By Laurie Mazur, originally published by Resilience.org

In these tumultuous times, “resilience” has become something of a buzzword. It is the subject of scholarly books and self-help podcasts; of government programs and many, many conferences. But what does resilience mean, exactly? And can it help us survive and thrive in the era of climate change?

A decade ago, Island Press set out to answer those questions. As a nonprofit environmental publisher, Island Press has long worked to explore — and share — the best thinking on how to protect the planet and its people. So, we partnered with a diverse group of thinkers to publish articles and op-eds that envision a truly resilient future. In the pages of our new (and free!) ebook Resilience Matters: Ten Years of Transformative Thinking, you’ll find a sampling of that work.

The authors whose work is collected here include activists, academics, planners, and public officials. Each of their writings is a miniature time capsule, capturing real-time takes on the upheavals of the last decade: hurricanes and wildfires, political shifts, the global pandemic. Their articles and op-eds originally appeared in a wide array of outlets — local and national newspapers, as well as in more-specialized publications. And while their perspectives and subjects differ, their writings share several themes in common.

First, they show that resilience is not about “bouncing back” to the disastrous status quo. Today, the destabilized climate poses unparalleled risks to human health, safety, and economic well-being. And in a world of rising inequality, those risks are not equally shared: low-income communities and people of color are hit first and worst by climate change impacts. So, “bouncing back” to a status quo that increases greenhouse gases and widens inequality will only magnify human suffering.

That dark possibility is not our only option. Indeed, the need for resilience could spark positive transformations on many fronts. That’s because true resilience calls us to rethink the design of our communities and the systems that meet human needs, while rectifying the inequities that leave too many people vulnerable to disaster. This is what resilience means to us.

The good news is that these transformations are already under way. In “Flood Survivors Find Common Ground in a Divided Nation,” you will meet a conservative, home-schooling mother from Virginia who joined forces with flood victims across the U.S. through an organization called Higher Ground. Together, they are working to stop development in floodplains, promote water-absorbing “green infrastructure,” and organize home buyouts in areas that flood repeatedly.

In “Energy Democracy: People Power for a Cleaner Planet,” you can read about One Voice, an activist group in Mississippi that is fighting for cheaper, cleaner energy by restoring democratic control to the state’s rural electric cooperatives. And “Finding Climate Solutions in Communities Instead of Labs” tells the story of a community group, Catalyst Miami, that compelled its city to address extreme heat. When city officials said they lacked data, the group partnered with local universities to place heat and humidity sensors throughout the city. Now Miami has an extreme heat action plan that is saving lives — and serving as a national model.

The coming years will certainly test our collective resilience. Last year was the hottest in recorded history, and climate change is taking an ever-greater toll on our health, our economy, and the places we call home. These metastasizing impacts are now met with official denial and the rollback of climate initiatives. But even in these polarized times, people are rising to the great environmental and moral challenges before us. In the pages of Resilience Matters, they show us how to build a greener, fairer future together.

Visit islandpress.org/resilience to download your free copy today!

The Kresge Foundation's Climate Change, Health, and Equity (CCHE) is a 5-year, $30 million initiative that aims to build the capacity of health care and public health to promote equitable climate resilience practices, mobilize health care and public health practitioner engagement in climate advocacy, and strengthen community-based leadership.

As part of the CCHE network, Catalyst Miami has been working to address the intersection of extreme heat and displacement due to gentrification.

Click here to read more about this initiative in the latest case study from Kresge.

Catalyst Miami's North Miami Community Investment Cooperative work was featured in the Urban Land Institute's report on climate-prepared communities. The linked webinar here includes commentary from Ahmed Mori, Vice President of Community Economic Development of Catalyst Miami.

Report Summary: Climate change is changing conditions in communities worldwide, increasing incentives to live and work in some locations and decreasing incentives in others, causing ripple effects across global, national, and local markets. As people of all demographic groups gravitate toward areas with comparatively lower risk from climate effects (receiving communities), they will spur local economic growth and development. As a result, local governments of these receiving communities and private interests will be challenged to ensure such growth and development is inclusive and equitable and minimizes gentrification-driven displacement.

This report defines climate gentrification and describes its impacts on receiving communities. It communicates the value proposition of equitable, inclusive, and resilient development in these communities and outlines specific strategies to minimize climate gentrification–driven displacement.

Click here to download the report.

This toolkit was created by CLEAR grad, Yadira Capaz. You can find out more about her work at yadiracapaz.com and on IG as @fluxcapazitor.

Here is a template for building community and gathering resources to inspire critical climate resiliency action in preparation for hurricanes in Miami. This proposal can serve as a template you can follow to write a grant application to create your own resiliency toolkit for your community.

A gathering of community members planning their resilience strategy in a sustainable building surrounded by South Florida wilderness. Image made in collaboration with Midjourney AI.

• Part I. Research Introduction
• Part II. Template for a DIY Resiliency Toolkit
• Part III. Disaster Resilience Funding Resource Guide for Miami

This project summarizes an 18-month campaign started by the Miami Climate Alliance. Throughout a series of six workshops hosted by Catalyst Miami, Miami-Dade County staff and some of our community partners discussed best practices for public participation.

