Essay on Tragedy of the Commons

Essay Example #1

The tragedy of the Commons refers to a public setting such as an area of land that is being used so excessively without care, to the point where the area has no resources to offer. In the article, the author writes, “as the human population has increased, the commons has had to be abandoned in one aspect after another. First, we abandoned the commons in food gathering, enclosing farm land and restricting pastures and hunting and fishing areas” (Hardin, 1968). The author is referring to people who use up natural resources to their own advantage and do not consider the negative impact it has on the environment. Selfishness in individuals results in a loss for everyone since the natural resources become depleted. In this text, the author constantly outlines the optimum population and how our society is moving away from maintaining a balance with living stands as a result of overpopulation. Although I do not completely agree that this is a complete solution to the issue regarding the tragedy of the commons, I believe that this, combined with other solutions can help eliminate tragedy. Some examples of the tragedy of the commons include national parks, agriculture, and fishing.

The first example of the tragedy of the commons is within Agriculture. In the text, the author explains a scenario where herdsmen use cattle to maximize their profits. The author explains that the herdsman asks himself, “what is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?” (Hardin, 1968). Although the positive component to this question is the addition of an animal, the problem is, as each animal is added, it will create grazing and since there is more than just one herdsman, each herdsman will contribute to overgrazing, negatively affecting the environment in the long run. This is where the commons create tragedy. The author writes, “each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit-in a world that is limited” (Hardin, 1968). Each herdsman will keep adding another animal, thinking that it is rational to do so, and will neglect the effect it has on the environment. Since all herdsmen will follow this mentality, they will want to increase the population of cattle, eventually causing the land to become barren and diminish its value.

The second example of the tragedy of the commons is given by an example of national parks. In the text, the author gives an example of Yosemite Valley, a gorgeous national park that seems to grow without limit. He mentions, “the values that visitors seek in the parks are steadily eroded” (Hardin, 1968). This is a result of overpopulation and the numerous amount of people who visit the park do not care to protect its environmental resources. Most national parks nowadays are exploited and deprived of environmental resources. National parks preserve a lot of natural beauty including historic sights, rivers, and trees. If we continue to treat national parks as commons, then they will be of no value to anyone and they will become abandoned.

The last example of the tragedy of the commons is given by an example of fishing. Bodies of water including oceans, lakes, and rivers are often open to the public for fishing. Since it is open to the public, people take advantage of it and do not care about issues such as overfishing. Similar to the cattle example, each fisherman will keep adding another fish to their bucket, neglecting the downside of their decision, expecting to profit from it. Every other fisherman will repeat this by justifying themselves and making it seem like it is rational, but they do not realize the downsides of their decision. Many species of fish have become endangered, leaving bodies of water to be wasted for anyone.

The article lists many solutions to various environmental problems. Three environmental problems that are often talked about are hunting, water pollution, and deforestation. Firstly, the Tragedy of the Commons can be used to examine the possible solutions to hunting. Previously, when people used to hunt animals, they would hunt as many as they could and would selectively choose which part of the animal they would keep and which part they would leave behind. This is a major environmental concern because nowadays many animals are endangered as a result of this. Nowadays, many rules and regulations have been set by governments for hunting animals. For instance, in Ontario, a hunting license is required to hunt animals such as deer or moose. The license requires individuals to study the Ontario Hunting Regulation which sets limits on how many animals may be grazed on government lands and how to discard certain parts of animals (Michael, 2021). As a result of the laws that are put in place, people value animals more than they used to. Individuals are not allowed to go and hunt as many animals as they would like, rather they hunt a limited number of animals and make use of the full animal effectively.

Secondly, the Tragedy of the Commons can also be used to examine the possible solutions to water quality. In the text, the author mentions, “the rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them” which is a major concern. (Hardin, 1968). The issue is that many big corporations find that it is cheaper to dump chemicals and radioactive materials into the water without considering the harm it creates. There are many ways in which this can be controlled. For smaller bodies of water, such as lakes and rivers, the government must put a hefty fine on companies that pollute the water intentionally. For larger bodies of water, such as the ocean, there is no single jurisdiction that can pass a law to protect the entire ocean, rather each country must do its part. Each country can protect the ocean along its coastlines by putting strict laws and regulations in place. If each country passes a law that bans people from throwing waste into the ocean, then the tragedy will be prevented.

