The Tragedy of the Commons is What We Fear Most but are We Doing Enough to Stop It?
In Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” he quotes, “The population problem has no technical solution: it requires a fundamental extension in morality”. In 1968 Hardin was among the first to break past the social barriers of taboo discussions and start a dialogue about the population problem. Hardin offered insight on our biggest threats accompanied with the population problem and gave what were at the time, drastic solutions. He wanted to speak to an audience who would understand the magnitude of this issue and at the time many brushed this reading off. It appears now that people are truly grasping what tragedy of the commons means for us.
Hardin rejected the idea that improved food production technology would allow for the population growth of the hypothesized future because the more people there are, the less each person’s share must be; technology can’t alter this fact. He stated we must stabilize the population and decide on which goods and services need to be revolutionized or cut out to handle a given population. He focuses on the “commons” of society, which are un-owned commonly-held or owned resources that essentially are “free” to society and aren’t owned or fed into the markets. Because human nature has natural tendencies to be self-interest focused this leads to each person trying to maximize their gains. Now multiply that by an entire population and you have quite a challenging attitude hurdle to overcome in stabilizing a population. And as long as there’s no immediate or direct threat to a person, rather the damage and repercussions are divided among all who share the commons, humans will continue to exploit a given commons to ruin unless individual restrictions are placed on those who utilize the resources from the commons. Now in the case of Hardin’s piece, he aimed to bridge this fundamental understanding into population and population growth. He offers the idea that family size must be regulated as well as resources but through “mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon” terms. By regulating as well as factoring in externalities to the costs of damage and the threat of ruin, you form a more aware and forcefully sustainable society that will override human self-interest and inevitable ruin through law.
This piece by Garret Hardin has been hailed as one of the most important pieces of environmental writing in the past century, influencing and shaping the way we view environmental concerns today. The metaphor of the commons that Hardin utilized can be applied to any given non-renewable resource and even in story-telling. In Dr. Suess’ The Lorax, a ruined industrialist named the Once-ler recounts his “Tragedy of the Commons” to a young boy explaining how corporate greed turned the one beautiful Truffula forest into a tree-less, desolate land with no visible future. The once-ler chopped down one tree to make a Thneed which was immediately popular, so he decides to make a business out of it despite the warnings of the Lorax who speaks for the trees and animals. What started as a few trees, became more and more, and as the Once-ler gained profit he just cut more and more and more… as the water and air grew polluted for the Bar-ba-loots and Humming Fish were forced to migrate. Despite the plea of the Lorax for the animals and Truffula trees the Once-ler said he will keep on growing his business. At this moment, the last Truffula tree falls and a monument is left where they leave the desolate forest reading, “UNLESS”. The Once-ler thought about this for a long time and when recounting all this to the boy he tells him, “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”. The Once-ler gives the last Truffula seed to the boy and begs him to grow a forest from it so the animals can return. “Truffula trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it with fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back”. The once-ler quickly learned with no Truffula there is no profit, no life, no future.
Just as in” Tragedy of the Commons” The Lorax displays the power of human nature and reckless behavior of industries and people. In the face of economic gain, it’s important that we act as the Lorax for our lands and resources especially when our voices are much quieter than those of industries. The Lorax states, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues… I am the Lorax, and I’ll yell and I’ll shout for the fine things on earth that are on their way out!”. The battles fought over land are always just about land and there lies the problem. This excludes the needs of the land to remain fruitful and healthy. The needs of the land can’t be excluded in the discussions for the needs of business’ and people. These delegations and regulations of land can be extremely complicated, but the scary part is all of the things that the once disregarded environmental authors screamed and warned against in the 1900s and even earlier with Thomas Malthus’s 1798 essay on the principle of Population, are the effects we’re feeling right now; and whether you believe in population control or management of resources, it’s time for everyone to start having honest, deep and harsh dialogue about the pivotal actions societies and markets need to take, the kind of world we’d like to leave future generations and creating concrete steps towards a sustainable future. The tragedy of the commons isn’t just a fable or explanation of a form of land use, the tragedy of the commons it’s what we fear most and it’s happening all around us and our voice is not loud enough. It’s time to stand up in a time when government action is weak or detrimental to the environment and speak for our Truffula trees, Bar-ba-loots and Humming Fish.