Tragedy of Commons

Tragedy of Commons

the conflict between the short-term interests of the individual and the long-term welfare of society.

What can be done?

Garrett Hardin coined the term, Tragedy of the Commons in an article he wrote in 1968. He says that problems that fall into this category have no easy solutions. They require changes in human attitudes and behavior.

Why Tragedy??

The Tragedy of the Commons is created by an economic situation where individuals share a common resource. If everyone shares correctly and only takes what they need or what was agreed on, then everyone would get their fair share of that resource. However, if certain individuals feel like they can “get away” with taking more than their fair amount, they will deplete the common resource and there will be nothing left for anyone.

Open Ended

What is the main reason why the Tragedy of the Commons occurs?

Consider this situation...

For example, a mother buys her 4 children a box of cookies. She tells the children they can have one cookie each, once a day. This will ensure that the box of cookies will last the entire week. However, if one of the children decides to “sneak” an extra cookie or two each day, (thinking that no one will notice) they start to throw off the “cookie balance”. As time goes on, let’s imagine that one of the other children decides to do the same thing (take an extra cookie each day), the “cookie balance” will be thrown off even quicker and the box of cookies might only last a couple days. In the end, the two cheating children got to enjoy the extra cookies for a few days, but took away from everyone by acting selfishly.

Open Ended

What could the mother do to make sure each of her kids follows her “cookie rule”?

Now this... Overgrazing

Picture a rural setting with villages surrounded by grassland open to herdsmen to graze their sheep. This"commons" is available to all shepherds in the community. Imagine that the common pasture is supporting the maximum number of sheep that it can. There is just enough grass to keep all the sheep well fed, but no more. Adding sheep would mean less food for each sheep.

Open Ended

Create an incentive or law that will ensure that people no longer try to take advantage of others in this scenario.

The problem is...

individuals who act with their own selfish interests in mind feel immediate gain from their actions and do not think about the negative things that could occur in the future. Like the shepherd who adds an extra sheep to his flock, the benefit is instant while the negative part is not felt until much later. But when many shepherds act this way they all suffer.

However, 

for each shepherd it appears they can gain an advantage by increasing the size of their herd. More sheep means more wool and a greater income. However, in doing this there will be slightly less food for each of the sheep and overtime the land will become overgrazed (overeaten). Once land becomes overgrazed, grass no longer grows on the pasture,leaving the sheep with nothing to eat and the shepherds to struggle just to keep their flocks alive. However, because each shepherd does not think that adding an extra sheep or two to the flock will make that big of a difference to the land in the short term, they feel that the risk is small and the gain of extra wool is worth it. The tragedy is that when all shepherds act this way, the small losses add up to a disaster for everyone.

Open Ended

Come up with one reason why people acted selfishly in this scenario?

So how do we make people change their attitudes and behavior?

One way to do this is to impose heavy fines or taxes that discourage people from acting greedy. For example, having each shepherd to require a special tag for each of their sheep can help track the number of sheep on the pasture. If they are caught without the tag on their sheep, they have to pay a fine after the first offense. After a second offense, maybe they lose the privilege of having their sheep out on the pasture for 3 months.The consequences can get worse as the person continues to disobey the law, until they are no longerallowed to have sheep graze in the community

Another way...

offer positive incentives such as tax breaks, where shepherds get rewarded for doing the right thing. So when they sell their wool, they make more money because they did not deplete the grass on the fields.

Open Ended

Why do you think it is so hard to get people to change their behavior? (Hint: What do people often overlook when they are being greedy?)

Waste in the Waterway

In some cases the problem is not one of taking too much from a common resource. Instead the problem is putting too much in. With a small population it is not a problem to dump waste into a river or water source. However, as populations have increased, we have seen an increase in polluted water. Sewage treatment plants often clean and filter out many of the waste products found in water after we use it.

