Quotes from Donella H. Meadows

System structure is the source of system behavior. System behavior reveals itself as a series of events over time.

The tragedy of the commons arises from missing (or too long delayed) feedback from the resource to the growth of the users of that resource.

The only way to fix a system that is laid out poorly is to rebuild it, if you can.

Physical structure is crucial in a system, but is rarely a leverage point, because changing it is rarely quick or simple. The leverage point is in proper design in the first place.

The more users there are, the more resource is used. The more resource is used, the less there is per user.

Understanding layers of limits and keeping an eye on the next upcoming limiting factor is not a recipe for perpetual growth, however. For any physical entity in a finite environment, perpetual growth is impossible. Ultimately, the choice is not to grow forever but to decide what limits to live within.

The most effective way of dealing with policy resistance is to find a way of aligning the various goals of the subsystems, usually by providing an overarching goal that allows all actors to break out of their bounded rationality.