Hello, and welcome to a brief summary of what we’ve been up to at the Deep Adaptation Forum in the past few months. We plan to share this update periodically, as a ‘window’ into what’s been going on in the Forum for those who may not be active members on any of our several platforms. We want to give you a flavour of recent announcements, events, conversations, and opportunities/requests. If you’d like to know more, please email manxcat@deepadaptation.info.  “To become climate antifragile, our actions need to be motivated by factors that can’t and shouldn’t be expressed in the harmful and fragile language of success. The real indispensable component of our rationale comes down to anchoring our actions in the moral and ethical dimension. Only if our efforts are self-sustaining in terms of being justified by the very act of doing the right thing, regardless of the ultimate outcome, will we be motivated to carry on even as things get worse. Indeed, the worse things get, the more motivated to carry on we will be. The more human and non-human suffering climate disasters inflict, the harder we will try to alleviate it; the fewer viable ecosystems remain, the harder we will fight to save them; the less habitable space is left for us to share, the harder we will work to make the most of it.”~ Dawid Juraszek Photo by Anja Byg  Fundraising One key theme has been possible new approaches to fundraising, led in this by Fundraising Coordinator Sarah Heynen. It’s of real importance at the moment – but then when is it ever not? – especially because DAF tends to hold little ‘in reserve’. We’re acutely aware of our responsibility to the Forum and its members, in ensuring that: – we have good capacity to do what we do; and – in the (we hope) improbable event of any need to stop, change or reduce, our activities, that we can signal and make these changes in the best possible way. Of course, we hope this won’t be necessary and that our finances and funding – much of which is generously provided by lovely supporters like you! – will become sustainable. We’re investigating a potential project addressing aspects of eco-anxiety, and have put a proposal to an organisation with experience in delivering content linked to this. So far, the prospects for a collaboration look promising – as do the possibilities of some good fund-raising outcomes. We’ll keep you informed. There’s also a small working group looking at an offering for major donors: if you’re interested in helping us work on a project of this nature, please get in touch! The filmmakers of the exquisite film Gratitude Revealed have extended their offer to members of the DAF community for discounted access codes.  All supporters of the Roots to Reach appeal will receive a link for viewing. If you would like to support DAF through this initiative, we are further inviting you to do so with a £10 contribution. This invitation expires November 30th. External communications The Comms team has been busy setting up some resources to support writers from within our community, who might be keen to pitch pieces they’ve written to external publications. We’re collating various publications’ submission guidelines, and contact lists of the people we know there. In addition, we’re exploring commissioning training on article pitching to editors. We’ve also been sharing masses of resources on combatting misinformation, and framing messages in compelling and persuasive ways, through the new Community platform on Discourse. Take a peek, if you fancy trying your hand (and BIG shout out to all the people who already do place pieces in their local or other press, highlighting the support DAF can give to the collapse-aware). The Deep Live events that took place in October obviously had a big impact on many participants. They’re an opportunity for collapse-aware people to engage in helpful practices, discussions, and relationship-building, right where they are, but with regular online link-ups to share experiences with participants in other parts of the world. Three locations had to defer their Deep Lives – London, Dominica and the Isle of Man – but these either plan to, or have already, run short events since. Let us know if you’d like to run something ‘in person’ yourself, and we’ll give you all the support we can. DAF Solidarity work DAF volunteers, through the Diversity and Decolonization Circle, met with the Bidii Yetu community (here on the DA Solidarity page) to investigate how DAF can support their ongoing fundraising efforts. We’re not currently running a fundraiser for them directly, but we encourage you to share on their details wherever you can. This is an organisation with many values in common with the Forum – facing into collapse, teaching permaculture, supporting disability access and young people to finish their schooling at the Kakuma Refugee Camp. By sharing video of the group’s work, on Facebook, a big donation towards their internet access came from a DA volunteer’s family member. So please consider sharing their work! Another initiative