Negotiating New Spheres at the Dawn of the Interdependency Age: Encounters across Oceans, Atmospheres, Outer Space, and Antarctica, 1960–80

Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, a variety of developments made it possible to exploit in new ways the oceans, the atmosphere, outer space, and the Antarctic continent. The possibilities of oil drilling in deep seas or off the Antarctic coast, mining the ocean floor or on the Antarctic mainland, invasive fishing techniques, human-induced weather modification, remote earth sensing and telecommunications broadcasts from satellites, integrated scientific research programs, and similar novel opportunities created new “spaces” of encounter, confrontation, and negotiation. National governments, international organizations, profit-making corporations, epistemic communities of specialist expertise, environmental activists, private voluntary organizations, and other interest groups representing a multitude of popular voices all contested the definition, ownership, and use of these spheres. This paper will explore how diverse constituencies reconceived notions of “interest” to accommodate this expanded universe of human activity. Arguments for and against envisioning these new regions as “commons” featured prominently in the deliberations. Much of this activity threatened to violate traditional national boundaries; state and not-state actors wrestled to occupy alternative forms of the “high ground.” Ultimately, these encounters led to new conceptions of interdependence across an expanded geospatial continuum. This heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of humans with each other and the planet made it possible for decision makers and the general populace to grasp the vision of globalization that, with all its joys and travails, defines today’s world.