home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky talk.environment:2875 sci.environment:9714 alt.politics.marrou:108
- Newsgroups: talk.environment,sci.environment,alt.politics.marrou
- Path: sparky!uunet!caen!batcomputer!reed!sharvy
- From: sharvy@reed.edu (V Headshape)
- Subject: Re: Libertarians & the environment
- References: <1992Jul20.192034.2963@beaver.cs.washington.edu> <1992Jul21.035335.25089@reed.edu> <1992Jul21.055902.6498@genie.slhs.udel.edu>
- Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 00:55:34 GMT
- Message-ID: <1992Jul22.005534.2375@reed.edu>
- Lines: 32
-
- In article <1992Jul21.055902.6498@genie.slhs.udel.edu> starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr) writes:
- >In article <1992Jul21.035335.25089@reed.edu> sharvy@reed.edu (V Headshape) writes:
- >}how
- >}does one first acquire moral ownership of a natural resource? In other words,
- >}if we look at a case where some land or natural resource is unclaimed, what
- >}is the method that can give me a right to do whatever I want with the land?
- >}Historically, I gather that the most common method employed to determine
- >}"turf rights" has been invasion, conquest, and so on.
- >
- >The "homesteading" principle is the one for land acquisition. First appropri-
- >ation. The particular conventions differ.
-
- What is the "homesteading principle?" Most arguments I've heard along this
- line are arguments that it is "fair" for someone to own the resource, rather
- than that he has a right to do so. Additionally, I suspect most definitions
- of homesteading involve some notion of "productive use" of the land, but
- productive use seems a relative term. Productive to whom? To the in-
- dividual farmer? The community? Why does it matter? What is the dif-
- ference between productive use to the farmer, and self-serving use? I
- don't see how either results in a *right* to do anything you want with
- the land.
-
-
- >environmentist economists are defending private ownership of natural resources
- >on the grounds that economic rent ensures the most economical use of it.
-
- I don't see how that makes them environmentalists. The argument would
- have to be that private ownership ensures the most environmental use
- of the resource.
-
- --
- Liberate the Weirdoes and You Liberate the Squares
-