Mental health & emotional preparedness for climate crisis
Facing collapse or disaster often triggers fear, grief, rage, and helplessness. These are natural responses. Emotional regulation is a survival skill: breathing, grounding, mindfulness, and movement can help stabilize your nervous system.
Recognize the signs of burnout and trauma: especially in activists, caregivers, or those exposed to long-term uncertainty. Stay connected and talking with others during difficult times; emotional isolation is dangerous. Prepare psychologically in advance: visualize different scenarios, reflect on your values, and cultivate internal calm.
Remember your priorities. Focusing on the protection of your friends and family, and remembering what you love, can help you avoid hopelessness and give you purpose.
Collective survival: community building & mutual aid networks
Very few survive alone. Communities that share knowledge, tools, and care have higher survival rates and morale. Mutual aid means helping each other based on trust, not charity: sharing what you have and receiving when you’re in need.
Start small: build local networks, organize skill-sharing, check on neighbors, and map community resources together. Diverse, inclusive, and intergenerational groups are more adaptable and sustainable over time. When centralized systems fail, strong local cohesion is the backbone of resilience.
Post-collapse reconstruction & resilience
Collapse is not the end; it's a transition. Communities can adapt, rebuild, and create better systems.
Foster skills like mediation, cooperation, and long-term planning alongside practical survival. Focus on re-establishing core needs first: food, water, safety, and communication.
From there, rebuild culture: storytelling, music, rituals, and shared work renew purpose and solidarity. If we prepare not just to survive, but to rebuild better, collapse becomes the compost for future growth.