It's amazing what a little game theory and a willingness to question the assumptions built into models accepted by colleagues will do in advancing the understanding of how people might behave with common pool resources.

Diving into academic writing on the limitations of non-cooperative models like the prisoner's dilemma, and about how we can create environments where "individuals repeatedly communicate and interact with one another" and thus "learn whom to trust, what effects their actions will have on each other and on the CPR, and how to organize themselves to gain benefits and avoid harm," is good for my soul.