Why are ecologists and environmentalists so feared and hated? This is because in part what they have to say is new to the general public, and the new is always alarming.

California medicine 113 (5): 40–47. BioScience 36 (9): 599–606. S.

His exposition of the tragedy of the commons in a 1968 paper called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". [page needed]. He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "You cannot do only one thing" which expresses the interconnectedness of every action.