SAGE Reference - Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide

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Tragedy of the Commons

By: Md Saidul Islam
In: Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide
Edited by: Julie Newman
Subject:Environmental Ethics
Keywords:emissions; kyoto protocol; land; overgrazing; self-interest; tragedy; tragedy of the commons

The tragedy of the commons is often illustrated with the example of overgrazed public land. The cattle on this hillside in the Chase Lake Wetland Management District in North Dakota have overgrazed the pasture behind the fence; overgrazing has been prevented on the land in the foreground.

Photo credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Rick Bohn

First coined by Garrett Hardin in 1968, “tragedy of the commons” refers to a dilemma in which multiple individuals acting out of personal interest, freedom, and rationality in the pursuit of their self-interests will eventually ruin shared limited resources, even when it is clear that it is in nobody's interest for this to happen. Hardin's original paper gives the example of a common land where everyone has the right to graze their ...

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  Islam, M. (2011). Tragedy of the commons. In J. Newman (Ed.), Green ethics and philosophy: An A-to-Z guide (pp. 800-803). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412974608.n136
  
  Islam, Md Saidul. "Tragedy of the Commons." In Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide, edited by Newman, Julie, 800-803. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412974608.n136.
  
  Islam, M. 2011. Tragedy of the Commons. In: Julie Newman Editor, 2011. Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 800-803 Available at: <http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412974608.n136> [Accessed 3 Aug 2021].
  
  Islam, Md Saidul. "Tragedy of the Commons." Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide. Edited by Julie Newman. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011, pp. 800-803. SAGE Knowledge. 3 Aug 2021, doi: http://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412974608.n136.
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Tragedy of the Commons

The tragedy of the commons is often illustrated with the example of overgrazed public land. The cattle on this hillside in the Chase Lake Wetland Management District in North Dakota have overgrazed the pasture behind the fence; overgrazing has been prevented on the land in the foreground.

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