In Addition, 

waterways can cleanse themselves of fertilizers or even waste from grazing animals to a certain degree. As long as the load of the waste is not too great, the sewage treatment plant, river or water source can maintain a clean balance. However, if there is too much waste, the river or water source becomes polluted, especially during heavy rainstorms that flood sewage treatment plants (floods do not allow for proper waste removal because treatment plants cannot keep up with all the extra water flowing through).

Open Ended

How can you apply the Tragedy of the Commons to this scenario?

Poll

TRUE or FALSE: If everyone in a neighborhood applies fertilizer to their lawn, they could fall into The Tragedy of the Commons. Remember fertilizer pollutes waterways and can harm fish and other wildlife)

• True

• False

Greenhouse Gas

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is constantly being polluted into the atmosphere and throwing off the carbon cycle. Part of the way the carbon cycle works is that the oceans and forests absorb CO2. However, when factories, cars, and power plants constantly pump CO2 into the atmosphere faster than it can be absorbed naturally,the commons are overwhelmed.

Think of the Earth's atmosphere as a large bathtub...

Imagine the concentration of greenhouse gases as the water in the bathtub. Water flows into the tub like CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere. Like the water running down the drain, CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. If the rate of flow from the faucet into the tub is equal to what is going down the drain, the water level remains the same. If you turn up the faucet, the level rises and the tub may overflow. Right now our atmospheric bathtub is filling twice as fast as it is draining!

Now...

As greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming the balance of our planet is being thrown off. As the Earth’s temperatures increase we have seen a greater frequency of extreme weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts. This also leads to wildfires, mudslides, loss of crops and the extinction of many species among other things.

Multiple Choice

What is the definition of the tragedy of the commons

• When humans overuse natural resources

• When the short-term, positive effects go to the individual, while the long-term, negative effects are spread out to the group

• When humans act selfishly, thinking of their own self-interest

• When plants and animals compete for space, resources, and/or food

Multiple Choice

Which of the following are both examples of the tragedy of the commons?

• Overfishing and earthquakes

• Pollution and overpopulation

• Flooding and tsunamis

• Super-germs and virus outbreaks

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a solution to the tragedy of the commons?

• Improving literacy among urban populations

• Inventing stronger antibiotics

• Raising tax rates for large corporations

• Passing a law to set limits for fishermen

Multiple Choice

6. What are considered "the commons"

• Common house hold items like knifes, spoons, and forks

• A renewable resource owned by no one and available for use by anyone at little or no charge

• A field where college students can sit outside in between classes

Multiple Choice

Which of these is not an example of a commons?

• The air

• The ocean

• Privately owned farms

Multiple Choice

In the movie "The Lorax" what was considered the commons?

• The barbaloo bears

• The truffula trees

• The Once-ler

Multiple Choice

Sustainability

• The process of maintaining resources so they are not depleted or permanently damaged.

• The ability to read minds

• The ability to save resources for years and years

Multiple Choice

In the movie "The Lorax" was was one unintended consequence of clear cutting the tuffula trees?

• The environment was destroyed

• The Once-ler made a lot of money

• The Once-ler got his family jobs

Multiple Choice

What is overgrazing?

• When cows eat so much they get sick and throw up

• When a section of land is used for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods.

• When horses eat too much grass

Multiple Choice

What is a negative consequence of overgrazing?

• vegetation or grass is damaged and the ground can no longer be used for feeding or agriculture

• your animals cannot graze for one day

• your animals get sick

Multiple Choice

What is overfishing?

• The removal of bad fish from a environment

• The removal of fish/ species of fish from a body of water at a rate that the species can not replenish in time.

• The removal of dead fish from a body of water

Multiple Choice

What is one negative consequence oversfishing can lead to?

• Fish can grow two heads

• Fish species can adapt in order to escape fishermen

• Fish species can either become depleted or very underpopulated in that given area.

Multiple Choice

What can be done to solve problems related to the tragedy of the commons?

• Privatization

• Regulations, restrictions and quotas

• Public education

• All of these

Multiple Select

True or false: As populations grow, the tragedy of the commons will become more of a problem.

• True

• False