And We're Very Very Pissed Off

          The Things you own end up owning you.  Ah, the wisdom of Tyler Durden from  Fight Club.


           So we were studying about Garrett Hardin, an American ecologist who worried about over population, yet had like 5 or 6 kids of his own. Aptly, he went on to develop his theory , The Tragedy of the Commons, to explain why people go ahead and do things when they know that in the long run its going to hurt them. It states basically:

1. People are selfish douchebags and are only looking out for #1
2. Because we are all greedy bastards, we are going to deplete our resources and f*#k 
    everything up
3. And like a fat lady blowing her diet on a donut - we go ahead and do it anyway


           Hardin theorizes that there only two things that will stop us:

 - Adding yet another layer of greed by turning over our resources to multinational capitalist corporations so they can privatize things like land, air and fresh water - because, of course only the rich deserve to breathe. All joking aside, Hardin thought that privatization was an efficient way of conserving resources . . . well duh.
                                                                     -OR -
- Adding an authority - laws, penalties, sanctions that will bully, guilt, coerce and strong arm people into changing their ways - kind of like a red-faced, harried angry mother screaming at her kids "you better straighten up - or else . . ." What the or else means, I don't know, but sounds scary.

The Age of Stupid, a really really funny mockumentary movie that perfectly demonstrates the Tragedy of the Commons, but you haven't seen it and you won't see it because it's British and Netflix sucks.
 In the desolate future of 2055, an archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) combs through a vast collection of videos to learn what went wrong with the planet. His research points to the first decade of the century, when humans blithely ignored the warning signs of climate change. The footage he views is actually culled from real-life interviews conducted by the filmmaker, whose sharp -- and darkly funny -- insights populate this sobering documentary.

                                    And to a leaser degree, though equally hysterical  is the movie Idiocracy, which touches on certain elements of the Tragedy of the Commons, particularly  in regards to a certain segments' over eagerness to procreate. Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes 500 years in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.






                      So, with a firm grasp of the Tragedy of the Commons in mind, the question arises, what does it mean to own a natural resource - and is privatization a good or a bad thing?  Answering like the Pinko my mother accuses me of being - I say, oh hell no - no one has a right to own a resource that is necessary to maintain life. While I think that pizza and Yoohoo are integral  to a high quality of life, they are certainly not essential. So if the manufacturer decides to be a jerk and raise the price of  Yoohoo to $10 a bottle, or decides to stop selling it in Indiana (never going to happen) no big deal, I'll switch to TruMoo or something. But what if Bloomington decides to sell control of it's municipal water supply to Donald Trump and The Donald decides he's going to charge a $5000 hook up fee and raise the rates to $20 a gallon - then I'm screwed. I don't have that kind of money. What am I going to do - Febreeze and waterless shampoo only go so far. It sounds crazy - but it's not.


                        Folks all over the world face this very dilemma - water sources are privatized and poor people have no access. Think of the implications: cooking, hygiene, health. . . what would you do? And it's not just happening in countries like Bolivia and Tanzania -  it's happening right here in the USA,.as city water supplies around the nation are being sold off to the highest bidder. Prices are raised to insure maximum profit for shareholders, while the poor must do without and endure the suffering. Municipalities claim they can no longer afford to supply the water and privatization is prudent. Private water suppliers claim that higher rates lead to water conservation - and rich folk just don't really give a rat's butt, they can afford it and they don't find it necessary to conserve - they can pay the bill - no problem. So where is the accountability? There is none. Corporations don't have to answer to voters. Chalk it up to the inhumanity of commerce. 


                       But what's next? How else are they going to commandeer natural, vital resources and sock it to the poor all in the name of conservation - housing and food costs are already exorbitant, you have to pay to poop and bathe (sewer and water). . . if there was only a way they could charge for air . . . I am sure the World Bank  has a think tank full of jackasses trying to figure that one out. Garrett Hardin aside, it all comes down to the fact that first and foremost we are human beings, and the basic necessities needed to maintain life should not be commodified,because if they are, we all lose our humanity. Sound conservation of the Earth's resources require stewardship, not ownership. Plentiful resources for the rich should not be bought with the misery of the poor. 
                      
                        Once again, Tyler Durden sums it up best . . . DO NOT F*#K  WITH US!

                            
For a heart wrenching look at the complexities, politics and pain of  the commodification and privatization of the water supply please check out A World Without Water 
                  
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3930199780455728313


             Every day 300,000 children die due to lack of water and poor sanitation. Billions of people do not have access to safe water. Environmental change threatens to make this situation worse but a more immediate danger is emerging. Control of the world's water is falling into the hands of the rich and water may soon take the place of oil as the world's most tradeable - and coveted - commodity - not a basic human right. In a future when market forces set the price of a glass of water, will many more people will be left too poor to drink?


Check out Water in the Movies: The Good the Bad and the Ugly
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-h-gleick/water-in-the-movies-the-g_b_686646.html