Tag: breaking together

The Deep Adaptation Framework: the complete version

jembendell

“Has the collapse begun?”

“What is your revised schedule for societal collapse?”

I’ve been receiving these kinds of messages in my inboxes over the last 6 weeks, since the wider impact of the US-Israeli assault on Iran began to unfold. These haven’t been queries from top officials or mainstream journalists, who we might expect to reach out to ‘collapsologists’ for advice on deeper approaches to the field of ‘contingency planning’. Instead, I’m being asked by podcasters and people who follow my blog. So what do I reply?

I’ve often said that a rising cost of living is the obvious way that most people will experience the creeping collapse of industrial consumer societies. In the decade prior to 2026, that was already happening due to market capture by monopolistic capital, corrupt monetary policies, and the damage to production from ecological depletion and climate destabilisation. Now it’s also happening due to avoidable conflicts, such as in Ukraine and the Gulf. That is not to downplay any one tragic situation; but by pointing to the rising prices which then necessitate a change in our living standards, emotional states, and life goals, I am trying to help more of us to see how collapse is not a sudden event in the future. As detailed in Breaking Together, societal collapse is not defined by pace: it is defined by the fact that declines and breakdowns are irrecoverable, so a previous state cannot be returned to. At some moments, and in some places,  there may be a lurch forward, or then an easing, within the broader trajectory of decline. For instance, according to the Human Development Index, a very slight reversal in the decline in some indicators occurred over the last two years in much of Africa and Latin America. However, a downward trend line is likely to occur there, as elsewhere, as the knock-on impacts from energy and fertiliser availability sadly combine with temperatures unprecedented in human history, later this year. 

Over time, I have realised that if we wrongly imagine all collapse as a sudden event, it is not only intensifying our attention — it can make some of us postpone action, if we imagine it as a spectre occurring at some point in the future. Although we are in the midst of a global collapse of a way of life — which the global data indicated started sometime around 2015 — it may take a long time to unfold. That means we need to get on with our lives rather than just be frozen, angry, or entertained, in front of our screens. That is one reason why I am using the term ‘metacrisis’ in my work, to describe intersecting crises that relate to a deeper crisis that cannot be fixed. I am pleased that the Metacrisis Initiative is developing to help people explore how to live well and usefully in this context, through our monthly salons, peer mentoring and community chat. 

The need for more of us to explore positive responses to metacrisis and collapse is also why I am pleased to see some of the leading podcasters on these matters, such as Nate Hagens, turn to discuss what we do about it. Many of the suggestions from people in this field are similarly focused on how to live well and usefully, rather than become bewildered, paralysed, defensive or aggressive. That was the intention behind me proposing the initial Deep Adaptation framework, nearly 10 years ago. Some advice, such as that in Dark Mountain co-founder Dougald Hine’s last book, clearly mirrors that early Deep Adaptation framework. 

With the addition of the 5th and 6th questions to the Deep Adaptation framework, I think the framework will more effectively incorporate all the types of personal reflections and community conversations that people are having as they become collapse aware. These new Rs invite more attention to community-wide social action to increase possibilities within collapsing systems. They neither require nor invite denial of our predicament, but broaden how we find paths for our own positive action within a metacrisis and collapse. They are particularly relevant to how I have heard younger generations discussing potential responses to the situation. 

1. Resilience

What do we VALUE MOST that we want to keep, and how?

2. Relinquishment

What do we need to LET GO of, so as not to make matters worse?

3. Restoration

What could we BRING BACK to help us as difficult situations unfold?

4. Reconciliation

With whom and with what could I MAKE PEACE with to lessen suffering?

5. Reclamation

What in our lives, communities, economies and nature can we TAKE BACK from dominant systems and beliefs?

6. Regeneration

What or whom can we NURTURE due to our love of Life? 

I wrote about the 5th R of Reclamation in the book Breaking Together, and the 6th R in an essay on Regenerativity. For a fuller summary of the first 5 Rs, I recommend my previous essay on the framework.  

