From Sustainability to Resilience: why a small change in terminology has big implications

This week there’s an ad in the Economist for a job at the UN as “Program Head for Climate Strategies and Resilient Development” to support climate adaptation activities in developing countries. So what? I hear you cry. Well, a year ago that job title would probably have been Head of Climate Strategies and Sustainability, and while it may look like a small change in terminology, moving from sustainability to resilience has big connotations.

Adaptation is very different to mitigation. The latter suggests the possibility of a sustainable future, the former accepts that if you can’t beat climate change, you’d better join it. But why the shift – is sustainability really unachievable? I think that if sustainability has become shorthand for maintaining the way we live today, then maybe it isn’t possible and resilience might be the way to go.

Climate change isn’t something that will just pop up in 2050 and bite our grandkids on the arse, it’s happening now. Climate scientist Dr James Hansen of Columbia University says that: “Changes are beginning to appear, and there is a potential for rapid changes with effects that would be irreversible.” In Strategies to Address Global Warming, his data demonstrates that we have already caused atmospheric carbon dioxide to increase from 280 to 387 ppm (parts per million) and this means that we are already beyond a safe limit. He says: “The safe level of carbon dioxide in the long run is no more than 350 ppm. Earth’s history shows that an atmospheric CO2 amount of say 450 ppm eventually would yield dramatic changes, including sea level tens of meters higher than today... we would hand our children and grandchildren a condition that would run out of their control, a situation that should be unacceptable to humanity.”

So even if we put in place mitigation measures, we should perhaps accept that we cannot avert some environmental crises and therefore planning for resilience is not a bad idea. The situation in Haiti demonstrates how preparedness is vital in responding to a national emergency. Can you imagine something like that happening in your neighbourhood? But hang on, before I spin off into utter gloom (you’ll know by now that I’m no fan of doom-mongering) what does resilience mean for us? Moving to higher ground with a load of tinned beans and a shotgun? I hope not. Here’s what I think we’ll need to hand our children and grandchildren.

Resilient communities:
This would probably mean neighbourhoods where the need for travel was minimised. That might mean families living near each other, producing the food supply from allotments and market gardens, and socialising and working locally. Critically though, protectionism should play no part in resilient communities – we need neighbours who are adaptive to change and welcoming if those from elsewhere need sanctuary.

Resilient services.
Again, localisation is key to this. We will need a local infrastructure that can provide food, education, policing, health services and goods readily in uncertain times. Removing reliance on global logistics to get us the things we need is key. Just look at how the snow affected the UK recently with schools, libraries and even supermarkets shutting. We need to be better prepared than that!

Resilient people.
This is the hippy dippy bit. Resilient people will be those who can live through crises without succumbing to fear, depression or protectionism. To be adaptive to change is not easy, but we must raise loving, kind and, most importantly, adaptable kids. They’ll need to be flexible if they’re going to live fulfilling lives in uncertain times.

So does that mean “Sustainability is dead, long live Resilience”? I hope not. I hope that our collective efforts to reduce our environmental impacts work and we can retain the better parts of our modern society long into the future, but a little forward planning for what we might do if they don’t won’t do any harm.

Endnote. I must acknowledge that this post is based largely on a conversation I had with a colleague on my masters alumni weekend. He is the brainy one who made all the salient points and I just added the bit about shotguns. I hope I reflected the discussion appropriately without him feeling used!