In the face of global challenges, Joanna Macy introduces the concept of the "Great Turning." This refers to the critical shift from the industrial growth society characterized by environmental degradation to a life-sustaining civilization. She outlines three dimensions of the Great Turning: holding actions to slow down and stop further damage, creating new structures and practices that promote sustainability, and shifting our perceptions and values to embrace a more ecological and compassionate worldview.

This is Joanna Macy's framework for addressing the ecological crisis and cultivating personal and community resilience. Originally developed under the name Despair and Empowerment Work, it’s now known as the Work That Reconnects. Usually a facilitated group experience, it includes a series of teachings, meditations, and exercises that enable individuals to reconnect with themselves, others, and the living Earth. It encourages acknowledging and feeling the pain and grief for the world, fostering a sense of interconnectedness, and empowering people to take meaningful action.

Joanna Macy is closely associated with the deep ecology movement, which recognizes that humans are an integral part of the Earth's ecosystem and emphasizes the intrinsic value of all life forms. Deep ecology calls for a shift in consciousness, moving away from anthropocentrism to a more ecocentric worldview, where humans view themselves as part of the web of life rather than separate from it. Joanna co-authored one of the first books on deep ecology, and has contributed since then to the growth of the deep ecology perspective around the world.

The terrible problem of radioactive waste, which Joanna Macy dedicated much of her community organizing to, first drew her attention in the 1970s. Studying its effects and how long the danger will persist (some 10,000 generations) led her to develop a vision for Nuclear Guardianship. To cultivate the will and the capacity to care for the people and creatures who will come so long after us, we’re asked to open up to an experience of “deep time.” She helps us to extend the span of time, both before and after our own lifetimes, that we allow ourselves to feel connected with, and to care about.

Joanna Macy’s dissertation was called Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory. A practicing Buddhist, she perceived the connections between the Buddha’s teachings on dependent co-arising and Systems Theory’s non-reductive ways of explaining causality. Her work in this area helps us understand interdependence, through lenses of Buddhism and Western science.

Joanna first encountered the poetry of Rilke in Germany in the 1950s, when she walked into a small bookstore and opened a book to the poem that begins, “I live my life in widening circles.” She has since then co-translated four volumes of Rilke’s poetry and letters, faithfully and exquisitely bringing his writing on consciousness, beauty, mortality, and loving this world to English-speaking readers and seekers. In the hundreds of Work that Reconnects workshops that Joanna facilitated, she would often read aloud the poetry of Rilke and other poets she loved.