A number of people who find the Deep Adaptation framework useful for their work have proposed new Rs and I presume more might be suggested in future. I’m happy to see the framework being used and adapted for positive purposes. However, I have defined the 3 additional Rs for the same reason I first outlined in the original Deep Adaptation framework. That is, I wish to encourage the type of reflections and conversations that aren’t that normal within either a progressivist culture and mindset, or a defeatist one. For that purpose, I now consider them a complete set, so won’t be proposing any more. 

As the origin of this framework is within environmental awareness and concern, I have chosen to represent the 6Rs of Deep Adaptation with a widely recognisable symbol of life, which reminds me of some shells on the beach as I was thinking about these ideas. 

I know that some people who appreciate the DA framing, and associated communities, can be hesitant to move beyond a focus on emotional coping of people in general, the collapse-aware in particular, or just themselves and their acquaintances. But if we want to embody and enable loving responses to our predicament, we can value our persistent desire to serve Life over our wish to avoid personal anxiety. We can also honour the fact that different generations have different emphases on how to become more collapse ready. Each of us will gain more from different questions in the DA framework at different times, and that is fine: as we don’t have a blueprint for how to live in a world where so much of what we knew to be real and true is now fracturing. 

It was with this understanding that we can all benefit from moments of challenge or reassurance, striving or allowing, that I produced the Oracle Cards for challenging times.

Please share this updated framework within any Deep Adaptation groups and initiatives you are part of. If you can edit the Wikipedia page on Deep Adaptation, I’d welcome it being updating with this complete model of the framework. And if you know how to make videos: please do one on the framework… it seems it is how most people receive their information these days 🙂 Thx, Jem

Reflections on the Epstein Scandal and the Wealth Supremacy Culture

jembendell

In 2012 I had some interaction with Jeffrey Epstein, only remotely by skype, calls and emails, and where we reached no agreement. I mentioned this experience with the deceased and now-infamous criminal billionaire in my 2023 book, and in a 2024 article on the topic (here). The matter of his life (including crimes, accomplices, purposes and death) is highly charged, especially for survivors of sexual abuse and child abuse. The survivors of abuse, by him and his accomplices, as well as independent media, are doing immense work to obtain greater transparency, in the pursuit of truth, accountability, and justice. Because of the bizarre online interaction I had with Epstein, I followed that struggle, as well as the slow release of information about the case. This culminated last week with me finally appearing in the Epstein files, specifically my email correspondence about his interest in alternative currencies. A few people have asked me about it, so I thought it helpful to share what I think I know of what’s most important about this ‘story’ (based on what I have gleaned from the public information). As it would take a long time, I will not elaborate with examples or put in links to sources – so if you are intrigued or doubtful, please use search and/or AI to identify further information about what I mention here. I know some people prefer to dismiss it all as conspiracy-laden speculation, but the evidence is now sufficient to point not just to sex crime, but to both a sinister agenda and network, and to a ‘wealth supremacy culture’ that affects everyone’s lives and the direction of humanity.

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Let’s not become attached to collapse

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There are moments when life confronts us with such undeniable pain that our hearts split open. For many people I know, that moment came with the realisation that our civilization is unravelling – that the seas are rising, the forests are dying, and the systems built to sustain our comfort are breaking. In that shock, there can be a strange grace. For a time, we awaken from the trance of consumption, routine and ambition. We see more clearly the suffering of the Earth and of each other. That often inspires compassion, and a yearning to live differently. It is a process I’ve often described in my past writings. It is why I encourage people to talk about societal collapse more openly, including our desires to reduce harm. Which is why, when I founded the Deep Adaptation Forum in 2019, I proposed that its ethos would be to “embody and enable loving responses to our predicament, so that we reduce suffering while saving more of society and the natural world.” Over the years I have witnessed people of all races, creeds, and economic classes, find their own ways to pursue that noble goal. It’s something I celebrate in the newly released video of Chapter 12 from my book. However, I have had to accept that something quite different can happen when we awaken to collapse, which might suppress presence, service and creativity. I wonder if that happened in me and others who participate in communities formed around an awareness or acceptance of collapse. If you are in such a community, I hope the following reflections on not becoming attached to narratives about collapse will be useful. 

