10.10: Resources and References

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Review

Key Points

At some point, all societies must address the challenges presented by the scarcity of resources.
Historical ways of dealing with local resource scarcity are unlikely to be as effective now at addressing global resource scarcities.
Understanding the assumptions that economists and ecologists make when discussing resource scarcity can help us to see how each field provides important insights to future resource challenges.
Numerous factors, including social dynamics anda general lack of focus on the broad effects of our actions, make unsustainable use of resources more likely.
By understanding those factors, we can address resource scarcity through better decision-making and the development of effective institutions for managing resource use.
Better decision-making and effective institutions will be necessary in order to maintain human security in the face of contemporary resource challenges.

.Extension Activities & Further Research

Play Oh Deer. This is a kids’ game, but undergraduates tend to enjoy it at least as much as young children. It provides a lesson in population dynamics and resource scarcity.
Have students read the debates regarding resource scarcity and substitutability between neoclassical economists such as Julian Simon and ecological economist such a Herman Daly. They can then write a response paper expressing their own views on the debate.
Choose a conflict that scholars attribute to resource scarcity (e.g. Sudanese civil war). What role did resource scarcity play? What other factors led to violent conflict?
Identify an example where people misunderstand the behaviour of a complex social-ecological system and explain how that misunderstanding leads to unsustainable behaviour. See Meadows (2008) for more information on understanding complex systems.
Discuss what things are regarded as resources in your culture. Compare, e.g. a glass of juice: with a lake, with your parents, with the local church. Which of these four things are less like a resource and why? What does this difference depend on?

List of Terms

See Glossary for full list of terms and definitions.

cognitive dissonance
dead zone
ecological marginalization
exponential growth
externality
infinite substitutability
intergenerational justice
procuring efficiency

References

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Aitken, C. K., McMahon, T. A., Wearing, A. J., & Finlayson, B. L. (1994). Residential water use: Predicting and reducing consumption. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(2), 136–158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1994.tb00562.x

Balcetis, E., & Dunning, D. (2007). Cognitive dissonance and the perception of natural environments. Psychological Science, 18(10), 917–921. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02000.x

Bartlett, A. A. (2012). The meaning of sustainability. Teachers Clearinghouse, for Science and Society Education Newsletter, 31(1), 1–17. https://www.albartlett.org/articles/..._2012mar20.pdf

Berkes, F. (1985). Fishermen and ‘the tragedy of the commons’. Environmental Conservation, 12(3), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900015939

Berkes, F. (2007). Commons in a multi-level world. International Journal of the Commons, 2(1), 1–6. http://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.80

Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (2009). Culture and the evolution of human cooperation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1533), 3281–3288. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0134

Bretthauer, J. M. (2018). Climate change and resource conflict: The role of scarcity. Routledge.

Caddy, J. F., & Bakun, A. (1994). A tentative classification of coastal marine ecosystems based on dominant processes of nutrient supply. Ocean & Coastal Management, 23(3), 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0964-5691(94)90019-1

Campbell, C. J., & Aleklett, K. (2004, June 7). The Uppsala protocol: Uppsala hydrocarbon depletion study group. Peak Oil. https://www.peakoil.net/uhdsg/UppsalaProtocol.html

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Carey, R. A. (2000). Against the tide: The fate of the New England fisherman. Houghton Mifflin.

Catton, W. R., Jr. (2009). The problem of denial. Culture Change. http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/503/63/

Costanza, R. (1987). Social traps and environmental policy. BioScience, 37(6), 407–412. https://doi.org/10.2307/1310564

Daly, H. E. (1991). Review of The ultimate resource. In H. E. Daly, Steady-state economics (pp. 262–269). Island Press.

Dawson, C. M., Rosin, C., & Wald, N. (Eds.). (2019). Global resource scarcity: Catalyst for conflict or cooperation? Routledge.

Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. Viking Press.

El-Fadel, M., El-Sayegh, Y., El-Fadl, K., & Khorbotly, D. (2003). The Nile River basin: A case study in surface water conflict resolution. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 32(1), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.2134/jnrlse.2003.0107

Esty, D. C., Goldstone, J. A., Gurr, T. R., Harff, B., Levy, M., Dabelko, G. D., Surko, P. T., & Unger, A. N. (1999). State Failure Task Force report: Phase II findings. Environmental Change & Security Project Report, 5, 49–72. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publica.../ecsp-report-5

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.

Finsterbusch, K. (2002). Scarcity and its social impacts: Likely political responses. In M. N. Dobkowski & I. Wallimann (Eds.), On the edge of scarcity: Environment, resources, population, sustainability, and conflict (pp. 93–107). Syracuse University Press.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2007). The state of the world fisheries and aquaculture 2006. www.fao.org/docrep/009/A0699e/A0699e00.htm

Gleick, P. (Ed.). (1993). Water in crisis: A guide to the world’s fresh water resources. Oxford University Press.

Gunderson, L. H., & Holling, C. S. (Eds.). (2001). Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press.

Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243–1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243

Hirsch, R. L. (2005). The inevitable peaking of world oil production. The Atlantic Council of the United States Bulletin, XVI(3). https://web.archive.org/web/20111216...Production.pdf

Holling, C. S. (1994). An ecologist view of the Malthusian conflict. In K. Lindahl-Kiessling & H. Landberg (Eds.), Population, economic development, and the environment (pp. 79–103). Oxford University Press.

Homer-Dixon, T. F. (1994). Environmental scarcities and violent conflict: Evidence from cases. International Security, 19(1), 5–40. https://homerdixon.com/wp-content/up...from-Cases.pdf

Homer-Dixon, T. F. (1999). Environment, scarcity, and violence. Princeton University Press.

Homer-Dixon, T. F. (2006). The upside of down: Catastrophe, creativity, and the renewal of civilization. Island Press.

Humborg, C., Conley, D. J., Rahm, L., Wulff, F., Cociasu, A., & Ittekkot, V. (2000). Silicon retention in river basins: Far-reaching effects on biogeochemistry and aquatic food webs in coastal marine environments. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 29(1), 45–50. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-29.1.45

Jacobs, J. W. (2002). The Mekong River Commission: Transboundary water resources planning and regional security. The Geographical Journal, 168(4), 354–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0016-7398.2002.00061.x

Jonsson, F. A., Brewer, J., Fromer, N., & Trentmann, F. (Eds.). (2019). Scarcity in the modern world: History, politics, society and sustainability, 1800–2075. Bloomsbury Academic.

Kameri-Mbote, P. (2007). Water, conflict, and cooperation: Lessons from the Nile River basin. Navigating Peace, 4. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publica...ver-basin-no-4

Kilbourne, W., & Pickett, G. (2008). How materialism affects environmental beliefs, concern, and environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Business Research, 61(9), 885–893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.09.016

Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401

Lock, K., Stuckler, D., Charlesworth, K., & McKee, M. (2009). Potential causes and health effects of rising global food prices. British Medical Journal, 339(7715), 269–272. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2403

Lomborg, B. (2013). The skeptical environmentalist: Measuring the real state of the world (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139626378

Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer (D. Wright, Ed.). Chelsea Green Publishing.

Moxnes, E. (2000). Not only the tragedy of the commons: Misperceptions of feedback and policies for sustainable development. System Dynamics Review, 16(4), 325–348. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.201

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Footnote

Editors’ note: An interesting theoretical way to cope with this challenge was suggested by Bartlett (2012) under the term of ‘sustained availability.’ For example, assuming that the available reserves of a given non-renewable resource would last for 40 years at the present rate of consumption (as has been estimated for petroleum), it can be available indefinitely provided that its consumption is scaled back by 1/40 = 2.5% each year. The same recommendation was made independently in the Uppsala Protocol (Campbell & Aleklett, 2004).
Similarly, recycling could become an economically viable option for some resources as the costs associated with obtaining virgin resources increases.
Editor’s note: The fact that the idea of infinite substitutability is still being discussed in some circles indicates that the political relevance of an idea is not necessarily affected by its scientific refutation; climate change denial is another example.
While we use the term ‘rational’ colloquially to imply the use of sound judgment and good sense, economists use it to refer specifically to behavior in which one assesses the costs and benefits of a decision and opts for the path that maximizes net gain. As we can see in Hardin’s example below, economically rational behavior (based on analysis at the individual level) often clashes with what we think of as sound judgment.
Editors’ note: ‘Simple’ ignorance excludes in principle any kind of disingenuous ignorance, i.e. false claims of ignorance or deliberate attempts not to find out.
Values are reported in 1995 US dollars. Data were taken from the U.S. Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/ (accessed 26 July 2019)
See a summary of Skinner's accomplishments on the Harvard University's Department of Psychology web page.
Editor’s note: A pathologically extreme variant of such behavior is known as anosognosia. It manifests as the inability of a patient to recognize his/her anatomical or physiological defect, such as paralysis. Catton (2009) discussed sociocultural equivalents to such behavior that support cornucopianism.
Editor’s note: The international community seems to lag behind smaller communities in this capacity for cooperation; it even seems to be moving into the wrong direction.
Editor’s note: The argument that ecosystems behave as complex systems whose responses are not easily predicted is often used to support the precautionary principle in environmental policy.
This work and the one by Pirages et al. provide a current evaluation of Homer-Dixon’s model.
Herman Daly’s review of the first edition of Simon’s book, in which he challenges the neoclassical arguments. Daly published much about the concept of zero-growth economies.
This work and the one by Dawson et al. bring the reader up to date on the international situation.
This is a more recent version of Simon’s neoclassical arguments. Both are being re-evaluated now in view of the Anthropocene.
This book provides a thorough introduction into the behaviour of complex systems.
Stuart Pimm and Jeff Harvey’s scathing review of Lomborg’s book in the journal Nature.
The website of the Population Reference Bureau offers numerous analyses on topics concerning population and resources.
This book lays out the neoclassical view of resources. Simon considers human ingenuity the ultimate resource, allowing humans to cope with scarcity in other resources.
Website on the debate between neoclassical economists (J. Simon) and ecological economists (H. Daly, P. Ehrlich).

Review

.Extension Activities & Further Research

List of Terms

Suggested Reading

References

Footnote