Question No. 1
Tragedy of the commons, as envisioned by Hardin, is the infinite freedom of the people to use or make use of the finite free resources of the world. The unchecked and wanton use by the people of these free resources results in a tragedy, according to Hardin, because eventually such use will overwhelm the resources themselves. A simple, but graphic example used by the author to illustrate this point is a pasture that is open to all for use. If one or several persons use this pasture to graze their animals this would not pose harm to the pasture, but if more people use the pasture and bring in more animals without regard to the capacity of the area, the day will come when the pasture will be overwhelmed and become unusable to all. Tragedy of the commons is underpinned by self-interest – where people act chiefly to advance their respective and individual interests without regard to the harm this will do the common good. In the pasture example, self-interest dictates that an individual brings in more animals to graze because this would benefit him economically. This would be fine so long as there are only one or few other persons with this kind of thinking. However, if this motivation is shared by a multiple number of persons who would bring in as many animals as they could muster to the field, the tragedy will ultimately strike as the resources in the pasture will become depleted and it becomes unusable to any person. Of special concern to Hardin is the unchecked growth of the population as the triggering factor for the tragedy. If couples breed to their heart’s desire either to perpetuate their lineage or simply out of the mindless exercise of the right to bear children, then the time will come when the world’s resources will not be enough to support its population. There will be more people needing food, but food production will not be enough; there will be more people to drink water, but there will not be enough potable water to drink, and; there will be more people to breathe air, but there will not be enough clean air to breathe because the world has become polluted from the profligate use of fossilized fuel and other that spew pollution into the air.
Question No. 2
Public policy is commonly associated with the government. Cochran et al defined the term as governmental actions, while Dye referred to is as anything that the government opts to do. B. Peters referred to it as “the sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as it has an influence on the life of its citizens” (cited Birkland 2014, p. 8). Strictly speaking, therefore, the points enunciated in Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons cannot be equated to a public policy statement considering that Hardin did not represent or was affiliated with the government when he wrote the article. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the article has a serious connection with the life of the citizens, not only of this country, but of the world, because it advocated for the curtailment of freedom to a certain extent. It called on the people to surrender “their freedom to breed” (Hardin 1968). It also implicitly called upon the government, and its agencies, to be the agent of that curtailment since there is no higher authority that can take up that mantle. The idea of people giving up their freedom to determine how many children to bear is a serious proposition because it does not only conflict with the so-called biblical command to ‘go forth and multiply’, but also because child-bearing is a very personal issue. For the government to impose itself in this matters imply an authoritarian approach in governance. Yet, there is no doubt that Hardin’s points in the article are realistic. Indeed, the world is now experiencing climate change said to be anthropogenic in origin that threatens to decimate much of the world’s living species, including man. In this sense, the article is a high-impact public policy statement.
Question No. 3
Public Policy Statement on Population Growth
This policy statement proposes the slowing down of world population growth so as to eliminate the problems that are currently plaguing the world, which are being underpinned by a rapidly increasing population. To achieve this objective, governments must use the resources in their power to ensure that families are persuaded to keep their size down. Curbing the world population is important to prevent the phenomenon of ‘tragedy of the commons’ as enunciated by Gareth Hardin in 1968 and to prevent the worsening of population-triggered crises, such as climate change, poverty, food and water shortage and the like. This policy impacts not only poorly developed countries, but the entire civilized world. The achievement of this policy is easily measurable – it is directly reflected on yearly population growth rate.
In 2015, the world population has reached 7.3 billion. It is estimated that world population grows by as much as 80 million every year and it is projected that by 2050, there will be about 9.2 billion people sharing and living off the resources of this planet we call Earth. At the present rate, the world is already reeling from the consequences of a heavily populated growth – climate change, the energy crisis, extreme poverty and unstable world economy are all tied up, directly or indirectly, to overpopulation. Climate change, which is currently creating havoc in many regions of the world, is increasing sea levels, triggering many wildfires and pouring heavier and longer volumes of rains in some parts of the world. As a result, many living species are displaced from their natural habitat (NASA 2016). Climate change is tied to the emission of greenhouse gases in the air by anthropogenic activities, such as fossilized fuels. The bigger number of cars running in the streets, for example, can negatively impact the environment. In addition, both food and water supply are not enough to support the needs of the rapidly growing population of the world. Indeed, Hardin’s ‘tragedy of the commons’ although published in the 1960s has never been truer than it is today. According to the Population Institute, about a billion people or 1/7th of the world population go to bed hungry because of food and water shortage. This problem, in turn, has the potential to trigger environmental refugee, which can lead to more conflicts and civil war (Population Institute 2016). The world’s growing population is, thus, a problem that must be arrested. Governments being the institutions that have the resources and the power to institute changes must take the initiative and act now before it is too late by adopting positive regulatory measures to encourage couples to limit the number of children in the family.
