The Commons of Soil

Let’s think about Adam Smith

In a second excerpt from his book The Commons Of Soil, Patrick Noble discusses the relationship between soil, the commons and social systems. He describes how Adam Smith's theory of comparative advantage has become distorted in our present-day casino economy and he argues that "fluctuations in the health of the soil which grows the city become measures of chosen paths to and from civic virtue and so civilization."

The Commons of Soil

by Patrick Noble. I hope to show that the bad news presented by our inevitable austerity is only bad for what can be happily lost. Laws of physics, which are about to disappoint European and American desires may simultaneously liberate us onto a lost Common. All that is best in life is encompassed by common humanity and is in no way reduced by a mere oil-deprivation.