Saving the Commons: A Simulation for Understanding the Need for Collaboration to Resolve Environmental Issues

 

Mary Schaeffer, Jon Cawley, and Virginia Gerde

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2003, Volume 24

Abstract

This simulation was created by Dr. Robert S. Dooley of Oklahoma State University and Dr. Gerald Fryxell of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It is based on “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin. The simulation demonstrates the role of collaboration and trust in solving environmental problems. Students act as managers of industries that border on a lake and use the water as a resource. Profits are related to water quality, but each industry also releases pollutants into the lake. The problem is how to profitably operate the industries when the process is dependent on the lake as a common resource.

Keywords:  simulation, collaboration, water pollution, environmental science, ethics

Louisiana State University (2002)