Re-Visioning Resilience

Abstract

This study delves into the realms of resilience when people are confronted with environmental adversity. Harnessing the wisdom from five seasoned environmental activists, this study focuses on the core qualities of resilience and overcoming the daily stressors that result from encountering the rapidly changing environment in the 21st century. Five co-researchers included (1) a Russian coordinator of the NGO VIOLA, an organization that works in the region of Russia that suffered the most after the explosion at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Plant, (2) an advocate for the feminine, social justice and the environment and co-founder of Bioneers, (3) the executive director for the Pro Forest Foundation in Ecuador, (4) a spokesperson for eliminating nuclear energy and highly irradiated nuclear waste, and (5) a globally recognized teacher, speaker, and writer with an on-going commitment to a sustainable and humane future. Using heuristic inquiry, their findings revealed five emerging discoveries: (1) We are one with Nature, there is no “other,” (2) grief is an on-going process that is necessary and regenerative, (3) serving the natural world benefits Nature, others, and ourselves, (4) there is a direct correlation between humanity’s resilience and environmental resilience, and (5) somatic reactions occur regularly and naturally amidst environmental adversity. Furthermore, this study led the researcher to a creative synthesis of radical acceptance, a new paradigm for cultivating resilience amidst environmental adversity. Radical acceptance transcended how resilience has typically been understood, which resulted in an inclusive interpretation of a deeply personal experience in all its fullness.