---
title: "Three ways to avoid the tragedy of the commons"
description: "Ways to restore missing feedback on a shared resource."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/three-ways-to-avoid-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Three ways to avoid the tragedy of the commons

> Ways to restore missing feedback on a shared resource.

Donella Meadows's framework, from Thinking in Systems, pp. 93 to 165.

Framework 4 of 7 from [Thinking in Systems](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/index.md) by Donella Meadows. Category: Leadership.

## The steps

1. **Educate and exhort.** Help people see the consequences and appeal to morality.
2. **Privatise the commons.** Make each user bear the consequences of their own use.
3. **Regulate the commons.** Use quotas, permits, taxes and enforcement, 'mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon'.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: Part Two: Systems and Us, pp. 93–165

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/three-ways-to-avoid-the-tragedy-of-the-commons.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/three-ways-to-avoid-the-tragedy-of-the-commons-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/three-ways-to-avoid-the-tragedy-of-the-commons.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/three-ways-to-avoid-the-tragedy-of-the-commons-dark.png