Humanity is entering an era of cross-scale systemic ecological risks, with unpredictable, global and irreversible effects, called Anthropocene risks. Yet, most Occidental organizations are ill-prepared to face such situations as a “new normal”. This article explores how Anthropocene risks are organized locally. We study the case of the “Siberia Operation”, a project led in a French eco-hamlet, in which actors willingly and collectively experience extreme cold with few resources during winter periods, to experiment organizational solutions. Our findings reveal the process through which cold, tightly intertangled with energy consumption, is socially constructed as a “janus face” risk object. We highlight three anthropocenic forms of organizing that underlie this process: reifying hazard, deconstructing harm, and reenacting nature-humans’ causalities. We discuss how organizing Anthropocene risks can lead to strategies for more sustainable, desirable and resilient futures.
