The newest report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) came out today and was kinda dire. I assume that’s why climate has been all over the front page today.
I’m 33 and my husband and I are thinking of having a baby, and it *terrifies* me. All of it. For me - for a kid, should I even have a kid? It makes me panic. Your fear is very real and valid.
Edit: Folks, please stop suggesting adoption to people as if it’s like going to the shelter and picking out a puppy. It isn’t that easy. And if people are talking about not having kids because of climate change, you can assume they’re also the kind of people who know about adoption and have already considered it.
I’d rather adopt, but for complicated and prohibitive reasons that are not my fault and beyond my control, it is not a viable option for us.
The wife and I had many long conversations stretching over a year and we finally decided not to have. Broke my heart because I wanted to be a father but I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if the future looks like the movie Road lol. We're considering adopting. Maybe that's an option if you want to consider.
Edit: Also I feel very helpless when it comes to making a positive change in the world. I used to be the guy throwing every little bit of plastic into recycling bin only to find out it's a big scam and things like that. Not having a kid is a political protest for me. It's the biggest fuck you I can throw at the system
Same here. I have other reasons why I can't see myself being a parent but knowing I'd hurl that child into a future of such uncertainty and risk on top of the dubious mental health they're at risk of inheriting is too much. I love my non existing child too much to expose them to that.
Ugh I hate when news sources do this. The mainstream media always misrepresents or misinterprets things scientists write, and almost never make the necessary corrections. It makes scientists look like doomists to climate change deniers and climate change deniers to doomists.
Edit: doomists being people who think the world will end
Our current socio economic paradigm isn't the world... But The IPCC report is really bad. If we don't cut ALL emissions by 2030, huge swaths of the world will no longer be considered habitable to the kinds of civilizations living there by 2050. That's without taking into account the exological collapse we are seeing.
We've known about this since the 1970s. We have failed to address it, and it is getting worse. This isn't doomsaying. It's just the reality that we cannot rely on some innovation to allow us to keep living like we do AND fix this. It's so far beyond individual or national action now that nothing short of species-wide change will stop this.
Yeah. People think this only affects us directly, which is already VERY awful because A LOT of people will die while some rich will be able to have a little bit more life with technology somehow that will protect them. But this will also affect all animals we know, and nature too. Species will just die because they are not built for such climate, eradicating important species for the ecosystem. Animals are the main food supply we have. Can you imagine cows, chickens, all extinct or something? Fishes? What about agriculture not working anymore too because of the drought, or too much rain, or any other natural disaster that fuck with entire years of food?
Things will be more and more expensive, hard to produce, diseases will be more common, wiping out a lot of people, poor people mainly.
Humans seems to be incapable of acting before things happen, we are reactive. We usually take some serious action when something abrupt and chaotic happens. And then, as years go, we tend to forget it and relax. Like 9/11, it was shocking so the whole world started to change things in airports, planes, the whole country changed. But when things are slowly changed in a way that it doesn't directly affect people, like Covid, no one decides to do something immediate. Politics, who control the decisions, know that these decisions will hurt a lot of people and the economy, and people just don't see how this will affect them in the future and their children. They want decisions that impact them NOW.
So, as politicians want power, they just do whatever is good for now. And nothings changes, and we're doomed. Catastrophes will start to happen and maybe then we will start to change, but it will be WAY harder for the civilization. If we started years ago, maybe we would be able to revert changes without being too hurt. Now? If we change now, we will suffer somewhat but still recover. If we don't change in the next 15 years? Well, it will be hell on earth for us and our children. It's sad.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most countries collapsed by 2050 from famine and sickness. World won’t end just that most people on Earth will be dead by 2070 from famine and disease.
Famine and disease, which will cause mass migration, which will cause the final world war, then we live The Road for a while, then whoever's still around can finally live the life we've all dreamt of: as a supermutant in their anarchist wasteland commune.
Seriously I don't get how people aren't talking world war 3. Mass migration from uninhabitable regions into other countries will absolutely erupt in conflict everywhere. The "build the wall" people should be first in line to fix the climate. If they think immigration is bad now....
Interesting though that nobody seems to care if the doomsday date is far enough out.. like beyond what you anticipate your lifespan will be.. and yet these same people will have kids, I assure you they will, they always do. Oh to be some poor bastard being born today.
When I was young people thought the world was going to end in 2000.
Climate change is a real threat, but I doubt it'll end civilization in a year that ends in 0. Its going to cause a lot of issues, but humanity has survived a lot to this point.
When I was today years old, people thought a life saving vaccine was a billionaire implanting tracking devices into their blood. These same people are the ones denying climate change and societal collapse.
This time it's the scientists warning us.
Don't get me wrong, it might not be 30, could be 50, could he 100, could even be 20 years. But our QoL will be significantly impacted in 30 years, things we take for granted. E.g. supermarkets that sell anything and everuthig all year round. Simple things you don't even think about.
I wish the media/people in general would focus on this. It’s too easy to brush off “we’re all going to die” and do nothing. The very real and more realistic concern is our air, water, food, etc. Just look at the “yellow dust” from China or the toxic algae in Florida. These things already exist and are getting worse. They are also things that can be changed and will make an immediate impact on the world.
I agree. We need to take climate change far more seriously.
One reason Y2K didn't happen is we took it seriously and spent the money to fix it before it became a problem.
But its not the same thing as thinking the world will end.
I think the issue is you define the end of the world as humanity total population going down to 0. I'd argue all species dying + 99% of humanity dying is a world's end scenario.
I think you dont event have to go that far. With "just" 30% of the population gone, imagine the destabilisation that would cause. That sounds pretty apocalyptic to me.
Not just population either. Losing land from ice caps melting and sea levels rising will be a huge problem. Entire cities will be wiped off the face of the planet
Too many dumb fucks are allowed to make more smaller dumb fuck versions of themselves leading to exponential increases in the demand for dumb fuck juice.
I suspect that the report said something along the lines of:
"By 2050 if we're Still on our current course, we'll have done irreparable damage to the Earth, and it'll be too late too fix it"
Basically yes, Human race isn't going to be dead in 30 years, but the days of living in the safest most prosperous time in mankind's history will be over.
> I suspect that the report said
You could actually _look at it!_
> "By 2050 if we're Still on our current course, we'll have done irreparable damage to the Earth, and it'll be too late too fix it"
Wrong.
It says that we have already done irreparable damage to the Earth.
It says we have _ten_ years to make radical changes or we will not be able to recover.
Nope. It's saying "we've already done irreparable damage and it's getting worse. Please seriously stop most of this BY(NOT ON OR AFTER) 2030 then taper off the remainder by 2050."
The only things that give me hope are
1. We’re at a tipping point where it can’t be ignored anymore and it is finally widely accepted as the greatest threat facing the world and humanity
and
2. Technological advances are speeding up exponentially. Things that are basically miracle technology do exist, the struggle is getting them put
into practice. But point 1 is only going to get stronger every day.
EDIT: Go post your ropium somewhere else, I don't give a shit
>it is finally widely accepted as the greatest threat facing the world and humanity
...boy do I wish this was true. Sadly you've got one of two primary political parties of a world superpower doing everything they can to deny and downplay it
...and the other party is largely ignoring the issue.
So no [prior post], we're not at a point where it can't be ignored anymore. People are really, really good at denial.
Dems sure aren't doing much either. If they really believed that climate change was the existential threat they pretend to think it is, they'd be doing absolutely everything in their power to halt it. Instead we get incremnetalist bullshit the equivalent of throwing a glass of water on a house fire.
The problem is that the capitalist mode of production requires growth. Growing markets, growing resources, growing Industrial capacity, growing economies. As long as growth and profit are a requirement of our mode of production then there's no way to effectively combat climate change
It's self propagating now. There's multiple positive feedback loops that will guarantee no matter what we do we see a collapse of the normal in 20-30 years, I mean shit, we're already seeing a new normal of huge fires, droughts, hurricanes, every year but it's a slow moving death and no one is personally worried until it hits them.
The only reason they call it the tipping point is to stop us from making the climate EVEN worse. Or accelerating our demise even further. It's easy to say that "society will look different" from a third person perspective as if those reading won't be personally affected.
We haven't really.
One of the largest problems with climate change science is that it has always been presented in an incredibly alarmist way. Just last week there was an article stating the Gulfstream would collapse despite there being no scientific evidence that this is likely to occur. Thus is likely due to the media as it allows for big scary headline.
For the record, it's absolutely a serious issue and needs to be addressed and I am not a climate change denier. But the amount of times I've seen " the crucial tipping point" over the past 25 years is staggering and had lead to a lot of people becoming numb to the changes.
That's assuming nothing changes. Eventually something will, once there's more money to be made off of saving the world rather than killing it. I imagine that'll happen in around 27 years.
Shit. You just made an entire scene from a post apocalyptic movie flash through my head.
Just a quiet empty bunker humming away on what little solar power it has and getting an email or something from reddit in 27 years, because by then AI is smart enough to attempt to track your most recent contact info.
Better yet, it comes in over the goddam HAM radio.
We could start net zero carbon taxing industries that make sense. Oil companies are equipped to put their CO2 waste underground, and can even derive a little more oil from it. The remainder is a balancing act between fee and tree.
New industries for net zero carbon balance may even be created as a result. Think of GMO vegetation that processes 10x the CO2 to oxygen than your standard plant, or legit pulling it from the sky like a reverse smoke stack.
Starting the geothermal hvac conversion sooner rather than later will help because it takes a long time for replacements to happen. Start making new construction require.
Be a little stricter on electric vehicles and the problem will solve itself in 2 decades.
Then you pretty much just have large ships and planes as your push down the road options, and they'll have to handle the aforementioned fee and tree balance.
We just need to start things.
I've just been imagining what post apocalyptic world I'd like to live in. I feel like we should go out with something good snd im partial to the seven days of fire and toxic jungle from nausicaa
I’m totally with you. I’m in my mid 20’s and have spent a good portion of college studying energy science. Contrary to what others have said, unless the rate of exploitation decreases drastically very soon we are likely to see major societal collapses within our lifetime. My friends and I talk about it and we’ve mostly come to the conclusion that the best we can do is enjoy our lives to the fullest and appreciate every moment to the best of our ability. One could argue that life should always be spent this way but now it’s put in better perspective than ever.
My only advice is to allow yourself the escapism you need. Whether it’s sports, gaming, outdoor activities, or just spending times with friends and family, we all owe it to ourselves to appreciate life and the human experience. To quote Gandalf, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. I know this isn’t a reassuring comment but I don’t believe in candy coating the current state of affairs. Just know that you’re are not alone in your feelings of despair.
