From the Editors Desk:

Welcome to Part II of our look at Building Resilience - the theme of our 7th Annual Conference, held last January in Albuquerque, NM.

When we came together for our Conference, building resilience felt idealistic - like something that sounded good but was too abstract or too piein-the-sky to be taken seriously by the public at large.

My how have times changed!

In the intervening months, headlines across the country have been filled with all sorts of anxiety and woe, including soaring fuel prices, a sharp downturn in the economy, rising unemployment, and an expanding global food crisis. And that doesn't even include the ongoing anxiety over global warming.

All of a sudden, it seemed, we weren't looking very resilient as a nation.

But as the authors in this issue of our Journal explain, none of this should be news. Human history is full of surprises, as well as stress, innovation and change. What is different this time, however, is the size and scope of the challenges confronting us. But that means we need to build resilience now more than ever.

As we work to make building resilience practical, it is equally important to ponder the bigger picture - why we need to do it in the first place. That's the goal of these two issues of our Journal. I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as we've enjoyed assembling them. And many thanks to all our contributors - who gave freely of their time and energy to this worthy project. We feel blessed by their support. Yours too!

Happy Reading! -Courtney White

Contents:
Expecting the Unexpected: Why Resilience Matters to People and the Planet -Lance Gunderson

• Two Thousand Years of Human Adaptation to Climate Change in the Southwest: A Cautionary Tale -Eric Blinman
• Reflections on a Resilient Heritage Ranch -Tuda Libby Crews
• On Normality -Courtney White
• Local Beef: An Opportunity to Seize, part 2 -Sarah Laeng-Gilliatt
• Little Normals
• Our Land and Water Fund