Ecological ‘doom loops’ edging closer

Extreme weather events such as wildfires and droughts combined with rising stress levels are increasing the likelihood of ecosystems collapse, say scientists A UK research team, including scientists from the University of Sheffield, used computer modelling to look at...

‘Civilizations rise and fall’

Riverbed isn’t a commune or a typical farming community; it’s a land cooperative made up of 135 shareholders with a single goal: living independently of modern mass-scale systems of production. “True wealth is how long you can...

It is time to tax the rich… and their foundations

 …the very way elites see problems and solutions are limited by their gaze and worldview, which create and perpetuate the crises in the first place. But they are also ineffective because that is their purpose: They are structured to uphold the status quo, not to...

How to thrive in an uncertain world

Learning to contend with uncertainty won’t completely fix the problems of our day. But at the start of a new year rife with high-stakes unknowns, we should rethink our outdated notions of not knowing as weakness, and instead discover this mindset as a strength. The...

Global Risks Report 2024

The Global Risks Report explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade, against a backdrop of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, a warming planet and conflict. As cooperation comes under pressure, weakened economies and...

How Octavia Butler told the future

Somehow she knew this time would come. The smoke-choked air from fire gone wild, the cresting rivers and rising seas, the sweltering heat and receding lakes, the melting away of civil society and political stability, the light-year leaps in artificial...

Why the world needs its own immune system

The thing that has surprised me most since I began my job leading foreign assistance for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development is how much emergencies have defined my work. The bureau I oversee focuses on reducing the global burden of...