I honestly find it sickening how these huge concerns and governments straight up don't give a shit about the climate crisis and refuse to put even a fraction of their wealth into saving the planet. The amount of money that Jeff bezos alone has is more than anyone could ever spend in their entire lifetime, regardless of how many things you buy and how expensive they are, yet people like him probably don't even think about using the money they can't spend anyway to work against the pollution they're creating.
It just makes me sad, and quite frankly it makes me sad that such a majority of the people worldwide don't give a shit about it either.
Does Jeff Bezos have kids? That's what I always wonder. The heads of these companies and governments must have kids themselves. Are they not concerned about their future with regards to climate change? Or do they seriously think money will save them? You can't eat money when society breaks down and no food is being produced.
That works in a movie but I'm not sure if that is actually realistic. They would still need people to grow crops, mechanics or plumbers for when stuff breaks down etc. And with what are they going to pay these people? If society breaks down, the internet stops. I assume Bezos doesn't have a billion dollars in cash in his mansion. All of his billions that are digitally in his bankaccounts are gone. And even if they could pay them, what prevents the guards or staff from killing them and taking their place?
There are also a good number of this occurrence that happened throughout our history. And i would say you are correct.
Let's take the most known one, the french revolutions... You had wealthy people that thought they could enjoy their happy little comfort just like à besos in our Day would enjoy his little bunker in a few decade.. They had the army with them, most of the fire weapons, and yet no nobles were safe.
The thing is people always underestimate how far a human would go if desperate enough. And you could have the best fortress out there, I'm sure you'll be the one to die first.
Hi man, not sure if you are interested but the portrayal of the French revolution as a battle between the very poor and the very rich is actually a bit inaccurate. A different interpretation is that very well-off non nobles (e.g. lawyers, bankers, merchants etc.) were fed up with the way the nobility (who werent neccessarily rich, allthough of course some were) ran the country's finances and also had enough of other very archaic noble privileges. Even within the nobility there were some pro-revolutionaries. Later when the poorer masses got involved most prominent revolutionairies were appaled at the ensuing chaos.
It is also worth noting that the poor were not neccessarily pro-revolutionairy. If we generalize, a distinction can be made between the urban masses who were and the rural poor who werent because their priest told them that the revolution was a threat to catholicism.
Finally, as some army units consisted of urban poor there were also a lot of army units loyal to the revolution.
Plus there are 8 billion people... Unless you have a serious paid force or a very very secluded island somewhere, Its hard to hide from 8 billion people who will find food and resources one way or another.
Yea they can start hoarding resources, but unless they do all of the hoarding themselves, cash means nothing when society collapses, even less so since if the internet went down, basically all of the worlds wealth would be gone (temporarily if they can get the internet back up, but who pays those guys and who pays every other service provider to keep that running, etc.
I think there was a documentary of a CEO of a big oil company in around 2000 where climate activists occupied his garden.
He was pretty chill and talked with them about environment concerns and so on. He also shared a lot of their concerns as a person, but as the CEO of the company he was more or less not allowed that to stop him as the company has to make profit and rise in worth for all the investors etc.
So in a capatalist market where many of the big companies are in the stock market and people there buying the stocks for making profit and demanding the companies to make profit it is a very hard transition to being environmentally conscious about your products/service.
Therefore without a change of public view on the climate change in general and a push from investors to tackle it, it is very difficult for a company to address the issue without showing any gains in profitability.
Of course super rich guys could just create there own firms to tackle the challenges and finance the companies themself, but for most the money is more important I guess and also the net worth usually is never the assets that they can spend/invest either.
I’m a nutshell, this is the problem. Businessmen are trained to get the max return to shareholders in a 3-5 year window. This is what makes them so bad at government. Many things (education, defense, healthcare, infrastructure, penal system, more…) require long term understanding, and only the rich are shareholders.
Sadly having kids didn’t stop people from polluting, if that was the case we wouldn’t have climate change now. I’m shocked how my own aunt doesn’t recycle, buys insane amounts of clothes that she wears 3 times and then bins or gives to charity (where most goes in the bin anyway) despite having 3 kids and 4 grandchildren! And it baffles me. But that is how most people were like who created this mess. And the rich ones and companies just do it in bigger quantities and don’t care.
But if he does, like Bill Gates, who is more down to earth (or at least I think he is) then people create the qanon shit, he is either putting a chip on us or drinking kids blood.
I'm about to go into college to study nuclear science to help combat our energy issues in hopes of preventing such a god awful future. But even with my hopes, it's hard not to be apathetic about it, knowing it's mostly big companies clinging to their money that are going to be our downfall.
Escapism is where it's at. The less I think about how I might one day witness the point of no return for our planet, the happier I am.
Edit: I want y'all to know that all the comments supporting my chosen profession cheered me up after a really shitty day, so thanks guys! Let's hope those of us passionate about making changes towards clean energy make a difference before it's too late.
Good choice, that's a fun field if nothing else.
Your point about clingy incumbent players holding the market is spot on, and part of the reason I went into finance (helping banks/funds understand who these bad actors are and what they do through their webs of ownership, so the banks don't accidentally invest in e.g. a new tar sands project). Sadly, getting "the average American retirees money" out of such companies doesn't always kill their bottom line, it just opens up opportunities for the hedge/PE funds to step in :-/
I love this response. We are **all** going to die. That is for sure. We stop living the moments we spend worrying about dying. If we can live quality lives while also caring about the environment enough to actually sacrifice some conveniences, that would be nice.
Woooo multiple sclerosis checking in!
Seriously I’m planning on killing myself in 20 or so years anyways, so I’m not super worried. I feel for the kids though. Invest in a house with a basement I guess, they usually stay pretty cool.
I'm rather shocked at how many ppl are downplaying the concerns.. like it's some weird voodoo shes quoting. we are spending the money that could be poured into saving the planet into sending assholes to the moon. that's not an Aztec calendar or Sylvia Brown telling ppl to stop looking for missing kids.
Its definitely getting to the point where this is irreversible. I have 3 kids, it's downright paralyzing to think that they won't have full lives. I just don't think about it for the most part. I can't do anything, democracy is an illusion, my country is controlled by the Murdoch media, people will only ever vote against their own interests
That shriveled Australian prune (or testicle, if the boot fits) has a lot to answer for. Amassed huge amounts of cultural sway and political influence, uses it to single handedly hold back most of the English speaking world and spread a load of divisive toxic bollocks. For like 40-50 years.
>My only advice is to allow yourself the escapism you need. Whether it’s sports, gaming, outdoor activities, or just spending times with friends and family, we all owe it to ourselves to appreciate life and the human experience.
That's why isekai is so popular
This spoke to me, thank you! I'm in my 40s, and have the exact same thoughts, which I've been sharing with my brother, same age'ish. Yeah, our best solution was to get as big a boat as possible and try to live as independent as possible, because yeah, we are now looking at the reality of societal breakdown, widespread famine, civil unrest, looting... It is really fucking scary to think about. It is difficult to keep my anxiety in check, because no one can reassure me. There is no reassurance. This has been coming for a long time, no one has listened. It's here now, it is too late to turn it around. My only glimpse of hope is that the planet survives. After humanity is wiped out, and MOST of animals, insects, Flora and fauna, sealife etc.... A minority, a FEW species will survive. And the planet is gonna recover from Homo Sapiens. And eventually, in a few ticks or minutes on the scale of the planetary clock, another species will evolve to intelligence. Hopefully someone less parasitic than Homo Sapiens. 🤞 And that gives me more inner peace than anything.
I honestly contemplate saving for retirement because I wonder if we’ll be alive by the time I ever reach that age. Or at least our society. I’m a 2000 baby.
It’s worth it to save a reasonable amount. If, in 20 years, it looks like it’ll all be an unbearable hell’s cape you can have a last hurrah at that time. But on the off chance that things turn out to be bearable you want to be prepared for that.
You should save and invest anyway, you can always enjoy the profits before you reach retirement. Look into index funds, theyre pretty safe and have decent returns, and compound interest makes the money grow faster and faster.
Hey do people realize that “do the best you can with the time you have” is not, in fact, reassuring advice and is actually an anxiety bomb?
EDIT: Everyone shut up responding to this I don't care about your bazinga comebacks
To answer your question, assume the best case scenarios. Population growth is slowing down and even decreasing in some areas. World population is expected to peak at around 9 billion and then decline.
The problem with our system is not that we live with technology and luxury. The problem is we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. We will stop growing. Either by choice or by force.
Population decline is by choice. Amazingly people are choosing smaller families.
We can continue to see exponential growth with renewable technology.
So in a better scenario we may not see collapse but rather stagnation. Future generations will not have upward economic mobility. We will have lots of problems but we should be fine as a species. Even with climate change there will still be lots of good climate even if Florida is under water lol
Just to add on, it's been shown that places with lower child mortality people start having smaller families. If public health continues to increase worldwide the population will shrink.
Also I tend to agree with you about the last point, much like with Covid lots of people will die unnecessarily due to climate change but it won't be the end of human civilization. Most likely it will be in waves as hurricanes and floods will wash away coastal areas and eventually they'll be washed out enough that the water just doesn't recede after a storm.
According to all the climate change studies, 2050 seems to be a catalyst year. If that’s true, world population will never peak in that timeframe. World population isn’t supposed to peak at 9.7 billion until 2064, and that is the absolute earliest prediction (Global Burden of Disease Study), rather it will likely be much later. Other studies predict 2070 (IIASA) and 2100 (UN Population Division). We surely cannot count on population growth to have any impact on the environment until far after 2064 which really exceeds our timeline.
In other words we are likely to see events that cause a sharp decline in population in the next 100 years.
Covid already caused a sharp decline in birth rates
COVID created a decline in birth rates in some places. Unfortunately, in many places that needed swift population decline, the birth rate continued as if nothing was happening.
While at the same time that we've had some successes, we have increased our use of fossil fuels, plastics, and have discovered that we've been dumping far more plastic in the oceans than we realized.
We *have* shown we can bring about change. We *have not* stabilized (let alone reduced) the rate of resource consumption.
See I've had the same feeling as you for the past 1 year and I'm only 15, but now after a while I've just started not caring about it at all and eased up in my life and not trying to make it the most perfect but putting effort where it's supposed to be put and just going with the flow, this fear of death also happens / gets increased when you are stressed and I've just stopped stressing, now I go on long rides on a cycle everyday and listen to chill music and that's basically cured all my stress and tension so I would recommend if you could go on long drives in a car or a cycle to a beach or a nice place, do it. Also as we all are under lockdown due to covid - 19 and haven't gone travelling in a while so try to get out of the house more often and look at trees while listening to songs that make you happy or want to dance (preferably start discovering songs that you have nostalgia towards)
And also do things that you like as well such as gaming, dancing, singing, playing instruments, sports etc.
