Commons dilemma

Have you ever played with a toy that you needed to share with your friends or siblings? Imagine that you all have a toy that you can play with together, but there are only a few toys for all of you to use.

Now, you all want to play with the toy for a long time, but because there are only a few toys, everyone needs to share it equally. However, sometimes it can be hard to share because sharing means you might not get to play with it for as long as you would like.

This idea of sharing is similar to what we call a commons dilemma. A commons dilemma happens when a group of people uses a shared resource, like the toy, but there is not enough of the resource to go around.

In some cases, people might be tempted to take too much of the resource or use it all up quickly because they think that others will do the same thing. This can be a problem because if everyone takes too much, the resource will be gone, and no one can use it anymore.

For example, imagine there is a small pond where people like to fish. If too many people fish in the pond and take too many fish, there will soon be no fish left in the pond, and no one can fish there anymore.

So, what can we do to solve a commons dilemma? Usually, we need to work together and come up with rules or agreements that make sure we all get a fair share of the resource.

For example, instead of letting anyone fish as much as they want at the pond, we could agree to set limits on the number of fish each person can take, or we could limit the number of people who can fish at the same time.

By working together and sharing the resource equally, we can make sure that everyone can enjoy it now and in the future.