Garrett Hardin
Garrett Hardin
Garrett James Hardinwas an American ecologist and philosopher who warned of the dangers of overpopulation. His exposition of the tragedy of the commons, in a famous 1968 paper in Science, called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "You cannot do only one thing", which "modestly implies that there is at least one unwanted consequence"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEnvironmentalist
Date of Birth21 April 1915
CountryUnited States of America
One simple fact proves that none has: there is no prosperous population in the world today that has, and has had for some time, a growth rate of zero.
If our goal is to maximize population it is obvious what we must do: We must make the work calories per person approach as close to zero as possible.
The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality.
But as population became denser, the natural chemical and biological recycling processes became overloaded, calling for a redefinition of property rights.
Of course, a positive growth rate might be taken as evidence that a population is below its optimum.
The optimum population is, then, less than the maximum.
What features of your daily life do you expect to be improved by a further increase in population?
To many, the word coercion implies arbitrary decisions of distant and irresponsible bureaucrats; but this is not a necessary part of its meaning.
The National Parks present another instance of the working out of the tragedy of the commons. At present, they are open to all, without limit.
In our day (though not in earlier times) technical solutions are always welcome.
Value is a relative concept: the value of each action is determined by comparing it with other possible actions.
You can never do merely one thing. The law applies to any action that changes something in a complex system. The point is that an action taken to alleviate a problem will trigger several effects, some of which may offset or even negate the one intended.
The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them.
Economists (and others) who are satisfied with nature-free equations develop a dangerous hubris about the potency of our species