<
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-tragedy-of-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/>
"Fifty years ago, University of California professor Garrett Hardin penned an
influential essay in the journal
Science. Hardin saw all humans as selfish
herders: we worry that our neighbors’ cattle will graze the best grass. So, we
send more of our cows out to consume that grass first. We take it first, before
someone else steals our share. This creates a vicious cycle of environmental
degradation that Hardin described as the “tragedy of the commons.”
It's hard to overstate Hardin’s impact on modern environmentalism. His views
are taught across ecology, economics, political science and environmental
studies. His essay remains an academic blockbuster, with almost 40,000
citations. It still gets republished in prominent environmental anthologies.
But here are some inconvenient truths: Hardin was a racist, eugenicist,
nativist and Islamophobe. He is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a
known white nationalist. His writings and political activism helped inspire the
anti-immigrant hatred spilling across America today.
And he promoted an idea he called “lifeboat ethics”: since global resources are
finite, Hardin believed the rich should throw poor people overboard to keep
their boat above water.
To create a just and vibrant climate future, we need to instead cast Hardin and
his flawed metaphor overboard."
Via Muse, who wrote "I remember when Eric S. Raymond spoke of the “tragedy of
the commons” in his book
The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
This is a brilliant article in
Scientific American."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
