Explore the focus, and aim, of Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” and

discuss the impacts that the article has had upon environmental policy and

international development.

Introduction

Trained as an ecologist and microbiologist, and a Professor of Human Ecology at the

University of California for more than 30 years (Garret Hardin Society), Garret Hardin

became famous for confronting the human condition and its connection with the

natural world (Garret Hardin Society). Published in 1968, the “Tragedy of the

Commons” was Hardin’s conceptional article that directly confronted this issue and

“aimed to call people's attention to the fact that the problem of dividing the resources

has to be done in a way that fits in with human nature” (Pearlman N, Educational

Communities). To Hardin’s surprise, this article became one of the most cited

academic articles ever to be published that framed the debate about common

property for the last 47 years, and has exerted a baleful influence upon international

development and environmental policy (Fairlie S, The College for Enlightened

Agriculture). This essay will focus on analysing Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons”,

exploring the key global problem of pollution, that is discussed within the article, and

aim to identify what Hardin’s view of pollution is and how pollution interacts with the

commons, and what is responsible for this interaction. Hardin’s view will then be

compared to content related to pollution and wider geographical issues, before

summarising how his view has influenced environmental policy and international

development from 47 years ago, when the article was published, to the modern era.

Main Discussion on “The Tragedy of the Commons” and its impact on

environmental policy and international development.

Confronting the bureaucratic and scientific institutions.-Playing with Fire?

“The Tragedy of the Commons” was published on the 13th December 1968, this was

after Hardin had conducted a presentation, during a meeting of the Pacific Division of

the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), at Utah State

University, that was based upon the forthcoming article (cited from page 1 of the

“Tragedy of the Commons”). The Pacific Division of the AAAS is the most senior of

the four divisions of the AAAS that has held annual meetings every year since 1912,

excluding the years during the second and the first World War, and is composed of

some of the world’s leading scientists through 1912-2010 (Aldrich M et al.). Following

Hardin’s presentation and publishing of “The Tragedy of the Commons”, the Pacific

Division of the AAAS was among many scientific, and bureaucratic, institutions and

organisations who saw Hardin’s work as a confrontation by criticising the current use

of the ‘Commons’ and a stark warning that this usage of the ‘Commons’ was

unsustainable (Garret Hardin Society) (Fairlie S, The College for Enlightened

Agriculture). A ‘Common’ is defined as “a land or resources belonging to or affecting

the whole of a community” (Oxford Dictionaries). In geographical terms typical

examples of ‘commons’ include ‘commons’ related to particular land such as

Antarctica being a global terrestrial common, apart from fishing activity that dates

back to 2005(Antarctic Fisheries: History and prospects), a natural resource such as

the North Sea oil fields (Bradshaw M); or a common that affects the whole of the

global population such as the Earth’s atmosphere or the open oceans (Pickerill J).

From the time of Hardin’s publication of “The Tragedy of the Commons” (1968) to the

modern era, the ‘Commons’ have been a key issue and have been, and will remain,

in conjunction with some of the most pressing problems facing human society; global

problems. Three key global problems that have gained increased awareness from

scientific, and bureaucratic institutions and organisations, are global warming,

pollution and overpopulation (College of Natural Resources); these key global

problems are what a majority of the content within Hardin’s “Tragedy of the

Commons” article is focused on. Hardin’s aim is to explain how the current

anthropogenic use of the ‘commons’ is contributing to pollution, and furthermore can

present a ‘Tragedy of the Commons situation’.

What does Hardin mean by “The Tragedy of the Commons?”

