The Victory of the Commons

Some visitors to the blog have asked for more information on Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons and how it relates to One Th!ng.

Hardin's 1968 essay used the following hypothetical example to describe a negative phenomenon that he saw occurring throughout history: A socially stable community of herdsman all graze their cattle in a shared field ("the commons"). One cattleman adds one cow to his herd assuming his actions will have little to no impact on the shared grazing land and its users. The cattleman increases his profits by a small increment, but simultaneously decreases by the same small increment the amount of available grazing land for the rest of the cattlemen's herds. Other cattlemen also add one more animal to their herds, each thinking that "just one more" will not impact the surrounding herdsmen. The result: multiple herd additions lead to a significant decrease in the available grazing land in the shared commons, the land can no longer sustain the herdsmen and their cattle and all move on to consume other greener pastures.

It is important to note that Hardin was writing in defense of private property and his interpretations are therefore biased towards his own values.  Furthermore, he is not an anthropologist and fails to use any cross-cultural examples to support his ideas (in fact, economist Elinor Ostrom has since refuted his Hardin's theory based on evidence from Guatemala, Nepal, and other places and was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for her research).  Nonetheless, Hardin's theory explains how and why the negative effects of human activities can grow at exponential rates into unmanageable monsters and reflects how many members of our own culture still approach sustainability efforts: as a lost cause. However, if Hardin's theory is true regarding the negative actions of individuals, could positive actions produce opposite results?  Could a different perspective on the concept of the Commons help individuals from diverse cultural contexts unite and work together for causes they share?  We think so!  The Tragedy of the Commons can be the Victory of the Commons if we apply the same theory to our assumed "small" progressive actions.  Our decisions and behavior have repercussions beyond what we can ever know, but ruminating on the negative consequences of our actions can be overwhelming and ultimately is not productive.  By changing the way we live a little bit each day, recognizing what we all have in common as the species Homo sapiens sapiens - namely our planet Earth and the future of life on this planet - and working towards a sustainable future, we can change the world.

Source:
"The Tragedy of the Commons." Garrett Hardin (1968).