“Tragedy of the commons” 20pts
full article can be found at
Enviromental Topics: Ocean/forest biodiversity
Take a plate for each group of four. Everyone gets a straw. Place 20 goldfish crackers in the plate. Create a data table below to record each participants catch every round, surviving fish and new stock of fish the next year.
Each round of “fishing” you can take as many crackers as you like. In order to survive, you need at least one cracker. To feed your family, you need another. To repair your nets to go out again, you need three. Everything beyond that is profit. You can eat your “catch” (caught crackers) after each round.
For each cracker left on the plate, add another for the next round of fishing. In real life, replacement requires thousands of eggs to replace the two adults. We’re not figuring in mortality, life expectancy etc. Run the round again and record your results. If members starve, they’re out of the activity. If they only got two fish, they can sit this round out and compete in the next. Record all of your results. Fisherpersons left after 5 rounds are the winners.
Reflections: Be thorough, does not need to be complete sentences! Be ready to discuss this topic. Use internet to develop and support your understanding of the principle of “Tragedy of the Commons”
1. How did you feel when you realized that you had depleted your fish stock?
2. How did you feel when other fisherman joined your ocean?
3. How would you have changed the way you played the game if you wanted to achieve sustainability for the maximum amount of fisherpersons?
4. Are there any factors about fishing that are missing and could impact fish population sustainability?
5. What happens to a resource when you have infinite population growth, growing technology, and a finite resource?
6. Are there any COMMONLY “owned” resources in our region or community? If so, what are some similar issues around them, and how can they best be managed?
7. What strategies are used to help sustain our resources?
8. Using what you have learned from this activity and our tally of tv’s, etc. the TFR and ecofootprint, write a reflection on your personal choices and the global prospects for sustainability?
9. What are your thoughts on the following quote?
“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we created, but by what we refuse to destroy” John Sawhill