Show Notes
In 2018 Professor Jem Bendell [https://jembendell.com/] published an academic paper that went viral; pretty weird for a piece of scholarly writing. The topic? Societal collapse caused by runaway climate change. The timeline? Soon. Deep Adaptation presented a frank, delusion-free framework for facing the end of the world as we know it, sparked a movement, and copped a lot of flack.
I wanted to chat with Jem not so much about the grim facts but about how, "as that collapse guy"*, he is filling his life with meaning at the eleventh hour. And it turns out, that includes becoming a farmer, writing folk songs and considering having kids.
*Jem happily identifies as a doomster [https://jembendell.com/2024/08/10/we-still-care-doomster-characteristics/]
🎙️ In this convo
Experiencing climate change first hand as a farmer in Bali
How to act on knowledge about collapse and climate?
Making the leap towards your values (with the help of a global pandemic)
Why the wellness community is full of shit
Farming fails
Picking up music at 48 and writing comedy rock
Faulty beliefs we have about our creative gifts
Living fully at the eleventh hour
Letting go of status and security
Why it's all ok when everything's not ok
Kirtan and ecospirituality practices
Jem's evolving views about how collapse will unfold
Bringing kids into this world, yay or nay?
The Deep Adaptation framework
Becoming NURTURANT
How to help others through the grief
Jem's simple pleasures
Oracle cards for cynics
🧙♀️LINKY POOS
Jem's home on the web [https://jembendell.com/]
[paper] Deep Adaptation [https://jembendell.com/2019/05/15/deep-adaptation-versions/] ~ Jem Bendell
[book] Breaking Together [https://jembendell.com/2023/04/08/breaking-together-a-freedom-loving-response-to-collapse/'] ~ Jem Bendell
The Metacrisis Initiative [https://jembendell.com/metacrisis-initiative/]
Jem's collapse-aware oracle cards [https://jembendell.com/resilient-life-oracle-cards-for-challenging-times/]
Jem's music [https://jembendell.com/tag/music/]
Songbird credit: Australia Outback Birds by EduFigueres [https://freesound.org/s/562111/] License: Attribution 4.0
🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/Reskillience] 🧡
More from Reskillience
I tell a story about a freak storm that flattened our summer crops before sharing a super inspiring convo with Chris Gilmour [https://www.chrisoutdoors.ca/], an emergency and disaster preparedness expert who believes that deep nature connection is key to surviving and thriving through uncertain times.
I tell a story about my inability to change before chatting with a guy who's obsessed with changing everything! Dr Shane Simonsen of Recombination Nation [https://recombinationnation.substack.com/] is a biochemist, research scientist and experimental farmer who is shaking up agriculture-as-usual by breeding plants that require ZERO INPUTS. No fertiliser, no pest protection, no weeding, no watering! We talk about how to run your own kinky plant breeding experiments at home, as well as:
Planting guides and sow-what-when calendars are great and all, but what happens when the seasons don't play nice? When spring arrives earlier, frost hits later, or heatwaves burn your crops to a crisp? There's no controlling the weather, but with tools like phenology, you can make better predictions and grow more food!
NOTE: I've done breathwork every day since this interview and – you gaias! – it's really helping me human.
"In a time of fracturing seasons, when everything's going awry, there are still cycles that we can set our hearts by."