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Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j1ijw43 wrote

I am going to pay you the courtesy of being honest. What you say here is a load of bullshit. You're just depressed, and you are externalizing that depression onto the world. Some things are worse than before. Some things are better than before. People were selfish before. People were materialistic before. Humanity lived for thousands of years in oppressive monarchies, with slavery and serfdom, and now we have imperfect democracies. People who grew up in subsistence economies where the expected lifespan at birth was 45, and they didn't wallow in despair. Why should you?

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iras116 t1_j1ip48k wrote

Agreed. You can find similar descriptions from books written a hundred years ago, about how tough the environment was, how corrupt the human soul was, how bleak the future seemed to be…

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1kjs2j wrote

And were the optimists of the 1920s proven right?

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iras116 t1_j1lb334 wrote

They had been right, and they had been wrong, just like everybody else, just like some random author writes some random fictions a hundred years later which could be proven either right or wrong in another hundred years - it’d be unwise for us to take those fictional predictions too seriously. That’s the point.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1lbubh wrote

What in god’s name are you talking about? Of course people’s hopes and dreams and fears are serious.

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iras116 t1_j1lcq6x wrote

You rely on Fictional Novels for the prospect of your “hopes and dreams”?

You’ve been on this thread antagonizing many people for more than 9 hours so far, on Christmas Eve. I think we both know your problem is not with any of the arguments here. Don’t bother replying I’m having you blocked for the sake of your mental health.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1il6sa wrote

You are right saying Im just depressed and there are things that can give us hope that we can change and make a better world.

But on the other hand the Holocene Extinction is the 6th mass extinction to have ever happened in 4,5 billion years of natural history. This is the biggest extinction since the K-Pg Extinction that killed the Dinosaurs, except this one is not caused by an Asteroid, this one is caused by a single species: Humans. The damage we inflicted on the global ecosystem can not be fixed, because evolution requires million of years. The species we wiped off the Earth are gone, and Earth as a whole is in a very real danger of total Eco-Climatological Collapse.

Unless we start making our own species with genetical engineering to fill ecological niches and somehow block Sun's radiation to lower Earth's temperature, this is an issue that will linger for literally million of years. We took Earth for granted, Human concept of time is much faster than the time it takes Earth to heal.

These are matters of the outmost importance for me. Much more than my own life. I understand the science behind it and its discouraging.

EDIT: Please don't downvote me just because Im being painfully honest. You have all the right to disagree with me, I respect all ideas, including the ones that contradict mine. But downvoting my words only serve to keep these issues under the rug. Reddit automatically hides comments with negative vote count.

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Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j1jbch8 wrote

The Holocene extinction is a bad thing, and steps should be taken to prevent it. Global warming is a bad thing, and we should take steps to prevent it or fix it.

But you're not depressed about those things. A bunch of animal species you've never heard of or seen are going extinct. You can intellectually understand that it is bad, but nobody (except maybe a literal biologist) is depressed about that to the extent that they literally lose all hope. You are depressed about something else, and this is making you fixate on the bad news.

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firesnail214 t1_j1kdmfw wrote

Literal biologist here, who studies how fish species are responding to climate change. I’m in it all the time, and I’m NOT depressed. Nothing is futile, or ain’t over til it’s over and as long as people are trying (and trust me, a LOT of us are) there’s hope for a better future.

I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend the book “Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis” by Elon Kelsey to anyone struggling with climate nihilism.

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aclownandherdolly t1_j1krpuv wrote

I struggle with it deeply because the effects of climate change are so obvious now. Where I am, we should already be in full-blown winter and if it were not for this winter storm from the North we wouldn't even have snow. Hell, we're at -30c but in TWO DAYS it's going to be an expected 6c, then 10c, then 8c

What is me recycling or volunteering going to do, as one person, when massive corporations are still heavily polluting; when rich assholes are flying in private jets; when corrupt governments are approving coal and oil sands

Maybe I need to read this book because in the face of all the facts I've seen and read, the Earth is doomed until it's uninhabitable to humans and WE finally die off

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MyPacman t1_j1kzk25 wrote

> I struggle with it deeply because the effects of climate change are so obvious now.

