some have observed, "What they call an 'unfunded mandate' upstream
looks like raw sewage downstream."
15
Similar upstream-downstream
conflicts can arise when there is too much or too little water. Increased
awareness of impacts on trusted and valued neighbors downstream is an
important benefit of strengthened social capital.
5 Takeaways
Whether the challenge is pollution, flooding, or drought, engaging and
working effectively with diverse populations within a watershed requires
the ability to recognize, tap, build, and sustain the social capital that
binds people together in a common cause. Five basic principles can guide
collective efforts to protect and restore freshwater resources and build a
community's climate resilience:
• Work with the most trusted members of a community. Learn
and honor their history and knowledge. Identify mutual concerns
and shared values. Ensure equitable opportunities for community
engagement and shared decision making. Share resources and
credit.
• Prioritize diversity and inclusiveness. An inclusive approach can
increase the depth and range of knowledge available for problem-
solving. To be successful in engaging diverse participants requires
attention to chronic environmental justice concerns and other
community problems that compete for time and attention.
• Identify existing strengths and adaptive mechanisms for climate
resilience, in both natural and social capital. Especially for the
most vulnerable neighborhoods in a community, these resources
have been tested and refined over years of serving as their own "first
responders" to natural and man-made disasters.
16
• Build cohesion among the social networks that make up your
community. Focus on bridging diverse interests and finding
common cause. Take small, tangible steps framed in terms of
a larger vision, so that success will breed success. Ensure that
participants are empowered to make choices and see them enacted
in their communities.
• Support visionary leaders. Collective efforts require a special type
of leader — one who has the ability to see the larger system and
build a shared understanding of complex problems, to encourage
reflective group dynamics that lead to appreciating each other's
reality, and to shift the group's focus from reactive problem-solving
to jointly creating a common future.
17
Finally, recognize that building climate resilience requires an integrated
approach for both people and nature. Avoid focusing on a single scale
or single outcome. Instead, think and act at multiple scales and aim for
win-win-win outcomes. Watersheds are well-suited to nested, connected
solutions. Healthy freshwater ecosystems and green infrastructure are
good at improving economic, ecological, social, and political outcomes.
And freshwater organizations are most successful when they tap the
synergy that flows between water-related natural and social capital to
help communities become more resilient to climate shocks and stresses. n
References
1. Danielle Baussan, Social Cohesion: The Secret Weapon in the Fight for Equitable Climate
Resilience, (Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, May 2015), 2. At: https://cdn.
americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SocialCohesion-report2.pdf
2. Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 288-289.
3. Putnam, Op Cit., 23.
4. Elinor Ostrom and T.K. Ahn, The Meaning of Social Capital and its Link to Collective
Action (October 1, 2007). HANDBOOK ON SOCIAL CAPITAL, Gert T. Svendsen and
Gunnar L. Svendsen, ed., Edward Elgar, 2008; Indiana University, Bloomington: School
of Public & Environmental Affairs Research Paper No. 2008-11-04. At: http://ssrn.com/
abstract=1936058
5. Ibid.
6. American Rivers , American Society of Landscape Architects, ECONorthwest, Water
Environment Federation, Banking on Green: A Look at How Green Infrastructure Can Save
Municipalities Money and Provide Economic Benefits Community-wide, (Washington,
DC: April 2012). At: http://www.americanrivers.org/assets/pdfs/reports-and-publications/
banking-on-green-report.pdf
7. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, (Washington, DC: March 23, 2009).
8. Wallace J. Nichols, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In,
On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at
What You Do, (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014), 230.
9. Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer, The Gardens of Democracy, (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2011),
66.
10. Amy Vanderwarker, Water and Environmental Justice. A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
U.S. WATER POLICY, Juliet Christian Smith and Peter H. Gleick, et.al., (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2012), 67.
11. Cathleen Kelly, et. al., Resilient Midwestern Cities: Improving Equity in a Changing
Climate, (Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, April 2016), 16. At https://cdn.
americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/18135245/ResilientMidwest-report1.
pdf
12. Stratus Consulting, A Triple Bottom Line Assessment of Traditional and Green
Infrastructure for Controlling CSO Events in Philadelphia's Watersheds, (Boulder, Colorado:
August 2009).
13. Robert J. Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein, Better Together: Restoring the American
Community, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 275-279.
14. Ibid., 279-282.
15. David Hess and Heather Dewar, Senate Approves Curbs on Mandates, Philadelphia
Inquirer, January 28, 1995. At: http://articles.philly.com/1995-01-28/news/25715259_1_
mandates-health-and-safety-conferees
16. Island Press, Bounce Forward: Urban Resilience in the Era Of Climate Change 25
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2015). At: https://www.islandpress.org/resources/
KresgeBrochure-framing-doc.pdf
17. Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton, and John Kania, The Dawn of System Leadership, Stanford
Social Innovation Review, Winter 2015. At: http://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_dawn_of_
system_leadership
Sign of the times: Communities are highly incentivized to fight climate
change.
Rebecca Wodder is a nationally known environmental leader whose career in conservation began with the first Earth Day. As president of the national river advo-
cacy organization, American Rivers, from 1995 to 2011, she led the development of community-based solutions to freshwater challenges. From 2011 to 2013, she
served as senior advisor to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Previously, Rebecca was a vice president at The Wilderness Society, and a legislative assistant to
Senator Gaylord Nelson. In 2010, she was named a Top 25 Outstanding Conservationists by Outdoor Life Magazine. In 2014, she received the James Compton
Award from River Network. Through her River Revival Project, Rebecca explores the ways in which freshwater conservation efforts can revive social and natural
capital in American communities. She serves on the boards of River Network, the Potomac Conservancy, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
About The Author
wateronline.com
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Water Innovations
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RESILIENCY
