Original image: Man at bridge holding head with hands and screaming. By Edvard Munch - WebMuseum at ibiblioPage: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/Image URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37610298

Claim: The Climate Crisis Has Already Caused Society to Collapse

We just didn’t notice.

What to expect when you’re expecting the end of the world

Jem Bendell predicted that society would collapse because of climate change. Then he tried to get on with his life.

Jem Bendell had postponed his personal crisis long enough. For years, he’d been setting aside the worrying news about climate change he came across in a folder on his computer, waiting until he had the time (and emotional capacity) to look at it. In 2017, he took leave from his job as a professor of sustainability leadership at the University of Cumbria, in the United Kingdom, to finally dive in. …

… He’d just spent two decades arguing that businesses could help fix environmental problems and heal the flaws of capitalism

The first thing to understand about the collapse of society is that the Hollywood version is wrong. Unlike the post-apocalyptic nightmare you’ve seen in movies, where everyone turns on each other in a moment of chaos and panic, civilizations don’t usually come to quick ends. Their falls happen gradually, over the course of decades or centuries, and might not have even been recognizable as a “collapse” to the people who lived through it. We could even be living through it now.

“To a historian, the fall of Rome may look like an obvious event in global history,” Luke Kemp writes in his recent book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. “To a peasant in Spain, it may have barely been perceptible.”


People in the Deep Adaptation movement, which expanded on its own without Bendell’s help, have been uniquely attuned to the signs of turmoil around them. …

Read more: https://grist.org/culture/jem-bendell-society-collapse-deep-adaptation-doom/

The abstract of the 2018 paper which appears to have started a global climate doomsday prepper movement;

Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy

Abstract

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide readers with an opportunity to reassess their work and life in the face of an inevitable near term social collapse due to climate change. The approach of the paper is to analyse recent studies on climate change and its implications for our ecosystems, economies and societies, as provided by academic journals and publications direct from research institutes. That synthesis leads to a conclusion there will be a near term collapse in society with serious ramifications for the lives of readers. The paper reviews some of the reasons why collapse-denial may exist, in particular, in the professions of sustainability research and practice, therefore leading to these arguments having been absent from these fields until now. The paper offers a new meta-framing of the implications for research, organisational practice, personal development and public policy, called the Deep Adaptation Agenda. Its key aspects of resilience, relinquishment and restorations are explained. This agenda does not seek to build on existing scholarship on “climate adaptation” as it is premised on the view that social collapse is now inevitable. The author believes this is one of the first papers in the sustainability management field to conclude that climate-induced societal collapse is now inevitable in the near term and therefore to invite scholars to explore the implications.

Read more: https://mahb.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/deepadaptation.pdf

The hilarious part is by defining the collapse of society as imperceptible, the claims made by this climate prepper movement become unfalsifiable.

Aussie gasoline prices just hit AU $12 / gallon (for real). It must be a climate societal collapse, not stupid politicians killing Aussie domestic energy production in the name of a renewable energy pipe dream.

Future historians will marvel at this prepper movement in mind only – a prepper movement which mostly doesn’t actually prep, just keeps an eye on what they believe is the ongoing collapse.

Clearly the collapse of society hasn’t severed their internet connections, or reached the point where they all retire to their bunkers and seal the blast door. Let’s hope when the great withdrawal from society happens, they all forget to pay their internet bills.

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Tom Halla
April 9, 2026 11:06 am

Yeah, societal collapse no one can detect?

J Boles
Reply to  Tom Halla
April 9, 2026 11:12 am

But, but, you just gotta believe me! The climate alarmists need more and more meds, IMHO.

cgh
Reply to  J Boles
April 9, 2026 11:46 am

That’s what Timothy Leary said in the 1960s.

spetzer86
Reply to  Tom Halla
April 9, 2026 5:42 pm

Yeah, real societal collapse there’d be mass groups worshiping the antichrist and praying openly in our streets. Like that’ll happen, huh?

2hotel9
Reply to  Tom Halla
April 9, 2026 7:11 pm

I have detected societal collapse, been following it quite a while, climate ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.

Reply to  2hotel9
April 10, 2026 4:34 am

Yes, the more influence the Radical Left gets, the closer we all get to societal collapse.

After all, that’s the whole focus of the Radical Left: The collapse of the current society. They want to destroy our current society and remake it to suit their purposes. They are uncomfortably close to attaining their goal. All they need is another Democrat president.

observa
Reply to  Tom Halla
April 10, 2026 3:31 am
gyan1
April 9, 2026 11:14 am

False narratives that are presented as empirical facts are the basis for the psychotic delusions the mentally ill are pushing. All propagandists uses this technique to dupe the easily manipulated.

John Hultquist
April 9, 2026 11:15 am

A mind is a terrible thing to waste“: coined by Vernon Jordan of the United Negro College Fund in 1972. It was part of a campaign slogan to raise money and awareness for education.
However, the phrase fits the notion of “deep adaptation”. 

Bruce Cobb
April 9, 2026 11:20 am

Actually, it’s more like Climate Belief is causing catastrophic Brain Collapse.

