Approaching the 5th Anniversary of the Deep Adaptation Forum

On the one hand, it feels like yesterday. On the other hand, like a parallel universe. I could be talking about many things, but this time, I am reflecting on the formation of the Deep Adaptation Forum. It’s almost 5 years since I created a Facebook group for people who wanted to discuss their own ‘deep adaptation’ to societal collapse. Soon after that we launched a website (using Ning), for people to connect with each other more deeply than one can do on Facebook. Those were two of the first steps in the creation of the Deep Adaptation Forum (DAF), as a network that facilitates dialogue and collaboration on reducing harm in the face of societal collapse. I left the organising team over three years ago but have watched it evolve through the enthusiasm of volunteers from around the world. Recently, I was asked to offer some short recollections and suggestions. That request came from the current team who are stewarding DAF into a new phase of service of the people around the globe who want to be their best selves as societies become more disrupted due to environmental change and related impacts. What follows below are the thoughts I shared with them…

“My initial motivation for founding the Deep Adaptation Forum (DAF) was to connect together the people who were reaching out to me after reading the Deep Adaptation (DA) paper, released in 2018. The diversity of people and questioning was huge, and reflected how the collapse of societies affects everything imaginable. I resisted requests from some potential funders for it to become a think tank or lobby group, and instead advanced ways of gathering for open-hearted, open-minded and meaningful dialogue. Emotional support was a key part of that, but not the only intention. Fortunately, some individuals with a little bit of cash agreed, so that I could begin to consider hiring some freelancers to collaborate on the project.

The idea was that DAF could become a catalyst for an emerging field of activities that might use or refer to the DA name, but not necessarily be affiliated with us. I wanted to avoid this initiative becoming a self-interested NGO or merely a vehicle for a founder’s ideas (mine!). Therefore, we kept the overheads low, with stipends for key people, whose key focus was on enabling volunteers to step up and initiate or support activities. In addition to turning to Matthew Slater and Dorian Cave, who I knew could research, write and provide tech support, I also approached Katie Carr and Zori Tomova for their skills in facilitation and holding space.

A key aspect of the work was to support the wellbeing of the moderators of the main Facebook group, which I had launched as an initial way to enable dialogue. I did this after Sarah Bittle contacted me to launch a DA page; she responded brilliantly to my suggestion she help me moderate a group instead. We also focused on supporting people who stepped up to convene dialogues and initiatives within their own field of professional expertise. That was because we thought it would be useful to help plant the seeds of positive responses in various professions, ahead of a wider public awakening to our predicament.

A key moment for me was a summit of the Core Team in Spain in the Autumn of 2019, where we planned our first crowdfund (see the video!). Seeing the responsibility being taken on by my four colleagues, encouraged me to hand over the coordinator role, for it to rotate amongst the Core Team.

Once a governance and advisory function was in place in the form of a Holding Group, the financial management guaranteed by the Schumacher Institute, a year of funding secured, and a participant-led strategic planning completed, I was confident to step away so that DAF could evolve as its participants might desire. That was in October 2020. I then left the Holding Group in February 2021, to help to reinforce the reality that DA is a movement, and the DAF is driven by its participants.

That decision was also for three other reasons. First, I knew that this topic is so triggering for some people that the founder would be the target of a range of projections, whether positive or negative. That might unnecessarily disrupt the DAF if I had an executive role. Second, to help curate a space for open dialogue, I had not advanced all of my own ideas on spirituality, economics, or politics, either in relation to the environment or generally – I wanted the freedom to do so, without this being the position of DAF. Third, I wanted to rediscover how I might experience life, without the story of responsibility which I had taken on as a founder of an organisation that was catalysing and curating what would potentially become a global social movement.

As a result, in subsequent years I researched, educated and advocated in ways that might be regarded by some as more radical or confronting. I also took up devotional music, political songwriting, and more recently, regenerative farming and its promotion. Although I rarely engage with the DAF, mainly due to the principle to let it become its own thing, I always feel nourished, almost healed, from conversations with groups of people who I met through DAF. That persists despite some aggravated communications about me, or with me, from some participants when our views on current affairs have diverged.

Looking back, I am proud that I included a focus on women’s leadership in the Holding Group, as well as inviting leading decolonisation experts onto that body. Going forward, I hope the DAF retains a focus on catalysing a plethora of activities that arise from asking the 5Rs of the Deep Adaptation framework, as I explain in the book Breaking Together, whether or not such activities are managed by DAF. The 5th R invites more attention to how we might work publicly, even politically, to reduce harm as societal disruption and collapse unfolds. One day I hope people, anywhere in the world, can find a local group to meet up in person. Perhaps DAF could help that happen in future, as before the pandemic, that was one of the aims. I’d definitely join a local group where I live, if it existed. Perhaps the new ‘Bali Beyond Collapse’ chat group – formed on the back of the Asia launch of ‘Breaking Together’, might evolve into that.”

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I welcomed the invitation to reflect, as the people I met due to the DA paper taking off, whether through the DAF or elsewhere, has been a huge blessing to me. One such person is the Sufi teacher and musician Jilani, who for years has offered online gatherings of meditative chanting for the participants in DAF. The image for this post is from one of those “Songs of One Breath“. You can hear from Jilani about why she does what she does, in a DA Q&A with her that I hosted.

