Still following the reflections on Professor Jem Bendell mentioned in the post above which, incidentally, was the very first post published on this blog I believe it is particularly appropriate to draw attention to his recent book, Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos. The book develops a deeply unsettling but increasingly difficult question to avoid: how should individuals, communities and institutions respond if climate disruption proves not merely severe, but sufficiently profound to destabilize some of the social, economic and ecological systems on which contemporary civilization depends?
What makes this discussion even more disturbing is that preparation for such possibilities is far from evenly distributed. Some of the world’s super-billionaires have reportedly been thinking about extreme societal disruption for years, investing in bunkers, remote properties, private security and other forms of personal resilience. The contrast is difficult to ignore. While the overwhelming majority of humanity remains dependent on collective institutions, functioning infrastructure and effective public policy, those possessing almost unlimited private resources can attempt to purchase their own escape routes from systemic crisis. In that sense, climate adaptation risks becoming yet another expression of extreme inequality: those who contributed disproportionately to an unsustainable economic order may also be among those best positioned to insulate themselves from its consequences. https://onezero.medium.com/survival-of-the-richest-9ef6cddd0cc1
