10: Resilience – Bridge to Sustainability

We define “resilience,” system-level resilience in our context (see Etilé et al., 2021, for a discussion of individual resilience and well-being), as the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and successfully adapt to adverse events or disruptions (Brunnermeier, 2021; Joseph & McGregor, 2021; National Research Council, 2012). Two key dimensions of resilience are highlighted in this definition: the ability to absorb shocks (i.e., to survive), and the ability to bounce back following shocks, to continue living the lives we value, albeit possibly in newly imagined ways (i.e., to thrive). Critically, resilience does not mean returning to the current state after a disruption. A focus on building resilience is fully aligned with human beings' “conatus” – their desire to survive and thrive when faced with “radical uncertainty.” Investing in resilience is all about changing and adapting whatever we can, including our lifestyles and institutions, to ensure the ongoing health of the “well-being garden.”