To anyone paying attention, it was obvious in the 1980s too. We all go through that depressing realisation that we are but a pebble or a drop of water. But mountains are built from pebbles, and oceans from drops of water. Every generation is getting louder, I just need them to also get more political. Vote. Speak. Protest. And not just about the environment, but also social needs, like education, health, poverty, excess. Because if people are barely surviving, they will struggle to have the resources to face the bigger problems.

We aren't going to die out. So we need to deal with our weaknesses as best we can, individually and together.

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BulbousBeluga t1_j1m6nfg wrote

Maybe find some upsides to climate change? Like you can plant some fruit trees that you previously couldn't?

I know it sounds slightly ridiculous, but that is what I do to feel better.

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Zorgoroff t1_j1jts9o wrote

Have you tired volunteering with any of the climate friendly pick-up-trash and plant-a-tree type of organizations near you? It can make a massive difference to your mental health. Yeah, it’s not enough, but it puts you from the side of “we’re all going to die” to “we need to do more as a species, but I’m doing my part.” It will also help you get outside and meet people. I also recommend a bit of gardening, if you like it.

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LadyAnarki t1_j1jb4s0 wrote

Little one, your own life is the only thing you have. So what if humanity dies out in 500 years? Or 100? Or the planet is destroyed? Or an alien race comes and murders us all? This is one life experience out of millions that you've had. One planet out of trillions. One moment within infinity. The life of a species is 1 second. Old species die and new species are born every day.

You've gone too deep and it's time to zoom out and look at the galactic picture. You know when you read for too long and your eyes and head start to hurt from looking at the little words? That's where you are. Put the book down and look around you. The world is much bigger than just those words. And so is the universe. Humanity IS making progress even if it doesn't look like it to some because media amplifies the negative instead of celebrating the positive.

And the what ifs don't serve you. They don't serve any of us and they definitely don't serve Earth. Your only "job" is to love fully, live fully, experience the joys of existence, and leave this world a better place than it was before by your actions and words. Focusing on the problems & researching them to death is counterproductive & time wasted when you could be out planting trees or cleaning up rivers or showing compassion to the people you have lost hope in.

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Level3Kobold t1_j1li1mi wrote

>you could be out planting trees or cleaning up rivers

Good individuals cannot counteract bad systems without first destroying those systems.

If you're suggesting OP focus on solutions, planting trees and picking garbage out of rivers by hand aren't the solutions that will solve anything. Not while corporations are dumping tons of waste into ecosystems, or massacring the local fauna.

Planting a tree and thinking you've done your part is just a coping mechanism to help you ignore the systemic problem. Recycling bins are the opiate of the masses.

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LadyAnarki t1_j1m0cxj wrote

Recycling is a scam, and I didn't suggest it. But if a person went out every day for 5 years and planted 10 trees or created a food forest in their neighborhood or invented a trash collecting device for a lake or ocean (as people have already done) or changed their lawn into a bee garden or grew their own food - yes that would make a huge impact on their local ecology. And if everyone did that, the world would actually change. Good people can do anything. They are the ones who change the world in massive ways.

If you want to break the system, stop paying taxes, shopping at corps or corp adjacent companies, and stop using fiat currencies like the dollar. Money is the foundation of any society, and corrupt money creates corrupt societies. The world monetary system is on the verge of collapse, and a rather large group of people globally are helping push it to its demise while building a parallel financial system. That group started with less than 10 people 13 years ago.

Your defeatist naysaying is honestly really boring. Pick another solution; I don't care, but becoming a nihilist isn't one of them.

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eyes_wings t1_j1j0bad wrote

You are projecting some kind of misery that doesn't exist, I'm not sure who got you convinced of this crap but get it out of your head. Everything you are saying is irrelevant to the universe. This planet was here before us and it'll be here after us and it might be destroyed in a 1000 different natural ways it doesn't fin matter. Just live your life throw that book away and find something better

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Smiddy621 t1_j1j59z3 wrote

This has been pushed by just about every major academic outlet since the late 90s. The volume intensified in 2010 and there's been a dozen documentaries and dramatizations showing "what would happen".

What's unfortunate is these models aren't always accurate, and assume certain patterns persist for 100s of years.

However, to become depressed to the point of apathy is the wrong way to see this. It's what happens when you attempt to comprehend thousands of years in a scale they cannot possible act on themselves.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1jvx4v wrote

Why should a human care about what is relevant to “the universe” and not human beings?

