I have taken a lot of Environmental Studies so far at Richmond and the Tragedy of the Commons and Free Rider problem always come up in those classes. As noted in the reading, these problems are so relevant to our current climate crisis. Everyone thinks that their single action will not have a seriously negative impact but overtime if everyone thinks that way these negative actions multiply and end up having serious consequences. One person using plastic products all the time would not be a big deal if most other people chose to only use reusable products but that is certainly not the case. Everyone puts the responsibility to be environmentally conscious on other people’s shoulders to the point that there are only a few people that are actually environmentally conscious and everyone else is escaping responsibility. Additionally, there is tremendous profit to be gained by being the corporation that chooses not to be environmentally conscious at all. Individual people and large corporations can only benefit this way for so long before we have environmental consequences that harm all people and nobody is benefiting.
A lot of the reading had me think that humans are just selfish and completely irrational. It was almost sad to see how many of the problems outlined in the reading could be solved if we just communicated with each other and acted more rationally. People are always trying to ensure the most benefits for themselves even if that means taking on a lot more risks than they need to. If we just thought things through more and acted less selfishly we would determine that there are solutions that are a lot easier and mutually beneficial. I can understand that in certain business situations this may not be practical but in most everyday situations it is very practical.
I completely agree that if we communicated more openly and honestly in our everyday encounters then we could solve some of the smaller-scaled game theory dilemmas that we face every day. For example, in the volunteer’s dilemma, if people would compromise in more situations by agreeing to be the volunteer one week if someone else would do it the next week, then more problems would be solved smoothly.
I was thinking of my environmental studies class as well while reading this! Especially Environmental Ethics, since we had that whole debate on what immediate solutions would be the most effective in tackling climate change. People who live in the U.S. are privileged enough that they don’t experience any current effects, while people living in poorer countries face the reality everyday.
That’s a really interesting example you used, I think it addresses a larger societal issue. I think that we suffer from the idea of “if I don’t see it around me, it must not be applicable to me”. Unless people experience (or know someone that experienced) something first-hand, they are much more likely to make the change necessary to make a difference. With that mentality, very little meaningful change will happen. It brings up the question that if all of us took a little shared responsibility, how much faster would we be able to solve a big issue like climate change?