I started getting sad about climate change two years ago after seeing Planet Earth and many documentaries. I completely changed my lifestyle to reduce my part and put significant effort into it.
But seeing rich celebrities who use as much as a common man’s lifetime resources in a week or two, and others who barely put in any effort to combat it, and corporations fucking the entire planet for quarterly profits, barely any efforts towards fighting it even though we had known about its consequences 30-40 years ago, I get this feeling that my efforts are even worth it.
Slowly, I told myself that evolution failed itself by giving a bit more individual selfishness over community/species survival. Just like human beings, Earth’s time has started to end. Its death is inevitable. Everything should come to an end. Only if evolution had given a bit more thought to species survival, we would be in a much better place.
How do you all deal with this?
I’m taking a nihilistic approach to it.
I turn off the lights when I leave a room. I’m conscientious about my water usage. I recycle.
When I find that a company is a mass polluter, I do everything in my power to not give them any of my money.
I’m doing my part.
The fact is every human being on the planet in their own personal circle could go carbon neutral and climate change would still happen because it is industrial processes and commercial shipping that are driving the great majority of carbon and methane release in the atmosphere.
It’s not anything that you or I are doing, or rather, in the scheme of things what we are doing is negligible, easily absorbed by the natural cleaning processes of the planet like trees and algae and rain and time.
Our current system has incentivized pollution. There’s no amount of personal choice that we as individuals can take to stop it.
What we need are politicians who acknowledge the issue and who override the objections of the vocal minority to fix them even at deleterious costs to the economy.
After all, can’t have an economy when the world is dead.
First of all, I saw a therapist, and they helped. Truly, if it’s bad enough, go talk to someone.
Now what I personally do? The biggest thing was learning that I can’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. I have a habit of doing that. I’m a very empathetic person so when I see climate change I just fall into a spiral that’s hard to get out of. Learning that I need to focus on what I can change is the most important.
So, I do what you already touched on. I am not going to get Shell to stop polluting, but I can change myself, and those near me. I have switched my entire home away from fossil fuels (heat pump, electric water heater), when it was time for a new vehicle I went for an EV, and even then I take the bus and train whenever I can now. I’m looking into an e-bike.
That still wasn’t enough so I’m starting to get into local politics a bit. City council issues, local neighborhood issues, those are things I can help control. My city is trying to push a natural gas ban on new housing, and conservatives are frothing, but it’s something I can push and help with. I’m pushing for more transit in our area, with more bus lines. And my ultimate one, writing letters and trying to ban fucking leaf blowers god fucking damnit just use a goddamn rake they’re so fucking loud and pollute so much.
That helps me personally. And hey, if everyone did these things, we’d make a dent on climate change. I can’t change everyone, I can’t do everything myself, but I can influence those around me.
An odd thing that makes me feel oddly comforted too. World birthrates are dropping. Conservatives are also frothing at the mouth over this because iNFiNiTe GrOWtH but to me, I view it as another form of evolution. Have we realized as a species we’ve reached the limit of what Earth will support? Fewer and fewer people are having kids. Idk, in a weird way it feels comforting, like evolution is still at play and something very biological in us as a species is like “nope, can’t do any more”
I fucking hate leaf blowers!
Another name for leaf blowers is air brooms and air brooms are useful for big jobs. They now come as battery powered which is better on two fronts as they are quieter but more importantly they are not using 2 stroke motors. Apparently the 2 stroke is the most polluting of internal combustion engines whose design hasn’t really improved since they were first invented.
all i can do is my best, and then my part will be over.
i try not to focus on what comes next as the future is too amorphous to worry that much about. humans are resourceful, and weve been in tighter spots. genetic analysis points out that at one point in our evolutionary past we were down to something like 15k individuals.
even if the world temps raise drastically and billions die, i believe humans will live on
I console myself that I am getting older and won’t see the worst of it.
and personally I’m choosing not to bring more life into the planet right before the large event.
Earth’s time has started to end. Its death is inevitable.
Even in a worst case scenario life will continue on earth. It’s honestly doubtful that humanity will end. This is not controversial among climate scientists. Don’t get me wrong, societal collapse, mass human deaths and a huge extinction event are all on the table, but there are many lifeforms that will thrive.
