The powerful COVID-19 virus teacher has brought us to the brink of widespread systems change and deep uncertainty about how things will unfold. There is a hunger for a more profound understanding of the links between ecosystem collapse and public health threats, between patterns of economic domination and racial injustice. Systems thinking and Buddhist views together offer skillful means for making sense of these interlocking calls for action.

Joanna Macy, author, teacher, and scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology will be joined by Stephanie Kaza, author of Green Buddhism and professor emerita of environmental studies, in an exploration of the state of the world, our grief and gratitude, and our deep belonging to the living Earth. With her prophetic voice and encouragement to face our fears, Joanna asks us to love the world just as it is right now, with all our bodhisattva dedication. We will draw on the new book about Joanna’s global legacy, A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time (Shambhala, 2020), as well as the 30th anniversary updated edition of World as Lover, World as Self, with their timely insights for the challenges facing us today: climate chaos, pandemic, economic collapse, racial injustice, and the undermining of democracy.