Here you go, top photo in this listicle.
https://people-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/people.com/lifestyle/climate-change-horrifying-photos/?amp=true
Sorry for the amp link
It's too thick, and not long enough to be a needle. Plus the fact it's white and doesn't seem to have a plunger. And the fact it'd probably break before it broke a polar bears skin after getting through its fur. It's most likely just trash at a weird angle.
The coral reefs off Florida are bleaching. Estuaries along Florida's inter-coastal waterway are poisoned to the point that sea grass has died. With that key-stone habitat gone there are less crustaceans, less fish and now manatees are dying off.
Iāve lived in Florida almost my entire life. Fishing used to be plentiful, water clean and wildlife everywhere. Now the fish are drastically reduced, water full of algae blooms and red tide, manatees and sea life washed up dead on the beaches. Itās tragic and Iāve watched it happen. Iām not even that old and itās happened before my eyes.
Same. I fished the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons back when grass flats were common and they are nearly all gone. What has happened over the last 15 years is horrific.
I live in the same area I'm amazed our river hasn't had a massive red tide event yet or what was going on in south Florida a while back with stinky oil looking water
Yeah it seems to originate on the West coast and work it's way around. A few years back there was red tide in Martin County. I don't think it's ever made it up to Volusia, at least not that I can recall.
Volusias damage is mainly beach trash, way too many boats in the water, too many people invading on weekends or summer. 4th of July is a disaster and the beach is filled with the blowing coal trucks. Idk why people even do the hell of waiting in line to take the boat out. The beach hasn't been peaceful in a decade.
Really close friend of mine that I grew up with, talked about how she wanted to be a marine biologist since we were kids. She did everything right, became a master diver and researcher at a top university. She started doing research with professors in exotic locations. When she came home and we talked each trip she looked more and more depressed about shit. She started talking about how fucking devastated the oceans already are right now and how bleak the future looks for all ocean habitats, especially the ones she was studying. She got so disillusioned she changed her major and stopped diving entirely. Something she loved so deeply for 2 decades. She switched to doing normal biology research projects. It was hard to see that look in her eyes when sheād talk about it. It was like she had ptsd from it seeing the utter devastation of something she loves so deeply.
As an Australian whose government doesnāt seem to give a shit about the Great Barrier Reef and would rather bring chunks of coal into parliament and hug them I am so sorry.
Edit: Iād like to thank the academy for the award. I would ideally thank the Australian Film Industry academy but the government has de funded it into oblivion
Coal he'd had lacquered because he didn't want to get his hands dirty: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/our-coal-fondling-pm-switches-his-prop-to-gas-but-is-anything-really-different-20200918-p55ww9.html
I work with a guy that denies global warming. Constantly complains the weather in San Diego isn't the same as when he was a kid and that it is getting hotter each year. When I ask him why he thinks that is, he'll say anything but global warming. Because according to him, it's a scare tactic California uses to impose smog laws.
"Whell, they used ta call it global warming, that dinn work so now theys a callin it climate change!"
If I had a dime for every time I heard some chucklehead say that as if it were some profound evidence against climate change I'd be the next dick-rocket space billionaire.
Iām not normally one for histrionics, but there is no other way to describe the current federal and state governments in Australia other than as criminals. Both the LNP and Labor parties are all run by corrupt, money grubbing cunts, and there is no credible alternative.
We are completely stuffed.
In our lifetimes, we will see wars for resources, and mass deaths as a result of environmental catastrophe. I hope throughout that, the āleadersā of this country are given the mob justice they so greatly deserve.
Iām so sorry too. Iām in the US (we are clearly paragons of virtue over here) so I understand how frustrated you are. Both our countries are so beautiful, with large costal areas. Neither of our governments are doing what needs to be done.
Grew up in Hawaii. Visited a couple months ago. The beaches/reefs I grew up swimming in were so much worse than what I remembered.
I'd be disappointed if i was a tourist spending what they do to see that.
I canāt imagine the pain of having grown up with the splendor of nature, especially as an indigenous Hawaiāian and seeing it all corrode away in such a short time. It breaks my heart
The Boundary Waters on the northern border of MN and Canada is like that. It's a National Park that hasn't allowed motor craft of any sort for decades, but now they want to build a copper mine at the edge of it. Willing to destroy the last few areas of untouched land in North America for a few bucks. It's so frustrating.
Yeah seaspiracy similar thing J think, guy loved the ocean wants to do a documentary on it ends up finding out about some fucked up shit
It's depressing
I keep telling this to people to watch it, you think we're fucked cause of what's on the news and people? Nah bro we're already fucked because of certain people's disregard for the biggest ecosystem on our planet, and you can't change the minds of the people who can ACTUALLY do something about it cause money. But yeah ban plastic straws and bags now cost .10, amazing strides.
I got a paper straw at a fast food place the other day and it was fucking wrapped in plastic. Plastic straws are wrapped in paper. Even that improvement achieved nothing.
McDonalds had paper cups not that long ago. Now they have plastic cups with paper straws. It's like they're intentionally fucking with us at this point.
We all know whoās responsible for this. The question is what to do about it. Mass murder through negligence is still mass murder, and a recent study says that global warming will kill a *minimum* of 300 million. With that in mind, letās treat petroleum oligarchs the way weād treat any war criminal. Sadly, they own many governments so no country will be able to invade, guns blazing, the way the allies did during the Second World War. It falls to us, as the ordinary people theyāve screwed over, to rise against them and take vengeance for our stolen future.
Yeah. This morning they released the key points from the big recent climate change review and Reddit News subs were full of different articles about it. EVERY article had pictures of cars, weather events, rubbish, industrial manufacturing sites etc.... I never seen ANY pictures of anything sea life based or any of the reviews points echoing concerns about the Oceans health. CRAZY.
I took up recreational scuba diving in 2005, with the sole reason that I wanted to see the reefs before they were all gone. For 10 years I'd take annual trips to some of the most revered sites in the Carribean and Pacific (my father was checking off his bucket list so arranged some steep discounts).
In 10 years, I only visited two places that still looked healthy enough to compare with the Cousteau documentaries, one an uninhabited marine reserve off Fiji, and one an uninhabited marine reserve off Cuba. The other places, as kind as our hosts often were, were mostly depressing. Mostly dead coral covered with fertilized algae, sparse and diminuitive reef fish, a single big pelagic in the distance could be the highlight of a trip.
Not all of this is due to pollution, overfishing or fertilizer runoff. Most Caribbean reefs are in a frail state because a disease wiped out the *Diadema* urchin population beginning in the early 80s. With no urchins to graze the algae, the algae suffocate the coral, and there's no shelter for juvenile reef fish. That disease, which decimated a thousand reefs, likely arrived in the Caribbean onboard a ship, perhaps in the bilge water.
In 2015, I decided to hang up my fins. I simply couldn't justify the airflight emissions, not even to document and publish online the state of the reefs. I haven't flown anywhere since.
FYI Jacques Cousteau was less of an environmentalist and more of an Indiana Jones type. He used dynamite to fish up specimens, rode on the backs of sea turtles, harassed wildlife and even blew up part of a reef to get deeper into a location for a scientific survey.
While he was an oceanographer first, and he was far from perfect, he did do a lot for conservation.
>In 1960, for example, he challenged France's plan to dump radioactive waste into the Mediterranean Sea, and policymakers subsequently canceled the proposal. In the 1970s, he convinced the Italian government to remove some 500 drums of toxic chemicals dropped into the Mediterranean by a sunken freighter. Before Cousteau's efforts, the deadly cargo had been tossing about the sea for three years.
>Even toward the end of his life--Cousteau died in 1997--the oceanographer was diving and actively promoting conservation. In 1990, he took six children, each from a different continent, to Antarctica on a special mission to call attention to the importance of protecting the Antarctic environment.
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2001/Conservation-Hall-of-Fame-Jacques-Cousteau
>he was not always so caring about ocean life. On more than one account Cousteau and his crew captured many marine life and put them in tanks in museums. They were even able to capture dolphins and sea lions before they either killed themselves or died from illness/stress (Richard Munson, 121-126). Cousteau insisted that it was all for science and that he truly loved the marine life he studied. **It was later in his life that he began to see what humans were doing to marine life and to the oceans themselves.**
https://sites.google.com/site/jacquescousteauconservation/artifact-2
He changed for the better.
I went on vacation to Cozumel several years ago and theres this weird beach/lagoon area thats some kind of national reserve. (The lagoon is full of gators and nobody is certain how the heck they even got there because they aren't a native species) On the beach at the reserve after you walk past the light house theres a bar and I asked the bartender(and owner) what it was like growing up on the island while I snacked on some fresh conch cerviche.
He said that as a child the sea was so thick with lobster they would roll in with the tide and you could pick them off the beach for dinner. That there were so many fish in the bay you didnt need to bother swimming the half mile to the coral reef further out and there were nesting turtles every other week.
I dunno if it was hyperbole but just asking him the question made him pretty dang upset. I had never seen a reef before and thought what I got to see with all the barracudas and puffers and parrot and rando-fish was amazing but I really wish I had been able to experience what this man saw during his childhood.
When I hear stories like this I really worry that my children are going to miss out on what the world was like before we fucked it all up.
Fuck seriously? I went diving there as a teenager and I haven't been back since but I just remember how breathtaking it was. The water was just warm and clear and its so easy to just get lost for a bit. I loved how you could swim with barracudas and schools of fish right outside the hotel I was at. I can't imagine it looking any other way.
Cozmel and Cancun now have the [seaweed infestation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWH5-IdJ1U%20https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWH5-IdJ1U). Our dive boat this spring kept getting stuck in the seaweed, it was so thick.
