Joanna Macy bridges worlds, faiths, and disciplines. As an author and experiential workshop leader, she brought Eastern and Western thought together, linked the past and future with the present, and joined human consciousness with perspectives from other life forms. Macy called this the “Work That Reconnects;” its purpose was to help people realize that being alive at this time is an extraordinary opportunity to influence the fate of the Earth and the survival of future generations. Her work also focused on facing the grim realities, grieving what needs to be grieved, and moving through that grief into effective action.

Macy believed that a vast movement toward a life-sustaining society is gaining momentum against what she called “the Industrial Growth Society” (IGS). The IGS, said Macy, treats the world as “our supply house and sewer.” “You will not see this revolution [against IGS] on television,” she said, since most media have been subsumed by the growth society. On her website, Macy chronicled the growth of movement that she and others call “the Great Turning.”

Whether the life systems on which our existence relies can survive the IGS is the critical question. But we don’t need to know the answer in order to act, said Macy. The stakes are so high that intentional action to change our course is imperative. “The truth is that all aspects of the current crisis reflect the same mistake, setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain,” she wrote.

Before becoming an independent scholar, Macy earned her B.A. degree in biblical history from Wellesley College in 1950 and a Ph.D. in religion from Syracuse University in 1978. She offered workshops all over the world—in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada. She taught at several universities and institutions of higher learning, including Syracuse and American University. A prolific writer, Macy was the author and coauthor of at least sixteen books; her essays have appeared in countless anthologies and periodicals.

As a deep ecologist, Macy drew upon her doctorate in Buddhism and systems theory, on her experiences living in India and Africa, and on poetry and science to address the the grief, fear, sadness, uncertainty, and numbness that prevail in modern life. She turned our attention back to what is sacred and true, the wondrously interconnected and intelligent web of life.