We explore climate ethics through the lens of collective action problems. We discuss Garret Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" and two critiques of that seminal essay. We then wrap up by looking at Project Drawdown.

1. 28. Climate Ethics and Climate Change
as a Collective Action Problem
Adam Briggle
UNT PHIL 4250 Climate Change
adam.briggle@unt.edu

2. Ackbar
reads the
news…
VOTING as
a collective
action

3. Outline
• Objectives: To introduce us to our final module and its central question “What
should we do?” We will do so in two ways: (a) by thinking about climate ethics in
terms of a collective action problem and (b) by introducing Project Drawdown.
• Private morality and public morality
• Problems! How about Collective Action Problems
• Garret Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons
• Two kinds of criticisms
• Project Drawdown
• The 2020 Drawdown Review

4. Private morality
• What should *I* do?
• After all, your actions – your
emissions – cause real harm. (six
months of a healthy human life;
$19,000 to $65,000 in social costs of
carbon – Broome).
• Don’t eat meat, don’t travel, buy
carbon offsets, bicycle, short
showers…?!

5. Public Morality
• What should *we* do?
• What if others don’t make the same choices to limit consumption?
• Isn’t collective action needed to address GHG emissions, given how
thoroughly embedded fossil fuels are in our economy and culture
(petro-culture)?
• MANY Collectives – lots of levels – family to community to state to
nation to globe – multinational corporations, small businesses, etc.
• Note: We Are Still In

6. Problems
• Remember
• Problem orientation
• Wicked problems
• Philosophy as problem-based thinking
• Collective action problems: characterized by disincentives that tend to
discourage joint action by individuals in the pursuit of a common goal.

7. Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy
of the Commons
• Cows on a shared pasture (or pollution)
• Immediate benefit and long-term, diffuse cost
• If one person exercises restraint, others just
take more
• It is actually the tragedy of FREEDOM in the
commons
• Hardin concludes that we need “mutual
coercion mutually agreed upon”
• Regulations – to solve market failures

8. Two Kinds of
Criticisms
• Free market environmentalism
• Get rid of the commons!
People will care for private
property.
• Put a price on pollution or
ecosystem services (like soil
fecundity)
• Common pool resource
management
• Elinor Ostrom

9. Project
Drawdown
• Paul Hawken (natural capitalism) and Amanda Joy Ravenhill (climate
activist)
• Big picture: the collective action we need is political (and tech) –
standards and investments! This is ecomodernism. (We don’t need
‘temperance’ or ‘lifestyle changes’) – the morality is instrumental (get
better tools) not about the ends/goals we pursue or the high-energy,
consumer way of life.
• 2017 report on top 100 climate solutions – as ranked on a cost-benefit
basis – the largest bang (reductions of GHGs) for the buck (cost).
• 2020 update (Review) – is what we are looking at

10. The 2020 Drawdown Review
• Note the reference to the 2018 IPCC report
• A spirit of realistic optimism – not doing enough, but breakthroughs are happening –ecomodernism
– decoupling.
• Ten key insights
• Scale existing tech (now is better than new)
• Interconnectivity
• Co-benefits
• Cost effective
• Stop fossil fuels while starting alternatives
• Support and enhance natural sinks
• Widen our lens
• Accelerators
• Find your foothold of agency
• Act, don’t be paralyzed
• The Drawdown framework
• Reduce Sources
• Support Sinks
• Improve Society

11. Ackbar says:
“Find your
foothold!”