Tragedy of the Commons Written by Garret Hardin - Essay Example

?The Tragedy of the Commons written by Garret Hardin is an extensive review of the overexploitation of common resources as done by human beings through generations. There have been a number of researches and arguments separately addressing issues of exploitation of various resources. Works on over-exploitation of water, air and other resources are plenty. These works seek solutions to various issues differentially. This is where Garret Hardin’s point of view becomes of increased relevance. The holistic approach of the author towards the usage of common resources makes the article interesting. He has connected rise in population with the exploitation of resources. This has been stated as the core reason in the deterioration in the quality of the commons. All the other agents which affect the common resources are resultants of population explosion. Taking this approach into account, the arguments of Garret Hardin are holistic in terms of suggesting solutions in the management of the commons. The core argument that the paper makes is that there is no technical solution possible towards the problem of population. There are limitations to bringing in regulations to the rights of people in terms of utilizing resources. According to the author, what is important is to have mutually agreed understandings so that the limits of exploitation are maintained. The author begins the article by citing various proofs to the argument that technical solutions never solve certain problems. The thesis of the article is that the population problem is a task without a technical solution. The peripheral solution sought to tackle this problem has been thoroughly criticized by the author. He has quoted innovations like high yielding varieties of crops and large scale fishing as examples of technologies which was intended to cater for the increasing population but failed to do so. The gradual process of boundaries being created on the use of farmland and other resources has been described. The author refers to pollution as the counter reaction of over population. The arguments posed by the author are convincing as the observations made by him are proving to be true after more than forty years. It must be noted here that the article was written in 1968. The aftermaths of overexploitation of resources were not evidently observable in that period. Thus, in the event of climate change and all the other impacts caused on the environment due to overexploitation of resources, it can be stated that the author could foresee all that. It has been reported that as a consequence of over exploitation of resources, many mountain glaciers will be gone by mid-century; Glacier National Park, for example, will be likely to lose its glaciers by 2030 (Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Part 2, 2011) The basic thesis of the article is that the problem of population has relations with the freedom of breeding. Thus, the choice of people to have control over the usage of resources is the most feasible solution towards the equitable sharing of resources. A sense of mutual coercion has been recommended by the author in order to define to breed or not to breed. The decision to breed lies in the context of utilization of resources, in other terms, the decision to set one’s own limit in utilizing the resources of the nature. According to the author, it is the self-control which would regulate people in judicious use of common resources. The author has cited the case of cattle grazing on a pasture to explain this. Ideally, this is the right mechanism possible to regulate a community to maintain ethical boundaries. However, in the diverse and complicated social and economic setup of today’s world this policy may not be easy to follow. The basic issue here is that ethical understanding of various communities and regions towards the nature and optimal exploration of resources differs largely. It must be interesting to quote here that there are communities in the world which take a divine approach towards nature and use its resources with utmost care and respect. Whereas there are regions where people are less educated about the value of resources and the importance to protect them. Thus, it is very difficult to have a global consensus on understanding the limit of resource exploitation. Analyzing this further, along with the author’s point of view on having self- restrictions on breeding, it should be stated that such a solution is not practically applicable in today’s complex global scenario. The climate change that is happening across the world is an alarming issue which is posing questions over the very existence of human race. The process of climate change is a clear resultant of overexploitation of resources by the ever increasing population. Let us compare this with the example of grazing cattle as included by the author in the article. In the grazing pasture’s case, the grass and other resources of the pasture becomes inadequate for the cattle, as more cattle are introduced to the pasture. Similarly, here the increasing population is gradually crossing the carrying capacity of the entire Earth. Carrying capacity is the maximum pressure that a geographical area can hold. Climate change can be seen as a counter response of the Earth towards the breach of the consensus between nature and human. Over the last century the global average temperatures rose by almost 1.5°F, and the Arctic warmed about twice as much. The oceans have also warmed, especially within 1,000 feet of the surface (Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2011). Data suggests that Green House Gas emission is warming up the Earth and as a consequence it also will change the sea level resulting in flood and drought. This development in the environment can be further connected to the indiscriminate exploitation of resources, as suggested by Hardin. For instance, the greenhouse gases emission is an emission caused by the auto vehicles, power plants and other kinds of human activities. According to the research, the greenhouse gases from human activities are trapping a lot of the Sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in