by Dr. Michael Lawrence at The Cascade Institute….. In this framework, a global crisis arises when one or more fast-moving trigger events combines with slow-moving stresses to push a global system out of its established equilibrium and into a volatile and harmful state of disequilibrium. We then identify three causal pathways—common stresses, domino effects, and inter-systemic feedbacks—that can connect multiple global systems to produce synchronized crises.
Open letter by climate scientists to the Nordic Council of Ministers
by Climate Scientists….Many further impacts are likely to be felt globally, including a shift in tropical rainfall belts, reduced
oceanic carbon dioxide uptake (and thus faster atmospheric increase) as well as major additional sea-level rise particularly along the American Atlantic coast, and an upheaval of marine ecosystems and fisheries
Derailment risk: A systems analysis that identifies risks which could derail the sustainability transition
by Laurie Laybourn, et al. in Earth Systems Dynamics…How will the effects of climate change, nature loss, and other environmental change impact our ability to tackle the causes of these problems? There is already a high demand on resources to respond to worsening climate shocks, knock-on impacts for areas such as food production and health, and the many other growing consequences of changes to the Earth system (Pörtner et al., 2022). These impacts are expected to increase in a warmer future, placing ever greater demands on our attention and resources as we respond to worsening conditions and larger crises.
Cli-Fi—helping us manage a crisis
by Howard Frumkin in the British Medical Journal…Cli-fi may be important for our patients as they come to grips with the looming climate crisis—a hyper-object too vast to grasp, a threat too frightening to confront directly, a challenge that can feel paralysing. Indeed, health professionals may find cli-fi helpful in the same way. Cli-fi may function in at least three relevant domains: cognitive, emotional, and behavioural.
The disturbing power of information pollution
by Michael P. Lynch in MIT Press…When we’re lulled into giving up on truth, we give up on critical thought — even dissent itself.
The Regeneration Handbook: System-changing strategies
by Don Hall in Resilience.org…Many Transition Initiatives, from Fujino, Japan, to London, England, have started their own community-owned renewable energy companies.
Insurable losses from natural disasters – how have the numbers changed over the years?
by Terry Gangcuanco in Insurance Business Magazine….Canadian insurtech MyChoice has released a new study showing a sharp rise in insurable losses linked to natural disasters over the past four decades.
Holding states to account: do humanitarians undermine civil society?
by Zainab Moallin in ODI.org…Are humanitarian efforts, despite their best intentions, diminishing civil society’s capacity to advocate for systemic change with the state? How do interactions with the state shape the roles of CSOs seeking to represent vulnerable and marginalised segments of society? And how are CSOs being employed as part of the dominant international aid architecture to maintain ‘business as usual’ and limit state-led crisis response?
AI Snake Oil—A New Book by 2 Princeton University Computer Scientists
by Eric Topol in Ground Truths….A Counter to the Hype and Some Misleading Claims
The Earth Does Not Speak in Prose, A conversation with Paul Kingsnorth
Interviewed by Charlotte Du Cann, Paul Kingsnorth, writer and Dark Mountain co-founder….writes about forging a language that can speak with and for the more-than-human world.
GAR Special Report 2024: Forensic insights for future resilience learning from past disasters
from the GAR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction…If we accept that disasters are neither natural nor inevitable, then we must work to prevent or at least reduce their impact.