~ WEBINAR EVENT SERIES CO-SPONSORS ~
The FAN Initiative, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere, The Resilience Project & The New School at Commonwealth
Ghastly Discussions & Response
Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement
Multiple global crises—including the pandemic, climate change, and Russia’s war on Ukraine—have recently linked together in ways that are significant in scope, devastating in effect, but poorly understood. Dr. Michael Lawrence, a Fellow at the Cascade Institute Read...
Wanted: An early-warning system for the end of the world
Scientists, assisted with millions in government funding, are about to embark on a mission to set up an “early warning system” for two so-called climate change ‘tipping points’: critical thresholds which, if breached, could plunge Britain and much of the world into a...
Worlds within Us: Wisdom and Resilience of Indigenous Women Elders
How does one measure the intentions of a life? This is a question that Tekatsi:tsia’ kwa Katsi Cook (Wolf Clan, Mohawk Nation, New York) asks in her introduction to Worlds within Us, a book rich with the voices of eight Native American women elders....
Hope in the Face of the Polycrisis
According to many historians, it is currently the best time to be alive in all of human history. We live longer, we are on average wealthier, we eat better, and are more educated. Yet, many of us wake up each morning overwhelmed by the current or looming crises of our...
Climate change forged a new reality in 2024: ‘This is life now’
Intolerable heat. Unsurvivable storms. Inescapable floods. In 2024, billions of people across the world faced climatic conditions that broke record after record, logging ever more highs for heat, floods, storms, fire and drought. As the year drew to a...
Policy brief: Nature for resilience
Ecosystem degradation and unsustainable natural resource management are drivers of climate and disaster risk, as recognized by the Sendai Framework. This policy brief explores the link between human and ecosystem vulnerability and provides key insights on how nature...
Great power politics Adam Tooze on Bidenomics
We are left asking how this four-year period fits into recent American history and what legacy it leaves. The National Defence Industrial Strategy (NDIS) offers to do some of the work for us. Like other, better-known documents of the Biden era – Jake Sullivan’s speech...
The Regeneration Handbook: System-changing strategies
Networks for the aggregation and distribution of local and regional produce were commonplace only a century ago, but many were dismantled during the process of economic globalization. One group that’s been trying to bring theirs back is the Belgian Transition...
Derailment risk: A systems analysis that identifies risks which could derail the sustainability transition
The consequences of climate change, nature loss, and other changes to the Earth system will impact societies' ability to tackle the causes of these problems. There are extensive agendas of study and action on the risks resulting from changes in the Earth system. These...
Looking Back at the Future of Humanity Institute
On April 16, 2024, the website of the Future of Humanity Institute was replaced by a simple landing page and a four-paragraph statement. The institute had closed down, the statement explained, after 19 years. It briefly sketched the institute’s history, appraised its...
Responding to platform firm power: differing national responses
Aware of the power of platform firms and the risks of the platform economy, governments are reconsidering the dominant laissez faire approach in favour of strategies that regulate the power of platform firms. transnational dynamics play an important role in shaping...
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
Corey J.A. Bradshaw, Paul R. Ehrlich, Andrew Beattie, Gerardo Ceballos, Eileen Crist, Joan Diamond,Rodolfo Dirzo, Anne H. Ehrlich, John Harte, Mary Ellen Harte, Graham Pyke, Peter H. Raven1 William J. Ripple, Frédérik Saltré Christine Turnbull, Mathis Wackernagel and Daniel T. Blumstei
An international group of 17 leading physical and social scientists, including OMEGA Advisory Board member Joan Diamond, have produced a comprehensive yet concise assessment of the state of civilization, warning that the outlook is more dire and dangerous than is generally understood.
The paper has generated over a thousand media articles and interviews which suggests that public interest is extremely high despite competing news– insurrection, inauguration, and pandemic.
This Ghastly study has been covered in media organizations including CNN World, Reuters, The Guardian, International Business Times, Taipei Times, The Irish Times, and the University of California among many others.
See full article published by Frontiers in Conservation Science, 13 Janurary 2021.