About Us

The Climate Majority Project

Over the past year, we have also supported a new emerging ‘moderate flank’, led by Professor Rupert Read and others.  Research shows that the majority of the UK public are now concerned or very concerned about climate change, but often this concern has mostly been, until now, a passive stance.

Building on the success of the ‘radical flank’ e.g. Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil in raising awareness, this new initiative seeks to encourage masses of people to start really using their agency – both where they live, and where they work.  You can find out more at https://climatemajorityproject.com/

In February 2023, HEART Community Group hosted Rupert Read again for a conversation about how this is developing.  You can watch our conversation here:

Empowering you to face the truth with calm, insight, clarity and compassion.

HEART Community Group aims to be responsive to your  particular needs and interests, and to help you to gain a clear-eyed assessment of the ecological, economic and geopolitical state of the world.

We invite you to engage with us and other communities.  To get and give support in finding what is yours to do.  And get one-to-one and group support from professionals with expertise in guiding people through the challenging emotions provoked by these uncertain times.

What do we mean by collapse?

We define collapse as the failure of our current political, economic and societal systems, which are no longer fit for purpose and whose side-effects are causing collapse of our life-support systems. Western civilisation is already failing to fulfil its promises of progress and growth.

Essentially, we have exceeded the ‘carrying capacity’ of our planet, and need to prepare for a different way of life.

We have historic debt levels, a dire economic outlook, are experiencing vital resource depletion, and are witnessing a disturbing shift in politics and belief systems.

As the consequences of the ecological and climate crises accumulate, in particular mass migration, food and water security, and infrastructure breakdown, we expect an increasing loss-of-faith in the current system and uncertainty in the future, leading to eventual collapse.

What comes after this collapse in the current system, or develops alongside it, is up to all of us.

Slow, then fast…

It’s probably reasonable to assume that collapse won’t happen all at once – it will be patchy and messy, and depend very much on where we live.  There are already several regions in the world that are in obvious collapse.

Because of globalisation, inter-connectedness and just-in-time systems, if we do nothing, there will come a point where systems fail to function.

What does collapse look like?

In one sense, look around you!

Collapse can be defined as severe discontinuity of all systems and infrastructure.  To some extent, we saw this during the COVID pandemic.

Collapse can refer to social and political systems, and/or environmental collapse.

Environmental collapses that are already in process include:

• 9 of the 15 global tipping points have already been reached, and we are racing towards the others (see here in Resources section)
• The collapse in bio-diversity, nature, river and ocean systems (6th mass extinction), including the collapse of coral reefs
• The collapse of the Arctic ice shelf and sea ice, leading to sea level rises, which will increase warming by reducing the albedo effect, and impact severely on coastal cities
• The collapse of harvests in various parts of the world
• The collapse of a stable ‘Goldilocks’ climate (not too warm, not too cold) we have enjoyed for thousands of years

Mitigation is about anything we do to ‘turn things around’ so that we achieve our carbon-emissions targets. That’s important, in that there are mitigation strategies that will at least avoid making things worse, or slowing down the worst effects.

Adaptation refers to those things we do to prepare for the conditions that we know are coming, but most people are still in denial about.  Good examples are building sea-walls, changing buildings to cope with rising temperatures, food and water security, and re-wilding or permaculture to reduce current soil depletion.  This could be called ‘Outer Adaptation’.

DEEP adaptation is about asking some fundamental and profound questions about who we are, what’s most important and how we choose to live now. It includes psycho-spiritual approaches that deepen our resilience. And starting now to build resilient, adaptable and deeply connected local communities.  This could be called ‘Inner Adaptation’.

Social and Psychological Factors include the collapse of:

• The socio-political contract
• Trust in political systems and politicians – perhaps even the breakdown of democracy
• Trust in science and scientists
• Neo-liberal capitalism and our current economic system
• Old stories of progress and infinite growth
• Certainty about the Future
• The idea that current social injustices can be allowed to continue
• The possible rise of authoritarianism

We believe that the current focus on climate mitigation – whilst necessary – often neglects the need for urgent adaptation and preparation.  Baroness Brown, Head of the Adaptation Committee inside the UK’s Climate Change Committee, recently described Adaptation as “being the Cinderella who never gets to go to the ball”.

Mitigation is about anything we do to ‘turn things around’ so that we achieve our carbon-emissions targets. That’s important, in that there are mitigation strategies that will at least avoid making things worse, or slowing down the worst effects.

Adaptation refers to those things we do to prepare for the conditions that we know are coming, but most people are still in denial about.  Good examples are building sea-walls, changing buildings to cope with rising temperatures, food and water security, and re-wilding or permaculture to reduce current soil depletion.  This could be called ‘Outer Adaptation’.

DEEP adaptation is about asking some fundamental and profound questions about who we are, what’s most important and how we choose to live now.

Deep Adaptation includes psycho-spiritual approaches that deepen our resilience. And starting now to build resilient, adaptable and deeply connected local communities.  This could be called ‘Inner Adaptation’.

Deep Adaptation includes the 4R’s of Resilience, Relinquishment, Restoration and Reconnection / Reconciliation. Here are the 4R questions: