Humanity in the 21st Century is facing a seemingly endless stream of crises: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, poverty, economic inequality, pandemics, growing authoritarianism, terrorism, gun violence, runaway technological advancement, the erosion of shared knowledge and meaning, and much more.
Together, these individual crises all complicate, exacerbate, and deepen one another, creating a knot of crises. Pull on any single strand and the whole knot tightens.
Rising global temperatures disrupt ecosystems, affecting biodiversity. Biodiversity loss imperils ecosystem services that many rely on, further entrenching them in poverty. Poverty and the sense that the system is rigged against them can lead people to empower authoritarian leaders, who then often make decisions that degrade the environment, economic stability, and democracy. And on and on.
It’s the ultimate “wicked problem.” Every problem creates another problem, which creates another problem. It’s not just the depth and number of the problems. It’s their complex and chaotic nature. It can be utterly overwhelming, existentially devastating, and paralyzing.
Altogether, these crises create what scholars, thinkers, and leaders are increasingly calling the “polycrisis” or “metacrisis” – the knot of compounding crises understood as one whole.
This is the world today. This is the context we all find ourselves in, struggling to understand, navigate, and respond meaningfully.
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book The Antihero’s Journey: From Burnout to Real Contribution in Polycrisis Times. To read other excerpts, go here.
