So what do we mean by community resilience, anyway? There are several ways of looking at it.

© Egidijus Mika | Dreamstime Stock Photos

1. Community resilience means taking a do-it-with-others (DIWO) response to these threats:

• global warming
• food insecurity
• the end of cheap oil, or “peak oil”
• economic distress

2. Community resilience is the ability to:

• anticipate risk
• limit impact
• bounce back from upheaval and turbulent change—whether environmental impacts or economic shocks. —Community and Regional Resilience Institute

3. Community resilience requires:

• a dependable local food network
• energy from renewable sources
• local employment
• a sense of shared responsibility for residents’ welfare. —Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition

4. Resilience differs from sustainability because it presupposes:

• that negative events will occur
• that we must consider the long term impacts of climate change. —ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability

5. Resilience and resourcefulness are Siamese twins. The question to ask is, “How do you turn yourself into the resource you need at all times?” –Diop Adisa from KI EcoCenter

6. (Joke) Resilience is code for “we’re screwed.” —Apocadoc Jim Poyser, editor of Indiana Living Green*

*This is actually the PG-rated version of Jim’s definition.

What is your preferred definition of community resilience? And how does your community stack up?