The dilemma known as the tragedy of the commons is so straightforward as to be almost self-evident i.e. the exploitation of any limited resource by individual parties in furtherance of maximizing their own self-interest  which collectively serves to deplete or even exhaust said resource to the ultimate detriment of all. What is the tragedy of the commons? - Nicholas Amendolare - YouTube. That resource could be anything that represents a finite limit, from fish in a pond (the simple YouTube example), agricultural land, building acreage, neighborhood park, access to education, roads/parking, or even pollution/climate warming at the global (yet still finite) level.

Describing the dilemma is quite different than solving it, the topic of our next Member Monday (6/11) discussion.  The Tragedy of the Commons: How Elinor Ostrom Solved One of Life’s Greatest Dilemmas. We will draw upon the biological world, social science, and some core design principles to see if there might be a more organic way to address this fundamental problem without resorting to hard core regulatory solutions.

How might all this be accommodated within a capitalistic system? 

- Steve Smith.