I’ll keep this short and sweet. Some random guy on the internet compiled together and summarized a bunch of climate research papers analyzing global trends and a bunch of different slow actors that are all going to kick in soon like the permafrost in Russia or the polar ice caps etc.
While I have not yet gone through the sources the author links and quotes extensively, this still has me extremely worried and I think that unless society somehow drastically changes and devotes a significant effort in doing something about it, we’re all going to die within half a century.
I’m sorry for bringing doomerism into a safe space like Beehaw, but I’m scared and I can’t sleep.
Also I’m not going to link the document in question because the author goes on a rant about billionaires and greed, and while I haven’t decided whether or not I agree I’m not sure the tone fits the community.
Sorry again and have a good one !
I’m right there with you. It may as well be a meteor on track to dead-center the planet, for all we can do about it.
There’s a miniscule chance it’ll miss us, or that we’ll come up with some way to deflect it at the last minute, and if that does happen, you don’t want to be the guy who sold all his stuff and went out into the cornfield to wait for Jesus to show up, if you know what I mean. No matter how certain we are, we have to hedge it as if we’re not about to be smashed flat. And the only sure way we can help the meteor not hit us is by voting in literally every election, from president to dog catcher, for the people who believe meteors are real and dangerous. No amount of metal straws and reusable bags will cancel out letting meteor-skeptics keep their decision-making positions.
Hey OP. Kudos on acknowledging your feelings and expressing them ;)
TL;DR: your reaction makes a lot of sense, don’t stay alone with this, lots of empathy
Where I speak from : I’m a white and socially cisgendered male, 35 yo, living in France. I had the chance to go to university and to have several educations.
I have been a climate change and biodiversity collapse educator and activist for 3 years, and I’m currently struggling with crippling adhd, depression and anxiety after a rough burn out.
I try to base my opinion on the IPCC reports which I regard as the best science consensus provider on climate-related matters (more on the IPCC at the end of the post).
In my opinion, being terrified by climate change is a very appropriate emotionnal response.
What scientists say about the amount of suffering climate change already inflicts to hundreds of thousand is hard to fathom, and imagination fails to grasp how much worse it’s going to get in the coming decades.
To my understanding, humanity as a species is not under threat, and we will not all die in 50 years. But a huge amount of people already suffer and die from climate change and it’s going to get much much worse. As usual, the less privileged you are (and the less you contribute to climate change), the worse you have it.
CO2 emissions keep going up when scientist agree that they should be cut in half by 2030 and divided by 3 or 4 by 2050.
The IPBES (same as IPCC but for biodiversity) current analysis reinforces the “we’re in deep shit and we’re diving faster and faster” feeling.
And while individual action is absolutely necessary, it is by large insufficient without structural collective change.
I also feel terrorized. And so angry. And more sad than I’ll ever by able to express. And so fucking frustrated.
I found that sense of community is what keeps me going. I met some great people in environmental ngos, and getting together to do something about it is a great feeling. Having a drink together and ranting about how hard it is to witness our collective failure makes is really not as bad as doing it bu myself. And crying among friends feels a lot better than crying alone, for me.
So I wish for you to find people around you who understand the world in the same way you do, who care as much as you do. I wish for you to find safe spaces in which you can stop pretending it’s ok, in which you don’t need to explain yourself, to have a debate about whether or not climate change is a big deal, in which you can let your emotions flow. I wish for you to find meaning, belonging and even happiness in action.
Take good care of yourself, the wolrd needs you in good shape !
Btw, compiling and summarizing together papers about the mechanism and impact of climate change is exactly the job of the IPCC. They take in account thousands of papers from all the fields related to climate change, write a draft an publish it, wait for questions/criticism/corrections to be sent by all the scientists who want to contribute (for several months) and then they correct their draft and publish the final version. I recommand reading at least the key points of the “Summary for policymakers” of the 6th assessment report..
A lot of people want you to be fearful. Fearful people make for very avid readers and sharers of media. Fearful people spend a lot of their precious time convincing other people to be fearful. Fearful people often don’t make the most rational decisions.
I’m not downplaying the problem or saying climate change is some sort of fairy story, but I am saying that it is almost impossible to have a 100% impartial birds-eye-view of what is a tremendously complex problem, especially if you just ingest whatever random media crosses your door.
