This past week marked the passing of Joanna Macy, a scholar and activist whose life’s work continues to shape how changemakers respond to the intertwined crises of our time. Macy, who died in her nineties, leaves behind a body of teachings known as The Work That Reconnects—a framework that blends ecology, spirituality, and social change into a transformative practice.
In the latest episode of Changemaker Q&A, I (Tiyana J) reflect on Macy’s legacy and introduce listeners to her framework, which remains as relevant now as when she first developed it in the 1970s.
The Spiral of Renewal
At its core, The Work That Reconnects invites people to move through a spiral of practices: grounding in gratitude, honoring grief for the world, seeing with new and ancient eyes, and finally, “going forth” into action. Unlike linear models of change, Macy emphasized cycles of renewal—mirroring the patterns found in ecosystems and ancestral rituals.
Three Stories We Tell Ourselves
Her teachings were underpinned by three overarching “stories of our time”:
- Business as Usual (the dominant narrative of endless economic growth),
- The Great Unraveling (an acknowledgment of climate collapse and social fragmentation), and
- The Great Turning (a hopeful narrative of systemic transformation).
For Macy, choosing to live into The Great Turning meant cultivating life-sustaining systems, resisting destructive patterns, and expanding consciousness.
A Living Legacy
This reframing has inspired activists, educators, and communities worldwide. The Work That Reconnects Network continues to provide resources and workshops that bring Macy’s vision into practice, ensuring that her teachings are not confined to history but remain a living force for collective action.
Macy’s work is often described as a synthesis of deep ecology, Buddhist philosophy, and systems theory. Her books, including Coming Back to Life and Active Hope (co-authored with Chris Johnstone), have become staples for those seeking to sustain activism without succumbing to burnout. The Center for Ecoliteracy has noted her contributions as pivotal in bringing ecological systems thinking into social change movements.
Transformation at Any Age
As I shared in the episode, Macy’s example also offers a powerful reminder for changemakers who feel the urgency of acting “too late.” She developed The Work That Reconnects in her seventies—a testament that meaningful contributions to collective transformation can emerge at any stage of life.
Her influence resonates not only in activist spaces but in how individuals approach grief, resilience, and purpose. As global movements wrestle with what scholars call a “polycrisis” of climate, inequality, and political instability, Macy’s spiral continues to offer a path for both inner and outer transformation.
Looking Ahead: The Great Turning
In remembering Joanna Macy, we are invited not only to mourn but also to recommit ourselves to the vision she named The Great Turning. If future generations look back on this moment as a turning point, it will be in no small part thanks to the seeds Macy planted—seeds that continue to grow in the lives and work of changemakers around the world.
