volume 01 issue 01 archive
Four Connections: Ecology, Economy, Ethics and Citizenship
Resilience Thinking
by Brian Walker
November 24, 2008
Life is full of surprises. Sometimes we take them in stride; some times they trip us up. Resilience thinking offers a fresh way of understanding the world around us and of managing our natural resources.
readmoreperspectives
Why People and Place?
by Howard SilvermanHere are four themes that combine to make P&P – maybe not unique – but not quite the same, either.
readmoreQuestions That Inspire Fresh Thinking
by Howard Silverman“Are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature?” ask Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen and John McNeill.
readmoreCitizen Science and Social Learning
by Howard SilvermanHow important is the role of “dialog among diverse participants” in creating social change?
readmoreRigidity and Poverty Traps
by Howard SilvermanSometimes we cling to habits or practices that no longer serve our needs. Or we let go, only to find that for a time no new direction takes hold.
readmoreThe Tragedy - 40 Years Later
by Howard SilvermanThe dilemma, following Garrett Hardin's reassessment, is not that the atmosphere is a commons, but that it is an unmanaged commons.
readmoreMellon Award for Technology Collaboration
by Howard SilvermanThis is the first time that the Mellon Award has been given for an application in ecosystem-based management or conservation.
readmorePartnership and Resilience
by Madronna HoldenLet's ask questions that differ from the “ruling paradigm” not only about how we manage natural resources, but how we manage ourselves.
readmoreWinter Storms and Shifting Baselines
by Howard SilvermanThe term shifting baseline refers to the limited timescales of personal experiences.
readmoreModularity: Small Pieces Loosely Joined
by Howard SilvermanModularity is one of a handful of factors – including feedback, diversity and redundancy – that bolster social and ecological resilience.
readmoreUncertainty and Resilience
by Jamais CascioWhether change manifests as threat or opportunity depends on our capacity to adapt and remake ourselves and our civilization.
readmoreEnergy Uncertainty and Community Resilience
by Daniel LerchUrban planners and policymakers will need to turn to more systems-informed approaches to community governance and development.
readmoreClimate Adaptation for Resilient Communities
by Howard SilvermanI explore the idea and practice of adaptation, while surveying a range of materials that have caught our attention.
readmoreCollapse and Renewal
by C.S. "Buzz" HollingThese are the lessons I have learned that help in the process of dealing with turbulence.
readmoreNot Wrong, Just Incomplete
by Howard SilvermanI find an appealing sense of graciousness in this phrase: "not wrong, just incomplete."
readmoreSix Habits of Highly Resilient Organizations
by Peter+Trudy Johnson-LenzWhat differentiates success and failure, resilience and collapse?
readmoreAgency and Community Resilience
by Lenore Newman and Ann DaleThe capacity of an individual or community to plan or initiate action is known as the exercise of agency.
readmoreOn the Changing Roles of Nonprofits
by Howard SilvermanOne need not work for a nonprofit to be attracted to the idea of utilizing the Net to spur social change.
readmoreEmbracing the Entire Food System
by Howard SilvermanTwo recent articles champion a "new mainstream".
readmorePanarchy and Pace in the Big Back Loop
by Howard SilvermanWhat can we learn by mapping these two metaphors against each other?
readmoreWrapping Up Issue #1
by Howard SilvermanThanks for joining P&P in this look at resilience thinking and related ideas.
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media library
The Anthropocene
Humanity is, in one way or another, becoming a self-conscious, active agent in the operation of its own life support system.
readmoreAdaptive Cycle
The adaptive cycle represents the four ecosystem functions and the flow of events among them.
readmoreThe Architecture of Participation
Tim O'Reilly: I've come to use the term "the architecture of participation" to describe the nature of systems that are designed for user contribution.
readmoreFrances Westley Interview
Social innovators are really good connectors. They connect resources to possibilities.
readmoreLearning 2.0
Social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions around problems or actions.
readmoreCommunity-Based Forest Monitoring
We found that collaborative monitoring can lead to shared ecological understanding among diverse participants, build trust internally and credibility externally, foster social learning and community-building, and advance adaptive management.
readmoreAdaptive Capacity and Traps
Adaptive capacity, the ability of a system to adjust to changing internal demands and external circumstances, is a central feature of resilience.
readmoreThe Evolutionary Basis of Rigidity
Understanding why rigidity makes sense may help in finding ways to avoid traps in situations where flexible response and innovation are needed.
readmore"Travels with Buzz" Documentary
Filmmaker Dick Bocking recorded many conversations with Resilience Alliance founder Buzz Holling and compiled this documentary in 2006.
readmoreThe Struggle to Govern the Commons
Locally evolved institutional arrangements governed by stable communities and buffered from outside forces have sustained resources successfully for centuries, although they often fail when rapid change occurs.
readmorePanarchy
Two kinds of connections are critical in creating and sustaining adaptive capability: revolt and remembrance.
readmoreDavid Ellerman on Adaptive Landscapes
If evolution is driving you higher and higher on the hill of fitness: What do you do if you are on the wrong hill?
readmoreMitigation and Adaptation
The beneficial overlap in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies is illustrated here.
readmoreNetwork Structure, Diversity, and Proactive Resilience Building
Human societies can make choices that will limit the need for adaptation in the future, and create space for future options.
readmoreResilient Cities
If a city wanted to set about deliberately developing the quality of resilience, could it do so?
readmoreRic Young on Social Innovation
This is my best guess of some critical ingredients for social innovation.
readmoreEconomic Growth, Carrying Capacity, and the Environment
The solution to environmental degradation lies in such institutional reforms as would compel private users of environmental resources to take account of the social costs of their actions.
readmoreThe Flawed Foundations of General Equilibrium
In the case of economics, the ivory tower casts a long shadow over social and political life.
readmoreAdaptive Cycle in 3D
The adaptive cycle can be plotted against the system's potential, connectedness and resilience.
readmoreFrom Complex Regions to Complex Worlds
There is opportunity for exploratory experiment if the experiments are designed to have low costs of failure.
readmoreHerman Daly Interview: Trade and Community
You have gains from trade, for sure, but it’s not necessary that there be mutual gains.
readmoreour compass
Resilience Alliance
The Resilience Alliance is a research organization comprised of scientists and practitioners who collaborate to explore the dynamics of social-ecological systems.
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