Authors: Grace Yu; Sources: Britannica, Earth.org
The Tragedy of the Commons
ACTIVITY
Fishing Beads Game
Materials: Paper plate, 60 beads, small paper cups // Duration: 10 minutes
Place all 30 beads on the paper plate
Instruct participants that everyone has 5 seconds to “fish,” but they can only pick up one bead at a time to put in their cup
There will be multiple rounds, and the person with the most beads at the end is the winner
3 beads are required to stay “alive” after each round
After the 1st round, add 1 extra bead as “offspring” for every 2 beads that are still present in the plate
Carry out this process until reproduction is not possible anymore/no beads remain
Explain to participants that even though they were able to get a lot of fish at first, fishing in such high amounts is not sustainable and will lead to depletion of a resource.