“We all come from cultures that built deep resilience because we were able to exist in the place we lived for a long time. We call that cultural diversity. This evolved knowledge of place. In a way, we look back to our indigenous ancestral wisdom to see models of how people who got to live in one place for hundreds of years really knew how to take care of that place, that home. Resiliency is there. It’s in all of us.”—Ellen Choy, Movement Generation
The Post Carbon Institute is a leading voice in the development of global sustainability practice and policy which addresses 21st century climate and resource crises. Their focus is not simply on correcting our ecological approach, but addressing those gross social inequities human beings levy against one another which have eroded trust and fostered less resilient communities. In this concept paper, they offer a thorough examination of the elements that are required for communities who wish to transition nearer to a more resilient social infrastructure.
Resilience from an ecological approach is defined the ability of a system to absorb disturbance while maintaining its essential function, structure, or identity. Therefore resilient communities are those whose essential function and structures do no deteriorate when faced with crises. Identity presents a more complex subject which is broached in this paper to some small degree because socially constructed relationships become functional during a crisis. Therefore gentrification can be both an issue framed as both social and ecological when considering the stability of community as a social organism.
The Kola Nut Collaborative takes the position that timebanking is one of those concepts which can stimulate greater cohesion and resilience in communities by making their assets and needs more visible. With this heightened visibility amongst members of a community, we can drive local community priorities by incentivizing work that meets the needs of members within the community. Read the concept paper at the link below for further insight on how you can contribute to the cultivation of a more resilient local community.