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.

Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social Systems

C. S. Holling

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…

Places to Intervene in a System

Donella Meadows

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…

Homeland Earth

Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for the New Millenium

Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern

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…

The Collapse of Complex Societies

Joseph A. Tainter

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…

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.

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