Tragedy of the Commons explained.
First of all, what are the commons?
The commons refers to any shared resource that nobody really owns (or, nobody should
own).
Things like the oceans and rivers, the atmosphere, forests, fish, and fossil fuels such as oil
and coal.
The term “Tragedy of the Commons” was first coined by the American ecologist and
philosopher, Garrett Hardin, in an essay he wrote back in 1968.
His essay made reference to a pamphlet that was published by William Forster Lloyd, an
English economist, back in 1833.
In his pamphlet, Lloyd gives an example of a shared parcel of land.
Neighbouring farmers were entitled to let their cows graze as was custom in English
villages.
Let’s say there are three farmers – Jeff, David, and Donald.
It’s understood that each farmer can only graze a certain number of cows in order to
preserve the pasture.
The farmers are happy as they are getting a predictable supply of milk and the cows
are happy munching away on grass.
However, one day, Donald notices that there’s a high demand for milk and cheese in a neighbouring
village and decides that he could produce some more if he just grazed a few more cows.
He knows that Jeff and David probably won’t notice as they’re off doing their own thing.
A few months later, Donald is raking in more money.
Jeff gets word of this and decides that it’s in his best interest to graze more cows.
He figures Donald is doing it already, so why shouldn’t he also benefit from the extra
cheese demand.
David says it’s not right, but he finds that he doesn’t have much power to do anything.
A few more months go past, and Donald realises there’s a couple more nearby villages that
need extra milk.
He increases his herd size again realising that there’s still plenty of pasture.
Jeff follows suit as he doesn’t want to miss out on the new found fortune.
David is very sceptical and starts warning the others that this will end in disaster.
Time goes by, and soon enough, David’s concerns come to fruition.
Most of the pasture has been eaten.
There’s not enough grass to make hay for the Winter and consequently, there are only
two options – let the cows starve, or slaughter them before the cold sets in.
Donald and Bill got greedy and experienced the Tragedy of the Commons firsthand.
From an economic standpoint, it makes sense for the individual farmer to farm more cows.
Economically, they’re better off.
But ultimately, it will deplete or even destroy the pasture, preventing all participants from
grazing.
In the end, nobody wins.
And this is exactly what is happening today with other shared resources such as our oceans
and marine life.
The oceans were always thought to be a never-ending food basket.
Australians, on average, consume 25kgs of seafood per year.
(It’s become a bit of an obsession with some people I know).
At their peak, Japanese were eating on average 40kg of seafood a year in 2007.
The Japanese fishing fleet are known for travelling all around the globe in search of this precious
commodity.
The Japanese government have actively tried to encourage increased consumption of fish
and seafood in the Japanese diet.
According to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, over 85% of the world’s fish stocks
are now fished up to full capacity, or are overfished.
The problem is, even if many countries agree that overfishing is a problem and decide to
do something about it, as long as there are a few countries willing to break the rules,
the world’s fish stocks will continue to be disrupted.
The thing is, we can’t predict exactly what will happen if we keep fishing this way.
The marine life balance could be severely upset.
The oceans consist of a complex ecosystem that has developed over millions of years.
If we come in and take away all the tuna, for example, what untold effect will this
have on the ecological balance?
It can only end in disaster.
Other examples of the Tragedy of the Commons include: air pollution, traffic congestion,
unrestricted logging of our rainforests, and the big one – overpopulation.
As we all have to live together on this finite little planet, we need to recognise that our
common resources need to be preserved for future generations.
Focusing on profit, short-term gain, and immediate self-interest is literally killing us.
Don’t be a Donald.
Don’t be a Jeff.
Help save the planet.
And there we have it, the Tragedy of the Commons explained.
Thanks for listening.