Lesson Plan: Teaching the Tragedy of the Commons using Climate Change

As an undergraduate Economics teacher, you can use this set of computer-based tools to help you in teaching the concept of the tragedy of the commons.

This lesson plan will help students to understand the concept of tragedy of the commons, and to identify the “commons” and the “tragedy” in some example problems. In the activity, students will examine climate change as a tragedy of the commons and will discuss possible economic solutions (policy, development) for the problem.

Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a topic in Economics.

Introduction to Tragedy of Commons

Questions

Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:

  • 1. Describe the concept of tragedy of the commons.
  • 2. Discuss climate change as a tragedy-of-the-commons problem. Identify the “commons” and the “tragedy”.
  • 3. Explain why “atmospheric sinks for greenhouse gases” can be considered as a “commons”.
  • 4. Discuss different types of governance solutions for climate change as a tragedy of the commons. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each type of solution.

Understanding Tragedy of the Commons using Climate Change

About Lesson Plan

Grade Level Undergraduate
Discipline Economics
Topic(s) in Discipline • Tragedy of the Commons
• The Economics of Climate Change
Climate Topic • Energy, Economics, and Climate
• Policy, Politics, and Environmental Governance
Location Global
Languages English
Access Online , Offline
Approximate Time Required 120 min

Contents

Micro-lecture (video)

(~11 min)

A micro-lecture (video) that introduces the concept of tragedy of the commons and provides examples to explain the terms “tragedy” and “commons”.

Go to the Video

Classroom/ Laboratory activity

(~50 min)

A classroom/laboratory activity to further understand tragedy of the commons through case studies, discuss “Earth’s atmosphere” as a commons and “global warming” as a tragedy, and propose solutions to solve this tragedy-of-the-commons problem.

Go to the Activity

Reading (~60 min) A reading that discusses climate changeas a tragedy-of-the-commons problem (atmospheric sinks for greenhouse gases are the commons), provides an overview of current climate change governance, and describes polycentric governance strategies to address global climate change at various levels and scales.

Go to the Reading

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

1.Introduce the topic through a micro-lecture (video)
  • • Play the micro-lecture “Tragedy of the Commons”to introduce the concept of tragedy of the commons.
  • • The micro-lecture (video) “Tragedy of the Commons”, delivered by Dr. Jonathan Tomkin, from the Introduction to Sustainability course by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is available on Coursera at https://www.coursera.org/lecture/sustainability/tragedy-of-the-commons-MtxUU.
  • • Guide a brief discussionamong students to cite other examples of the tragedy of the commons problem,andto identify the “commons” and the “tragedy” in each example.
2. Conduct a classroom/laboratory activity
3. Discuss solutions through a reading
  • •  Read “Climate Change: The Ultimate Tragedy of the Commons” by Jouni Paavola in “Property in Land and Other Resources”, edited by Daniel H. Cole and Elinor Ostrom, Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp. 417-433.
  • • The reading “Climate Change: The Ultimate Tragedy of the Commons” is available at https://www.lincolninst.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/climate-change_0.pdf.
  • •  This reading describes climate change as a tragedy of the commons problem (atmospheric sinks for greenhouse gases are the commons) and analyzes the current state of climate change governance.It alsodiscussespolycentricity as a governance approach to address global climate change at various levels and scales, providing specific examples ofthe Cities for Climate Change program and the Cement Sustainability Initiative.

 

Mapped Sustainable Development Goal(s), apart from 4 and 13

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