Yeah I know. It’s just what I told myself to cope about it.
Take a break from the internet for a bit. I got offline as much as possible for two weeks a few months ago and it did wonders for my mental health.
Unfortunately this is some of the best advice. I think different people are more susceptible to existential anxiety - or moreso anxiety over things that will never be able to change or control. Some people can channel that emotion into advocacy, volunteer work, etc while others mentally drown in thought loops. As rude as it sounds, sometimes it really is a ‘touch grass’ type of thing. You HAVE to watch out for your own mental health and oftentimes that means disconnecting from triggers and focusing on your own life and interests. Play a game, watch something, read a book, go to the zoo, meet up with friends - live in the moment and outside your head. I also recommend using the internet purposefully and not just to kill time - use social media for discovery and research of specific topics and not for just general consumption.
This is the way.
Social media will jump from one super important and stressful thing that we all need to lose sleep over to the next with or without us. Yes, these things might be important, but a lot of online activism seems to be about who can scare more people into supporting X, Y, or Z with zero regard for the reader’s mental health, the rhetoric used, or even being 100% factual.
It doesn’t hurt to disengage every so often.
Climate change is a systemic issue: Capitalism is based on always more production. It can’t be solved by individual actions but only by a radical system change. I put some energy in actions that can help - I hope - for this change.
I try to watch what I read online, and it truly helps.
Do:
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Keep yourself informed by reading bland articles about climate studies with direct interviews from the scientists conducting them.
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Stay knowledgeable about who to vote for to support reasonable climate policies.
Do NOT:
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Read articles that inject opinions from the web journalist, terrifyingly worded headlines designed to get you to click, or anything written for a secondary purpose (e.g. voter mobilization).
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Get your info 2nd, 3rd, or 4th hand from social media personalities on tiktok, youtube, twitter, or any website with an algorithm than rewards the most extreme takes with more engagement.
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Let fear prevent you from living the life you want to live or making long term plans.
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View the end of humanity as a positive, the suffering machine will be over (at least until it re-evolves).
Someone once said to me “Relax! Nothing is under control.”
Worry about what you can control —which is very little, especially when facing a world crisis like climate change— and accept what you can’t.
The people who should be fixing this mess are not you or I. It’s the big corporations and the Governments that should regulate them through robust, uncompromising climate policies. Vote for Governments with honest, solid climate agendas.
Other than that, contributions from individuals like you and I are but a drop in the boiling ocean of global warming. By all means, keep doing what you’re doing. It certainly doesn’t hurt to lead a more sustainable lifestyle but don’t feel bad if you don’t do everything you’re supposed to do. Don’t let the real culprits here gaslight you into thinking otherwise.
Again, if you’re worried more about your mental health than the problem itself at this stage, it’s ok to feel that way. Many of us do. But the best advice I can give you is to just accept there’s nothing you can really do about the situation. Whatever happens, happens. Easier said than done, I know, but once you “learn” to accept this fact, your anxiety will drop right down.
The reason I struggle with this rationale is that if everyone did this we’d be even more worse off. Kinda like I struggle to get around the apathy-is-the-enemy philosophy.
The problem with your viewpoint is that it’s little more than a thought experiment. Realistically, you will never get all 8 billion people who inhabit this planet to make the necessary lifestyle changes needed to combat climate change.
https://www.wri.org/insights/4-charts-explain-greenhouse-gas-emissions-countries-and-sectors
This one throws has some good figures: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-overview
Sources we could attribute to individuals:
- Transportation (15%): including public transport
- Buildings (6%): this includes energy usage and waste
In total, 21%. Even if we said that’s still a 21% we could do something about, besides switching to a green energy provider and using an EV instead of diesel cars (which is a good move though sourcing the Lithium-Ion batteries these EVs is a big problem in and of itself), what else is there for the average Joe to do? Companies and governments should give individuals the option to lead a sustainable lifestyle. At the moment, the reality is the options simply do not exist or are so expensive that are out of reach for the vast majority of consumers.
On the other hand, we have industrial and public usage…
- Electricity and heat production (non-residential), which was (as of 2019) the leading source of global carbon emissions, accounting for 34% of the total emissions.
