Final answer:
People degrade commons primarily through overuse of resources, such as over-harvesting, and sustainable management strategies that may still lead to depletion if not properly managed. Sustainable management and conservation efforts are strategies to protect the commons, not degrade them.
Step-by-step explanation:
People degrade commons through various actions that lead to the overuse and depletion of shared natural resources. The correct responses that describe how people degrade commons are: A) Overuse of resources and D) Responsible consumption. Overuse of resources such as over-harvesting, habitat destruction, and unsustainable fishing can result from human population growth and a misunderstanding of resource abundance. This might lead to practices like over-fishing or intensive farming, exhausting resources faster than they can naturally replenish. Contrarily, responsible consumption, which is sometimes confused with sustainable management, can slow down the rate at which resources are used, but if not managed carefully, can still contribute to the degradation of the commons, especially when the consumption levels are beyond the ecosystem’s capacity to sustainably provide.
Conversely, options B) Sustainable management and C) Conservation efforts are actually strategies aimed at preserving and protecting the commons, rather than degrading them.