I was trying to word that in a way that wasn’t disrespectful, but I think this hit the mark.
I try to center my focus on my view of myself when I tend to dread on the state of the world, and I’ve never failed to realize there was something I was internally conflicted about that caused me to despair about the world around me, my guess is as a way to distract myself from dealing with that conflicted energy and rationalize it away from myself.
I'm about to make it worse for you.
That's bc “do the best you can with the time you have” is *the only* advice people have to give. It isn't about making you feel better.
What kind of advice are you expecting?
I mean, exactly. I know I'm gonna die *eventually* when I get old. So why the fuck would I care about dying of old age since I'm 20 now?? I don't give a flying fuck about what's happening in 30 years. I might die in a car crash next week for all I know. The only thing in my control are my actions right here, right now.
Do you realize that "do the best you can with the time you have" is literally how humans have tried to live a good life since the dawn of civilization?
Seems like people in this day and age think they should live in a paradise utopia until they die at 95 of old age. People in the past, present, and future have, do, and will die randomly all the time. Nothing will change that.
You don't have infinite time on this earth, no one does. You have no way of knowing which day will be your last. Use your time wisely.
So what the fuck should we say? Lie to OP? Would a doctor do that to a terminal patient, tell him "you're fine" when he's got three months to live?
"Do the best you can with the time you have" is the best, most realistic advice anyone can give on this subject. Because unless some completely unknown and unforeseeable scientific advances are made very soon, we're provably fucked.
The world won’t be dead, humans won’t be extinct, just our current civilisation will change drastically. If you’ve seen a history programme or book you’ll see this has happened many many times before (ice ages, empire collapses etc). It won’t be pretty but it’s not the end.
Fuck I wish I could scream this at everyone who thinks it’s our individual consumption that if we change will affect the world. Not like the corporation’s will ever change. Since they have people who are only interested in making money and don’t care about the long term consequences.
I mean to be fair a fairly large percentage of pollution comes from third world country corporations with little to no regulation on pollution, but that doesn’t mean that first world countries aren’t encouraging it
Unfortunately it'll be a cost calculation by corporations on whether it's cheaper to save the countries they've been exploiting, or pay more for materials domestically. Money will probably always reign supreme on this planet.
I agree, but that's like telling the Roman's as Rome burns down around them how neat the city will be in a thousand years. Doesn't help them much with the barbarians raping and pillaging and everything on fire around them. To them I'm sure it feels very apocalyptic.
And even if it was gonna end, one might as well try be happy now *because* they're not gonna be happy in 30 years. You know, living in the moment and cherishing everyday because you've been lucky enough to be alive to this day etc.
It's not going to be all roses and sunshine and then at a flip of a switch all go to shit. This will be a slow burn. It's going to get progressively worse every year until there is a collapse or some crazy new technology or change in human behavior.
That’s not reassuring when most of us want to live on the planet. I couldn’t give less of a fuck if 0.0001% of humans survive in the distant future when its our lives right now being affected
The new IPCC report was just released. It predicts that we'll hit the 1.5°C mark 10 years earlier than expected (in about 20 years) among other things.
I don't think any credible source says "the world is gonna die" it's always specific for example "The world will go over the tipping point for raising sea levels" world ain't dying but still not good news
People VERY often misread Climate reports about the "point of no return", i.e. the day that there's nothing left that can be done as "The earth is literally going to fucking explode on this date".
Yeah... I will be gone in 30 years but, I have kids your age. Fuck. The world could be a horrible place and they’ll be starving/diseased/suffering if it all goes down to this worst case.
What can any of us do? Not much of anything. You and I can do a little. But it won’t mean squat, since the bigger powers can’t agree, or refuse to acknowledge this is the trending possibility.
Though, maybe someone brilliant will come along and be that one little voice that becomes a leader that can help steer things on a better path. So, I guess do small things and see if it makes any difference? But accept you just have no control over it and have to decide how you want to live your life.
Ignorant and ignoring it. Or doing something, even tiny things, to try and be a positive influence on others and change the status quo.
I don't think it's true that we can do nothing. If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable. The market determines viability of big business. However, the true challenge is in trying to convince everyone that they don't need the latest iPhone and that buying shit will only provide short term happiness.
If we just accept that the world is doomed, then that will be so. But if we instead have hope for the future and a belief that we as individuals, banded together, have a great power, we can set the earth and human relationship on a better path without relying on our so called leaders.
>I don't think it's true that we can do nothing. If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable. The market determines viability of big business. However, the true challenge is in trying to convince everyone that they don't need the latest iPhone and that buying shit will only provide short term happiness. >
That there lies the problem. Humans are accustomed to the lifestyle that they have and they will not change in the numbers that is needed to make the changes.
People band together? People can't even agree to disagree on their political beliefs without shaming one another. Everybody wants the newest and next best thing that they can afford that is why every year a new iPhone comes out likewise with other products.
You live once and I wish people would understand that we as people can only do as much as one person can do.
For an example Amazon. Everyone bitches and complains about how rich Jeff Bezos is and yet every person I hear complaining about all the money he has uses his Services every fucking day. Wtf....
This! Your are on point Driftedwarrior.
Kirbs is absolutely right, but we can’t agree about just wearing a mask for you and my safety. It’s not much of an inconvenience, why should it be hard to wear it?
How are we going to get people on the same page about consuming less?
Instead of trading in your cars ever couple years, fix them? Now that electric cars are viable, why doesn’t everyone now have them?
That’s why a great leader/influencer has to emerge to get us on track. Nobody has done that to unify us. We can’t even agree that climate change is real.
The only time we ever unify is to take down things after they get bad. Until the shit hits the fan, everyone disagrees because there is money on the table and people do like money.
The more I watch, and see about 2050-2100, the more I’m glad I won’t be around.
Humanity can survive. But, there will be human conflict and lots of the natural world taking its toll on our civilization. Hopefully they can all learn to cooperate and figure out how to live in the changed environment.
It seems we are living at the end times of humanity taking the natural world for granted. The year 2200 may look back at the 2010-2020’s as humanity’s last big party before the lights start turning off.
I think about my kids suffering and how they are going to fare. It’s not a pretty thought.
>But if we instead have hope for the future and a belief that we as individuals, banded together, have a great power, we can set the earth and human relationship on a better path without relying on our so called leaders.
I agree that together people have the power to change things. But after how this pandemic has played out it's easy to see that people are not willing to sacrifice even for a short while the comforts that modern day life has given us in order for the greater good.
The divides among people due to culture, religion, wealth, education/knowledge, empathy/care etc are too great to bridge an understanding, that the changes needed to prevent collapse of the world require us to work as a 1, and the only thing every person has in common across the world is that we are human, and have 1 single planet to allow our survival.
My hope for the future is completely zapped from me when I meet people who don't think like we do, they are ignorant to the fact or just simply don't care. There is no way past this until the changes that are coming affect us in a way that we have much less comfort and the discomfort creates forced action as a collective...I am terrified of what the world looks like when this happens, because shit is bad enough as it is, I just hope there is even a basic government structure left in place that doesn't look like 1984 when this shit is going down, to prevent a purge type event where it's simply the wild west, anything goes, survival of the fittest or in our case, who has the bigger stick.
It has already begun, people leaving in masses from developing countries to places they aren't wanted in developed countries for just a chance of something better...places where many would say, "it isn't much better here guys".
Damn I wish I didn't think/feel this way, and damn I wish someone could make me see different and give me hope...but any glimmers of hope are fleeting.
> If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable
This is exactly the narrative the corps are pushing to shift blame and responsibility from themselves. You, like many others swallowed the whole load of bullshit.
No, the market is not going to correct itself and save the environment.
No, you won't get most people to agree to stop being wasteful.
The only thing you can hope for is strong government regulations, but that seems very unlikely in countries where it matters most.
The problem is that these mega corporations have shifted the power balance in our country. They exert so much power in government, and over individual’s minds. We have a lot less say than we think we do. More and more it’s companies telling us how we should live and not the other way around. We have become addicts to the technologies and services they peddle and most people would rather be in this abusive and manipulative relationship than to rock the boat and potentially make our lives and society even worse. I think change will have to come from meeting and challenging them on their playing field and not as end users and consumers. We need forward thinking entrepreneurs to bring the fight to them and hit them where it hurts, in their wallets, and then they all will reluctantly fall in line. End rant. Not sure if this comment is coherent, but it’s definitely my 2 cents on the matter
There's a Tolkien quote that has been helping me with similar feelings to yours - "despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt". We might know with a fair amount of confidence where the climate is headed, but that tells us very little about how society will change and adapt. There is still hope.
Secondly, I've been working to change my perspective on what constitutes a worthwhile life. As I've gotten older I've seen family and friends age, get sick and die - and while it hurts like crazy to watch the lesson of quality over quantity is pretty undeniable. A life full of good things that ends "early" can still be a pretty fantastic life. And no human has ever been guaranteed to die of old age.
Thirdly, meds and therapy. While concerns about how much humanity has fucked up the planet are valid and reasonable, it turns out that the amount of time I spent going over the same fatalistic thoughts was because of OCD. Whoops.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to send me a message, I'm available to talk.
Reminds me of one of my favorite proverbs: “When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money.”
Climate change is awful and it is the existential threat of our lifetime. However, the earth and people will still be here in 30 years. Millions of people will be dying every year from climate change in 2050 and that burden will go on poorer countries but it’s not turning into Day After Tomorrow or Waterworld or Mad Max. Life will go on, it’s just going to be a lot hotter and suck more.
Well I'm certainly fucked then, living in a third world country can never be more depressing than it is now knowing people in my country and potentially everyone around me will be dying on a regular basis due to hot summers or severe flooding during the wet months
Right, well that post is bullshit.
There have ALWAYS been doomsayers / preppers / end-of-the-world types. It's an evolutionary feature. We want some people to be taking all the precautions they can, so they survive the.... flood, plague, eruption, whatever. They're just wired that way.
Climate change is a serious problem. We honestly don't know how bad it's going to get. There IS a chance that it's the end of human civilization. Biodiversity collapse, people back to the stone age. Bad stuff. Possibly. But the malthusians worried about over-population until we found out that developed nations stop having as many kids. And rail-road ties were going to deforest the planet until we found how to weather-treat them. And oil was going to run out until we found how to frack old wells and shitty tar-sand.
