Population growth is one such problem - there are ways to control human fecundity, but they rely on individual application. Destruction of a commons is inevitable - unless freedom is restricted . This is another lesson from Hardin's article. According to Hardin, unrestricted use of a commons will ultimately lead to the destruction of that commons because a person will individually benefit from the use of the commons, but will only share partly in the cost of destruction of that commons. Here is an example for you, again extracted from a brief article I wrote before Earth Day 90.
Spring is the time plants awaken from their long winter nap to begin life anew.
There will be another reawakening this spring - the environmental movement will awaken from a relatively inactive period during the past several years. This reawakening, called Earth Day, will be celebrated around the globe on 22 April, 1990. As Earth Day draws near we will hear about many environmental crises, each more tragic than the next. Hardin considers a commons to be any resource, such as air and water, that is shared by many. Given freedom to use the commons, Harding concludes that its ultimate fate is destruction.