"Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatization the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? Most economists and development planners will answer “yes” — and for proof they will point to the most influential article ever written on those important questions.

Since its publication in Science in December 1968, “The Tragedy of the Commons” has been anthologized in at least 111 books, making it one of the most-reprinted articles ever to appear in any scientific journal. It is also one of the most-quoted: a recent Google search found “about 302,000” results for the phrase “tragedy of the commons.”"

...and it's an evidence-free pseudo-scientific political tract.

More at Socialist Voice.

Apologies for the recent service disruption and disappearance of the site over the past week or so. This was due to problems with our webserver (located in a galaxy far, far away...) which we were unable to rectify without the help of the friendly internet gods of Mt Olympus.

We hope that our temporary absence has made your hearts grow fonder and invite you to take the opportunity to  help us prevent this happening in the  future, either by getting involved in the running of the site (we're meeting tonight) or by making a financial contribution to provide us with more options to deal with problems like this that happen from time to time.

Friends of the Earth Fife are hosting a film showing on Sunday 5th October at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy. The price will be £4.00 (with a special price of £2.50 for concessions), and the start time will be 7.30pm.