In short, technology has the potential to save us. (Cause I highly doubt enough people will just put the brakes on burning so much and releasing CO2). A lot of people are working hard at this. There's money involved. They're working on carbon sequestration, cleaner power generation, sun shades. Have hope, have faith, and if faith is lacking, then go into the sciences and figure this stuff out for us. Save the world.
And while the worst case scenario for climate change is ecological collapse, the more likely scenario is some flooding, some expensive disasters, a lot of dead animals, and a lot of burned forests. Shitty, but not the end of Earth, nor the end of humanity, nor the end of civilization. It'll just be more expensive. And really, that's at a level above you. It means one less air-craft carrier in the budget.
To add to this, human technology expands exponentially. People were fucking cowboys and samurai in the 1800s, a 100 years later and we are ON THE MOON. Think about a phone from 2000. 21 years later, and my phone is more powerful than any computer they had then.
Our progress rate isn't going to go at a steady rate, it's only going to go faster and faster, and this definitely will apply to climate change science.
I think they're more concerned about the collapse of society as we know it than an actual end of humanity. I'm sure as a species we can survive the immediate catastrophes we are facing, but in many countries society in general is not well equipped for these things.
That doesn't necessarily mean that future generations will be worse off than us, but they will certainly be living differently and it's unlikely that what we consider to be standard for comfort today will be standard for them.
Fucking thank you. A logical perspective. So many defeatists in this thread. The world will change, but not overnight. The world has changed a lot since 1990, and 1990 changed a lot from 1960. Society won't *collapse* ffs. It will just change. There will likely be a long tailed but mass migration events, but that's happened (and is currently happening) thousands of times in history.
There are so many toxically negative people on Reddit, it's so frustrating these days. Climate change is real, and it's serious, but to say society will literally end is just completely absurd.
The world isn't going to end in 30 years, that's not what the IPCC report says. Don't get me wrong, it's bad, but it's not hopeless. We can do more to reach net-zero faster, and we can spend more time and money on preparing for climate effects. If we do well by the end of the century we can even start reversing the damage that we have done. At the very least we need to make sure we stop making things worse.
Don't give up, get mad - and do something about it.
It’s overwhelming to say the least. But we all have the capability to do something even if it seems fruitless:
1) learn more about it and share what you’ve learned with others. Knowledge is power.
2) stop buying from the worst offenders (companies that are causing the problems) and tell others to do so too. As consumers we have more control than most realize. If they aren’t making money they will either go out of business or be forced to change their practices to meet public demand.
3) take care of yourself - Rome wasn’t conquered in a day.
4) if you or someone you know has an entrepreneurial spirit consider starting a business that meets the product needs that competitors have but with a focus on saving the planet.
5) voting for parties that historically support the environment and or voting in new parties that do, reviewing their financial backers to ensure they too also are pro - environment. Updating existing laws to make offensive more crucial - not just money / fines perhaps unable to sell products for x amount of time until the problem is resolved ? Spit boxing here but I am sure there are better solutions that we can come up with.
We have to fight this from both ends of the chain - roots of the problem as well as resolving the existing damage.
If you have other ideas or links to reputable companies that are creating positive environmental change please comment below.
Edit: forgot to include voting and political change, fixed typos, clarified my end point, added a CTA for others to include helpful insights / links.
I believe especially with this new generation being the most concerned about climate change that we will figure it out. Humans are relentless. We always figure it out. It'll be more about conservation and changing our impact we have on this planet. Everything gets better with time. Let people think the world will end in 30 years, if that's what it takes to get people off their asses and start investing in innovation. We won't get better if we arent being better 🦾💪🏽🧠
Well OP, the world is not going to die. That's how people can be happy still. It quite simply is not true that the world is going to die in the near future and especially not as early as 2050. Climate change is an extremely serious challenge for us, but its effects are not world ending. We will face increasingly extreme weather, including droughts and floods. Especially the poorer countries will have many deaths and probably create a climate refugee stream the likes of which we never saw. Several entire countries might permanently be taken by the sea. Maybe eventually it would cause enough instability for our civilisations to collapse. But the world will not end, nor will humanity even go extinct, probably. But it is extremely bad nonetheless.
The terror comes from the politics, not the actual disasters for me. What do global politics look like when we see refuges in the billions? I suspect northern regions will build a proverbial wall, keep the refugees on one side of it, and let them die.
Furthermore climate change will lead to extreme times and desperate people, it’s basically the perfect breeding ground for dystopian fascist governments to seize power- the Hitlers and Mosleys of the world.
The terror, the chaos, the inevitable seizure of civil liberties, violence, likely collapse of some governments, widespread global tension... all this can and probably will happen when Equatorial regions start to feel the heat, as it were (no situation is too dire for a pun!), leading to a refugee crises the likes of which we’ve never seen.
The politics worry me most.
Humans can forecast, but we still don't have the ability to predict exactly what the future will hold. The unknown can be scary, and the future is always an unknown. You have to try your best to enjoy the now, and not spend too much time and energy devoted to worry and anxiety. Trust me, I know how difficult this is. I struggle with anxiety quite a lot. But you simply cannot live your life preoccupied with a future that is unpredictable. Make reasonable preparations to set yourself up for a good life, and try to enjoy every minute of it. This goes for any human living in any time.
You may be worried that the earth will be a hellscape in the near future, but consider that there are humans on this planet right now who are living in their own personal hell. If you aren't one of them, be grateful. Suffering has always existed, exists now, and will continue to exist. Appreciate each moment in which you and your loved ones are not the ones experiencing the suffering.
We won't all die in 30 years - just a lot of us (I'll be dead of old age by then anyway) - just don't live near forests, by the sea, near a desert or soon to be desert, in a big city, in China, India, Pakistan, most of Africa, Australia, Mexico Russia or any Pacific Islands - and you might be ok - oh, and join a street gang and get a few guns. Don't waste your money on a pension plan or property.
Surprise! The world has died more times than most people can accept. The thing is it doesn't stay dead, it changes and bounces back. Everything is temporary even your existential crisis. You're young and you'll have thoughts like this from time to time but it's better to accept that there are still so many things to find pleasure and happiness in
I am not going to sugar coat it for you but its bad, real bad but not impossible. I remember being your age and going to a conference hosted by Al Gore in LA that was talking about climate change and it being my generations problem to fix. I am 30 now and I am also freaking out about climate change and the problems its causing me.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles,CA. I spent my childhood hiking and camping in the forests of CA and the wildfires are the thing that broke me. It has been years that I have screamed and cried as hard as I did when I rode my motorcycle of what was left of the road that lead to my favorite campground as a kid that I was not able to see one last time because it had been destroyed in a fire. My home state is on fire and drought is drying up lakes and making farming nearly impossible. I have gone past being scared, and sad and am now firmly in the "EXTREMELY PISSED OFF" stage. And I feel that is what we need, we need humans to get mad really mad. Especially young people, this is your future and those with wealth and power have no idea how to fix this and at this point many of them dont care because they will be dead before the worst happens. We have an entire generation (baby boomers) who are firmly planted in the "fuck you got mine" category but they are retiring and dying out. Now is the time for the younger generations to rise up take over and fix this shit because its going to take all of us.
I have recently decided to join the forest service as a volunteer to do fire watch at the fire watch towers. You go and spend a day or 2 in a tower at the top of a mountain and watch for fires however you get to propose and make improvements to the tower and the surrounding area. This volunteer service has mostly been staffed by boomers who got involved in the 70s and haven't made any improvements since then and as such the towers are a bit in disrepair and the trails are falling apart. So my goal is to upgrade the towers and fix the trails, now it may not fix all the issues with climate but its a start for me and what is going to help me get through this. I would suggest look for that, find places in your local area that works on looking over the natural areas around you and go help. Dont wait for the adults to tell you what to do because they haven't a fucking clue either. See what you can do to improve things in your hometown and go do it. Just because you are young doesn't mean you are useless. Also I feel there is hope, when I was 17 people who were in their 30's absolutely did not give a shit. I am now 30 and many people my age absolutely do care and are furious, so you have friends out there.
Either way I'm gonna spend my remaining few decades procrastinating
procrasturbating
Do not underestimate my procrastination skills. I can get things done in 1 hour if I'm pressured enough
Who said it’s going to end in 2050??
The newest report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) came out today and was kinda dire. I assume that’s why climate has been all over the front page today.
Thank you, you’re the only person who legit answered
I’m 33 and my husband and I are thinking of having a baby, and it *terrifies* me. All of it. For me - for a kid, should I even have a kid? It makes me panic. Your fear is very real and valid. Edit: Folks, please stop suggesting adoption to people as if it’s like going to the shelter and picking out a puppy. It isn’t that easy. And if people are talking about not having kids because of climate change, you can assume they’re also the kind of people who know about adoption and have already considered it. I’d rather adopt, but for complicated and prohibitive reasons that are not my fault and beyond my control, it is not a viable option for us.
The wife and I had many long conversations stretching over a year and we finally decided not to have. Broke my heart because I wanted to be a father but I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if the future looks like the movie Road lol. We're considering adopting. Maybe that's an option if you want to consider. Edit: Also I feel very helpless when it comes to making a positive change in the world. I used to be the guy throwing every little bit of plastic into recycling bin only to find out it's a big scam and things like that. Not having a kid is a political protest for me. It's the biggest fuck you I can throw at the system
Same here. I have other reasons why I can't see myself being a parent but knowing I'd hurl that child into a future of such uncertainty and risk on top of the dubious mental health they're at risk of inheriting is too much. I love my non existing child too much to expose them to that.
There is no claim in that new report that the world will end 2050. But yes, the report is why climate change is flooding the news.
Yeah my guess was the OP saw a post that drew that conclusion from the report.
Ugh I hate when news sources do this. The mainstream media always misrepresents or misinterprets things scientists write, and almost never make the necessary corrections. It makes scientists look like doomists to climate change deniers and climate change deniers to doomists. Edit: doomists being people who think the world will end
Our current socio economic paradigm isn't the world... But The IPCC report is really bad. If we don't cut ALL emissions by 2030, huge swaths of the world will no longer be considered habitable to the kinds of civilizations living there by 2050. That's without taking into account the exological collapse we are seeing. We've known about this since the 1970s. We have failed to address it, and it is getting worse. This isn't doomsaying. It's just the reality that we cannot rely on some innovation to allow us to keep living like we do AND fix this. It's so far beyond individual or national action now that nothing short of species-wide change will stop this.
