My work focuses on the rhetorical nature of resilience work in Florida’s oldest fishing village, Cortez, highlighting female activist voices and their protective use of organizations. I also address the intersection of science and rhetoric, and I believe the language we use to do resilience work matters tremendously. I have found that many approaches that deal with “resilience” are ill-equipped, fragmented, and often use the term incongruously. More alarming is the fact that the positive connotation of “resilience” is extraordinarily valuable, yet it is on the cusp of being a meaningless buzzword, especially in the wake of COVID-19. These factors, along with a contested history, further dispose “resilience” to being misused, a problem with serious implications for ecosystems and people alike. It was under these pretenses that I came to research the term’s origin and modern use, as well as to think through how the tiny fishing village of Cortez, Florida, has been able to survive, despite the onslaught of continuous stressors. Exploring Cortez’s survival proves illuminating for the resilience of other threatened communities, ecosystems, and cultures (CEC). I have recently created two courses that encompass these interests at Eckerd: "Writing Ecological Resilience” and "Making Waves: Writing Conservation and Activism in Florida." My book about this topic is in process with Bloomsbury.