Paper Topic:

Outline Goldfarb Chapter 2.4 The Tragedy of the Commons indentifying the major points along with your reaction/opinion to each one. Read Goldfarb Chapter 2.4 The Tragedy of the Commons. Explain why Hardins views lead to the postion he has taken leading

Running Head : The Tragedy of the Commons

The Population Bomb

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In the 1968 essay The Tragedy of the Commons ' the controversial Texas-based ecologist Garrett Hardin argues against the reconcilability of individual interests with the common good in the struggle for finite resources (Hardin , 1968

Hardin 's argument is not an entirely new one , and the title of his essay originated from an 1833 book written by William Forster Lloyd . In this book he examined land holdings during medieval times and observed that when

pasture lands are made common ' cattle owners will attempt to increase the size of their herds . However , this leads to overgrazing and soon the herds exceed the carrying capacity of the commons . As such , the Smithian notion of the invisible hand , in which the mass pursuit of self-interest leads to a common good , is rendered questionable (Lloyd 1833

Hardin 's essay begins by quoting an article on the future of nuclear warfare written by J .B Wiesner and H .F . York , which concluded that the dilemma of decreasing national security in the face of increasing military power is a dilemma that possesses no technical solution . Hardin picks up on this note and contends that the problems raised by human population growth and the use of Earth 's natural resources are of the same class : they too cannot be solved by technical means (Hardin , 1968

Hardin builds his case by pointing out the limits of Earth 's carrying capacity , not just in terms of supporting human populations , but doing so at a level which constitutes acceptable quality of life . As such , the maximization of human population would require a degree of resource abstinence that would place everyone on subsistence levels of consumption . Furthermore , he concludes that there are no foreseeable technical solutions to this dilemma (Hardin , 1968

Hardin goes on to examine the possibilities of non-technical solutions to issues facing population and resource supply , particularly resource management ones . He illustrates this with the scenario of a pasture shared by local herders . It is assumed that herders aspire to maximize their yield by increasing the size of their herds . However , for each additional herd member , their comes the following dilemma : for each animal that the herder can profit from , the pasture becomes slightly degraded . In effect , the pasture becomes degraded in proportion to each increase in profit potential within the herd (Hardin , 1968

Complicating the matter is the fact that the distribution of effects is inequitable : While the benefits of increased profits go to an individual herder , the drawbacks affect all the herders using the pasture . A herder who weighs these consequences would rationally conclude that he should expand his herd , but when every herder follows this course of action the pasture heads towards a nigh terminal state of degradation (Hardin 1968

Because the gain is always greater to each herder than the divided cost of his actions , Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush each pursuing his own best interest...

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