Garrett Hardin The Tragedy Of The Commons

Intro:
Consider a math final in a stressful period in high school students’ careers. Due to some freak coincidence, every student in a class has forgotten their pencil--and, every student knows that the more pencils they have, the more they work they can write down for partial credit. A pile of used mechanical pencils sits unregulated in a corner. One student, Dylan, realizes that he can take one of those pencils and get a better grade than others in the class. In fact, he can take as many as he wants. So, despite the hardship that it might cause the other students and the finite nature of the pencils, Dylan moves to take them all. Unfortunately, so does every other student in the room. The pencils are quickly grabbed, distributed unfairly, and used inefficiently. Every student fails the test and the pencils are unusable for any future classes. …show more content…
Hardin’s oft-cited work suggests that when people are exposed to an unregulated common-poll resource (CPR), they will inevitably deplete it to satisfy their own, often short-term, interests. His theory remains a pillar of modern human ecology and environmental study. It is used to frame a variety of problems related to the commons, including overfishing, deforestation, groundwater reserves, wildlife reservations, traffic, and pollution. This paper will examine the possible solutions for the Tragedy of the Commons, and identify what kind of governmental policies are the most effective. I will focus on air pollution in comparative case study examining global governments’ attempts at regulation. As a result of the comparison, I hope to find a common thread connecting what works and what does not work in regards to CPR