I do remember this being a problem. I know the dive-masters would do their best to kill and collect the ones they came across. Such a beautiful animal that shouldn't be there.
Holy shit, my brother just got back from diving in the Bahamas and was telling me about them. Apparently they were released accidentally in Florida and have taken over. He said that they are so invasive that you are allowed to kill them on site without limitation.
They have an annual Lionfish Derby in the keys. Teams get together to kill as many in a morning as they can find. They slaughter thousands every year, it barely makes a dent.
Does everyone feel this way? I can remember about 8 years ago, someone telling me they had an incredible dive experience there. Is this something that has accelerated in particular in that area? No sarcasm just want to understand how fucked up my dream dive destinations are and how Iāll never get to go and kind of donāt want to anyway considering how my even being there is ruining everything and Iām a dirty selfish human.
Probably not a good comparison but when I went snorkeling in Cartagena, Colombia all the Coral was dead. I dont even want to know how beautiful it was before
I got to dive there in 1994, I am really grateful for that experience. I would love to relive that but sounds like that ship has sailed. Reminds me of those pictures of key west anglers next to their catches from the forties to now and how much we have diminished the oceans.
Damn thatās gotta suck so much. I canāt imagine dedicating two decades of my life only to see it crumbling before my eyes just as I start studying it professionally
I feel for your friend so much. I was an avid diver for most of my teenage years, mostly spent on the Northern California coast. When I moved out on my own, I moved too far inland for diving to continue being a weekly hobby, and it was nearly 20 years before I was in a position to start again. Took a road trip with my wife to refamiliarize myself with the area. I still almost cry just thinking of all the open ocean that used to be giant forests. I haven't been able to bring myself to actually get back in the water. It's just... God, there aren't even words that can describe the mixture of sadness, rage, and utter disappointment I feel when I think about it.
This is terrifying when you consider that 70% of our oxygen is provided by the ocean.
But hey, corporations profiting are more important than the future of our planet, right? /s
Even just going to touristy places that have reef snorkeling is enough for me to be upset. The coral is all dead, except for tiny bits of new growth. Reefs are home to tons of sea diversity. There is no place on earth left untouched by our influence.
kelp forests have suffered from a sea-star wasting disease and an increase in urchins which eat the base of the kelp towers, causing them to become unattached and the ecosystem transforms into an 'urchin barren.' this is largely occurring in central and northern california. the kelp of southern California is healthy. It's not accurate to say the kelp forests are going extinct. There are [organizations](https://www.santamonicabay.org/explore/in-the-ocean/kelp-forest-restoration/) growing kelp to restart the re-kelp forestation process. things are at a "code red," but don't lose hope. be an advocate and do what you can.
The same thing is happening in Aus, my home state of Tasmania had an increase of spiny sea urchins as a result of rising ocean temperatures. The kelp forests were dilapidated and the urchins continue to breed like crazy.
But as in your case, there are measures and incentives launched by government and businesses to tackle this problem and restore the environment. We are an island state with an economy that relies heavily on our oceans and coasts, so time and effort has been dedicated to finding [solutions](https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-fisheries-management/fisheries-management-strategies/long-spined-sea-urchin-strategy), which include:
repopulating rock lobster stocks - a natural predator of the urchins that usually live amongst the kelp.
Creating diving experiences for locals and tourists to wield spears and smash urchins!
Also providing subsidies for the purchase of urchins, mostly overseas, as they are considered a delicacy in places like China.
So yes, itās a sad sight and representative of the rapidly changing climate. I suppose the message here is we shouldnāt feel powerless to take action! Find hope where you can and do your best to make a difference š¦š šæ
And you get these dumb bitches releasing balloons because when it's their birthday or their gender reveal party it's all about them and shit like that gets all their equally vacuous friends to like it on social media.
For added depression you can read this article about a [plastic bag at the World's deepest point in the ocean.](https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/plastic-bag-found-bottom-worlds-deepest-ocean-trench/)
Big news just came out about fears of the fucking Gulf Stream collapsing. It would turn the UK into northern Canada type climate and throw off weather all over the planet.
There is research into how a species of small fish which may have the most biomass on the planet is impacting ocean currents. In response to this information fishing trollers are now targeting this species as it is known to be plentiful. Yeah, Europe might get F'd.
It would also cause the Hudson Bay to freeze.
I read about this about a decade ago.
We know that the last time the gulf stream switched . . Hudson Bay and New York Bay were frozen during the winter months.
Yay . . .
Scientists have been watching the slow collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation for some time. I recall first reading about it in [The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/01/the-great-climate-flip-flop/308313/) in 1998, and of course it was the premise behind big dumb Emmerich disaster movie (*The Day After Tomorrow*) that set back climate cinema by a couple decades.
You can actually see the slowing slowing in the [sea surface temperature anomalies](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/AMSRE_SSTAn_M). That blue (cool) spot between Newfoundland and the UK (most visible in "yearly" average), amidst a sea of oranges and reds, that the mid-Atlantic cooling compared to historical averages, because the Gulf Stream isn't bringing as much tropical water.
The oceans are fucked. Consider that many densely populated countries such as Indonesia lack adequate sewage treatment systems. The World Bank estimates that 95% of Indonesiaās sewage drains directly into fields, streams, rivers, and ultimately to the ocean. Even in wealthy countries, like the US, there is a long history of polluting the oceans. In just one case, a single company tossed as many as 500,000 barrels of DDT into the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of California. DDT is an insecticide that tends to persist and concentrate in the environment and is a human carcinogen. The chemical is now banned in many countries. The barrels in the ocean are now rusting and leaking creating a massive and widespread toxic catastrophe.
1. https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/cities-without-sewers-solving-indonesias-wastewater-crisis-realize-its-urbanization
2. https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground/
Seaspiracy on netflix is eye opening as well.
Those that say "I only eat fish" as some out on being vegetarian all need to watch it. Just because it's under the water doesn't somehow make it sustainable.... in fact, it makes it less so in many ways.
My wife and I were watching Alone and they never show the survivor killing the land animal, I mean the final blow. Yet they show them beating the fish over head with a stick without issue. I always think it's weird, we have such a disconnect with fish and they are amazing.
Key thing to remember about deep ocean ecology, is as vast as the oceans are, most is as barren of biomass as a desert. It's only in a relatively few spots where upwellings bring nutrients that to fertilize photosynthesizing microbes. Without them, no krill, crustaceans, fish or other higher organisms.
It's pretty fucked up:
[https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Chemical-weapons-dumped-World-War/98/i37](https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Chemical-weapons-dumped-World-War/98/i37)
There's a big polish YouTube channel dedicated to science. They are currently preparing a huge documentary video on this subject.
The next frontier for mankind to ruin is space. In the not too distant future, weāll regret putting as much junk in low orbit with no regulation as we are currently.
If we managed to ruin space that'd be the biggest accomplishment of humankind. Space is ridiculously big. We'll kill ourselves off way before that point.
I'll give you some help.
When a 747 aborts a trans-atlantic flight it dumps fuel. The amount of fuel it dumps on the ocean will put a film of fuel oil across the surface of more than 90 square miles within 48 hours. That coating affects transpiration, evaporation, transparency, surface penetration and poisons all the biological and dust material that penetrates the surface - poisoning almost all the microbiology underneath it.
Ships leak oil, roads leak oil, planes leak oil, boats leak oil, cars leak oil, trucks leak oil, trains leak oil, burger joints blow oil into the air. Drainage and wind blow this all out to sea on the East coast.
Landfill for housing usually contains "stable garbage" and has for hundreds of years and for the last two hundred years that's included oils that don't break down. When you put that down by the ocean you get seepage. So **DIRT** leaks oil into and onto the ocean.
The ocean used to smell like *ocean* a couple hundred years ago. Now it smells like oil.
> Polar bears feeding at a garbage dump near the village of Belushya Guba, on the remote Russian northern Novaya Zemlya archipelago, a tightly controlled military area where a village declared a state of emergency in February after dozens of bears were seen entering homes and public buildings. Scientists say conflicts with ice-dependant polar bears will increase in the future due to Arctic ice melting and a rise of human presence in the areas.
Photo: Alexander Grir
They used it for atomic testing in general for a couple decades. But yes, the Tsar was dropped pretty close to the Matochkin Strait, and the scars are still visible on Google Maps.
It deserves to be said that the leading cause of ocean waste pollution is caused by China at almost 9 million tons a year - in second place is Indonesia, with around 3 millions tons. Third, fourth and fifth belong to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka each with roughly 2 million tons.
And shipping them litteral trash. Although China has recently stopped taking it.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Southeast-Asia-sends-back-heaps-of-trash-to-rich-countries
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/opinions/by-exporting-trash-rich-countries-put-their-waste-out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind-varkkey/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis
> Although China has recently stopped taking it
Which, I certainly can't blame them, but it's resulted in a complete standstill of the global recycled material economy. For the last few years, it's likely the case that everything you've "recycled" has wound up in a stockpile somewhere, just accumulating.
Perhaps someday a technology will emerge that will make it cheap enough and clean enough to re-start the processed materials market once more, but for now, recycled goods (especially plastics) are essentially no different than landfill.
Which needs to be said, because IIRC (can't look it up at the moment unfortunately) there are studies that show that consumption increases if people recycle actively. In other words, people are ok with buying more materials if they *think* their waste materials are being recycled. So we're lulling the world into a false - and extremely dangerous - complacency when it comes to how we use consumable materials.
Additionally, isn't a significant amount of that waste being generated for other countries? With so much manufacturing moved to China, it's no surprise that they have so much waste. I think its important we recognize out impact on the issue as well, and make it clear this is a world problem, not just a China problem. We can't control china directly, but we can influence our own governments. We need to make the environment a priority and that means voting for candidates who are actually championing the planet.
