Compare cows grazing on a common fi eld to one of the following: a. coal-burning energy facilities releasing combustion products out of chimneys that lack scrubbers b. industries releasing untreated toxic byproducts into local streams

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Recall that the Tragedy of the Commons is an analogy that describes a situation where people act differently when they alone suffer the consequences of their actions, compared to when others share consequences. Because the costs to a company of developing a product or service do not automatically
include those costs of harm to the environment that are presently shared by all of us, some companies consider ignoring harm to the environment an economic incentive that keeps costs low. They prefer to have others pay for damage to the environment. Rather than voluntarily using scrubbers to
protect the air or to treating wastewater to protect the waterways, some companies selfi shly ignore the harm they do to the environment, and the tragedy of the commons continues.