KevinM
April 9, 2026 11:41 am

“To a historian, the fall of Rome may look like an obvious event in global history,” Luke Kemp writes in his recent book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. “To a peasant in Spain, it may have barely been perceptible.”

Analogies and allusions are supposed to make abstract ideas relatable. This one says that there was very slow and limited news traffic between Rome and Spain before 1000AD. A better observation for LK to write would have been:

“To a peasant in Rome,…“

Reply to  KevinM
April 9, 2026 4:35 pm

A peasant in Rome would have been very well aware of the Vandal sacking in 455 CE.

cgh
April 9, 2026 11:44 am

Heh, fine the societal collapse is inevitable and already underway. That means nothing can be done about it, meaning that adaptation, renewable energy, reducing CO2 emissions, stopping oil are all useless..

So Jem, lie down quietly, pull the dirt up over your head and stop annoying the rest of us. We are not interested in your personal angst about your life, your notions of how to live, and the pursuit of your own misery.

Leon de Boer
Reply to  cgh
April 9, 2026 7:02 pm

Nothing like a relentless Whinger

Synonyms: Complainer, grumbler, moaner, grouch, pest, sorehead, or malcontent.

The connection between “whingers” and “the end of the world” lies in the tendency of some to hyper-inflate small problems into catastrophic events 🙂

Mental Health conditions that can cause End-of-world delusions are Delusional Disorder,Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar disorder and Spiritual Psychosis.

April 9, 2026 11:49 am

‘What do we value most?’ Rethinking resilience in a time of polycrisis

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-04-09/what-do-we-value-most-rethinking-resilience-in-a-time-of-polycrisis/

Haven’t read this but was curious because I had never heard of “Deep Adaptation” so did a quick search and this popped up, apparently published just today.

I’ll let someone more curious than me read it.

Reply to  Phil R
April 9, 2026 11:51 am

And you gotta love, “polycrisis”.

KevinM
Reply to  Phil R
April 9, 2026 2:16 pm

Read it Garbage.
“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.”

Reply to  KevinM
April 9, 2026 4:54 pm

meta BS and poly BS

Reply to  KevinM
April 9, 2026 5:11 pm

Good Lord, it’s a cult.

Reply to  Phil R
April 9, 2026 4:52 pm

I read it- word salad.

Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
April 9, 2026 5:12 pm

Upvote just for admitting you read it (same for KevinM). 🙂

Keitho
Editor
Reply to  Phil R
April 10, 2026 1:48 am

Tried to read it but half way through the first page I lost the will to live. Sorry but it is pure, unadulterated hot steaming BS.

Reply to  Keitho
April 10, 2026 4:44 am

That made me laugh! 🙂

William Howard
April 9, 2026 11:57 am

societal collapse (economic suicide) is the result of programs & trillions of dollars trying, (unsuccessfully I might add just like King Canute), to control the climate by eliminating the use of fossil fuels the burning of which produces CO2 which is critical to the survival of the planet and everything living on it – idiots

April 9, 2026 12:39 pm

I wouldn’t take a lot of comfort in the belief that the Roman Empire took a long time to collapse. The imposition of socialism, in any of its totalitarian forms, only requires the negation of the cultural belief that society can successfully organize itself around individuals interacting with each other on a voluntary basis. And because this form of organization, call it ‘liberalism’ or ‘capitalism’, results in a much greater extent of economic activity than would have ever been dreamed possible by, say, a Spanish peasant working in his fields at the time of the Roman Empire, it can collapse really fast once the Left destroys its cultural supports.

Curious George
April 9, 2026 1:02 pm

Aren’t we already past the end of history?

Leon de Boer
Reply to  Curious George
April 9, 2026 6:58 pm

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” … George Orwell

“History is written by the victors” .. often misattributed to Winston Churchill but older than that.

Edward Katz
April 9, 2026 2:04 pm

If civilization has already collapsed, the event just proves the resiliency, resourcefulness and adaptability of not only humans but also the animal kingdom is as alive and well as ever. So why worry. Just learn to embrace the end of civilization and enjoy it at the same time.

Reply to  Edward Katz
April 9, 2026 2:20 pm

It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

observa
Reply to  Phil R
April 10, 2026 6:49 am

Typical selfish B. Now the rest of us have to do more freaking out. What on earth is the world coming to with this generation?

Bob
April 9, 2026 3:11 pm

Losing is an ugly thing but sometimes it puts a smile on my face. What a bunch of knuckleheads.

Reply to  Bob
April 10, 2026 4:48 am

That is what’s happening: They are losing. So they want to create the illusion that all of us are losing.

Nope. It’s just them, and their delusions.

The rest of us are doing just fine.

CD in Wisconsin
April 9, 2026 3:30 pm

Why do I sense the presence of misanthropy in the mind of this guy? If he doesn’t like the rest of us, why doesn’t he isolate himself from humanity and go a live out the rest of his life in a cave somewhere and live off of the land? Either that or seek out some mental health counseling somewhere.

If people like him isolated themselves from the rest of humanity, I for one would never miss them.

Reply to  CD in Wisconsin
April 9, 2026 4:11 pm

mental health counselling somewhere.”