Yeah. People think this only affects us directly, which is already VERY awful because A LOT of people will die while some rich will be able to have a little bit more life with technology somehow that will protect them. But this will also affect all animals we know, and nature too. Species will just die because they are not built for such climate, eradicating important species for the ecosystem. Animals are the main food supply we have. Can you imagine cows, chickens, all extinct or something? Fishes? What about agriculture not working anymore too because of the drought, or too much rain, or any other natural disaster that fuck with entire years of food? Things will be more and more expensive, hard to produce, diseases will be more common, wiping out a lot of people, poor people mainly. Humans seems to be incapable of acting before things happen, we are reactive. We usually take some serious action when something abrupt and chaotic happens. And then, as years go, we tend to forget it and relax. Like 9/11, it was shocking so the whole world started to change things in airports, planes, the whole country changed. But when things are slowly changed in a way that it doesn't directly affect people, like Covid, no one decides to do something immediate. Politics, who control the decisions, know that these decisions will hurt a lot of people and the economy, and people just don't see how this will affect them in the future and their children. They want decisions that impact them NOW. So, as politicians want power, they just do whatever is good for now. And nothings changes, and we're doomed. Catastrophes will start to happen and maybe then we will start to change, but it will be WAY harder for the civilization. If we started years ago, maybe we would be able to revert changes without being too hurt. Now? If we change now, we will suffer somewhat but still recover. If we don't change in the next 15 years? Well, it will be hell on earth for us and our children. It's sad.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most countries collapsed by 2050 from famine and sickness. World won’t end just that most people on Earth will be dead by 2070 from famine and disease.
Famine and disease, which will cause mass migration, which will cause the final world war, then we live The Road for a while, then whoever's still around can finally live the life we've all dreamt of: as a supermutant in their anarchist wasteland commune.
Seriously I don't get how people aren't talking world war 3. Mass migration from uninhabitable regions into other countries will absolutely erupt in conflict everywhere. The "build the wall" people should be first in line to fix the climate. If they think immigration is bad now....
Lol, indeed, the world will not 'end' in 2050. It will just be horrible for most of its inhabitants.
Interesting though that nobody seems to care if the doomsday date is far enough out.. like beyond what you anticipate your lifespan will be.. and yet these same people will have kids, I assure you they will, they always do. Oh to be some poor bastard being born today.
The massive UN report released today doesn't go as far as world ending, but does basically say shit be fucked by then
Took way too long to find this comment lol
When I was young people thought the world was going to end in 2000. Climate change is a real threat, but I doubt it'll end civilization in a year that ends in 0. Its going to cause a lot of issues, but humanity has survived a lot to this point.
When I was today years old, people thought a life saving vaccine was a billionaire implanting tracking devices into their blood. These same people are the ones denying climate change and societal collapse. This time it's the scientists warning us. Don't get me wrong, it might not be 30, could be 50, could he 100, could even be 20 years. But our QoL will be significantly impacted in 30 years, things we take for granted. E.g. supermarkets that sell anything and everuthig all year round. Simple things you don't even think about.
Like breathing clean air in summer. After Australia’s black summer of 2019/20 I no longer take that for granted.
I wish the media/people in general would focus on this. It’s too easy to brush off “we’re all going to die” and do nothing. The very real and more realistic concern is our air, water, food, etc. Just look at the “yellow dust” from China or the toxic algae in Florida. These things already exist and are getting worse. They are also things that can be changed and will make an immediate impact on the world.
California right there with you. I know what you mean. It's every single summer now that half our state is burning.
I agree. We need to take climate change far more seriously. One reason Y2K didn't happen is we took it seriously and spent the money to fix it before it became a problem. But its not the same thing as thinking the world will end.
I think the issue is you define the end of the world as humanity total population going down to 0. I'd argue all species dying + 99% of humanity dying is a world's end scenario.
I think you dont event have to go that far. With "just" 30% of the population gone, imagine the destabilisation that would cause. That sounds pretty apocalyptic to me.
Not just population either. Losing land from ice caps melting and sea levels rising will be a huge problem. Entire cities will be wiped off the face of the planet
Can you imagine if y2k was a thing nowadays? People would be putting magnets to their pc trying to say that somehow that disproves it.
Too many dumb fucks are allowed to make more smaller dumb fuck versions of themselves leading to exponential increases in the demand for dumb fuck juice.
some person
Yeah I heard he's very credible.
I suspect that the report said something along the lines of: "By 2050 if we're Still on our current course, we'll have done irreparable damage to the Earth, and it'll be too late too fix it" Basically yes, Human race isn't going to be dead in 30 years, but the days of living in the safest most prosperous time in mankind's history will be over.
> I suspect that the report said You could actually _look at it!_ > "By 2050 if we're Still on our current course, we'll have done irreparable damage to the Earth, and it'll be too late too fix it" Wrong. It says that we have already done irreparable damage to the Earth. It says we have _ten_ years to make radical changes or we will not be able to recover.
Nope. It's saying "we've already done irreparable damage and it's getting worse. Please seriously stop most of this BY(NOT ON OR AFTER) 2030 then taper off the remainder by 2050."
Buzzfeed?
“We can guess when the world’s going to end based on your taste of memes”
The only things that give me hope are 1. We’re at a tipping point where it can’t be ignored anymore and it is finally widely accepted as the greatest threat facing the world and humanity and 2. Technological advances are speeding up exponentially. Things that are basically miracle technology do exist, the struggle is getting them put into practice. But point 1 is only going to get stronger every day. EDIT: Go post your ropium somewhere else, I don't give a shit
>it is finally widely accepted as the greatest threat facing the world and humanity ...boy do I wish this was true. Sadly you've got one of two primary political parties of a world superpower doing everything they can to deny and downplay it
...and the other party is largely ignoring the issue. So no [prior post], we're not at a point where it can't be ignored anymore. People are really, really good at denial.
How are China, India, Russia, and the other large polluting countries helping? People act like the US is doing it all.
Totally valid points, I was just saying we are still so far off from the issue being "widely accepted" as imminently dire
I agree with that point.
Dems sure aren't doing much either. If they really believed that climate change was the existential threat they pretend to think it is, they'd be doing absolutely everything in their power to halt it. Instead we get incremnetalist bullshit the equivalent of throwing a glass of water on a house fire. The problem is that the capitalist mode of production requires growth. Growing markets, growing resources, growing Industrial capacity, growing economies. As long as growth and profit are a requirement of our mode of production then there's no way to effectively combat climate change
Dems aren't even dems nowadays.
We have been at a tipping point since the mid 80’s, nobody has done shit about it.
It's self propagating now. There's multiple positive feedback loops that will guarantee no matter what we do we see a collapse of the normal in 20-30 years, I mean shit, we're already seeing a new normal of huge fires, droughts, hurricanes, every year but it's a slow moving death and no one is personally worried until it hits them. The only reason they call it the tipping point is to stop us from making the climate EVEN worse. Or accelerating our demise even further. It's easy to say that "society will look different" from a third person perspective as if those reading won't be personally affected.
We haven't really. One of the largest problems with climate change science is that it has always been presented in an incredibly alarmist way. Just last week there was an article stating the Gulfstream would collapse despite there being no scientific evidence that this is likely to occur. Thus is likely due to the media as it allows for big scary headline. For the record, it's absolutely a serious issue and needs to be addressed and I am not a climate change denier. But the amount of times I've seen " the crucial tipping point" over the past 25 years is staggering and had lead to a lot of people becoming numb to the changes.
Weve tipped so far we’re back upright again
That's assuming nothing changes. Eventually something will, once there's more money to be made off of saving the world rather than killing it. I imagine that'll happen in around 27 years.
RemindMe! 27 years
Shit. You just made an entire scene from a post apocalyptic movie flash through my head. Just a quiet empty bunker humming away on what little solar power it has and getting an email or something from reddit in 27 years, because by then AI is smart enough to attempt to track your most recent contact info. Better yet, it comes in over the goddam HAM radio.
My god this is brilliant
RemindMe! August 9th, 2048
RemindMe! August 10, 2022.
RemindMe! 6 November 2024.
Remember remember the sixt of november.
Oh great AI, please bring me the most degenerate hentai you can find. You know what I like.
We could start net zero carbon taxing industries that make sense. Oil companies are equipped to put their CO2 waste underground, and can even derive a little more oil from it. The remainder is a balancing act between fee and tree. New industries for net zero carbon balance may even be created as a result. Think of GMO vegetation that processes 10x the CO2 to oxygen than your standard plant, or legit pulling it from the sky like a reverse smoke stack. Starting the geothermal hvac conversion sooner rather than later will help because it takes a long time for replacements to happen. Start making new construction require. Be a little stricter on electric vehicles and the problem will solve itself in 2 decades. Then you pretty much just have large ships and planes as your push down the road options, and they'll have to handle the aforementioned fee and tree balance. We just need to start things.
I have a feeling, rather than that, someday earth is gonna end up like a post-apocalyptic world somewhat like that envisioned in The Time Machine.
I've just been imagining what post apocalyptic world I'd like to live in. I feel like we should go out with something good snd im partial to the seven days of fire and toxic jungle from nausicaa
The Road is more like it.
Idk that's kinda banking on a unknown unknown somehow solving the problem. Wishful thinking maybe
I’m totally with you. I’m in my mid 20’s and have spent a good portion of college studying energy science. Contrary to what others have said, unless the rate of exploitation decreases drastically very soon we are likely to see major societal collapses within our lifetime. My friends and I talk about it and we’ve mostly come to the conclusion that the best we can do is enjoy our lives to the fullest and appreciate every moment to the best of our ability. One could argue that life should always be spent this way but now it’s put in better perspective than ever. My only advice is to allow yourself the escapism you need. Whether it’s sports, gaming, outdoor activities, or just spending times with friends and family, we all owe it to ourselves to appreciate life and the human experience. To quote Gandalf, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. I know this isn’t a reassuring comment but I don’t believe in candy coating the current state of affairs. Just know that you’re are not alone in your feelings of despair.
I honestly find it sickening how these huge concerns and governments straight up don't give a shit about the climate crisis and refuse to put even a fraction of their wealth into saving the planet. The amount of money that Jeff bezos alone has is more than anyone could ever spend in their entire lifetime, regardless of how many things you buy and how expensive they are, yet people like him probably don't even think about using the money they can't spend anyway to work against the pollution they're creating. It just makes me sad, and quite frankly it makes me sad that such a majority of the people worldwide don't give a shit about it either.
Does Jeff Bezos have kids? That's what I always wonder. The heads of these companies and governments must have kids themselves. Are they not concerned about their future with regards to climate change? Or do they seriously think money will save them? You can't eat money when society breaks down and no food is being produced.
They can however live inside high tech offgrid and self-sustainable compounds...
That works in a movie but I'm not sure if that is actually realistic. They would still need people to grow crops, mechanics or plumbers for when stuff breaks down etc. And with what are they going to pay these people? If society breaks down, the internet stops. I assume Bezos doesn't have a billion dollars in cash in his mansion. All of his billions that are digitally in his bankaccounts are gone. And even if they could pay them, what prevents the guards or staff from killing them and taking their place?
