Thesis: Humanity’s greed and selfishness have the main causes of the destruction of many of the world’s ecosystems. Although minor regulations have been set to help solve issues such as decreased biodiversity and climate change, more strict regulations that don’t keep the people’s self-interests in mind must be implemented.
The Tragedy of Commons reflects the tendency of people to over-utilize and eventually deplete any unregulated public resource whether it be land, clean air, or fish in the water, in their need to satisfy their self-interests. In this essay, a “commons” is an unregulated public pasture on which citizens of a town can graze their livestock. It is in each citizen’s best interest to add another animal to graze on the commons even though the reduction in forage harms the herd as a whole. The unyielding increase of the herd on the pasture eventually leads to overgrazing and the destruction of the commons (Hardin 1). This parable reflects the natural inclination of people to overuse any resources that are available to them until they are almost completely exhausted. This constant overuse of resources demonstrates that we humans will not act for the common good when it comes to matters of resource use or the environment, and will instead do what is best for ourselves as individuals. There doesn’t seem to be any solution for this problem as long as common resources are non-exclusive. Hardin wrote that, “Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all” (Hardin 1). This selfishness inevitably leads to a tragedy of environmental degradation, over-exploitation, and over-population.
Humanity’s greed has been the source of so many environmental problems such as environmental degradation, overfishing, and overpopulation. Over-consumption has been part of the human relationship with rivers, oceans, forests, and other...