A life changed by collapse (mine)

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For much of my adult life I’ve lived outside the UK, my country of birth. Therefore, I’ve been curious about the dynamics of social change occurring in different contexts, including the environmental movement and profession. That is why I wrote my book with an eye on how it might be useful to the environmental movement in parts of the Majority World, and therefore I look forward to learning from the responses after recently launching the Spanish and French editions, with a focus on how they may be received in Latin America and Francophone Africa. It also meant I was pleased to read recently that one of Indonesia’s leading environmental commentators, Jalal, is reading my latest work, and contextualising it with my previous decades working in corporate sustainability. I gave it attention, as Indonesia is the country I have chosen as home for the last few years, and where I’ve invested into a social enterprise for collaborative resilience in the face of collapse – Bekandze Farm School. His essay reviewing my intellectual journey was one of the best I’ve read, and so I had it translated into English, to share with you here. I don’t expect or ask you, or anyone, to change direction in the way I have done, but to allow an awareness of collapse to transform your own priorities, as and when you ready – as there is not one right response. But there are some benefits! If you are interested in exploring your own path with peers, then please consider our online course (next one starts late January).

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The Politics of Collapse: uncommon conversations for unprecedented times

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“Are you leaving just before the election in case there is trouble?”

I was asked this a couple of times in San Francisco, during the week before the US election. That told me of the anxiety that some people were feeling in the run up to the vote. Nearly every time my conversations turned to politics, I heard people express their incomprehension about others supporting a candidate that they do not. I did not hear merely a concern about different priorities. Rather, I heard the belief that other people are stupid or bad. The anti-Trump voters focused on the bad things about him and ignored the real grievances that were motivating people to vote Republican. The pro-Trump voters focused on the bad things that the current US administration has done and ignored the real concerns about the former President. In both directions there appeared to be a belief that they had superior information, intelligence and ethics. When I noted that people are demonising those they disagree with, in ways that ignore real concerns, everyone I chatted with agreed that such negativity towards fellow citizens is not helpful, and that the political situation in the USA is depressing. That got me thinking about how more of us need to be if we are to develop new forms of politics suited to an era of societal disruption and collapse.

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Not Sweating on Others Waking Up – thoughts after a Temazcal

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The analysis and message of Breaking Together has been resonating with some people who work closely with indigenous leaders across Latin America. That is one reason we published it in Spanish as Cayendo Juntos. Due to their work with indigenous elders, my hosts organised a Temazcal, or spiritual sweat lodge, for my birthday. It was led by Don Alvaro, a cofounder of the Elders of Teotihuacan. That’s the area where he and his ancestors have lived, which is famous for its Aztec Pyramids. My experience that day helped me to realise I still have a long way to go in ‘letting go’ of attachment to the impact of my efforts, and the importance of such letting go for my future in this era of collapse.

Don Alvaro’s comments before we entered the sweat lodge may have been influenced by the fact it was October 12th, the day when Columbus first stepped foot in the Americas in 1492. Some call it ‘Invasion Day’. Don Alvaro explained some of the basic ideas of his culture that have been suppressed in the 500 years since then. Such as the obvious fact that we are part of nature and not in charge of it. Plus, the reality that the natural world is itself sacred, rather than just parts of it, or those aspects that we imagine to be separate from nature. 

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The Freedom in Truth – launching ‘Cayendo Juntos’

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Transcript of speech given at the Monterrey Book Festival (Feria Internacional del Libro Monterrey), Mexico, 6th October 2024, to launch Cayendo Juntos, the Spanish edition of Breaking Together.

I am pleased to have reached you here in Monterrey just before the close of this remarkable event – one of the largest book fairs in the world. It is probably best that I was kept back until the final day, so that I wouldn’t spoil the mood of your previous days here. Because what I am going to talk about is not very fun. In fact, it is so heavy that I don’t talk about it much in public. But coming to Mexico felt important to me. That’s because I believe that Latin America, more generally, can play a significant role in softening the collapse of modern societies around the world. Three different areas of wisdom and struggle from this region offer signposts for how our human race might cope with the consequences of having overshot planetary limits and poisoned our living home. Those traditions are liberation theology, anti-imperialism, and indigenous cultures. So I’m honoured to be invited to offer my own ideas into your rich mix of intellectual traditions in Latin America.

For over 30 years this event has showcased a breadth of ideas in the Spanish language. Both fiction and non-fiction. I believe that is still a valid distinction, is it not? I know some people do wonder. I saw a sign in a bookshop that they had moved their apocalyptic fiction books into their current affairs section. Maybe one day they’ll move their current affairs books into the section for apocalyptic fiction.  

