The Global Commons and the Universal Destination of Goods

 The Destination of Goods and the Global Commons

The theological principle of the “universal destination of goods” is the central claim regarding the social justice aspect of integral ecology. This concept ultimately challenges the very notion of absolute private property rights when they conflict with the dignity and survival of the human family. Looking at Vincent Miller’s work, he notes that Laudato si’ applies this traditional Catholic principle to what is known as the “global commons,” which includes things like the atmosphere and the oceans.

These “global commons” are often seen as unowned resources at risk of exploitation within the technocratic framework. However, in their work, Holden and Mansfield point out that, in its theological position, the church insists that “the earth is essentially a shared inheritance." This part of the theological position then creates a direct link between both the “Option for the Poor” and environmental stewardship. When the theological framework is applied, the degradation of a local ecosystem is ultimately a theft from those who depend daily on it for their bread. Then, the technological paradigm fails because it is unable to quantify the “value” of a shared resource that cannot immediately produce financial profit. By contrast, internal ecology then recognizes that the health of the global commons is the absolute ultimate measure of a society’s justice.

After doing my own research for this, I wondered how as a society, we are able to shift our economic language to begin valuing things, such as clean air or biodiversity, specific things that don't necessarily have a price tag?

                Furthermore, I started reflecting on the comments in my own life, such as the local parks in the air that we can breathe on this campus. for us as individuals it is so easy to treat these free and in terms of value things as we deserve. But once we begin seeing these things as a shared inheritance, our responsibility tends to change. As an individual myself, I am trying to be more mindful of my individual consumption, and how that can affect the resources I share with other individuals that I have never met in my life.

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