First published: July 27, 2025
The matter of the collapse of industrial consumer societies is not only extremely inconvenient for those of us who are enjoying its conveniences, but also deeply challenging philosophically and spiritually … I am certain we cannot wait for the storm to pass or seek to skirt around its edges—we must learn to dance in the rain [or the desert]. – From the Conclusion of Breaking Together: a freedom-loving response to collapse
Collapse awareness is a huge psychological step for folks living in industrial consumer societies (probably you). Denial is far easier. But is it not better to be realistic? In a recent short article, Jem Bendell writes: There is strength in acknowledging that systems are collapsing. There is purpose in helping others through it. And there is healing … in choosing integrity over illusion. Yet with rare exceptions, corporate media either refuse to acknowledge the possibility of collapse or they condemn it outright as nihilistic or unhopeful. But hope is not a binary! Can’t one be unhopeful about society and still hopeful about people? If you want more background, Bendell’s viral Deep Adaptation paper (2018) is a good place to start – describing personal and collective changes that might help us to prepare for—and live with—a collapse of the [capitalist, exploitative, unjust, environmentally destructive] societies we live within.1
Having a way of thinking about and coming to terms with the prospect of near-term societal collapse is a good thing. At least I think so. In earlier essays and in his book, Bendell encourages readers to consider for themselves what they might do, or avoid doing, as societal disintegration unfolds. Jem’s 5R framework is one way to do this. This essay is my attempt to use that framework.
In writing this, I’d like to share some “positive pessimism” of a doomster (way different from a “doomer”)—a realist, humanist, compassionate pessimism. This effort took me over a month, and I’ll probably update it from time to time as I discover more elements that matter to me personally – these are the subheadings under each [R]. Your own concerns may be very different. If you dare, use Jem’s framework to create an outline or plan of your own for coming to terms with the collapse of your world. It’s really hard, but worthwhile things usually are.
Right-justified text (like this) immediately below each [R] is either quoted or paraphrased from Jem’s writings and serves as a prompt for my own reflections below that.
1. [R]esilience
What do we value most that we want to keep, and how? | This involves holding onto what matters most – such as community, care, rights, solidarity, meaning – rather than the conveniences and behaviors that require unsustainable systems.
(Hold onto) Health
Without this, everything falls apart, or seems to. But health is a spectrum, not a binary. We adapt, accommodate, make do. But still, I want to make every effort to preserve what I can until … I can’t. But what does “every effort” mean? Regrettably, because I live in a society with a profit-driven disease management system (it definitely can’t be called a healthcare system), this means avoiding most encounters with that system because I think it’s likely that its actions may do more harm to me than not.
Brief digression: I don’t say that lightly. Long ago, I went to medical school and experienced firsthand the extent of corporate and financial capture of the system. I concluded that it was not for me. Dutifully, I completed my medical degree, but diverged into scientific research, only to find the same problems in a more subtle guise. It took me three more decades to acknowledge that capitalism and corporatism were entrenched social structures that were not going to be changed, ever. Finally, Jem came along with his viral 2018 Deep Adaptation paper which he has followed up with persistent and prolific explication of why societal collapse is ongoing (since about 2016) and inevitable. What surprised me most in his writings was the indictment of the expansionist monetary system as the root cause of the evolving collapse. I thought I was well-educated, but about this I had no idea. I explore this more deeply below under [R]eclamation.
On the other hand, I’m aware that completely avoiding the for-profit medical system could cause my premature (what does that mean today?) demise without certain meds, monitoring, and procedures that I’m told I need with my damaged cardiovascular system (which makes me typical of consumer industrial societies). So, how does one hold onto health in a sick society?
Stress and diet and environment all contribute. Like most who read this (I’m guessing), financial stress looms large and so I’m working toward eliminating digital monetary transactions (banks, credit cards, e-commerce) and all non-cash, digitally surveilled expenses. I will rely on Medicare and Social Security (precarious, I know) and, increasingly, friends and family to help me get by. Managing diet is easier as I’ve been a vegan for over 30 years, but localizing and improving the quality of that vegan diet is a new challenge. Our toxic environment is a major determinant of health – particulates (PM2.5) from wildfires, heavy metals, radioactive contamination, PFAS and synthetic chemicals of all kinds – all are prevalent where I live, but I can’t do much about any of this.
Of these factors, stress seems like the thing I have the most agency with. In dealing with it, perhaps I can help others recognize and mitigate this cultural nemesis. It’s epidemic. I’ve learned that getting outdoors and moving around is super helpful, otherwise we become sickly, stressed houseplants.
