On the 21st of September 2019, Enough! hosted (in collaboration with Bella Caledonia and the Centre for Human Ecology) the event Deep Adaptation, Deep Solidarity in the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow to explore the following questions:
What does climate breakdown mean for us in practice?
How do our lives need to change to respond to an increasingly unstable and unpredictable future?
How do we ensure that we don’t leave anyone behind?
Jem Bendell and Gehan Macleod each gave a talk to explore these questions, followed by a discussion chaired by layla-roxanne hill.
You can watch the talks below.
Jem Bendell:
“We used to talk about climate change as a problem that would impact upon our grandchildren or possibly our children. … What we’ve seen since the summer of 2018 is a shift in perception or a shift in narrative, where people feel that they themselves are in danger.”
“With the Deep Adaptation framework, I’m really inviting people to look at the worst case scenarios, and to support each other in all the difficult emotions that brings up, and actually see how we can turn toward that trouble, stay open to it, inquire into it with curiosity, compassion and respect for each other – rather than those other tendencies that can happen, which is to just be angry, to look for how to blame someone, and to look for a sense of some kind of psychological or practical safety as quick as possible.”
Deep Adaptation and Solidarity : Jem Bendell from Stuart Platt on Vimeo.
Gehan Macleod:
“Solidarity is a collective response in the face of collapse. It recognises that we need to recover our understanding of what community means – it’s become so impoverished by political narratives, and yet it was essential to survival.”“Communities who are living in subsistence ways will tell you that: It’s impossible to survive on your own, no matter how many tins of beans you have stockpiled.”
“Solidarity is a form of resistance. And that resistance can be a generative practice that grows resilient communities and makes it more likely that with the future we’re facing, we can face that with more dignity.”
Deep Solidarity in the Face of Collapse : Gehan Macleod from Stuart Platt on Vimeo.