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Lastly, the Tragedy of the Commons can also be used to examine the possible solutions to deforestation. Deforestation is a result of a tragedy of the commons, as governments and corporations fail to consider the cumulative effect of their actions on the environment. Many forests are wiped out for the establishment of new infrastructure. According to Heather Farley, a researcher at MIT, “sixty percent of the Amazon rainforest is within Brazil and this is where a great deal of deforestation and fire-setting in exchange for economic growth (i.e. agribusiness) is taking place” (Farley, 2019). A solution that can be applied to decrease the rate of deforestation is that the government would have to put strict rules and regulations in place, and must follow through on them. As consumers, we would have to decrease and eventually remove the demand for products such as paper and wood by finding an alternative to them. The tragedy would be removed if a system involving the community, government, and the market is agreed upon.

In conclusion, a tragedy of the commons is described as how people take advantage of resources that are open to the public while neglecting the outcome of their actions for everyone else. Examples of the tragedy of the commons are depicted through national parks, agriculture, and overpopulation. Lastly, the tragedy of the commons could be used to find solutions to environmental problems such as hunting, water pollution, and deforestation.

Essay Example #2

The tragedy of the commons is a wide problem in economics where every person is trying to take the greatest benefit of a given resource that is available to all individuals, until the point where that certain resource is depleted. This scenario happens generally when one is reaching for only personal gain failing to care for the society as a whole, meaning that every unit or measure an individual consumes hurts the other who can no longer benefit from that resource. In general, the tragedy of the commons is a concept highlighting the conflict between individual and collective rationality.

The tragedy of the commons is usually brought up while talking about environmental problems nowadays. For instance, it could be deforestation or overfishing. A prominent example of deforestation of rainforests still happening is Brazil’s destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Huge sections of the Amazon Rainforest were being cleared for the creation of new infrastructure, while the meantime because of this Brazilian economy was booming and the government was gaining profits. The other example is being focused on the tragedy of the high seas, the bit of the oceans that lie beyond coastal states’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone, or so to say commons.

The idea of the tragedy of the commons became very sensitive and popular after the American ecologist Garrett Hardin published an article regarding the topic. The main thesis of his essay results in the conclusion ”that all resources, such as the ocean, which are held in common and are therefore not anyone’s private property, will be overused and ultimately degraded”. Hardin’s reason for this article was a worry that limited resources are facing increasing consumption, or to say in other words, overpopulation. This “problem” is depleting finite biophysical resources because of unlimited use of it, and it definitely should be brought under control. It is basically a rephrasing of the Malthusian argument that a fixed amount of resource base implies a limit on humanity, and then a discussion of some implications of this.

The importance of tragedy of the commons is crucial nowadays since most of its problems of it are related to environmental and global issues. One reason why it might be critical to planet earth is that in real life examples of overconsumption decisions are being made not by individuals but more likely by groups of people, which makes the outcome of the tragedy of the commons even bigger, and small costs add up to very big ones. Again here, deforestation and overfishing examples could be used. The problem of the commons is still very new to humanity since Hardin started bringing it up only in 1968, so it is still being figured out how to deal with it. If we take the example of climate change, the overuse of transportation and electricity increases carbon dioxide to a significant level, but an individual does not realize it since one person’s emission is little, but adds up to a big number in general. There are two tragedies in this case: first, it was realized as a problem only 30 years ago; second, it might be even too late to completely prevent it. Thus, knowing about this problem and trying to overcome it might give hope that enough awareness would be raised and with help of collective action could stop the tragedy of the commons at this point.

There are many different ways in which the tragedy of the commons could be solved. In general, overcoming this problem requires collaboration and cooperation so the resources could be preserved for the good of all, as stated previously. More precisely, taxes and regulations could be imposed by the government so it would affect society’s usage of the resources; formal or informal property rights could be given to people to restrict the overuse of other resources. Hardin proposes a solution for overpopulation – individuals can no longer be free to “breed”, that is, having an unlimited number of offspring should be banned. Even though there could be many solutions, not all of them are necessarily applicable. And even though the tragedy of the commons is being approached, it doesn’t mean it can be prevented completely. Real actions such as The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union are being taken currently. It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry through various market interventions. Another example could be China’s one-child policy, but it intends to have negative consequences since it is considered to be inhumane in other parts of the world. Therefore, technically the tragedy of the commons could be avoided with help of regulations and a collective approach, but in reality, there is still a long way to come to its complete solution.