Garrett Hardin's Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor

Environmentalists like to use the metaphor of Earth as a “spaceship” to imply that the world possesses an infinite amount of resources available. However, in reality, the depletion of Earth’s energy and resources imposes a serious risk on the environment and well-being of future generations, such as your children. As Garrett Hardin explains in his article “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor”, the world resembles more of a “lifeboat” where the wealthy are in the lifeboat, while “the ocean outside of the lifeboat swim the poor of the world”. Like a lifeboat, our land has a limited capacity to support a growing population. Even so, isn't it morally wrong that the rich get the priority and not the poor? The concept of compassion and morality is irrelevant in this situation, because it is every man/woman for him/herself. If everyone gets onto the lifeboat, the boat will sink and everyone will die. Our current global population is 7.4 billion and growing. However, our current food supply can only provide for 2 billion people. Even now, we are using 2 to 3 times the amount of resources than what is sustainable. If you do the math, then it’s easy to see how distributing resources equally in all countries is an unattainable, nearly impossible …show more content…
The World Food Bank combats world hunger and provides food for emergencies such as war, civil conflict, and natural disasters. While this seems like a humanitarian solution, it is actually an illusion where “taxpayers”, a fancy word for the working class, are spending billions of dollars on surplus grain and machinery for populated, developing countries. The agriculture industry gains the most from the increasing demands and prices of farm products. Today, the U.S. pays $35 billion for economic-aid programs, most of which goes to Israel for military