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NEIGHBORHOOD RESILIENCE

Nourishing Neighborhood Networks (Ann Arbor, MI):

Local Provisioning:

Neighbohood-scale Resilience:

Regional Resilience (Washtenaw County, MI):

National Resilience (FEMA):

LOCALIZATION

Critique of modernity:

Energy and resource descent has begun. It will cause a dramatic change in our everyday lived experience. But we must be clear as to what is at risk; what is ending is not humanity, but modernity (Murphy et al. 2021). As the following list suggests, concern about modernity’s lack of durability is not new.

Murphy’s modernity series:

Tom Murphy (dothemath.ucsd.edu) has created a fascinating, multi-part series on our inevitable and imminent parting company with modernity. Among the many important notions in his body of work, none is more important than his observation that, “…because modernity is just one of many possible ways for humans to arrange their lives, a failure of modernity does not translate to a failure of humanity.”

Another key notion is that our parting company with modernity will be a long, drawn-out process on a multi-decade if not centuries-long timescale. This is not a time-scale with which modern society has familiarity. 

The failure of modernity has begun, but the faster we “walk away“, the better the chance, slim though it is, that biodiversity and ecological health can restore themselves. Post-restoration, we might find ourselves at home, on a descent planet.

Murphy’s final installment in the series is one of the best “what can I do” pieces that I have read in my 45 years in academia. His list is honest, supportive, forward looking, and brief.

In that final installment, Murphy wisely avoids the irrationality of listing “52 things you can buy to save the planet.” Sadly, such “green consumption” lists were common during the misguided 20th century thinking of well-meaning folks in the early environment movement. Such thinking was never up to the task of addressing the 20th century environmental crises. Now, in the 21st century, such consumer-focused nonsense has been revealed as a foundational cause of those crises.

The final installment reminds me somewhat of Greer’s (2009) list of “learn one thing, give up one thing, save one thing.” Although, importantly, Murphy focuses on the process of changing behavior, worldview, entitlement, etc. These changes are always difficult (and often delayed as long as possible). Of course, the inevitable and nascent energy descent, and the realization that our species very survival requires radical change, will likely speed that process.

Premise of biophysical limits:

Affirmative response to biophysical limits:

BECOMING INDIGENOUS TO PLACE

BEING PLACE-BASED: Onondaga Faith Keeper Oren Lyons said, “Our knowledge is profound and comes from living in one place for untold generations. It comes from watching the sun rise in the east and set in the west from the same place over great sections of time. We are as familiar with the lands, rivers, and great seas that surround us as we are with the faces of our mothers. Indeed, we call the earth Etenoha, our mother from whence all life springs.”

STORIES OF RESILIENCE AND LOCALIZATION

RESILIENT ANN ARBOR: Helping our neighborhoods achieve an order-of-magnitude reduction in energy and material consumption. Affirmative stories of local provisioning, low-input agrarian localism, and reduced consumption, all while increasing well-being.

RESOURCES FOR AUTHENTIC ADAPTATION

AUTHENTIC ADAPTATION: The predicament being faced has no solution in the normal meaning of that word. Instead, it must be endured. Society will undoubtedly respond, but even an effective response will not eliminate the predicament.

A useful response does not alter but rather accommodates the new situation. This is adaptation in a classic psychological sense: changing our behavior patterns to better fit the lived experience of the new reality.

SELECTED ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS:

INSPIRATION:

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Raymond De Young, PhD
School for Environment and Sustainability
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Localization explained

Biophysical limits and disrupted ecosystems mean that soon we will live far more simply. Rather than being dismal, this reality contains many benefits. If thoughtfully done, it can be a locally grounded, intrinsically satisfying life.

Intention

Inspire hopeful visions despite lean times.
Support new farmers, poets, and teachers.

Inspiration

“I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope.” – Ursula Le Guin (2014)

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass, 2013)

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