DAF's July newsletter...

Perhaps less reliance on government funding isn’t a bad thing. Disclaimer: science is good. Research is good. Scientists who conduct research funded by government are likely doing excellent and untainted research. The model is bad, not the people making a living in the current paradigm.

An important angle on one of many converging crises. The story is US-centric but is likely applicable globally and for any size municipality. "Fragility is what happens when a local government is overextended, under-resourced, and deeply dependent on decisions made far away." @strongtowns.org

Earth Day is a good day. Earth Day seems worth celebrating. Today is the day we have, no different than any other day. Make them count. You are welcome to applaud this public service announcement.

Deep Adaptation in the press. Even though it’s a global collapse we’re talking about, it really is possible in the company of others to metabolize these feelings and find stability in your life.” - DA friend David Baum @feralmystic.io @aarongell.bsky.social and @alexsteffen.bsky.social here too.

Current USG leaders are worried about “climate anxiety” and their solution is to disappear the phrase. Makes sense on the same day they announced increasing coal production and meantime are decreasing environmental impact monitoring across the board.

The predominant global paradigm is more off-kilter than usual because of one country's party in power. (It has long been off-kilter; this is merely a new-new added to the typical-usual.) Those who follow Deep Adaptation have long been reading these tea leaves and hopefully utilizing the knowledge...

Contentment is sexy.

Current events are not good and require participation while always keeping the wide angle view in the mix too.

OODA - Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. Mature adults consider reality, discuss potential responses, and take appropriate action.

Tipping points have been a key part of the Deep Adaptation conversation from the start. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future (nor tomorrow, for that matter) but biophysical limits exist. This is a helpful article with a suite of links on the topic. h/t @ppmv.bsky.social

In the U.S. the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provide locally and globally vital information.

Upcoming Deep Adaptation Forum gatherings - see event link next post.

If moxie is in short supply, if buzzy phrases like 'find your people' and 'build community' are falling flat, if you're flailing and bailing instead of showing up, if current events are sapping your power, a response is to focus on your stoke & seek agency on a scale that will succeed. Start here ⬇️

"I walk on the ground and the ground’s walked on by me. I breathe the air and change it, I am entirely interconnected with the world.” - Ursula Le Guin Keep or bring back what is of value, let go of all that isn't, make peace with mortality.

This looks great. Kudos to our DA groups and friends in Hungary.

Be human together.

The same people who tried to refute the link between cigarettes and cancer also tried to refute the link between fossil fuels and global warming. When corporations don’t like scientific facts they try to undermine all science.

Barn's burnt down / now I can see the moon - Mizuta Masahide

#polycrisis #metacrisis #gardening #self-suffiency #funny #gallowshumor

Things are falling apart? “No need to worry. Things will fall together at the right time. Creation is still happening and we are part of it. Let things fall together.” - Micmac descendant Evan Pritchard in his book No Word for Time (‘…things take as long as they take…’)

“Everything is so thin and shallow and fake… [I look forward to when] developers go bankrupt, Japan gets poorer and wild grasses take over.” - Hayao Miyazaki

"You have to work hard at ...rigorously casting off your own paradigms and throwing yourself into the humility of Not Knowing. In the end, it seems that mastery has less to do with pushing leverage points than it does with strategically, profoundly, madly letting go." - Donella Meadows

Talk it out everyone. With whomever you can: professionals, friends, neighbors, family, and if none of the above try DAF’s global network of understanding people on zoom calls, online forums, even the dreaded FB. There’s a member map & a personal connections page. Linktree in the bio or DM for info.

With collapse awareness & collapse acceptance --> ecstatic visions and gardening may occur. Prayer too, in the broadest sense of the word, depending on your spiritual persuasion.

There are three ways in which we respond to sorrow. On the first level, we cry; on the second level, we are silent; on the highest level, we take sorrow and turn it into song. —Abraham Joshua Heschel paraphrasing Menachem Mendel Morgensztern

We agree that clearly stating science-based outlooks are important. Analyses often differ regarding *when* a tipping point may occur. Stay informed. Confirm sources. Think and act with eyes, ears, and heart open. (Rob’s comment here is on a thread of his that’s strikes us as helpful. Check it out)

Aren't we all cousins? Bonus: "jazz hands & floofy bum!"

As the world becomes more volatile, community and solidarity are ever more necessary. Join a Deep Adaptation facilitated call for sustenance. See our updated event calendar at the link - all are welcome.

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

Fewer words more movement.

A senior member of one the world’s largest reinsurance companies talks “polycrisis.” --> maybe there is some there there? --> maybe business as usual is no longer usual? --> maybe Deep Adaptation makes sense?

What else have we got to explore what affect us, and put in action, but our body? 🤔

'You know what I think? That what I feel, what I sense, in my body, is worth exploring. Maybe if sense together we can clear our heads and then make some real headway.'

We ought to embrace our entangled state, work with it and each other, exploring "the limits and possibilities of our shared environment rather than hoping for walls, moats, ethnostates, apocalypse retreats, treasure troves, or spacecrafts to sever us from it." - Maggie Nelson in Riding the Blinds

And hang on to your fundamental #kindness!

Action is the antidote to despair. Action is the antidote to fear. Action is the antidote to anxiety. A million action options out there! Start by talking to family and friends. What can we do? Choosing an option and beginning is good for mental health. (Original phrase attributed to Joan Baez)

Determining how to respond is what DAF helps people figure out. Learn about Deep Adaptation and consider joining a welcome call.

Can humanity frame out and enact a natural or spiritual ethic that can serve as the foundation of a truly sustainable and long-lasting civilization? Yes. Within the current paradigm? No. Is that a doomy opinion? Not necessarily --> humanity will choose how to respond as the future unfolds...

Rebecca Solnit: “They want you to feel powerless and surrender and let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.”

Don't let current events undermine your commitment to self. Calm grounding, staying healthy in mind and body, keeps one properly resourced --> which provides energy you can use to serve the greater good. Deep Adaptation Forum: *embodying* and *enabling* loving responses to our predicament.

Deep Adaptation Forum connects people, in all spheres of life, to foster mutual support and collaboration as we anticipate, observe, and experience societal disruption and collapse.

Practical adaptation: Leaping in (not a measly, little “lean in”) to community-based volunteer-led projects that provide sustenance in the broadest sense. Remarkable progress and momentum keeps building. The second best time to plant trees is…

I never make New Year's resolutions. My life is a resolution. I don't successfully live up to my own standards, and that's all I need to know. Each day is a new day to do one's best. Know your values. Live by them.

It’s begun: a Deep Adaptation New Year’s 2025 zoom celebration has started and will continue for the next twenty-three hours. DM for the schedule and coordinates on how to join.

Conversation starter. #adaptation

Embrace each day with the vigor you believe is appropriate.

Practical adaptation: Does this make sense in a future low-energy low-tech world? We say: try everything. As Dan notes, who's going to schlep around a horse-drawn caravan full of books? Not knowing the future, this may be a fantastic stop-gap measure until the tech fails, or it may last. Win-win.