The Drama of the Commons

The "Tragedy of the Commons" describes a situation where shared resources—like air, water, or grazing land—are overused because individuals act in their own interest. Each person benefits from exploiting the resource, but if everyone does so excessively, the resource becomes depleted or damaged for all. It highlights the challenge of managing common resources sustainably, emphasizing the need for collective rules or regulation to prevent individual short-term gains from destroying long-term availability.