so why is it that your time is just like
a swiss alpine meadow well a couple of
years ago my sister moved to a lovely
little town in a valley in the Alps of
Switzerland so it’s a place where
there’s local ski season tourism summer
tourism local industry retail and it’s
all interspersed by fairly traditional
farming base fare our farming that
grazing base farming and those farms
come right up to the outskirts of town
now I was lucky enough to visit my
sister in this beautiful place earlier
this year it was early spring and the
snow had just melted in the valley and
the green grass was emerging and that
farmers have started to move their cows
out of the stables where they’d been
overwinter and onto that green grass and
they’re also starting to spread the
manure from the stables over the grass
as well that’s something anyone who had
a functioning nose couldn’t fail to
notice or that wasn’t that unpleasant
now my sister told me that later in the
season once all the snow had melted on
the Alps further up and the grass grew
there those cows would be herded up to
those Alpine grazing pastures where
they’d stay and graze until they came
back down to their stables for winter
and this is something they’ve been doing
for centuries now I knew that just a few
years ago our pint grazing in the
Australian High Country had been banned
because of the destruction caused by
cattle so naturally my question to my
sister was what is it the Swiss do to
prevent this destruction of their our
pine grazing Commons my sister didn’t
really know she thought there was some
sort of traditional way of doing things
amongst the farming families and there
was some sort of committee in the
village this reminded me of an essay on
once read entitled the tragedy of the
Commons it was written by an American
professor of biology Garret Hardin back
in the 60s and the basic concept of the
tragedy of the Commons is not new and
goes something like this
so if we imagine a medieval town common
so patch of grass somewhere on the
outskirts of town for common use now
I can bring a cow there to graze on the
way to market if there’s enough grass
there for ten cows and ten farmers will
want to use it they will put one cow on
the common then there’s enough grass for
all and the lowest cow’s fat nicely and
all as well but it’s in every farmers
own interest to maximize what he does
with that common and it might be
perfectly rational for a farmer say
farmer Jones to put another cow on the
common so farmer Jones puts another cow
on the comment now there’s 11 cows only
enough grass for 10 and so the result is
all those cows don’t get quite enough to
eat and so they don’t fatten so well but
farmer Jones has to moderately fat cows
and so he’s better off for it even
though his fellow farmers are slightly
well less off but all the farmers are
astute businessman so they all get two
cows and put it on the common and so
there’s 20 cows but still only enough
grass for ten cows and the result is
that all those cows quickly starve so if
the farmers are left to use that common
however they want making seemingly
rational decisions in their own best
interests the result is that the common
is ruined for all and all as the farmers
end up the losses as do the local
village people because they miss out on
the milkman so the lesson is that any
common that is in demand must be
regulated otherwise is doomed to be
ruined and that is the tragedy of the
Commons and so I did a bit of research
and I found that the Swiss farmers are
clearly known about this potential for
tragedy for centuries and they had a
comprehensive set of rules and
obligations for the use of those out on
Commons now each village does it
slightly differently but typically
grazing rights are restricted to a
limited number of families for farmers
there’s strict milt limits on the number
of cows are allowed to be grazed on
those pastures rates are pay to manage
the pastures and pride policing there’s
obligations placed on the farmers to
clean up and manage the pastures and
there’s penalties applied if the farm is
beat breach stocking rates or failing
those obligations and so the Alpine
grazing
common is not ruined because rights
restricted and those rights come with
obligations now you’ll notice there’s
not in is necessarily any special
fairness to where those grazing rights
are allocated hereditary rights aren’t
fair if you happen to be born into the
wrong family my protection of the common
is more important and it’s also not as
simple as educating the farmers in this
case self self regulation won’t work
because it’s in each farmers interest to
try and graze as many cows up there as
he can so the temptation achieved is too
high and from the individual farmers
point of view putting more cows up there
and cheating is a perfectly rational
decision now when I’ve thought about
this concept of the comments I realize
that it applied way more broadly than
just some grazing Swiss cows and so with
every common also comes the risk of
tragedy unless there’s the Commons is
properly regulated and this is the bit
that interested me because of course it
also follows that as soon as a common is
recognized and it’s in demand it’s clear
what must be done there needs to be an
appropriate level of governance put in
place and any rights to access need to
be restricted and they need to come with
obligations and so looking through this
prism of the common provides a guide to
action it dictates what is the correct
course of action and also dictates what
is a dereliction of duty now if we hear
of a business speaking about self
regulation or a government talking about
deregulation perhaps the first thing we
should be asking is which common is it
that’s being exposed to tragedy and
whose benefit and more importantly to
whose loss so a common is a resource
that more than one party has interests
in or demands on and most Commons will
