Hardin, Garrett (1915–2003)

Garrett james hardin, born in 1915, was an ecologist from Dallas, Texas. Hardin graduated from the University of Chicago in 1936 with a BSc in Zoology, and in 1941 was awarded a Ph.D. in microbiology from Stanford University. He held the position of Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1933 until he retired in 1978.

Hardin wrote prolifically about environmental issues. In books such as Nature and Man's Fate (1959) and Exploring New Ethics for Survival (1977), he argued that unless human population growth is curbed, disease, starvation, and social disorder will result. He is best known for his landmark article, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” which was published in Science in 1968.

In this essay, he used the example of an imaginary field in England where cattle herders have [Page 851]free and open access (the commons). He shows how each herder receives a benefit from adding one animal to graze the lands, while the cost of degradation to the field is shared by all. He thus argues that each herder has the incentive to put as many cattle on the land as possible. Hardin shows that while this may seem to be the most economically rational choice, exercising that choice ultimately leads to irreversible degradation, hence the tragedy of the commons. As he notes, “it is no use asking independent herdsmen in a commons to act responsibly, for they dare not. The considerate herdsman who refrains from overloading the commons suffers more than a selfish one who says his needs are greater.”

Hardin uses this analogy to discuss the challenges of managing human populations and their impact on environmental systems, concluding that “freedom is the recognition of necessity,” and that through the recognition of resources as commons in the first place, identifies the need for effective management.