The Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons

This creates a vicious cycle of environmental degradation that Hardin described as the “tragedy of the commons.” And he promoted an idea he called “lifeboat ethics”: since global resources are finite, Hardin believed the rich should throw poor people overboard to keep their boat above water. To create a just and vibrant climate future, we need to instead cast Hardin and his flawed metaphor overboard.

Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com