(Cherish) My beloved
I am one of those extraordinarily lucky persons who found someone accepting of my quirks and forgiving of my many shortcomings. In spite of that, after 26 years she still loves me, which is a mystery and wonder that I wish to hold onto as long as possible. May everyone be so fortunate. And how do I keep her? Be helpful, non-judgmental, non-demanding, and just let her live her life however she wishes. Don’t grasp. Cherish.
(Protect) Nature
Were it not for the near presence of the natural world to comfort me, I would have a difficult time. Evidently, this is not true for everyone and I feel sad for them. Maybe they’ve never had the opportunity and are afraid. I’m not sure. How means doing whatever I can to promote the rights of Nature – to exist, to be minimally disturbed, to allow her species to live in harmony. This is so easy to say, but difficult in practice because of the controlling and extractive structure of Imperial Modernity2. It requires real caring, deep thoughtfulness and constant vigilance about one’s footprint. My life will depend on solar energy and harvested rainwater. No fossil fuels. Think before you act, pause, think again.
As I walk. As I walk.
The Universe is walking with me.
In Beauty it walks before me.
In Beauty it walks behind me.
In Beauty it walks below me.
In Beauty it walks above me.
Beauty is on every side.
As I walk, I walk in Beauty.
– Navajo (Diné) prayer
(Preserve) Community and culture
We are a hypersocial species. Few people thrive living alone. So how to hold onto connections with real people becomes a serious question as my mobility and communication options diminish with age in a collapsing society.
Ideas matter. Words matter. So it will be comforting to me to hold onto a small collection of real, printed books that hold meaning, familiarity, and intellectual challenge. Books are facsimiles and time capsules of real people, communities, and events, aren’t they? They are reservoirs of culture and knowledge.
The same is true of music and I imagine that compiling an analog music library (vinyl?) will be an obsessive activity for many doomsters. But we’re musicians ourselves (just ask Jem!) Let’s tenaciously hold onto to our voices and real, physical instruments; their importance is immeasurable.
Communication and community and commons are intimately related. Obviously? So preserving a sense of community by having some means of talking with each other as mobile/cellular and internet service decline seems important to me. As a kid, I learned a great deal about the world from my landlocked, ethnically homogeneous Midwestern state by listening for hours to shortwave radio (those mysterious wavelengths between the familiar AM and FM bands). I’m going to try to reengage that passion, this time as a more active amateur (ham) radio operator. Amateur radio can serve to connect people in emergency situations and might even be a way I can help create a wider community.
(Keep finding) Purpose and meaning
Everyone needs to feel that they belong and have a role to play. In my experience, purpose is dynamic; one is forever searching for it, sometimes losing and then refinding it. Often, it finds you. Meaning is a kind of a transcendent feeling that follows from found purpose, but whatever it is, it’s a good thing that I want to hold onto however I can.
2. [R]elinquishment
What do we need to let go of so as not to make matters worse? | This concerns “letting go – of fossil-fueled comforts, economic myths, toxic identities, and destructive habits.”
(Let go of) The internet and AI
The digital electronic world seems especially fragile. I expect everything in the cloud to disappear or remain available only to a protected, privileged class (definitely not me) as technical infrastructure recedes. Might some digital resources be “relocalized” and is it worth the effort? Google has over 20 years of my personal photos. Am I OK with losing all that? Amazing what memories and emotions an old photograph can evoke. So I’m not sure yet what I’ll do. Maybe letting go is best.
(Forego) Mobility
I have a small electric vehicle (Chevy Bolt). I love it because it’s quiet, fast, and needs almost no maintenance. In fact, the only reason I can live in a remote part of New Mexico is because I have this cheap electric mobility. When my EV breaks (and like all mechanical things, it eventually will) and there is no one to fix it, perhaps I’ll still be able to bicycle a few miles to neighbors. Or maybe not. Then it will be time to move to a walkable village, or prevail on neighbors, or both, or neither.
Brief rant about mobility: In my view, combustible fossil fuels are pure evil. They didn’t used to be, but they are now. Why? Because those who sell and use them – if they’re aware of their devastating and irreversible harm, and unless there is absolutely no other survival option but to use them – are complicit in killing the only world we know that can sustain us, and they know it. This is a class struggle! Wage laborers with barely working cars and trucks – totally OK. Middle class, so-called professionals, flying for business – totally not OK. Anybody with wealth using any kind of fossil fuels to flit around the world or build their palaces? – totally evil and morally wrong. Yes, I’m having a very hard time letting go of this anger! I try to deal with this better in [R]econciliation below.
