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Biology 381
Pollution Biology

Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta

2. Science and the Tragedy of the Commons

2.1 Required Reading and other announcements.

Hardin, G., 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162: 1243-1248.


2.2 The role of science in environmental policy.

Is science a source of environmental pollution, or a potential source of solutions? Can science provide the ultimate solution to our environmental problems?

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It is the aim of science to develop an accurate and objective view of the world and how it functions.

Equally important to science is the means by which such a view of our world is developed - The scientific method.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The scientific method begins with observations of nature, and progresses through the formulation of cause and effect relationships (hypotheses).

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Hypotheses are tested through further observations or experiments, and gradually theories are developed.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) A theory is a conceptual formulation that provides a logical explanation for a collection of observations.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) A theory or hypothesis is not a fact.

Science does not, and cannot, tell us what objectives of environmental quality we should strive for.

Value judgements such as these are the responsibilities of human individuals, governments, or societies.


2.3 The Tragedy of the Commons.

"The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality" (Hardin, 1968).

Adam Smith - an individual who intends "only his own gain" is "led by an invisible hand to promote ... the public interest".

Promoting the public interest vs. maximizing the benefit to society.

The tragedy as Hardin describes it.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Picture a pasture open to all...

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his own gain.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) He will ask himself, What is the utility, to me, of adding one more animal to the herd?

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The utility has one positive component and one negative component.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible action for him is to add another animal to the herd...

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) and another ...

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) and another ...

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) and another ...

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit - in a world (pasture) that is limited.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) "Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all".

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Does the tragedy of the commons apply to our current pollution problems?

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green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Suppose in our infinite wisdom, we all decided to pass ownership of the commons on to a single person. Would that solve the problem?

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2.4 Managing the Commons.

The tragedy of the commons can be averted by the system of ownership.

Anti-pollution laws might legislated to coerce the polluter into reducing emissions.

Taxation devices could be used to make it cheaper for the polluter to treat his wastes than to discharge them.

A fundamental change in public attitude.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The morality of an act is a function of the state of the system at the time it is performed" (Hardin, 1968).

 


2.5 Frontier vs. Sustainable Ethics?

Frontier ethics.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The world has an unlimited supply of resources for human use.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Humans are apart from nature rather than a part of it.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Nature is something to be conquered (technology is seen as the tool which humans subdue nature).

Sustainable ethics.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) The sustainable society ethic holds that the earth has a limited supply of resources.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Humans are a part of nature, and not in any way superior to it.

green-button.jpg (762 bytes) Sustainable ethics embraces a respect for the land, air, water, and all living things. It nurtures a reverence for life that would inevitable result in a curtailment of some of our activities, and would diminish our view of self importance.

Do we really need a change in ethics?


2.6 Additional world wide web information.

A common tragedy - Even an anarchist can see why governments are required to adequately deal with the tragedy of the commons.

100 ways to use prices to control pollution. - Market tools for overcoming the tragedy of the commons.

Carrying capacity as an ethical concept. - Garret Hardin questions whether feeding the third world is the right thing to do.

The tragedy of the electronic commons. - Does the tragedy of the commons apply to the World Wide Web?

The tragedy of the costal commons, molluscan shellfisheries. - For the zoologists amongst us, here is a discussion group focussing on the costal commons.


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