Joanna Macy

Joanna Macy PhD, teacher and author, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, her scholarship is informed by six decades of committed activism. As the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, Macy has created a ground-breaking framework for personal and social change that brings a new way of seeing the world as our larger body, freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth. The many dimensions of this work are explored in her thirteen books, including World as Lover, World as Self; Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory; Widening Circles, A Memoir; Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy (with Chris Johnstone); Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects (with Molly Young Brown); and four books of translations of poetry and prose by Rainer Maria Rilke (with Anita Barrows).

Macy received a BA from Wellesley College in 1950 and a PhD in Religion from Syracuse University in 1978. She continues to write and teach in Berkeley, California, with two new books in press, including A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Times (ed. Stephanie Kaza). Macy most recently served as an adjunct professor at Starr King School of Ministry, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and has received honorary degrees from New College of California, Starr King School of Ministry, California Institute of Integral Studies, and Alice Lloyd College. In 2013, she was honored with the first Bioneers Lifetime Contribution Award. To learn more, visit www.joannamacy.net.