This and the next two sections ("Commoner" and "Simon") examine different answers to the question, "Is overpopulation the fundamental cause of environmental problems."
Garrett Harden, writing in "Tragedy of the Commons" (which is assigned reading for this time in the course) argues that there wouldn't be large problems with air pollution and land degradation if there weren't so many people. His article has become a classic in environmental literature, and reading it is a "must."
He points out that in the old days, you could dump your coffee grounds in the stream when you were camping, because, in the words of his grandfather, "A running stream purifies itself every 10 miles." But, when there are hundreds or thousands of people up and down the length of the stream, the purification capacity of the stream is exhausted.
To build his case, he uses the example of the "commons;" a resource owned by no one but utilized by many (a pasture, in the case of his example). He argues that, in a commons, there is no incentive to be conserving of resources, for he who is conserving "loses," and he extends the analogy to people's rights to have as many children as they wish.
Despite increasing population pressures, we still like to live with a frontier mentality. We live as though:
(1) we can't effectively harm the natural world in a significant way because it is so big and we are so little, and
(2) if we damage one place, there will always be a new frontier to move to.
(Muir's perspective: Couple that frontier mentality with a rapidly growing population, and we are set up for troubles.)
The opinion that population is the most important cause of environmental degradation is arguable. For opposing opinions, see the next sections by clicking the box labelled ">>" at the bottom of this page. (To return to previous section, click the box labelled "<<" or use "CONTENTS" to return to the master directory for the BI301 web site. "Navigate " gives some general reminders on how to move about within and among these documents.)