Humans very often act in their own self-interest especially in Western society where culture has taught that in order to be successful one has to act as and value being an individual (Leitchman, Wang, & Pillemer, 2003). However, this thought process can be dangerous not only for Western society, but for the world as a whole. Individuals may have their own lives and decisions to make to best benefit themselves, but they are also a part of a larger scale where they must learn to share. The environment is suffering due to dangerous words like ‘self-interest’ because of a phenomenon known as the tragedy of the commons. This idea was developed by Garrett Hardin (1968), an ecologist who explained when each person working is his or her own best short-term interest, it is in turn, detrimental to the overall long-term interest of the individual and all other individuals in the system (Hardin, 1968).
The classic example is the fisherman who in order to catch the most fish possible in the short term, puts out more nets to catch the maximum amount of fish. However, this creates a shortage for others who are not using as many nets. Once more and more individuals participate in the practice of putting out more nets to catch the maximum amount of fish, then there are not enough fish for everyone and the shortage increases. To solve the problem it is in everyone’s best interest to fish less and use fewer nets, but only if all of the fishermen agree to this solution. There must be an enforceable agreement not to cheat or else no one will change their ways because individually changing does not solve the problem and leaves the individual at a loss of resources (Berkes, 1985).
Individuals acting independently in their own interests often ...
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...watts per hour of electricity which translated to saving $5,107 and 20,500 gallons of water which translated to $261 of savings from freshwater and wastewater treatment. That is a combined savings of $5,368 in only a two week time period which the study represented as $3.08 per student savings! They estimated that those two weeks of energy savings also averted 148,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide emissions (Peterson, et al., 2007).
Those figures were representative of a two week competition among college students in their dorm rooms and the changes were highly significant. Imagine implementing that kind of savings in cost and emissions throughout entire communities. College students are also limited by what they have control over in their dormitories, so it could even be expected that homeowners would have a greater impact with more savings to energy and finances.
As time passes, our population continues to increase and multiply; yet, on the other hand, our planet’s resources continue to decrease and deplete. As our population flourishes, human beings also increase their demands and clamor for the Earth’s natural products, yet are unable to sacrifice their surplus of the said resources. Garret Hardin’s work highlighted the reality that humans fail to remember that the Earth is finite and its resources are limited. Hardin’s article revealed that people are unable to fathom that we indeed have a moral obligation to our community and our natural habitat — that we are not our planet’s conquerors but its protectors. We fail to acknowledge and accept that we only have one Earth and that we must protect and treasure it at all costs. Despite all our attempts at annihilating the planet, the Earth will still be unrelenting — it will still continue to be present and powerful. Human beings must recognize that we need this planet more than it needs us and if we persist on being egocentric and covetous, in the end it is us who will
In his 1968 essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, Garret Hardin addresses the problem with overpopulation and it’s eventual toll on our planet’s resources in a scenario where the individual interest clashes with the collective interest. Self-interest only serves the good of an individual while collective interest is meant to serve the good of everyone in the society. In his essay, he describes overpopulation as a tragedy of the commons because as population grows exponentially, resources only grow statically, and this will result in the depletion of our resources. When a resourc...
Garrett Hardin, an American ecologist, warned of the dangers of overpopulation. In Hardin’s best-known works, “The tragedy of the Commons” and “Lifeboat Ethics,” he talks about the importance of sustainability and requiring everyone to take action. Hardin stresses the importance of evaluating our environment to maintain a high quality of life without sacrificing future generations ability to do the same. Sustainability is having a healthy balance between economic, social, and ecological issues. In my essay, I will expand on these issues and how they are addressed in Hardin’s writings.
Based on Laurel Nesbit, a program assistant in the Office of Sustainability here at UF, our campus manages to utilize 470,000 Megawatts of energy annually. This figure is generated from all the energy-consuming gadgets that operate on our campus on a daily bases. These gadgets include computers that are left turned on over the night even they are not in use, copiers, and the fume hoods in our laboratories. Admittedly, the success and the health of wellbeing of the students is contingent upon some of these equipment. For instance, the laboratories need the fume hoods in order to keep the experimenters safe. Instead of casting these necessities away, we can develop alternatives which will be capable of generating energy in order to compensate for the electricity that we endlessly
A public good is defined as an economic good or service that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable. Due to scarcity and human greed, public goods will always be underprovided. Since it is impossible to stop someone from consuming these types of goods, people will keep on consuming it until there is none left. If one does not consume or harvest it today, someone else will consume it tomorrow. This had brought an attention to ecologist, Garrett Hardin. Hardin came up with an economic theory called “The tragedy of Commons” .What is tragedy of commons? The tragedy of commons befalls when individuals act based on their personal interest ignoring the well-being of society. Due to his theory, natural resources are depleting drastically because they are being exploited with no limit.
