As Hardin outlined, the tragedy of the commons is something that occurs when, as he said, all men rush to tragedy, calculating that if they don't consume environmental resources, somebody else will. It is a classic market failure, where all people acting independently and doing their best have a habit of bringing about results and consequences that are actually not for the collective good. A classic modern example is fishers taking all the fish—that's why we have fishing regulations. Somebody seeking to bring about environmental regulations that solve a genuine market failure—a tragedy of the commons, such as we see in fishing; such as we see in people emitting carbon dioxide—could be solved and justified under this law.