visionary organizing
…Practicing New Worlds_ by Andrea Ritchie) As _reacting_ to the [[polycrisis]] grows more overwhelming and exhausting each day, I find myself…
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A term for the range of emergencies facing our species at the start of the 21st century, emergencies that not only coincide but which interact and reinforce each other. The word “crisis” comes from a Greek word meaning “separation”, which like “decide” from the Latin means a cutting-off or separation. A crisis is a turning-point at which some futures will be cut off because the present course is unsustainable, and our only choice is whether to change course or have it changed for us. But etymology also suggests that emergencies are also opportunities. So-called because emergencies “emerge” unexpectedly (though much of the polycrisis we’ve seen coming for decades) and require immediate attention, we often emerge from a crisis different than we went in (assuming we survive), and our response to it may be “emergent” in that we find strength and options we did not realize we had.
A crucial aspect of polycrisis is that it can’t be solved by tackling its component crises one-by-one, since they reinforce each other. The only adequate response to polycrisis is fundamental, systemic change, so Donella Meadows’ twelve leverage points to intervene in a system are relevant.
