A recipe for resilience
How building resilience begins in the self, and other end-of-year updates
Installation by Rob Mulholland, original source here
I was recently asked what I think are the biggest barriers and opportunities to build more climate resilience in California.
If you’re like me, I bet it’s easy to imagine the myriad of extreme climate risks for which California has become the poster child du jour. Yes, California is deeply climate crisis-prone. But facing crises can bring hard-earned wisdom. In this way, California has a head start in addressing resilience. California is like your more experienced cousin who has first-hand knowledge of the do’s and dont’s of navigating messy teenage years. They’re not necessarily the most moral role model, but they’ve gained some valuable lessons, and are somehow finding their way.
What really gives California a boost is our culture of incredible organizers, tribal leaders, and community-based orgs who influence local government and lead the way in policymaking partnerships.
The barriers I see, therefore, aren’t really about California, or any state for that matter. So the answer I shared instead is that the barriers and opportunities to resilience lie in how we approach the work.
Because bending political and financial will towards climate action is already an uphill battle, us practitioners can get stuck in merely intellectual or infrastructural approaches. This easily doubles us down on oppressive systems and ignores the links between our physical bodies, relationships with community, and sense of connectedness to the land.
The disconnect isn’t unique to the climate workforce; many of us are disconnected from our selves, neighbors, communities, systems-at-large, and the natural world. I don’t think that’s an accident: systems rooted in oppression rely on our tendencies towards individualism, ignorance, and consumeristic coping mechanisms. But climate practitioners therefore need extra support to resist this status quo – and to embrace how existentially challenging and potentially transformative this work can be. I see modalities like grief work, psycho-emotional support, and spiritual care as potent ingredients for more effectiveness.
A recipe I believe in for building resilience (to climate threats and otherwise) goes something like this:
Begin with the body: The concept of resilience is experienced in the physical and emotional body. There’s nowhere else we will be resilient besides in our own being as a being.
Clarify sense of self: Finding this resilience, therefore, starts with our sense of self, and cultivating a sense of self that sees how nature is truly an expression of you and you are an expression of nature.
See change as fundamental: At this point, I suggest we sprinkle in one of Buddhism’s Five Remembrances (or add in all five of the remembrances for an extra robust dish): “All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.” Reflecting on impermanence can ground us in the value of cherishing and protecting life, even as it changes.
Create from this place: Building resilience means creating functioning systems, projects, and processes from a shared sense of self as different expressions of the same intrinsic whole. We can build from this place of interconnection, honoring the ever-changing nature of life while striving to minimize harm.
Get into the nuances and find consensus: What does honoring change and minimizing harm actually look like? This is where good critical thinking, conversation, co-ideation, and collective implementation come in. It’s also where our differing senses of self might become most apparent. But that’s why embedding social and spiritual connection into the way we do this work is so key.
To be clear, dealing with layers of bureaucracy, thirst for profit, and existential crises of health and safety do not have a simple solution. Taking on climate resilience work is profoundly challenging, as is all work that stares loss right in the face. But I believe engaging this work can be a delicious feast if we use the right ingredients. I’m grateful for several projects in 2024 that are nourishing me through this kind of approach — from San Mateo County to West Hollywood to local governments across the US.
And ultimately, building our willingness to thrive and love this life even in the face of loss is all of our work to do. So let’s gather round the table. Bon appétit!
thank you for indulging this metaphor for what I want resilience work to feel like!