After more than two years of instability triggered by the pandemic, apocalyptic visions are becoming a lived reality, as the effects of climate breakdown rapidly increase and failing societal and economic structures reveal the fragility of our modern industrial way of life. Cracks in the system are becoming chasms. So much has been revealed, both the light and the dark, that we have no true sense of what has been set into motion.

What does living in an unfolding apocalyptic reality look like? The stories in Volume 3: Living with the Unknown explore this question through four themes—Initiation, Ashes, Roots, and Futures—moving from the raw unknowing of transformation to a place of rooted possibility. We commissioned new work from writers, artists, photographers, and poets, inviting them to respond to these themes. Within these pages you’ll experience fallen leaves, emerging cicadas, changing Arctic landscapes, reflections on motherhood and beauty, the kinship among trees, inward migrations, and imagined post-apocalyptic realities.

The contributors of this issue includes Anna Badkhen, Juan Bernabeu, Sheila Pree Bright, Sydney Cain, Camille T. Dungy, Azadeh Elmizadeh, Anisa George, Amitav Ghosh, Rebecca Giggs, Ann Hamilton, Daisy Hildyard, Linda Hogan, Daehyun Kim ("moonassi"), Robin Wall Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Andri Snær Magnason, Ben Okri, Martin Shaw, Suzanne Simard, Jake Skeets, Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Terry Tempest Williams, Alexis Wright, and Kiliii Yüyan.