Tragedy Of The Commons

In 1968, Garrett Hardin presented a compelling formulation of the population problem, concluding that "a finite world can support only a finite population, hence, the optimum population is, less than the maximum.”

When a resource is held "in common," with many people having "ownership" and access to it, Hardin reasoned, a self-interested "rational" actor will decide to increase his or her exploitation of the resource since he or she receives the full benefit of the increase, but the costs are spread among all users. The devastating and tragic collective result of each person thinking this way, however, is destruction of the commons, to everyone’s ultimate detriment.

To ensure that our civil society functions properly, we must enact and enforce just laws, while changing laws deemed unjust. Failure to enforce just laws, as determined by society, leads to lawlessness and breakdown of that society.

Highland Institute will strive to host two on-going dialogues to address such Tragedy of the Commons at the local and global level.

Deemed the smartest and best small city in America in which to live and work, Boulder attracts a diverse population, including the homeless for financial reasons, transients, hobos by philosophic choice, mentally challenged, drug dealers, thieves, and violent criminals. 

Our lack of will to adequately enforce our laws on urban camping, our lack of compassion to house the economically distressed, our inadequate treatment of the mentally ill, lack of hospital beds for the poor, as well as our reluctance to jail lawbreakers has resulted in the readily visible sight of panhandlers at virtually every street corner, along with people living, eating, sleeping and dying, often violently, in our public areas, such that our public spaces are no longer accessible to the general public. 

At the global level, our use of carbon is choking us to death, and global warming is disrupting the lives of hundreds of millions, most often affecting the poorest. America’s leadership in the discovery of alternative sources of energy at a higher consumption cost means little so long as China brings online one new coal power plant at the current rate of one per week.

The health of a society is gauged by the balance it can achieve between consensus, and enforcement of the laws sanctioned by the consent of the governed. Highland Institute sees its mission as helping to strike such a balance, recognizing, of course, that perfection is for the gods.