OCR Text |
Show Volume XIV Issue XVII The Ogden Valley news Page 17 June 15, 2007 TRAGEDY cont. from page 3 Problems arose when individuals surmised that no one would probably know if they put an extra one or two head of sheep to pasture on the commons. Surely, one or two more would be such an insignificant number that it wouldn’t make any difference to anyone else. In this manner, he could support an increasing number of livestock, and pull ahead of his neighboring competitors. The problem arose when others had the same idea, and realized they would be left behind economically if they didn’t take advantage of the commons in such a way too. Quickly, it became a race to the death of the commons, with the entire system eventually collapsing. In “Miles From Nowhere” by D. Duncan, we learn of a similar tragedy that occurred in American history. “After the Civil War, the cattlemen in Edwards County, Texas overstocked the land, and when settlers started showing up in the 1880s, the cattlemen’s answer was to crowd even more animals onto the land. At a stockmen’s meeting, they produced: ‘Resolved that none of us know, or care to know, anything about grasses, native or otherwise, outside of the fact that for the present, there are lots of them, the best on record, and we are after getting the most of them while they last.’” This incident shows that most often the Tragedy of the Commons is a deliberate plan of action. In explaining the Tragedy of the Commons, Gary W. Harding adds, “In addition to the obvious (land, water, and air), much of our world is still treated as a commons today. . . . Before the agricultural revolution, a commons tragedy was rare. It usually involved declining resources due to natural events such as ice-ages. The tragedy of the commons has become more and more frequent since the agricultural revolution and its concomitant population growth. Its frequency has accelerated with the industrial revolution and the resultant population explosion. Now, the commons includes the whole Earth. Although international negotiations on managing the global commons for a sustainable yield continue, progress toward resolution is nil. Selfish points of view dominate the discussion.” Joshua Kaplan, professor of political theory at the University of Notre Dame explains, “Even if someone wants to do the right thing in a tragedy of the commons situation, they may still be discouraged from doing so because they tell themselves that it will not make any difference. That is, they tell themselves that if they refrain from overfishing [or overgrazing, for example], and they continue, it will not do very much harm. So people tell themselves that what they do as individuals will not make any difference one way or another, regardless of what others do. . . . This could be seen as a reason for outside intervention by the government, to force us to do something that is ultimately in our self-interest, but which we may have an incentive to avoid. LAND TRUST cont. from page 1 it is not the animals which we see every day that are of concern to biologists, not the deer or the squirrels or the swans. It is not even the more exotic things in the world like gorillas and zebras. The critical element in maintaining biodiversity, and thus life, is habitat. It is native plants, forests, wetlands, and grassland. While we as homeowners and property owners often feel far removed and somewhat helpless in issues like the fight against clear-cutting tropical rain forests, there is something we can do locally to maintain biodiversity. The effort begins at home, with preservation of land in its natural state. If a portion of a building lot is left in native vegetation, and all the lots of a development do the same in some connected fashion, a As George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said, the role of government is not to do what we want it to do, but to make us do what we don’t want to do. . . . People recognize that there are problems, but they feel powerless to do anything about them. People may want to do the right thing, but may believe it will require them to sacrifice their self-interest, or the impulse to do the right thing will not work if they cannot trust others to do the same or they may believe that the golden rule will not be sufficient to avoid the tragedy of the commons in the absence of an external authority.” Do we see a type of Tragedy of the Commons occurring in Ogden Valley as our natural resources are exploited in a type of land grab by developers who seem to be charging ahead in a race to the finish—or demise—of the Valley; a type of getting while the getting’s good, much like our Texas cowboys? Or how about property owners who sell out while the selling is good? Everyone else is doing it, right? And they’ll miss out if they don’t do it too—and the sooner the better . . . . They may think, “The sale of my parcel won’t make any difference will it?” Are those who stay and hang on really acting rationally—in their own self-interest—anyway? Have we come to the point where our only hope now is to ask for our external authority—Weber County—to intervene by passing zoning ordinances that have enough bite in them to save the commons? Respected LDS author and BYU professor Hugh Nibley provides an interesting perspective on the erosion of the commons within the state of Utah: “The greatest change I have noticed in the fifty years since I used to make the three-day bus trip from Los Angeles to Salt Lake (Nibley used to teach at UCLA) is the absence of that thrill I felt when the golden words would begin to appear on the buildings of every little town: ‘Holiness to the Lord,’ over-arching the all-seeing eye that monitors the deeds of men. . . . . Did it pass away with all the noble pioneer monuments all along the highway, wiped out by the relentless demands of a bottom-line economy? Those delightful old stakehouses, bishop’s storehouses, schools, wardhouses, homes, and