Future Hindsight

We're revisiting our conversation with Colin Jerolmack, an environmental sociologist and author of Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town. We discuss the public-private paradox and the tragedy of the commons, as well as the undemocratic aspects of American property rights. Public-Private Paradox America has clearly delineated public and private domains: the public domain is regulated, and the private domain is not. A public-private paradox occurs when a decision made in the private domain creates issues in the public domain. In the case of fracking, choosing to allow drilling in your land is a private decision. That decision creates many externalities such as overuse of roads, unwanted sights and sounds, contaminated well water for neighborhood, which harms the public good. Tragedy of the Commons The Tragedy of the Commons explains how individual decisions pertaining to common resources can lead to degradation of that resource, hurting everyone. It's in everyone's own best interest to use as much of a common resource as possible, because if they don't, someone else will. Unfortunately, when everyone does this the shared resource is often quickly degraded. In the case of fracking, many landowners decided to lease land because their neighbors were doing it, and choosing not to lease would mean absorbing the externalities of fracking without any compensation. American Property Rights American landowners own their land "up to heaven, and down to hell," meaning they own both the air and subsurface rights along with their land. This is quite different from almost all other countries, where subsurface mineral rights are owned, regulated, and sold by government bodies. Landowners in the US make entirely private decisions to allow oil and gas drilling on their property without the consent of their neighbors, and in some cases without any regulation from local, state, or federal governments. FIND OUT MORE: Colin Jerolmack is a professor of sociology and environmental studies at NYU, where he also teaches courses on human-animal relations and chairs the Environmental Studies Department. His first book, The Global Pigeon explores how human-animal relations shape our experience of urban life. His second book, Up To Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town follows residents of a rural Pennsylvania community who leased their land for gas drilling in order to understand how the exercise of property rights can undermine the commonwealth. He also co-edited the volume Approaches to Ethnography: Modes of Representation and Analysis in Participant Observation with Shamus Khan. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons. You can follow Colin on Twitter @jerolmack.

We're sharing a curated list of podcast recommendations on abortion rights that we put together for our friends at EarBuds Podcast Collective in September 2021. Reproductive rights will be in the news a lot this year because of the Mississippi case before SCOTUS and because of the midterm elections. The 5 episodes we recommend are: Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick – "Abortion, Surveillance, and Vigilantism: An American Story" Fresh Air with Terry Gross – "SCOTUS & The Future of Roe v. Wade" Access: A Podcast About Abortion with Garnet Henderson – "2021 is a Record-Breaking Year for State Attacks on Abortion. How Are Advocates Fighting Back?" The Takeaway with Melissa Harris-Perry – "Corporations Stay Silent on Abortion" Future Hindsight with Mila Atmos - "The Human Rights of Women" FIND OUT MORE: Follow the podcasts on Twitter! EarBuds Podcast Collective: @EarBudsPodCol Fresh Air: @nprfreshair The Takeaway: @TheTakeaway Access: A Podcast about Abortion: @ACCESSpod Future Hindsight: @Futur_Hindsight

Retaking The Commons In order to repair our current social contract, we must first repair our relationship to the Commons. Our economy currently prioritizes property protection, wealth protection, and disproportionate power, while often disregarding the realities of human life. Social movements can create a sense of mutuality, of what we hold in common, and amass power to retake the Commons. Turning to each other has never been more effective. The Solidarity Economy Solidarity economics is a system that focuses on mutuality in the form of co-ops, community land trusts, and other social movements. The key is to create experiences that widen the circle of belonging and everyone is valuable. For example, solidarity economics aims to increase workers' power in order to get better deals from their employers. It also creates alternative economic enterprises, government regulation to prevent abuses, and rewards high road businesses. The Benefit of Mutualism Operating in mutuality is the opposite of operating in self-interest. In many ways, our society has been built to reward those who are powered by self-interest, but the benefit of mutuality extends far beyond personal gain. Creating solidarity means building commonality between all types of communities. Social movements are at the heart of mutuality, since they foster a responsibility to one another. The more we practice mutuality, the more normal it becomes, and the greater the rewards that are delivered. FIND OUT MORE: Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. His latest books are South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A. (co-authored with Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo) and Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (co-authored with Chris Benner). His previous works include State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America's Future and Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas (co-authored with Chris Benner [UC Press 2015]). You can follow Manuel on Twitter @Prof_MPastor

