“Solidarity is a collective response in the face of collapse. “With the Deep Adaptation framework, I’m really inviting people to look at the worst case scenarios, and to support each other in all the difficult emotions that brings up, and actually see how we can turn toward that trouble, stay open to it, inquire into it with curiosity, compassion and respect for each other – rather than those other tendencies that can happen, which is to just be angry, to look for how to blame someone, and to look for a sense of some kind of psychological or practical safety as quick as possible.”ĭeep Adaptation and Solidarity : Jem Bendell from Stuart Platt on Vimeo. … What we’ve seen since the summer of 2018 is a shift in perception or a shift in narrative, where people feel that they themselves are in danger.” “We used to talk about climate change as a problem that would impact upon our grandchildren or possibly our children.

Jem Bendell and Gehan Macleod each gave a talk to explore these questions, followed by a discussion chaired by layla-roxanne hill. How do we ensure that we don’t leave anyone behind? How do our lives need to change to respond to an increasingly unstable and unpredictable future? What does climate breakdown mean for us in practice? Here’s a video of Bendell explaining Deep Adaptation.On the 21st of September 2019, Enough! hosted (in collaboration with Bella Caledonia and the Centre for Human Ecology) the event Deep Adaptation, Deep Solidarity in the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow to explore the following questions: ‘In abandoning hope that one way of life will continue, we open up a space for alternative hopes,’ wrote Tommy Lynch (2017).” Click here to read the whole paper. When the debate raged about the value of the New York Magazine article, some commentators picked up on this theme.

In such contexts ‘hope’ is not a good thing to maintain, as it depends on what one is hoping for. The loss of a capability, a loved one or a way of life, or the receipt of a terminal diagnosis have all been reported, or personally experienced, as a trigger for a new way of perceiving self and world, with hopelessness and despair being a necessary step in the process (Matousek, 2008). Contemporary reflections on people’s emotional and even spiritual growth as a result of their hopelessness and despair align with these ancient ideas.

However, the range of ancient wisdom traditions see a significant place for hopelessness and despair. Alex Steffen warned that ‘Despair is never helpful’ (2017). “‘Hopelessness’ and its related emotions of dismay and despair are understandably feared but wrongly assumed to be entirely negative and to be avoided whatever the situation.

Deep Adaptation by Jem Bendell