Jessica Chain
Env. Biology
Lab 1: Tragedy of the Commons
8-27-15


Commons are natural and cultural resources that are accessible and considered to be public resources to all of humanity, i.e., air, water and land, wildlife.

Salt water fish, fresh water fish, springs, tree‘s and plants and the oxygen they release in our air supply, small game, winged game, ground game and big game, an example of each: quail; goose; pheasant; and elk, are all examples of  “commons.”  These are all commons due to the fact that no one privately owns all of the tree’s, fish in the lakes and oceans, nor wild game and certainly not the oxygen that our tree’s and plants release into the troposphere.  These resources are available to the public!

In order to solve a Tragedy of the Commons or to prevent it from occurring restrictions can be implemented, or limited number of permits can be sold to the public, and or in some cases public resources can be rezoned as private and auctioned off to the public.

I grew up playing in the mountains of Silverton, Co and the vast majority of the land there was open to the public and we would camp pretty much anywhere.  Every year the main area for camping was being over populated with campers which effects the landscape negatively.  Through the years people failed to haul their waste and trash out which ended up polluting the river and land.   Shrubs, grasses and/or ground covering plants were unable recover or grow from such heavy traffic.  About six years ago they started an official campground site and put a no camping restriction on the rest of the public land.  There are also some other camp grounds in the mountains as well.  Thankfully we now utilize a beautiful cabin high in the mountains of Silverton so the new regulations haven’t effected us.  It is unfortunate that it had to come to that, however, I saw the deterioration occurring and knew that eventually something had to change.

Living organisms and nonliving, e.g. air & soil, that make up an ecosystem can seize to thrive or grow and or produce nutrients at all if a Tragedy of the Commons occurs.  If the rate of depletion exceeds the rate at which an ecosystem can renew itself in order to indefinitely endure then it is no longer sustainable.

The common environmental good is certainly more important however it depends on the situation.  If my survival is on the line and I have to deplete a resource in order to live then I will deplete that resource.  If I am able to find many resources to survive then I would utilize each sparingly in hopes that I wouldn’t deplete any one resource.