Trouble with mental health counselling is that the councillors very often an deeply brain-washed mental issues and ingrained wokeness, themselves.

There is a good chance a person will end up more mentally damaged that before they started. !

Reply to  bnice2000
April 10, 2026 4:54 am

Yeah, don’t go for counseling from someone who believes in human-caused climate change. If they do, they are divorced from reality and probably need counseling more than you do.

April 9, 2026 4:43 pm

“The approach of the paper is to analyse recent studies on climate change and its implications for our ecosystems, economies and societies, as provided by academic journals and publications direct from research institutes.”

The ivory tower has spoken! Well, the far left side of that tower. There are academics who don’t agree but they’ll be ignored. Somebody like Stephen Koonin.

April 9, 2026 4:45 pm

“The author believes this is one of the first papers in the sustainability management field to conclude that climate-induced societal collapse is now inevitable in the near term and therefore to invite scholars to explore the implications.”

That’s irresponsible- like yelling fire in a theater.

Editor
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
April 9, 2026 5:01 pm

There’s still hope for humanity. If they can re-build New York to withstand the pressure of a mile of ice, then New York can survive climate change when it happens. They probably have a few thousand years to do it.

Only New York? Well, from inside New York, that’s all there is.

Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
April 10, 2026 4:41 am

 is now inevitable in the near term”

Funny how the near term is always ten years in the future. And next year it will still be ten years in the future. And ten years from now it will still be ten years in the future!

Reply to  Tim Gorman
April 10, 2026 12:00 pm

It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future.

(quote attributed to someone famous).

April 9, 2026 11:09 pm

I shouldn’t laugh, even though I honestly find it quite funny. They want their end of the world, and they’ll get it no matter what.

There is no one more blind than the person who wants to deny reality by pointing at something that doesn’t exist, that nobody notices—except… people who have too much free time, rely on funding for their research labs, or have no passion or talent other than ringing a bell and shouting about the Apocalypse.

My God, at least John of Patmos had style in his Apocalypse.
‘And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, etc.’ has become: ‘And I saw the sea rising by 3 mm per year—repent, you sinners.’

It’s simply staggering.

Reply to  Charles Armand
April 10, 2026 5:02 am

I shouldn’t laugh, even though I honestly find it quite funny. They want their end of the world, and they’ll get it no matter what.”

That is what this particular author is doing. He is seeing what he expects to see, not what is really there, and he wants the rest of us to see it, too.

This is a trait of delusional people: They see things that are not there.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
April 10, 2026 6:27 am

Absolutely. And everything is perfectly logical within their imagined world. Coherent does not mean plausible. In fiction, we talk about a willing suspension of disbelief. When it comes to climate alarmism, there seems to be a kind of forced suspension of common sense and basic logic, as if these people absolutely want to live in a disaster movie, no matter what happens, regardless of reality. It’s quite fascinating.

April 10, 2026 1:31 am

Europe is going through a second Bronze Age Collapse. A naturally changing climate, a pandemic, supply chains stressed, empires clashing over energy, idiots in charge of some countries and all that’s needed now are aggressive Sea Peoples……

Reply to  Ben Vorlich
April 10, 2026 5:12 am

The Europeans should be careful. Putin has seen weakness among the nations on the western flank of Europe.

If Putin were to defeat Ukraine (I don’t think he will), then that weakness he saw might cause him to think he can make a move on Western Europe.

Starmer is no Churchill, that’s for sure.

The U.S. will get involved if such a situation were to occur because it is in our national interest.

It would be better if Europe showed strength to Putin so he doesn’t get the wrong idea in the first place.

Keitho
Editor
April 10, 2026 1:43 am

That gas price in Australia of AUD12 to an Australian gallon calculates out as US$6.81/ US gallon. Yikes, but how much of that is the government take? Well it seems to be about 40% so $4.09 is the naked cost of petrol in Australia.

April 10, 2026 2:15 am

Climate change has not caused and will not cause societal collapse but the actions already taken to combat the non existent threat of climate change are already causing real intentional damage to western societies.

April 10, 2026 2:28 am

“heal the flaws of capitalism”

Okay, sure, let’s parse that. “Capitalism” was the derogatory term Marxists used to criticize freedom of commerce to justify their stupid idea to have people who know nothing about commerce or economics regulate it. Capitalism essentially means freedom to create, sell, and buy what you want. It means freedom. So what this leftist parasite is saying is “heal the flaws of freedom.” That never turns out well.

Reply to  stinkerp
April 10, 2026 5:19 am

Free Markets is the ideal. The Goal. Capitalism is just a pejorative directed at equating Free Markets with Socialism and Communism.

Free Markets are just the opposite of socialism and communism. The socialists and communists don’t want others to know this, so they rename Free Markets as Capitalism.

ResourceGuy
April 10, 2026 4:13 am

Hurry up with the AI psych meds dispensary for the greens. Or was the high strength unregulated thc for that purpose?

April 10, 2026 4:28 am

12 dollars per gallon!

That sounds like an economy destroying amount.

Ed Zuiderwijk
April 10, 2026 9:58 am

‘collapse denial’. Now that is worth some prize or another.