PHL273H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Carrying Capacity, Collective Action
Document Summary
Climate change: collective action problem, tragedy of the commons situation, today, global human population, someday there will be too many humans on earth, what should we do about that. One day there will be too many humans in the world. Earth can only support a finite number of humans. In context of human pop, we will have to decide optimal human population to decide which regulations to impose. Carrying capacity: which, once breached, eventually leads to ruin for all. If not pop control, nature will do it for us. Domestic proposal: pay women during prime breeding age to not have children. Foreign proposal: send luxuries to other nations without subsidizing breeding. Hardin doesn"t examine the causes of population growth. Number of births higher than number of deaths. Suggests that there"s a right and wrong way of addressing the pop boom. Right and wrong responses depend on what caused the problem in the first place.