that DAF members may want to contribute to or share more widely is the African Way Refugees Assistance Project. Education group news As most community members will know by now, the DAF Community Space on Ning was retired some weeks ago. It’s been replaced by an easier-to-use and more functional discussion space on the DAF Discourse platform. Among other things, there’s an Educators Group, and several threads of conversations are already active – including one on eco-education. If you’re collapse aware and involved in the formal or informal (including home schooling) education of children and/or young adults, and would like to share space and conversation with other collapse aware educators, please use this link to join the DAF Educators’ group and conversation on Discourse. We’re planning an educators’ gift circle meeting for January, 2023 (time and date yet to be finalised). Ecosystems are webs of reciprocal giving and taking. For example, when we animals breathe, we take oxygen from the atmosphere that was gifted to the atmosphere by plants, and leave a gift of carbon dioxide for the atmosphere and plants in turn. Gift Circles, as described by Alpha Lo, are a way to remind us humans how to build such webs among each other. If you have gifts to share with other educators, or needs that might be met by other educators, please consider joining the circle. In terms of gifts for and requests from educators, we’re thinking materials (e.g., on-line learning activity descriptions) and/or services (e.g. consulting about how and when to talk with kids about collapse) of use to collapse aware educators. DAF Credits page Following on from DAF’s Gratitude Month earlier this year, we thought about how we might better acknowledge the work done by our dozens of volunteers, who make DAF the vibrant, caring community it is. One small way has been to set up the DAF Credits page. Anyone who regularly gifts their time and energy for our network – be it as a discussions moderator, facilitator, events manager, content translator, or newsletter editor – can add their name to the page, so their efforts can be more widely recognised by the community at large. This is also a chance for you to widen your personal network, by adding links to social media profiles that people can contact you on. So, don’t be shy! To have your name appear there, please just fill in this form.  Making Events in the Deep Adaptation Forum Have a conversation. Share notes on a particular aspect of Deep Adaptation. Study a book. Do or appreciate art together. And invite the Forum along!  Maybe you want to start a new group, or maybe you want to get the word out about an existing group? You can make your own Deep Adaptation event in the new system at deepadaptation.info/events. Instructions are here. If you would like the admins to create events for you, simple instructions are here.  As always, we have volunteers happy to guide you.   Conscious Learning Festival 2022 From October to December, the Conscious Learning Festival has been in full swing. This festival is an invitation: let’s pay closer attention to what changes may be arising, and what learning may be occurring for us, as a result of participating in Deep Adaptation events, groups, and spaces. And let’s just meet and share how we are changing, together. The current phase of the action research project on radical collective change and social learning is drawing to an end and various events on topics ranging from the shape of radical change, to ‘unlearning’, have already taken place. If you missed these or want to revisit them, recordings of these events are available on the Festival webpage.  Dreaming DAF Where is DAF going? What is it for? Has this changed (and if not, ought it)? The Core Team invests time in reflecting on what’s happening within, and outside, DAF, and what that means for its purpose. To that end, we were ably supported by Katie Carr in a process of ‘Dreaming DAF’ – visioning and envisioning what DAF could become, and stemming from that, what leadership qualities could be a help or hindrance in getting there. It’s a never-ending process – adaptation never ends, after all – and gave us some valuable insights. It’s ongoing – we’ve continued strategising with other facilitators and some interesting/challenging ideas are surfacing. In addition, we’ve been looking at the types of alliances and relationships we have with other organisations – after all, you’re only as strong as your network of support. In some cases, we share community members with those organisations; in others, there are complementary skillsets and interests. There’s a discussion on the subject underway on the Community Discussion space, where members are welcome to share information and contacts. Key contacts & info – Core Team Kat Soares – Core Team Coordinator Igor Polskiy – Facilitation Coordinator Cat Jenkins – Communications Coordinator Dorian Cavé – Community Weaver Sarah Heynen – Fundraising Coordinator To learn more about the Core Team, please see the website.