Tragedy of the Commons

Hello! Had my first paper (food chem) on 29th Oct and it went well! :)
As I have mentioned previously there is a 10 day gap between the 1st & 2nd paper, so I have been spending my time evenly to revise on the remaining subjects. The coming week will be tough, with papers on Tuesday, Thursday then the following Monday. But after that I'm free!!!


Anyway I wanted to share with you an interesting concept called the 'Tragedy of the Commons' I learned for my ENV2726 paper. Basically it's a term conservation biologists use to describe how a publicly own biological resource may be exploited by some at the expense of all who utilize those resources.

An example which describes the scenario perfectly is as follows:

"Suppose 5 farmers share a land which can support 100 sheep in a sustainable manner. More than 100 sheep will degrade the land in the long term and will mean less grass for each individual sheep, and therefore a lower growth rate for all.
If each farmer keeps 20 sheep, all will be well. But if 1 farmer decides to increase his flock, all of the other farmers suffer as a consequence. Their sheep will have less to eat, and the commons (land) will be degraded.
The farmer who had increased his flock would however reap some short term benefits, which the other farmers may envy. So they too may decide to increase their own flocks. Eventually, the land will become terribly overgrazed and incapable of supporting any sheep at all."

Interesting story rite!
Conclusion: Don't be greedy. Even though a public resource is there for the taking, it doesn't mean that we should over exploit, even if others are doing it because eventually it will come back to kick our own ass.

Have a nice day everyone :)