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ZealousidealGreen811 t1_j1iwv9q wrote

"Much more than my own life." That is just so....wrong. I wish you the best and enjoyment in your life.

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shasvastii t1_j1jqmta wrote

I pretty much agree with you that everything is cooked, but I'm still going out having a good time. You can recover.

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ProfessorSputin t1_j1jetl1 wrote

If it makes you feel better, the damage we’ve done will ultimately be fixed. Either we’ll fix it ourselves or, after we’ve all died and humanity is long gone, the world itself will slowly heal. One way or another, the trees will outlast us.

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okcrumpet t1_j1k9asz wrote

I can’t tell if you’re upset for humanity or for nature. A lot of people are worried about nature and it always seems short sighted. As you note, mass extinction is a part of nature. One day or another another asteroid would have come or a supervolcano would have exploded and all these species would have gone extinct anyway. Nature gives life but it takes it away just as easily. There is no perfect state that exists that we are wrecking. Our wrecking the world is very much in line with nature. We are no better or worse than what the world and the universe had in store for these species.

Now, if you are talking about what’s ideal for humans and your concern is our future, that I can understand. But keep in mind that we have reverted many crises before, and we are in the midst of dealing with this one. We are a very clever species and when finally faced with the effects of our actions as we are now, we can find solutions. Climate change effects will take decades before they can cause global collapse and we will adapt and go on. We will desalinate, we will carbon extract, we will geoengineer if we have to but humanity will be fine (+/- a few 100 million)

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notenoughcharact t1_j1kafy3 wrote

I’m assuming you’re fairly young. I think a historical perspective on these issues is really important. If you read environmental writings from the 60s, there was a ton of fear about all sorts of issues that never came to pass, or trends that have reversed. For example air quality in most of the US is infinitely better than it was thanks to technological progress with car emissions, and that’s despite the fact that we have way more cars on the road than we did back then. Water the clean water act had had a dramatic impact on improving water quality. There were real fears that massive populations would die of starvation from famines. In face globally food security has never been better despite the increased population. Population projections are expected to level off around 10 billion and then start declining, so some of the other doomsday scenarios aren’t going to come to pass. Now obviously global warming and a mass extinction are extremely problematic and worrying, but there are solutions to both that we can work towards. Just in the last few years I’ve seen a ton of native habitat restoration in my community for example.

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1ltgwc wrote

This comment is delusional... The things needed to beat back climate change are all past their effectiveness window. What's needed became increasingly drastic, such that nothing will ever be done. I'm talking about things like re-designing cities and towns, de-emphasizing cars, and personalized transportation in general, finding alternatives to plastics, changing our agriculture and food distribution networks... We could have made some easy decisions decades ago and be seeing them come to fruition now. Instead, cans were kicked to preserve profitability and all these economic systems and incentives became even more deeply entrenched. Making the necessary changes is now going to be unacceptable to many people, especially the capitalist class.

We aren't talking about making factories pollute less. We are talking about dismantling and/or wholly transforming entire industries against the will of those who control them.

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ElegantVamp t1_j1kksof wrote

>Please don't downvote me just because Im being painfully honest.

You're not being "painfully honest", Mr. iam14andthisisdeep. You're just wallowing in misery and borderline fetishizing your own sadness and self-pity, purposefully obfuscating it as being "deep and insightful" and everyone else just Doesn't Get It.

You've got a bad case of Chronic Online Syndrome.

RX: Go outside and maybe see a therapist.

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goshdangittoheck t1_j1jgubw wrote

Who is “we”? I’m not an oil executive purposefully burying decades worth of research into climate change.

Capitalism did that shit. That is the biggest problem on earth right now.

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CodexRegius t1_j1l4n5r wrote

Beside communism, fascism, autocracy, and religion.

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[deleted] t1_j1jvk8q wrote

[removed]

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[deleted] t1_j1k8usn wrote

[removed]

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Morsigil t1_j1jlpbj wrote

As others have said, you sound young, and depressed. All of your posts here have "I'm 14 and this is deep" energy. Work on finding new friends who care about more than material things, and before you say it yes there are PLENTY of them out there, and enjoy your life.

Be passionate about combating climate change, sure, but also feel free to be passionate about other things and to take pleasure in life. Your suffering does nothing to combat CO2 pollution and its consequences. The cause does not need nihilistic martyrs, but dedicated, thoughtful and energetic people.