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After the Alarm: Artificial Intelligence, metacrisis, and societal collapse.

jembendell

The breakneck acceleration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved the discourse on its benefits and perils from science fiction to boardroom and government-level concern. In the last few months there has been a series of articles by the BBC about AI trends and potential dystopias. One article was about how some leaders in AI are anticipating societal collapse and getting their bunkers ready. We also read that some ‘tech bros’ even want such a collapse, as their technotopian futures involve a break with life as we know it. One BBC article mentioned that the ‘AI Futures Project’ predicts AI may achieve ‘super intelligence’ by 2027 and then human extinction, or something like it, will occur within 5 years, via an AI deliberately engineering superbugs. Supposedly, it would do that after deciding that humans are a major problem without a remedy other than mass murder. I haven’t seen the authors of that study receive the kind of aggro I got since 2018 from predicting societal collapse due to climate change. Maybe that’s because we are used to sci-fi dramas where robots kill nearly everyone. But their prediction might be part of a ‘wake up call’ for wider societal engagement and responses to AI, so we might head off the worst scenarios. Maybe I’m naive, but these dystopias certainly woke me up a bit, and so here I am writing about AI and collapse. After the jolt, I read into the nature and scale of some risks, with the aim of exploring how people who want to behave well in these times of societal disruption and collapse — including myself — could use AI responsibly. That exploration is still ongoing. 

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“Resilient Life” oracle cards for challenging times

jembendell

Given what’s happening in the world, it can be tiring to stay engaged. But if we don’t remain involved in community life and some forms of political organising, then are we being true to ourselves? For me, the ongoing issue is how to stay engaged and maintain some balance in life. Over the years, I’ve benefited from knowing people who have found a deeper source of calm and creativity. They have helped me to both broaden my own activities and continue to engage in societal conversations, through my work on societal disruption, ‘metacrisis’ and collapse. My wish to help other people with similar intentions in this disruptive era moved me to create something I could not have imagined in my previous life – a pack of oracle cards for challenging times. 

Some of my friends have found resilience through spiritual teachings, while others learned from surviving various forms of suffering and tragedy. One such friend is Dean Powell, who I play devotional music with. He made a set of oracle cards for our ceremonies. They became helpful daily prompts for me to come back to what’s most important in life. So that inspired me to make a set of cards with him, so we could help others to find more resilience and resolve during challenging times. 

The “Resilient Life” cards also integrate some ideas from the frameworks of “Deep Adaptation” and “The Work that Reconnects”. Unlike other oracle cards, they don’t assume, or pretend, that our situations are stable and everything is possible. Instead, they help us find a realistic positivity, whatever the situation.  

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Summary of Breaking Together

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Portuguese is the fifth language that my book Breaking Together is available in. Many at the launch in Lisbon last month travelled from the countryside where they are working on community resilience. For them, the book Juntos Na Rutura provides a useful explanation to others about why they are promoting community economics. One of the interviews around the launch was with the Portuguese degrowth network, which is available on video.

After that inspirational boost, my next speech was to a more general audience in the UK, and I discovered how my analysis on the causes and implications of societal collapse can be easily misconstrued.  Therefore, I wrote a summary of the foundational concepts in my work, including concepts like Deep Adaptation, the Metacrisis, the Great Reclamation and Ecolibertarianism, to appear here on my homepage. In addition, I worked with a colleague to prepare a summary of some ideas in each chapter of Breaking Together, which I publish below.  

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Centering Citizen Ownership: Britain is not for sale and Palestine is not for stealing.

jembendell

The transcript of a speech delivered in Stroud, UK on 13th Sept 2025, by Professor Jem Bendell.

“Britain’s not for sale and Palestine’s not for stealing – defending and restoring citizenship ownership in the face of collapse.”

I am pleased to be back in ‘The People’s Republic of Stroud’. I first saw that phrase in the background of a talk entitled ‘heading for extinction’ by Gail Bradbrook back in 2018. People in the town of Stroud played a key role in the formation and growth of Extinction Rebellion, which sparked a new wave of environmentalism, bringing wider attention to the climate crisis. I mention that today, as I’m interested in connections between more commonly-owned assets, on the one hand, and a political voice on the other. Only with both of those do we increase the chances of coping better with a creeping collapse of the systems and opportunities we once had.

