This is a discussion essay to flesh out the basics for the Resilience Resource Library. The foundations are very important for the future stability of the structure--any structure.

I'll be lifting comments from various posters to build the "mission statement", a (hopefully) consensual definition of "resilience" and some suggestions for the working model of the Library.

This is not The Library. Please don't begin attaching resources here.

Without further ado...

What does Resilience mean?

From Gerrit:

Personal Resilience
These are things like personal skills, training, family, resources, ideas, DIY, low-tech, how-to, etc.

Could I use a rotary phone?
What's a sickle?
Could I power my garage and tools with solar?
Could I grow and pickle veggies?
Could I teach my kids about resilience?

Any topic is welcome. I'm as happy to discuss finding a wind-up watch as I am discussing off-grid solar. In all posts, folks could ask questions. We could place them on a list and folks could write up something if they know about it.

Local Resilience
These are things about our street, neighbours, street block, neighbourhood, and local community

What could we neighbourly friends do together to make things happen?
Could our neighbourhood/block create it's own renewable energy local grid?
Could we neighbours talk about a community garden plot?
Could we start a tool library?
Could the mostly-empty local church become a neighbourhood resilience centre during the week?
Could we teach neighbours on a regular basis somewhere nearby how to cook from scratch, can, pickle, grow, sew, etc?
What if we made and sold things for a resilience fund through a workers cooperative?
Suppose we organized a tree planting party in the neighbourhood/block?
Let's get the local library onside: order in resource books, hold skills training workshops there, etc?
Could we neigbours discuss how to buy food locally?

The sky is the limit. I try not to reinvent the wheel. The global model for local resilience is the Transition Network, which began in the town of Totnes, England. We could use their experiences and work to kick off discussions.

Those are the only two categories of resilience topics in which I am interested for this group. Topics about regional, state, federal resilience are irrelevant. Discussion of those topics belong in the OTs and comm-page posts. In these times, personal and local resilience are all that matters to us and our families and neighbours.

Two last thoughts
There is no point in teaching me how to spell neighbour properly: I was raised British colonial :=)
I'm not big on "sustainability" any more. Our climate, environment, and politics ensure that very little of human creation can be sustained anymore. Except those things within us: consciousness, resiliency, skills, learning, will, mind, caring, love. Within our personal control lies only resiliency: personal and local.

Administrative points

If you folks think we could proceed somewhat in this manner, we could figure out a common banner thingy to announce resilience posts.
My habit is to announce every post title with "Resilience:" blah, blah.
If we could use these post tags as a start (and please help figure out tags and search on the site):
resilience,
local resilience,
personal resilience,

Again from Gerrit:

Here's my rough definition:
Resilience covers all those practical, controllable things (skills, knowledge, training, practice, abilities, will, resourcefulness, etc.) within a person, or a small group of persons, that enables them to:
1) heal/recover faster - before events, or after setbacks, and/or
2) become more "elastic" - in that they return back to shape/form faster after setbacks.

The key is that resilience is about things within us or within our local group (family, neighbourhood).

For example, if you show me a good, practical, inexpensive way to grow potatoes and store them, then my family will be more resilient:
a) We learned new knowledge and skill (growing and storing potatoes);
b) We're freed from store-bought potatoes, so we don't eat poisonous chemicals and we have a bit more money in our pockets;
3) If this winter, potatoes are scarce in the supermarket, my family will have potatoes in storage.

Resilience is about us - personal skills etc. - and about our local neighbours/street block/neighbourhood.
We only have control over our selves and maybe our local groups. We have little control over our towns or cities or the national policy on fertilizer. Resilience is about things that we can control.

Let's take climate change as an example. I have zero control over climate change. So resilience is not about the Paris climate accords.
I do have some control over where and how I live. So, if I can, I should think about moving away from a development on a flood plain, or an isolated coastal community. But wherever I do live, I could do several things to become more resilient right where I am. I could learn to grow and pickle veggies to reduce my food bill, eat more healthy, get more exercise, meet neighbours who garden, make veggies last through winter. Those are skills I could learn that would make me more resilient in a number of good ways.

I do hope that helps. Resiliency is about practical things within that we can control, that would make us respond to life's difficulties better. Thanks for a great question eh :=)

Gerrit, may I suggest you and Martha (who is also very deeply committed to this adventure) tighten this up and post a "What Is Resilience?" essay whose link will go at the top of the Library page? (It's not my long suite)

It would be permanently linked to the top of the Library page.

The Library page (proposed)

Welcome to the c99p Resilience Resource Library

- A Compendium of Resilience Links, predominately web links, sources of books, documents, sources of tools, sources of like-minded communities and people.

What is Resilience? This is the FAQ

(hypertext link to Gerrit's manifesto)

How To Use This Library

Initiate a New Comment.
Add a title that describes the link that includes [RRL], (and as we proceed. a sub-category.)
Add the link in the body of the comment section.
Add a brief description of the link and/or resource. "Brief" means 25 words or less.

Should the poster [Contributor] of the link wish to elaborate on the link, [Contributor] initiates an essay based on the link outside of the Library, in the main forum, thereby facilitating discussion.

[Contributor] then titles the essay to include [RRL] in the title, and the title of the link to be discussed.

Should [Another Contributor] see the link and think a subsequent link is pertinent, [Subsequent Contributor] appends the link as a Reply with brief description, using the above format for New Comments.

This would have the effect of building Resource Trees--This is relevant to That--That is relevant to a Third Link, and so on, and so on. The developing discussion would no doubt reveal more links. Links should then be added to the Library where appropriate.

It is strongly recommended that Contributors not post videos, but links and descriptions of the videos instead. Videos take up a lot of room and significantly slow down load times. Thank you.
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Notes from The Librarians:

This is a library. Library Rules Apply. No talking.

The librarians are gentle and forbearing creatures, but they have been known to let go with their dustbrushes upside the heads of unruly attendants.

We are both blessed and daunted by the wealth of the writing talent on this site. Please use these links to discuss and further develop our shared goals without feeling you need to re-write "War and Peace" to do so. The most profound thoughts are often expressed in the simplest of terms. So don't let your fear of "writing" stop you from exploring your future.

Please enjoy yourselves and grow your appreciation of life through these resources.

Thank you -- The Librarians

[end of proposed Library page]

Topics for discussion:

Editing my sometimes tongue-in-cheek approach
Bolding/unbolding here and there (formatting in general)
Building a list of sub-categories to better group resources by type

Whatever comes to mind. This is a brainstorming thread.