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 authors propose that socio-ecological systems feature the co-evolution of ecological systems and self-reinforcing complexes of (human) worldviews, institutions, and technologies (WITs). Contemporary WITs arose in a world of abundant…
This book explores global catastrophic risks that threaten civilization and humanity’s continued existence, addressing key methodological, ethical and policy issues. Chapters by leading experts address such risks as astronomical and…
Glen Kuecker argues that we are facing a catastrophic collapse of the global system, citing climate change, ecological destruction, pandemics, fuel shortages, warfare, and global hunger as interconnected points of…
The authors argue that “the stability dynamics of all linked systems of humans and nature emerge from three complimentary attributes: resilience, adaptability, and transformability” (p. 1), then distinguish and clarify…
George G. Kaufman and Kenneth E. Scott provide one of the most often cited definitions of systemic risk as “the risk or probability of breakdowns in an entire system, as…
C. S. Holling argues that ecosystems, economies, and societies periodically undergo four stages of an adaptive cycle in which their levels of resilience, connectivity, and wealth (or “potential”) vary in…
Complex systems have leverage points, critical places where a change can profoundly alter system behaviors. Donella Meadows explores twelve leverage points in complex systems using real-world examples. “Leverage points are…
This book contains the earliest use of the term polycrisis. Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern argue that “one is at a loss to single out a number one problem…
After explaining the shortcomings of other accounts of societal collapses, Joseph Tainter presents his own, universal theory. Societies, he argues, are problem solving organizations that solve an unending stream of…
The Polycrisis Resource Library includes resources that:
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.
