Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Richard Heinberg Richard Heinberg explores questions about democracy and political polarization in the context of profound changes in environmental, economic, and technological conditions, including whether democracies or autocracies are better able to respond to crises.
Richard Heinberg explores why societies become polarized and traces the causes and history of polarization in the U.S. He unpacks the dangers of polarization and the ways it tears societies apart, before seeing what can be done to reverse polarization.
This live online discussion event features Trisha Dehrone, a PhD candidate and NSF Fellow at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. Trisha has designed and analyzed interventions that bridge group differences in divided societies and has evaluated interventions in the U.S., Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Journalist and podcaster Rachel Donald interviews Nichole Argo, co-director of the Needham Resilience Network, a coalition of community leaders working together to establish relationships across silos, support belonging (rather than othering), and co-create solutions to community problems. Rachel and Johanna discuss toxic polarization, why people get stuck in absolutism, and how to encourage belonging to achieve wellbeing for all. A mini-documentary on the Needham Resilience Network follows the interview.
This list of resources is meant to give Resilience+ members a collection of ideas, tools, and organizations that can help them better understand and respond to political polarization.
It was the cows themselves who had impressed on me so deeply this alignment with rhythms borne not of the mind but some deeper undercurrent, a trust that the quietness brings all into its own order.
We are stretching the material and labor limits of this planet to capacity merely to increase the complexity of our production methods, not to increase production, not to better meet our needs, not to create abundance or well-being for any body.
Instead of seeing everything through the lens of the political economy and civilization, as if they were somehow divorced from earthly systems, bioregionalism proposes that ecological systems be treated as the foundational substrate for everything.
This ‘keystone species’ can play a role in healing broken relationships—with nature and between people.
We talk the talk about getting back to basics, living small, learning simple crafts, honoring indigenous wisdom, being part of the natural world…Well, now it’s time to fully embrace our intentions… while we still can..
How the Rojavan democracy was made to happen should be of deep interest to everyone seeking a democracy built and nurtured from the bottom up.
But the question remains, will New Yorkers invest that activist energy into cultivating sustainable ways to do more with less, while more equitably redistributing the shrinking pie, or simply force the redirection of goods from other parts of the world that have less power or force of will?
