Garrett Hardin, in 1968, used the concept of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ to illustrate his concerns about the ability of the planet to survive the over use of its natural resources.  The basis for the ‘tragedy’ was found in a pamphlet in 1833 inEngland. The story goes like this: “Picture a theoretical pasture open to all. Herdsmen are allowed to use the ‘commons’, an unfenced pasture, without cost. Each herdsman soon realizes that he could keep as many cattle as he wants on the commons, with good return and no extra cost. Such an arrangement worked for centuries because tribal wars and disease kept the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning and the self-interest of the individual herdsman overcomes the ability of the commons to sustain itself. Because it is free the desire of the herdsmen to make full use of the resource is overwhelming, until tragedy occurs and the resource is lost to all.

Today, the National Parks present a contemporary instance of the ‘tragedy of the commons’. Parks are open to all at the moment but the number of people who want to enjoy them is soaring. Meanwhile, funding to maintain the parks is static or even dropping. The favorite vehicles in the parks are ATVs, snowmobiles and large SUVs causing further damage to the environment. The bottom line – our national treasure, the Federal Park System, is in serious decline – the 21^st Century example of the ‘tragedy of the commons’.

But there are more examples. The air is free to all. Hence in the industrial age there no one thought of the need for controls on the use of the air. Only with the passage of the Clean Air Act by Congress in 1972 was there any consideration of the price being paid for polluting the air that everyone breathes.  Recently the Supreme Court confirmed the need to include carbon dioxide as an air pollutant and therefore covered by the Clean Air Act. Efforts to continue cleaning up the air are ongoing.  Complex market systems are being devised to get control of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, in China, when the sun shines through the dense layer of industrial pollution it is a day for celebration.

In this region water has been so little thought of as a finite resource that the residents of NYC were only metered for their water usage in the last few years. Fire hydrants are regularly opened on hot days for the children in spite of efforts to control the practice. A few years ago the tenuousness of the water supply came to the fore. A severe drought created the need to use Hudson River water to supplement the diminishing upstate reservoirs. The City of Poughkeepsie depends entirely on the Hudson for its water supply which is above the point of the brachish water from the sea. If too much Hudson river water is pulled out below the city the salt moves up river, endangering the Poughkeepsie water supply.

Globally, there is a permanent shortage. The water we have today is all we are ever going to have. Yet 85% of freshwater is now used for agriculture, largely as the result of inefficient subsidies and protections for agricultural interests. For instance,California, essentially a dessert, grows crops more appropriate for a tropical climate. Historic water rights make it possible. However, even in California market strategies are being introduced.

Meanwhile, the developing world is hoping for an equal share of the ‘commons’. However, for that dream to be realized the resources of two more planet earths would be required. As the discussion of global warming caused by our carbon footprint gains more attention, the uneven distribution of the earth’s treasures and the consequent greenhouse gases will be hard to ignore.