Environmental Values Environmental Values
Environmental Values 12(2003): 271-287. doi: 10.3197/096327103129341324
When people use a resource without a co-ordinated plan the result is often a tragedy of the commons in which the resource is depleted. Many environmental resources display the characteristics of a developing tragedy of the commons. Many believe that each person is ethically obligated to reduce use of the commons to the sustainable level. I argue that this is mistaken. In a tragedy of the commons there is no reasonable expectation that individual, voluntary action will succeed. Our obligation is not fruitlessly to reduce individual use, but to support a collective agreement to reduce everyone's use to the sustainable level.
KEYWORDS: Commons; ethical obligations; collective action; environmental ethics
CITATIONS in other Environmental Values articles:
Different Perspectives on Cross-Compliance. Stefan Mann
Climate, Collective Action and Individual Ethical Obligations. Marion Hourdequin
Climate Change and Individual Responsibility:
A Reply to Johnson. Marion Hourdequin
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