Jem Bendell

Dr Jem Bendell is a full Professor of Sustainability Leadership and Founder of the Initiative for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at the University of Cumbria (working part-time) as well as Founder of the Deep Adaptation Forum and the co-Founder of the International Scholars’ Warning on Societal Disruption and Collapse.

He focuses on leadership and communications for social change, as well as approaches that may help humanity face climate-induced disruption.

A graduate of the University of Cambridge, he had twenty years of experience in sustainable business and finance, as a researcher, educator, facilitator, advisor, & entrepreneur, having lived & worked in six countries. Clients for his strategy development included international corporations, UN agencies and international NGOs. The World Economic Forum (WEF) recognised Professor Bendell as a Young Global Leader for his work on sustainable business alliances. With over 100 publications, including four books and five UN reports, he regularly appeared in international media on topics of sustainable business and finance, as well as currency innovation. His TEDx talk is the most watched online speech on complementary currencies.

Since 2018 Jem moved into a new phase of work in light of the latest climate science and the viral impact of his Deep Adaptation paper. Now Jem uses his time to promote responses to climate chaos that might reduce harm while upholding universal values.

Jem Bendell in Kosmos

The UN’s Next Role

Jem Bendell reflects on the disillusionment of UN staff confronting ecological, economic, and political breakdown. Rather than propping up failing systems, he urges a shift toward “collapse-aware” integrity: naming the storm, fostering resilience, and reclaiming the UN’s spirit of service as truth-telling, solidarity, and courage in darkening times.

Published in Volume 25 Issue 5

Fourteen Recommendations When Facing Climate Tragedy

How might interbeing raise you from the threat of depression if you sense the end of everything one can contribute to due to near-term extinction of the human race and the majority of species?

Published in Volume 19 Issue 3

Deep Adaptation | A Quartet of Videos

Many people spend time processing the emotional implications of the coming collapse before looking outwards to find roles on the local and global levels. Others, in the wake of their grief, turn inward and learn to trust their own hearts and emotions, which can be an invitation to others to do the same. The following four films were curated by the Deep Adaptation Quarterly, Issue 12, November 2022.

Published in Volume 22 Issue 3

Coming Soon

The Village Way

Practices for Belonging in a Fragmented World

For thousands of years, we lived according to the principles of village life. Then, around the 14th Century, our lives were reorganized by rulers around growth and accumulation – often at the cost of community, equity, and the living Earth. What would it mean to return to simplicity, and mutual care?

Join us for a 9-month inquiry into this question, exploring how we participate together in a time that calls us back to community, resilience, and shared life,