The Tragedy of the Commons: Ozone Depletion and Climate Change

As the twenty-first century progresses, it has become increasingly apparent just how many challenges the world faces. Prominent among these concerns are environmental issues, in particular, ozone depletion and climate change. While the international community has been exceptionally successful in its struggle to reduce the production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the organic compounds that contribute to the ozone issue, its efforts to tackle climate change have yielded considerably fewer advancements. A number of factors that helped the proceedings of the ozone regime, or campaign, are not applicable to the climate change regime. The issue of limiting CFCs was much less politically and economically charged than that of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), which cause the greenhouse effect and the consequent warming of the planet. Climate change has been referred to as the ultimate “tragedy of the commons”, an important metaphor in economics that helps explain why this subject is still at the centre of much heated debate and has yet to be resolved in a manner similar to that of the ozone problem.
Before analyzing why climate change is possibly the best example of a “tragedy of the commons” situation, it is necessary to begin with an explanation of this concept. In a “tragedy of the commons” circumstance there is a shared resource. This resource is limited, posing a problem to each of those included in the collective ownership as each individual is concerned with furthering their own interests. This interest is primarily to get as much out of the resource as possible. If each member of the group is to act in this self-benefiting manner, the resource will be exhausted to the point where it is no longer sustainable. Alt...

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... profit. Increasing government accountability begins at the grassroots level, when the public becomes convinced of the severity of the issue, and the importance of finding solutions. Change happens neither quickly nor smoothly, but fear of a rocky road can no longer prohibit the implementation of any action at all. With no one choosing short-term sacrifice for long-term benefit, the resource will eventually no longer be able to support us. Since the resource, or “commons”, at stake effects the entire planet, the entire population must work as a team to make decisions. There must be high stakes involved for uncooperative states that go against the wishes and, consequently the best interests, of the international community. Collaboration on a global level hinges on convincing world leaders to take the threat seriously and to equally distribute the burdens of change.