Resilience and Climate Action: Building Islands of Coherence in a Sea of Chaos

What are “Islands of coherence in a sea of chaos”?

Ilya Prigogine, who was awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is credited with the expression “When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.” The original context was in the physical sciences; more recently, the concept has been applied to social systems, as a way to think of shifts of the system from one state to another. For example, Stephen Posner of the Garrison Institute discusses such a shift from an individual-focused to more relational and reciprocal approach, and the implications for the health of our planet. We use this concept to show how we can build resilience and climate action.

Sea of chaos: Concerns of Torontonians

A September 2025 Ipsos/Toronto Star poll showed the top two concerns of Torontonians are the cost of living (47%) and housing affordability (40%), with fighting climate change dropping to ninth place at 9%. Global issues, including wars and conflicts, impacts of artificial intelligence, and trade tariffs, are also concerns on larger scale. Amidst the long list of concerns in the “sea of chaos”, it is understandable that climate change has decreased in priority. However, climate change continues to impact our daily lives – recent reminders are heat waves and smoky skies from forest wildfires that have hit Toronto in July 2026. How then do we cope with climate change?

Islands of coherence: Resilience and climate action

Islands of coherence are anchor points in the sea of chaos where groups of people create pockets of stability, clarity, and purpose, showing what we can do to build resilience against the chaos. Rebecca Henderson of Harvard University likened these to lifeboats or lighthouses in the sea of chaos. At Impact Net Zero, we focus on three aspects to build resilience: self-care, community building, and climate action. Self-care means acknowledging concerns of climate change are real and taking steps to support our mental and physical well-being. Community building means working with members of a community to deal with such concerns, which is more effective than working alone. Finally, positive action empowers us to effect change and provides hope for the future. Islands of coherence need not be large or perfect. When we cultivate coherence through selfcare, community, and shared action, we begin to reshape the wider environment – together.

What is Impact Net Zero doing?

Impact Net Zero (INZ) has been using a story-telling approach to help build resilience and promote climate action. Examples are:

• James Lin’s self-discovery journey through cycling, and his training for an Ironman Triathlon;
• How a “Conversation Club” started for a few friends to gather to talk about issues of concern;
• How second-hand shopping for kids clothing helps to combat fast fashion.

More recently, INZ has started an initiative to promote spending time in nature as a means of building resilience. We are sponsoring a webinar on July 28, 2026 on “How Spending Time in Nature Builds Resilience and Climate Action”, in partnership with two nature-based organizations in Toronto: Toronto Nature Stewards (TNS) and Toronto Field Naturalists (TFN). There will be suggestions for follow up activities after the webinar – stay tuned!