Faith in the Social Contract As members of a society, we must have an understanding of "we" for the social contract to function. When citizens are put in a position of protecting the state or the economy instead of protecting its people, we all lose out. Faith can help us find a sense of togetherness. If we know who we're fighting for, the sacrifice makes that much more sense. The pandemic has been a great example of both the wins and losses of living for the greater good. Beloved Community A beloved community is one that prioritizes having enough as opposed to having abundance. If everyone has enough to get by, then no one is left out. In this way, members of the community can shed the stress of the next meal or a roof over their heads, and instead are able to put resources and engagement into one another. A beloved community builds from the heart of our social contract through a faith in neighborliness and diplomacy. Mutual Aid The pillars of mutual aid are recognizing that there are no unworthy people and that everyone in the community is valued. In turn, people can get the help they need and ask for. For instance, in the vulnerability many experienced during the pandemic, mutual aid groups made it so if you needed food, you could rely on someone to help you with that need. Mutual aid does not depend on filling out applications to prove that you have a need, but instead a sense of trust in your community that asking for help will guarantee that help. FIND OUT MORE: The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson is the president of Auburn Seminary, a leadership development and research institute that equips bold and resilient leaders of faith and moral courage to build communities, bridge divides, pursue justice, and heal the world. Founded more than 200 years ago by Presbyterians in upstate New York, Auburn is committed to right relationship with a truly multifaith, multiracial movement for justice. Rev. Jordan-Simpson preached her first sermon at the age of 17 at House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Newark, NJ, and was ordained by The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, a historic freedom faith congregation in Brooklyn, NY. Her ministry has been grounded in the call to community. She is a graduate of Fisk University (BA); Union Theological Seminary (M. Div), and Drew Theological Seminary (D. Min). She is the President of the Board of American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York and serves on the Board of Directors of FPWA. You can follow Dr. Jordan-Simpson on Twitter at @RevEmmaJ

Technology in the Social Contract Increasingly, the design of new technology determines the way our society functions and the way we live. Simple design flaws like the lack of a mute button on Sony Camcorders ended up changing our laws on surveillance. We don't elect the people that build our global technology landscape. In addition, once the technology is successful in the marketplace, its design is replicated without question. More Equitable Algorithms Algorithms have the power to harm us beyond individual privacy issues, in ways we don't always see, such as their ability to discriminate based on race and even violate the integrity of an election. However, we're not powerless in shaping how that landscape affects us. It's important to prioritize our interests as citizens as opposed to the business interests of an online platform. Section 230 Section 230 is an old law that allows online platforms immunity from the impact of third-party content, meaning sites like Facebook are not liable for the posts created by anyone that uses it. It's a blanket protection that recognizes the platforms as neutral. However, these online platforms are not neutral because they make decisions regarding what ads are shown or which posts are promoted. Essentially, Section 230 creates protections for online services that do, in fact, influence the public. FIND OUT MORE: Latanya Sweeney is the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has 3 patents, more than 100 academic publications, pioneered the field known as data privacy, launched the emerging area known as algorithmic fairness, and her work is explicitly cited in two U.S. regulations, including the U.S. federal medical privacy regulation (known as HIPAA). Dr. Sweeney is a recipient of the prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award, the American Psychiatric Association's Privacy Advocacy Award, an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, and has testified before government bodies worldwide. She earned her PhD in computer science from MIT in 2001, being the first black woman to do so, and her undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard University. Dr. Sweeney creates and uses technology to assess and solve societal, political and governance problems, and teaches others how to do the same. You can follow Dr Sweeney on Twitter at @LatanyaSweeney

Tax Policy is Where It Starts What do our tax dollars really go towards? The truth is, so much of it is invisible. Tax dollars go towards helping homeowners through mortgage deductions or keeping prices low on your water bill. The money we spend on taxes has the power to shape our social contract, but it's not always spent correctly. By focusing on tax policy first, we can control which programs and policies are funded and which are not. In this way, taxes are at the root of social change. Tax Fairness The topic of tax fairness is shrouded in the myth that America's tax system is progressive. We tend to only talk about federal income taxes, which do in fact increase as you make more income. But we fail to recognize the unfairness of other taxes, like property and sales tax. For example, middle class families pay the same sales tax as the ultra-wealthy, and even renters end up paying property taxes at a rate equivalent to billionaires. When you look at the full scope of the tax burden, it really falls most heavily on middle- and lower-income families. Taxing Billionaires Billionaires don't have to pay taxes on their capital investments. They pay taxes when they sell their assets. However, billionaires are rarely in a position where they need to sell, thanks to loopholes in the system. For example, Jeff Bezos, who owns billions in Amazon stock, can take out huge loans at low interest rates, using his stock as collateral, avoiding any taxable event like selling stock. To effectively tax the ultra-wealthy, these loopholes can be closed by taxing annual gains of public stock whether they've been sold or not, much like a property tax assessment. FIND OUT MORE: Sarah Christopherson is the Legislative and Policy Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. She leads ATF's advocacy efforts with Congress and coordinates the coalition's policy work. Prior to joining ATF, she served as the Policy Advocacy Director for the National Women's Health Network for five years, responsible for directing their advocacy efforts on federal health reform, among other issues. Christopherson also worked for Congress from 2005 to 2015, including serving as the Washington Director/Legislative Director to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA). There she directed the Member's legislative agenda and led her tax, financial services, consumer protection, and federal budget portfolio. Christopherson has bachelor's degrees in political science and history from Arizona State University and a master's degree in foreign policy from George Washington University. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahcgchris.