3. [R]estoration
What could we bring back to help us as difficult situations unfold? | This is about “consideration of traditional knowledge, community practices, and relational ways of being that industrial society eroded.”
My interpretation is that 3.[R]estoration focuses on bringing back good things that used to exist, but have been partly or mostly lost, while 5.[R]eclamation focuses on creating agency and power where it may never have existed due to our immersion in modernity and capitalism.
(Bring back) Matriarchy
After living (more like surviving) for 65 years as a man in a man’s world, living to see the rebirth of a matriarchal society (or even just an inkling of it) is my deepest, most heartfelt wish. I think it would result in a wondrous social transformation. Grandmothers are natural leaders and we need to listen to them and restore their once wider power. On this history, I defer to indigenous knowledge and female writers because it is deep and nuanced and I would just sound silly trying to recapitulate any of it. At the very least, I’d like to see the unraveling of the lies of empire, a story which filmmaker Peter Joseph (of Zeitgeist fame) dramatizes in Interreflections.
Unfortunately, in regard to my deepest wish, I feel little agency except to call out toxic male behavior (there’s a lot, especially now) and socially ingrained patriarchy. It’s sad and depressing and harmful and so unnecessary. That said, I have to say I’ve enjoyed being male if only because it allows a special and wondrous appreciation of the our female companions on life’s voyage. Thank you all (and to everyone on the glorious gender spectrum).
MAMA – Make America Matriarchal Again.
(Search for and respect) Indigenous knowledge
Getting to know a place takes time, and I need to learn more about how to live where I will spend my last few years on this planet. While I’ve only lived in northern New Mexico for a couple years, I realize there’s an amazing abundance of knowledge which, if I pay attention, will find me. I welcome assistance.
(Practice) The art of conversation and storytelling
This wish is related to the preservation of community and culture that I discussed under 1.[R]esilience. Actually, I think good conversation and storytelling is alive and well, but isolated as we’ve become, we often have to look for it. But more than that, we have to practice it, restore it, in ourselves. Each of us has stories to tell – just as I’m writing here. In particular, I believe that our “I remember when …” stories will become especially meaningful and poignant as collapse unfolds.
4. [R]econciliation
With whom and with what could I make peace with to lessen suffering? | This helps to “face the grief and existential fears associated with collapse and make peace with limits and loss, to center our active compassion, even amid breakdown.”
(Try to forgive) Life destroyers
This, by far, is the hardest one for me. Those who I call “life destroyers” I may not be able to forgive, maybe ever, for their outsize role in wrecking our beautiful world. I hate them for their ignorance, their greed, their cruelty, their fear. What is wrong with them?!
Thanks to Jem’s persistent writings, I now know why this has happened and why the horrible 1% people exist, but still … it just seems so cruel and unusual that our epically ignorant use of an expansionist monetary system has led human civilization down this destructive path. (I expand on this in the last section – 5.[R]eclamation.)
It also seems to me that our collapse is premature because we could have done so much better – evidently, we weren’t mature yet as a species. It’s in us to succeed, but we failed. Eventually, I hope, my anger at our stupidity will give way to sadness, or even better, to equanimity.
I suspect giving some time and attention to Eastern spiritual traditions might help lessen the burden of anger and sadness within me. Buddhism appeals, but the learning curve seems steep. I’m probably wrong about that and so I hereby resolve to look into it. Which brings me to final [R] …
5. [R]eclamation
What can we reclaim about our lives, communities, economies and nature from dominant systems and beliefs? | This is “about agency, power and dignity – reclaiming meaning-making, local control, spiritual autonomy, and relational depth from the alienation of modernity and global capitalism. I added the 5th R of Reclamation, partly in response to noticing how some people’s dependence on imperial systems of sustenance and meaning-making meant they were ignoring opportunities for reducing complicity and resisting harms.“
The fifth [R] that Jem added to his original four has turned out to be the one that tweaks me the most. I have a lot to say about it, particularly about reclaiming Money because it was a completely new insight for me and because it appears to be the root cause of what went wrong. Who knew! I think this is super important.
Reclaiming Rationality (as part of a bigger concept) is also big on my list because, as a scientist, I have long observed the humbling power of critical thinking and the scientific method, i.e., … most of the time, your beautiful theory will turn out to be wrong – so too bad, get over it, move on. This is good for developing a sense of humility, diminishing ego, and appreciating the depth and awesome beauty of nature.
