Blog
Post #12
This
week in class on Thursday was very engaging as we tackled the underlining
concept behind Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” discussion. Generally,
the idea behind Hardin’s essay states that people acting without the overall
interests of the community as a whole is essentially devastating as the cons of
certain things would be distributed unevenly. For example, let’s say one actor
(A) own a farm up river and actor (B) owns a farm down river. The relationship
is good between the two farms until the farmer A decides to increase the amount
of cattle grazing on the grass and eventually overgrazes leading to erosion and
runoff flowing into the river. Without any sort of regulation, this problem
increases overtime until farmer B notices the effects down river and their
water source suffers due to farmer A’s decisions. Not only did farmer A
overgraze, but also because they only had their own profits in mind, it led to
an unbalance and harm onto the local neighbors. Rather than distributing the
pros and cons with some sort of regulation, the farmer A’s decision left the
entire community in peril.
Clearly,
this is an essay that underlines the obvious reasons we have some sort of
coercion with one another. Without it, clearly society would cease to exist and
everything would turn to chaos. The question remains then as to what sort of
regulations should be implemented. The only solution all encompassing solution
is that each situation much be discussed case specific. Local differences call
for different strategies. Having said that, what do we do about tackling large
issues such as climate change? A lot of the challenges come with implementing
such a world widespread concern. Then again, looking back at the ozone layer
issue, one can see that we fixed the ozone without much dispute. In class, we
discovered that because the ozone is such a clear distinct cause and focus it
was easier to focus attention on a single solution. Climate change on the other
hand isn’t just a hole in the sky one can see on a chart, but a culmination of
numerous factors coming from virtually every inch of the planet. This is why I
am hopeful for the up and coming UNFCCC meetings. It seems clear that big
issues call for big solutions and I find the only way for people to actually
set up something effective is by coerced agreement. Hopefully, all countries
will come to agree on something. I just can’t keep sitting here any longer for
chaos to unfold!
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