What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Collapse?
Collapse is likely to come in waves, knowing why and when they happen could save your life
When it comes to writing about climate change … or energy transition … or resource depletion … the new “it” word seems to be COLLAPSE. Collapse is everywhere. But collapse is an inherently fuzzy concept. We are often assured that it won’t happen all at once, like in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. But beyond that, we find very little guidance as to precisely how it might play out over a longer stretch of time. All that most people seem to agree on is this: it’s going to be really, really bad.
One school of thought, which I’ve called End-Times Doomism, tells us there is no need to worry, because we lack agency to do anything about it. We are as powerless as a bunch of ants on a log, floating down a river, caught in its current, heading toward a waterfall we can’t avoid. So we might as well embrace “radical acceptance” and enjoy the ride (if not the destination).
For those of us who choose to believe that life after collapse is both possible and likely, radical acceptance will not do. I want to be explicit about why. It is because, whatever world we find ourselves in during and after collapse, we will aspire to be among its survivors. As individuals…
