RADical Shifts: A Futurist’s Guide to Ecological Transformation and Biodiversity Stewardship

Dawn Robin Magness, Kelly Guilbeau, Wendy Miles, Amanda Sesser, Jennifer L. Wilkening
Posted on: 1/17/2025 - Updated on: 1/21/2025

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Dawn Robin Magness

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Abstract

RADical Shifts: A Futurist’s Guide to Ecological Transformation and Biodiversity Stewardship provides natural resource managers and conservationists with practical tools to navigate the unprecedented challenges posed by climate change. The guide introduces the Resist—Accept—Direct (RAD) framework, offering a flexible, adaptive approach to managing ecological transformation. By using RAD, conservation leaders can identify strategies to resist, accept, or direct ecological changes in ways that enhance biodiversity stewardship.

The guide emphasizes that climate change can be meaningfully addressed through informed planning and on-the-ground action. It introduces the concepts of RAD menus, RAD portfolios, and RAD decision context, which help managers brainstorm adaptation strategies, track decisions over time and space, and adapt decision-making processes. 

Successful RAD actions are often the culmination of many years of collective work, not easily visible from an outsider’s perspective. Radical Shifts helps to demystify these processes. It includes case studies that examine the behind-the-scenes realities of RAD decisions in different regions of the United States.

With RAD menus, managers can explore a full spectrum of adaptation actions. RAD portfolios assist in planning and tracking these decisions, accounting for both spatial and temporal factors. The guide also stresses the importance of collaborative, deliberative engagement to adjust social and institutional contexts in response to changing ecological conditions. It notes that failure to adapt decision-making processes can obstruct progress, as past values, rules, and knowledge may hinder the ability to respond to change.

Whether managing a small-scale project or leading larger efforts, this guidebook equips natural resource managers with adaptable approaches to manage biodiversity and ecosystem services in an era of ecological uncertainty. It empowers conservation leaders to act now while embracing the ongoing journey of learning and adaptation, making it an essential resource for navigating the complexities of climate change and ecological transformation.

Citation

Magness, D. R., K. Guilbeau, W. Miles, A. Sesser, and J. L. Wilkening. 2025. RADical Shifts: A Futurist’s Guide to Ecological Transformation and Biodiversity Stewardship. Innovative Earth Collective. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.14683911.

Affiliated Organizations

Innovative Earth Collective

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