The Tragedy of the Commons can be described as the depletion of shared resources by people acting rationally and independently, according to their self-interest despite being aware that abusing the common resource contrary to their long-term best interests. The Tragedy serves as a model of a myriad of current resource-based problems affecting the society. It applies to the discussion concerning environmental issues. A general view reveals that all the six billion people inhabiting the earth have incentives of avoiding the costs to control the emission of pollutants. In particular, air pollution is a result of strong economic forces encouraging the use of the shared atmosphere as a free dumping ground for harmful greenhouse gases, and because of these, the modern solutions to the problem are met with objections at the individual level.
Air pollution presents a reversal of the Tragedy of the Common as it involves releasing of harmful substances in the air which is a publicly shared resource. According to Lloyd, the Tragedy of Commons involves depletion of scarce resources to benefit individuals. He describes this using the illustration of herdsmen who share the same pasture field. The addition of a single animal by a herdsman will result in increased proceeds arising from the sale of the livestock. However, the impact of the additional animal to the pasture ground will be overgrazing, a situation that depletes the pasture field which is a shared resource (Hardin, 1968). Air pollution on the hand does not involve depletion of air but the addition of dangerous toxic fumes which not only affect people’s health but also causes increased effects of global warming. Garett Hardin describes this situation as “fouling our own nests (Hardin, 1968).” This makes air pollution tough to combat as air is shared by all humans. Through the herdsmen illustration, Lloyd shows that people tend to abuse publicly shared resources. Even with the increased knowledge on the causes and effects of air pollution, people still completely disregard the fundamental issues raised against the norm due to individual economic gain. Coal is responsible for 25% of the world’s energy with petroleum standing at 47%. This adds up to 90% of the global commercial energy coming from fossil fuels, a key contributor to air pollution. The world’s carbon dioxide levels are ever increasing with the growth of economies of countries. The situation has been witnessed in China, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan (People.eou.edu, n.d.). Privately benefiting nations ignore completely the detrimental impact they have on the environment. As a result, the world experiences a tragedy of the commons.
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Remedying air pollution through legislative prohibitions has caused a public outcry in China. In the 2014 Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, China agreed to cut Beijing's air pollution by 40% temporarily. The nation had recognized air as a common which needed protection (Gilbert, 2014). The policy affected a large number of Chinese as they could not continue with some practices that were beneficial to them. For instance, the number vehicles on the road in various cities was limited by odd/even license plate driving days, delivery trucks could only enter Beijing for just three hours at night, and the tradition of using firecrackers during the wedding had to stop (Gilbert, 2014). Residents felt that the cutbacks were an overreaction as commuting without their vehicles would be a tremendous inconvenience. Individual businesses complained of fewer customers and having less to sell, thus affecting both sides of demand and supply. It is evident that the concept of private property blurs the vision of the individuals who benefit from the Tragedy of Commons. They are unable to see how such laws are meant for the greater good. China is one of the leading nations in air pollution, a situation that is attributed to its growing electricity generation, its heavy industries, and the massive use of coal. Furthermore, there is also the individual contribution of its citizen through wedding fireworks, commuting, and giving of burnt offerings. In 2014, February was the month that saw the highest rate of air pollution due to Lunar New Year fireworks (Gilbert, 2014).
Another major event where air resources were recognized as commons needing protection was where various governments introduced two modern practical approaches to combat air pollution. These solutions included mandatory participation and the linking of public goods to other desirable private goods. Compulsory participation involved the introduction of a carbon tax which is levied on the carbon content of the fuels being used. This penalizes those who produce greenhouse gases but do not pay the full social costs of their actions. The second approach involves emission trading where the common good is converted into private property, and as a result the new owners receive an incentive of restoring sustainability (Seitanidi and Crane, 2014). Just as in the case of China, both of these methods have been highly controversial and largely politicized.
All the acting units, be it a country, company, factory, business, or person receive one hundred percent of the benefits resulting from the easy disposal of wastes into the air. However, they only incur a small fraction of the adverse effect of their pollution as air is a shared resource, a common whose repercussion of its abuse is shared by all the six billion people of the world. Lack of policies that limit the release of pollutants presents the actors with overwhelming economic benefits. Therefore, it is imperative for governments to regulate pollution by offering appealing incentives that discourage air pollution or by imposing heavy penalties on the perpetrators.
References ,
Gilbert, S. (2014). The Tragedy of the Commons - Toxipedia. [online] Toxipedia.org. Available at: http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/The+Tragedy+of+the+Commons [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. [online] Science.sciencemag.org. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
People.eou.edu. (n.d.). Population growth and the ‘tragedy of the commons’ | Soc 370 – Environment and Society. [online] Available at: https://people.eou.edu/socenv/readings/week-5/tragedy/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
Seitanidi, M. and Crane, A. (2014). Social partnerships and responsible business. New York: Routledge.