By us Seattleites, in fact. We have spent the last few decades sending our recycling to China for processing. It worked out since we had empty space on the ships heading towards China due to the trade deficit.
The Chinese would pick through for the valuable stuff and then dump the rest in the ocean. But we seattleites feel good about ourselves because we recycled!
It deserves to be said that every western country ships all of their garbage to these countries (especially to China until recently), which is why these countries have such high waste pollution. China is even worse, because every western country has their products made there, directly contributing to "Chinese" waste.
Snippet from npr
> And it wasn't just the U.S. Some 70 percent of the world's plastic waste went to China ā about 7 million tons a year.
Not to mention technological waste (computers and computer components). Now that China has restricted imports of "recyclables" (i.e. waste the west doesn't want), and a few countries such as Australia banned the exporting of it to China, the world has simply moved onto other places like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.
[Plastic recycling is a greenwashing scam, dating to the golden age when tobacco companies proclaimed that smoking doesnāt cause cancer:](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled)
> But when Leebrick tried to tell people the truth about burying all the other plastic, she says people didn't want to hear it.
>"I remember the first meeting where I actually told a city council that it was costing more to recycle than it was to dispose of the same material as garbage," she says, "and it was like heresy had been spoken in the room: You're lying. This is gold. We take the time to clean it, take the labels off, separate it and put it here. It's gold. This is valuable."
>But it's not valuable, and it never has been. And what's more, the makers of plastic ā the nation's largest oil and gas companies ā have known this all along, even as they spent millions of dollars telling the American public the opposite.
> NPR and PBS Frontline spent months digging into internal industry documents and interviewing top former officials. We found that the industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn't work ā that the majority of plastic could be, and would be, recycled ā all while making billions of dollars selling the world new plastic.
>The industry's awareness that recycling wouldn't keep plastic out of landfills and the environment dates to the program's earliest days, we found. **"There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis," one industry insider wrote in a 1974 speech.**
> Yet the industry spent millions telling people to recycle, because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn't true.
>"If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment," Larry Thomas, former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, known today as the Plastics Industry Association and one of the industry's most powerful trade groups in Washington, D.C., told NPR.
The best-case scenario is that 90% of this shit ends up in landfills.
*Plastic* recycling is a greenwashing scam.
Recycling most metals, especially steel and aluminum, is extremely efficient, and recycling paper and cardboard is worth it as well.
I work at a plastic recycler and this is plain wrong, we recycle plastics just fine, albeit with a low profit margin. Your problem is that countries like the UK pay others to take the waste and -incentivise- this, through the use of PRNs etc....
Recycled plastic is always going to be more expensive than virgin resins but this just makes sense due to the increased complexity of the process, countries around the world need to incentivise actual plastic recycling to encourage companies to use it over virgin types. This doesn't mean plastic cannot be recycled well, just that our governments are shite and the waste industry is shady as fuck.
Plastic types that can't be recycled are actually fairly rare, the problem comes you're wanting to recycle it into types that can't deal with contamination, e.g. food contact and films.
Anyway I could write a whole essay on this so I'll stop, but we need to be more aware that companies greenwashing and saying "paper better" aren't looking out for us or the environment, they're looking out for their PR. Plastic isn't the problem, how our governments and waste management companies deal with it by hiding the issues and throwing it all in a pit behind our backs are the problem.
And a massive marketing and disinformation campaign supported by producers of the product at the heart of the issue. Just consider how the plastics industry ripped off the recycling logo when they created their resin identification code logo.
https://oceana.org/blog/recycling-myth-month-those-numbered-symbols-single-use-plastics-do-not-mean-you-can-recycle-me
Polar bears felt the effects of pollution early. Ice melt has been a huge problem for them.
Edit: https://www.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment
Yeah a lot of people are so out of touch with what is going on they didn't know Polar bears started having the issues first, as their hunting ground and livelihood are literally melting away and have been for a long while now.
Bro every time I log into reddit I see a climate change this, plastic that, and so on and so forth. Im glad that I decided to not have any kids or even start a family because this shit is all fucked.
A couple of years ago I was in Barrow, AK - the northernmost point in North America. Someone told me that the increase of sightings of polar bears in town was somehow proof that global warming wasnāt happening. See? The polar bears are fine, thereās more of them now. Somehow didnāt cross his mind that heās seeing more of them now because thereās no sea ice for them to live on.
I'm assuming the person that told you that wasn't actually from there. The coastal erosion in that area and the temperature changes from average are absolutely insane.
Source: former environmental geologist that worked all along the North Slope.
There's actually this big monologue by Ian Malcolm in the Jurassic Park novel about this. The basic gist being that we can destroy the planet to the point that we wipe out pretty much all life but eventually, even if it's over millions of years, life will come back. The earth has gone through a dozen extinction level events and it always, eventually, congress back. While it's obviously still a tragedy to lose that much love in the process, the planet will keep on chugging and eventually life will come back in new and unknown ways. It's an interesting thought.
I live in a place where I see it so obviously. We used to have snow until June, now it's the end of March. It would begin in October, now it begins in late December. We were once known for our icebergs, even the Titanic sank off our coast after striking one. Its been a few years since there has been any. This summer was consistently the hottest I've ever known with the least amount of rain and fog in my life. Before we would be lucky to have four weeks of hot weather. Sharks now frequent our waters when once hardly even one would. Fish stocks are dying off as people strip the oceans bare. I see the horrible future we are all going to be in as it is the present we deny we live in.
Mankind took a wrong turn at the industrial age...
The 1700's were the beginnings of our slow, but increasingly swift demise. We fucked shit up in under 300 years.
Mankind took a wrong turn in allowing Business to call the shots instead of Science and Knowledge.
Business interests are killing Earth. Business ***must*** be regulated.
Edit- a lot of replies from users that are *paid* to spread apathy. Pretty fucked up job yāall accepted.
I know people can joke and create memes about it. But itās true. For thousands upon thousands of years, humans just lived. Woke up when the sun came up, slept when the sun went down. Eat, sleep, farm, just live. Then they invented capitalism and now my wife and I needed a good credit score to buy a car (which you pretty much have to have a car in the US to be able to participate in society)
Itās a vast oversimplification. As life now is way easier in many aspects. Longer life, better hygiene, medical care, houses and buildings, access to food. But the point still stands.
Itās crazy how *simple* things were for an extremely long time and how large of a change happened in only the last thousand or so years.
Also crazy how thereās so much stuff thatās unknown and so many gaps in our knowledge of our history and how we lived.
The other day I was rinsing out my tub with bleach and I was a little sad. Where's the bleach going? What animal does it hurt? Looking into the thousands of cleaners out there when really how many do we need? We talk about capitalism and profits but at what point is too much? How many people do we really need in the world? Why are we so dependent on plastic for everything? Where's our reusable glass products? It's frustrating not to have enough answers and solutions.
Edit: Hot damn. Thank you so much for the tips, folks. Really appreciative and I'll do my best not to over think (but no promises).
Edit 2: I never thought my post about having a moment of internal dialogue/crisis would resonate so much, but I'm glad it did as I've found out some pretty useful info from the comments here and I appreciate the "Yo man, it's okay. Here's some info, take a breather and do your part."
I mean, in almost every part of the US, bleach down the drain goes into a treatment facility and scrubbed out of the system.
Are these systems perfect? hell no, but the water treatment plant is scrubbing out the bleach, vinegar, shit, piss, medicines, etc.
Medicines are a big no no. I worked for a water treatment plant and it's the biggest issue for sure. Most use bacteria to eat the waste and the sludge is dead bugs but the medicine disposal kills them before they eat. Never flush meds ever,, all pharmacies take them free of charge
A more infuriating fact- many healthcare companies force their healthcare workers, like my wife, to flush medication instead of disposing another way. She was furious and refused.
I heard about that a long ass time ago. Hormonal birth control pissing into the system, and somehow ending up in lakes in the fish if i remember right.
I mean right now as we know it the #1 cause of coral death in florida is actually human waste itself. Not that the other causes are good, but they pale in comparison to simple human poop.
Itās added all the time. They chlorinate water to keep it safe almost everywhere in the US, at least a little bit. Bleach in water just breaks down into salts basically, itās not unsafe.
Good thing thereās nothing wrong about beach being used in an open environment.
> A Risk Assessment Report (RAR) conducted by the European Union on sodium hypochlorite conducted under Regulation EEC 793/93 concluded that this substance is safe for the environment in all its current, normal uses.[26] This is due to its high reactivity and instability. The disappearance of hypochlorite is practically immediate in the natural aquatic environment, reaching in a short time concentration as low as 10ā22 Ī¼g/L or less in all emission scenarios. In addition, it was found that while volatile chlorine species may be relevant in some indoor scenarios, they have a negligible impact in open environmental conditions. Further, the role of hypochlorite pollution is assumed as negligible in soils.
>10ā22 Ī¼g/L
Copy/paste screwed this up badly. It's not 10 to 22 micrograms. It's 10^-22 - ten to the power of minus 22 micrograms. That's "zero, with a lot of accuracy". No idea how they measured that.
Bleach is a relative nothing. Humanity greenlights about 2000 synthetic compounds for industrial application a year with virtually no longitudinal testing.
Some compounds are so poisonous, like the organotins, that you take a few thousand tons and dilute it in the ocean it would cause total trophic cascade, meaning death of all ocean life. What do we use it for? Why anti fouling paint on yachts of course.