Check out the digital booklet below, or scroll down on this page to learn more and give us feedback! 

Local government can integrate the group's recommendations into policy and practice to improve engagement. It must strive to address the legacies of exclusion, while creating shared accountability and a culture of transparency. This will be particularly important while implementing Miami-Dade County's Climate Action Strategy to cut planet-warming pollution.

Watch the video below for an overview of the campaign's process and outcomes. 

All the recommendations here and in the full report relate to the main takeaway: Community leadership is essential to achieve climate justice.

When residents are given the resources and opportunities to work together on their neighborhoods’ challenges, they design more effective solutions and the process itself helps to build community power for decades to come.

There is an appetite for this approach to resilience policy- and practice-making in Miami-Dade County. Key decision-makers must do more to facilitate the community-centered processes that residents are ready and willing to propel to achieve true resilience.

Expand the sections below to learn more about each aspect of this community-determined framework. 

Leave us feedback using the form on this page!

Inform

Consult

Involve

Collaborate

Empower

Get Involved & Learn More

Please leave your feedback by using the form on this page! You can use this same form to sign up for email and text updates from Catalyst Miami.

Become a member of the Miami Climate Alliance at miamiclimatealliance.org.

Helpful Links:

• Read the full report

• Miami-Dade County’s Climate Action Strategy

• Greater Miami & the Beaches’ Resilient 305 Strategy

Contributors

Miami-Dade County Partners

James Murley, Chief Resilience Officer
Kimberly Brown, Director of Resilience Planning and Implementation
Karina Castillo, Resilience Coordinator
Galen Treur, Resilience Coordinator for Strategic Outcomes
Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer

These recommendations were developed by partners with backgrounds in local government, community organizing, academic research, resilience policy, community economic development, intersectional climate justice action, public outreach and engagement. This project was supported by the Energy Justice Working Group of the Miami Climate Alliance and the American Cities Climate Challenge Justice40 Capacity Building Fund. 

In 2019, Dade Heritage Trust invited several concerned organizations and individuals, including Catalyst Miami, to a meeting to discuss the increased loss of tree canopy in our community. The turnout was overwhelming, and it was clear that some action had to be taken to demand better from our decision makers regarding tree preservation and protection policy and procedures. The directive from the group was that we needed thorough research on current tree policies and trends, and education and outreach to the community to teach about the wonderful benefits of trees. The Miami Canopy Coalition was formed.

With a clear vision of next steps, Dade Heritage Trust received a grant from the Miami Foundation and a contribution from then District 8 County Commissioner, and now Miami-Dade Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava which provided funding for in-depth research and outreach which became the basis for this report. Click here to download it.

Miami-Dade County in Florida is a leader in addressing urban heat island effect and extreme heat, which causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard. At the 2022 Grantmakers in Health conference, a learning tour through Miami — the Dade County Street Response Clinic, local parks, worksites, and public space — focused on the intersections of climate, heat, and health equity from the perspective of community leaders. Catalyst Miami, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, We Count!, the South Florida Housing Link Collaborative, the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, and the County’s Chief Heat Officer highlighted their work to address extreme heat and displacement due to climate gentrification while sharing about the unique history and culture of the county.

Click here to download the overview.

With increasing urgency of local and regional climate adaptation, there is a growing need for governments to identify and respond effectively to the concerns of communities they serve and to align investments. Researchers designed and piloted a novel hyperlocal method for urban adaptation planning combining two social science tools that have been widely but separately used to foster community engagement and strategize solutions. Not-for-profit community partners Catalyst Miami and the Cleo Institute facilitated multi-session online workshops with participants from two communities in South Florida with whom they have well-established relationships and in which socio-economic conditions and climate risks represent notable vulnerabilities. The workshops first employed photovoice to elicit individual narratives about climate change impacts; participants then followed a design thinking protocol to critically evaluate the leading concerns they identified and propose adaptation solutions. Geospatial mapping and data tools were provided for participants to gain additional tools and further knowledge. Local planning and resilience officials attended some or all of the workshops as observers and interlocutors, dialoguing with participants. Comparative analysis revealed differences in risk awareness and primary concerns between communities, and further demonstrated that concerns and solutions proposed by members of at-risk neighborhoods do not always align with geospatial data that often drives infrastructure adaptation planning in the region, suggesting that more widespread use of community engaged methods could enhance government climate adaptation responses for local communities.

Find the full pilot study here.

Only seven states have laws requiring landlords to disclose an apartment’s flood risk to tenants. Given increasing occurrences of flooding, renters deserve a right to know if their homes are at risk. This report summarizes the state of flood disclosure laws for renters in the seven states that have them, and, building on these laws as well as other renter disclosure laws in other contexts, puts forth recommendations for states to adopt strong, protective, laws to ensure renters are made aware of potential flood risks to apartments before it is too late.

Click here for the full document.

Implementing a community-wide clean energy transition is an ambitious, long-term undertaking that requires leadership and collaboration. Neither municipal government nor community leaders can succeed on
their own. These documents that Catalyst Miami and partners contributed to help community leaders and municipal staff collaborate to establish and manage a task force, committee, or group to manage a long-term accountability process.

Read the accountability framework for community implementation of 100% clean energy goals.

Read the shared accountability guide.