The Invisible Sheep

This is an assignment where I was asked to respond to some of the readings we have done in my global environmental politics class and I chose to respond to an article on one of my favorite theories, Garrett Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons.

The theory of the tragedy of the commons is an economic theory constructed by Garrett Hardin that says that as multiple individuals act in their own self interest, they will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when the implications of doing such are not necessarily in everybody’s best interest. He uses the analogy of sheep grazing on a common ground. Because the commons is a shared public space and it does not cost the farmer anything directly to let his (or her) sheep graze on that common property, it is in his best interest to have as many sheep as possible grazing on that common property, just as it is in every farmer’s best interest to maximize the amount of sheep that he (or she) allows to farm on the common ground. Grass is a renewable resource; it grows and replenishes quite quickly. But, when inordinate amounts of amount of sheep are grazing on that grass, the grass will not be able to replenish itself fast enough and the sheep will die because there is not enough grass for them to eat.

As somebody whom is interested in economics, politics and the way of the world, I love this idea and I also like to contrast it with the polar opposite, Adam Smith’s theory of the invisible hand. The theory of the invisible hand says that with the forces of self-interest, competition and the idea of supply and demand, resources will be able to be allocated smartly and will not be depleted too quickly.

We can use an analogy by one of my favorite professors, Yoram Bauman, to illustrate the difference between these two theories. Imagine a bus full of people driving at top speed towards a cliff. The theory of the commons says that the bus will go off the cliff no matter what we do, but with the theory of the invisible hand, the invisible hand is driving the bus. Nobody knows that it is there. Nobody knows what it is going to do or how it will act. The invisible hand may choose at the last second to swerve and miss the cliff completely. And nobody will know why. Because the hand is invisible.

I tend to believe in the both of these theories. I do not want to say that with our environmental problems we have a tragedy of the commons because people are greedy and take all of the resources they can without considering the implications, because if I believe that fully, then that means that there is no hope for us. But, I cannot fully believe in the theory of the invisible hand because I think that somebody has to make a conscious decision and decide to save the planet and then use their resources accordingly so that we can avoid going off the cliff. As I said, I stand somewhere in the middle, between these two theories, a hybrid shall we say. I think that I will call my version of the theory The Invisible Sheep.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.