A large issue we have that effects multiple different areas of our communities, are tragedy of the commons, which are actions that are rational but lead to irrational outcome. Government needs to take responsilbities to enforce rules for commons so they can diminish tragedy of the commons. Dams are a tragedy of the commons that only recently were come to the realisation of its more negatives effect they have on our world. Dams used to be seen as only positive, for their productful factors such as hydroelectricity and water supply. In this essay, I will argue that dams are an example of a tragedy of the commons proven by the documentary, Damnation, by the directors Travis Rummel and Ben Knight by describing that dams are highly subtractable …show more content…
Subtractability is the degree of which the use of the good by one person reduces the good for the others. The use of a dam may be used for water supply in a section but then it reduces the water supply in other areas and causes blockage, which makes dams highly subtractable. This can cause a drought, which would cause farmers crops to not grow, which would mean less quality food for the community to buy, and less money for the farmers. This chain would keep going with negative affects and it shows everything in the environment is intertwined in some way or another. Although, dams would be helping some areas, they are harsh to the areas around them. Another issue caused by subtractability is the killing of fish. By using dams for resources such as electricity is helping some, yet it is blocking water passage and also the organisms that live in the water. Damnation spent a lot of the documentary analysing the dams in Washington’s lower Snake River. They said that many now see it as part of the landscape and are almost immune to it, they do not realise the dams and the issues it’s causing. An article from the Denver post stated that “The movie draws a bead on four 100-foot dams on Washington’s lower Snake River. Clogged with sediment and lacking any passage for native salmon, the dams generate little hydropower” (Blevins, 2015). Restoring habitat for fish needs to occur by the removal of dams, so the river flow can run smooth. It is estimated that “the global ocean has lost more than 90% of large predatory fishers with an 80% decline typically occurring within 15 years in industrialized exploitation” (Dietz, 2003). Building dams may be beneficial for the people who created them, but they have large disadvantages for other in the community and seems selfish to think about one’s advantages, rather than the negative effects it will have on the community as a
Wuerthner, George. North Idaho's Lake Country. Helena, MT: American & World Geographic Pub., 1995. Print.
Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams author Patrick McCully (2001) reports that dams store water for river fluctuations as well as for energy and water demands (p. 11).
Policies are often put in place without regards for the effect it will have on other areas, people, or wildlife. Several examples of these unintended consequences are shown in the documentary Salmon: Running the Gauntlet, which explains the effects that human activity, dams, and attempts to repopulate the salmon species have been implemented and failed. With proper evaluation at the onset of a major project, these severe consequences may be avoided.
The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.
Over the years Glen Canyon Dam has been the spark for hundreds of debates, rallies, and protests. These debates have been going on for almost forty years now. The fact is that the dam created a huge lake when it was built, this is what bothers environmentalists. This lake is called Lake Powell and thousands of people depend on its tourists for income. The lake also filled up a canyon called Glen Canyon, some people say it was the most beautiful place on earth. The anti-dam side of the debate has its basis in the fact that Lake Powell is currently covering Glen Canyon. It was very remote so few people got to witness its splendor. This is probably the reason the dam was built in the first place, ignorance.
Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” is an article that identifies the nation’s current problems and predicaments that can’t be resolved through the use of technical solutions. Hardin’s work heavily focuses on overpopulation, a prominent and unceasing issue that significantly distorts and affects the stability of the Earth and the abundance of the planet’s resources. In his article, he mentioned some reasonable and important solutions to overpopulation, but he also explained its downside and how the said solutions may not be ideal and practical. “Tragedy of the Commons” revealed that the human population will continue to flourish and how it will be greatly detrimental to our society unless individuals get the education that they need and
To begin I’m going to talk about Rachel Carlson and her ideas. She first starts off with how man has polluted our rivers and many other valuable resources (Postman 2). She explains how the damage humans
“How can you buy or sell the sky-the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? We will decide in our time” (Chief Seattle: 1855). In the Documentary “Flow – for the love of water” it visualizes the global crisis we face on Mother’s Earth as it pertains to the diminishing of fresh water. The Documentary portrays along with the help of experts that this global crises is affecting each and every one of us in today’s society including animals. The film shows us that water is constantly being wasted, polluted, and privatized by big co operations. Prime examples of these greedy companies were mentioned in the film such as Nestle, Thames, Suez, Vivendi, Coca Cola and Pepsi.
Today the typical American is spoiled. Humans seem to have infinite resources at their fingertips, for the moment. However, as the population grows, resources will be harder to come by. In order to feed and house the growing population, vast amounts of land will be cleared for agriculture and development. Even though developing countries continue to suffer from lack of available resources and California is going through a severe drought, the majority of humans view natural resources as being infinite; which is evident in the way that they abuse and over use land, water, and energy. It has been engraved in their minds that natural resources are unlimited and free to use whenever they need to. When turning on a light or running the faucet, humans do not think about where that energy is coming from and what that energy does to the environment when it is being used improperly. This brings to mind Locke’s theory of private property, which is based on individuals understanding that they should only take what they need, waste nothing, and leave enough for others to use. Unfortunately, this is not always the case in our society today-as not all humans have a moral compass and follow the natural laws (Dresner
In 1968, Garrett Hardin published his essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” in Science, in which he elaborated his theories for curtailing the overpopulation problem. The article is perhaps best known for Hardin’s definition of the “commons” as a shared, limited resource under limited (if any) regulation. In his essay, Hardin considered the right to breed as a commons and confronted the resulting problem of global overpopulation. Hardin believed in the inevitable exploitation of any commons, and therein lies the tragedy of commons: a commodity which is universally free and accessible will inexorably result in overutilization precisely beca...
According to Hardin, freedom is the cause of tragedy of commons. There is no technical solution to solve it. The only solution is to alter human’s principles. The article by Hardin focused on the population growth. Overpopulation is an example of tragedy of commons. Because the world is finite, one is unable to maximize goods and population at the same time. Hardin then propose that the only solution is to limit breeding. “Common system from breeding must be abandoned”
It is a melancholy object to those who travel through this great country to see isolated corners of this fair realm still devoted to protecting the environment. The wretched advocators of these ideals are frequently seen doling out petitions and begging at their neighbours’ doors to feed their obsession, which keeps them in the contemptible poverty that they so richly deserve.
‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ written by Garrett Hardin is an article that is highly pessimistic in its approach. It mainly talks about the problems of the “commons” because of overpopulation, keeping the Malthusian theory as the central argument. Malthus had concluded after observing the continuous growth in the population of the northern states of America that, if unchecked, the population had the tendency to double itself in every twenty-five year period. He proposed that the population would increase in a geometrical fashion (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 …) and on the other hand, the food supply could increase in an arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…). For Malthus, the main reason for this was that since the supply of food is fixed, in accordance with the law
IYER, R.I. (19X9) "Large Dams: The Right Perspective.' Economic and Political Weekly, 14, 107- 116.
The paragraphs below will prove that the construction and presence of dams always has and will continue to leave devastating effects on the environment around them. Firstly, to understand the thesis people must know what dams are. A dam is a barrier built across a water course to hold back or control water flow. Dams are classified as either storage, diversion or detention. As you could probably notice from it's name, storage dams are created to collect or hold water for periods of time when there is a surplus supply.