The Victorian economist, William Forster Lloyd in a pamphlet written in 1833, was the first to coin the expression: “the tragedy of the commons” when he wrote about the effects of overexploitation, or overharvesting, on common land (Tragedy of the commons, n.d). His work was cited in an article by Garret Hardin in 1968, and the concept since then became widely known (Tragedy of the commons, n.d). What is the tragedy of the commons? To be able to grasp and understand the tragedy of the commons, we need to imagine a piece of land owned by the government and used by many herders for their cows. If each herder uses the land to his own advantage, rationally and by thinking about maximizing his own profits, he will let his herd eat the grass available …show more content…
I firmly believe that sustainable economic development is possible while protecting the environment. It is worth noting that 25% of the population is consuming 75% of the world natural resources annually. Sustainable economic development is defined as meeting “the basic needs of people today without ruining the chances of future generations to do the same.” (Sustainable development, n.d). It also means: “incorporating the environment into the economic system […] and recognizing that resources and environments serve economic functions and have positive economic value.”(Beder, 1994). There must be ways to find a balance between economic development and protecting the environment. By resorting to several methods cited in the previous section, I believe the world can prosper by taking care of the environment and by finding ways to sustain itself. In fact, a large number of countries has started to take sustainable development seriously and began integrating its principles into their programs (Sustainable development, n.d). The United Nations is also playing an important role in this matter by establishing specialized units to deal with sustainable development. Sustainable development goes hand in hand with political change (Sustainable development, …show more content…
(2003-2015). Tragedy of the Commons Theory: Definition & Examples. Study.com. Retrieved from: http://study.com/academy/lesson/tragedy-of-the-commons-theory-definition-examples.html Hardin, G. “The tragedy of the commons.” Science, New Series, vol. 162, no. 3859, pp. 1243-1248, retrieved from: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~asmayer/rural_sustain/governance/Hardin%201968.pdf Howarth, R. (2012, September) Sustainability, well-being and economic growth. Minding Nature, Volume 5, Number 2. Retrieved from: http://www.humansandnature.org/sustainability-well-being-and-economic-growth Marten, G. (2001). Chapter 10 - Unsustainable Human - Ecosystem Interaction, chapter in the book: Human Ecology, Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development. Earthscan Publications. Retrieved from: http://gerrymarten.com/human-ecology/chapter10.html Overexploitation (n.d). Wikipedia. Retrieved on Thursday October 22, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overexploitation Stewart, R. (2005). Tragedy of the commons. Ocean World. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University. http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/tragedyofthecommons.htm Sustainability (2015). Environment and Ecology. Retrieved from:
The title of the article is The Environmental Crisis: The Devil is in the Generalities, written by Ross McKitrick. It appears in the April 2008 edition of the Academic Matters journal. The author is an associate professor and director of graduate studies at the Department of Economics at the University of Guelph. In discussing the environment, the author argues that the topic is rather wide to use vague terms to define or understand it. The issue is further complicated by politicians who use it as a campaign scapegoat, in which they paint it as a crisis.
Gr3 Unit 2 Learning Plan A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats and the Animals that Call Them Home by Marilyn Singer A Symphony of Whales by Steve Schuch "A Friend to the Rain forest" (Reading A-Z ) "Deep in the Ocean" (Reading A-Z) "The Hot Desert" (Reading A-Z) "Rain Forest Destruction" Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ6uP1HemkI (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. "Ocean Pollution-
Agricultural Economist Nils Olsen predicted that the world would overpopulate and not have enough food to sustain the world. This warning encouraged farmers to yield as much as the could. Despite Nils Olsens’ false prognosis the effect it had on a farmers ideology was
A well-known author and environmental critic and activist, he holds nature and its conservation very close to heart. As such, he chose to write this piece in order to persuade, or rather rally, its readers to his cause; a large one at that. His piece discusses how people’s constant demand for both technology and innovation has taken a toll on the environment. His belief that, “A good future is implicit in the soils, forests, grasslands, marshes, deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes and oceans that we have now,” (Berry 24-29) a statement that exemplifies his cause. However, like Kennedy does in his own struggle, he targets those he opposes, arguing “The higher aims of “technological progress” are money and ease.”
