Resilience and Ecological Citizenship in Socio-Ecological Systems

Abstract

As the current discussion of an Anthropocene geological epoch suggests, human planning and intentions have had tremendous effects on the earth’s ecosystems. One lesson has been that there must be a positive feedback loop for the proper resiliency in terms of system processes. Just as resilience is needed in the interactions across and within species for an ecosystem to persist over time, it is also a human imperative when faced with crises such as the massive perturbations of the Earth System we now call the Anthropocene. Among the variety of human capacities that the crisis will call upon, perhaps the most crucial is spiritual recovery. Resilience and sustainability of ecosystems will be possible only through spiritual enlightenment building on the open-minded attitude of individuals around the globe.