Racism Bites Everybody Creating racist policies and ideologies is short-sighted. In the long run, these practices affect everyone, including white people. In 1978, older white voters in California decided they didn't want their tax dollars going towards the funding of education for children who were increasingly non-white. To reflect this, Prop 13 capped property taxes and essentially led to a defunding of public education in the state, which families of every race and ethnicity rely on. Intersectionality History has shown that when the American social safety net becomes beneficial for people of color, support for the policies and programs diminish. For example, criminal justice started to be used more and more as a tool for social management after poverty programs in the 1960s allowed Black Americans to access it. Today these relationships between race and a social safety affect our entire society, across the landscape of labor, education outcomes, and incarceration. Abstract Fears Abstract fears are based on something people believe to be true, even though it is not part of their lived experience. For example, if someone believes that immigrants abuse Medicaid, they will fight against Medicaid as a whole, even if the program would be beneficial for them. Abstract fears and prejudices that are not rooted in reason erode the social contract because they block citizens from making decisions that benefit both their own lives and society at large. FIND OUT MORE: Eduardo Porter is an economics reporter for The New York Times, where he was a member of the editorial board from 2007 to 2012 and the Economic Scene columnist from 2012 to 2018. He began his career in journalism as a financial reporter for Notimex, a Mexican news agency, in Mexico City. He was a correspondent in Tokyo and London, and in 1996 moved to São Paulo, Brazil, as editor of América Economía, a business magazine. In 2000, he went to work at The Wall Street Journal in Los Angeles to cover the growing Hispanic population. Porter is the author of The Price of Everything (2011), an exploration of the cost-benefit analyses that underpin human behaviors and institutions. His latest book is American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise (2020). You can follow Eduardo Porter on Twitter at @PorterEduardo

The Legacy of the Subminimum Wage The devaluation of Black lives and women's work is at the heart of the subminimum wage. Until the 1850s, restaurant workers were white men who were unionized and were tipped on top of a living wage. But business owners started hiring women and black people for free, making them rely on tips to make their living. This means that the customer—instead of the employer—is responsible for paying the worker. A century and a half later, the subminimum wage has increased to only $2.13. Tipped Work in the Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how precarious tipped work is. Full time tipped workers, such as in bars or restaurants, often did not qualify for unemployment benefits because their tips were never reported, and it made them look ineligible for not having worked enough hours or earned enough pay. We have an opportunity to get rid of the subminimum wage by advocating for the Raise the Wage Act, supporting restaurants that pay their workers a livable wage, and demanding the same from businesses that don't. Who Gets Paid Subminimum Wages? The restaurant industry makes up a big piece of the work force, but it's not alone. Nail salon workers, car wash workers, parking attendants, sky caps at airports all work for tips. Subminimum wage laws also take advantage of a subset of people who are deemed ineligible for a proper minimum wage. Incarcerated workers are often paid even below the subminimum wage per hour; teenage workers produce the same work as adults but get paid less; and people with disabilities also perform the same as other workers but do not get paid the same amount. FIND OUT MORE: Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. Saru has spent the last 20 years organizing and advocating for raising wages and working conditions for restaurant and other service workers. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was listed in CNN's "Top 10 Visionary Women" and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015, and the San Francisco Chronicle 'Visionary of the Year' in 2019. Saru has written several books, including Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), a national bestseller, Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning (UC Press, 2020), and most recently One Fair Wage: Ending Sub Minimum Pay in America (The New Press, 2021). You can learn more at onefairwage.com. You can follow Saru on Twitter at @SaruJayaraman

Our Responsibility to Defend the Truth Science denialism has existed as long as science has existed. As a part of our social contract, we're responsible for challenging the spread of misinformation and understanding, especially when it comes to science. If we open ourselves up to these difficult conversations, we can offer up a path into more logical reasoning and avoid a culture where science and truth are rejected. Science Denialism is Dangerous All science denialism relies on a flawed blueprint of cherry-picking evidence, trusting conspiracy theories, trusting fake experts, and relying on illogical reasoning. The internet has given denialism a chance to be amplified, which is especially dangerous because it confuses people and muddies the line between fact and falsehood. Science denialism hurts us in so many ways, from killing our planet by ignoring climate change to taking lives because people don't trust vaccines and masks. Technique Rebuttal Content rebuttal is using facts to combat false claims. Technique rebuttal is challenging the logic of the argument. It may seem logical to defend the truth with the facts, but you can make more progress by talking about the core of people's beliefs. If someone has already made the choice to deny the facts, presenting them with even more facts will not be effective. Instead, build trust by making them feel heard, then point out inconsistencies in their reasoning and use facts judiciously. FIND OUT MORE: Lee McIntyre is a philosopher of science and the author of the 2018 book Post Truth. His new book How to Talk to a Science Denier, tries to figure out how we can have constructive dialogue with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has also served as a policy advisor to the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard and as Associate Editor in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. McIntyre is the author of several books, including Post-Truth, Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age, and How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. Other work has appeared in such popular venues as the The New York Times, Newsweek, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the New Statesman, the Times Higher Education Supplement, and The Humanist. You can follow Lee on Twitter at @LeeCMcIntyre