Photo by Annie Spratt
Since its publication in 1968, Hardin’s fascinating article The Tragedy of the Commons has been cited 41,800 times in the academic literature and many other public debates. Undoubtedly, this article, which took its title from an earlier paper of a British economist (Lloyd, 1833), is a significant milestone in our understanding of the potential, or actual, trajectory of our modern world.
Since then, 52 years have passed. Has humanity internalized the message?
Here, instead of summarizing or reviewing this influential paper, I would rather stop and concentrate for a moment on the term “tragedy.” I admit that since the middle school days that managed to erode my curiosity while reading ancient Greek literature massively, I have not dealt with this term in any way. However, after reading the article, my grown-up interest made me dig a little bit on the subject and recall the similarities between Greek tragedy and real life.
So... It turns out that in every Greek tragedy there are four main stages:
1. The shameful act: The hero commits a severe act that breaks the social conventions and violates moral rules. This is an extreme and outrageous case of horror that awakens the viewer’s anxiety.
2. Suffering: Suffering and anguish come to the hero in the wake of the shameful act, and they must be harsh and reasonable relative to the act. Suffering has a destructive effect on the hero, the extent of which the hero will discover only at a later stage.
3. Knowing: Enlightenment comes to the hero, who then understands the severe consequences of his sin, thus representing the suffering of man. As the hero understands why he is suffering, the readers understand as well.
4. Reauthorization: The shameful act undermines society’s conventions, and a reaffirmation is made to approve conventions, such as “the murderer was punished," presented in the play by drawing conclusions.
Interesting, right?
Now, let’s cut to the chase. Considering the environmental crisis – after all we know – aren’t we finally ready for stage #4?
The Arctic is perhaps the best case-study for a potential commons’ tragedy since we are still facing the major stage of human-caused change in this area. Unlike in other regions of the world, which we can only study in retro-perspective (and hopefully restore) because humans already “took, made, wasted” most of the natural resources while depleting entire ecosystems, the Arctic, especially in recent years, is THE new frontier. The main driving forces are rapid and irrevocable changes in the landscape like shrinking sea ice, continental ice retreat, and permafrost thawing due to warming air and ocean temperatures. These immense changes create a new reality in the area by increasing access to “novel" resources like oil, gas, metals, and also to new trade routes, fishing areas, and more.
But like most stories about new frontiers throughout history, so, too, is the Arctic, in fact, a truly Wild West, or, more precisely, Wild North. Why wild? Because the “take, make, waste” race already started, and, far from our reach, we barely hear something about it. Unfortunately, the world is working too slowly to protect the region not only from climate change by reducing global emissions, but also from political superpowers that claim ownership of the region. The truth is that the Arctic ocean and its seabed belongs neither to Russia nor Canada (or any nation), but should rather be wisely planned and managed by international cooperation that responsibly considers the true price of exploiting it. Forget about it, similarly to the Antarctic continent; it should be protected for the common good of all of us.
It is not by chance that for years scientists and documentaries producers make sure to show us scenes of Greenland’s melting glaciers. The potential path for a global catastrophe that begins from the far north should worry us all. Whether it is climate change or overexploitation, the Arctic is a sensitive region, and the consequences are well modeled and… observed. For millions of people and other species, disappearing ice or soil, and rising seas is a devastating fact. Furthermore, as we learned again recently, methane release from thawing permafrost soils could amplify global climate change, bringing this tragedy faster than we think.
As described in Jeremiah 1:14, more than 2500 years before Hardin’s The Tragedy of the Commons: "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land…”
Many ecologists and earth scientists argue that the Arctic is perhaps humanity’s final test – the last chance for a positive turn in the plot of the play...