(c)2023 Jeff Kisling, AI Noise It's overwhelming to even try to keep up with everything happening in the world. It all seems to devolve into a cloud of noise. New York Times reporter David Ignatius writes of his recent experiences in the West Bank. I appreciate storytelling such as this as a way to help … Continue reading Middle East Polycrisis
Category: Global systemic risk
Hypernormalization and polycrisis
I've been writing about polycrisis for some time because I think it is a useful way to look at the risks, local and global, that we are facing. (See: https://polycrisis.center/). Hypernormalization is another new term. As soon as you hear its definition you recognize how helpful it is in trying to make sense of what … Continue reading Hypernormalization and polycrisis
“Ain’t Gonna Study War No More”
There is a sense of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair in the face of the horrors of the Israeli-Hamas war. Coming of age in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, I witnessed and was part of the massive antiwar movement in this country. But for the past several decades I’ve wondered what happened to the antiwar … Continue reading “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More”
Polycrisis Center
The news these days presents us with an ever-growing list of global disasters. It feels like we are drowning. Polycrisis is a relatively new term that refers to these risks and, importantly, how they are interconnected. Some global risks that have developed in just the past few months are the war in the Middle East, … Continue reading Polycrisis Center
Resilience deficit 3. Forced displacement and negative education outcomes
This is a continuation of a discussion of how to identify and plan to mitigate the threats to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Countries face multiple threats that divert attention and resources from the SDGs and are called resilience deficits. There was a consensus that it would be impossible for developing countries to … Continue reading Resilience deficit 3. Forced displacement and negative education outcomes
Resilience deficit 2. Increasing drought risk and food insecurity
As the increasingly severe global consequences of environmental devastation crash through social, economic, and political systems, more attention is being paid to their interrelationships, the multiple polycrises. This continues the global systemic risk and polycrisis series documented in the Global Assessment Special Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2023 (GAR). The report discusses the risks that … Continue reading Resilience deficit 2. Increasing drought risk and food insecurity
Understanding Risk to People, the Planet and Prosperity
This is a continuation of the series related to the Global Assessment Special Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2023. We are in a time of accelerating, interconnected disasters, i.e., polycrisis. A category four hurricane just made landfall in Florida; heat records are broken nearly daily around the world. Glaciers are melting, huge wildfires are burning … Continue reading Understanding Risk to People, the Planet and Prosperity
GAR Special Report 2023
Recent articles on the website have focused on global disaster risk reduction. In particular, about the work of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). UNDRR periodically publishes Global Assessment Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR). Previous writings on this site have been related to GAR 2022. https://www.undrr.org/gar/gar2022-our-world-risk-gar Mapping Resilience for the Sustainable … Continue reading GAR Special Report 2023
UNDRR Strategic Framework
I created this Polycrisis Center website as a repository for and as a way to share what I'm learning about polycrisis. One of the most hopeful things I've been learning about is the extensive work of the United Nations. So much work that it is kind of overwhelming. Hence my wandering through the information. The … Continue reading UNDRR Strategic Framework
Risk of societal collapse
Global chaos is on full display. Not only related to environmental devastation but also the increasing dysfunction of social, economic, and political systems. Millions of people who tried so hard to ignore these disasters are now confronted with irrefutable evidence. And so are now demanding immediate solutions and discovering there are no quick fixes. They … Continue reading Risk of societal collapse
Polycrisis Center 