Adaptive Cycle: The adaptive cycle is a model that describes the resilience of a complex system. The model includes four phases– Growth, Conservation, Release, and Reorganization.
Conservation Phase: A phase of the adaptive cycle in which a system is at equilibrium and involves the aggregation of resources.
Disconnects: Physical, temporal, social, economic, or political gaps between groups/individuals that prevent understanding of others and your impacts on them.
Equity: Giving all groups/individuals equal opportunity/footing. This contrasts with equality, which means treating all groups/individuals the same.
Externalities: Impacts (positive or negative) of actions done by a group/individual that is not impacted by these impacts; Consequences felt by people outside of a market transaction.
Growth Phase: A phase of the adaptive cycle that involves system expansion and development.
Maximization Philosophy: A belief in extracting all possible resources for a system. Often, implementation of maximization strategies causes systems to cross resilience thresholds.
Negative Feedback Loop: A system in which the output is fed back and functions to stabilize the system.
Positive Feedback Loop: A system in which the output is fed back and functions to amplify system output.
Presentism Philosophy: Beliefs that focus on present-day problems, ideas, and people while neglecting to consider the problems of the past and potential problems of the future.
Release Phase: A phase of the adaptive cycle in which a system is stressed and becomes disorganized and chaotic.
Reorganization Phase: A phase of the adaptive cycle in which a disorganized system reorganizes back to a previous system, or moves across a threshold and reorganizes differently than a previous system.
Resilience: A system’s ability to recover from disturbances and remain stable.
Resilience Threshold: A point beyond which a system is no longer resilient and experiences a significant change or shift.
Tragedy of the Commons: A problem in which individuals act in their own self-interest, without regard for the common good, in order to extract resources from a system. This results in resource depletion.
Triple-Bottom-Line Evaluation: Review of a system or policy taking into account economic, social, and environmental factors.
Usufruct Land Rights: A traditional Native American system of property rights in which land is collectively owned by the people.
Utilitarian Philosophy: A belief in using only necessary resources (contrasting with Maximization Philosophy).