And finally, it seemed fitting to conclude with Empathy and equanimity. Who wouldn’t want those things?
(Begin to understand) Money and commerce
Although many people sense that there’s something wrong, they can’t succinctly name it. But for me at least, it’s important to understand why and how we’ve ended up destroying our world even though it seems illogical that intelligent beings would do such a thing. For everyone except the willfully blind (that’s another conversation), we can see what’s happened to our environment, right? Of course we can, but we don’t perceive the root cause, which is this: We have an expansionist monetary system which, unless it continually grows, will fail. And when it does, gradually or precipitously, societal collapse will follow.
Another name given to this social and planetary financial death machine is the Monetary Growth Imperative. This phenomenon is an unrefuted fact which requires some effort to understand. But why must we make the effort to understand? Because, environmental initiatives taken within such a system are ultimately futile. Wow. The expansionist monetary system itself is incompatible with life on a finite planet. In this short TEDx talk from 2011, Jem Bendell explains why (and tears up a €20 note).
Ever since societies adopted a debt-based, interest-accruing, money-hoarding financial system, we have been doomed. From the outset, there were going to be winners and there were going to be losers; it was mathematically and statistically preordained, as was the environmental destruction that expansionism encourages (hint: because it’s profitable). Capitalism is doomed to fail because it’s inextricably linked with this catastrophically ill-conceived monetary system.
That said, I think it’s super important that we try to understand – it’s not our fault for being entangled since birth in this dominant system that was not of our choosing. And further, reform of the existing system is not possible due to its control by elites who want no change to a system that has benefited them for so long. And so, without inconceivable change, the collapse of capitalism as a global financial system becomes inevitable.
So, having identified the perpetrator of societal demise, we are left with having to reclaim and imagine more equitable systems of value exchange at a post-collapse, hyperlocal level. This something anyone can do to reduce harm to ourselves and communities even as the global system fails. It won’t be easy, but it’s something we can all encourage and participate in. I plan to anyway.
(Learn to distinguish) Rationality v. critical wisdom
As a scientist, skepticism, critical thinking, and rationality are central to my worldview. That most people do not operate this way was a lesson I learned slowly and reluctantly. I still have trouble believing it. Instead, I’ve come to believe that most people are reactionary – they respond, often very emotionally, to their immediate experience without a great deal of thought, and often, with little or no empathy or compassion for the other people (or non-humans) involved. I know this is judgmental and a gross generalization, but I stand by my observation. The reactionary aspect of this is connected with critical thinking, or lack thereof. The empathic part is, I think, a separate thing and I discuss this below as something else that I wish to see more of in myself and see reclaimed by others.
For example … Why would so many well-informed, apparently rational people drive oversized, fossil-fueled deathmobiles? What is wrong with these people?! I was unable to figure it out and just felt exasperated and angry, but Jem offered some insight. I think he would say that these folks (like most of us) are deficient in “critical wisdom” – a term he invented which encompasses rationality but adds some critical extra ingredients.
“Critical wisdom is the elusive capability for understanding oneself in the world that combines insight from mindfulness, critical literacy, rationality and intuition.”3 In particular, he focuses on “critical literacy” which “involves awareness of how the tools by which we think, including linguistically constructed concepts and stories, are derived from, and reproduce, culture, including relationships of power.”4 In simpler terms, we think and behave in terms of stories (often myths) that powerful people (parents, mentors, celebrities, etc.) taught us. Lacking critical wisdom, we become unwitting pawns in a cultural power game. Not very flattering, but there it is.
So how is a lack of critical wisdom connected with driving an SUV? It’s a choice, right? And people rationally choose convenience and avoid fear. And yet, we all know it’s a deathmobile because it destroys our climate and constitutes a mortal hazard to fellow beings – pedestrians, bicyclists, domestic pets, birds, butterflies, squirrels, etc., etc. And yet, another voice in my head says it’s elevating my social status and chances for my family’s survival in a crash. It’s a hideous, pathetic, deficient logic. A stark and superficial rationality perhaps, yet utterly devoid of mindfulness, critical literacy, or intuition. Immersed in culture, we all make compromises to survive, but some make more than others. I wonder, Why?