Curbing the rapid increase of world population is important because it is the heart of many problems and crises in the world today. Thus, if it is arrested many global crises and problems will either be solved or diminished. As stated by Hardin in 1968, there will be less people to share the commons. Too many people in the world means that there will be many people competing for its resources, thus, food and water shortage are likely to arise. It also means that there will be more people using cars, electricity and other equipment that use energy. The result is not only the fast depletion of world energy sources, but also the emission of more volumes of greenhouse gases that can cause global warming and climate change. Moreover, population and poverty are closely linked, according to the UN Population Fund. Poverty is commonly anchored on population dynamics (UN Population Fund 2016).
The goal of this proposed policy is to eliminate the problem of rapid population growth as much as possible before the tragedy of the commons worsens The increasing world population must be stopped or at least slowed down to ensure that a rapid world population growth does not further complicate or trigger problems as it has already done. Population growth control, nonetheless, should respect the right of couples to determine the size of their families as child-bearing is a very personal right that is inherent in a couple. It is not the purpose of this proposed policy to totally deprive couples the right to exercise this very personal right, but to provide a vehicle through which couples can be influenced to make the correct decision in the matter of determining the size of their family. To put effect into this policy, governments, it is proposed that governments adopt positive policies toward this end that encourages couples and families to keep the number of their children down. Governments should take a proactive approach in this matter by promoting family planning extensively not only by using the various forms of the media to launch campaigns, but by sending relevant staff of government agencies to counsel and promote family planning directly to the people. Most of these measures are already in effect in many civilized countries, but developing countries need to do more to make the issue of family planning more relevant to the masses, especially the lower classes and people with less education. Governments should pass laws that reward families that have achieved ideal family size, such as tax exemptions and other tax credits. They must, however, refrain from coercive measures not only out of respect of the rights of couples to exercise the freedom to determine the size of their family, but also coercive family planning can result in unwanted consequences, such as what happened in China’s one-child policy. In China, a gender imbalance has resulted from the one-child policy because female offspring are aborted to ensure abidance of the law (Nie 2010).
The targets of this policy are both the governments and the people. On one hand, the government must take a proactive approach to make family planning become a part of the public consciousness by using all its resources and power it has to influence or shape the way people see world population. Governments play a key role in achieving the goals of the policy because there is no other institution more capable and powerful than them when it comes to pursuing actions for the good of the people. On the other hand, people must change in the way they see child-bearing. In this sense, they are also direct targets of this policy. Couples must realize that they simply cannot determine the size of their family without connecting it to the rest of the world. They must be able to see themselves as part of the world, as part of the commons whose actions not only impact on their personal lives, but also that of the rest of the world and their collective action may determine how the world will turn out to be in the future.
As earlier impressed, the policy advocated here begins through the initiatives of governments, they being the most influential institutions in the lives of the people. As the chief policy-maker, the highest political leader of the nation must pursue the policy relentlessly and impressed its importance and urgency on the various agencies of the government as well as on the other branches of the government. To ensure that its implementation is successful, an agency or committee should be created solely for the purpose of designing, planning and implementing the various programs of the government on family planning. This committee or agency must have direct access to the nation’s highest political policy-maker. The legislative chambers are important cogs of this project since it is within their powers to pass laws to give teeth to the policy and impressed its importance on the people.
References
Birkland, T. (2014). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts and Models of Public Policy Making. Routledge.
Hardin, G. (1968). Tragedy of the Commons. Science. Retrieved from http://science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full
Nie, W. (2010). China's One-child Policy - Success or Failure? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11404623
Population Institute (2016). Why Population Matters. Retrieved from https://www.populationinstitute.org/resources/whypopulationmatters/
UN Population Fund (2016). Population and Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/resources/population-and-poverty
