Will our beaches become an example of the Tragedy of the Commons? Click on image for full size (79 Kb) Source: NCAR Digital Library

The term "Tragedy of the Commons" was coined by Garrett Hardin in a 1968 article in Science magazine. The concept, however, dates back to the days of Aristotle. Briefly, it states that a shared resource is inevitably ruined by uncontrolled use.

The metaphor that Hardin uses to explain the concept is that of a community common or park on which the town’s people bring their cows to be fed. In the back of everyone’s mind is the fact that the common is going to be ruined because the grass is going to be eaten to depletion. Still, everyone wants to get grass for their cows. No one thinks or cares about the consequences of so many cows eating the grass, and the Tragedy of the Commons occurs.

Human actions that many categorize as examples of the phenomenon include human-created air pollution; the hunting of the American buffalo to near extinction in the 1800s; the widespread abuse and destruction of rainforests and our oceans’ coral reefs; and human-induced climate change due largely to the burning of fossil fuels for energy use.

Some people believe that the Tragedy of the Commons can only be averted by making most commodities private property. But how does someone own the air or the ocean? And can either the air or ocean stay unpolluted with populations of 10 million or more in the world’s megacities? Others believe the "Tragedy of the Commons" can be avoided through laws and taxing devices which make it more costly to serve one’s self interest over the common good.

What almost everyone can agree on for now is that such vital resources need some form of control so that the world’s natural resources can be sustained and the Tragedy of the Commons can be avoided.

Will our beaches become an example of the Tragedy of the Commons? Click on image for full size (79 Kb) Source: NCAR Digital Library

The term "Tragedy of the Commons" was coined by Garrett Hardin in a 1968 magazine article, however, the idea dates back to the days of Aristotle. Briefly, it holds that a shared resource is inevitably ruined by uncontrolled use.

Hardin uses a community field or common to explain the concept. The town’s people bring their cows to the common to feed on its grass. Everyone wants to get grass for their cows before it is gone. No one thinks through the consequences of so many cows eating the grass to depletion, and the Tragedy of the Commons occurs. The grass disappears and the common is ruined.

There are many non-fictional abuses that people feel are examples of the phenomenon. Some include human-created air pollution; the hunting of the American buffalo to near extinction in the 1800s; the widespread abuse and destruction of rainforests and our oceans’ coral reefs; and human-induced climate change due largely to the burning of fossil fuels for energy use.

Some people believe that the Tragedy of the Commons can only be averted by making most commodities private property instead of freely available to all. But how does someone own the air or the ocean? And can the air and ocean stay unpolluted with populations of 10 million or more in the world’s megacities? Another proposed solution are laws and taxing devices which would make it more costly to serve one’s self interest over the common good. For now, almost everyone can agree that such vital resources need some form of control so that they can be sustained and the Tragedy of the Commons avoided.

Will our beaches become an example of the Tragedy of the Commons? Click on image for full size (79 Kb) Source: NCAR Digital Library

In 1968 a man named Garrett Hardin wrote a magazine article called "The Tragedy of the Commons." The common that he writes about is a park with a lot of grass. Someone in the town brings his cows to the common area to eat the plentiful grass. Other town’s people start to bring their cows also. No one thinks through what will happen to the grass if it keeps being eaten. As a result, it eventually is ruined. Hardin called this the Tragedy of the Commons. It is the idea that things that are free or available to everyone can be ruined by abuse or overuse.

There are many examples of the Tragedy of the Commons that are not fictional. People often pollute the air so much that it can be unhealthy to breathe. Sometimes fish become scarce because people over fish. Coral reefs are in danger due to human actions. Also, rainforests have been cut down, which has ruined the habitat of many animals, insects, and birds and contributed to the extinction of certain plants and animals.

How can we stop the Tragedy of the Commons from occurring? Some people believe that everything should have an owner and that nothing should be free to all. But how does someone own the air or the ocean? Others believe that laws and fines will work to make it costly for people to ruin things that belong to everyone. There is certainly no easy solution.

For now, almost everyone agrees that some form of control is necessary. Without controls, we may be unable to preserve the Earth’s natural resources, like air and water. Unquestionably, this would be a tragedy with equally tragic consequences for us all.