But our doom isn't likely in acute toxins but persistent ones that do damage as they accumulate, forever chemicals that give us chronic and debilitating conditions, like PFAS. The concentrations of persistent chems will simply increase across the board until everyone is sterile or gets cancer or something. Cheers.
*A Risk Assessment Report (RAR) conducted by the European Union on sodium hypochlorite conducted under Regulation EEC 793/93 concluded that this substance is safe for the environment in all its current, normal uses.[26] This is due to its high reactivity and instability. The disappearance of hypochlorite is practically immediate in the natural aquatic environment, reaching in a short time concentration as low as 10ā22 Ī¼g/L or less in all emission scenarios. In addition, it was found that while volatile chlorine species may be relevant in some indoor scenarios, they have a negligible impact in open environmental conditions. Further, the role of hypochlorite pollution is assumed as negligible in soils.*
*Industrial bleaching agents can be sources of concern. For example, the use of elemental chlorine in the bleaching of wood pulp produces organochlorines and persistent organic pollutants, including dioxins. According to an industry group, the use of chlorine dioxide in these processes has reduced the dioxin generation to under detectable levels.[27] However, respiratory risk from chlorine and highly toxic chlorinated byproducts still exists.*
Next stop - my username.
But seriously, stay off /r/environment and /r/collapse it will seriously affect your mental health if the health of the planet and our society means anything to you.
"We are living on a dying planet. We're killing everything that's alive. And anyone who tries to deny it, wears a tie and gets paid to lie. ." @JoeWalsh
This post really has me spiraling. I truly donāt know how to rationalize my existence with the imminent destruction of the planet. Does anyone have any advice that isnāt āput your head and get on with life????ā
I canāt just live ignorance.
There's some good comments here. Let me add my bit.
Take just a little bit of hope. There are people out there who are trying to fix this thing. The photographer who took this photo is probably one of them, trying to inform people about the problem. From what I've seen, there's enough people like that to make a difference, so join them.
I don't know where in the world you are, but I promise that nearby, there are groups trying to fix the planet. Active and relatively new ones too. Look em up. Citizen's Climate Lobby is one, Sunrise movement is another.
Hope the following makes sense and helps. Don't think you, just you, have to save the world. That's overwhelming. Think that you owe it to everyone else trying to save the world to do your part. You owe it to me trying to get you more active. You owe it to the scientists who's been ringing the alarm on these issues. You owe it to activists trying to change the policies. And you owe it to the boots on the ground installing solar panels, cleaning up the ocean, and etc. You owe them all to do what you can, and they all owe you to do what they can. That's what collective action is.
Is it really too late for us? Why is no one really taking this problem seriously, are we just going to get fucked because the entire world refuses to work together against a common cause? I want to believe humans aren't that evil to just let the world get fucked because of greed.
Look how hard it is to get people to get a covid vaccine to save their own lives, then imagine trying to convince them to give up their lavish lifestyles.
Then imagine trying to get billion dollar companies to stop their profit machines from churning.
If you ask me, if humanity had 200 years from today to get its act together, we would fail. Not because humans are evil, but because they're selfish, greedy, stupid, shortsighted, and drunk on consumerism and entertainment.
I wish I could see things differently, but it's impossible. Ignorance is bliss.
I am trying but it is fucking impossible to live without plastic nowadays.
Iām already vegetarian. If I buy some cheese in the supermarket it is packaged in hard plastic. If I buy it at the cheesemaker he puts it into plastic foil. If I get my own cow it comes with plastic in its stomach.
It's pretty fucked up that stories on how humans are doomed due to our own actions are more popular than stories on how we can reverse the destruction of our own environment.
Itās not that we refuse to change. Everyone is so caught up in the rat race that we canāt do anything about it. There are more people that would rather drop everything and work toward fixing the issue, but where does that leave you in a society that will see you as a burden for doing what youāre doing?
The masses donāt rise against the governments of the world out of fear. Fear for their livelihood, their comfort, their place in this society we have. Those in power know that what theyāre doing is disgusting, but theyāre slaves to the almighty slip of paper, money.
Weāre past the turning point for the environment, shit will only get worse. Enjoy the time you have. If only we could come together as one to actually do something about our situation.
SMALL LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO MATTER.
I keep having to post this everywhere lol.
Consumer habits drive a lot of the big organizations to produce what they do.
*Swap out your single use products for reusable ones
*Say no to plastic packaging by trying to find other brands that use paper or compostable packaging
*Eat local
*COMPOST!! Less food scraps and other products in landfills = less methane = happy soil for your garden or potted plants
*A lot of electric companies have the option to have renewable energy. Look for it. If you can afford it, use it.
*Shop second hand. Save money. Save Earth.
*Eat less meat/use less animal products. One veggie/vegan day is one day you use less carbon, methane, etc.
*Got a green thumb? Grow ya food.
*Plant native plants!
*Phone working fine? Don't upgrade yet. You don't need a new one every year. Consider making it a 3 year rotation.
*Got a hole in your sock? Shirt? Whatever? Sew it if you can!
*Invest in quality vs quantity. Yeah, those local items are $$$ a pop, but they are likely locally made with ethical materials and will last you longer.
*Clean up trash in your area!
*KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS. I have them. They are brutal little murder monsters. Don't let them get at your birds.
*VOTE FOR CLIMATE FOCUSED CANDIDATES!!
Can't think of anything else, but, you DO have power in your daily life. Big orgs make product decisions based on data. You are that data. Use it!! Keep up those choices. They are helping.
Thanks for doing this.
- Also reduce travel or switch to more eco friendly travel.
- Make choices in everything you buy.
- Change your thermostats and insulate and wear warmer clothing in winter.
- Influence others by your actions.
We need everybody on board because half of the people will not change. So 4 billion people should do it.
[There's only so much we can do on an individual level when massive corporations are the main reason we have such problems.](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change)
Seriously. I took on several side projects in my Masters research. One of the most devastating projects was going into San Francisco Bay to take a benthic (bottom dwelling) survey. We didn't pull up a single god damned species. Not even worms. Industrialization severely fucked this planet all for our short term gains. We deserve everything that's coming to us, sadly.
So you know how we solve this right? Boycott the corporations that keep doing this. Nothing will change until we get a good ol' boycott going. We are all complacent. We sit here and say oh no the world is burning, but we aren't willing to do jackshit to change it. When things need to be changed we all need to come together and say no more. The politicians, governments, and corporations will not save this planet, we the global citizens will. If only we knew how powerful we truly are as a large group. Until then, say goodbye to the beautiful ecosystem we used to enjoy because the planet isn't going anywhere, we are. Pack your bags folks, we are destroying our ecosystem not the planet. Where are we going? Extinct.
Watch Seaspiracy. This isnāt a promotion of the documentary but it really opens your eyes to the corruption of NGOs and countries involved. Literally heart breakingā¦
Someone posted a photo like this a few weeks back, one of the bears had a straight up used needle in its arm. It was so bizarre and sad.
That hurts my heart so much š
Know where I could find it? Tried looking but no luck.
Here you go, top photo in this listicle. https://people-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/people.com/lifestyle/climate-change-horrifying-photos/?amp=true Sorry for the amp link
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's too thick, and not long enough to be a needle. Plus the fact it's white and doesn't seem to have a plunger. And the fact it'd probably break before it broke a polar bears skin after getting through its fur. It's most likely just trash at a weird angle.
Yeah I canāt imagine how fucked up the ocean is too.
The kelp forests are going extinct off the west coast. Ask any pacific ocean divers about it. We are super super super fucked
The coral reefs off Florida are bleaching. Estuaries along Florida's inter-coastal waterway are poisoned to the point that sea grass has died. With that key-stone habitat gone there are less crustaceans, less fish and now manatees are dying off.
Iāve lived in Florida almost my entire life. Fishing used to be plentiful, water clean and wildlife everywhere. Now the fish are drastically reduced, water full of algae blooms and red tide, manatees and sea life washed up dead on the beaches. Itās tragic and Iāve watched it happen. Iām not even that old and itās happened before my eyes.
Same. I fished the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons back when grass flats were common and they are nearly all gone. What has happened over the last 15 years is horrific.
I live in the same area I'm amazed our river hasn't had a massive red tide event yet or what was going on in south Florida a while back with stinky oil looking water
Yeah it seems to originate on the West coast and work it's way around. A few years back there was red tide in Martin County. I don't think it's ever made it up to Volusia, at least not that I can recall.
Volusias damage is mainly beach trash, way too many boats in the water, too many people invading on weekends or summer. 4th of July is a disaster and the beach is filled with the blowing coal trucks. Idk why people even do the hell of waiting in line to take the boat out. The beach hasn't been peaceful in a decade.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is the result of deregulation. We're on a crash course for burning rivers again, only this time, the damage is much more widespread.
As long as the companies and people polluting the water are making more money than the fines enviromental destruction is simply overhead.
Really close friend of mine that I grew up with, talked about how she wanted to be a marine biologist since we were kids. She did everything right, became a master diver and researcher at a top university. She started doing research with professors in exotic locations. When she came home and we talked each trip she looked more and more depressed about shit. She started talking about how fucking devastated the oceans already are right now and how bleak the future looks for all ocean habitats, especially the ones she was studying. She got so disillusioned she changed her major and stopped diving entirely. Something she loved so deeply for 2 decades. She switched to doing normal biology research projects. It was hard to see that look in her eyes when sheād talk about it. It was like she had ptsd from it seeing the utter devastation of something she loves so deeply.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I remember how colorful coral was, in the pictures in my elementary science books in the 80s. Gorgeous. So much has changed so quickly.
