“Environmentalists use the metaphor of the earth as a ‘spaceship’ in trying to persuade countries, industries and people to stop wasting and polluting our natural resources,” Hardin wrote. “The spaceship metaphor can be dangerous when used by misguided idealists to justify suicidal policies for sharing our resources through uncontrolled immigration and foreign aid.”42 “Metaphorically, each rich nation amounts to a lifeboat full of comparatively rich people,” he continued. “The poor of the world are in other, much more crowded lifeboats. Continuously, so to speak, the poor fall out of their lifeboats and swim for a while in the water outside, hoping to be admitted to a rich lifeboat, or in some other way to benefit from the ‘goodies’ on board. What should the passengers on a rich lifeboat do?”