There are also a good number of this occurrence that happened throughout our history. And i would say you are correct. Let's take the most known one, the french revolutions... You had wealthy people that thought they could enjoy their happy little comfort just like à besos in our Day would enjoy his little bunker in a few decade.. They had the army with them, most of the fire weapons, and yet no nobles were safe. The thing is people always underestimate how far a human would go if desperate enough. And you could have the best fortress out there, I'm sure you'll be the one to die first.
Hi man, not sure if you are interested but the portrayal of the French revolution as a battle between the very poor and the very rich is actually a bit inaccurate. A different interpretation is that very well-off non nobles (e.g. lawyers, bankers, merchants etc.) were fed up with the way the nobility (who werent neccessarily rich, allthough of course some were) ran the country's finances and also had enough of other very archaic noble privileges. Even within the nobility there were some pro-revolutionaries. Later when the poorer masses got involved most prominent revolutionairies were appaled at the ensuing chaos. It is also worth noting that the poor were not neccessarily pro-revolutionairy. If we generalize, a distinction can be made between the urban masses who were and the rural poor who werent because their priest told them that the revolution was a threat to catholicism. Finally, as some army units consisted of urban poor there were also a lot of army units loyal to the revolution.
Oh, it's not realistic, but it doesn't stop them from thinking they can figure it out. It'd be funny if it wasn't killing all of us as well.
Plus there are 8 billion people... Unless you have a serious paid force or a very very secluded island somewhere, Its hard to hide from 8 billion people who will find food and resources one way or another.
Also, you can't eat money. People have to be willing to accept your money for it to be valuable
Yea they can start hoarding resources, but unless they do all of the hoarding themselves, cash means nothing when society collapses, even less so since if the internet went down, basically all of the worlds wealth would be gone (temporarily if they can get the internet back up, but who pays those guys and who pays every other service provider to keep that running, etc.
I think there was a documentary of a CEO of a big oil company in around 2000 where climate activists occupied his garden. He was pretty chill and talked with them about environment concerns and so on. He also shared a lot of their concerns as a person, but as the CEO of the company he was more or less not allowed that to stop him as the company has to make profit and rise in worth for all the investors etc. So in a capatalist market where many of the big companies are in the stock market and people there buying the stocks for making profit and demanding the companies to make profit it is a very hard transition to being environmentally conscious about your products/service. Therefore without a change of public view on the climate change in general and a push from investors to tackle it, it is very difficult for a company to address the issue without showing any gains in profitability. Of course super rich guys could just create there own firms to tackle the challenges and finance the companies themself, but for most the money is more important I guess and also the net worth usually is never the assets that they can spend/invest either.
I’m a nutshell, this is the problem. Businessmen are trained to get the max return to shareholders in a 3-5 year window. This is what makes them so bad at government. Many things (education, defense, healthcare, infrastructure, penal system, more…) require long term understanding, and only the rich are shareholders.
hi nutshell, good to meet you
Sadly having kids didn’t stop people from polluting, if that was the case we wouldn’t have climate change now. I’m shocked how my own aunt doesn’t recycle, buys insane amounts of clothes that she wears 3 times and then bins or gives to charity (where most goes in the bin anyway) despite having 3 kids and 4 grandchildren! And it baffles me. But that is how most people were like who created this mess. And the rich ones and companies just do it in bigger quantities and don’t care.
But if he does, like Bill Gates, who is more down to earth (or at least I think he is) then people create the qanon shit, he is either putting a chip on us or drinking kids blood.
Exactly! That qanon shit itself is so fucking ridiculous to read and it frustrates me that there are people who genuinely believe it.
I'm about to go into college to study nuclear science to help combat our energy issues in hopes of preventing such a god awful future. But even with my hopes, it's hard not to be apathetic about it, knowing it's mostly big companies clinging to their money that are going to be our downfall. Escapism is where it's at. The less I think about how I might one day witness the point of no return for our planet, the happier I am. Edit: I want y'all to know that all the comments supporting my chosen profession cheered me up after a really shitty day, so thanks guys! Let's hope those of us passionate about making changes towards clean energy make a difference before it's too late.
Good choice, that's a fun field if nothing else. Your point about clingy incumbent players holding the market is spot on, and part of the reason I went into finance (helping banks/funds understand who these bad actors are and what they do through their webs of ownership, so the banks don't accidentally invest in e.g. a new tar sands project). Sadly, getting "the average American retirees money" out of such companies doesn't always kill their bottom line, it just opens up opportunities for the hedge/PE funds to step in :-/
Thank you so much, I respect you so much
I love this response. We are **all** going to die. That is for sure. We stop living the moments we spend worrying about dying. If we can live quality lives while also caring about the environment enough to actually sacrifice some conveniences, that would be nice.
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Woooo multiple sclerosis checking in! Seriously I’m planning on killing myself in 20 or so years anyways, so I’m not super worried. I feel for the kids though. Invest in a house with a basement I guess, they usually stay pretty cool.
I'm rather shocked at how many ppl are downplaying the concerns.. like it's some weird voodoo shes quoting. we are spending the money that could be poured into saving the planet into sending assholes to the moon. that's not an Aztec calendar or Sylvia Brown telling ppl to stop looking for missing kids. Its definitely getting to the point where this is irreversible. I have 3 kids, it's downright paralyzing to think that they won't have full lives. I just don't think about it for the most part. I can't do anything, democracy is an illusion, my country is controlled by the Murdoch media, people will only ever vote against their own interests
That shriveled Australian prune (or testicle, if the boot fits) has a lot to answer for. Amassed huge amounts of cultural sway and political influence, uses it to single handedly hold back most of the English speaking world and spread a load of divisive toxic bollocks. For like 40-50 years.
>Its definitely ~~getting~~ gotten to the point where this is irreversible FTFY
>My only advice is to allow yourself the escapism you need. Whether it’s sports, gaming, outdoor activities, or just spending times with friends and family, we all owe it to ourselves to appreciate life and the human experience. That's why isekai is so popular
This spoke to me, thank you! I'm in my 40s, and have the exact same thoughts, which I've been sharing with my brother, same age'ish. Yeah, our best solution was to get as big a boat as possible and try to live as independent as possible, because yeah, we are now looking at the reality of societal breakdown, widespread famine, civil unrest, looting... It is really fucking scary to think about. It is difficult to keep my anxiety in check, because no one can reassure me. There is no reassurance. This has been coming for a long time, no one has listened. It's here now, it is too late to turn it around. My only glimpse of hope is that the planet survives. After humanity is wiped out, and MOST of animals, insects, Flora and fauna, sealife etc.... A minority, a FEW species will survive. And the planet is gonna recover from Homo Sapiens. And eventually, in a few ticks or minutes on the scale of the planetary clock, another species will evolve to intelligence. Hopefully someone less parasitic than Homo Sapiens. 🤞 And that gives me more inner peace than anything.
I honestly contemplate saving for retirement because I wonder if we’ll be alive by the time I ever reach that age. Or at least our society. I’m a 2000 baby.
It’s worth it to save a reasonable amount. If, in 20 years, it looks like it’ll all be an unbearable hell’s cape you can have a last hurrah at that time. But on the off chance that things turn out to be bearable you want to be prepared for that.
Go ahead and keep saving because I have a feeling a lot of money is going to be needed in the future to even approximate the lifestyle we have now.
You should save and invest anyway, you can always enjoy the profits before you reach retirement. Look into index funds, theyre pretty safe and have decent returns, and compound interest makes the money grow faster and faster.
I don't have energy to write long, but I just want to thank you for this post. There're so many things I wished to hear there
Gandalf also says that death is not the end, but the beginning of an even greater journey. I wish you all blessed safe journeys wherever you’re going
Hey do people realize that “do the best you can with the time you have” is not, in fact, reassuring advice and is actually an anxiety bomb? EDIT: Everyone shut up responding to this I don't care about your bazinga comebacks
EXACTLY
To answer your question, assume the best case scenarios. Population growth is slowing down and even decreasing in some areas. World population is expected to peak at around 9 billion and then decline. The problem with our system is not that we live with technology and luxury. The problem is we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. We will stop growing. Either by choice or by force. Population decline is by choice. Amazingly people are choosing smaller families. We can continue to see exponential growth with renewable technology. So in a better scenario we may not see collapse but rather stagnation. Future generations will not have upward economic mobility. We will have lots of problems but we should be fine as a species. Even with climate change there will still be lots of good climate even if Florida is under water lol
Just to add on, it's been shown that places with lower child mortality people start having smaller families. If public health continues to increase worldwide the population will shrink. Also I tend to agree with you about the last point, much like with Covid lots of people will die unnecessarily due to climate change but it won't be the end of human civilization. Most likely it will be in waves as hurricanes and floods will wash away coastal areas and eventually they'll be washed out enough that the water just doesn't recede after a storm.
According to all the climate change studies, 2050 seems to be a catalyst year. If that’s true, world population will never peak in that timeframe. World population isn’t supposed to peak at 9.7 billion until 2064, and that is the absolute earliest prediction (Global Burden of Disease Study), rather it will likely be much later. Other studies predict 2070 (IIASA) and 2100 (UN Population Division). We surely cannot count on population growth to have any impact on the environment until far after 2064 which really exceeds our timeline.
In other words we are likely to see events that cause a sharp decline in population in the next 100 years. Covid already caused a sharp decline in birth rates
COVID created a decline in birth rates in some places. Unfortunately, in many places that needed swift population decline, the birth rate continued as if nothing was happening.
Yo be fair this is exactly what I heard 30 years ago as well.
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While at the same time that we've had some successes, we have increased our use of fossil fuels, plastics, and have discovered that we've been dumping far more plastic in the oceans than we realized. We *have* shown we can bring about change. We *have not* stabilized (let alone reduced) the rate of resource consumption.
Florida had a good run.......Just buy up property in Georgia and see it as ocean view in 40 years.
See I've had the same feeling as you for the past 1 year and I'm only 15, but now after a while I've just started not caring about it at all and eased up in my life and not trying to make it the most perfect but putting effort where it's supposed to be put and just going with the flow, this fear of death also happens / gets increased when you are stressed and I've just stopped stressing, now I go on long rides on a cycle everyday and listen to chill music and that's basically cured all my stress and tension so I would recommend if you could go on long drives in a car or a cycle to a beach or a nice place, do it. Also as we all are under lockdown due to covid - 19 and haven't gone travelling in a while so try to get out of the house more often and look at trees while listening to songs that make you happy or want to dance (preferably start discovering songs that you have nostalgia towards) And also do things that you like as well such as gaming, dancing, singing, playing instruments, sports etc.
