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Back in 1833 William Foster Lloyd
noticed something fascinating

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about the so-called common pastures.

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In other words, pastures
without an owner

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and which can be used by everyone.

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He noticed that these common pastures

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were in considerably worse shape
than those which had an owner.

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Why?

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Simply because the short-term
self-interest of the people

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who were using those pastures
made them consume too many resources

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and in the long run
everyone suffered.

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George asked himself –
should I buy another animal?

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And decided that yes,
he’d make more money that way.

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He knew he was
overloading the pasture

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but didn’t care,
he wanted the extra money.

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The problem is that everyone
did the same thing.

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In the end the pasture
was brutally overloaded

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and therefore became unusable.

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Some people made short-term profits

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but in the long-run everyone lost.

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As far as the pastures which
had an owner were concerned,

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this didn’t happen because it was
in the best interest of the owners

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to exploit their
property sustainably.

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Today, similar situations
occur frequently.

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For example, with fishing grounds

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such as the Grand Banks
of Newfoundland,

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which used to be home
to a huge cod population.

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About 50 years ago, however,

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technology enabled people to catch
a lot more fish than before.

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The fish population,
and thereby the fishing industry,

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collapsed by the 90s
and might never recover.

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The same way humans
are doing everything

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from polluting the Earth’s
oceans and atmosphere

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to generating traffic jams
during rush hour.

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There we have it –
the tragedy of the commons.