Analyzing past systems that have moved from sustainability to crisis, or from instability to resilience, we can better understand how and why environments cross resilience thresholds. In order to create resilient systems, communities and environments must adapt to growth and respond to internal and external pressures. When a system moves towards a resilience threshold, it takes both recognition of a sustainability problem and collective will to preserve sustainability.
Changes in the American Landscape– Impacts of Colonization on Sustainability and Resilience: The colonization of North America is an example of a sustainability tragedy. European colonization drastically shifted environmental, social, and economic systems. In doing so, Native populations were decimated and the American landscape was irreversibly changed (2). Investigating this transition gives us insight into how sustainable vs. unsustainable systems function.
Click Here to learn more about the Native Americans’ Resilient Adaptive Cycle
Click Here to learn more about the Colonists’ Unsustainable Adaptive Cycle
References: (2) (3) (5) (23)