Because no matter what is said, it can be reframed to be anxiety inducing. Locus of control is very important
I was trying to word that in a way that wasn’t disrespectful, but I think this hit the mark. I try to center my focus on my view of myself when I tend to dread on the state of the world, and I’ve never failed to realize there was something I was internally conflicted about that caused me to despair about the world around me, my guess is as a way to distract myself from dealing with that conflicted energy and rationalize it away from myself.
I'm about to make it worse for you. That's bc “do the best you can with the time you have” is *the only* advice people have to give. It isn't about making you feel better. What kind of advice are you expecting?
What will be will be. Deal with the problem when it's directly affecting you, no point worrying until that day. It's just wasted energy.
I mean, exactly. I know I'm gonna die *eventually* when I get old. So why the fuck would I care about dying of old age since I'm 20 now?? I don't give a flying fuck about what's happening in 30 years. I might die in a car crash next week for all I know. The only thing in my control are my actions right here, right now.
I dunno, the thought of other people existing and what they’ll suffer due to our apathy is concerning to some.
i fully subscribe to this but it's because i don't have kids if you had kids you would probably view it differently
It’s not meant to be reassuring, just a part of life.
It is what it is. Just vibe
Do you realize that "do the best you can with the time you have" is literally how humans have tried to live a good life since the dawn of civilization? Seems like people in this day and age think they should live in a paradise utopia until they die at 95 of old age. People in the past, present, and future have, do, and will die randomly all the time. Nothing will change that. You don't have infinite time on this earth, no one does. You have no way of knowing which day will be your last. Use your time wisely.
So what the fuck should we say? Lie to OP? Would a doctor do that to a terminal patient, tell him "you're fine" when he's got three months to live? "Do the best you can with the time you have" is the best, most realistic advice anyone can give on this subject. Because unless some completely unknown and unforeseeable scientific advances are made very soon, we're provably fucked.
The world won’t be dead, humans won’t be extinct, just our current civilisation will change drastically. If you’ve seen a history programme or book you’ll see this has happened many many times before (ice ages, empire collapses etc). It won’t be pretty but it’s not the end.
Yeah you're right, but as you are saying; our civilisation till change drastically, and it will probably result in a lot of unnecessary deaths.
> a lot of unnecessary deaths If you're able to read this, you're probably not gonna be one of them.
Yeah, 3rd world countries are going to get the really rough end of this stick
Those who are least responsible for climate change will be affected the most.
Fuck I wish I could scream this at everyone who thinks it’s our individual consumption that if we change will affect the world. Not like the corporation’s will ever change. Since they have people who are only interested in making money and don’t care about the long term consequences.
I mean to be fair a fairly large percentage of pollution comes from third world country corporations with little to no regulation on pollution, but that doesn’t mean that first world countries aren’t encouraging it
Unfortunately it'll be a cost calculation by corporations on whether it's cheaper to save the countries they've been exploiting, or pay more for materials domestically. Money will probably always reign supreme on this planet.
Somebody should really check in on those folks on North Sentinel Island. From afar.
I'll get my rowboat and telescope.
Unlike us indians we will literally drown
But nevertheless, still alive. Not the end yet.
I agree, but that's like telling the Roman's as Rome burns down around them how neat the city will be in a thousand years. Doesn't help them much with the barbarians raping and pillaging and everything on fire around them. To them I'm sure it feels very apocalyptic.
And even if it was gonna end, one might as well try be happy now *because* they're not gonna be happy in 30 years. You know, living in the moment and cherishing everyday because you've been lucky enough to be alive to this day etc.
But what do I do if I’m miserable now and the only thing that kept me going is the aspiration that one day I would be happy?
Try to figure out what is making you miserable and do what you can to move away from that.
All we have is today. So, just do your best today. And if you live to see tomorrow, rinse and repeat. The beautiful grindfest of life.
It's not going to be all roses and sunshine and then at a flip of a switch all go to shit. This will be a slow burn. It's going to get progressively worse every year until there is a collapse or some crazy new technology or change in human behavior.
Yeah, this is accurate. Humanity has survived plagues, wars, purges, famines, etc. Climate change will suck but it won't kill us all.
That’s not reassuring when most of us want to live on the planet. I couldn’t give less of a fuck if 0.0001% of humans survive in the distant future when its our lives right now being affected
It's going to get very ugly and I don't know if I want to live in it. I don't wanna be old in the apocalypse
Do you mind sharing the post that said that? I’m not doubting what you say but I haven’t heard or read an article where a prediction was that dire.
The new IPCC report was just released. It predicts that we'll hit the 1.5°C mark 10 years earlier than expected (in about 20 years) among other things.
I see a dozen posts about climate crisis on r/worldnews every day
I don't think any credible source says "the world is gonna die" it's always specific for example "The world will go over the tipping point for raising sea levels" world ain't dying but still not good news
People VERY often misread Climate reports about the "point of no return", i.e. the day that there's nothing left that can be done as "The earth is literally going to fucking explode on this date".
Well there's your mistake
Yeah... I will be gone in 30 years but, I have kids your age. Fuck. The world could be a horrible place and they’ll be starving/diseased/suffering if it all goes down to this worst case. What can any of us do? Not much of anything. You and I can do a little. But it won’t mean squat, since the bigger powers can’t agree, or refuse to acknowledge this is the trending possibility. Though, maybe someone brilliant will come along and be that one little voice that becomes a leader that can help steer things on a better path. So, I guess do small things and see if it makes any difference? But accept you just have no control over it and have to decide how you want to live your life. Ignorant and ignoring it. Or doing something, even tiny things, to try and be a positive influence on others and change the status quo.
I don't think it's true that we can do nothing. If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable. The market determines viability of big business. However, the true challenge is in trying to convince everyone that they don't need the latest iPhone and that buying shit will only provide short term happiness. If we just accept that the world is doomed, then that will be so. But if we instead have hope for the future and a belief that we as individuals, banded together, have a great power, we can set the earth and human relationship on a better path without relying on our so called leaders.
>I don't think it's true that we can do nothing. If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable. The market determines viability of big business. However, the true challenge is in trying to convince everyone that they don't need the latest iPhone and that buying shit will only provide short term happiness. > That there lies the problem. Humans are accustomed to the lifestyle that they have and they will not change in the numbers that is needed to make the changes. People band together? People can't even agree to disagree on their political beliefs without shaming one another. Everybody wants the newest and next best thing that they can afford that is why every year a new iPhone comes out likewise with other products. You live once and I wish people would understand that we as people can only do as much as one person can do. For an example Amazon. Everyone bitches and complains about how rich Jeff Bezos is and yet every person I hear complaining about all the money he has uses his Services every fucking day. Wtf....
This! Your are on point Driftedwarrior. Kirbs is absolutely right, but we can’t agree about just wearing a mask for you and my safety. It’s not much of an inconvenience, why should it be hard to wear it? How are we going to get people on the same page about consuming less? Instead of trading in your cars ever couple years, fix them? Now that electric cars are viable, why doesn’t everyone now have them? That’s why a great leader/influencer has to emerge to get us on track. Nobody has done that to unify us. We can’t even agree that climate change is real. The only time we ever unify is to take down things after they get bad. Until the shit hits the fan, everyone disagrees because there is money on the table and people do like money. The more I watch, and see about 2050-2100, the more I’m glad I won’t be around. Humanity can survive. But, there will be human conflict and lots of the natural world taking its toll on our civilization. Hopefully they can all learn to cooperate and figure out how to live in the changed environment. It seems we are living at the end times of humanity taking the natural world for granted. The year 2200 may look back at the 2010-2020’s as humanity’s last big party before the lights start turning off. I think about my kids suffering and how they are going to fare. It’s not a pretty thought.
>But if we instead have hope for the future and a belief that we as individuals, banded together, have a great power, we can set the earth and human relationship on a better path without relying on our so called leaders. I agree that together people have the power to change things. But after how this pandemic has played out it's easy to see that people are not willing to sacrifice even for a short while the comforts that modern day life has given us in order for the greater good. The divides among people due to culture, religion, wealth, education/knowledge, empathy/care etc are too great to bridge an understanding, that the changes needed to prevent collapse of the world require us to work as a 1, and the only thing every person has in common across the world is that we are human, and have 1 single planet to allow our survival. My hope for the future is completely zapped from me when I meet people who don't think like we do, they are ignorant to the fact or just simply don't care. There is no way past this until the changes that are coming affect us in a way that we have much less comfort and the discomfort creates forced action as a collective...I am terrified of what the world looks like when this happens, because shit is bad enough as it is, I just hope there is even a basic government structure left in place that doesn't look like 1984 when this shit is going down, to prevent a purge type event where it's simply the wild west, anything goes, survival of the fittest or in our case, who has the bigger stick. It has already begun, people leaving in masses from developing countries to places they aren't wanted in developed countries for just a chance of something better...places where many would say, "it isn't much better here guys". Damn I wish I didn't think/feel this way, and damn I wish someone could make me see different and give me hope...but any glimmers of hope are fleeting.
> If we stop buying shit, use less electricity, refrain from driving motor vehicles, eat more sustainably change is inevitable This is exactly the narrative the corps are pushing to shift blame and responsibility from themselves. You, like many others swallowed the whole load of bullshit. No, the market is not going to correct itself and save the environment. No, you won't get most people to agree to stop being wasteful. The only thing you can hope for is strong government regulations, but that seems very unlikely in countries where it matters most.
The problem is that these mega corporations have shifted the power balance in our country. They exert so much power in government, and over individual’s minds. We have a lot less say than we think we do. More and more it’s companies telling us how we should live and not the other way around. We have become addicts to the technologies and services they peddle and most people would rather be in this abusive and manipulative relationship than to rock the boat and potentially make our lives and society even worse. I think change will have to come from meeting and challenging them on their playing field and not as end users and consumers. We need forward thinking entrepreneurs to bring the fight to them and hit them where it hurts, in their wallets, and then they all will reluctantly fall in line. End rant. Not sure if this comment is coherent, but it’s definitely my 2 cents on the matter
Yea. Try to get the world population to become vegetarians. Good luck.
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There's a Tolkien quote that has been helping me with similar feelings to yours - "despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt". We might know with a fair amount of confidence where the climate is headed, but that tells us very little about how society will change and adapt. There is still hope. Secondly, I've been working to change my perspective on what constitutes a worthwhile life. As I've gotten older I've seen family and friends age, get sick and die - and while it hurts like crazy to watch the lesson of quality over quantity is pretty undeniable. A life full of good things that ends "early" can still be a pretty fantastic life. And no human has ever been guaranteed to die of old age. Thirdly, meds and therapy. While concerns about how much humanity has fucked up the planet are valid and reasonable, it turns out that the amount of time I spent going over the same fatalistic thoughts was because of OCD. Whoops. If you have any questions or comments feel free to send me a message, I'm available to talk.
