Post-doom
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Postdoom, also post-doom, is a concept articulated by Michael Dowd in 2019 in his quest to "find the gift" beyond mere acceptance that ongoing climate change would inevitably lead to civilizational collapse.[1] As Dowd reflected in a 2022 essay, "Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance: where are you in the vaunted stages of grief? And is doom automatically the end point?" He continued, "I began to explore (with others) the possibility of compassionate 'post-doom' forms of awareness."[2] By the time of his death, Dowd had conducted more than fifty conversations with colleagues exploring the topic of post-doom, which are documented online in both video and audio formats.[3]
Others who subsequently have used the term 'postdoom' as a descriptor of their own trajectory in moving through climate anxiety and a sense that societal collapse is inevitable include Shaun Chamberlin,[4] Paul Ehrlich,[5] and Meg Wheatley.[6] Jem Bendell, who named and established the concept of Deep Adaptation in 2018, has also accepted post-doom as a relevant descriptor.[7][8][9] Rupert Read, a leader of the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion, contrasted post-doom with the doom perspective in his 2022 book. He wrote, "They are rather post-doom. They contain a willingness to undertake a full-spectrum active response to what leads 'doomers' by contrast to give up and to resort to desperate rants and survivalist 'prepping' only."[10]
In her 2023 book,[11] Terry LePage posted three definitions of post-doom. These she derived from the postdoom website, created and managed until his death in October 2023 by Michael Dowd:[12]
1. What opens up when we remember who we are and how we got here, accept the inevitable, honor our grief, and prioritize what is pro-future and soul-nourishing.
2. A fierce and fearless reverence for life and expansive gratitude—even in the midst of abrupt climate mayhem and the runaway collapse of societal harmony, the health of the biosphere, and business as usual.
3. Living meaningfully, compassionately, and courageously, no matter what.
The post-doom approach has been described as entailing "a positive disintegration of self and values, to refocus one’s mind, and entire existence, on things that really matter."[13]
In her 2021 book, Victoria Loorz writes of "Michael Dowd's post-doom spirituality" and describes it as "a spirituality that accepts the fullness of our reality: the tragedy as well as the beauty. This spirituality moves into—and then eventually beyond—grief and repentance toward a deeper, more courageous, compassionate, and spiritual aliveness. Post-doom spirituality is, as Dowd says, 'what opens up when we remember who we are, accept the inevitable, honor our grief, and prioritize what is pro-future and soul-nourishing'."[14]