by Sean Mowbray in Mongabay…Environmental, technological and social challenges are colliding to create a global polycrisis. This confluence of issues is in turn placing increased pressure on the already existing environmental challenges of rapid climate change, rampant pollution and biodiversity loss — ultimately threatening planetary health and human well-being.
Americans’ struggle with mental health
by Ellen Barry in The New York Times…We explore why rates of anxiety and depression are higher than they were before the pandemic.
The wide boundary impacts of AI with Daniel Schmachtenberger
by Nate Hagens in The Great Simplification…Artificial intelligence has been advancing at a break-neck pace. Accompanying this is an almost frenzied optimism that AI will fix our most pressing global problems, particularly when it comes to the hype surrounding climate solutions.
The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence
by James Alwine, et al in The Journal of Virology…Many questions about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 remain unanswered and may never be fully resolved. We cannot currently disprove the lab leak hypothesis. Nevertheless, the lines of evidence needed to validate one hypothesis over another are not epistemically comparable (16). Validating the zoonotic origin is a scientific question that relies on history, epidemiology, and genomic analysis, that when taken together, support a natural spillover as the probable origin.
Are journalists reporting the global polycrisis?
by Gabi Mocatta in Earth Journalism …This study clearly
establishes that
the term ‘global polycrisis’
is not widely recognized,
or used by journalists.
NEOM is a city of the future. The land is the cost.
by K.O. in Atmos…NEOM has been hailed as the future of the climate-resilient, smart city. But, for local communities, its construction threatens displacement and exploitation.
Silicon dreams and carbon nightmares: The wide boundary impacts of AI
by Nate Hagen in The Great Simplification…What are the environmental implications of a tool with unbound computational capabilities aimed towards goals of relentless growth and extraction? How could artificial intelligence play into the themes of power and greed, intensifying inequalities and accelerating the fragmentation of society? What role could AI play under a different set of values and expectations for the future that are in service to the betterment of life?
The indomitable Covid virus
by Eric Topol in Ground Truths…The Sato Lab in Japan recently characterized KP.3.1.1, as having the most immune evasion and infectivity of any of the variants derived from and including JN.1. And previously Ben Murrell showed clearly (below, right) KP.3.1.1 had the most prominent growth advantage of all circulating variants out there. No surprise it is rapidly rising to dominance here and elsewhere around the world.
Long Covid defined
by Dr. Ely et al, in The New England Journal of Medicine….We hope that the 2024 NASEM definition will facilitate communication among patients, such as those described in the clinical vignettes, and with family members and clinicians. A standard definition should enable better tracking of the burden of long Covid and facilitate the design and conduct of robust clinical trials that produce better treatments for this and other infection-associated chronic conditions. Above all, we hope that this definition contributes to compassionate and effective care for all patients in whom long Covid is diagnosed.
Food as you know it is about to change
by David Wallace-Wells in The New York Times…It can be tempting, in an age of apocalyptic imagination, to picture the most dire future climate scenarios: not just yield declines but mass crop failures, not just price spikes but food shortages, not just worsening hunger but mass famine. In a much hotter world, those will indeed become likelier, particularly if agricultural innovation fails to keep pace with climate change; over a 30-year time horizon, the insurer Lloyd’s recently estimated a 50 percent chance of what it called a “major” global food shock.
More in this tag
Jul
06
2023
Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement
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...
Apr
28
2025
Welcome to the chaoscene
by Rupert Read in aeon.com…The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities.
Apr
25
2025
Bioregioning: the defining practice of regenerative cultures
by Daniel Wahl in Medium…..Bioregions define the appropriate scale for regional self-reliance, responsible environmental action and human participation in the...
Apr
24
2025
Systems Thinking For Social Change
A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results Systems Thinking for Social Change enables readers to...
Apr
24
2025
DAY ZERO
One City's Response to a record-breaking drought Day Zero is an opportunity to capture some of the perspectives and experiences of the various sectors as the water...
Apr
24
2025
Ecological disruptions are a risk to national security
by Bradley J. Cardinale, et al in The Conversation…When the natural environment is stretched beyond its ability to meet basic human needs for food, clean air,...
Apr
18
2025
Systemic risk and the polycrisis
by Florian U. Jehn in Existential Crunch…We now know that global systemic risk is the potential for disruption on a global scale, which is then realized because a...
Apr
15
2025
It’s time for a new approach to the current context
by Phil Buchanan in CEP…Just in the past weeks I’ve heard leaders at philanthropic funders say things like ‘we’re trying to be small right now,’ ‘the lawyers are...
Apr
14
2025
Building trust for resilient societies: The global listening project amplifies local voices
by Heidi Larson in Myriad USA…Larson would like the GLP to play a role in a new approach to preparedness and resilience. “I hope that policymakers and programs...
Apr
11
2025
The future is in our roots
from blog by Nnimmo Bassey…When one part of an ecosystem is destroyed, it impacts or destroys all the other parts. This means, nothing exists in isolation of...
Apr
10
2025
The verbs of resilience
by Andrew Zolli…I’ll be referring to resilience in the “property of systems and people” context noted above, to describe the (mostly) beneficial ability to...