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The Francophone World in an Era of Collapse

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If modern societies are breaking down, is there a political movement ready to soften the collapse and begin anew? Or do we need new ideas and organisations for collective action? Might a local focus be the only meaningful approach as industrial consumer systems decline? Or is this a period that calls for greater international solidarity with those suffering the most? I think the conversations and initiatives in the Francophone world will provide us many insights on these questions, for a number of reasons, which I’ll come to in a moment. That’s why I will celebrate the release of the free ebook version of S’effondrer Ensemble, with a gathering in Grenoble, France on October 30th. I will be joined by some members of the translation team and other special guests who are leading in the field of climate adaptation. If you can make it to Minimistan for 6pm, it will be a chance to meet others who are taking this topic seriously (just come, you don’t need to register). 

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Collapsis – a public health emergency of international concern

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There is now significant evidence of an ongoing breakdown of industrial consumer societies, worldwide, due to hitting natural limits and internal contradictions. As this is a painful realisation, many experts avoid saying it publicly, while the mainstream media have been ignoring it. Nevertheless, opinion polls reveal that most people know something is seriously wrong, as we have been experiencing years of disruption, degradation and decline. Consequently, a new epidemic is taking hold, which offers a distraction from the worry and pain. As this ‘Collapsis’ may soon become a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, here I’ll describe what is currently known about it 😉 

Collapsis is the novel psychological condition of believing illogical ideas to explain the unfolding breakdown of modern societies. Collapsis spreads like an infection, leading to disorientation and counterproductive responses, which might then accelerate the unfolding actual collapse of modern societies. There are already many variants of Collapsis, which will be superseded by new ones, due to the susceptibility of human hosts and the economic drivers behind spreading infection. In this blog I list fifteen variants I am already aware of.

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Falso cuento de hadas verde

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Ensayo compartido para coincidir con mi discurso en Monterrey y CDMX, Octubre 2024 sobre Cayendo Juntos.

El autoengaño es algo muy común en la profesión y el movimiento ambientalistas. No es sorprendente que haya cierta negación o desautorización, debido a lo perturbador que resulta centrarse en una tragedia que se está desarrollando. Pero nuestra vulnerabilidad al autoengaño ha sido secuestrada por los intereses personales de los ricos y poderosos, para inventar un “falso cuento de hadas verde”. Su historia nos distrae de la verdad del daño causado, del que está por venir y de cuáles podrían ser nuestras opciones. De hecho, su cuento de hadas nos impide rebelarnos para intentar que este sea un desastre más justo o un colapso más suave y justo de las sociedades en las que vivimos. Evitar una rebelión más amplia podría ser la razón por la que el cuento de hadas recibe montones de fondos para libros, premios, artículos y documentales, así como vídeos para canales populares de YouTube. Por eso, como yo, es posible que no te hayas dado cuenta durante años de que es un cuento de hadas. En este ensayo explicaré las nueve mentiras que componen este “falso cuento de hadas verde” antes de explicar cuánto daño se está haciendo tanto a las personas como al planeta debido al predominio de esta historia dentro del ambientalismo contemporáneo.

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Goodbye Academia

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A year ago I took (very) early retirement from academia, and was given the title Emeritus Professor upon leaving. Looking back, I am grateful for the academic freedom I enjoyed at the University of Cumbria. Although there were exacting demands for generating income through MA and MBA courses, the University had a tradition of critical inquiry, interdisciplinarity and experiential learning. Without that freedom I could not have developed my understanding in a range of fields to be able to write the book Breaking Together – and to teach leadership the way I do today. I had always been a polymath and read philosophy about ways of knowing. I was fascinated by the pros and cons of the ways that different academic disciplines constructed their focus, forms of evidence and criteria for conclusions. Therefore, I developed a form of ‘critical interdisciplinary research analysis’, where one interrogates research from different disciplines with a prime focus on real world salience and an awareness of there being limiting assumptions within any field of inquiry. Unfortunately, academia militates against this approach by incentivising career researchers to specialise. Meanwhile, many non-scientists defer to the claims from institutionalised specialists and their peak bodies. That is an understandable reaction, although pretty lazy when coming from scholars and public commentators on our environmental predicament. As the reality with climate change appears to be far worse than what was predicted, some of that deference will reduce, along with the hostility towards better analyses. If you are interested in this matter, please see (or listen to) Chapter 7 of Breaking Together. 

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Latin America for a softer, fairer collapse

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Bishop Romero is a hero of mine, as are many of the liberation theologists of across Latin America. As the global hegemonic order breaks due to smashing through ecological limits, so its institutions become ever more illogical, oppressive and violent. That’s Empire trying to prop itself up as its foundations crumble. I believe a significant movement for a softer and fairer collapse of modern societies will emerge from anti-imperialists across the Majority World. Therefore, I am delighted to be launching the Spanish version of ‘Breaking Together’ in Mexico in a few weeks. If you have friends, family or colleagues in either Monterrey or Mexico City, please send them this page.

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