global warming (Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2011). Here it must be noted that the human induced activities like auto vehicles, power plants etc. are tools used for human comfort. These tools, in turn, work on resources tapped from the nature. Thus, as the population is growing more of these tools will be used. This would further mean exponential increase in the exploitation of common resources. There have been ample efforts from various corners to curb climate change. There is a new program which aims at reducing the impact of GHG emissions; it is based on the programs incorporating water use to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation[United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water., 2008 #41] (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2008). For example, a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system monitors the operation of water-system control points, such as pumps, reservoirs and metering stations keeping track of energy usage. The reason why this system should be used is that it makes it easier to monitor the water activity change; another benefit of this system is keeping track of the water usage and cost, which could minimize the energy cost and maximize the efficiency of water usage. There are other ways employed to save energy, like recycling of the public and private drinking water and water from sewer by using alternative energy production. For example, Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant in Pacifica, CA is using solar panels that provide 10–15 percent of its energy needs, resulting in an estimated $100,000 savings annually in energy costs (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2008) However, all these measures work only on the periphery of the problem. The core reason for all these issues are overexploitation of resources which is basically due to the increase in population. Until and unless this problem is properly tackled there cannot be sustainable solutions to issues directly or indirectly related to common resources. It has been argued by the author that it is possible to have a positive contribution to the society and the environment by having ethical control over the decisions to breed. However, if people cannot abandon their own interests then the society should take the responsibility and monitor them. Coercion is the word that goes against freedom but if people cannot realize they are the hazard for our planet or our next generation then the society should monitor their behaviors. These regulations can be in several forms. It could be in the forms of rules and policies set by governmental bodies which can be forcibly imposed on people. Regulations could also be in the form of moral impositions on people. Discouraging people by imposing extra cost and tax is another way of Coercion. As far as controlling the peripheral issues around the population problem is under way, these regulations can be of help. There is one way to reduce the impact of GHG emission - the price of gasoline should be increased. An increase of the price of travel cost would help to reduce the gasoline demand. As far as California is concerned, Gasoline has historically been a relatively inexpensive commodity. Since 1980, the real cost of gasoline has dropped by 40 percent while fleet-average fuel economy has nearly doubled. The average per-mile cost of gasoline in 2004 was nearly half what it was in 1980 (Commission, 2005). Due to the drop of travel cost, more and more householders would like to travel by their own vehicles instead of public transportations. The state and federal government should consider making effort to reduce the demand by increasing the tax. Increasing the usage of hybrid vehicles would also help to reduce the fossil fuel demand or achieve zero-emission in future. Only about 45,000 hybrid vehicles were on the road in 2004, out of a total state vehicle count of more than 26 million (Commission, 2005). This statistics shows that the usage of a hybrid vehicle is still low as the government has not strongly promoted people to buy hybrid vehicles. Providing incentives for public and private fleet owners to buy HEVs could accelerate the rate of market penetration of hybrid vehicles. Public and private fleets in California currently have nearly 6,000 hybrid vehicles (Washington, 2008). Basically, the policy maker could use several strategies to increase the usage of hybrid vehicle. People must be encouraged to use public transportation, such as subway or metro instead of driving their own vehicles. People not only need to recognize that the impact of the GHG emission would accelerate climate change but also must understand the importance of the commons. In other words, people must start to think about giving up and reducing their own desires to share more commons. References 1. Pew Center on Global Climate Change (2011). Climate change 101:impact and science. Retrieved from http://www.pewclimate.org/climate-change-101/overview 2. Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Part 2 (2011). Climate change: overview http://www.pewclimate.org/climate-change-101/overview 3. Commission, C. E. (2005). 2005 Integrated energy policy report (United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water. & National Water Program (U.S.). Climate Change Workgroup.) Commission report / California Energy Commission. Retrieved from http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/24970 4. Washington, D. C. U. S. C. C. S. P. (2008). Abrupt climate change [electronic resource] : final report / U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research, Lead agency: U.S. Geological Survey; contributing agencies; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation. Retrieved from http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS110700 5. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water., & National Water Program (U.S.). Climate Change Workgroup. (2008). National Water Program strategy response to climate change (pp. vi, 101 p. digital, PDF file.). Retrieved from http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS94649 Read More