18 Facts About Garrett Hardin

Garrett Hardin focused his career on the issue of human overpopulation, and is best known for his exposition of the tragedy of the commons in a 1968 paper of the same title in Science, which called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment".

Garrett Hardin received a BS in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1936 and a PhD in microbiology from Stanford University in 1941 where his dissertation research addressed symbiosis among microorganisms.

Garrett Hardin was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research.

Garrett Hardin was a proponent of eugenics and a vice-president of American Eugenics Society.

In 1968, Garrett Hardin applied his conceptual model developed in his essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" to human population growth, the use of the Earth's natural resources, and the welfare state.

Garrett Hardin's essay cited an 1833 pamphlet by the English economist William Forster Lloyd which included an example of herders sharing a common parcel of land, which would lead to overgrazing.

Garrett Hardin blamed the welfare state for allowing the tragedy of the commons; where the state provides for children and supports over-breeding as a fundamental human right, Malthusian catastrophe is inevitable.

In contrast to Garrett Hardin, they stated neither commons or "Allmende" in the generic nor classical meaning are bound to fail; to the contrary "the wealth of the commons" has gained renewed interest in the scientific community.

Garrett Hardin's work was criticized as historically inaccurate in failing to account for the demographic transition, and for failing to distinguish between common property and open access resources.

In 1993, Garrett Hardin published Living Within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos, which he described at the time as a summation of all his previous works.

Garrett Hardin goes on to label those who reflexively argue for growth as "growthmaniacs", and argues against the institutional faith in exponential growth on a finite planet.

Typical of Garrett Hardin's writing style, he illustrates exponential growth by way of a Biblical metaphor.

Garrett Hardin writes, "At this late date millions of people believe in the fertility of money with an ardor seldom accorded to traditional religious doctrines".

Garrett Hardin argues that, contrary to some socially-motivated claims, population growth is exponential growth, therefore even a little would be disastrous anywhere in the world, and that even the richest nations are not immune.

Garrett Hardin, who suffered from a heart disorder and post-polio syndrome, and his wife, Jane, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, were members of End-of-Life Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society.

Garrett Hardin caused controversy for his support of anti-immigrant causes during his lifetime and possible connections to the white nationalist movement.

The Southern Poverty Law Center noted that Garrett Hardin served on the board of the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Social Contract Press and co-founded the anti-immigration Californians for Population Stabilization and The Environmental Fund, which according to the SPLC "served to lobby Congress for nativist and isolationist policies".

Garrett Hardin's last book The Ostrich Factor: Our Population Myopia, a warning about the threat of overpopulation to the Earth's sustainable economic future, called for coercive constraints on "unqualified reproductive rights" and argued that affirmative action is a form of racism.