Cooperation

Cooperation is when we all work together to achieve a common goal. Everyone benefits. For example, when it comes to public goods - resources meant for everyone to enjoy - everyone has to cooperate. Big companies have to prevent and clean up any of their manufacturing runoff that flows into a river, the government has to enforce the law. Hence, they do so, and people must report pollution to the police and not pollute themselves. That way, everyone is safe from falling sick after drinking water (including the fish), and there are healthy people to work in the factories and government offices, the soil is not destroyed by pollution so crops can still be sustainably grown to provide food, the government does not have to spend more to clean up spills, and companies can still make a profit while fighting climate change. 

Expanded Perspectives:

• Google Search the highlighted words and phrases.

• What other examples of cooperation can you think of that would happen in your country?

• Some groups might not want to cooperate for various reasons. In the example given above, the companies might choose not to clean up their runoff because they don’t want to spend the money needed to do it; the government might not punish them because certain officials might have been bribed or the company might be important to the national economy; the people would suffer. Can you think of anyone that wouldn’t want to cooperate and why? Who suffers from the lack of cooperation in your example?

For cooperation to happen, everyone involved has to communicate, trust each other, be flexible, and be willing to compromise. In the example above, the companies, government, and people need to trust that no one will break the agreement. Once that trust is broken, punishment must be given to prevent others from doing the same thing. 

Flexibility is when we can adapt to changes. In the past, no one cared about spills and how they affected people, but as the world changed, human rights became more respected and people knew about climate change, the government had to start making and enforcing laws to protect people and companies had to also consider them during production, from their staff to neighbors to consumers. In some countries, it is not even allowed for builders to build places where people would live close to factories or plants. 

Compromise is when people or groups can meet halfway, especially when they have different opinions about the same issue. For example, people would have to not throw refuse into the river (just like the companies), even if it is conveniently close to their houses.