Garrett Hardin Quotes

Thou Shalt Not Transgress The Carrying Capacity

In An Approximate Way, The Logic Of Commons Has Been Understood For A Long Time, Perhaps Since The Discovery Of Agriculture Or The Invention Of Private Property In Real Estate.

But It Is No Good Using The Tongs Of Reason To Pull The Fundamentalists' Chestnuts Out Of The Fire Of Contradiction. Their Real Troubles Lie Elsewhere.

To Say That We Mutually Agree To Coercion Is Not To Say That We Are Required To Enjoy It, Or Even To Pretend We Enjoy It.

The Three Filters [against Folly] Operate Through These Particular Questions: Literacy: What Are The Words? Numeracy: What Are The Numbers? Ecolacy: And Then What?

Numeracy: 1. The Art Of Putting Numbers To Things, That Is, Assigning Amounts To Variables In Order That Practical Decisions May Be Reach. 2. That Aspect Of Education (beyond Mere Literacy) Which Takes Account Of Quantitative Aspects Of Reality.

The Rational Man Finds That His Share Of The Cost Of The Wastes He Discharges Into The Commons Is Less Than The Cost Of Purifying His Wastes Before Releasing Them.

Incommensurables Cannot Be Compared.

Using The Commons As A Cesspool Does Not Harm The General Public Under Frontier Conditions, Because There Is No Public, The Same Behavior In A Metropolis Is Unbearable.

In A Finite World This Means That The Per Capita Share Of The World's Goods Must Steadily Decrease.

Moreover, The Practical Recommendations Deduced From Ecological Principles Threaten The Vested Interests Of Commerce; It Is Hardly Surprising That The Financial And Political Power Created By These Investments Should Be Used Sometimes To Suppress Environmental Impact Studies.

What Features Of Your Daily Life Do You Expect To Be Improved By A Further Increase In Population?