January 08, 2026

For the Future We May Never See | Rachel Donald

48 minutes

Welcome to 2026, and this special episode of Planet: Critical where I discuss hope, collapse, effective action and what may yet be in store for us all.

Here are the questions I chose this year:

What would be your trigger for a more drastic exit from society in preparation for collapse?

How are you planning to (or have already thus far) prepared for the coming collapse of western industrialised globalised economy?

After the collapse when healthier, egalitarian groups are forming, there will be remnants in the form of warlord bands. How can we defeat this phenomenon?

How do you avoid not pivoting most conversations to some form "the system will fail sooner rather than later" when talking to people that are not collapse aware?

How do stay hopeful when collapse is moving so fast and it feels like progress (or the shifting of human consciousness) is moving so slow?

Given the intensity and inherent heaviness of your work, the painful realities you interrogate, how do you answer the call to joy? What nourishes you?

What form of protest could be the most effective/efficient in halting capitalism and ushering in a new economy all at once?

Assuming government or big business does not provide us with solutions, what are you doing personally in as far as your own adaptation to a changing world, governance, and climate?

What do you believe have been some of the most effective things (images, ideas, experiences, stories) that have gotten people to wake up to AND take action that moves us toward community sufficiency?

Is it time to pull back from the echo chamber of much of the internet and social media, and focus as much as possible at our localities and effect as much change as we can here?

How can humanity quickly get out of the financial, economic, and military competition to properly deal with the climate and environmental crisis that's threatening all life on this planet?

I think we're all wary of people peddling solutions, but do you think there are levers that could push us towards a better future?

Is there a single most strategic leverage point (cognitively, institutionally or socially) that would accelerate meaningful and widespread transformation rather than incremental reform?

What positive stories of resistance from around the world can we take inspiration from going into 2026?

How will AI impact us during a time of climate breakdown?

How does one acknowledge the past but at the same time not become an apologist for its continuation in the same way going forward? And conversely how do you simultaneously acknowledge the past, acknowledge its cruelties and not sound like you wished it had never happened?

We had and have the answers in the cultures that were conquered by colonisation and extraction. Why doesn’t the alternative which has always existed in human history of preserving and respecting our Earth have to be reinvented by Western narratives?

While "prediction is difficult, especially if it's about the future" (to cite Niels Bohr), what future seems most likely to you for the world of 2050 and 2100?

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By Rachel Donald

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