Joanna Macy

Joanna Rogers Macy is an environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology whose work has shaped how movements understand interconnectedness, grief, and the capacity for collective transformation. Born in Los Angeles in 1929, Macy studied at Wellesley College and earned her PhD from Syracuse University. Her early career included work with the CIA's front organization Radio Free Europe (which she later deeply critiqued) and the Peace Corps in India, where she encountered Tibetan Buddhist communities and began the spiritual and intellectual journey that would define her life's work. Macy's distinctive contribution has been to synthesize three intellectual traditions: general systems theory (particularly the work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Gregory Bateson), Buddhist philosophy (especially the concept of dependent co-arising), and deep ecology. In "Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory" (1991), she demonstrated the remarkable parallels between Buddhist interdependence and systems thinking. Macy developed "The Work That Reconnects," a group facilitation methodology practiced worldwide that helps people move through gratitude, honoring pain, seeing with new eyes, and going forth. This framework, detailed in "Coming Back to Life" (1998, revised 2014, co-authored with Molly Brown), has been used by thousands of facilitators in workshops across dozens of countries. Her concept of "The Great Turning" describes the transition from an industrial-growth society to a life-sustaining civilization, identifying three dimensions: holding actions (resistance), structural transformation (new systems), and shift in consciousness. Her other major works include "World as Lover, World as Self" (1991/2007), "Active Hope" (2012, co-authored with Chris Johnstone), and her memoir "Widening Circles" (2000). At over 90, Macy's work remains vital as climate crisis intensifies the need for frameworks that integrate grief, interconnection, and action.