteem - satisfier: Consumption of material goods (e.g. branded cloths)
Activities (e.g. charitable giving, participation in the community)

Question 2

Needs in a post-modern society

Answer 2

Work beacme a satisfier for needs for subsistence and satisfier for esteem and self-actualisation too
Shopping became a leisure pursuit
Basic goods can also act as satisfiers for higher level of needs (e.g. Cola)

Question 3

Individual interests versus common interests

Answer 3

Tragedy of the commons
Open access environmental capital will inevitably be overused

Question 4

Elinor Ostrom’s (Nobel-prize in 2009)
way of the tragedy of the commons

Answer 4

Tragedy of the commons is not inevitable
There are social and other mechanisms to regulate management
Open access regimes

Question 5

Rights and rules of a community

Answer 5

The community has the right to organise.
Resource limits are clear.
The rules of belonging to a community are clear.
Rules are clear and enforceable. Everyone accepts them as fair.
Violators are punished by the community.
Conflicts can be resolved easily and quickly.