The Polycrisis
The Polycrisis is a newsletter and a series of essays and panels exploring intersecting crises with a particular emphasis on the political economy of climate change and global North/South dynamics.
None
Check here if no resource theme is available
Imperfect Notes on an Imperfect World
Christopher Hobson often discusses the polycrisis in his blog posts, emphasizing the need to “honestly recognise and reckon with the complexity of the present moment.” “Polycrisis: In this Valley of Dying Stars” (18 August 2022) “Seeing Polycrisis: Facing Fractals” (26 August 2022) “Polycrisis and Metamorphosis: When Change Outpaces Comprehension” (2 September 2022) “Picking up Polycrisis:
Imperfect Notes on an Imperfect World Read More »
A Call for an International Research Program on the Risk of a Global Polycrisis
The authors propose that hitherto unrecognized, complex teleconnections and self-reinforcing feedbacks among global systems are accelerating, amplifying, and synchronizing crises. The ultimate result of such unrecognized processes could be a global polycrisis—a single, macro-crisis of interconnected, runaway failures of Earth’s vital natural and social systems that irreversibly degrades humanity’s prospects. The authors therefore call for
A Call for an International Research Program on the Risk of a Global Polycrisis Read More »
Chartbook
Adam Tooze frequently discusses various aspects of the polycrisis in his blog posts. Notable entries include: “Defining polycrisis – from crisis pictures to the crisis matrix” (24 June 2022) “Calibrating the polycrisis – with the help of the International Bank of Settlements” (26 June 2022) “Polycrisis – Thinking on the Tightrope” (29 October 2022) “Haiti
The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – And Our Response – Will Change the World
Ian Bremmer argues that the world faces three major crises—pandemics, climate change, and disruptive technologies (AI, lethal autonomous weapons, cyberwarfare, and biotechnology)—but our ability to respond effectively is hampered by broken American politics and the worsening rivalry between the United States and China. The three crises, however, present an opportunity and the necessary impetus for
The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – And Our Response – Will Change the World Read More »
Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World’s Economy
Adam Tooze examines the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on finance and business, highlighting just how unprepared and vulnerable economic systems were to the crisis. He highlights the ways in which institutional failures, political interests, economic policies, and geopolitics interacted with the pandemic to shape its impacts. Characterizing the situation as a polycrisis, he applies
Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World’s Economy Read More »
The World’s Cascade of Disasters is Not a Coincidence
Niall Ferguson proposes that “Superficially… [it’s] no more than a very nasty coincidence that the latest wave of the pandemic should happen at the same time as so many extreme weather events and a wave of social and political unrest. On closer inspection, however, we can see that these are connections between these disasters –
The World’s Cascade of Disasters is Not a Coincidence Read More »
Interacting Tipping Elements Increase Risk of Climate Domino Effects under Global Warming
The authors use Boolean and dynamic network models to investigate how the the interactions of climate tipping elements (Greenland Ice Sheet, West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and Amazon rainforest) could produce domino effects (or tipping cascades) across other tipping elements. They find that tipping points in the Greenland
Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-Crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation
Jonathan Rowson reflects on the many ‘flavours’ of meta-crisis, framing them through personal anecdotes, emotions, and spirituality. “There is a broader crisis of civilisational purpose that appears to necessitate political and economic transformation, and there are deeper socio-emotional, educational, epistemic and spiritual features of our predicament that manifest as many flavours of meta-crisis: the lack
Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-Crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation Read More »
Dynamics of Tipping Cascades on Complex Networks
This article examines network models to better predict tipping points, defined as “a critical threshold (tipping point) at which a tiny perturbation can qualitatively alter the state or development of the subsystem.” By using moisture measures in the Amazon rainforest as a model system, the authors determine that “clustering and spatial organization increase the vulnerability
Dynamics of Tipping Cascades on Complex Networks Read More »