The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
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| Block, 2021, [Walter, Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola University, Free Enterprise Environmentalism, Private Property Rights and Environmentalism, 6-7, HHW]
Currently, devastating environmental conditions exist in the ocean because no one owns the property and, therefore, no one has a stake in what happens to this resource that houses an array of valuable assets — fish, oil, minerals, transportation, recreation, and so on. Governments cause this wreckage by not recognizing private ownership of this wealth, except the few miles they own off the coast for military protection. 1 If private property were established, it would improve the environmental problems that occur in the ocean such as endangered species, wetlands devastation, and pollution. 2 In the ocean, many fish that are near extinction are specifically the ones seafood eaters love the most, like Atlantic cod, Atlantic and Pacific salmon, marlin, swordfish, snappers, tuna, sharks, and Alaskan king crabs (DeMont, 2003). No one owns the ocean or the commodities in it, so the incentive, which is similar to the incentive for forest devastation on government land, is for people to fish as much as possible. Therefore, others should not be amazed that these fish are on the verge of extinction, because they are free-floating assets. The same result would happen if there were gold nuggets dispersed in the local public parks. Eventually, people will collect virtually every piece. History serves as a lesson, which is seen in the near extinction of the buffalo. No one owned this animal and, so it fell victim to a tragedy of the commons due to excessive hunting. 3 On the other hand, the cow that was privately owned and existed at the same time as the buffalo was not subjected to overhunting and has lasted until this day. This is because cow owners invest money in buying, feeding, and protecting their cows. Therefore, when one of their cows is killed, the owner faces a cost: loss of the animal in the future. But if the owner kills a buffalo, he faces no such cost. Both these animals are of value for their meat and hides, but, consequently, only one was almost wiped out because of the lack of private ownership. Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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