89 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
89 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
|
||
"SAND DOLLARS"
|
||
|
||
A Libertarian Outlook
|
||
|
||
by Gerald Schneider, Ph.D.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Byron G. Norton bemoaned exploitation of "sand dollars" in a
|
||
Washington Post Magazine article in June of 1986. Sand dollars
|
||
are sea urchins whose flat disklike skeletons imprinted with
|
||
"starfish" designs are collectable.
|
||
The article concerned a girl, about 8, gathering live sand
|
||
dollars at a beach for her mom. Her mother would bleach the sand
|
||
dollars, turn them into decorative items, and sell extras to
|
||
craft stores.
|
||
|
||
"Commercialism"
|
||
|
||
Upset by this "commercialism"--trading live animals for
|
||
craft projects--Norton wrote: "No industrial operation can be
|
||
expected to exercise self-restraint when there are profits to be
|
||
made. The family was only transforming sand dollars into
|
||
monetary dollars."
|
||
He went on to say of the little girl: "As a novitiate in the
|
||
order of capitalism, she was already acting as if sand dollars
|
||
were merely commodities." Norton also implied that commercialism
|
||
of nature leads to overharvesting of species and endangerment of
|
||
their future survival.
|
||
|
||
A Problem of Ownership
|
||
|
||
But Norton was wrong! Capitalism and commercialism are not
|
||
at fault when it comes to catastrophic abuse of nature.
|
||
Ownership of natural resources and nature is the problem.
|
||
The beach involved in his story was government "owned," and
|
||
belonged to no one in particular and to everyone. It received
|
||
the same lack of public respect I described for the Chesapeake
|
||
Bay in another article.
|
||
Government ownership produces little incentive for exercise
|
||
of self-restraint in the use of the beach's (or nature's)
|
||
treasures. Ecologist Garrett Hardin called this dilemma "the
|
||
tragedy of the commons" in his 1968 essay with that title.
|
||
Economists would say that this is what happens when external
|
||
costs are not internalized.
|
||
|
||
Private Ownership is Better
|
||
|
||
If the beach were privately owned, for example, by some
|
||
naturalist organization, preservation would be practiced.
|
||
If sand dollars helped attract people to the beach, private
|
||
owners with commercial interests would protect sand dollars from
|
||
overharvest. It would be to the private, commercial owner's
|
||
advantage to ensure sustained yield of sand dollars. She would
|
||
want to keep the public coming back for more year after year.
|
||
Getting beaches away from government and into private
|
||
ownership by persons who value sand dollars for their own sake or
|
||
for the sake of ecology should be the conservationist's goal.
|
||
Ditto for all of nature and natural resources.
|
||
|
||
Study the Record
|
||
|
||
People still unconvinced about the superiority of private
|
||
over government ownership of the environment should study the
|
||
record. Just compare land and water bodies owned by
|
||
environmental organizations (e.g. The Nature Conservancy) to
|
||
federal government property.
|
||
Federal government agencies, "pork barrel" politicians, and
|
||
timber and livestock interests shape environmental policies on
|
||
"public" (federal government) property. These special interests
|
||
are referred to as the "iron triangle" by land economist, John
|
||
Baden. He has documented how these interests combine to cause
|
||
Americans to "subsidize the destruction of their environment."
|
||
|
||
Reprinted from THE WHEATON NEWS of Wheaton, Maryland, Sept.
|
||
3, 1987. For a one year subscription to Mr. Schneider's biweekly
|
||
"Libertarian Outlook" column, send $15 to: Gerald Schneider, 8750
|
||
Georgia Ave., Suite 1410-B, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Copyright
|
||
1987 Gerald Schneider, Ph.D.
|
||
|
||
(This is the text of one of a series of eight topical Libertarian
|
||
outreach leaflets produced by the Libertarian Party of Skagit
|
||
County, WA. The leaflets have a panel with National LP member-
|
||
ship information, with a space for other LP groups to stamp their
|
||
own address and phone number. Samples and a bulk price list/
|
||
order form are available from: Libertarian Party of Skagit
|
||
County, P.O. Box 512, Anacortes, WA 98221.)
|
||
|