- Industry (24%)
- Agriculture, forestry, etc. (22%)
That’s a staggering 80% altogether.
You ever heard of the Pareto principle? It says that 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. In this case, 80% of the emissions come from a minority of people (industry, corporations, etc.).
Oh there are huge problems with my viewpoint - I wouldn’t even say it’s rational lol! I think that’s probably why I have trouble with the great rational arguments like yours (and many others in this thread).
I didn’t know there was a proper name for the 80/20 rule, thanks!
Everything this guy said.
I’ve struggled with anxiety my whole life. But my anxiety is about things that I can control. I don’t worry about climate change, or wars or pandemics or whatever, because it’s pointless worrying about things that you can do literally nothing about.
Yep. Fix what you can control, and accept what you cannot. You cannot control what others do, you can only try to persuade. What you can control is your reaction to it.
OP, you may want to try reading some books on stoicism.
You can vote and march. Those are the only small actions that will make a huge impact.
“Slowly, I told myself that evolution failed itself by giving a bit more individual selfishness over community/species survival.”
There are a lot of great answers here already, but I would like to put forth the anticapitalist position that the quote above is likely false. Humans can work together, we have developed systems of cooperation that can deter selfishness from destroying a community. This is possible (and despite decades of propaghanda…popular!) What is stopping it is the greed for wealth and power of the 1% at the expense of everyone else and the planet. The masses of people are constantly trying to stop this, and mostly fail. But cracks in their power do open occasionally, and you just have to do what you can until a Crack is available for you to help widen. I think it’s possible to win, but not through personal lifestyle changes and voting alone. Only through activism and protest is it possible. Most humans keep trying to solve this, and that gives me hope.
This is going to get some upset
On an individual level, there is not much you can do. Because of that why let it get to you? If you do not effect the outcome it shouldn’t be on your radar.
By not having kids
This is my solution. I’ve said it before, but think it should be repeated. The global population was half of today’s when I was born. 4 billion instead of the current 8+ billion.
That means if half the population disappeared today, we’d just be back where we were in 1975.
Not having kids is the best thing I can do for both the environment, and myself.
Has the added benifit of leaving me as a passive observer who doesn’t have a biological need to care about the future.
I don’t think about it.
Really, that is it, I don’t deny climate change, it obviously is real.
But I am just an IT guy, I live alone, I commute with public transport, I have a small apartment, my car is a PHEV, bought used, consuming 4,5L/100km petrol on average.
I keep my computer turned off when I am out, I won’t pretend that I am super eco friendly, I do fly from time to time, this year I’ve been to Spain twice. I also enjoy driving my car, but I am cutting back on it.
When celebs and VIPs are bombing around the planet in business jets, companies and governments are actively working against electrified rail or rail in general, and pushing for more car infrastructure, then I can see that me feeling guilty about driving my car for fun or just to get to cool photo spots won’t make a difference.
Add to that the huge waste of energy that us crypto, and I have realized that yes we are fucked, but I have time to see cool stuff before everything goes to hell, so I try to use it.
I am planning on taking a trip down to germany next year and see some cool museums, and won’t feel bad about it.
Notice how public discourse goes round & round in a lively show, but never seems to get anywhere?
This is strawman public discourse, and its largely by design.
Stop thinking, worrying and especially talking about climate change.
Instead talk about pollution & contamination
Everyone can see it. It can’t be denied or handwaved or debated away.
STOP POISONING OUR AIR, WATER AND SOIL.
WE NEED THEM TO BREATH, LIVE AND GROW OUR FOOD. (duh)
But that’s not how carbon dioxide works. It isn’t individual poison - our bodies don’t give a shit whether it’s 350 ppm or 450 ppm. The planet does though.
The planet does though.
Is that the same planet we currently live on? And borrow atoms from to make our physical bodies?
Poisoning the planet is poisoning ourselves.
Quibbling over which part is direct vs slightly less direct is of questionable value.
And it’s essentially misleading, since carbon dioxide:
- Is a pollutant and
- The vast, vast majority of it comes from those same pollution sources which are directly poisoning us.
[https://naei.beis.gov.uk/overview/pollutants?pollutant_id=2].