be of more interest to those who are
mentally or physically closer that is
the local community of course there are
Commons where the local community don’t
realize they have an interest even
though they do have an interest in a
common interestingly it doesn’t have to
be a physical thing and it doesn’t have
to be a natural resource for example
right
our common now roads are totally made
made but once they’re created there are
common and loads of people want access
to them but they need to be regulated
imagine if anyone could drive any sized
vehicle at whatever speed they wanted on
whatever side of the road they wanted
wouldn’t work
my private driveway however is private
property and so it’s not a common and I
can drive on whatever side of the road I
want on my private driveway so
privatizing is a way of removing a
common but of course it doesn’t
necessarily totally remove the
community’s interest and all comments
need to be regulated but education and
self-regulation he cannot be relied upon
so look I know that we need to stop
burning so much fossil fuel and
polluting the common and the global
atmosphere I know that but it hasn’t
stopped me driving my car because
driving my car is way too convenient for
me so I haven’t stopped even though I
know I should know what do I need these
restrictions I need to be coerced and of
course I need to be taxed of course I
need to be taxed if I want the right to
pollute a comment that’s owned by all
make me pay for it because not everyone
can have unlimited polluting rights so
make those who want to pollute pay for
it and what’s more I’ll accept that
regulation if I know that all of you
also accept that regulation and of
course also if I know there’s a
policeman looking over my shoulder and
that’s true of a management of all
comments so once I defined the common
for myself I started seeing them
everywhere so I’ve also or I’ve already
just mentioned the global atmosphere so
the atmosphere is a common that we all
need access to as do all the other
species with which we share the planet
and so the whole argument about
restricting carbon dioxide emissions is
really one about access to that common
restrictions and obligations unlimited
polluting rights doesn’t work and
Fisheries now less than 50 years ago
whales were hunted in the world’s oceans
with very little restrictions and the
result was that many species of whales
were tragically bought close to the
brink of extinction restrictions and
obligations unlimited fishing rights
doesn’t work and guns in the USA now the
safety of a community space such as the
safety at a concert is something we all
want to share it’s a common of Public
Safety now in many states in many states
in United States citizens have a right
to own and carry guns with very little
restriction this is held out as a
god-given freedom but we know that the
tragic result of this unfettered freedom
is that an American person is more than
10 times more likely to die from gun
violence and an Australian person so the
unfettered freedom of the individual has
dramatically reduced the freedom of the
broader community it has tragically
degraded the common restrictions and
obligations unlimited freedoms in a
public space doesn’t work and of course
the kitchen sink that’s right the
kitchen sink everyone wants to dump
their plates there their glasses their
cups so the kitchen sink is a common as
well and to control the self-interested
behavior of access they’re common there
needs to be rules applied to dumping
rights and those dumping rights need to
come with cleanup obligations and of
course there needs to be a good parental
policeman overseeing that sink
restrictions and obligations unlimited
seat dumping rights doesn’t work and so
Commons are everywhere and we all rely
on access to many and the good function
and many others for us to live our lives
so from the kitchen sink to the global
atmosphere and out into space these are
the shared resources that all bring
communities together
they are the things that connect us but
as I hope I’ve shown they won’t look
after themselves
so as attractive as a dream may appear
unlimited freedom cannot work so to
avoid tragedy
my freedom can’t come with the attitude
as I I will do as I damn well please and
sod the rest of you
that’s disconnection so for it to work
for all of us we all need to submit to
regulation and we all need to
acknowledge that our rights come with
obligations but we can all accept those
restrictions and obligations if we know
that everyone else is doing it
that way it feels fair and this way we
maximize the rights and the freedoms of
the community as a whole but none of
this happens by chance and so of course
by now you will understand that your
time is indeed just like a switch out by
meadow right no well why is it in this
time of abundance when machines do most
of the work for us of people still
stressed and time poor well the prism of
the common once again shows us why so
time is a limited resource it’s a common
so time itself isn’t a common but your
personal 24 hours of the day most
certainly is and there are loads of
things that want access to it there’s
your kids there’s your partner
there’s your boss there’s your workmates
your clients your friends cooking
washing cleaning emails tweets FaceTime
texts so your time is a common two and
yes like any common if there’s excessive
and unregulated access then it’s doomed
to be degraded and you no longer have
enough of that time for your own needs
so at work your boss or your clients
probably manage what you do with your
time and they pay you for access that
time common but once you’re outside paid
work your time common is probably up for
grabs and so it is at risk of D
degradation restrictions and obligations
unlimited access to your personal time
doesn’t work but now I’m going to
voluntarily restrict my access to your
time but thank you for the time that you
give me
[Applause]
