Garrett Hardin’s article “The Tragedy of the Commons” illustrates the continuing problem of the commons. The article clearly illustrates the effects of the exponentially increasing population such as pollution and food. Possible solutions to the problems are stated in the article, but any and all solution will be difficult to accomplish and may not be effective because of man’s sense of freedom and selfishness.
The commons is an area of land that belongs to the public as opposed to being owned by individuals, which is private property. Garrett Hardin describes the ‘tragedy of commons’ as a population problem and individuals over-exploiting a commons for their own personal gain. He discusses the over-exploitation of resources, and pollution, but these are ultimately causes of the exponential population growth. He states that because we live in a finite world we can only support a finite amount of people, and our resources will eventually run out; however, we are living as if our resources are infinite. As our population increases it will become harder and harder to support, and in order to attempt to support the increasing population our amount of resources used must be as close to zero as possible. This creates a problem, because man is naturally selfish, and wants to advantage themselves only.
Over-herding is a product of over-population: many farmers over-herding not only to feed the population, but also to earn more money for themselves and their families. Over-herding causes environmental issues; in order to raise the animals, a large amount of space and attention is needed, which is not always available. These animals graze as a source of food to survive, but if there is not enough grazing space the animals may not get eno...
... middle of paper ...
...e the only ones who can change the ‘tragedy of the commons’. He also states on page 1246, “…the belief that everyone born has an equal right to the commons is to lock the world into a tragic course of action.” Until man cease to think of only themselves and instead the greatest good for the greatest number, sustainability will be achievable and demanded.
Works Cited
Ending the oceans’ ‘tragedy of the commons’, by ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, ScienceDaily, Sept 14, 2010
The tragedy of the Commons, by Garrett Hardin, Science,vol.162, Dec 13, 1968, p 1243-1248
Why the BP Oil Spill is a Tragedy of the Commons, Part II, by Andy Mannle, Environmentalleader.com, July 27, 2010.
of people sharing a resource tend to utilize it to satisfy their own needs, but
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
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
The tragedy of the commons is a very unfortunate and very real thing. It occurs whenever everyone takes a little bit of a limited resource repeatedly. The result of this is that all the resources are gone. In The Lorax, the Once-ler cuts down all the truffula trees in the area to make thneeds (The Lorax). When all the trees are gone, the business shuts down and all the animals are forced to leave (The Lorax). The factories polluted the air and made the area unsafe to live in (The Lorax). This is a perfect example of a tragedy of the commons. A similar event happened in Easter Island. Tribes started inhabiting the area and began using the trees to build houses and eat food from them (Easter Island). Eventually all the trees are gone, and the society resorted to cannibalism and war because there was no food (Easter Island). Garrett Hardin states in his essay that maximimizing population does not maximize goods (Hardin). In this essay, both tragedies of the commons will be compared and will be examined to see how they could have been prevented.
In his 1968 essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, Garret Hardin addresses the problem with overpopulation and it’s eventual toll on our planet’s resources in a scenario where the individual interest clashes with the collective interest. Self-interest only serves the good of an individual while collective interest is meant to serve the good of everyone in the society. In his essay, he describes overpopulation as a tragedy of the commons because as population grows exponentially, resources only grow statically, and this will result in the depletion of our resources. When a resourc...
One main issue is that the world is biophysically finite, which means that we all have a limit, the more people we have, the less each person should possess. Also, we can’t just increase the number of people uncontrollably and be able to satisfy everyone. The second key issue is, over population. Hardin assumes that every person is selfish, and everyone is looking to benefit themselves. Actions they would be doing are like, having more of what they need which leads them over using the only resources we have left. The third key issue, in Hardin’s point of view, is that we should just forget about the Commons system; meaning there should be a statement or right or law to restrict people from overbreeding. Being able to freely over breed will bring us other problems like losing some of our other freedoms. There should be laws to determine the size of families. Finally, the fourth key issue is to gain peoples approval for the new system that is going to pressure them a lot. Basically, we should make all people understand the consequences of letting them freely breed, and what overpopulation will do to us in the very near future.
Hardin uses the example of a farmer never letting too many cattle into his pasture. The farmer knows the maximum capacity of his pasture and if he exceeds that amount tragedies can occur such as erosion and weeds. This farmer does not suffer as much as a farmer who uses his pasture as a commons, letting it overload. Hardin is saying the United States should be more like the selfish farmer in regards to immigration. Some everyday commons Hardin uses as examples are air, water, and land. As our population increases our air is becoming more polluted, oceans are becoming unlivable environments, and resources are becoming scarce. We give these commons to everyone, not considering the consequences of doing
The only solution to tragedy of commons is to come up with a coercion that we collectively agreed upon. As he mentioned, “only individual’s conscience will solve it”
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
It is a known fact that the world population is increasing without bound; however, there is a debate if this increase is a good thing or if it will prove catastrophic. The article “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin discusses how the ever-increasing world population will exhaust the world of its natural resources, and eliminate human’s capability for survival. On the other side of the argument is Julian L. Simon who wrote “More People, Greater Wealth, More Resources, Healthier Environment.” This article proposes the theory that with an increase in population, humans’s quality of life is amplified. One particular issue that they both mention and have drastically different views on is the future of agriculture and human’s ability to sustain it.
Winston A, 2010, Five Lessons from the BP Oil Spill, Harvard Business Review, accessed 1 April 2014,
Coral reefs are well known for their colorful array of marvelous sights including a parade of exotic flora and fauna. They are said to be the foundation for a quarter of marine species, and are a crucial support for human life as well. The coral reef ecosystem is a diverse collection of species (ranging from microscopic to larger-than-life in size) that interact with each other and their physical environment. If any piece of a coral reef is harmed or removed the entire community can be seriously affected, even to the point of collapse. Unfortunately, human impact has resulted in long-term stresses that, unlike the short-term stress of natural disasters, coral reefs are not as capable to recover from. “Approximately half of the world’s coral reef ecosystem resources are considered by scientists to be in 'poor' or 'fair' condition and have declined over time due to several anthropogenic threats” (“Status of Corals” par. 2). Through poorly administered commercial practices, carelessness and ignorance among the common people, and human aggravated natural processes coral reef destruction has become a serious issue afflicting the world’s biodiversity and it’s intricate biosphere mechanics (“Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef” 1) (“What Are Coral Reefs?” 1).
The Tragedy of the Commons “is a problem that occurs when individuals exploit a shared resource to the extent that demand overwhelms supply and the resource becomes unavailable to some or all” (Wigmore, 2013, August). He explains if by using an example of herdsman caring for their cattle in a common land owned by others. Everyone in the land have the same number of cattle they are allowed to have. If one herdsman was being self-centered things and had more cattle because he was thinking of his needs would then damage the community by “overloading it, erosion set in, weeds take over, and he loses the use of the pasture. He would just worry about his goals now and not the overall outcome which not only affected him, but the other herdsmen as well. (Hardin, 1974,
We need coral reefs, and not just to make the ocean look pretty and colourful, they are more than just that…
In conclusion, I would like to say that before writing this paper, I had no idea how important coral reefs were to the earth. I have learned a lot and I think that if more people were informed about the positive capabilities of them, humans wouldn't be so careless about them.