It is imperative to recognize our impact on our surroundings and their impact on us. Wirzba says “…these bodies, in turn, necessarily live through the bodies of others- wheat, rice, steer, fish, microorganisms, bees, chickens. We simply cannot avoid or override the ecological truth…” (Wirzba 86). Our lives depend on the resources around us. In order to flourish, we must take care of them, or we are not living ethically. When we take into consideration the needs of our surroundings, we are considering what we need ourselves because of our direct connection.
The solution to our Greed is a simple concept; it is, however, a tough act to follow. If we make an effort to combine the ideas of living equally with humans and with nature, and diluting the concentration of wealth in the hands of few, we will be able to prosper and live a better quality of life. The inequality of our country and the detriment of our world will be everlasting if we do not take action. The consequences of our Greed are too big of a problem to ignore. Carter Roberts, the President of the nonprofit organization WWF®, told us that “It takes true leadership to set forth a modern conservation path — one that leads to a future in which economic development can occur without losing nature's value in the process.” It is possible, it will just take a little less avarice.
As discussed above, scholars’ attitudes towards self-determination correlate with their understanding about the link between self-determination and democracy. Intrinsically linked with the idea of democracy, self-determination was to correct the arbitrariness and injustices of dynastic rule. In theory, self-determination could be said to refer to the practice by which individuals freely express their political will by choosing their own government and, at this stage, a reference to nationalism appears by no means necessary. The problem arises when the principle of self-determination is put into practice (xxx, xxx).
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
Anthropocentrism is the school of thought that human beings are the single most significant entity in the universe. As a result, the philosophies of those with this belief reflect the prioritization of human objectives over the well-being of one’s environment. However, this is not to say that anthropocentric views neglect to recognize the importance of preserving the Earth. In fact, it is often in the best interests of humans to make concerted efforts towards sustaining the environment. Even from a purely anthropocentric point of view, there are three main reasons why mankind has a moral duty to protect the natural world.
Nowadays, entrepreneurship becomes most popular career, where our government encourages our graduated student to involve in business so that unemployment will not happen in our country. Policymakers, academics, and researcher agree that entrepreneurship is a vital route to economic advancement for both developed and developing economics (Zelealem et al., 2004). Entrepreneurship has many types for example small business and others. Today small business, particularly the new ones, is the main vehicle for entrepreneurship, contributing not just to employment, social and political stability, but also to innovation and competitive power (Thurik & Wennekers, 2004).
Entrepreneurship - a special kind of activity. Its constant conditions are limited resources, competition and uncertainty of the situation. The main tools of the entrepreneur are: thrift, cooperation and innovation. Consequently, enterprise is the independent economic entity, with rights of a legal entity, which is based on the use of labor collective property produces and sells products, works, and provides services.
The relationship between humanity and nature has undergone a power shift since the time of cave paintings in Lascaux. The Tragedy of the Commons describes a balance between pre-industrial humans and nature, a relationship of morbid regulation. Human kind was prosperous, however limited in growth by various methods of population culling, which prevented humans from dominating the resources presented by nature. The issue occurs when humans reach a point of social cohesiveness that they are able to resist nature’s methods of population regulation and grow uninhibited. At this moment I believe humans departed from our relationship with nature, we circumvented the terms of natures presence in the relationship and embodied a supreme position of exploitation
...dearly-held, unconscious collective assumptions may impede our chances for survival. Or, as Poliakoff, et. al., noted, “fundamental changes in technology are adopted… only when they provide real advantage” (810). Are human beings inherently selfish, or are they capable of rising above that? Will we use this power we have developed to help ourselves, or to attempt to help the world? “Why can’t we achieve a better balance between people, resources, and the environment? … The complete answers to these questions lie deeply within the complex realms of science, philosophy, religion, economics, and politics.” (170). The answers may be complicated. The truth is, industrialization has changed our relationship to the environment. It has enabled us to hurt it far more than any other species, but it has also given us the ability to help. The power of choice now lies with us.
All that we need is in our every day life is dependent upon interest and supply. The nation is dependent upon the impacts of both request and supply. At whatever point interest is influenced it prompt deficiency of different needs that are popular and at whatever point supply is influenced it prompts lack of supply in the nation's economy. In addition the things we require in our every day life is likewise influenced on both request and supply. Interest prompts the aggregate amount on merchandise or administrations that are required to purchase different wares and supply is the amount of products and administrations business will make accessible to make benefits. Subsequently in our every day life everything is dependent upon the interest and supply from a little merchandise to a huge partnerships. Besides the organization's imparts or bonds are additionally dependent upon the impact off interest and supply. Bring down the interest will be the easier cost of products and administrations and the other way around. Also higher the supply will prompt high cost of products and administrations. Interest brings down supply in a basic case cost of every single product will be influenced by interest and supply. At whatever point the interest transform it will prompt change in the taste of the client and will prompt change in the taste of style for clients, likewise prompt change in cost of related products i.e merchandise are not related with one another in this manner they are of distinctive taste of inclination is diverse. Change popular will prompt change in number of purchasers of economy on the grounds that when interest changes or surpasses it prompts expand in number of thing and at whatever point interest brings it leads down to bu...