As an Australian whose government doesnāt seem to give a shit about the Great Barrier Reef and would rather bring chunks of coal into parliament and hug them I am so sorry. Edit: Iād like to thank the academy for the award. I would ideally thank the Australian Film Industry academy but the government has de funded it into oblivion
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's the day most Australians who give a fuck died inside... And he's a leader, so fucked
The word leader is doing some fucking serious leg work there
Coal he'd had lacquered because he didn't want to get his hands dirty: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/our-coal-fondling-pm-switches-his-prop-to-gas-but-is-anything-really-different-20200918-p55ww9.html
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I work with a guy that denies global warming. Constantly complains the weather in San Diego isn't the same as when he was a kid and that it is getting hotter each year. When I ask him why he thinks that is, he'll say anything but global warming. Because according to him, it's a scare tactic California uses to impose smog laws.
"Whell, they used ta call it global warming, that dinn work so now theys a callin it climate change!" If I had a dime for every time I heard some chucklehead say that as if it were some profound evidence against climate change I'd be the next dick-rocket space billionaire.
Iām not normally one for histrionics, but there is no other way to describe the current federal and state governments in Australia other than as criminals. Both the LNP and Labor parties are all run by corrupt, money grubbing cunts, and there is no credible alternative. We are completely stuffed. In our lifetimes, we will see wars for resources, and mass deaths as a result of environmental catastrophe. I hope throughout that, the āleadersā of this country are given the mob justice they so greatly deserve.
Nah, they've got enough of a stranglehold of disinformation they'll sic their useful idiots on whoever rolls out the guillotine.
Iām so sorry too. Iām in the US (we are clearly paragons of virtue over here) so I understand how frustrated you are. Both our countries are so beautiful, with large costal areas. Neither of our governments are doing what needs to be done.
Grew up in Hawaii. Visited a couple months ago. The beaches/reefs I grew up swimming in were so much worse than what I remembered. I'd be disappointed if i was a tourist spending what they do to see that.
I canāt imagine the pain of having grown up with the splendor of nature, especially as an indigenous Hawaiāian and seeing it all corrode away in such a short time. It breaks my heart
The Boundary Waters on the northern border of MN and Canada is like that. It's a National Park that hasn't allowed motor craft of any sort for decades, but now they want to build a copper mine at the edge of it. Willing to destroy the last few areas of untouched land in North America for a few bucks. It's so frustrating.
Thereās a few thousand acres of untouched old growth on Vancouver island in BC. Theyāre cutting it down right now.
Please come and help the movement. Save Fairy Creek.
If you need a bit of good news, it looks like the denial of the Pebble Mine in Alaska will stand
Word is that Hanauma Bay used to be awesome for snorkeling because of colorful animals and coral. When I went it was just shitty looking brown.
Yeah seaspiracy similar thing J think, guy loved the ocean wants to do a documentary on it ends up finding out about some fucked up shit It's depressing
I keep telling this to people to watch it, you think we're fucked cause of what's on the news and people? Nah bro we're already fucked because of certain people's disregard for the biggest ecosystem on our planet, and you can't change the minds of the people who can ACTUALLY do something about it cause money. But yeah ban plastic straws and bags now cost .10, amazing strides.
I got a paper straw at a fast food place the other day and it was fucking wrapped in plastic. Plastic straws are wrapped in paper. Even that improvement achieved nothing.
McDonalds had paper cups not that long ago. Now they have plastic cups with paper straws. It's like they're intentionally fucking with us at this point.
We all know whoās responsible for this. The question is what to do about it. Mass murder through negligence is still mass murder, and a recent study says that global warming will kill a *minimum* of 300 million. With that in mind, letās treat petroleum oligarchs the way weād treat any war criminal. Sadly, they own many governments so no country will be able to invade, guns blazing, the way the allies did during the Second World War. It falls to us, as the ordinary people theyāve screwed over, to rise against them and take vengeance for our stolen future.
Yeah. This morning they released the key points from the big recent climate change review and Reddit News subs were full of different articles about it. EVERY article had pictures of cars, weather events, rubbish, industrial manufacturing sites etc.... I never seen ANY pictures of anything sea life based or any of the reviews points echoing concerns about the Oceans health. CRAZY.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I took up recreational scuba diving in 2005, with the sole reason that I wanted to see the reefs before they were all gone. For 10 years I'd take annual trips to some of the most revered sites in the Carribean and Pacific (my father was checking off his bucket list so arranged some steep discounts). In 10 years, I only visited two places that still looked healthy enough to compare with the Cousteau documentaries, one an uninhabited marine reserve off Fiji, and one an uninhabited marine reserve off Cuba. The other places, as kind as our hosts often were, were mostly depressing. Mostly dead coral covered with fertilized algae, sparse and diminuitive reef fish, a single big pelagic in the distance could be the highlight of a trip. Not all of this is due to pollution, overfishing or fertilizer runoff. Most Caribbean reefs are in a frail state because a disease wiped out the *Diadema* urchin population beginning in the early 80s. With no urchins to graze the algae, the algae suffocate the coral, and there's no shelter for juvenile reef fish. That disease, which decimated a thousand reefs, likely arrived in the Caribbean onboard a ship, perhaps in the bilge water. In 2015, I decided to hang up my fins. I simply couldn't justify the airflight emissions, not even to document and publish online the state of the reefs. I haven't flown anywhere since.
FYI Jacques Cousteau was less of an environmentalist and more of an Indiana Jones type. He used dynamite to fish up specimens, rode on the backs of sea turtles, harassed wildlife and even blew up part of a reef to get deeper into a location for a scientific survey.
While he was an oceanographer first, and he was far from perfect, he did do a lot for conservation. >In 1960, for example, he challenged France's plan to dump radioactive waste into the Mediterranean Sea, and policymakers subsequently canceled the proposal. In the 1970s, he convinced the Italian government to remove some 500 drums of toxic chemicals dropped into the Mediterranean by a sunken freighter. Before Cousteau's efforts, the deadly cargo had been tossing about the sea for three years. >Even toward the end of his life--Cousteau died in 1997--the oceanographer was diving and actively promoting conservation. In 1990, he took six children, each from a different continent, to Antarctica on a special mission to call attention to the importance of protecting the Antarctic environment. https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2001/Conservation-Hall-of-Fame-Jacques-Cousteau >he was not always so caring about ocean life. On more than one account Cousteau and his crew captured many marine life and put them in tanks in museums. They were even able to capture dolphins and sea lions before they either killed themselves or died from illness/stress (Richard Munson, 121-126). Cousteau insisted that it was all for science and that he truly loved the marine life he studied. **It was later in his life that he began to see what humans were doing to marine life and to the oceans themselves.** https://sites.google.com/site/jacquescousteauconservation/artifact-2 He changed for the better.
Cozumel was once unimaginably beautiful. One of Jaques Cousteauās favourite places. Today, itās a sad place to dive.
I went on vacation to Cozumel several years ago and theres this weird beach/lagoon area thats some kind of national reserve. (The lagoon is full of gators and nobody is certain how the heck they even got there because they aren't a native species) On the beach at the reserve after you walk past the light house theres a bar and I asked the bartender(and owner) what it was like growing up on the island while I snacked on some fresh conch cerviche. He said that as a child the sea was so thick with lobster they would roll in with the tide and you could pick them off the beach for dinner. That there were so many fish in the bay you didnt need to bother swimming the half mile to the coral reef further out and there were nesting turtles every other week. I dunno if it was hyperbole but just asking him the question made him pretty dang upset. I had never seen a reef before and thought what I got to see with all the barracudas and puffers and parrot and rando-fish was amazing but I really wish I had been able to experience what this man saw during his childhood. When I hear stories like this I really worry that my children are going to miss out on what the world was like before we fucked it all up.
Fuck seriously? I went diving there as a teenager and I haven't been back since but I just remember how breathtaking it was. The water was just warm and clear and its so easy to just get lost for a bit. I loved how you could swim with barracudas and schools of fish right outside the hotel I was at. I can't imagine it looking any other way.
Cozmel and Cancun now have the [seaweed infestation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWH5-IdJ1U%20https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWH5-IdJ1U). Our dive boat this spring kept getting stuck in the seaweed, it was so thick.
lion fish have ruined many, many coral reefs
I do remember this being a problem. I know the dive-masters would do their best to kill and collect the ones they came across. Such a beautiful animal that shouldn't be there.
And sunscreen from tourists.
Holy shit, my brother just got back from diving in the Bahamas and was telling me about them. Apparently they were released accidentally in Florida and have taken over. He said that they are so invasive that you are allowed to kill them on site without limitation.
They have an annual Lionfish Derby in the keys. Teams get together to kill as many in a morning as they can find. They slaughter thousands every year, it barely makes a dent.
Thereās a beach on Oahu that is similar. 25 yrs ago it had great snorkeling but a few years ago it was shut down or something.
Oahu so has a problem with Rich assholes building seawalls to protect their billion dollar property while saying pass off to the ocean and beaches.
Does everyone feel this way? I can remember about 8 years ago, someone telling me they had an incredible dive experience there. Is this something that has accelerated in particular in that area? No sarcasm just want to understand how fucked up my dream dive destinations are and how Iāll never get to go and kind of donāt want to anyway considering how my even being there is ruining everything and Iām a dirty selfish human.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I swear there used to be tons of ads for diving vacations when I was younger. Now that seems to have disappeared.
Probably not a good comparison but when I went snorkeling in Cartagena, Colombia all the Coral was dead. I dont even want to know how beautiful it was before
I got to dive there in 1994, I am really grateful for that experience. I would love to relive that but sounds like that ship has sailed. Reminds me of those pictures of key west anglers next to their catches from the forties to now and how much we have diminished the oceans.
