Do you ever get the feeling that the typical discussion of climate breakdown and the planetary crisis only focuses either on the problem or what big business or nation-states should do about it? What about the personal responses for individuals and their families? And not just the same old "solutions" narrowly focused on on "reducing your carbon footprint", "engaging in climate activism", or "investing responsibly" but rather a blueprint on HOW TO SECURE your place in a thriving future. If you answered yes, then this is for you.
As the planetary polycrisis unfolds - a convergence of climate breakdown, ecological degradation, and societal instability - it’s clear our conventional ways of living aren’t delivering the results we want, either collectively or personally. This Great Unravelling is accelerating, and we require much better personal approaches for navigating the five domains of living: Thinking, Being, Acting, Relating, and Place-making (more on these domains in upcoming posts and for those interested a sneak peek is available here).
Most importantly, if we navigate this unravelling well, it still remains possible to build a flourishing, fulfilling life despite today’s very real challenges. Doing so with a guide and within a like-minded community can greatly accelerate that process, keep an eye out for the one for you. The section below is my first step in sharing a better way - rooted in decades of ecological and sustainability experience and built upon the work of leading transformational shift-shapers like Nate Hagens (The Great Simplification), David Schmachtenberger (The Consilience Project), Bill Plotkin (Animas Valley Institute), John Vervaeke (Awakening from the Meaning Crisis), Alex Steffen (Where We Are Now), Rupert Read (The Climate Majority Project), Daniel Christian Wahl (Coming Home to Life), Renee Lertzman (Project Inside Out), Andrew Millison (Oregon State University Permaculture Design) and the original paradigm-shaking OG's like Buckminster Fuller, Donella Meadows, and Joanna Macy in which we all owe are gratitude.
By no means is this ReShift model "THE" only path forward, but it stands on the shoulders of giants and offers a solid starting point. If you’re already well along this journey, you may find it simplified but it is especially helpful for people who feel lost or are just beginning. My aim is to take on the role of being the “pollinator” between two worlds - to bring emerging ideas from the resilient and regenerative edge back into mainstream culture, particularly through the lens of parenting and leading a family in today’s world. Why family? It's one of our most fundamental yet under-integrated life roles that literally shapes future generations and the values underpinning society.
Although I’m still a lifelong student and definitely not a guru, I believe I’ve uncovered a path that can guide those awakening to the polycrisis toward more robust, self-actualized, and life-fulfilling responses. This work is urgent and through a series of posts, i will be elaborated on in much more detail in order to help speed up everyone's own metamorphosis while we compost our out-dated identities and ways of living. Overall this is all fundamentally built on being a good ancestor - ensuring our personal legacy serves a flourishing future for our families, communities, and the wider, non-human world. For now, below is an introduction to how you can begin creating your more beautiful future today, using Bill Sharpe’s three-horizons model as a starting point.
The ReShift Model: A Personal Guide for thriving while navigating The Great Unravelling
Horizon 1: Transition – How can I let go of the Unsustainable?
Transition is about consciously releasing unsustainable lifestyles, habits, and potentially even careers. It means acknowledging vulnerabilities - fragile locations, resource-intensive consumption, and risky dependencies. Practically, you might downsize possessions or relocate to safer areas with better long-term prospects. Psychologically, you begin to face challenging truths about the world you inhabit.
Horizon 2: Resilience – How can I build the Adaptive Capacity to thrive no matter what?
Resilience must be our immediate focus. This involves ensuring we live in a climate resilient and adaptive community. This is mainly achieved through leaving behind risky locations, ensuring resilient local food and energy sources, fostering mutualistic community networks, and strengthening mental and physical health. Inspired by Alex Steffen’s personal ruggedization and Rupert Read’s transformative adaptation, this horizon emphasizes preparation, community-building, and long-term minded strategies to withstand shocks. Given the urgency, many find that personalized guidance accelerates this resilience-building effectively and efficiently. A growing network of supporters, guides, coaches, networks, and courses is expanding everyday. This will only continue, find yours and engage.
Horizon 3: Regeneration – How can I already embody a more thriving future and new cultural identities?
Regeneration is the ultimate aim - becoming an agent who cultivates a thriving, regenerative culture in every aspect of life, especially in how we raise our children. Regeneration shifts our identities toward interbeing and from consumers to producers in a symbiotic web of relationships, ultimately to serve life through stewardship where we align our personal growth with the wellbeing of all life - what some call a SEVA worldview. Although this likely still remains a giant leap for most of us, the first steps mainly include integrating things like permaculture, bioregionalism, and nature-connected parenting into our daily lives. Though full realization may take generations, we must plant its seeds now, starting in our minds, our children, and our backyards. Bill Plotkin's nature-based human development model reminds us that our greatest legacy lies in nurturing children who become agents of cultural evolution, deeply connected to their ecological and social communities.
The Path Ahead: Weaving an Ecosystem of Writing, Guiding, Podcasting, and Community-building
Our most pressing work today is orchestrating systemic resilience for our families and communities while nurturing the regenerative values and worldviews essential for the future of life. This post marks the beginning of my commitment to writing, guiding, podcasting, and building the Adaptify U community for those on their ReShift journey - and doing so in a way that is most relevant to parents since family remains the fundamental unit of transformative cultural evolution. People say they’d move mountains for their kids. What if that same energy was used to power lifestyle shifts and sustainable transformation? Clearly, there is a growing hunger for a better way than conformity with the status quo. Now we need the empowerment and blueprint to thrive amid this uncertainty and to prepare the next generation as thoughtful, proactive stewards of that more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. Let’s weave that flourishing future together - not out of fear of our current trajectory, but because of the amazing potential ahead.
Author’s Note: This post is just a sample of much more transformation supporting content to come. If it resonates, please subscribe to my Adaptify U newsletter here on Substack. If you have made it this far, you are probably also wondering what does it mean to Adaptify? Here is my latest evolving definition: the continuous and ongoing act of personal transformative adaptation required to thrive despite today's Great Unravelling with the goal of ultimately becoming an agent of cultural and ecological regeneration.
Final Note: This first “podcast” has been indeed been generated by AI but in a carefully crafted way. It is just a test to see how readers engage with the audio content as I’m currently exploring options for launching a proper live podcast focused on ‘Fathers for a more Flourishing Future’ where I interview many of the leading voices and initiators across the domains of resilience and regeneration, but from the much less explored and life nourishing angle of being a father and how their parents positively influenced them.
