Air and the Tragedy of the Commons
I'll never forget the moment in high school when a teacher commented, 'The downfall of humanity began when someone first declared a piece of land as their property.' This thought resonated with many, especially those who see human history as a progression from simpler, more harmonious societies to complex, often less joyful ones.
But what if the need for property ownership wasn't born out of a desire for power or status? What if people developed it by necessity?
As human populations grew, managing land use became increasingly challenging. With an increasing number of people, the pressure on resources has become undeniable. It might have led to land ownership, not because people wanted to be landlords, but because they had to. Without regulations to control land use, people started facing negative consequences. Economists often describe this phenomenon as the tragedy of the commons, a scenario where shared resources are overused and depleted due to a lack of coordination and regulation.
Until today, resource regulation has evolved beyond land. Similar models have been applied to previously public goods. For example, telecommunications frequencies, railroad networks, or roads: To transmit signals via electromagnetic waves, companies must obtain a license for a specific frequency. Railroad companies often don't own the tracks they operate on but pay for access. In London, a congestion charge helps manage traffic on overcrowded roads. These are all examples of regulating a previously shared resource to avoid overuse.
One of the key challenges for humanity in the 21st century may be regulating the air we breathe. Currently, there is no global system in place to charge entities for their use of oxygen or the emissions they release into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and other pollutants. However, as industrialization intensifies and demand for resources grows, such regulation may become inevitable. While direct individual consumption has minimal impact, large-scale corporate use, especially in industries that rely heavily on oxygen, could make oxygen a scarce resource, similar to the previously mentioned examples. The European Union has already taken steps in this direction with its carbon trading system, where entities must purchase the right to emit carbon dioxide. If this trend continues, we may one day need similar systems for oxygen management globally to manage humanity's most vital resource.