In Memory of Joanna Macy

July 24, 2025
Forum Team

As many of you know, teacher, writer, and activist Joanna Macy passed away this past Saturday at the age of 96.  

On social media, her Work That Reconnects Network shared:

Though her body has left us, her work pulses in every one of us. In every moment of truth-speaking, in every gathering that dares to feel, in every act of sacred activism – we will keep her message alive.

Her Buddhist-inspired wisdom and compassion gave her the energy to work in the areas of ecology, justice, and peace throughout her life. These are the key integrated principles of the Earth Charter and are indispensable for a flourishing future, which she embraced early on. As her website describes her, she was a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. She interwove her scholarship with six decades of activism. Her wide-ranging work addressed psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance between Buddhist thought and contemporary science.

Her 4-stage (Coming from Gratitude; Honoring Our Pain for the World; Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes; Going Forth)  Work that Reconnects is a valuable gift for those coping with climate grief and the heaviness of our times. For more on this, see her book Coming Back to Life. 

We'll close with a thought-provoking quote from her keynote at the 2023 Bioneers conference:

When I think of what makes me tick, I think about the fact that our Earth is alive. And we know it.

Everything in my body and yours is made of this Earth. And I can tell you with some authority that you didn’t come from anywhere else.

You can speak for Earth right now. I know a lot of places where you need to talk about it. We’ve got everything we need and everything our bodies need out of this Earth, and it’s alive.

We don’t need to make a profit from the Earth. Could it be possible that with the supreme danger of climate catastrophe facing us, we could outgrow capitalism? We can’t save our Earth without shaking off capitalism. Every day of your life from this moment on can be another way of learning that and celebrating coming back to life.

When you take stock, we’ve been doing some pretty crazy things as a species. We think we’re so fine; we’re standing on our hind legs and have these mouths and opposable thumbs. But look what we’ve done. So I’m going to suggest what you can do to save the world. The way for you to have a happy life and keep the planet intact is to be glad you’re alive.

For more on Joanna's life and passing, see these tributes:

Here are some additional ways to connect with Joanna Macy's legacy: