Do Not Steal. The Commons Tale of win–lose, win–win–LOSE, and lose–lose–LOSE

Authors

James F. Pankow, Portland State UniversityFollow

Published In

Environmental Science & Technology

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

9-2021

Abstract

In the narrative of the “Tragedy of the Commons”, (1,2) a shared grazing area (aka common pool resource (3)) is trampled into overgrazed ruin by a pervasion of actors who exploit the resource more quickly than can be sustainably allotted. Regardless of whether there is consciousness of guilt, this is theft. In all such environmental tragedies, the high irony is that the value stolen is vastly less than what would have been available even within a relatively short term; if the damages are permanent, the losses for that local environment and its human tenants are beyond measure.

Rights

© 2021 American Chemical Society

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04814

DOI

10.1021/acs.est.1c04814

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36581

Citation Details

Pankow, J. F. (2021). Do Not Steal. The Commons Tale of win–lose, win–win–LOSE, and lose–lose–LOSE. Environmental Science & Technology.