Tragedy of the Commons

Have you ever read the Essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, by Garret Hardin? Although it was written in 1968, it is still quite useful today. The main point of Hardin's essay is to show the conflict between the short term interests of individuals in society and the long term effects those interests have on society itself. Hardin hints to this very simply even in his title. The Commons were similar to a giant plot of land that a community shared as a whole. Everyone allowed their animals to graze there, yet no one really took proper care of the land. The farmers put more and more animals on the land(as instinct would tell almost any farmer trying to make a profit). However, this backfired. Soon enough, everyone was putting all their animals on the land. All the animals were eating the grass, and soon, the soil was un - fit for raising any living being . Some of the other commons Hardin addressed in his essay were fish, land, sheep, and earth. Hardin......

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Title: Tragedy Of The Commons
Approximate Word Count: 884
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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