The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself, and cannot be made by anyone else.

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.