Today is unusual for me, as I am going to talk about politics. I have never given a speech before that is explicitly about politics. In the first half of 2017, I worked in front line politics with Jeremy Corbyn and his team. I advised on strategic communication, co-wrote speeches, and some of the manifesto. I went on to train some of the current backroom staff for PM Keir Starmer, including Morgan McSweeney. But I have never given a political speech myself. I feel now is the time to do that, because of what’s happening in Britain right now.

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Critical Collapsology & the Future of the Left – info ahead of the Metacrisis Meeting

jembendell

Richard Hames of Novara Media and his colleague Beau-Caprice Vetch, recently wrote an essay on what they call ‘critical collapsology’ to help stimulate collapse-aware innovation on the left of the political spectrum. They write:

“The question is not “when is it appropriate to lose hope once and for all?” But, instead, when are we required to give up on the specific forms of animating hope that structured much of 19th and 20th century left[wing] thought?”

You can read their full essay here. I asked AI for an 800-word summary, including a final paragraph assessing any resonance with the ecolibertarian ideas in my book Breaking Together. It follows below. 

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Let’s Turn the Tide on Surveillance – starting with radio biometrics

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Do you ever feel a quietly gnawing discomfort at the direction technology is taking us? Not just a concern about screen addiction or misinformation, but a deeper unease: that a world is being built in which our presence, thoughts, and behaviours are constantly detected, catalogued and analysed, often without us even knowing? Perhaps it’s the sense that the tools of surveillance, often accepted for personal convenience or public security, are being normalized in all aspects of our lives. Perhaps it feels like a tide: as if an inevitable force of nature, rather than a set of human choices. 

I have known that feeling of uneasy resignation for some years. But recently I came across a new study which snapped me out of that torpor. Suddenly I wanted to be clearer on what I think is unacceptable, what should be resisted, and to identify some small steps to take. Consequently, I realise this issue of technosurveillance should be firmly on the political agendas of any serious political party or individual politician. So I want to share with you some ideas on that and why it matters within my particular niche of the environment, metacrisis, and societal collapse. 

Continue reading “Let’s Turn the Tide on Surveillance – starting with radio biometrics” →

Systems are Breaking – and That’s Our Opportunity

jembendell

A few months ago, I reconnected with a friend who I had worked with in initiative on ‘the sharing economy’. At the time, we were both ‘Young Global Leaders’ (YGLs) with the World Economic Forum. It was 2013, and we had volunteered our time to bring attention to how new technologies could be used to help everyone have a good life with less ecological impact. Personally, we were imagining a future of peer-to-peer resource sharing, community-based production, and cooperative ownership. Meeting up after years, we laughed that our work had oddly contributed to the World Economic Forum publishing the line that became infamous as a globalist’s dystopian injunction: “You will own nothing and be happy.”

Although we laughed, it was with a sense of ‘doomer humour’. My friend’s tone had shifted from a decade ago. She felt disappointment and defeat. “All we did,” she told me, “was write a love letter to the next wave of monopolists.” Her disillusionment was not unique. Many working in alternative economics—whether cooperatives, commons networks, or solidarity enterprises—feel similarly deflated. Despite huge efforts to get governments around the world to adopt policies to promote the ‘Social and Solidarity Economy’, the tide has been in the opposite direction. Monopoly capitalism has grown stronger, tightening its grip through unrestrained mergers and acquisitions, extractive digital platforms, and ‘techbro’ political interference. Now the big tech companies don’t compete in a free market, as they own the markets and can operate similarly to feudal lords. It’s why the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis labels this era ‘technofeudalism’.

It’s easy to feel like we failed. But that pain—of giving so much for so little change—is not a reflection of personal failure. It’s a sign of deeper structural shifts….

You can read more of this article that I wrote for Shareable, on the new, yet old, agenda for the Social and Solidarity Economy, or join myself and like minds discussing this during a ‘metacrisis meeting.‘

Join the Metacrisis Meetings initiative to chat with like-minded folks…

We meet once a month (and soon, more often than that)

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