a swiss alpine meadow well a couple of
years ago my sister moved to a lovely
little town in a valley in the Alps of
Switzerland so it’s a place where
there’s local ski season tourism summer
tourism local industry retail and it’s
all interspersed by fairly traditional
farming base fare our farming that
grazing base farming and those farms
come right up to the outskirts of town
now I was lucky enough to visit my
sister in this beautiful place earlier
this year it was early spring and the
snow had just melted in the valley and
the green grass was emerging and that
farmers have started to move their cows
out of the stables where they’d been
overwinter and onto that green grass and
they’re also starting to spread the
manure from the stables over the grass
as well that’s something anyone who had
a functioning nose couldn’t fail to
notice or that wasn’t that unpleasant
now my sister told me that later in the
season once all the snow had melted on
the Alps further up and the grass grew
there those cows would be herded up to
those Alpine grazing pastures where
they’d stay and graze until they came
back down to their stables for winter
and this is something they’ve been doing
for centuries now I knew that just a few
years ago our pint grazing in the
Australian High Country had been banned
because of the destruction caused by
cattle so naturally my question to my
sister was what is it the Swiss do to
prevent this destruction of their our
pine grazing Commons my sister didn’t
really know she thought there was some
sort of traditional way of doing things
amongst the farming families and there
was some sort of committee in the
village this reminded me of an essay on
once read entitled the tragedy of the
Commons it was written by an American
professor of biology Garret Hardin back
in the 60s and the basic concept of the
tragedy of the Commons is not new and
goes something like this
so if we imagine a medieval town common
so patch of grass somewhere on the
outskirts of town for common use now
I can bring a cow there to graze on the
way to market if there’s enough grass
there for ten cows and ten farmers will
want to use it they will put one cow on
the common then there’s enough grass for
all and the lowest cow’s fat nicely and
all as well but it’s in every farmers
own interest to maximize what he does
with that common and it might be
perfectly rational for a farmer say
farmer Jones to put another cow on the
common so farmer Jones puts another cow
on the comment now there’s 11 cows only
enough grass for 10 and so the result is
all those cows don’t get quite enough to
eat and so they don’t fatten so well but
farmer Jones has to moderately fat cows
and so he’s better off for it even
though his fellow farmers are slightly
well less off but all the farmers are
astute businessman so they all get two
cows and put it on the common and so
there’s 20 cows but still only enough
grass for ten cows and the result is
that all those cows quickly starve so if
the farmers are left to use that common
however they want making seemingly
rational decisions in their own best
interests the result is that the common
is ruined for all and all as the farmers
end up the losses as do the local
village people because they miss out on
the milkman so the lesson is that any
common that is in demand must be
regulated otherwise is doomed to be
ruined and that is the tragedy of the
Commons and so I did a bit of research
and I found that the Swiss farmers are
clearly known about this potential for
tragedy for centuries and they had a
comprehensive set of rules and
obligations for the use of those out on
Commons now each village does it
slightly differently but typically
grazing rights are restricted to a
limited number of families for farmers
there’s strict milt limits on the number
of cows are allowed to be grazed on
those pastures rates are pay to manage
the pastures and pride policing there’s
obligations placed on the farmers to
clean up and manage the pastures and
there’s penalties applied if the farm is
beat breach stocking rates or failing
those obligations and so the Alpine
grazing
common is not ruined because rights
restricted and those rights come with
obligations now you’ll notice there’s
not in is necessarily any special
fairness to where those grazing rights
are allocated hereditary rights aren’t
fair if you happen to be born into the
wrong family my protection of the common
is more important and it’s also not as
simple as educating the farmers in this
case self self regulation won’t work
because it’s in each farmers interest to
try and graze as many cows up there as
he can so the temptation achieved is too
high and from the individual farmers
point of view putting more cows up there
and cheating is a perfectly rational
decision now when I’ve thought about
this concept of the comments I realize
that it applied way more broadly than
just some grazing Swiss cows and so with
every common also comes the risk of
tragedy unless there’s the Commons is
properly regulated and this is the bit
that interested me because of course it
also follows that as soon as a common is
recognized and it’s in demand it’s clear
what must be done there needs to be an
appropriate level of governance put in
place and any rights to access need to
be restricted and they need to come with
obligations and so looking through this
prism of the common provides a guide to
action it dictates what is the correct
course of action and also dictates what
is a dereliction of duty now if we hear
of a business speaking about self
regulation or a government talking about
deregulation perhaps the first thing we
should be asking is which common is it
that’s being exposed to tragedy and
whose benefit and more importantly to
whose loss so a common is a resource
that more than one party has interests
in or demands on and most Commons will
be of more interest to those who are
mentally or physically closer that is
