The Tradegy of the Commons

A detailed Summary of The Tradegy of the Commons

The essay The Tragedy of the Commons makes many points that all lead up to a central idea. These points all revolve around the central idea that there is only a finite amount of land and resources available on the Earth. And that the population of the earth is either approaching or is already at the Earth's carrying capacity. The essay brings up the view that there is no technical solution to the problem of overpopulation and we need to try to develop other ways to limit the population growth instead of relying on technology to save us. Tragedy of the commons also touches on the point that "we" as a people want the maximum good per person. The debate however is over what that "good" is, for some it is wilderness area for hiking or fishing and for others that good is a housing development. The essay states the necessity for the population growth to near or become 0 (where births per year equal deaths per year). There is no prosperous population that has and has had a growth rate or zero. The comparison that the essay uses that of the commons to the earth. The common is a pasture that is open to herdsmen with cattle. At first the commons are fine because there are not enough herdsmen or catt

Hardins common analogy still pertains to modern day situations. An example of this is the George's bank fishery, which was once one of the most productive fish banks in the Atlantic. No regulations were imposed on the fishing bank since it was believed to have an endless supply of fish. Due to its reputation as such a great fishing bank more fisherman and boats came to fish the bank and it became excessively crowded. The fishing became very scarce in comparison to its previous output. Not enough fish could be caught to allow for so many fishing boats and many fishermen had to retire. This is a classic example of the commons and shows what can happen. This shows the need for fishing regulations to keep the number of fishing boats down to a level that is below or even to the carrying capacity of the fish population. This is the same thing that needs to be done with other resources in the world the only problem is how?

Hardins results do have a few weaknesses however. His idea that there is no technical solution to the problem is rather narrow minded. Although I agree with Hardin that we should look for ways to lower the population through incentives or possible tax breaks to have fewer offspring or to have them later in life. I also believe that necessity is the mother of invention and the rate of progress in technology that we have made in the last hundred years or so probably rivals or exceeds the growth or the population. We cannot fathom what techniques or developments that we might develop. I also disagree with Hardin when he states that "unfortunately" the united nations agreed to "the universal declaration or human rights ,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Leominster Massachusetts, Tragedy Commons, population growth, carrying capacity, tragedy commons, fishing boats, carrying capacity land, capacity land, day situations example, situations example, day situations, herdsmen cattle, disagree hardin, technical solution,

Approximate Word count = 1116
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English