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Greening in the Red Zone pp 73–90Cite as

Sowing Seeds of Resilience: Community Gardening in a Post-Disaster Context

Abstract

Resilience is a natural capacity to recover from adversity, sustain well-being, and grow from the experience. To enhance resilience in a high-stress, post-disaster context, we argue that it is vital to introduce positive stimuli to buffer the effects of negative stimuli. We review empirical evidence for the positive effects of various forms of contact with green space and contend that community gardening has considerable potential for bolstering individual and community resilience in disaster zones. We propose that creating an extensive network of community gardens as part of a disaster preparedness plan would yield multi-level benefits and bolster resilience capacity before it is acutely needed, and we suggest that community gardens established after a disaster has occurred adopt targeted aims in order to maximize benefits.

Keywords

  • Community gardening
  • Disaster
  • Green space
  • Resilience
  • Stress

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The above vignette is based on the experience of one of the authors (HAO) in April 2001.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Macon Fry, John Reich, and Nancy Wells for their helpful reviews of earlier versions of this manuscript and excellent suggestions for more clearly articulating the ideas presented herein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Department of Primary Care, School of Health Related Professions, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 65 Bergen St, Suite 160, Newark, NJ, 07107, USA

    Heather A. Okvat Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA

    Alex J. Zautra Ph.D.

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  1. Heather A. Okvat Ph.D.
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  2. Alex J. Zautra Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Heather A. Okvat Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Keith G. Tidball

  2. , Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Marianne E Krasny

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Okvat, H.A., Zautra, A.J. (2014). Sowing Seeds of Resilience: Community Gardening in a Post-Disaster Context. In: Tidball, K., Krasny, M. (eds) Greening in the Red Zone. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9947-1_5

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