5.1

• Tragedy of the Commons: individuals will use shared resources in their own self-interest, degrading them

  • overuse of groundwater
  • water/air pollution
  • overfishing and overgrazing

  Occurs when no one owns the resource, therefore no one feels responsibility for it or suffers the negative consequences of depletion; there is no penalty for overusing/degrading
• Externalities: negative costs associated with human actions, that aren't accounted for in the price
• How to solve the tragedy of the Commons:

  • Private land ownership
  • individual or government
  • Fees or taxes for use
  • permit system for grazing, logging, ect
  • taxes, fines, legal fees for pollution or shared resources
  • Clean Air Act