Consider one or more of the following questions to reflect on at the end of Subtopic 4.1. Discuss with another student or in a small group, or record (written, audio, video) your response.
To what extent has learning about the commons opened your eyes to commoning going on around you, or changed whether you think of commoning as part of the economy?
If they think of commons at all, most mainstream economists would point to the resource (land, water, atmosphere, ideas, networks, etc) as the main element of a commons. Commons expert David Bollier claims that the community relationships are the key element. Why does he argue this?
Many people talk about managing our “global commons”, such as the Earth’s atmosphere and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into it.
Given what you have learned so far about the commons, does a “global commons” really exist? Why or why not?
Elinor Ostrom called the elements of well-designed commons the *Eight design principles” while commons expert David Bollier, building on Ostrom’s work, prefers to call these elements and others patterns rather than principles.
What’s the difference between a principle and a pattern?
We have chosen to use the term pattern to refer to these design elements - why do you think we did that? Do you agree?
We all understand that we need to take better care of our shared natural resources. Section 4.1.5 argues that to care about our shared resources, we need to spend time with them and develop an emotional bond with both the resource and with the people with whom we share caring responsibilities.
To what extent do you feel that schools, and our education system generally, give us an opportunity to do that?
How might we give these affective values more priority in our lives?