The fate of the common good

Recently our daughter asked me what a "common good" is. I answered half seriously, half jokingly, "A common good is something that everyone uses and no one cares about."

"Huh?" was the logical answer and thereupon I gave a park as an example: all visitors would use it, but if there is a plastic bottle lying around somewhere, usually nobody clears it up. The park shares this fate with other common goods: oceans, rivers, forests, mountains. I realized from my wife's frowning look that this was probably too much reality for a 7-year-old child. So I quickly presented a solution: A common good only has to belong to someone or simply cost money, then things look completely different 😊

This theory came to my mind during my last visit to a bathing lake, which I regularly visit in summer since my childhood. In the past, the water was up to the shore (s. first photo). Since this year there is a nice little beach (s. 2nd photo). This is because the water table has dropped and can no longer feed the lake. The lake is drying up... and all of a sudden, so my impression, climate change is perceived for the first time by the inhabitants of this little idyll.

"When will someone finally do something for our environment?", says Norbert angrily and the fear of a price drop of his property is clearly noticeable. "It might just be climate change after all," sighs Ingrid and looks thoughtfully at the drying lake. You can tell she's read about it in the newspapers, but never really wanted to accept climate change as a fact. "Yes, of course, we only have limited resources, but I wouldn't really know what to do without?" affirms Hans-Werner, checking the cooking state of the Argentine beef filet steak on his 2x1 meter Weber Genesis II EX-315 gas grill as he says this. "Yep, climate change! That's going to be a real problem, but I'll never experience it," says the vivid pensioner Robert (all names changed by the editors), elegantly summing up a fundamental problem behind climate change and everything to do with environmental protection in general, namely: "What's it all got to do with me?

There is something almost maudlin about a global event reaching even the last bastions - an Austrian allotment settlement and its inhabitants.... 😊

My realization: if something costs us money, we take care of it. If it's free, we don't give a sh... So the solution to save our planet is obvious: everything that was free before, should cost money in the future 😊.

A few (not entirely serious) smart-ass tips:
- Tax on healthy air and clean water, entrance fees in front of parks, hiking trails and swimming lakes.

- To make the public agree to this, we need to make the commons sexy, and here's how:
o In the future, clean air will be called "Bel Air" and will cost money
o A visit to the park will be called "Energetic Health Care" and will cost money.
o A bath in the river will be called "Natural Skin Peeling" and will cost an entrance fee.
o A hike in the forest will be called "Walk & Spa" and will cost admission.
o A hike in the mountains will be called "Upgrade yourself!" and will cost

- And finally: the only payment option is Bitcoins. Then everyone will be fully on board right away anyway! 😊

text: Paul Grohmann, 26.6.2022
photos: Paul Grohmann