Thomas Malthus, claims that, “The principal and most permanent cause of poverty has little or no relation to forms of government, or the unequal division
Jane Goodall, a primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist, explains that the greatest risk to our future is lacking enthusiasm and concern about its outcome. Considering Goodall is extremely environmentally keen, it is more than likely she is emphasizing this towards the future of the entire ecosystem, including plants and animals, rather than only the future of the human race. She explains that if the human race falls to a deficiency of caring about our environment, it can and will lead to a vast threat to the future of the world’s ecosystem. Often humans forget about the importance of the ecosystem and instead we become caught up in ourselves and our own individual needs. Goodall is stressing that if these egotistical human acts continue to occur, the future of our ecosystem is in jeopardy.
Once the environment is perceived as an equal part of an individual’s community, the human ethical spirit will respect the environment, cherish its benefits and beauty, and be obligated to preserve it. If future generations are taught to create harmony between the three pillars of society: economic, social, and environmental, further damage to the environment can be
Human social systems and the environment are both very complex and highly adaptive. Complex because they consist of many different parts that are intricately connected. Adaptive because they are highly influential, both internally and towards each other, working towards the most effective path to survival in an ever changing landscape. The disposition of a society strongly affects its peoples attitude towards nature, their behaviors, and thus their effect on the environment. Ecosystem services are imperative for human well being, but how the environment is modified to obtain these benefits differs greatly between societies.
According to world wildlife organisation, overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction. Gathering as many fish as possible may seem like a profitable practice, but overfishing has serious consequences. The results may not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life. According to the research world wildlife organisation, 1.6% of the world’s oceans have been declared as marine protected areas (MPAS), and 90% of existing MPAS are open to fishing.
Imagine you live in a world where there are no plants, forest, animals, or oceans all there is in where these things us to be is concrete, landfills of garbage, and buildings. This is what will transpire if we do not protect or wildlife, wildlife conservation is a very important situation as it helps keeps plants and animals off the endangered list. According to the World Wild Life organization there are twenty-six endangered animals and twenty-one critically endangered animals this is very overwhelming as animals are an important part of our environment and ecosystem. With human population increasing at an alarming rate, with the growing rate of humans there is going to be less land for animals and plants, more man-made pollution and plastic debris will go into the oceans, lakes, and streams.
The proponents of this theory argued that food scarcity occurs when the availability of food is less than the food necessity of the population. The primary developers of this approach were Adam Smith and Malthus who argued that famines are primarily caused by a sudden decline in food availability. They consider natural drivers as the main causes for food insecurity and analyses their influence on harvest failures and advances in prices. They are supply oriented, in this sense the Food Availability Decline theory differs from climate theory. Food availability decline theory is vulnerable to criticism because it confined on food availability at local levels instead of including assessments on food availability at aggregate or macro levels.
The conclusion conveyed at the end of this paper, will be that sustainable development is a concept with weaknesses however, the strengths outweigh them. To begin with, the concept of sustainable development famously culminated in 1987 with the United Nations 'Commission on Environment and Development ' also known as the 'Brundtland Report ' (Everard & Longhurt, 2017; pp. 1244). The article introduced, the most widely known definition of Sustainable development as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).
We have grown to see our parents have children, build houses, buy cars cultivate farmlands, explore timber and many other aspects. I think that this is the time to ask ourselves the question how good or bad are our actions to the environment? We should not inherit the habits of our forefathers because we are now responsible for the consequences of our action base on consequential ethics which states that it is common for us to determine our moral responsibility by weighing the consequences of our actions. According to consequentialism, correct moral conduct is determined solely by a cost-benefit analysis of an action's consequences. And in this case, if we apply sustainable development and consequential ethics, I am sure that we will protect our environment looking at it as a social
Ever since Garrett Hardin’s publishing of the Tragedy of Commons in 1968, it has been used extensively to understand environmental problems. The tragedy of the commons can be defined as when individuals acting in rational self interest seek to maximize the benefit of Earth’s resources as fast as they can and in doing so, lack an incentive to conserve and regulate these resources (Olive, 2016). This concept can be seen in the 2014 film Damnation by Travis Rummel and Ben Knight. Below, it is shown how the dams in the movie exemplify key characteristics of a commons, why problems of the dams are hard to overcome and how these problems can be solved. By examining the dams shown in the film, it is evident that the problem of the dams is an accurate example of the tragedy of the commons.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) states that environmental education is vital in imparting an inherent respect for nature amongst society and in enhancing public environmental awareness. UNESCO emphasises the role of environmental education in safeguarding future global developments of societal quality of life, through the protection of the environment, eradication of poverty, minimization of inequalities and insurance of sustainable