Video/Multimedia

Mapping the Hope Attractor: A Conversation with Thomas- Homer Dixon

In this conversation, Thomas Homer-Dixon introduces the Cascade Institute’s Polycrisis Core Model (PCM), a novel framework designed to map and analyse interactions among 11 critical global systems, each with multiple potential future states. The model employs cross-impact balance (CIB) analysis to evaluate over four million internally consistent scenarios, ultimately identifying 11 distinct “attractor” states. These […]

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Coping with Polycrisis and Systemic Risks: New Approaches to Assessment and Governance

In this webinar, hosted by the World Academy of Art and Science and its EXTRA initiative, experts explored the interconnected nature of global crises and the systemic risks emerging from complex, cascading interactions across ecological, social, and technological systems. Topics included food system vulnerabilities, equity-centered governance, resilience dividends and positive externalities, and the modeling of

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Addressing the Globe’s Polycrisis with Lou Leonard, Dean of Clark University’s School of Climate, Environment, and Society

In this episode, Dr. Lou Leonard explores the global polycrisis—a convergence of multiple crisis such as climate change, ecological degradation, and rising inequality. He explains how these overlapping challenges are weakening natural systems and disrupting the foundations of our economies and societies. Leonard emphasizes the urgency of confronting these interconnected issues and highlights the importance

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Polycrisis & Policy Brief Series

This webinar explores how the ongoing polycrisis—marked by overlapping ecological, economic, political, and social stressors—continues to destabilize regions across Africa and the Middle East. Using Egypt as a focal point, the discussion highlighted how unresolved structural vulnerabilities from the Arab Spring era remain deeply interconnected, with rising inequality, environmental degradation, and political repression still threatening

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What are the Risks of a Fragmented World?

In this episode of The Call, economist Gita Gopinath joins host Jay Sapsford to explore the growing challenges posed by global fragmentation. As geopolitical tensions escalate, trade disputes intensify, and debt levels rise, the discussion examines how these dynamics threaten economic stability and international cooperation. Gopinath highlights the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on productivity

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Overshoot: Navigating a world beyond 1.5°C

In this four-part documentary series, Laurie Laybourn explores the significant challenges associated with exceeding the 1.5°C global warming threshold. Through interviews with a diverse range of contributors, including climate negotiators, Pacific islanders, scientists, and grassroots activists, the series examines the social, political, and ecological implications of climate overshoot. It situates these perspectives within a broader

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The Polycrisis Part I: War

In this mini-series, journalist Anthony Bartaway explores the concept of the current polycrisis. He examines its potential causes, including the collapse of the international community, the spread of disinformation, and escalating environmental issues. In the first episode, Bartaway focuses on the rise in the number of wars worldwide, using this trend to illustrate how overlapping

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Navigating Systemic Risk in the Age of Polycrisis

In this episode, Ajay Gambhir, Director of Systemic Risk Assessment at ASRA, explores the concept of polycrisis, showing how climate change is deeply interconnected with other global challenges across social, economic, and political systems. He highlights how crises reinforce one another, creating complex feedbacks that demand integrated solutions. A central theme is inequality, which shapes

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The Price of Power: Navigating the Great Simplification

In this Cascade Institute Speaker Series episode, Dr. Nate Hagens, presents a compelling framework for understanding our world as a complex, energy-dependent “Superorganism” operating far from equilibrium. He analyzes potential future scenarios that humanity may be heading toward and introduces the idea that small, focused efforts can elevate entire systems to a higher order. This

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The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis

In this podcast, David Runciman talks to historian Gary Gerstle about how the idea of the polycrisis was originally conceived, what its current popularity reveals about our times, and whether we are truly experiencing a polycrisis or something else entirely. They also explore questions such as: Why is it comforting to think that the crises

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