Selection 7 Summary

Garret Hardin's Article The Tragedy of the Commons discusses ways of solving the problems associated with commonly owned resources and the problems surrounding them. Everyone wants technical solutions to problems with no downsides a but more often then not there will be a negative to the positive. People want to solve the overpopulation problem but do not want to change their way of life. A way to visualize the tragedy of the commons is to think of pasture land that bis open to all. Every herdsman would try to maximize his income which would lead to overgrazing. this eventually lead to the destruction of every thing. This practice is happening in activities such as fishing and the dumping of pollution. The freedom to breed has also lead to this tragedy. If families that had to many childeren were "penalized" overpopulation wouldnt be a problem. But these families are helped out in a welfare state. these large families then leave more childeren in the next generation then those that think and see we need smaller families. so through natural selection eventually that ay of thought will cease to exist. To solve this problem society must mutually agree to set limits and take away commons like we already have with food gathering, waste disposal and atomic energy installations. To solve the overpopulation problem breeding as a commons must be stopped.