Breaking Together: A freedom-loving response to collapse

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public, private and civic institutions of incumbent power, and their officers and apologists, are already making matters worse in the early phases of unfolding societal collapse. Bendell advocates for an ideal of “ ecofreedom”. This moves beyond obvious ideas, such as reconnecting with nature, to encompass supporting youth climate activism and decolonial, resource-preserving movements in the Global South. Ecological Restoration: Efforts to restore and protect local ecosystems aligns with ecolibertarian emphasis on harmony with nature.

Should you have children? If you’re under 30 now, does it make sense to prepare for your retirement? How complicit are you in the deadly heat waves ravaging our planet? These are some of the deeply personal and uncomfortable questions that climate change throws up. With this in mind, and borrowing from Diamond, Bendell uses the phrase “creeping collapse” to describe what is arguably happening right now. Bendell clarifies “the study of both ancient and recent history suggests that the collapse of a society is typically a process, not an event” (italics mine).To begin to answer that question one needs to understand how monetary systems function today, and how they are not only hastening the collapse of both natural and human systems but are known to be on the verge of collapse by some senior officials. In this chapter, I will explain key aspects of monetary systems and show that it was not the pandemic but geopolitical power struggles that lie behind the recent monetary policies. I will explain that because many senior officials know that the current monetary system must collapse at some point, it is rational for them to have scheduled that collapse—or a rough transition with banking casualties—ahead of time. Participatory Decision-Making: This directly challenges top-down authority by redistributing decision-making power to community members. Bendell graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1995 with a degree in Geography, [4] beginning his career at the World Wide Fund for Nature UK. [5] There, he helped to develop the Forest Stewardship Council and the Marine Stewardship Council. He specialised on relationships between NGOs and business, pointing out their potential, despite warning about the power inequities and the way in which business agendas tend to prevail over those of the non-profit sector. [6]

Reification is a sociological word that describes how language makes intangible notions appear like ‘things’, and how we then treat those notions as if they were real. An example is ‘technology’. If you think that technology is what you buy from the Apple store, then you are a slave to Apple. But if technology is a body of knowledge and practice with which we improve our lives, then it empowers us! Similarly a coin is a physical manifestation of money, but money, even gold money, is rooted in relationship, in agreements and conventions and in debts that need to be paid. When we imagine money as a thing, we surrender power over it to those who control the thing. When we understand that money is a claim on others participating in a marketplace, expressed as private property, and we express those claims in other ways, the politics looks very different. A signpost for people made politically homeless by the craziness of the last few years.” Aaron Vandiver, author, Under a Poacher’s Moon. If you like this analysis, then send it to someone influential, and if you want more, please help fund future writing . Societal collapse is already far worse than Bendell first predicted. Pictured: a Tara bushfire evacuee has been sleeping in her car with her three dogs. Darren England/AAP Hedge-fund gossipIn this case, ignorance is not bliss. For if we are fortunate enough to recognise this situation now, as well as understand something about trauma, then we can try to develop our own resilience and that of the people we know. This opens up a huge arena for positive responses, which is something I will explore in closing this essay.

This approach is for people and businesses who trust each other and want to share some risk and reward. By forming groups, large or small, they are able to start doing finance on a small scale within the group. This contrasts starkly with the global every-person-for-himself marketplace, and can also provide some protection from it. Within those groups, and later between them, financial mechanisms can be gradually introduced: According to Bendell’s new book Breaking Together: A Freedom-Loving Response to Collapse, “the quality of life in most countries and regions of the world […] peaked around 2016 and [then] began to slowly decline”. There is no sound reason to expect a halt to this deterioration, Bendell argues. Alternative Economies: Encouraging local currencies, barter systems, or time banks, which can foster local resilience and equitable exchange.This also gets called “ shifting baseline syndrome”, or the frog-in-a-pot dilemma (which isn’t actually a scientific thing, but nonetheless remains an instructive parable). Our societies are breaking because of damage to the living systems of our planet. It’s time to face this reality and this book helps us do just that. As further collapse unfolds we need a practical alternative to global panic. Jem Bendell has got one – restoring community self-reliance as a global effort.” Pooran Desai OBE, CEO, OnePlanet Our individual ability to perceive medium-term change is further hindered by the dramatic changes that occur all the time in our personal lives. If you lose your job, or get a better-paying job in a new city, or are involved in a serious accident and become disabled, or find God, or stop drinking, or become a parent, or lose a parent, these events all function as “noisy fluctuations”. Bendell, Jem; Doyle, Ian (31 March 2014). Healing Capitalism: Five Years in the Life of Business, Finance and Corporate Responsibility. Greenleaf Publishing. ISBN 9781906093914. [36]

Bendell and Doyle, Jem and Ian (2008). Healing capitalism: five years in the life of business, finance and corporate responsibility. London, UK.: Greenleaf Publishing / Routledge. ISBN 9781906093914.Young people are less psychologically invested in society as it has been. They are less likely to shun difficult information, or cling to their existing identity and worldview. So opinion polls consistently tell us that young people assess the future to be more difficult than what older people do. The response from adults can be to gaslight them, by claiming their attitude or mental health is the problem, rather than the state of the world. I find it odd that the sustainability professional is no longer focused on the so-called business case for action, but is obliging us to believe business can save the planet or we are seen to be at fault for when they don’t. History is full of anxious elites being similarly strange. Young people need something else, just like we all do. What we all need is to find new ways to live positively without fairy tales that someone or something is going to fix it all. That would not be a stubborn optimism, but a stoic certainty about living with reality in a positive way, come what may. Bendell advocates instead for an ideal of “ecofreedom”, defined as “that individual and collective state of being free and enabled to care for each other and the environment, rather than coerced or manipulated towards behaviours that damage it”. Rather, declining Human Development Index statistics are one of many signals societal collapse due to climate change is not only possible, or even imminent – but already happening, right now. In engaging with these actions, remember to always approach with empathy and respect for all involved. How does this resonate with you? How might you engage with these ideas in your own life and community?”