Andrew: You’re convinced we’re definitely going down, and fast. You’ve shut the door. Joanna Macy still holds that door open. She thinks we might make it through, though we very certainly may not. I pressed her on it. Was she just hedging her bets? No. And she’s designed her work to prepare us for both possibilities. I sum up her existential

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The human psyche naturally rebels against the idea of its end. Likewise, civilizations have throughout history marched blindly toward disaster, because humans are wired to believe that tomorrow will be much like today. . . . Yet the reality of global climate change is going to keep intruding on our fantasies of perpetual growth, permanent

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In contrast, the improvisational spirit lives inside that gap, and it can be surprisingly full of ingenuity and joy even when the situation is dire. As something we share with our nonhuman brethren, the capacity to form new responses is how you know you’re alive, today, here. So when my mum says, “whatever happens, happens,” what I hear is not

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