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DGM's Messages

2009

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2009 January February March April May June July August September October November December

RW DGM' s MESSAGE FOR November 2009

THE NEGLECT OF THE COMMONS

One of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics this year is Elinor Olstrom, a pioneering thinker in the study of the ‘Commons’ – the common property resources which by their very nature – of being available to everyone free of cost, tend to be over-used, and poorly maintained. These could be our water resources, fish stocks, meadows and grazing lands, where price mechanisms do not limit the use of these nor are they husbanded for the common good. In some cases, as in our country, these common resources are usurped by powerful interests for private exploitation.

The Economics I learnt also dealt with this problem those many decades ago when I studied the subject, but I have had cause to experience this neglect in practical terms in the various duties that I have been entrusted with over a career of half-a-century.

We in this country are particularly guilty of this neglect, whether it be our Temple Tanks, parks and playgrounds, water bodies, or even our roads. It is in this context that our environmental degradation is to be viewed, and it is indeed a welcome sign that the Nobel Committee has acknowledged the seriousness of this problem by recognizing Mme Olstrom’s work. Prof. Olstrom has recommended many ways of tackling this neglect, and acknowledges that there is no single best way of preventing this tragedy.

However, a most important quote from her writing is that “when users cannot communicate, don’t have trust, can’t build it, and don’t have rules, we have to accept the tragedy of the commons to occur “ (Unquote)

We only have to see how some of our Apartment associations and joint properties are maintained and worked, to see this tragedy unfolding before our very eyes. The best way to tackle this kind of damage to the Commons, and by extension to our larger environment is to start with managing, even by individual mediation, the Commons we ourselves use and have access to, rather than await interventions from powers-that-be in whatever form they come.

We as Freemasons manage many facilities for the common good, and can render useful service to our fraternity and the community by better management of our common resources. To do this, of course individual and team initiatives are necessary, but even more necessary is to share the credit for improved management of these resources, without looking for personal recognition, or benefit or for our names to be ‘up in lights’!

As I write this our Festival of Lights, Diwali or Deepavali is upon us and we hope you all had a good time, with respect for the environment, and without racking up too many ‘carbon-debits’!