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Orb Tranz Research & Broadcasting Foundation (a Section-8 company registered in Mumbai since 2021) is the flagship initiative of Global Crisis Response (GCR)
WHO WE ARE
Global Crisis Response (GCR) is a budding Trans-national Think Tank and social change movement that is currently driven mostly by volunteer participation. Our mission is to present an alternative global action agenda and empower change-makers globally in navigating Global Crisis (GC). Ours is a systematic & prefigurative initiative aimed at collectively exploring the best means to articulate and navigate the current era of the Anthropocene characterized by species extinction, climate disruptions, resource scarcity, societal Chaos, and uncertainty
What is Global Crisis (GC)?
Globalized Industrial Civilization (GIC) can be compared to an ‘ICU’ system which has an extremely low thresh-hold for disruptions and can quickly escalate into irreversible existential consequences. The ‘un-thinkable’ cascading collapse of GIC is surprisingly plausible in the near-term due triggers from any or all of the potential sources (supply-chain shocks, exponential tech risks & breach of ecological ‘tipping-points’) etc..
We articulate Global Crisis (GC) as
Inevitable Civilizational Collapse in the near-term and possible Planetary Collapse in the long-term (the worst-case consequence of humanity’s current BAU & ‘techno-utopian’ trajectory )
Humanity’s existential predicament:
Should we deploy current resources to ‘fix Globalized Industrial Civilization (GIC)’ in order to avoid the inevitable Civilizational Collapse?
or
Should we recognize its inevitability and prefigure it?
Global Crisis (GC) is a risk analysis and problem framing approach that factors in the confluence of emergent risks from multiple lens:
Ecological lens
· Breach of Planetary Boundaries or 'Tipping points' (already 6/9)
· Resource (depletion) & Sink (pollution) constraints
· Humanity is already in the state of Overshoot (175% in 2020) i.e. unsustainable economic throughput (Energy + Eco-footprint + material footprint) that could lead to Planetary collapse
Economy & Energy lens
· Treating economy in monetary or financial terms rather than in material & energy terms
· Peak FOssil Energy- Rapidly rising Energy Cost of Energy (EcoE)
· 'Energy-descent' or rapid contraction of global economy due rapid phasing-out of fossil fuels to mitigate run-away Climate Change (Climate - Energy Double-bind)
· Fossil Energy (Dense, portable, Flexible) cannot be replaced by new RE (Solar, Wind) within the constraints of scale, functionality and time
· Risk of ‘bubble bursts’ (Real asset & financial) due to and declining prosperity (Output minus ECoE) that may trigger a global financial meltdown
Civilizational Complexity (Systemic) lens
· GIC has reached the stage of diminishing returns on complexity & problem solving (key to collapse of civilizational collapse in the past)
· BAU pursuit of energy intensive, high tech global economy dependent on long supply-chains weakens the overall systemic resilience of ‘Key-stone hubs’ sustaining the GIC (like the Energy price-infrastructure, Critical infrastructures, Grid, Banking & Finance, Economy of scale etc.)
· Any severe trigger (like a pandemic or cyber-attack on grid, energy crisis) can tip the global system into a cascading collapse scenario
Run-away exponential technologies lens
· Run-away & unregulated proliferation of Dual-use technologies like Nuclear, AI, Bio-tech & Nano-tech enhance welfare but can also be weaponized that independently risk Societal as well as Biospheric Collapse
This crisis framework ensures that any consensus response to address Global Crisis will factor all dimensions of the existential risks without exception.
Creating impact by empowering Changemakers
We see Changemaker as someone who is an (actual or potential) social innovator responding to a societal predicament, who is sufficiently informed about the urgency of the existential crisis, who has resolved to be an active participant in this great adventure of transition, and is willing to take courageous action to respond to it.
Many changemakers are uncertain about the ‘Big-Picture’ impact of their efforts and are frequently ‘burnt-out’ due to the clutter around the issues of sustainability (especially the mis/dis information campaigns about green growth, Net-zero emissions, 100% RE Transition or the sustainability of the growth-obsessed Industrial Civilization).
Through our content and capacity building activities, we empower Changemakers to effectively navigate Global Crisis.
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FAQ
GCR aims to build capacity of existing & potential change-makers in society by introducing them with a useful, holistic lens i.e. Crisis(C)– Response(R)- Transition (T) Framework enabling to articulate and navigate Global Crisis (GC) in the light of the 'Big-Picture' priorities at the civilizational level.
Change-makers who apply to volunteer with GCR are provided with a detailed orientation that offers a good starting point to get familiar with the non-mainstream concepts like Societal Collapse, Global Catastrophic Risks, Risks from civilizational Complexity, Ecological Overshoot (Planetary Boundaries), Risks from Dual Use Technologies, De-clutter differences between BAU-Weak-Strong Sustainability policy or strategic responses to Global Crisis, Post- industrial Alternative Civilizations etc.
After Orientation & training volunteers are encouraged to contribute (over 3-6 months) in research, content writing etc. The goal here is to support existing change-makers to succeed help them align their current efforts in the direction of strong sustainability.
Is it a good strategy to hedge against these risks today by developing & preparing for such a future? What will those strategies look like? What are those assets & skills which can aid us in the transition phase? In the age of unstable conditions what makes one more resilient --- our specialized skills or generalist skills & attitude? Must we seek resilience at the level of individual or community?
Our Approach
Our approach is eco-centric, futuristic, risk management oriented, pragmatic & heterarchical (bottom-up driven top-down initiatives) that recognizes the inevitability of the collapse of GIC in the near-term and propose prefiguring both collapse and post-collapse futures. It is time that humanity actively chooses between transition by design rather than by disaster.
We aspire to create a ‘safe, creative , long-term thinking & acting space’ that can catalyze a new global consensus among change-makers that recognizes the need to prefigure both the inevitable collapse of our civilization and post-collapse new (ecological) paradigm.gement & deep adaptation. It is time that humanity actively choose between transition by design rather than by disaster
Many organizations in the global environmentalism space are intentionally or unintentionally aligned with 'Plan A' aimed at perpetuating Globalized Industrial Civilization (GIC) while depending on technology & markets to somehow ‘fix it’ or make it ecologically sustainable. In short they are driven by ‘hopium’ rather than pragmatism which acknowledges the endgame of GIC and the need for prefiguring its collapse. GCRF is attempting to do just that.
While majority of humanity’s current resources are spent on fixing something that cannot be fixed, we are committed to utilize this peace-time (pre-collapse phase) to prepare to face the situation when Plan A fails.
We believe decentralized communities at the local bioregional level rather than State or Market forces would emerge as the principle agents of change in this unprecedented transition towards a new (ecological) paradigm.
We aspire to create a global organization with a lean central coordination team that manages majority of its projects with the participation of volunteers (both online & offline).
Volunteer Experience!
Javed Khan (Tata Pro-engage Volunteer, HRBP -Tata International Ltd., MP, India)
Board Recruitment Strategy
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Working with GCR on the strategic project “Board Recruitment Strategy” has been a milestone on my personal and professional developmental journey
Anjali Butley (Tata Pro-engage Volunteer, TCS, Delhi)
Editorial Strategy
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"This project has given me challenging and thought provoking learning experience"
Arthur Caffier
User Experience (UX) Researcher
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"Working with GCR has been an incredible learning experience, where I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge in user research and design thinking to a meaningful cause."