Tag: collapsology

Report on the First Metacrisis Meeting

jembendell

We had some interesting discussions in the first Metacrisis Meeting, on the politics of collapse, with 27 joining for the first session, and 35 for the second. The first session was more participative, whereas the second session had more space for a Q&A with Richard Hames from Novara Media. We were delighted to be joined by people from around the world, including academics, artists, activists, therapists, medics, consultants and local government leaders. 

The Metacrisis Meetings are a salon for discussion of ideas, with no recordings or formal outputs, and under ‘Chatham House’ rules. That means that afterwards, participants can share what was discussed but not claim who said what. The next meeting is on October 6th – and you will receive the background essay for it will be out on September 6th. Read on if you want to have a glimpse of our discussions… (To keep this blog focused on substantive commentary, future summaries of the meetings will only go to members of the metacrisis meetings initiative). 

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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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Subcultures of collapse – will there be a convergence?

jembendell

A couple of years ago, Richard Hames interviewed me for Novara Media on the topic of whether we might see a solidarity-based politics of collapse. That’s what I encouraged in Breaking Together, by presenting my particular philosophy for these times. Richard is unusual amongst journalists on the left of politics for taking societal collapse risk and readiness seriously. He writes a blog on a topic he calls ‘critical collapsology’. His latest piece explores seven subcultures on collapse and suggests there could be a convergence over time. That hypothesis raises some interesting questions, and so I’m sharing about it here, in advance of a webinar in a couple of months (part of a new ‘Metacrisis Meetings’ initiative).

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