The Tragedy of the Commons is a principle that is linked to how humans use and abuse the world in the pursuit of our own self-interest. One example of the Tragedy of the Commons is humans’ overfishing of the oceans. By overfishing the ocean (the ocean being the “commons”) we deplete the ocean of fish and other marine life, which alters the planet’s well-being. The ocean’s well-being is imperative to many biological cycles that keep the planet running smoothly. Fishermen continue to fish at an increasing rate, which in many areas has caused the population of marine life to crash. Humans have created “dead zones” in many areas that are completely void of life, and scientists are not hopeful these areas will be able to recover. Fishermen will
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Public roads (the roads being the “commons”) are continuously abused by people trying to get to their location in the shortest amount of time. Everyone has the same self-interst in shortening their transportation time by using highways, but this eventually leads to an increase in traffic which is counterproductive. The immense amount of people that congest these roads contribute to the ongoing pollution of the world’s atmosphere. Highways and public roads are unregulated in the amount of people that can be on them at one time. Therefore, traffic is an example of a common entity to the pubic being abused to the detriment of the whole …show more content…
The world is full of many commons such as air, water, roads, and lands. Anything that cannot be privatized will eventually fall victim to “the Tragedy of the Commons”. Without changing our mindset as a species to become more globally-centered we will eventually abuse all the unregulated resources there are access to. Our society has become very centralized on our own personal issues that many people don’t take into consideration the impacts personal actions can have on the Earth’s environment. Our world would have to redefine what it means to be a citizen of this planet to eradicate the Tragedy of
Public roads (the roads being the “commons”) are continuously abused by people trying to get to their location in the shortest amount of time. Everyone has the same self-interst in shortening their transportation time by using highways, but this eventually leads to an increase in traffic which is counterproductive. The immense amount of people that congest these roads contribute to the ongoing pollution of the world’s atmosphere. Highways and public roads are unregulated in the amount of people that can be on them at one time. Therefore, traffic is an example of a common entity to the pubic being abused to the detriment of the whole …show more content…
The world is full of many commons such as air, water, roads, and lands. Anything that cannot be privatized will eventually fall victim to “the Tragedy of the Commons”. Without changing our mindset as a species to become more globally-centered we will eventually abuse all the unregulated resources there are access to. Our society has become very centralized on our own personal issues that many people don’t take into consideration the impacts personal actions can have on the Earth’s environment. Our world would have to redefine what it means to be a citizen of this planet to eradicate the Tragedy of