The surge of interest in Bendell’s paper showed that people were craving answers about just how bad things will get, and how soon. Some were so shaken after reading it, they made major life decisions: to quit their jobs, to join a radical protest group, to move somewhere they felt would be safer to ride out the chaos. But Deep Adaptation also sparked a debate over whether Bendell went too far in his conclusions about climate science and what it meant for society, spreading a sense of defeat.

Today, Bendell’s ominous predictions feel simultaneously dated and prescient. Climate change has slipped out of the public conversation amid wars in Gaza and Iran, and seemingly endless political chaos. It’s become just one of many contenders in scientists’ discussions over the possible drivers of doomsday, eclipsed by nuclear war and artificial intelligence. But the general mood has shifted toward the fate he imagined: Surveys show that the public’s optimism about the future is fading, hitting the lowest level since pollsters at Gallup started asking. A recent study found that one in three Americans now think the world will end in their lifetime.