Earth: tragedy of the commons

Several international agreements (e. g. Kyoto) and national level steps have undertaken by countries to control CO2 emissions. These steps have put strict regulations on businesses and public sector organizations to reduce their negative contribution to the environment. However, these steps have added to costs of doing business, which in turn pushed up the cost of living. Better and cheaper solutions must be developed and governmental support should be at all levels to deal with this problem.

In today’s world, the usage of oil consumption, for example, has exceeded to a great extent. Therefore, to fill this need extraction of such resources is necessary. Nevertheless, the general view of the economists is that fossil fuels are a tragedy of commons because due to its usage the natural resources become extinct. However, the stress is upon usage and not upon over usage. Therefore, it can be said that it is not a tragedy of commons; rather it is a need that is larger than the availability of the resource (Sustainable Environment).