09011 Resilience, Persistence, and Constancy

There exist some evils so terrible and some misfortunes so horrible that we dare not think of them, whilst their very aspect makes us shudder; but if they happen to fall on us, we find ourselves stronger than we imagined, we grapple with our ill luck, and behave better than we expected we should. — Jean de L'a Bruyere

Three factors determine how much damage or disturbance an ecosystem can experience without going into collapse:

Constancy is the ability of a system to support itself without declining into collapse..

Persistence is the ability of a system to resist dangers that may damage or destroy it.

Resilience is the ability of a system to repair itself and come back and flourish after it has been damaged.

The critical concerns of these times are:

  • Can our political and economic systems support our lifestyles and keep us from falling into collapse?
  • How persistent are our community and economic structures and systems in the face of the growing dangers we face?
  • How resilient are we in the face of economic, social, and weather disasters?
  • How far can we go into decline without falling all the way into the abyss of collapse?
  • What do structures and systems look like that would be more resilient in the face of the problems of peak oil, climate instability, political criminality, and economic irrationality?

Permaculture in large part is a matter of observing nature and replicating the successful patterns of nature in human species. Natural systems must meet the challenges of constancy, persistence, and resilience every day. Here are six aspects of ecosystems that we want to model in our human structures and systems, including the design for our individual lives, are:

Redundancy — many different elements supply essential functions.

Stacked functions — “never do anything for just one reason”. The leaves that provide shade do photosynthesis. If it’s a deciduous tree, the leaves eventually litter the forest flow, where they decompose and feed the tree and many other of the flora and fauna of the forest. Etc.

Diversity — this is not just a numeric diversity. We seek a diversity of beneficial connections. There is room for all of the parts of the forest within its canopy.

Biology rules! A forest is a biological system that works without intervention, persisting over time, resilient after injuries, constant in its ability to maintain itself.

Feedback! The various systems of the forest and its parts give and receive feedback and adjust accordingly.

No monocultures. Nature abhors a monoculture and that’s not what we find in forests.

Pop quiz! How many times have these concepts come up thus far in iPermie? What does the frequency of these references suggest about the importance of these concepts to the praxis of permaculture design?

What do these principles mean for urban design?

Redundancy. We need many different systems to supply the essential functions of cities, including water, energy, and food..

Stacked functions. As we contemplate our cities’ systems, we should never do anything for just one reason. This is a principle of energy and resource conservation.

Diversity. The more beneficial connections among the various disparate elements of our cities, the more resilient, constant, and persistent they will become.

Prefer biological solutions. Anywhere we can put natural biology to work for us, we do so. For example, we can use biological systems to purify waste water.

Feedback! The various systems of the forest and its parts give and receive feedback and adjust accordingly. This one of the trickiest aspects of the natural forest for humans to mimic. Our feedback systems are not advanced compared to those of nature, so we need to work on and improve our systems.

No monocultures. Nature abhors a monoculture and so we want to avoid that in our cities' systems.

A city that is constant, persistent, and resilient begins with individuals and their families and households who pursue resilience, persistence, and constancy as design elements for their lives. They contribute to neighborhoods of resilience, persistence, and constancy and that creates cities that model these essential aspects of sustainability.

The big system can be pretty overwhelming. The existing game is rigged against us. The political and economic elites are parasites on the majority. They are like economic elites sucking the lifeblood of our economy for their own sustenance.

We know that we can’t beat them by competing with them. What we can do is build small systems where we live and work that serve our needs as we define us and not as someone else defines for us. This requires understanding our needs, wants, and greeds.

This changes everything. It's an important lesson for creating systems that are constant, persistent, and resilient: When the rules are stacked against you, don't play! Why volunteer to have the system cut your throat? Instead. . . start a new game! Write new rules! Organize your systems according to rules of justice and abundance!

The return of the city-state?

With the increasing dysfunction evident in national and state governments, we may be on the verge of a new era when the city states may become the most important unit of government. I earlier noted the observations of Vinay Gupta on how local resilience can make or break a situation when catastrophe's occur (c.f. the difference between what happened on the ground in Iraq and Somalia versus the experience of Russia and Argentina, when national systems crashed).

While we hope to avoid a catastrophic crash and manage our devolution, we may not be able to realize that hope. The odds against managed devolution are long. I always figure that any day our federal system doesn't completely collapse is a lucky day, given the extent of political criminality and corruption endemic to our political systems.

If worse comes to worse, though, the health and resilience of your local government will become a make or break situation.

  • Will the water stay on?
  • What happens with the sewer systems?
  • What about your local electric and natural gas distribution grids?
  • What is your local food system like? What are the prospects for jump starting a food system fast enough to avoid widespread starvation?
  • Can your local transit system be expanded rapidly in the event there are catastrophic problems with fossil fuel supply due to wars, terrorist actions, corporate malfeasance, etc.?

If the answer to these questions are

  • No,
  • It collapses.
  • They go down for the count.
  • There is no local food system.
  • There is no surge capacity in our transit systems.

then the prospects for your urban area in the event of severe challenge and strain are more oriented towards doom than survival.

Creating a better local situation begins, as we have seen, in your own personal efforts. But that is not the end of what is necessary.

You could start by asking difficult questions of your local politicians, starting with your own city council person:

  1. What happens to our city's water and sewer systems if the electrical and natural gas grids go down for an extensive period of time?
  2. What plans does the city have to provide food in the event of interruptions in the conventional food system?
  3. Do your city, and/or the local utilities, stockpile spare parts for the energy distribution grids?
  4. If there are widespread problems in your city, what plans does the city have to protect the families of essential personnel such as firefighters, police, and utility workers, so that they will be able to do their jobs without worrying about what happens with their families?
  5. Why don't we have plans in place to surge access to our public transit system in the event of need?

If you don't get satisfactory answers to these questions, keep asking them. Over time, increase the volume of your questioning by writing letters to the editor, handing out pamphlets, calling in on talk shows, starting websites and cyberspace discussion groups, and asking questions at council meetings.

Develop a Precinct Community Assembly (07061) in your neighborhood and discuss ways that you can protect your neighborhood from problems elsewhere in the city. Encourage people elsewhere to start their own grassroots networks to develop their own redundant methods of providing services during emergencies.

As this process develops, bring pressure to bear on city authorities to encourage them to strengthen city infrastructures and develop redundant methods of service delivery.

Throughout history, the city-state has been an important unit of government. In the present situation, it is the level of governance that is closest to the people and the place where you are likely to have the greatest return on your efforts for political intervention in favor of sustainability. With the increasing number of disasters worldwide, and the continual devolution of our economies, prompt action by cities to become more persistent, constant, and resilient is critical for our future well-being and safety. The time to save your City is before the crises hit.