The Tragedy of the Commons

1. The Tragedy of the Commons Content lesson Grades 6-8 Victoria Vernacchio

2. The Tragedy of the Commons • The idea was first coined in an article in Science in 1968 by Garrett Hardin • In a situation where the consequences of a course of action are shared among a collective, while the benefits are reaped by an individual, people will tend to take actions that in the long term are detrimental to the group as a whole. This is a tragedy because, in seeking their own personal gain, the members of the group actually ultimately hurt themselves. • Ex: Overgrazing land

3. Video • Below is the link to a brief video explaining the Tragedy of the Commons in easier terms: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLirNeu-A8I

4. Example: Disaster • Public roads are an excellent example of common property shared by many people. Each of these people has his or her own interest in mind —how to get to work as quickly and easily as possible. But when everyone decides that public roads are the best way to meet traveling needs, the roads jam up and slow down overall traffic movement, filling the air with pollutants from idling cars. • In huge cities like New York, this becomes a tragedy because there are so many cars that no one can get to work on time and pollution skyrockets.

5. The Consequences? • Human settlement and population distribution • Too many people in some resource-filled areas, not enough people in other areas • Human migration • Large groups of people moving to a place or away from a place to follow resources (ex, the Trail of Tears) • Economic activities • The local economy depends on resources: farming, fishing, ranching, oil and gas production, tourism • Trade • Conquest, conflict, and war • Wealth and quality of life

6. Consequences, contd. • Trade • Nations trade each other for resources that they may not be able to produce on their own • Conquest, conflict, and war • Other nations try to control resource-rich territories (Ex, diamond conflict in Africa • Wealth and quality of life • The well-being and wealth of a place is determined by the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people in that place (standard of living)

7. Example: Success • Many fisheries in Eastern Canada and the United States are community run – the group as a whole has determined a set of rules that will maintain the population of fish for many years. • Instead of pursuing each individual’s wants through their own actions, they chose to act collaboratively. This actually protects their individual interests in the long run by protecting against depletion of fish by overfishing.