The Polycrisis
Ville Lähde
Ville Lähde explores various considerations involved in the coining of new terms and concepts, such as polycrisis. He highlights in particular the difference between those who speak of the polycrisis…
Polycrisis Resource Library
The Polycrisis Resource Library is a growing collection of media that help to understand polycrisis, develop strategies to address polycrisis, and build a field of polycrisis analysis.
The Human Ecology of Overshoot: Why a Major ‘Population Correction’ is Inevitable
William E. Rees
Using an evolutionary ecology perspective, William E. Rees argues that modern techno-industrial society is in a state of advanced ecological overshoot. Fossil fuels have enabled a massive expansion of humanity…
Stress Testing in a World of Compound Risks and Polycrises
Gregory P. Hopper, Greg Rattray, Til Schuermann and Ben Power
The authors explore how to approach stress testing and stress scenario design in a world of polycrises and compound risks. The authors advocate for adopting “polyscenario” approaches that use multiple,…
Polycrisis or Crises of Capitalist Social Reproduction
Kanishka Jayasuriya
Kanishka Jayasuriya argues that polycrisis is a helpful descriptive term for the novel, intersecting crises of the 21st century, but it should be understood as a political crisis arising from…
What a ‘Polycrisis’ is and What it Means for Business
Naomi Distefano
The article reports on a presentation by Dr. Alan Dupont, chief executive of Cognoscenti, at the Australasia Investor Relations Association’s 2023 annual convention. Dupont argued that, in an era of…
Global Polycrisis: The Causal Mechanisms of Crisis Entanglement
Michael Lawrence, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Scott Janzwood, Johan Rockström, Ortwin Renn, and Jonathan F. Donges
The authors translate polycrisis from a loose concept into a research agenda by providing the concept with a substantive definition, highlighting its value-added in comparison to related concepts, and developing…
The Global Polycrisis Reflects a Civilizational Crisis that Calls for Systemic Alternatives
Zack Walsh
Zack Walsh argues that the current level of globalization, number of systemic risks, and continued depletion of the Earth’s resources will generate some sort of societal collapse. He details these…
We’re on the Brink of a ‘Polycrisis’-How Worried Should We Be?
Simon Torkington
This press release for the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Risks Report summarizes its key findings and highlights its use of the term polycrisis.
Can Democracy Survive the Polycrisis?
George Soros
George Soros argues that there are three main sources of the polycrisis (in order of importance): artificial intelligence, climate change, and Russia’s war on Ukraine. AI poses a “mortal threat”…
About the Resource Library
The Polycrisis Resource Library includes resources that:
- Comment on the polycrisis as a concept and as a present global reality
- Undertake similar analysis using different—but related—concepts
- Analyze crisis interactions among multiple global systems
Though not exhaustive, the Library strives to present a diverse representation of views on different aspects of the polycrisis discussion, and will be updated as that discussion evolves. Search for resources with the keyword search bar, or by using the drop-down menus to filter for type of resource, global systems addressed, and key themes.
The Hard Right and Climate Change are Intimately Linked
George Monbiot
George Monbiot argues that a vicious cycle is emerging between the rise of the political right, roll-backs of environmental policy and protections, increased migration, and worsening discrimination against refugees. “As…