The Tragedy of the Commons Kelly Ingliss Weblog公地的悲剧凯利英格利斯的博客.pptVIP

The Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin American Ecologist and Microbiologist (1915-2003) Controversial figure Concerned with overpopulation Pro-abortion Pro-population control by government Pro-assisted suicide Anti-immigration Anti-international aid “The Tragedy of the Commons” Published in Science magazine 1968 Had four children Committed suicide together with his wife when he was 88 (she was 81) Problems with no technical solution Thomas Malthus (1766-1834, English political economist): Population grows exponentially, food supply can only increase arithmetically, so eventually we will starve (or decrease population via wars, disease or anarchy) Some problems cannot be solved with science, e.g. the arms race. Overpopulation and competition for resources is this kind of problem. Since no technical solution, the solution must be political. The Commons Commons: common land available to all for grazing animals, gathering wood, etc. Tragedy of the commons: every farmer will tend to maximize their own profits by increasing their herd or increasing their gathering of resources without regard to the long-term depletion of the land. This is rational because the benefit to the individual farmer (of, for example, grazing one more animal on the commons) is larger than that farmer’s share of the overall depletion of the shared resource (i.e. the commons). Historical commons: not really a free-for-all. Not public land. Only small number of farmers had inherited limited bundles of rights, numbers of animals were limited. The New Commons The tragedy of the commons is a metaphor for anything held in common, used by all freely and not regulated. Everyone will maximize his own benefit to the detriment of the whole. Modern “commons” include: The sea -- overfishing The air, the land, rivers -- pollution The public noise level -- sound pollution National parks – overuse The earth itself (energy, food supply, living standards) -- overpopulation Overpopulation Hardin’s