Resilient Communities Archive
Resilient Communities was a major undertaking to help people discover our own capacities for resilience at the close of the millennium. This site now serves as a repository for the resources that were developed and offered as part of that initiative. Please come in and look around.
Resilient Communities use a combination of live-satellite video conferencing, simultaneous audio streaming on the web, articles and links to other resources delivered on the web, locally organized community-based discussion circles.
This effort was launched by Northwest Regional Facilitators (NRF) and Robert Theobald. If you're interested in developing similar programming for your organization, please contact Bob Stilger, former Executive Director of NRF and founder of New Stories, a nonprofit corporation he founded in 2000 to carry on the work he and Robert had done over the last 30 years.
The first three Resilient Communities Programs were hosted by Robert Theobald. Tapes of these programs, and other resources are available. Click Here
The final program was hosted by Vicki Robin of the New Road Map Foundation. Those resources are also available. Click here
Below, you'll find access to the other resources developed in support of this initiative.
Everywhere people are looking for new ways to bring meaning into our lives. Resilient Communities is one of many efforts to connect us. Our purpose is straightforward:
Help us talk with each other about what's important as we work to change our lives.
Provide resources to deepen those conversations
Make it easy for people to share what they are learning, thinking and doing.
Here's how:
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Something's afoot in the United States, and Canada, and Australia, and Europe, and Asia and Africa -- all over the world. Increasing numbers of people are saying they want a different life than that being offered by industrial-era society. Paul Ray, in his 1997 Integral Culture Survey: A Study of the Emergence of Transformational Values in America says that as much as 25% of populations in industrial countries are looking for a better way of life. Why? Forces are coming together to shift dynamics in very dramatic ways. There is a growing split between the rich and the poor not only within countries both developed and undeveloped but also, of course, between them. There is a huge increase in population over the last century, which when coupled with production increases, has led to shortages of land, water and clean air. There is growing evidence that global warming and climatic instability, evidenced this year by the number of severe fire and flood problems around the world, threaten current human habitation patterns in significant ways. New forms of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry are threatening humanity and both nation state rivalries and terrorism create continuing anxieties There is an economic crisis as our reliance on economic growth and affluence collides with changing personal commitment and ecological realities. There is a social crisis as growing poverty and growing wealth co-exist on the same planet. There is a moral crisis as our ability to feel outrage about the state of the world is buried by our busyness and statements from economists and politicians that "we have no choice." There is an ecological crisis as fish stocks are overconsumed, fires burn out of control, forests diminish, land erodes. And there is, above all, a spiritual crisis as we lose sight of our real goals and substitute instant gratification in place of a search for true meaning. At the same time, the seeds for change are growing. More and more people are beginning to examine the ways in which they are living their lives. Those of us doing so are saying that we want less stress and more time. We're saying we want to have a positive impact on the global environment rather than a destructive one. Many are being drawn to a new emphasis on building healthy relationships and towards exploration of spirituality. We are looking for a new way to live -- a more resilient way of life. |
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Disclaimer: Any y2k information in this site is made under the protection of the Year 2000 "good Samaritan"law recently passed by Congress. This information is provided "as is" and NRF makes no express or implied representations or warranties, including warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. NRF does not guarantee the completeness, accuracy or timeliness of this information. Your use of this information is at your own risk. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from the use of this information. NRF will not be liable for any direct, special, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages or any other damages whatsoever, whether in an action based upon a statute, contract, tort (including, without limitation negligence) or otherwise, relating to the use of this information. |
Date Last Modified: November 28, 1999