The authors analyze underlying drivers of the Permacrisis, explaining how current trends could exacerbate the situation. They propose strategies to transform vicious cycles into virtuous ones.
Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World Read More »
This study proposes a framework to analyze the dynamics and risk channels between the climate crisis, financial stability, the geopolitical energy crisis, and the energy transitions. The framework is presented in a step-by-step guide and applied in a study case in Germany.
This book explains how the “planetary polycrisis” will disrupt the global community in the coming decades and how humanity can best meet these challenges. Albert argues that we must devote more attention to the study of possible futures and adopt transdisciplinary approaches to do so.
Navigating the Polycrisis, Mapping the Futures of Capitalism and the Earth Read More »
This paper addresses a gap in foresight studies by proposing a new framework, “collective forward intelligence,” to analyze trends across ecological, social, political, and economic systems. It develops planetary phase shift theory, suggesting that humanity is at a critical turning point, with global crises signalling industrial civilization’s potential collapse or transformation.
In the Cascading Risks Study, author Trond Undheim seeks to create five scenarios (Climate cataclysm by 2075; World war by 2075; Growth and collapse by 2075; Runaway AI by 2075; and Synthetic biology released in the wild by 2075 ) with which to spur deeper conversation about the existential risks to humanity and how they
Scenarios 2075: The Cascading Risks Study Read More »
This Roadmap, a collaboration between the Cascade Institute, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, presents a plan to advance polycrisis analysis as an inclusive, credible, and recognized field of knowledge and practice. It draws on the results of a broad consultation
Polycrisis Research and Analysis Roadmap Read More »
In this episode of FuturePod, host Dr. Peter Hayward speaks with Drs. Megan Shipman and Michael Lawrence of the Cascade Institute about the current global polycrisis, and their recently published Positive Pathways report and accompanying workshop. Shipman, Lawrence, and Hayward discuss the four key factors proposed by Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon that define today’s polycrisis, provide
FuturePod Interview with Drs. Megan Shipman and Michael Lawrence Read More »
This Cascade Institute report explores how to translate an understanding of polycrises into actionable strategies to alleviate them. It suggests ways in which polycrisis analysis can build on existing approaches to systemic change to help chart positive pathways to better futures, by examining multiple factors — the sorts of systems changes required to avoid, mitigate
Positive Pathways report Read More »
In this handbook, Cascade Institute Polycrisis Fellow Michael Lawrence explains how to read and draw a causal loop diagrams (CLD)–a systems mapping technique that helps us to think through our mental model of a system, increase our understanding of a system, and communicate our knowledge to others. It clarifies some common sources of confusion, provides
Causal Loop Diagrams handbook Read More »
Libraries in Response, produced by the Gigabit Libraries Network, is a webinar series focusing on how libraries are responding to health, social, economic, political, and climate crises. In this episode, Drs. Michael Lawrence and Megan Shipman of the Cascade Institute discuss the polycrisis, explaining the origins and development of the term, why they think it’s
Libraries in Response Session 103: “Polycrisis R Us!” Read More »