If you are interested in what I am doing for my own ‘deep adaptation’ then please check out the summary of the Bekandze Farm School that I am helping to get started in Indonesia. We could do with any help we could get, so if you have some funds to help a regenerative project, at the grass and vegetable roots, then please get in touch! In addition, I am teaming up with Katie Carr again, to teach an in-person course in Brisbane on Leading Through Collapse (March 5th-8th 2024).

What’s the 5^th R of the Deep Adaptation Framework?

Perhaps you are wondering what that 5^th R of Deep Adaptation is about? Here is what I say about it in the new book:

“Due to the failure of decades of polite activism of many kinds, some environmentalists, like the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, are now arguing we need to develop and pursue a revolutionary agenda.  Whereas I agree that past tactics have failed, and that a collapsing of modern societies creates opportunities for massive social change, I disagree with the idea that in the modern context revolutions can be helpfully executed in most countries of the world (as I explained in the Introduction). Instead, more of us can collaborate to resist the bad power of the institutions and officers of Imperial Modernity, to reclaim our own power in many aspects of our lives, and to develop both policy ideas and networks of people to be ready for when systems collapse, and use the sporadic opportunities that may arise to oversee state institutions (nationally or locally). After years of research, dialogue and effort on these issues, I am so convinced of this approach that I believe it to be an important missing piece of the Deep Adaptation conversation.

Together we would do well to reflect on and discuss: “what power could we collectively reclaim to reduce harm and improve possibilities?” That is the power that has been taken from us by the systems and culture of Imperial Modernity. It includes the power of our imagination, our means of communication, our lands and our means of exchange. I offer this question of ‘reclamation’ as the 5th R in the Deep Adaptation framework.  And it leaves me wondering. Could a ‘Great Reclamation’ come to describe a period in human history, beginning in the 2020s, when more of humanity reclaimed our power from the manipulations and appropriations of hierarchies in all societies, as the systems and values of Imperial Modernity began to break? The people highlighted in the last chapter are just some of the many who are participating in a Great Reclamation in their own ways. So that reclamation is already here, it is just not evenly distributed.

Footnote: For some weeks I toyed with the idea that Reverence might be a 5th R, as Reverend Van Hamme had been using it in her work. However, the framework of Rs is a series of questions about assessing what to do, not how to feel. We can choose to bring back (restore) reverence in ourselves and society towards nature, and if we have that already in our own lives, we can choose to keep it (resilience). I consider that the conversation around DA needs to move more into collective action that collects the private and public, the personal and political, and so focus here on the question of reclamation of power.”

Interested to read more?

Surprisingly, given the topic, a friend of mine just bought a copy of Breaking Together as a Christmas gift for a family member. Let’s hope that doesn’t start a row. I offered some reflections on talking with relatives about these topics in a previous post. If you haven’t read it yet, then Breaking Together is now available as an ebook from various platforms, including Kobo, and available as a paperback from various online stores, such as Waterstones. It is still available as a paperback or hardback from Amazon, and audiobook from Audible. If you live in the UK, I recommend buying direct from the publisher, The Schumacher Institute.

My Key Writing about the DAF

For those of you interested in the history of this attempt with the DA Forum to help us cope better with the unfolding troubles, below I list a few of my essays and blog posts about aspects of the Forum.

In January 2019 I elaborated more on the concept of DA, and upgraded it slightly based on the conversations I had been having since the paper came out. This was in preparation for the launch of the DAF: Hope and Vision in the Face of Collapse – The 4th R of Deep Adaptation

In March 2019, I announced the new Facebook group, and called for support with moderation:  Positive Deep Adaptation Group on Facebook – Prof Jem Bendell

A few days later I announced the launch of the DAF: The Deep Adaptation Forum launches – Prof Jem Bendell

Quickly after that, with Katie Carr, I co-wrote an explanation of the philosophy behind the launch of DAF: The Love in Deep Adaptation – A Philosophy for the Forum.

In February 2020, we announced a more formal governance system for the DAF as well as a participant-led strategy consultation: Advancing the Movement of Deep Adaptation to our Climate Tragedy – New Governance and Strategy Processes

Recognising how DAF was become a significant entity, and needed some funding, in April 2020, I shared my thoughts on why philanthropists should support the kind of work we were doing: Charity in the Face of Collapse: The Need for Generative Giving not Strategic Hubris.

In August 2020, I announced I why I was leaving, and offered some reflections on how initiatives like this succeed or fail: Deep Adaptation is Up to You as Founder Transitions.

After leaving, in October 2020, I shared thoughts on approaches to leadership and change, and thanked more of the people who had been taking initiative within the DAF: Leadership for Deep Adaptation

With the aim of supporting ongoing practice, in November, my University published a paper written by myself and Katie Carr, which outlined the approach to facilitating that we had established within the DAF. Facilitation for Deep Adaptation- IFLAS Occasional Paper 6

Interviews with past DAF Coordinators

The Q&As with former coordinators Kat Soares and Zori Tomova also offer some insight into some of the philosophy behind DAF.

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