even barns have been steadily replaced by service stations, chain restaurants, shopping malls, motels, and prefabricated functional church and school buildings right from the assembly line: admittedly more practical, but must every house and tree and monument be destroyed because it does not at present pay for itself in cold cash? The St. George Temple is now lost in a neon jungle and suburban tidal-wash of brash, ticky-tacky commercialism. One can only assume that it bespeaks the spirit of our times. God has said that the Saints must build Zion with an eye to two things, holiness and beauty: ‘For Zion must increase in beauty and in holiness” with no qualifying provision, ‘Insofar as an adequate return on the investment will large piece of native land will be intact. If the trees and grass remain, if the fungus in the soil and the insects and bacteria are all in place, then the songbirds and deer will have a better chance to survive. If you are interested in preserving or conserving wildlife habitat on your property, call The Ogden Valley Land Trust—we can help. You can contact the land trust’s Executive Director Carla Wiese at 801-5106139, or Board Chairman Jim Hasenyager at 801-745-2048. Note: Information for this article came from “Who Ate the Backyard, Living With Wildlife on Private Land” by Charlie Craighead. Publishe4d by the Grand Teton Natural History Association and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation in cooperation with the National Park Service. allow.’ “Everything in Zion is to be holy, for God has called it “my Holy Land,’ and that with a dire warning: ‘Shall the children of [Zion] . . . pollute my holy land?’ (D&C 84-59). Apparently it is possible. Holy things are not for traffic; they are not negotiable: ‘Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money’ (Acts 8:20). Things we hold sacred we do not sell for money. Consequently, to become commodities of trade, the land of Zion and what is in it must by de-sanctified. “Even so, the land of Zion must become un-holy, what was con-secrated must be de-secrated before it can be used for gain. ‘The soil, the air, the water are all pure and healthy,’ said Brigham Young to the Saints arriving in the Valley. ‘Do not suffer them to become polluted with wickedness. Strive to preserve the elements from being contaminated.’ ‘Keep your valley pure, keep your towns . . . pure.’ ‘The Lord blesses the land, the air and the water where the Saints are permitted to live.’ ‘Our enemies . . . would like to see society in Utah polluted, and their civilization introduced; but it would be a woeful day for the Israel of God, if such efforts were to be successful.’ “When I first came to Utah in the 1940s, it was a fresh new world, a joy and a delight to explore far and wide with my boys and girls. But now my friends no longer come on visits as they once did, to escape the grim commercialism and ugly litter of the East and the West Coast. We can watch that now on the Wasatch Front. The Saints no longer speak of making the land blossom as the rose, but of making a quick buck in rapid-turnover real estate.” Note: In addition to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, Wangari Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, which through networks of rural women, has planted over thirty million trees across Kenya since 1977 to offset the degradation of natural forests after the colonization of the country by the British. In 2002, she was elected to Kenya’s Parliament in the first free elections in a generation, and in 2003, she was appointed assistant minister for the environment. Today she continues to live and work in Nairobi. Utah School Libraries to Receive Donations of Books About India from Zions Bank Zions Bank announced it will donate books about India to all libraries in elementary, junior high, and high schools throughout the state. Governor Jon Huntsman and Utah State Office of Education Social Studies Specialist Robert Austin accepted the presentation of the books from Zions Bank President and CEO Scott Anderson during the bank’s International Trade and Business Conference May 22. The donation of the books coincided with the conference’s focus on trade with India, while it also paid tribute to Governor Huntsman’s recent adoption of a child from India. High school and junior high school libraries will receive India Unveiled, by Robert Arnett, which offers a pho- tographic portrait of the people, landscape, and varied cultures of India. The twenty-five states of India are organized by regions into six chapters, each with a distinctive map. Junior high and elementary school libraries will be provided with copies of Arnett’s Finders Keepers?, a charming true story that teachers multicultural respect. Zions Bank is Utah’s oldest financial institution, and is the only local bank with a statewide distribution of branches, operating 112 full-service branches throughout Utah. Additional information on Zions Bank is available at www.zionsbank.com or call 745-0835. Designer Jewelry Signature Handbags Luxurious Pillows New Items Added Weekly www.jenniejdesigns.com 801.391.2959 Rachel Kramer ~ Local Artisan Liberty Days July 4th Event Schedule 7:00 a.m. Mutton Bustin Signup 7:30 a.m. Breakfast 10:00 a.m. Parade 10:30 a.m. Arena and Field Games begin 11:00 a.m. Volleyball 1:00 p.m. Arm Wrestling 5:00 p.m. Dinner 6:00 p.m. Cow Plop 6:00 p.m. Dancing Dusk Fireworks DUTCH OVEN DINNER INCREDIBLE FIREWORKS AT DARK ~ It’s Amazing! Questions? Mike & Stephanie 745-1176 or 458-4187 for more information. Game or Craft Booth space still available! We are looking for volunteers. A little Sealcoat and Crackseal every few years for pennies per sq. ft. goes a long way to preserving an expensive investment, versus dollars to replace down the road ! If you don’t have asphalt, call us for a bid today ! Garden & Landscape Design Project Management www.theardentgardener.net |