Transdisciplinary approaches to global ‘syndemic’
By Peter Schlosser
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” Arundhati Roy
With each new record-breaking wildfire, massive hurricane, megadrought or other disaster, I find myself asking: Is this event going to be the turning point where humanity feels compelled to take action that will prevent moving from a planetary crisis to a global catastrophe?
We have learned a great deal about the Earth system from the natural and engineering sciences including direct insights into, for example, what needs to be done to keep global warming from climate change within the 1.5 to less than 2 °C (2.7 to 3.6 °F) increase range. Despite this deep knowledge, we are in a perilous position after decades of denial and failure to alter behaviors that contribute to increasing pressures on our planet including global climate change. Fossil fuel emissions are roughly 60% higher than when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its first report in 1990, an analysis that spotlighted the role of humankind in increasing global warming. We need to continue identifying the human impact on, and threat to, the life supporting systems of our planet; however, this alone is not enough. To solve the challenges we face in the 21st century and beyond, we need a holistic perspective of the problem that must include social sciences, humanities, medical sciences, and arts. Taking such a holistic view of the present state of our world and imagining possible futures we can build a more comprehensive, albeit complex picture of the problem because it takes into account our decision making when exploring the consequences of approaching environmental and societal planetary boundaries.
We frequently assume that scientific findings alone are enough to guide people and policymakers in their decision making. But science is only one component of solutions; it cannot be transformative in isolation. At present, we lack the societal will to implement the change we so urgently require. We must find new ways of knowing, teaching and communicating. That is why the understanding of human motivation is central to research and solutions developed by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. Pathways for the future must be informed by the study of human behavior and shared in creative and divergent forms of media to reach new audiences. The Global Futures Scientists & Scholars Network is populated by faculty and scholars with expertise ranging from physics to biology to political science to humanities to art and many, many other fields. These varied backgrounds bring new, system-based insights to global issues.
The Global Futures Laboratory is the home of multiple programs designed to integrate humanities and arts with science and social science, including the Humanities Lab, Leonardo, the annual Emerge festival, the Center for Science and the Imagination and the forthcoming UNESCO BRIDGES Flagship Hub, to name just a few. These programs bolster creativity and bring together people with different life experiences, cultures, training and mindsets to co-identify challenges and their roots. Inputs from diverse disciplines help contextualize history and spotlight previously overlooked obstacles, as well as bring to the surface different ways of knowing to develop a holistic response. For example, the Seize the Moment initiative–a cooperative effort between the Global Futures Laboratory, the Humanities Lab and Leonardo–was designed to address the “syndemic” of crises facing humanity: the COVID-19 pandemic, racial violence, inequality, environmental degradation and the climate crises, to name just a handful. When we dissect COVID-19, the synchronicity between crises is easily discernible. Habitat destruction leads to more animal-human contact and the spread of zoonotic diseases. Marginalized communities, already subjected to higher rates of air pollution and lower quality healthcare, suffer more severely because the virus attacks the respiratory system. Migration caused by disasters and violence or impacts from war further necessitates a more nuanced and human response. The causes of global emergencies are interconnected, and so too must the solutions be. Programs such as Seize the Moment exemplify the power behind truly transdisciplinary, ground-up collaborations between arts, humanities, sciences and technology.
It is essential that we identify effective and compelling ways to propel society and decisions toward urgent action. Social and political outcomes cannot be divorced from planetary outcomes. As we navigate the Anthropocene, we must humanize our responses to crises to advance new pathways that create futures of opportunity rather than sacrifice. The Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory has been designed to create innovative solutions to the most pressing problems faced by humankind. By incorporating the societal perspective and communities’ value systems in our work, we aspire to motivate society to make the right choices for positive change in the coming years.
Peter Schlosser is the vice president and vice provost of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University. This article appeared in the Global Futures: Now newsletter on March 31, 2022. Sign up for the newsletter at globalfutures.asu.edu/gfl-newsletters.
