Global Commons made by sean lin grade 9 two
Monday, May 28, 2012
Air
Why is the air we breath considered as a global common?
Global commons refers to the world’s unowned natural resources. Therefore the earth’s air is considered as a global common because, the air can not be owned and the air is one of the earths natural resources
Monday, May 28, 2012
Introduction
Using the market theory and different market activities, we can see why the air is under threat. One of the market activities that affects the air could be fuel consumption and production. This is a market activity that impacts the global common because of it s‘ high contribution to CO2 emission. It is also a tragedy of the commons because we can see that the amount of fuel produced and consumed are increasing year after year and then it will eventually run out but during the process, it will impact on the air we breath. Monday, May 28, 2012
Market Activity demand and supply
Price of Fuel
Price of Fuel
This is the supply side of the market, from the diagram, it can be seen that the quantity of supply will increase when the price of the fuel is higher.
P2
P1
Q1
Q2
Quantity of Supply
Price of Fuel
This is the demand side of the market, from the diagram, that the quantity of fuel demanded decreases as the price of the fuel increased
P2
P1
Q1
Monday, May 28, 2012
Q2
Quantity of Demand
P2
Pe P1
Q1
Q2
Qe
Q3
Q4
Quantity
When the demand and supply of the market is placed together,we can see that there is a inverse relationship between the two. From the diagram we can see that when price is at P1 the quantity of fuel being supplied will be at Q3 and the demand will be at Q2 from this example we can see that there is a shortage, this is when the quantity of supply is lower than the amount demanded. But when the price is at P2, then the quantity of supply will be at Q4 , and the quantity of demand will be at Q1, from this example we can see that there is a surplus of resource. Eventually the price will move to the equilibrium, which is the intersection of the two curves. The equilibrium is where there is no surplus or shortage. It is where there is an optimum allocation of the scarce resource.
Explanation Why is the earth’s air under threat?
From the market activity we saw in the previous slide, we can see that people can demand really high for fuel, therefore more people will be using these fuel. And as more people use these fuel for their cars, the amount of carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuel released to the air will increase. This is also another tragedy of the commons because, when people see others keep consuming these fuel, they will think it is okay to over consume this resource and therefore increasing the amount of fuel produced which therefore leads to more carbon emissions. The amount of co2 emission from fossil fuel burning in 2000 already exceeds 6 billion tons that is 3 times the amount there was in 1950. (Carbon Emissions) This can also result in the whole demand curve shifting up because so many people are demanding for fuel. If the demand curve shifts up, then there will be more demand at a certain price. And if this keeps happening there will be an overconsumption of fuel. This will cause the air to be polluted and the quality of the air will be bad and will bring health effects. Air pollution is an example of the “Tragedy of the Commons”, a concept that states that any resource open to everyone will eventually be destroyed. Air becomes a Tragedy of the Commons only if people keeps over consuming fuel and not preserve the clean air. ("Pollution's Effects." ) Monday, May 28, 2012
Carbon Emissions. Digital image. Web. 24 May 2012. <http:// www.worldwatch.org/brain/images/press/news/vs05-C_emissions.jpg>.
Negative Externalities and how it leads to market failure Price of Fuel
MSC
MPC
Pe 2 Pe 1
Qe 2
Qe 1
Quantity
Overconsumption = market failure
In this diagram, we can see that there a new curve is added, this curve is the marginal social cost. The marginal social cost is when the cost of products consider the different negative externalities, which is the different impact to the third party. For instance the social cost of fuels could be that the third party will get different health effect such as lung cancer from breathing the Carbon Dioxide polluted air. From the diagram, we can see that price equilibrium 1 is cheaper then the price equilibrium 2 because Pe2 includes the different social costs. Pe2 is also the social optimum allocation of scarce resource. From the two different supply curve we can also see that there is also a difference in the quantity of supply and demand of the equilibrium. We can see that the quantity in Qe2 is lower then Qe 1. This is what we call overconsumption, which leads to market failure because we are demanding and supply more then we actually need therefore actually we are not optimum allocating our scarce resource. Therefore we can see that this market failure can lead to threatening our air because we are over-consuming fuel which means there will be more carbon dioxide released and produced and therefore the global common air will be effected and in this case it will be polluted and will cause many health and environmental problems. Monday, May 28, 2012
Solutions
how can we prevent the threatening of our air.
There are many ways to prevent air pollution. One way could be pollution control, there are to different pollution controls, one is input control and the other is output. Input control involves preventing a problem before it occurs. People may try to restrict population growth, use less energy, improve energy efficiency, reduce waste, and move to non-polluting renewable forms of energy production such as solar power. Input controls are usually more effective than output controls. Output control seeks to fix the problems caused by air pollution. Output controls are also more expensive, making them less wanted to tax payers and polluting industries. Current air pollution control efforts are not all highly effective. In wealthier countries, industries are often able to shift to methods that decrease air pollution. In the United States, for example, air pollution control laws have been successful in stopping air pollution levels from rising. (Michael, David) Government should also encourage people to start using bicycle and public transportations. That way we can reduce the amount of fuel used and therefore we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Take Copenhagen as a example. Most of their population ride their bicycle to scho ol and work, their government is currently building more bicycle roads. Not only encouraging riding bicycles or pollution control, but we can also use different social cost to decrease the amount of fuel used. From what was seen before, the equilibrium of the optimum social allocation is lower then the one without the social cost. Therefore we can use this social cost to prevent over-consumption and therefore we can also decrease the amount of carbon dioxide emissions . Monday, May 28, 2012
Work Cited Carbon Emissions. Digital image. Web. 24 May 2012. <http://www.worldwatch.org/brain/ images/press/news/vs05-C_emissions.jpg>.
Michael, David. "Air Pollution." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 25 May 2012. <http:// library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/air_pollution_-_solutions.html>. "Pollution's Effects." Pollution's Effects. Web. 24 May 2012. <http://www.windows2universe.org/ milagro/effects/pollution_effects_overview.html>.
Monday, May 28, 2012