I totally agree with you Amy, I'm staying on campus right now in the school dorm/hostel (we call it hostel here but i'm not sure if you call them dorms in Aust).
Here's a view from my room.We share a common pantry and toilets for each floor. There are truly inconsiderate people in the same floor sometimes. They will cook their meals and then leave their dirty pots and pans around the sink, attracting ants and all sorts of bugs. Yucks. But we don't contribute food for sharing with each other like you mentioned. We buy our own food and stock up in the fridge. But there are incidences where people steal food from the fridge. (I haven't taken pictures of my pantry..will upload them when I have).
For e.g there was once when I saw a notice on the fridge that says "Someone stole my Ben and Jerrys from the fridge! Pls return my ice-cream!" I don't think i'll dare to eat it even if someone did return the ice-cream. You dont know what that person did to your ice-cream. Ewww.
I think that in a commons situation, there is no incentive to think of others. It is human instincts to think of yourself first. You can call it survival instincts. We're all guilty of that sometimes.
I give another example from hostel...a lot of them leave the lights and fans on in the pantry when they leave the room. Sometimes the lights will be left on throughout the night without anyone in it. What a waste! ...of course we dont pay for the wastage of electricity because we just pay a fixed fix for utilities bill, which is already included in our hostel fee. So we have the mentality that we have a right to use as much as possible since we paid for it. Might as well max out the worth of our usage without any care for the environment.
Water is another resource we waste in hostel. We may spend a full hour bathing in the shower or leave our showers running on while soaping just because we don't pay the water per min we use. I'm not sure if it's the same in Aust..water is more precious in Aust so you might be charged to use in dorms?
Of course it's a different situation at home. We pay for the utilities bill per usage so we're conscious of resource wastage. It is all very well and idealistic to say that communal systems work when there are personal sacrifices and respect for others so as to achieve a common goal. I think John Nash's "Game Theory" mentioned this. Everyone will want the best for himself, but if each takes the best, there will be none for all in the end. If everyone settles for something less, there will be something for everyone....haha..or something like that. Jas, correct me if i'm wrong.
Unless the society is taught in such a way that everyone will think of others first. I think Japan is best example. The Japanese are very considerate. When I was in Japan, there is an unspeakable rule that you have to stand on the right hand side of the escalator. Always. People behind will stare at you if you don't.
In Singapore, although we also have to do that, a lot of people don't follow. Our professor (he's from England) mentioned that he found it strange that Singaporeans know when to follow rules and when not to. I think Singapore is quite famous for being a "fine" city. When i was in USA for exchange, my American friends will always ask me if Singapore really does fine people for chewing gums. I'll say that we will fine people for spitting gums in public area if the police catches you (that's very unlucky for you). But we won't catch people who are just chewing gums. In fact we sell gums for medical purposes, like for those who wants to quit smoking or for oral hygiene purposes. ..ok i'm digressing...so my point is that society in Singapore is very pragmatic. Without any form of regulation, the commons in Singapore will be destroyed.
Let me cite another example. In the past, Singapore River was the heart of entrepot trade. The River became very polluted by disposal of wastes from industries and pig and duck farms nearby. There is no incentive for each industry to treat their wastes before dumping it into the sea. It was filled with algae and fishes cannot survive in it. If you look at some less developed cities in China now, it is like this. People just throw out their wastes into the streets or spit on them...so the streets in China are very dirty. Our then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, declared the cleanup of Singapore River...so several government bodies were involved in the cleanup and it was done. Well ya..it's a very top down approach...I won't say it's the best method but it's quite an effective method for controlling the way people use the commons.
Singapore River in the past.
Singapore River now.Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singapore_river_04.jpg
Yup so to sum it up...i think there must be some form of regulation or incentive for the commons so that people are the ones who will bear the cost of environmental externalities.