There is no point beyond which the entire game is lost and we should just lie down and rot. Things can always get better, and things can always get worse. So act, get involved in local action and put pressure on government to make the right calls. Act with the hope of a better future in your heart, and save the despair for when the end is known beyond all doubt. It’s just another day at the office.
I also think it’s important to have hope for technological advancements. Carbon capture technology exists and is improving rapidly. We need to get to net zero, of course, but we can also go negative and cool the planet to pre-industrial levels.
The world is changing rapidly, both for the worse and for the better.
Yes, there is going to be a mass extinction event. But mass extinctions have happened before and biodiversity recovered. We also have technology to save species and reintroduce them later, too. A hundred years from now, when CO2 is back under control, who knows; maybe we’ll be able to “print” extinct species’ zygotes from saved DNA code.
The problem with carbon capture is that yes it exists, but is not nearly close to good enough for our needs. Add to that the fact that we physically do not have enough materials on Earth to implement it on the scale required and that becomes a tough pill to swallow.
I’m hopeful that some farming techniques may be promising and that not everyone’s going to die, but relying on technology that doesn’t really work yet seems foolish.
At any rate I’m not gonna sit around and twiddle my thumbs, I’m probably going to become an activist this summer instead and see where that takes me
Well put. My personal litmus test for any piece of media is this: if it makes you scared, angry, or horny, your red flags should be raised. It’s likely that the article/video/whatever is trying to manipulate you. The fact that OP mentioned a political rant tells me the video might be using climate change as a tool to make people angry in a political direction. Acknowledging this doesn’t take anything away from legitimate political criticism or climate research. But anger and fear are tools to bypass your reason.
Can you please provide the link to where you read that?
we’re all going to die within half a century.
If it helps, this is 100% grade-A bullshit. Science does not say this. Scientists do not say this. It is absolutely a lie.
You’re welcome.
That’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works
You want me to post a source where scientists aren’t saying absolute bullshit? A scenario where the human race is wiped out is actually so absurd, no scientists that I’m aware of are even LOOKING at it.
It’s basically (smokes blunt) yoooo duuude like, what if…what if…like…the moon were to fall, man, that would be craaaaazy
And then you want a scientific study with thousands of dollars on how the moon won’t fall and that’s not even how gravity works.
Here’s actual information on what climate change does from NASA, the EPA, NOAA, and Wikipedia. Nothing anywhere even discusses human extinction.
Human extinction is NOT A THING. We are cockroaches, with opposable thumbs and pack hunting instincts and highly evolved brains. We’re the most unkillable life form ever created in the history of life. We can live in SPACE for fucks sake. Even global thermonuclear war can’t kill us. NOTHING can kill us.
We’ll destroy the whole planet and live as kings of the ashes, that’s what you should actually be worried about. Not what happens to our species. We’ll be fine.
I want you to at least consider stepping away from the news if you can. Focus on what make you happy, what make you enjoy a life. Do you have a hobby? Is it something we can play with sometime?
“You will find that if you look for the light, you can often find it. But if you look for the dark, that will be all you will ever see.” - Uncle Iroh in Legend of Korra
I am not going to deny that those topics you brought up are serious topics indeed, but it requires balanced mind to be able to confront such challenges and to ward off those who prey upon your vulnerability, so don’t neglect yourself.
If it makes you feel better, it won’t all be bad for everyone. It’s going to largely depend on where you live. Some places will become…better.
Some places won’t change at all.
Many places will change for the worse.
The key is that things will change, but it doesn’t mean it’s a death sentence. It won’t be an overnight thing. You’ll have plenty of time to adjust.
If anything, humans are the most adaptable animal when it comes to climate.
Just throwing it out there. Im not trying to belittle the issue, it’s real and should be addressed. Just focus on today and take it as it comes.Can you please provide the link to where you read that stuff?
Wouldn’t that be the most human thing to do. We truly are our worst enemy, even on the grandest of scales
Billionaires and greed part is actually right, and we as people should prepare accordingly. Those with more resources (money) will be able to afford travel, appliances, insurance, and better locations. Those who are struggling will have high mortality rate.
Just like what happened in titanic - if you were a third class passenger you were likely to die compared to first class passenger.
There are advertisements telling people to do their part, but that is misleading propaganda. Because a badly managed industry will actually spend more in a day than a person can produce in their lifetime. Only real reason would be to reduce consumerism to increase wealth, but very few places tell this real message or work for it.
