Talk: "Water we doing watering the Commons?"

Jack Paxton, professor emeritus of plant pathology at the University of Illinois, will speak on the topic Water we doing watering the Commons? at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 28, in room 101 of the Rosenfield Center at Grinnell College (1116 Eighth Avenue in Grinnell).

Dr. Paxton earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of California–Berkeley and a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of California at Davis. While at Illinois, he taught plant pathology and agricultural/environmental ethics. In retirement, he divides his time between Urbana and San Diego, California, where he has studied California's complex water issues for many years. In this presentation, he will focus on water issues in the Midwest.

This is one of three talks in the series (Re-) considering the Commons, hosted by the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies.

The Commons comprises all the natural and cultural resources available to members of a community or a society for shared use—resources on which a community depends for biological or cultural identity or integrity. In a small town like Grinnell, the Commons includes our streets, sidewalks, public parks, public schools, public library, and the police and fire departments. On a larger scale it includes our national parks and forests, the Smithsonian, and the Statue of Liberty. The commons includes air, rainwater, and the oceans. Certain forms of knowledge and information, including languages and the internet, are part of the Commons. In a more abstract sense, all living things can be thought of as a Commons, as could our common identity as human beings. The Commons has long been a central and essential part of the human story.

However, the enclosure of the Commons, or privatization of shared resources, leaves them vulnerable to degradation, deficit, and ruin. Today, air and water that we all breathe and drink are polluted without penalty. Plants long used by indigenous people as medicine or food are genetically modified and patented by private corporations. Most of the ocean's fisheries have been overharvested for private gain. Calls to privatize public institutions—from schools to libraries to state mental health facilities—are heard frequently.

Can privatization of our shared resources produce a healthy and sustainable society? Or to have such a society do we need to restore, reclaim, and reinvigorate the Commons? What are our collective responsibilities for stewardship of the Commons?