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MyBloodyChest t1_j1jyl00 wrote

It’s ok to care my dude! And knowing these things and recognizing them for what they are is fine and dandy. But despondency doesn’t have to be the logical conclusion of that knowledge.

Bearing witness to death (on an individual or grand scale) can be sad but doesn’t have to be depressing. It can be beautiful. Going down the path of despondency and depression is self-indulgent and centers your own melancholy above all else.

I recently read a book called ‘A heart that works’. Written by rob Delaney, about the death of his baby son, Henry. It may give you a window into grief, and to how to go about grieving. It sounds like you need to grieve what you see as being lost, otherwise this will continue to fester.

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Fun_Story2003 t1_j1lrn1v wrote

>But downvoting my words only serve to keep these issues under the rug

cool story, now what have you done personally to help SOLVE the issue instead of merely absorbing it?

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ShippingMammals t1_j1mbjyz wrote

I hold much the same opinion as you, but instead of being depressed about it I just shrug and say fuck it. I do what little part I can still, but generally I'm just kind of eating popcorn as the world goes crazy. I just moved out to the sticks to a big chunk of land and plan to hold out here for as long as possible. Already getting ready to get our own garden going this year etc.. Stick a fork in us, we're done IMO. I doubt we'll all die as I suspect the loss will be self limiting.. that is once enough people shuffle off things will balance out and recover to some extent. Of course we can't predict when and what tech will pop up in the next decade or two, especially that the threat becomes more and more obvious with each passing year. Expect to see some Hail Mary projects like dumping iron into the ocean, solar shades/solar blocking etc... We're going to do what we've always done - Ignore the problem until we can't then hope we can engineer our way out of it. This very much reminds me of a car racing a train to the crossing. We'll either get creamed or we'll pull it off by the skin of our teeth.

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1lsul1 wrote

The delusional replies to your comments... If most people really think and act that way then it's no wonder we're not making meaningful changes

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mathturd t1_j1iu9mf wrote

I think there is a conflating of causing it to go extinct and accelerating it. Species have been going extinct "for all time". Nature kind of works that way, adapt or die. The environment was altered in such a way that they had to adapt or die, whether that be loss of habitable land, food, or predation. humanity contributed, but unless we specifically hunted them to extinction we didn't directly cause them to go extinct.

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j2gh7 wrote

Well, we did hunt a lot of things to extinction.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1j5g6m wrote

Did you know there was a species of flightless swimming bird akin to the Penguins on the North Pole? They were called Great Auk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_auk

Anyways, we hunted them to extinction in less than 20 years after their discovery.

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muddlet t1_j1lih35 wrote

and if you lived 100 years ago you never would have known they existed because the internet hadn't been invented yet. there are many horrible things, sure, and there are many wonderful things, and there are many in-between things. you said above that you care about the holocene extinction more than your own life, but focusing on it is drowning you in misery and preventing you from doing something meaningful. staying inside and on the internet keeps you in a cycle of feeling shit. use how much you care about this to get out there - build connections with others that care, do something with your life that pushes your corner of the world in the direction that you want, and try to do as much enjoyable shit as you can

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all4change t1_j1iyur0 wrote

Why am I on trial for murder, he was gonna die anyway amiright?

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j5ss9 wrote

Your objection to someone feeling that the world is terrible is to describe how the world has always been terrible?

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chomponthebit t1_j1k2ftt wrote

> and they didn’t wallow in despair

You don’t know that. Only the nobility and religions had access to reading and writing over the millennia and you assume the voiceless serf and slave castes didn’t wallow? They wallowed, just as they still wallow

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1lsfs7 wrote

How do you know they didn't despair? Or how do you know that they didn't just have better systems in place for coping?

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butterweedstrover t1_j1jfvfq wrote

I mean, I agree with your assessment of the OP… but I don’t think psychological depression ebbs with prosperity. In fact the more materially satisfied people become the more they have to face existential crises.

And lol at democracy. Democracy was a failed idea tried centuries ago with no merit in modern society. The systems of governmence today have nothing to do with democratic ideals, they just use the rhetoric to enforce nationalism where there is a lack of national unity.

Actual, the most ‘democratic’ societies are tribal countries that use the election booth to compete for power like in Nigeria or India. Countries normally ranked high on ‘democratic’ indexes like Japan or Iceland have the least competition or power sharing.

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