We should try our best to increase this resource of money(to increase our survival) and also use our knowledge and wisdom to secure the resources people are not putting real value on.
Climate change would be unsettling during initial period as that would be the period of change. Suddenly, the weather will become really harsh as climates are moving and reorganizing. After that, a harsher equilibrium will be reached. We should accept that reality and work to help our loved ones weather it through.
We’re not going to all die in half a century.
We haven’t even reached the tipping point yet so if you want to believe humans can still be saved, that is still technically a possibility - at least short term.
Ultimately humanity will go extinct one day, there’s no way around that. If you want to believe the worst news (I’m not saying you shouldn’t) then sure, it looks like humanity is in its way out sooner than later. But it’s not within your lifetime, not even your kids if you have one, This is a slow burn, it’s gonna take hundreds of years at least.
And ultimately there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if you go vegan and stop driving, it’s not going to change billionaire superyachts and private planes. It’s not going to stop Nestle ruining our rainforests. Or BP destroying our coasts with oil spills. It’s not going to stop our politicians being unable to enact policies to save ourselves.
The extinction of humanity is not in your lifetime and not your fault. Stop worrying and go watch TV
You should worry, and stand up. Get politcal, reduce your consumption, learn to grow some food, start building a resilient community. All you can do is at least try to make the future slightly more survivable. Just throwing in the towel and apathetically watching the world go to shit is exactly why we are in this mess to begin with.
If you enjoy fighting this hard, if you have the free time, and the money and the energy to do so, and it makes you feel good, you should, but recognize it comes from a place of privilege.
Most people are overworked, broke, and tired. To expect them to cycle to work and grow their own food, and spend their weekends community building, when megacorporations are polluting more everyday than anyone ever could in a lifetime, is out of touch with reality.
Until we can make sweeping systemic changes to society, any individuals efforts to reduce consumption is futile, and thinking that everyone must do everything they can to save the human race because humans are so vital to the universe is delusional. Humans can go extinct, it’s fine, it wont matter.
This is free market copium propaganda to continue the current course instead of taking action.
i did not mean it that way, sorry. i was just trying to comfort the person who was in distress. we 100% do need to take action, but its not us as individuals causing it. i personally cannot make the rich stop wanting to get richer and fucking our planet over to milk as much profit as they can. it just sucks all around
It isn’t just the rich, just as much as it isn’t a personal responsibility. Both are propaganda meant to distract one side to not take the necessary actions. All the shit the rich produce is what we consume - especially in the West / developed world. The truly poor people are the ones in developing countries that barely have anything at all.
This is easier to digest and accept if you don’t live in one of the areas already impacted by climate change. When you are actually experiencing the effects the reality of it is in your face and hard to tune out.
OP, just do what you can on an individual level and try to relieve your anxiety. It will take major, massive change to offset the Holocene extinction we’re currently in, enjoy the life you have and are living currently.
The concerning part is that a lot of the data is the most conservative available, so as to not seem alarmist. When even that looks grim, it’s hard to hold onto any hope that our planet is on track to becoming anything other than a hellscape. A lot of climate change is the result of positive feedback loops – self-aggrivating conditions. E.g., warmer arctic climate causes the release of methane previously trapped by ice (methane is a ridiculously potent greenhouse gas… something like 30x more potent than CO₂), so its release causes the climate to warm even more, which melts more arctic ice, which releases more methane, which makes the climate warmer, which melts more arctic ice, etc…
Even if every human just suddenly got thanos-snapped out of existence right now – no more cars, no more shipping, no more deforestation, no more industry of any kind… full stop on pollution and active environmental destruction… even then, the positive feedback loops we’ve set into motion aren’t just going to stop on their own. The process would be slower, sure, but Earth is (rather, the things on earth that make it more than just a dead rock floating in space, are) fucked.
On the plus side, we’ll only be alive long enough to see the start of the ‘find out’ era. It’s the generation after you that’s really fucked; and the generation after them that’s really, REALLY fucked, rinse and repeat until humanity is an eco-dome filled with oligarchs, or just straight up extinct.
At this point we’re dependent on a (series of) miracle-tier scientific breakthrough(s), or literal divine/extraterrestrial intervention. I don’t see the latter two happening. Vote for candidates who give a shit about science if you think there’s any hope in that route.
