Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy (1929–2025) was an American environmental activist, Buddhist scholar, systems thinker, and visionary teacher whose work spanned over six decades. She developed the renowned framework and workshop methodology known as the **Work That Reconnects**, a powerful group process for transforming eco-anxiety and grief into action for the Great Turning—a shift toward a life-sustaining society [oai_citation:0‡Berkeleyside](https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/07/21/joanna-macy-obituary?utm_source=chatgpt.com). Blending deep ecology, systems theory, Buddhist wisdom, and experiential learning, Macy pioneered grief work as ecological practice and offered rituals and practices—such as the Spiral of Gratitude, Honoring Pain, and Emerging Service—that nurture resilience, compassion, and collective empowerment [oai_citation:1‡Americans Who Tell The Truth](https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/joanna-macy/?utm_source=chatgpt.com). Her approach resonates profoundly with the Planet Project’s values of truth-seeking, interconnectedness, compassionate transformation, and self-organizing social change.
Functional Sector: Education, Governance, Relationships
Date Added: 2025-09-01
 | Category: Turning Inward |
 | Type: Person |