the local community of course there are
Commons where the local community don’t
realize they have an interest even
though they do have an interest in a
common interestingly it doesn’t have to
be a physical thing and it doesn’t have
to be a natural resource for example
right
our common now roads are totally made
made but once they’re created there are
common and loads of people want access
to them but they need to be regulated
imagine if anyone could drive any sized
vehicle at whatever speed they wanted on
whatever side of the road they wanted
wouldn’t work
my private driveway however is private
property and so it’s not a common and I
can drive on whatever side of the road I
want on my private driveway so
privatizing is a way of removing a
common but of course it doesn’t
necessarily totally remove the
community’s interest and all comments
need to be regulated but education and
self-regulation he cannot be relied upon
so look I know that we need to stop
burning so much fossil fuel and
polluting the common and the global
atmosphere I know that but it hasn’t
stopped me driving my car because
driving my car is way too convenient for
me so I haven’t stopped even though I
know I should know what do I need these
restrictions I need to be coerced and of
course I need to be taxed of course I
need to be taxed if I want the right to
pollute a comment that’s owned by all
make me pay for it because not everyone
can have unlimited polluting rights so
make those who want to pollute pay for
it and what’s more I’ll accept that
regulation if I know that all of you
also accept that regulation and of
course also if I know there’s a
policeman looking over my shoulder and
that’s true of a management of all
comments so once I defined the common
for myself I started seeing them
everywhere so I’ve also or I’ve already
just mentioned the global atmosphere so
the atmosphere is a common that we all
need access to as do all the other
species with which we share the planet
and so the whole argument about
restricting carbon dioxide emissions is
really one about access to that common
restrictions and obligations unlimited
polluting rights doesn’t work and
Fisheries now less than 50 years ago
whales were hunted in the world’s oceans
with very little restrictions and the
result was that many species of whales
were tragically bought close to the
brink of extinction restrictions and
obligations unlimited fishing rights
doesn’t work and guns in the USA now the
safety of a community space such as the
safety at a concert is something we all
want to share it’s a common of Public
Safety now in many states in many states
in United States citizens have a right
to own and carry guns with very little
restriction this is held out as a
god-given freedom but we know that the
tragic result of this unfettered freedom
is that an American person is more than
10 times more likely to die from gun
violence and an Australian person so the
unfettered freedom of the individual has
dramatically reduced the freedom of the
broader community it has tragically
degraded the common restrictions and
obligations unlimited freedoms in a
public space doesn’t work and of course
the kitchen sink that’s right the
kitchen sink everyone wants to dump
their plates there their glasses their
cups so the kitchen sink is a common as
well and to control the self-interested
behavior of access they’re common there
needs to be rules applied to dumping
rights and those dumping rights need to
come with cleanup obligations and of
course there needs to be a good parental
policeman overseeing that sink
restrictions and obligations unlimited
seat dumping rights doesn’t work and so
Commons are everywhere and we all rely
on access to many and the good function
and many others for us to live our lives
so from the kitchen sink to the global
atmosphere and out into space these are
the shared resources that all bring
communities together
they are the things that connect us but
as I hope I’ve shown they won’t look
after themselves
so as attractive as a dream may appear
unlimited freedom cannot work so to
avoid tragedy
my freedom can’t come with the attitude
as I I will do as I damn well please and
sod the rest of you
that’s disconnection so for it to work
for all of us we all need to submit to
regulation and we all need to
acknowledge that our rights come with
obligations but we can all accept those
restrictions and obligations if we know
that everyone else is doing it
that way it feels fair and this way we
maximize the rights and the freedoms of
the community as a whole but none of
this happens by chance and so of course
by now you will understand that your
time is indeed just like a switch out by
meadow right no well why is it in this
time of abundance when machines do most
of the work for us of people still
stressed and time poor well the prism of
the common once again shows us why so
time is a limited resource it’s a common
so time itself isn’t a common but your
personal 24 hours of the day most
certainly is and there are loads of
things that want access to it there’s
your kids there’s your partner
there’s your boss there’s your workmates
your clients your friends cooking
washing cleaning emails tweets FaceTime
texts so your time is a common two and
yes like any common if there’s excessive
and unregulated access then it’s doomed
to be degraded and you no longer have
enough of that time for your own needs
so at work your boss or your clients
probably manage what you do with your
time and they pay you for access that
time common but once you’re outside paid
work your time common is probably up for
grabs and so it is at risk of D
degradation restrictions and obligations
unlimited access to your personal time
doesn’t work but now I’m going to
voluntarily restrict my access to your
time but thank you for the time that you
give me
[Applause]
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