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The Natural Resource Social Science (NRSS) capstone project addresses water quality impairment across all sites as a classic ‘wicked environmental problem’ with roots in systems dynamics. The complex social dimensions of remediation bring attention to the importance of identifying factors that influence capacity for self-organization in response to environmental change - a set of issues addressed by the framework of community resilience. Community resilience is described here as the rate and speed of 'bouncing back' from shocks and as the capacity for adaptation and transformation through networked assets. Resilience results from interactions among components of community systems addresses the mechanics and processes of such interactions among social system elements. 

NRSS Team:

  • Julia Haggerty (MSU)
  • Libby Metcalf (UM)
  • Antony Berthelote (SKC)
  • Janene Lichtenberg (SKC)

NRSS Strategic Plan Goal:

Goal 1.7: Evaluate contaminants and water quality as a ‘wicked problem’ by quantifying specific and combined influences of social trust, governance processes, and social-ecological system properties on perceived community resilience.