“It’s a choice, right?” – Or is it? Could it be that a deep cultural story so overwhelms our awareness that we hardly perceive it when we decide we need that Escalade or Tahoe or Range Rover or Navigator or Expedition or Armada? The nameplates scream hierarchy, dominance, exclusivity, exploitation. What’s the cultural story behind this behavior? In her book Orwell’s Roses, Rebecca Solnit offers this:
Darwinism … emphasized conflict and competition, and Darwin himself did portray evolution as a struggle between members of a species competing for scarce resources. That was warped into a confirmation that free-market capitalism and personal selfishness were natural, inevitable, and even good by those who liked them.
In other words, long ago, social Darwinists co-opted science and perverted rationality so that science appears to support what we intuitively know (and were taught in kindergarten) to be bad behavior. Echoing and substantiating this, Lynn Margulis, the famous feisty evolutionary biologist who proposed that symbiotic and cooperative relationships are the main driving force behind evolution, maintained that Neo-Darwinists:
… wallow in their zoological, capitalistic, competitive, cost-benefit interpretation of Darwin – having mistaken him [and would come to be regarded as] … a minor twentieth-century religious sect within the sprawling religious persuasion of Anglo-Saxon Biology.5
And so this cultural myth is pervasive and persistent in industrial consumer societies because the latter depends on competition and growth. Seeing it for the biological lie that it is might help a few of us break free. I’m trying.
(Manifest) Empathy and equanimity
I’ll finish this essay and approach this last personal wish with another deeply troubling, triggering question: Why would so many well-informed, apparently good people fail to acknowledge the obvious, glaring, appalling moral outrage of the ongoing Palestinian genocide? What is wrong with these people?! This is me screaming into a void – but we mustn’t stop.
This is the SUV deathmobile question in a different guise, reaching far, far deeper because we’re talking now about the unnecessary deaths of 100’s of thousands of innocent regular people. Innocent? Emphatically yes! Starving children. In Palestine, in Israel, and in the United States, I truly believe most regular people are not militants, not extremists, not religious fanatics, and definitely not power-crazed politicians. The overwhelming majority just want to live their lives in peace, with some stability and not much drama. But that extroverted minority forces their agenda on us. We allowed them to take control and we became trapped in their narratives while our own not-so-dramatic stories and hopes and dreams went unheard.
A remarkable few gather the courage to speak out, to demonstrate moral outrage, to feel empathy with regular people like ourselves. But that’s risky, right? That could get you killed in Nazi Germany and now it could get you deported or disappeared in Trump’s authoritarian US. That’s like, the ultimate inconvenience. So it’s better to stay under the radar and ride this thing out, right? Fear trumps empathy. But what does that do to (y)our spirit, to (y)our humanity?
One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will always have been against this. – Omar El Akkad, author, journalist, US citizen, wrote this tweet on October 25, 2023.
Omar El Akkad’s tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times. But even now (July 2025), writing that last paragraph, and quoting that tweet, could get me in trouble. It’s not safe anywhere anymore. But this is me working and acting on empathy. I need to do this because so much is just simply wrong right now, and one of those things is too many regular people staying silent. Many others more courageous than myself have spoken out and continue to do so. A recent composition by my longtime friend Todd, an activist and poet, is particularly inspiring, but it’s hard to improve on the brevity of this …
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
And finally, to break the tension, there’s equanimity. Such a great sounding word, isn’t it? Personally, I think Buddhism has some pretty good ideas and this is one of them which I’ve resolved to focus on but am hardly qualified to comment on. In a recent post, Catherine Weser defines it beautifully for us:
A state of equanimity is characterized by an even-minded, calm, and composed presence in the face of all experiences—pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—without being swayed by biases, preferences, or emotional agitation. Equanimity is not indifference or apathy, but a balanced mental state rooted in wisdom and impartiality. It allows you to observe experiences and emotions without being caught up in them.
I’m trying.
Conclusion
I cannot do better than to repeat the final quotation from Breaking Together …
Everywhere people ask: ‘what can I actually do?’ The answer is as simple as it is disconcerting: we can, each of us, put our inner house in order. The guidance we need for this work cannot be found in science or technology, the value of which utterly depends on the ends they serve; but it can still be found in the traditional wisdom of mankind. – E.F. Schumacher, 1973, Small is Beautiful
- Bendell, Breaking Together, p154. ↩︎
- “Imperial Modernity – the interlocking set of political, economic and cultural systems that shape our everyday lives to favour the accumulation of power by elites. It is the ideological apparatus of a global Empire of power that has takenhold over the last 30+ years.” – Bendell, Breaking Together, p24. ↩︎
- Bendell, Breaking Together, p155. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.252.5004.378 ↩︎
