The Tragedy of the Commons
The Tragedy of the Commons is, at the moment, my most current play. This excerpt is from a draft dated 5-19-09. The play has had two readings, both in LA, and is currently looking for a first production. The following comes from the end of the second act.
DAKIN
Notes from Zone 10. This then, is the tragedy of the commons. The term was coined by sociobiologist, Garrett Hardin and it holds that a shared resource is inevitably ruined by uncontrolled use. Hardin uses a community field or commons to illustrate the tragedy. A town’s people bring cows to the common to feed on its grass. Each demands their share. No one thinks through the consequences of so many cows eating the grass to depletion. The grass disappears and the commons is ruined for all. Hardin proceeds to give modern illustrations. Air pollution. Contaminated ecosystems. Abuse and destruction of rainforests and our ocean’s fisheries. Human-induced climate change due largely to the burning of fossil fuels for energy use. Hardin’s essay was written and published in 1963.
(Then:)
End of land.
(Then:)
End of air. End of water. End of sunset. Of meadow. Mountain. Horizon. End of beauty. End of us.
(Then:)
The view is gone now. All that’s left, like an orgasm in a lost part of the body, is a small pleasure for the memory... coupled with a profound grief for the missing limb.