RESILIENCE-BUILDING
It’s all about hope.
Research tells us that, if our children and young people don’t believe we can solve the problems of their tomorrow, they will also lack the motivation and drive needed to navigate the challenges of the 21st Century. We believe the only way to solve a problem is to solve a problem – and that ignoring, worrying or complaining about it is going to waste time and resources that can be better spent elsewhere. The most effective way to tackle these issues starts with developing our collective understanding of climate literacy so we can support and contribute to the development of clean energy and green technologies – to ensure that we can all recognise the possibilities and opportunities for change when they are in front of us.
At Earth’s People, we build resilience from the ground up – and this is how we foster and create hope.
ADAPTIVE MODEL
Like all systems, human society operates as an interconnected network with complex inputs and outputs and flow-throughs that drive the stability (or instability) in that system (Adaptive Cycle Model; Gunderson and Holling, 2002). Put simply, as humankind advances, we go through different phases such as r (exploitation or growth when, for example, a society expands), K (conservation when the society matures and stabilises, Ω (omega; when society experiences some form of disruption or transformation), and then α (alpha; when society needs to adapt to new circumstances and rebuilds in a new, more resilience form).
Globally, we are in a transition phase (between Ω and α), which can mean either a time of loss and destruction or an unprecedented opportunity for innovation, transformation and resilience-building. It’s up to us to use this time to re-organise ourselves so that our next growth phase is one that can contribute to a new era of advancement, progress and stability for all humankind.
DIVERSITY & DISRUPTION
Diversity and disruption play important roles in resilience-building as they expose us to new ways of seeing, thinking, and creating.
If diversity is the spice of life…
Diversity is the secret sauce for problem-solving and innovation. By bringing together individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, society is better able to generate fresh, creative solutions to challenges; and is more likely to see those hidden weaknesses and vulnerabilities that are easy to overlook by a team used to doing things the established way.
…then disruption could be the jalapeño in the guacamole.
Dramatic change does not always mean catastrophe – even in the aftermath of catastrophe. Chile, for example, has successfully built enormous resilience against earthquake disasters: using the awful experiences of past events to drive innovation, promote better policy, and future-proof against coming disasters.