The maintenance of a common requires an effort by all stakeholders of the common,

or by anyone who is affected by the common, the community. By doing this, all

stakeholders and community members involved will share the costs associated with

maintaining the common, which will lead to all community members and stakeholders

gaining a share of the benefits of maintaining the common (Bodnar T, Salathé M

Governing the Global Commons with Local Institutions). An example of this are clean

natural resources, such as water, located within a community that require waste

control and treatment; if all community members and stakeholders share the costs of

treating their common water supply, then all will benefit by having a sustainable, clean

water supply. However, a ‘Tragedy of the Commons situation arises when particular

stakeholders or community members begin reaping the benefits of the common

without contributing to the cost of maintaining the common; this is known as a free-

riding individual. Despite this being beneficial to the free-riding individual, the common

can’t provide a constant supply without being maintained over a long period of time

and is therefore the common is exhausted, hence a ‘tragedy of the commons situation’

(Bodnar T, Salathé M Governing the Global Commons with Local Institutions) (Hardin,

Extensions of the Tragedy of the Commons). In “The Tragedy of the Commons” article,

Hardin applies the ‘Tragedy of the Commons situation’ in terms of a pasture, the

common, used for grazing that is open to all herdsman located around the pasture.

Due to “each herdsman seeking to maximize his gain” by wanting to keep as many

sheep as possible on the pasture, the carrying capacity, the number of people or

animals that a given area of land will support(Oxford English Dictionaries), is exceeded

and the common pasture will degrade and be exhausted, as a result causing pollution.

According to Hardin, this scenario is one of many occurring across the planet and also

applies to commons used for natural resource extraction. In certain contexts, this

statement is true in the case of rapid deforestation in Indonesia where commons in the

form of rainforests are being destroyed in order to make way for modern development,

and for economic prosperity, which has left behind clouds of pollution that have been

recorded to be spreading to nearby islands and Malaysia (International Institute for

Environment and Development). However, in other contexts this statement is false

because sustainable management of resources such as European fisheries. Initial

overfishing has, in the past, caused severe open ocean ecosystem degradation as fish

are key to the functioning of the ocean food web; but this led to the EU introducing

tougher regulations on fishing so that fish populations could recover (Marine Policy:

Structural Policy for fisheries 1971-1999).

Who is to blame for the increasing frequency of ‘Tragedy of the Commons situations’?

Hardin believes that the rapidly expanding human

population has sole responsibility for “The

Tragedy of the Commons” because of “putting

chemical, radioactive and heat wastes into

water, and noxious and dangerous fumes into

the air”. If this assumption is correct, Hardin

believes that “men will control their individual

fecundity so as to produce the optimum

population” but acknowledges that this

solution cannot be found as a basic human

right is the freedom to breed, amongst other

reasons. There is a common debate as to whether

Earth is a finite world, and that if anthropogenic

resource extraction continues to degrade

commons and the human population

continues to grow, will the Earth’s

carrying capacity will be

exceeded? If this is the case,

Hardin believes that further

“tragedy of the commons” will

occur to the extent that commons

such as the Earth’s atmosphere

will be at threat of global problems

from pollution, caused by “tragedy

of the commons situations”, and

the impacts of global warming be

severely intensified. The Earth’s

atmosphere has previously been

threatened by anthropogenic

industrial action causing the

Figure 1-The Hole in the Ozone Layer.

Figure 2- The reaction of CFC's with ozone, causing the hole in the ozone layer.

release of CFC’s which have been proved to cause the hole in the ozone layer (Karplus

W, The Heavens are falling.). Hardin’s warning through his article “The Tragedy of the

Commons” has led to increased regulations and awareness of the importance of

maintaining the Commons and what the future could hold if no action was taken.

Examples of action being taken include the introduction of acts such as the 1990

Pollution Prevention Act(Johnson, S. Reaction to Proaction.)

Conclusion

To conclude this essay, from 1968-2015 there have been many changes in environmental policies, acts such as the 1990 Pollution Prevention Act, amongst many others, have been introduced and increased regulations on many industries, such as the fishing industry with the Policy for Fisheries 1971-1999. The global human population is more aware of the impacts of natural resource extraction and has become more responsible with the use of the Earth’s commons. The key force behind these changes has been Garrett Hardin his article “The Tragedy of the Commons”. Hardin directly confronted first the Pacific Division of the AAAS, before publishing his work to the globe and confronting many bureaucratic and scientific institutions of the world. Despite Hardin himself doubting that the article would have much influence on the institutions, the institutions listened and Hardin’s work became one of the most cited academic articles ever to be published, that from 1968-2015 framed the debate about common property; and will continue to do so in the future.

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