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.
This study examines the dynamics of societal collapse based on Joseph Tainter’s theory of the “collapse of complex societies.” It explores how rising societal complexity influences productivity and the likelihood…
This commentary introduces “Polycrisis in the Anthropocene,” a special issue of Global Sustainability journal. It elaborates upon three major contributions of the issue’s lead article, “Global Polycrisis: The Causal Mechanisms…
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…
This 19th edition of the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risk Report is based on a risk perception survey conducted with nearly 1500 experts from academia, government, business, and civil…
The World Migration Report 2024 provides updated global and regional migration statistics and offers in-depth analysis of the complex and interconnected drivers of migration. A central focus of the report…
Tim Sahay surveys the many crises covered in The Polycrisis newsletter over the last year and identifies four key shifts: northern countries are increasingly concerned with their own economic resilience…
James Gustave Speth argues that the polycrisis has undermined earlier hopes for steady, gradual, progressive change, but is also stimulating new and unconventional visions for transformative change that should not…
This report explores the critical role of resilience in achieving sustainable development within the context of an increasingly complex set of threats resulting from the deepening climate crisis and other…
This report presents the outcomes of two Millennium Project Special Sessions held at the 2022 and 2023 FFRC Futures Conferences in Turku, Finland. Through participatory Futures Cliniques, the sessions explored…
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.
The Terrible Twenties? The Assholocene? What to Call Our Chaotic Era
Kyle Chayka
Kyle Chayka considers different possible labels for “our chaotic historical moment, a term that we can use when we want to evoke the panicky incoherence of our lives of late.”…