What if ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ Was a Big Fat Lie?

A meditation with woodpeckers

Detail from the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker plate from Birds of America (1827) by John James Audubon, etched by William Home Lizars. Original from University of Pittsburg. Digitally enhanced by raw pixel under public domain license.

Half a century ago, I read a nasty little news story that I’ve never been able to shake.

To set the scene: In 1970, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker was listed as a federally endangered species in the United States. According to the Nature Conservancy, its population has collapsed from 1.5 million to…