Robert Theobald's Exploration of Resilience Project
[The text below is by Robert Theobald, who can be reached at theobald@iea.com.]
We are at a cusp in human and planetary history. A number of colleagues
and I have decided that we want to concentrate our attention on the need
to move toward more resilience.
We see that human society has become more dependent on complex systems and
less capable of
living without them. We have been aiming to create systems that never go
wrong rather than systems than respond well when things do go wrong, as
they inevitably will.
Within this overall category we are going to concentrate on five topics:
- the shift from leadership styles for a stable world to those which
will work in the rapids of change;
- the ways to develop personal resiliency so people recognize that they
can, and indeed already do, manage their own lives with far more success
than we normally recognize;
- the ways to develop community resilience so groups of people -- whether
geographical, work, professional, or internet -- can respond effectively
to changing conditions rather than being bound by past assumptions or organizational
patterns;
- the ways to restore ecological resilience, recognizing how badly it
is being damaged by the currently inexorable increase in population and
production;
- providing ways for people to see the signs of hope in our world --
the directions which are already developing that show that we may choose
to move in positive directions.
We shall create dialogues on these topics. What we learn in those dialogues
will enable us to create materials which can then be distributed to the
public by various means ranging from a web-site, to print, to audio and
radio, to video and satellite. We hope that many of you will see ways in
which you would like to be supportive.
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