Bendell anticipates that some critics will reject his grim conclusions by resorting to what he calls unwarranted and psychologically protective 'collapse-denial.' You will fear being violently killed before starving to death.'īendell decries 'professional environmentalists their denial that our societies will collapse in the near-term' and invites readers 'to consider the value of leaving mainstream views behind.' But is Bendell's reading of the recent climate science accurate? My own review of the literature suggests that he has essentially constructed a ' parade of horribles' argument that falls apart under a more dispassionate analysis. You will depend on your neighbours for food and some warmth.

'With the power down, soon you wouldn't have water coming out of your tap. How catastrophic? 'When I say starvation, destruction, migration, disease and war, I mean in your own life,' he writes.

She is citing Cumbria University Professor of Sustainability Leadership Jem Bendell's ' Deep Adaptation' paper, which asserts that man-made climate change will result in 'a near-term collapse in society with serious ramifications for the lives of readers.' How near-term? In about 10 years or so.īendell says that he came to his dire prediction while on a recent unpaid sabbatical during which he 'reviewed the scientific literature from the past few years.' He asserts that 'the summary of science is the core of the paper as everything then flows from the conclusion of that analysis.' As a consequence, he claims to have discerned from his reading of recent climate science the initiation of drastic non-linear effects that are quickly leading to 'runaway climate change.' Therefore, his review forced him to 'establish the premise that it is time we consider the implications of it being too late to avert a global environmental catastrophe in the lifetimes of people alive today.' Bendell seems now to be grappling with a kind of spiritual crisis as a result of his melancholy study. 'What if I told you there was a paper on climate change that was so uniquely catastrophic, so perspective-altering, and so absolutely depressing that it's sent people to support groups and encouraged them to quit their jobs and move to the countryside?' asks reporter Zing Tsjeng over at Vice.

Bendell deep adaptation