The Tragedy of the Commons

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The Tragedy of the Commons
“The tragedy of the commons” refers to an economic problem that results when individuals exploit shared resources to a level that demand exceeds supply and resources become damaged or unavailable. Specifically, the Tragedy of the Commons was written by Garret Hardin who was mainly concerned with overpopulation (Hardin 1243). He gave an example of a commonly used land and explained that the land could remain adequate provided that the number of herders grazing cattle on it is controlled through natural mechanisms like diseases or war. However, if the population were to continue increasing then the land would become too small to support the population and each person using the land, would act in self-interest and continue to tax resources of the commons irrespective of the fact that if enough people do so, they will damage the land.
The tragedy of the commons acts as a metaphor for the fate of the earth because it has implications for sustainability and use of resources. Ideally, depletion of non-renewable resources may be taken as an aspect of the tragedy of the commons caused by overpopulation (Hardin 1244). Most of the times, non-renewable resources like water are used as if they were limitless in supply. Another aspect of the tragedy of commons is pollution. As the population increases, the dependence on fossil fuels which cause environmental pollution also increases. In the end, it would be expensive to purify the already polluted environment.

In a nutshell, commons are pools of resources that are commonly-owned. When the population increases and every individual becomes rational, people deplete non-renewable resources and cause environmental pollution. Therefore, to prevent the tragedy of the commons and its negative impacts, there is a need to control the population by restraining reproduction (Hardin 1248). However, this cannot be done by appealing to conscience, but by gaining people’s consent to a system of coercion.

Work Cited
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162.3859 (1968): 1243-1248.