Climate Change: Defining Measuring and Building Resilience

The concept of resilience has recently joined the ranks of “sustainability” and “going green” becoming a buzzword for climate change policy, goals, mitigation, and adaptation strategies. Organizations such as the United Nations, United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Geological Survey, and countless international, national, and municipal development councils have identified resilience as one of their long-term goals at various levels of society and organization. This thesis first explores the various fields in which the concept of resilience has been applied to and their associated definitions. Next, several applications and manifestations of the concept will be explored through an evaluation of resilience measurements before ending with a discussion of current economic incentives and recommendations for future federal programs to increase climate change resilience