“PROPERTY” IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROPERTY IN THE EARTH AND THE NATURAL LAW TRADITION(S)

WHAT IS NATURAL LAW? ARISTOTLE BC AQUINAS 1178 NEWTON’S PRINCIPIA 1687 LOCKE 1692 SMITH 1776 BERRY 2000 CULLINAN 2004 OPHULS 2011

Outline What is ownership? How is it justified? Generalizing the idea of ownership Property as terrorism Property in the Ecozoic

Part 1: PROPERTY IN THE EARTH What does it mean?

Water is not made by humans

Establishing legitimate property rights : Sale presupposes ownership

Exclusion : keep others off Use : as one wishes Disposition : sell or otherwise transfer Three basic characteristics of ownership

Exclusion

Use

Disposition WATER

Something is tradable only if it is owned. How can the Earth legitimately be owned?

Part 2. HISTORICAL SOURCES OF OUR VIEWS OF “NATURAL RESOURCES”

Thinking about “natural resources”: Three schools of thought Judeo-Christian-Muslim Aristotelian/Cartesian Philosophical Utilitarianism

Judeo-Christian-Muslim Nature as a gift from God to Man

John Locke ( )

Locke’s theory of property Natural rights Ownership of his/her body by each person Labor theory of property Taking from the surplus Enough and as good left for others

God gave the world to man

Man created superior to animals and similar to God

Natural rights Ownership of his/her body by each person

Mixing what we own with nature: the labor theory of property

Natural rights Taking from a surplus WATER

Enough and as good left for others

Property makes it possible to fulfill the obligations of natural law to other people. Money and inequality. North America the land of natural surpluses/waste The transformation of the biosphere, but Locke cautions against waste. The stewardship feature of conversion.

Property in the Rationalist and Utilitarian Traditions Rationalist—humans as the only thinking beings. Utilitarian—property maximizes utility. The “highest and best use” standard.

Property in the Commons Hardin’s tragic confusion—open access vs. common property regimes. The tragedy of enclosure. Optimal economic efficiency vs. thermodynamic efficiency.

Part 3 Generalizing Ownership

Appropriation of the 3 kinds of “commons” Sources of low entropy: the fish; the topsoil; the forests High entropy sinks: temperature/acidity of the oceans; heat balance of the atmosphere. Cultural Commons: Knowledge/patents; copyrights/culture, DNA, our cultural coherence and personal attention span.

Money as the graveyard of the commons. (Eisenstein) Ownership is of land is one thing. Conversion into collateral to something that is “alienable” is the last step in its separation from the commons; and a strong move away from stewardship. Ecosystem services! The Earth as servant/ The commodification of culture…….Eisenstein p. 86.

Part 4:Property as Terrorism? Edward Abbey

Property?

Resistance to “Property” Gandhi/Shiva Swadeshi—do your own thing. Swaraj—Govern yourself—self reliance, the states bounds the corporation. Satyagraha—non-cooperation with illegal laws.

Part 5: Property in the Ecozoic What will support/embody a mutually enhancing human/Earth relationship? There are no “natural resources.” The human/Earth relationship must be grounded in ethical principles of member- ship, house-holding, and enthropic thrift. These should be the basis of law.

Property in the Earth in the Anthropocene. The Earth as gift. Life as gift. The owner is the last of a long chain. Gifts imply reciprocity. The acts of individuals should reflect the virtues: courage, epistemological humility, atonement, fair shares, respect for all that is. An attitude of gratitude.

Ecological Law/Garver Humans part of Earth systems Grounded on ecological principles Permeate the orphans Reduce energy and material flows Global Fair sharing Binding Precaution Adaption