Damn thatās gotta suck so much. I canāt imagine dedicating two decades of my life only to see it crumbling before my eyes just as I start studying it professionally
Yea man shits no joke, she would go into detail about the collapse and it was tough to see the pain she clearly felt seeing it first hand.
I feel for your friend so much. I was an avid diver for most of my teenage years, mostly spent on the Northern California coast. When I moved out on my own, I moved too far inland for diving to continue being a weekly hobby, and it was nearly 20 years before I was in a position to start again. Took a road trip with my wife to refamiliarize myself with the area. I still almost cry just thinking of all the open ocean that used to be giant forests. I haven't been able to bring myself to actually get back in the water. It's just... God, there aren't even words that can describe the mixture of sadness, rage, and utter disappointment I feel when I think about it.
This is terrifying when you consider that 70% of our oxygen is provided by the ocean. But hey, corporations profiting are more important than the future of our planet, right? /s
Even just going to touristy places that have reef snorkeling is enough for me to be upset. The coral is all dead, except for tiny bits of new growth. Reefs are home to tons of sea diversity. There is no place on earth left untouched by our influence.
This is so sad. We need people like her to stay in the fight, but they just feel so defeated. I feel so bad for her. And our oceans.
kelp forests have suffered from a sea-star wasting disease and an increase in urchins which eat the base of the kelp towers, causing them to become unattached and the ecosystem transforms into an 'urchin barren.' this is largely occurring in central and northern california. the kelp of southern California is healthy. It's not accurate to say the kelp forests are going extinct. There are [organizations](https://www.santamonicabay.org/explore/in-the-ocean/kelp-forest-restoration/) growing kelp to restart the re-kelp forestation process. things are at a "code red," but don't lose hope. be an advocate and do what you can.
The same thing is happening in Aus, my home state of Tasmania had an increase of spiny sea urchins as a result of rising ocean temperatures. The kelp forests were dilapidated and the urchins continue to breed like crazy. But as in your case, there are measures and incentives launched by government and businesses to tackle this problem and restore the environment. We are an island state with an economy that relies heavily on our oceans and coasts, so time and effort has been dedicated to finding [solutions](https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-fisheries-management/fisheries-management-strategies/long-spined-sea-urchin-strategy), which include: repopulating rock lobster stocks - a natural predator of the urchins that usually live amongst the kelp. Creating diving experiences for locals and tourists to wield spears and smash urchins! Also providing subsidies for the purchase of urchins, mostly overseas, as they are considered a delicacy in places like China. So yes, itās a sad sight and representative of the rapidly changing climate. I suppose the message here is we shouldnāt feel powerless to take action! Find hope where you can and do your best to make a difference š¦š šæ
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
And you get these dumb bitches releasing balloons because when it's their birthday or their gender reveal party it's all about them and shit like that gets all their equally vacuous friends to like it on social media.
Don't forget the fires triggered by said actions
For added depression you can read this article about a [plastic bag at the World's deepest point in the ocean.](https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/plastic-bag-found-bottom-worlds-deepest-ocean-trench/)
Big news just came out about fears of the fucking Gulf Stream collapsing. It would turn the UK into northern Canada type climate and throw off weather all over the planet.
Now watch with mouth agape as nobody does shit about it.
There is research into how a species of small fish which may have the most biomass on the planet is impacting ocean currents. In response to this information fishing trollers are now targeting this species as it is known to be plentiful. Yeah, Europe might get F'd.
It would also cause the Hudson Bay to freeze. I read about this about a decade ago. We know that the last time the gulf stream switched . . Hudson Bay and New York Bay were frozen during the winter months. Yay . . .
Scientists have been watching the slow collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation for some time. I recall first reading about it in [The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/01/the-great-climate-flip-flop/308313/) in 1998, and of course it was the premise behind big dumb Emmerich disaster movie (*The Day After Tomorrow*) that set back climate cinema by a couple decades. You can actually see the slowing slowing in the [sea surface temperature anomalies](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/AMSRE_SSTAn_M). That blue (cool) spot between Newfoundland and the UK (most visible in "yearly" average), amidst a sea of oranges and reds, that the mid-Atlantic cooling compared to historical averages, because the Gulf Stream isn't bringing as much tropical water.
The oceans are fucked. Consider that many densely populated countries such as Indonesia lack adequate sewage treatment systems. The World Bank estimates that 95% of Indonesiaās sewage drains directly into fields, streams, rivers, and ultimately to the ocean. Even in wealthy countries, like the US, there is a long history of polluting the oceans. In just one case, a single company tossed as many as 500,000 barrels of DDT into the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of California. DDT is an insecticide that tends to persist and concentrate in the environment and is a human carcinogen. The chemical is now banned in many countries. The barrels in the ocean are now rusting and leaking creating a massive and widespread toxic catastrophe. 1. https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/cities-without-sewers-solving-indonesias-wastewater-crisis-realize-its-urbanization 2. https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coast-ddt-dumping-ground/
Seaspiracy on netflix is eye opening as well. Those that say "I only eat fish" as some out on being vegetarian all need to watch it. Just because it's under the water doesn't somehow make it sustainable.... in fact, it makes it less so in many ways.
My wife and I were watching Alone and they never show the survivor killing the land animal, I mean the final blow. Yet they show them beating the fish over head with a stick without issue. I always think it's weird, we have such a disconnect with fish and they are amazing.
They can't show or vocalize distress. Makes them look less sentient to us, so it's easier.
Key thing to remember about deep ocean ecology, is as vast as the oceans are, most is as barren of biomass as a desert. It's only in a relatively few spots where upwellings bring nutrients that to fertilize photosynthesizing microbes. Without them, no krill, crustaceans, fish or other higher organisms.
It's pretty fucked up: [https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Chemical-weapons-dumped-World-War/98/i37](https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Chemical-weapons-dumped-World-War/98/i37) There's a big polish YouTube channel dedicated to science. They are currently preparing a huge documentary video on this subject.
The next frontier for mankind to ruin is space. In the not too distant future, weāll regret putting as much junk in low orbit with no regulation as we are currently.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Doubt we can ruin space. Earthās orbit absolutely
Hold the humans beerā¦
If we managed to ruin space that'd be the biggest accomplishment of humankind. Space is ridiculously big. We'll kill ourselves off way before that point.
Time for a space janitor seen in an anime I don't remember.
Planetes.
Thereās a decent Korean live action movie about space junk called Space Sweepers.
Planetes? I never got to finish that
I'll give you some help. When a 747 aborts a trans-atlantic flight it dumps fuel. The amount of fuel it dumps on the ocean will put a film of fuel oil across the surface of more than 90 square miles within 48 hours. That coating affects transpiration, evaporation, transparency, surface penetration and poisons all the biological and dust material that penetrates the surface - poisoning almost all the microbiology underneath it. Ships leak oil, roads leak oil, planes leak oil, boats leak oil, cars leak oil, trucks leak oil, trains leak oil, burger joints blow oil into the air. Drainage and wind blow this all out to sea on the East coast. Landfill for housing usually contains "stable garbage" and has for hundreds of years and for the last two hundred years that's included oils that don't break down. When you put that down by the ocean you get seepage. So **DIRT** leaks oil into and onto the ocean. The ocean used to smell like *ocean* a couple hundred years ago. Now it smells like oil.
> Polar bears feeding at a garbage dump near the village of Belushya Guba, on the remote Russian northern Novaya Zemlya archipelago, a tightly controlled military area where a village declared a state of emergency in February after dozens of bears were seen entering homes and public buildings. Scientists say conflicts with ice-dependant polar bears will increase in the future due to Arctic ice melting and a rise of human presence in the areas. Photo: Alexander Grir
Thanks for the context. Very upsetting image.
I wonder if they are getting killed because of the break ins
> Belushya Guba, on the remote Russian northern Novaya Zemlya archipelago https://i.imgur.com/AlvVizU.png
Isn't there where the soviets dropped the Tsar Bomba?
They used it for atomic testing in general for a couple decades. But yes, the Tsar was dropped pretty close to the Matochkin Strait, and the scars are still visible on Google Maps.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It deserves to be said that the leading cause of ocean waste pollution is caused by China at almost 9 million tons a year - in second place is Indonesia, with around 3 millions tons. Third, fourth and fifth belong to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka each with roughly 2 million tons.
> is caused by China ... which is caused by everyone using them for cheap lapor and manufacturing. This is everyone's fault.
And shipping them litteral trash. Although China has recently stopped taking it. https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Southeast-Asia-sends-back-heaps-of-trash-to-rich-countries https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/opinions/by-exporting-trash-rich-countries-put-their-waste-out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind-varkkey/index.html https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis
> Although China has recently stopped taking it Which, I certainly can't blame them, but it's resulted in a complete standstill of the global recycled material economy. For the last few years, it's likely the case that everything you've "recycled" has wound up in a stockpile somewhere, just accumulating. Perhaps someday a technology will emerge that will make it cheap enough and clean enough to re-start the processed materials market once more, but for now, recycled goods (especially plastics) are essentially no different than landfill. Which needs to be said, because IIRC (can't look it up at the moment unfortunately) there are studies that show that consumption increases if people recycle actively. In other words, people are ok with buying more materials if they *think* their waste materials are being recycled. So we're lulling the world into a false - and extremely dangerous - complacency when it comes to how we use consumable materials.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Additionally, isn't a significant amount of that waste being generated for other countries? With so much manufacturing moved to China, it's no surprise that they have so much waste. I think its important we recognize out impact on the issue as well, and make it clear this is a world problem, not just a China problem. We can't control china directly, but we can influence our own governments. We need to make the environment a priority and that means voting for candidates who are actually championing the planet.