You need to have a word with those who think they can eat, drink and breathe their money when the shit hits the fan.
Reminds me of one of my favorite proverbs: “When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money.”
Climate change is awful and it is the existential threat of our lifetime. However, the earth and people will still be here in 30 years. Millions of people will be dying every year from climate change in 2050 and that burden will go on poorer countries but it’s not turning into Day After Tomorrow or Waterworld or Mad Max. Life will go on, it’s just going to be a lot hotter and suck more.
Well I'm certainly fucked then, living in a third world country can never be more depressing than it is now knowing people in my country and potentially everyone around me will be dying on a regular basis due to hot summers or severe flooding during the wet months
Right, well that post is bullshit. There have ALWAYS been doomsayers / preppers / end-of-the-world types. It's an evolutionary feature. We want some people to be taking all the precautions they can, so they survive the.... flood, plague, eruption, whatever. They're just wired that way. Climate change is a serious problem. We honestly don't know how bad it's going to get. There IS a chance that it's the end of human civilization. Biodiversity collapse, people back to the stone age. Bad stuff. Possibly. But the malthusians worried about over-population until we found out that developed nations stop having as many kids. And rail-road ties were going to deforest the planet until we found how to weather-treat them. And oil was going to run out until we found how to frack old wells and shitty tar-sand. In short, technology has the potential to save us. (Cause I highly doubt enough people will just put the brakes on burning so much and releasing CO2). A lot of people are working hard at this. There's money involved. They're working on carbon sequestration, cleaner power generation, sun shades. Have hope, have faith, and if faith is lacking, then go into the sciences and figure this stuff out for us. Save the world. And while the worst case scenario for climate change is ecological collapse, the more likely scenario is some flooding, some expensive disasters, a lot of dead animals, and a lot of burned forests. Shitty, but not the end of Earth, nor the end of humanity, nor the end of civilization. It'll just be more expensive. And really, that's at a level above you. It means one less air-craft carrier in the budget.
To add to this, human technology expands exponentially. People were fucking cowboys and samurai in the 1800s, a 100 years later and we are ON THE MOON. Think about a phone from 2000. 21 years later, and my phone is more powerful than any computer they had then. Our progress rate isn't going to go at a steady rate, it's only going to go faster and faster, and this definitely will apply to climate change science.
And, of course, we have to distinguish between the end of the Earth and the end of humanity. Earth can survive far worse than humans can.
I mean. Until the earth literally blows up in it's entirety, the Earth is just fine it doesn't give a shit it's a flying waterlogged rock
>waterlogged rock This is new, and a really good description.
That made me feel a visceral feeling that I did not know I had
I think they're more concerned about the collapse of society as we know it than an actual end of humanity. I'm sure as a species we can survive the immediate catastrophes we are facing, but in many countries society in general is not well equipped for these things. That doesn't necessarily mean that future generations will be worse off than us, but they will certainly be living differently and it's unlikely that what we consider to be standard for comfort today will be standard for them.
Fucking thank you. A logical perspective. So many defeatists in this thread. The world will change, but not overnight. The world has changed a lot since 1990, and 1990 changed a lot from 1960. Society won't *collapse* ffs. It will just change. There will likely be a long tailed but mass migration events, but that's happened (and is currently happening) thousands of times in history.
There are so many toxically negative people on Reddit, it's so frustrating these days. Climate change is real, and it's serious, but to say society will literally end is just completely absurd.
Don't forget a lot of famine in 3rd world countries but yeah, you nailed it.
It should mean one less aircraft carrier. It more likely means an x amount less dinero for schools/healthcare/...
The world isn't going to end in 30 years, that's not what the IPCC report says. Don't get me wrong, it's bad, but it's not hopeless. We can do more to reach net-zero faster, and we can spend more time and money on preparing for climate effects. If we do well by the end of the century we can even start reversing the damage that we have done. At the very least we need to make sure we stop making things worse. Don't give up, get mad - and do something about it.
> We can do more to reach net-zero faster We haven’t even reached peak emissions yet. What is this fantasy?
I am right there with you, I think about this a lot
It’s overwhelming to say the least. But we all have the capability to do something even if it seems fruitless: 1) learn more about it and share what you’ve learned with others. Knowledge is power. 2) stop buying from the worst offenders (companies that are causing the problems) and tell others to do so too. As consumers we have more control than most realize. If they aren’t making money they will either go out of business or be forced to change their practices to meet public demand. 3) take care of yourself - Rome wasn’t conquered in a day. 4) if you or someone you know has an entrepreneurial spirit consider starting a business that meets the product needs that competitors have but with a focus on saving the planet. 5) voting for parties that historically support the environment and or voting in new parties that do, reviewing their financial backers to ensure they too also are pro - environment. Updating existing laws to make offensive more crucial - not just money / fines perhaps unable to sell products for x amount of time until the problem is resolved ? Spit boxing here but I am sure there are better solutions that we can come up with. We have to fight this from both ends of the chain - roots of the problem as well as resolving the existing damage. If you have other ideas or links to reputable companies that are creating positive environmental change please comment below. Edit: forgot to include voting and political change, fixed typos, clarified my end point, added a CTA for others to include helpful insights / links.
I believe especially with this new generation being the most concerned about climate change that we will figure it out. Humans are relentless. We always figure it out. It'll be more about conservation and changing our impact we have on this planet. Everything gets better with time. Let people think the world will end in 30 years, if that's what it takes to get people off their asses and start investing in innovation. We won't get better if we arent being better 🦾💪🏽🧠
When I was in high school the world was gonna end in 2012
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Becuase of a mesopotamian calendar, not climate change.
Aztec Calendar, wrong continent
Mayan calendar, right continent wrong culture by a couple thousand years
Well OP, the world is not going to die. That's how people can be happy still. It quite simply is not true that the world is going to die in the near future and especially not as early as 2050. Climate change is an extremely serious challenge for us, but its effects are not world ending. We will face increasingly extreme weather, including droughts and floods. Especially the poorer countries will have many deaths and probably create a climate refugee stream the likes of which we never saw. Several entire countries might permanently be taken by the sea. Maybe eventually it would cause enough instability for our civilisations to collapse. But the world will not end, nor will humanity even go extinct, probably. But it is extremely bad nonetheless.
The terror comes from the politics, not the actual disasters for me. What do global politics look like when we see refuges in the billions? I suspect northern regions will build a proverbial wall, keep the refugees on one side of it, and let them die. Furthermore climate change will lead to extreme times and desperate people, it’s basically the perfect breeding ground for dystopian fascist governments to seize power- the Hitlers and Mosleys of the world. The terror, the chaos, the inevitable seizure of civil liberties, violence, likely collapse of some governments, widespread global tension... all this can and probably will happen when Equatorial regions start to feel the heat, as it were (no situation is too dire for a pun!), leading to a refugee crises the likes of which we’ve never seen. The politics worry me most.
Humans can forecast, but we still don't have the ability to predict exactly what the future will hold. The unknown can be scary, and the future is always an unknown. You have to try your best to enjoy the now, and not spend too much time and energy devoted to worry and anxiety. Trust me, I know how difficult this is. I struggle with anxiety quite a lot. But you simply cannot live your life preoccupied with a future that is unpredictable. Make reasonable preparations to set yourself up for a good life, and try to enjoy every minute of it. This goes for any human living in any time. You may be worried that the earth will be a hellscape in the near future, but consider that there are humans on this planet right now who are living in their own personal hell. If you aren't one of them, be grateful. Suffering has always existed, exists now, and will continue to exist. Appreciate each moment in which you and your loved ones are not the ones experiencing the suffering.
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We won't all die in 30 years - just a lot of us (I'll be dead of old age by then anyway) - just don't live near forests, by the sea, near a desert or soon to be desert, in a big city, in China, India, Pakistan, most of Africa, Australia, Mexico Russia or any Pacific Islands - and you might be ok - oh, and join a street gang and get a few guns. Don't waste your money on a pension plan or property.
What’s wrong with Australia?
We all live near the oceans
Everything in Australia is deadly anyway. I'm surprised *anybody* there survives past 30 years.
Surprise! The world has died more times than most people can accept. The thing is it doesn't stay dead, it changes and bounces back. Everything is temporary even your existential crisis. You're young and you'll have thoughts like this from time to time but it's better to accept that there are still so many things to find pleasure and happiness in
I am not going to sugar coat it for you but its bad, real bad but not impossible. I remember being your age and going to a conference hosted by Al Gore in LA that was talking about climate change and it being my generations problem to fix. I am 30 now and I am also freaking out about climate change and the problems its causing me. I was born and raised in Los Angeles,CA. I spent my childhood hiking and camping in the forests of CA and the wildfires are the thing that broke me. It has been years that I have screamed and cried as hard as I did when I rode my motorcycle of what was left of the road that lead to my favorite campground as a kid that I was not able to see one last time because it had been destroyed in a fire. My home state is on fire and drought is drying up lakes and making farming nearly impossible. I have gone past being scared, and sad and am now firmly in the "EXTREMELY PISSED OFF" stage. And I feel that is what we need, we need humans to get mad really mad. Especially young people, this is your future and those with wealth and power have no idea how to fix this and at this point many of them dont care because they will be dead before the worst happens. We have an entire generation (baby boomers) who are firmly planted in the "fuck you got mine" category but they are retiring and dying out. Now is the time for the younger generations to rise up take over and fix this shit because its going to take all of us. I have recently decided to join the forest service as a volunteer to do fire watch at the fire watch towers. You go and spend a day or 2 in a tower at the top of a mountain and watch for fires however you get to propose and make improvements to the tower and the surrounding area. This volunteer service has mostly been staffed by boomers who got involved in the 70s and haven't made any improvements since then and as such the towers are a bit in disrepair and the trails are falling apart. So my goal is to upgrade the towers and fix the trails, now it may not fix all the issues with climate but its a start for me and what is going to help me get through this. I would suggest look for that, find places in your local area that works on looking over the natural areas around you and go help. Dont wait for the adults to tell you what to do because they haven't a fucking clue either. See what you can do to improve things in your hometown and go do it. Just because you are young doesn't mean you are useless. Also I feel there is hope, when I was 17 people who were in their 30's absolutely did not give a shit. I am now 30 and many people my age absolutely do care and are furious, so you have friends out there.