In the essay Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor, the author Garrett Hardin uses the metaphor of lifeboat to explain the idea of not helping those people in poor countries. He explains that rich naitons can be seen as a lifeboat, while poor nations outside the lifeboat want to get into that lifeboat. Hardin proposes several ways that the rich nations in the lifeboat should do to the poor. However, he believes that rich nations should not give aids to the poor nations. Then he further argues that the problem will become even worse because of the overpopulation and hunger of the poor countries. He believes that providing help to poor countries would only increase the population and expand hunger. Moreover, he argues that if the rich nations satisfy the growing population’s need for food, the poor nations may destroy the environment and resources. At that time the poor nations may blame the rich naitons instead of thanking them.

However, Hardin’s idea is too confined. His metaphor do raise some serious ethical problems but only makes sense in a limited extent.

The metaphor of lifeboat is different from the real world. The author assumes that the capacity of the lifeboat is limited and fixed. The lifeboat passengers could do nothing to change the capacity of the lifeboat. While in real world, the resources are not fixed and the rich nations can produce more other supplies. Thus the capacity of the rich nations is not fixed.

The author has a wrong understanding of the reason for wasting and polluting natural resources. He believes that the overpopulation of the poor countries is the reason for polluting natural resources. Nevertheless, he ignores that the developed countries which account for about 15% of the world population consumed about 70% of the world natural resources, while the developing countries which account for about 85% consumed just about 30% of the world resources last century. The developed rich nations are the major destroyers of the world resources.

Besides, in the metaphor the author assumes that the population of the poor nations is not under control and the resources of the world are to push the limits. However in real world, many countries are taking action to deal with the overpopulation problem and also it is possible for us to produce more resources.  

Moreover, Hardin has simplified the problem. The reason for poverty or starvation is not only the problem of overpopulation or hunger. There are many other reasons such as governmental problems, war, the educational and social standard, etc.. He ignores that the world is a whole world which can not just be simply separated. For the sake of the Bio-Environment balance, the world people need to work together and help each other.

The “Green Revolution” is a good solution to this ethical problem. But the author does not agree. The ancient Chinese proberb is quite right that to teach one how to fish is very important. We can improve the “Green Revolution” solution. Only to increase food production is not enough. We also have to enhance education and medical treatment just like those rich naitons did earlier in their history. In the aspect of increasing food production, the rich nations should provide agricultural technology to the poor nations. And at the same time, the rich nations should also teach them the importance of environment and make them have a sense of protecting the environment and natural resources in course of development. In the other aspect of controling the population, the rich naitons should help the poor countries to build a complete system of high education and good health. They should help the poor nations improve their medical establishment and make some policies on population, education, medical treatment and public health. Through these processes and help, the poor nations will be able to develop more rapidly on their own in the future.

Hardin’s argument is incomplete because he ignores other aids such as technology and educational system that can be provided to the poor. He simply thinks that to provide aids is only to provide food to the poor. But his lifeboat ethics did emphasize the harsh problems of overpopulation and starvation in the world. We must deal with those problems on all levels of the society. We hope the rich nations will give help to the poor nations because we live on the same earth and in a indivisible world.