Cattle graze on public lands under federal permits, and the fee is heavily subsidized — $1.35 per head of cattle, in contrast with the $22 per head that ranchers pay for their cattle to graze on private land.

Most days we find stories that bring us back to one of the common themes affecting, and affected by, the one or more of the three “c” words in our site’s banner.  Just this last week, in two very different contexts–the Mediterranean fisheries and the great plains of the western USA–we see the potential for the tragedy so commonly affecting unrestricted and accessible open spaces.

Click the image above to go to the second of these stories.  While we do not believe markets solve all problems, and certainly do not solve the most complex problems easily, this one seems to be the definition of a no-brainer.  Or at least, the questions seem obvious: why do citizens in the USA, who contribute to ranchers abundantly at the supermarket each week, also contribute so generously on April 15 each year?  If they reduced the latter would they reduce the former? And would that not be a good thing, in terms of health and environmental considerations?