Joanna Macy is a beloved scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology, who interweaves her scholarship and contemplative practice with five decades of activism. Her group methods, known as the Work That Reconnects, have been adopted and adapted in classrooms, churches, and grassroots organizing. The Work That Reconnects helps people transform despair and apathy in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world as our larger living body, freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth. Joanna provides thought leadership and mentorship to an international network of facilitators.
“There’s nothing that can happen that will ever separate me from the living body of earth.”
In this interview, Joanna Macy discusses her life and work. From her anti-nuclear activism in the late ’60s to her work with deep ecology, Joanna expresses the need to live within an ethic of care for the earth.
In this op-ed, eco-philosopher and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy introduces us to the bardo—the Tibetan Buddhist concept of a gap between worlds where transition is possible. As the pandemic reveals ongoing collapse and holds a mirror to our collective ills, she writes, we have the opportunity to step into a space of reimagining.