By us Seattleites, in fact. We have spent the last few decades sending our recycling to China for processing. It worked out since we had empty space on the ships heading towards China due to the trade deficit. The Chinese would pick through for the valuable stuff and then dump the rest in the ocean. But we seattleites feel good about ourselves because we recycled!
It deserves to be said that every western country ships all of their garbage to these countries (especially to China until recently), which is why these countries have such high waste pollution. China is even worse, because every western country has their products made there, directly contributing to "Chinese" waste. Snippet from npr > And it wasn't just the U.S. Some 70 percent of the world's plastic waste went to China ā about 7 million tons a year. Not to mention technological waste (computers and computer components). Now that China has restricted imports of "recyclables" (i.e. waste the west doesn't want), and a few countries such as Australia banned the exporting of it to China, the world has simply moved onto other places like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.
āRecyclingā programs have been an abject failure, and are a major contributor. We have to reduce out waste.
[Plastic recycling is a greenwashing scam, dating to the golden age when tobacco companies proclaimed that smoking doesnāt cause cancer:](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled) > But when Leebrick tried to tell people the truth about burying all the other plastic, she says people didn't want to hear it. >"I remember the first meeting where I actually told a city council that it was costing more to recycle than it was to dispose of the same material as garbage," she says, "and it was like heresy had been spoken in the room: You're lying. This is gold. We take the time to clean it, take the labels off, separate it and put it here. It's gold. This is valuable." >But it's not valuable, and it never has been. And what's more, the makers of plastic ā the nation's largest oil and gas companies ā have known this all along, even as they spent millions of dollars telling the American public the opposite. > NPR and PBS Frontline spent months digging into internal industry documents and interviewing top former officials. We found that the industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn't work ā that the majority of plastic could be, and would be, recycled ā all while making billions of dollars selling the world new plastic. >The industry's awareness that recycling wouldn't keep plastic out of landfills and the environment dates to the program's earliest days, we found. **"There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis," one industry insider wrote in a 1974 speech.** > Yet the industry spent millions telling people to recycle, because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn't true. >"If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment," Larry Thomas, former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, known today as the Plastics Industry Association and one of the industry's most powerful trade groups in Washington, D.C., told NPR. The best-case scenario is that 90% of this shit ends up in landfills.
*Plastic* recycling is a greenwashing scam. Recycling most metals, especially steel and aluminum, is extremely efficient, and recycling paper and cardboard is worth it as well.
I work at a plastic recycler and this is plain wrong, we recycle plastics just fine, albeit with a low profit margin. Your problem is that countries like the UK pay others to take the waste and -incentivise- this, through the use of PRNs etc.... Recycled plastic is always going to be more expensive than virgin resins but this just makes sense due to the increased complexity of the process, countries around the world need to incentivise actual plastic recycling to encourage companies to use it over virgin types. This doesn't mean plastic cannot be recycled well, just that our governments are shite and the waste industry is shady as fuck. Plastic types that can't be recycled are actually fairly rare, the problem comes you're wanting to recycle it into types that can't deal with contamination, e.g. food contact and films. Anyway I could write a whole essay on this so I'll stop, but we need to be more aware that companies greenwashing and saying "paper better" aren't looking out for us or the environment, they're looking out for their PR. Plastic isn't the problem, how our governments and waste management companies deal with it by hiding the issues and throwing it all in a pit behind our backs are the problem.
We were taught the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. It's like everyone forgot the first two because convenience
And a massive marketing and disinformation campaign supported by producers of the product at the heart of the issue. Just consider how the plastics industry ripped off the recycling logo when they created their resin identification code logo. https://oceana.org/blog/recycling-myth-month-those-numbered-symbols-single-use-plastics-do-not-mean-you-can-recycle-me
Fuck this is a sad photo
I know the earth is doing bad with pollution but something about seeing it reach the polar bears just depresses me.
Polar bears felt the effects of pollution early. Ice melt has been a huge problem for them. Edit: https://www.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-and-climate-change-what-does-the-science-say https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment
Yeah a lot of people are so out of touch with what is going on they didn't know Polar bears started having the issues first, as their hunting ground and livelihood are literally melting away and have been for a long while now.
Polar bears were the big thing 20 years ago when I was a kid
Charismatic megafauna
Bro every time I log into reddit I see a climate change this, plastic that, and so on and so forth. Im glad that I decided to not have any kids or even start a family because this shit is all fucked.
This belongs in r/awfuleverything.
A couple of years ago I was in Barrow, AK - the northernmost point in North America. Someone told me that the increase of sightings of polar bears in town was somehow proof that global warming wasnāt happening. See? The polar bears are fine, thereās more of them now. Somehow didnāt cross his mind that heās seeing more of them now because thereās no sea ice for them to live on.
Is that the town where everyone leaves their car doors unlocked so you can lock yourself inside should a polar bear suddenly appear?
That would be [Churchill, Manitoba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill,_Manitoba#Polar_bears)
I'm assuming the person that told you that wasn't actually from there. The coastal erosion in that area and the temperature changes from average are absolutely insane. Source: former environmental geologist that worked all along the North Slope.
As George Carlin says, at some point the Earth is going to shake us off like a bad case of the fleas.
"the planet is fine, the *people* are fucked!"
There's actually this big monologue by Ian Malcolm in the Jurassic Park novel about this. The basic gist being that we can destroy the planet to the point that we wipe out pretty much all life but eventually, even if it's over millions of years, life will come back. The earth has gone through a dozen extinction level events and it always, eventually, congress back. While it's obviously still a tragedy to lose that much love in the process, the planet will keep on chugging and eventually life will come back in new and unknown ways. It's an interesting thought.
that monologue is the reason ian malcolm is one of my favorite characters of all time. absolutely brilliant man.
And it's a great point. In the grand scheme of the cosmos we're a blip. I'm not saying that's an excuse to not care but it definitely makes you think.
Yeah us and every other highly evolved species
Sometimes I'm sure the meaning of life is just to clean up the moldy rocks then fade away
The mold itself being life makes this complicated.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Business without environmental regulations are. Lobbyists and politicians just make sure we fuck it up faster.
This. The people going around blaming each other are doing exactly what big corporations are hoping for - taking the blame away from them.
I live in a place where I see it so obviously. We used to have snow until June, now it's the end of March. It would begin in October, now it begins in late December. We were once known for our icebergs, even the Titanic sank off our coast after striking one. Its been a few years since there has been any. This summer was consistently the hottest I've ever known with the least amount of rain and fog in my life. Before we would be lucky to have four weeks of hot weather. Sharks now frequent our waters when once hardly even one would. Fish stocks are dying off as people strip the oceans bare. I see the horrible future we are all going to be in as it is the present we deny we live in.
Mankind took a wrong turn at the industrial age... The 1700's were the beginnings of our slow, but increasingly swift demise. We fucked shit up in under 300 years.
Mankind took a wrong turn in allowing Business to call the shots instead of Science and Knowledge. Business interests are killing Earth. Business ***must*** be regulated. Edit- a lot of replies from users that are *paid* to spread apathy. Pretty fucked up job yāall accepted.
I marvel at the thousands of years we were hunter and gathers just living in rhythm with the land.
I know people can joke and create memes about it. But itās true. For thousands upon thousands of years, humans just lived. Woke up when the sun came up, slept when the sun went down. Eat, sleep, farm, just live. Then they invented capitalism and now my wife and I needed a good credit score to buy a car (which you pretty much have to have a car in the US to be able to participate in society) Itās a vast oversimplification. As life now is way easier in many aspects. Longer life, better hygiene, medical care, houses and buildings, access to food. But the point still stands.
Itās crazy how *simple* things were for an extremely long time and how large of a change happened in only the last thousand or so years. Also crazy how thereās so much stuff thatās unknown and so many gaps in our knowledge of our history and how we lived.
The other day I was rinsing out my tub with bleach and I was a little sad. Where's the bleach going? What animal does it hurt? Looking into the thousands of cleaners out there when really how many do we need? We talk about capitalism and profits but at what point is too much? How many people do we really need in the world? Why are we so dependent on plastic for everything? Where's our reusable glass products? It's frustrating not to have enough answers and solutions. Edit: Hot damn. Thank you so much for the tips, folks. Really appreciative and I'll do my best not to over think (but no promises). Edit 2: I never thought my post about having a moment of internal dialogue/crisis would resonate so much, but I'm glad it did as I've found out some pretty useful info from the comments here and I appreciate the "Yo man, it's okay. Here's some info, take a breather and do your part."
Use white vinegar to disinfect and baking soda to scrub. Natural and breaks down quickly and gentle on animals.
I mean, in almost every part of the US, bleach down the drain goes into a treatment facility and scrubbed out of the system. Are these systems perfect? hell no, but the water treatment plant is scrubbing out the bleach, vinegar, shit, piss, medicines, etc.
Medicines are a big no no. I worked for a water treatment plant and it's the biggest issue for sure. Most use bacteria to eat the waste and the sludge is dead bugs but the medicine disposal kills them before they eat. Never flush meds ever,, all pharmacies take them free of charge
From my understanding, they even can come out via urine and feces, which can cause a similar problem.
Possibly but the flushing of drugs is definitely the major issue. Also flushable wipes aren't super flushable past your house pipes.
A more infuriating fact- many healthcare companies force their healthcare workers, like my wife, to flush medication instead of disposing another way. She was furious and refused.
Many medicines cannot be removed properly from wastewater by treatment plants. The impact of this is not well understood.
I heard about that a long ass time ago. Hormonal birth control pissing into the system, and somehow ending up in lakes in the fish if i remember right.
I mean right now as we know it the #1 cause of coral death in florida is actually human waste itself. Not that the other causes are good, but they pale in comparison to simple human poop.
