When natural resources are held in common- freely available to anyone for the taking- the incentives that normally direct human activity lead people to steadily increase their exploitation of the resources until they are inadequate to meet human needs. The exploiters generally do not intend to cause any harm; they are merely taking care of their own needs, or those of others in want. Nevertheless, the entire system moves inexorably to disaster. Everyone in the world shares in the resulting tragedy of the commons (Elliot & Lamm, 2004). I try to the best of my ability to do just opposite- lead a life having resource management and our planet’s sustainability in mind. I try to be cognizant of the fact that such natural resources as gas and fresh water are finite and act accordingly. I also try to avoid social traps, such as smoking, using drugs and eating unhealthy diet, that can be damaging to my health.
I own a hybrid SUV, Outlander produced by Japanese company Mitsubishi. My work is located about 7 miles away from my home, and my car’s battery allows for 30-40 miles drive (depending on the speed) before it needs to be recharged again. Obviously, the best environmentally friendly choice would be for me to ride a bike to work, however as I can’t imagine the level of exhaustion that I would feel after cycling 14 miles every day, I choose to drive. In fact, I try to do the next best thing, which in my mind is driving without using any gas. I try to keep my car battery charged at all times though, so that I’m not spending gas driving to work, but rather electricity.
Furthermore, I try to limit my showers to 2 minutes at most (my goal being minute and a half), in an effort to waste as little water as possible. I also try to be cognizant of our water resources being finite every time I have to use water for any purpose (washing hands, using washing machine, or dishwasher for instance). This is what I also try to teach my children- that fresh water is a resource that is very limited, and that every time we open a tap, we should be aware of the fact that fresh water that comes out will never be there for us to use again.
I also try to lead very healthy life, avoiding all (or most) health compromising behaviors. And although I’m guilty of occasionally consuming caffeine, and on very rare occasions alcohol produced by fermentation of grapes and barley (in other words wine and beer), I eat healthy, I don’t smoke, or use any other psychoactive substances (other than aforementioned caffeine and alcohol). There are a lot of contemporary research findings that highlight preventive role of moderate caffeine (100-200mg per day) and red wine (1-2 glasses per day) consumption against coronary heart disease though, which contribute to my case of avoiding all health compromising behaviors.
If we want our children to live in a better world than we do (which already may be utopia, but at least world better than is currently mapped out for them), most of us will have to lead responsible lives and have our planet’s sustainability constantly on our minds. We will have to take care of our water consumption, gas consumption (and its consequences such as depletions of natural resources and our ozone layer), and avoid health-compromising behaviors.
References:
Elliot, H. & Lamm, R.D. (2004). The Social Contract: A Moral Code for a Finite World. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 (3), 187-190. Retrieved from: http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fourteen-three/xiv-3-187.pdf
I am looking up to you, for being so consequent in preserving our resources, so that other generations after us, can enjoy them as well. The problem is though, that not everybody thinks or behaves like you. To make a change in people’s behaviors, I think we have to start from the top. Governments have to enforce, subsidies or reward a behavior that favors our environment. With starting on top, I also meant our corporations. Here in the US fossil fuel production is still subsidized. While this made sense a century ago, drilling coal, oil and gas that depletes our resources should not be rewarded today. To be exact, 20 billion dollars are going to these three fossil fuels productions every year (Hart & Noll, 2019).
You mentioned, that you tell your children each time you turn the fossette on, the water will never come back. Just think about how much water is used in the drilling and production of these three fossil fuels. What should we tell our children? That besides depleting our resources, we spend precious water and billions of dollars into something that should be forbidden? If we don’t start changing things up at the top, all your good intentions are for nothing. We need to use our democratic power to vote for people that represent our interests and put humans and finite resources before the dollar sign.
Hart, D., & Noll, E. (2019). Less Certain Than Death: Using Tax Incentives to Drive Clean Energy Innovation. Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Retrieved from https://itif.org/publications/2019/12/02/less-certain-death-using-tax-incentives-drive-clean-energy-innovation