Commons isn't just land. It is anything that is shared publicly. Roads and the oxygen you breath are two examples. Both of those examples mentioned above are r

Commons isn't just land. It is anything that is shared publicly. Roads and the oxygen you breath are two examples. Both of those examples mentioned above are right now being heavily polluted. The tragedy of the commons is essentially this: The cost of me polluting the air by driving a car is much less then the cost of me not polluting the air and walking 20 miles to work instead. My pollution contribution to the air is minor when compared to walking 20 miles and therefore by choosing to drive i am acting logically. The phenomenon ghe theory addresses is that when everybody does this the aggregate contribution to pollution ends up destroying the commons. Therein lies the tragedy: groups of people acting logically in picking the lesser evil end up destroying the commons. Why do people even argue about this theory? It's readily apparent if you drive a car or use any form of non renewable energy.