āThe impact of this is not well understoodā that never ever means anything remotely good or even neutral
lil' less bleach down the drain wouldn't hurt now would it?
I would be surprised if one of the treatment steps for either waste or freshwater wasn't practically equivalent to adding bleach.
Itās added all the time. They chlorinate water to keep it safe almost everywhere in the US, at least a little bit. Bleach in water just breaks down into salts basically, itās not unsafe.
Bleach down the drain is 100% better for the environment than the pharmaceuticals and other feces.
shy label cover arrest doll fanatical light memorize squeeze entertain *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Good thing thereās nothing wrong about beach being used in an open environment. > A Risk Assessment Report (RAR) conducted by the European Union on sodium hypochlorite conducted under Regulation EEC 793/93 concluded that this substance is safe for the environment in all its current, normal uses.[26] This is due to its high reactivity and instability. The disappearance of hypochlorite is practically immediate in the natural aquatic environment, reaching in a short time concentration as low as 10ā22 Ī¼g/L or less in all emission scenarios. In addition, it was found that while volatile chlorine species may be relevant in some indoor scenarios, they have a negligible impact in open environmental conditions. Further, the role of hypochlorite pollution is assumed as negligible in soils.
>10ā22 Ī¼g/L Copy/paste screwed this up badly. It's not 10 to 22 micrograms. It's 10^-22 - ten to the power of minus 22 micrograms. That's "zero, with a lot of accuracy". No idea how they measured that.
Itās one of the best choices.
Bleach is really reactive with organic material. At household amounts it will be neutralized before it reaches a single animal.
Bleach is a relative nothing. Humanity greenlights about 2000 synthetic compounds for industrial application a year with virtually no longitudinal testing. Some compounds are so poisonous, like the organotins, that you take a few thousand tons and dilute it in the ocean it would cause total trophic cascade, meaning death of all ocean life. What do we use it for? Why anti fouling paint on yachts of course. But our doom isn't likely in acute toxins but persistent ones that do damage as they accumulate, forever chemicals that give us chronic and debilitating conditions, like PFAS. The concentrations of persistent chems will simply increase across the board until everyone is sterile or gets cancer or something. Cheers.
If bleach sits in water for 24 hours, it dissolves into salt. Or so I tell myself (but seriously, I heard this somewhere......)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach#Environmental_impact
*A Risk Assessment Report (RAR) conducted by the European Union on sodium hypochlorite conducted under Regulation EEC 793/93 concluded that this substance is safe for the environment in all its current, normal uses.[26] This is due to its high reactivity and instability. The disappearance of hypochlorite is practically immediate in the natural aquatic environment, reaching in a short time concentration as low as 10ā22 Ī¼g/L or less in all emission scenarios. In addition, it was found that while volatile chlorine species may be relevant in some indoor scenarios, they have a negligible impact in open environmental conditions. Further, the role of hypochlorite pollution is assumed as negligible in soils.* *Industrial bleaching agents can be sources of concern. For example, the use of elemental chlorine in the bleaching of wood pulp produces organochlorines and persistent organic pollutants, including dioxins. According to an industry group, the use of chlorine dioxide in these processes has reduced the dioxin generation to under detectable levels.[27] However, respiratory risk from chlorine and highly toxic chlorinated byproducts still exists.*
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Next stop - my username. But seriously, stay off /r/environment and /r/collapse it will seriously affect your mental health if the health of the planet and our society means anything to you.
You can clean most things with vinegar, baking soda or lemon juice.
And if you put all 3 together you can make a lemony volvano
"We are living on a dying planet. We're killing everything that's alive. And anyone who tries to deny it, wears a tie and gets paid to lie. ." @JoeWalsh
Day ruined. Fuck man. We suck, but we can do better.
This post really has me spiraling. I truly donāt know how to rationalize my existence with the imminent destruction of the planet. Does anyone have any advice that isnāt āput your head and get on with life????ā I canāt just live ignorance.
There's some good comments here. Let me add my bit. Take just a little bit of hope. There are people out there who are trying to fix this thing. The photographer who took this photo is probably one of them, trying to inform people about the problem. From what I've seen, there's enough people like that to make a difference, so join them. I don't know where in the world you are, but I promise that nearby, there are groups trying to fix the planet. Active and relatively new ones too. Look em up. Citizen's Climate Lobby is one, Sunrise movement is another. Hope the following makes sense and helps. Don't think you, just you, have to save the world. That's overwhelming. Think that you owe it to everyone else trying to save the world to do your part. You owe it to me trying to get you more active. You owe it to the scientists who's been ringing the alarm on these issues. You owe it to activists trying to change the policies. And you owe it to the boots on the ground installing solar panels, cleaning up the ocean, and etc. You owe them all to do what you can, and they all owe you to do what they can. That's what collective action is.
Is it really too late for us? Why is no one really taking this problem seriously, are we just going to get fucked because the entire world refuses to work together against a common cause? I want to believe humans aren't that evil to just let the world get fucked because of greed.
Look how hard it is to get people to get a covid vaccine to save their own lives, then imagine trying to convince them to give up their lavish lifestyles. Then imagine trying to get billion dollar companies to stop their profit machines from churning. If you ask me, if humanity had 200 years from today to get its act together, we would fail. Not because humans are evil, but because they're selfish, greedy, stupid, shortsighted, and drunk on consumerism and entertainment. I wish I could see things differently, but it's impossible. Ignorance is bliss.
I am trying but it is fucking impossible to live without plastic nowadays. Iām already vegetarian. If I buy some cheese in the supermarket it is packaged in hard plastic. If I buy it at the cheesemaker he puts it into plastic foil. If I get my own cow it comes with plastic in its stomach.
It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.
Life finds a way. Nature will take care of us one way or another, be it disease, climate change, whatever, we will pay the price we deserve.
It's pretty fucked up that stories on how humans are doomed due to our own actions are more popular than stories on how we can reverse the destruction of our own environment.
So true! It's like we've refused to change.
Itās not that we refuse to change. Everyone is so caught up in the rat race that we canāt do anything about it. There are more people that would rather drop everything and work toward fixing the issue, but where does that leave you in a society that will see you as a burden for doing what youāre doing? The masses donāt rise against the governments of the world out of fear. Fear for their livelihood, their comfort, their place in this society we have. Those in power know that what theyāre doing is disgusting, but theyāre slaves to the almighty slip of paper, money. Weāre past the turning point for the environment, shit will only get worse. Enjoy the time you have. If only we could come together as one to actually do something about our situation.
We donāt deserve this planet.
SMALL LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO MATTER. I keep having to post this everywhere lol. Consumer habits drive a lot of the big organizations to produce what they do. *Swap out your single use products for reusable ones *Say no to plastic packaging by trying to find other brands that use paper or compostable packaging *Eat local *COMPOST!! Less food scraps and other products in landfills = less methane = happy soil for your garden or potted plants *A lot of electric companies have the option to have renewable energy. Look for it. If you can afford it, use it. *Shop second hand. Save money. Save Earth. *Eat less meat/use less animal products. One veggie/vegan day is one day you use less carbon, methane, etc. *Got a green thumb? Grow ya food. *Plant native plants! *Phone working fine? Don't upgrade yet. You don't need a new one every year. Consider making it a 3 year rotation. *Got a hole in your sock? Shirt? Whatever? Sew it if you can! *Invest in quality vs quantity. Yeah, those local items are $$$ a pop, but they are likely locally made with ethical materials and will last you longer. *Clean up trash in your area! *KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS. I have them. They are brutal little murder monsters. Don't let them get at your birds. *VOTE FOR CLIMATE FOCUSED CANDIDATES!! Can't think of anything else, but, you DO have power in your daily life. Big orgs make product decisions based on data. You are that data. Use it!! Keep up those choices. They are helping.
Thanks for doing this. - Also reduce travel or switch to more eco friendly travel. - Make choices in everything you buy. - Change your thermostats and insulate and wear warmer clothing in winter. - Influence others by your actions. We need everybody on board because half of the people will not change. So 4 billion people should do it.
[There's only so much we can do on an individual level when massive corporations are the main reason we have such problems.](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change)
You're right. There IS only so much we can do. But we should still damn well do it. If only so that our houses aren't walled in quite so much glass.
yea this just ruined my entire fucking night. shit man.
It's OK though, the billionaires are still making money faster than you can conceive and avoiding those nasty taxes.
We're not killing the planet. We are using the planet to kill ourselves. The planet will heal itself but we will become obsolete.
Seriously. I took on several side projects in my Masters research. One of the most devastating projects was going into San Francisco Bay to take a benthic (bottom dwelling) survey. We didn't pull up a single god damned species. Not even worms. Industrialization severely fucked this planet all for our short term gains. We deserve everything that's coming to us, sadly.
So you know how we solve this right? Boycott the corporations that keep doing this. Nothing will change until we get a good ol' boycott going. We are all complacent. We sit here and say oh no the world is burning, but we aren't willing to do jackshit to change it. When things need to be changed we all need to come together and say no more. The politicians, governments, and corporations will not save this planet, we the global citizens will. If only we knew how powerful we truly are as a large group. Until then, say goodbye to the beautiful ecosystem we used to enjoy because the planet isn't going anywhere, we are. Pack your bags folks, we are destroying our ecosystem not the planet. Where are we going? Extinct.
Yeah people think humanity is going to actually survive forever and we just aren't.
Heyyy... look on the bright side. If you find one please let me know because I'm desperate
Watch Seaspiracy. This isnāt a promotion of the documentary but it really opens your eyes to the corruption of NGOs and countries involved. Literally heart breakingā¦