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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
“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.
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.
Yeah, I too decided to end my bloodline with me.
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.
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by worrying about the rampant militarization and progressively hawkish stance of nato with overt threat towards china and russia and how i could escape this hellhole with my family instead.
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.
Focus progress that has been made, we solutions to the climate crisis have been growing exponentially over the past decade. And it’s not a binary issue of everything is sunshine and rainbows vs we’re all fucked. There’s more of a spectrum. Also remember the past environmental successes we’ve had with like acid rain, the ozone layer, leaded gas, mercury pollution. We’ve come a long way.
Making any progress, no matter how small makes the future just that much better than it otherwise would be. Yes, systemic changes out of the control of anyone on Lemmy are needed, but if say every person on Lemmy worked towards reducing their own environmental impacts that could have huge ripple effects in the economy of the green transition. Just plan out pragmatically/realistically how much time, mental energy, and resources are worth it to you.
A lot things that individuals can do to help with the climate crisis often also have personal benefits like long term financial savings, less pollution exposure, healthier plant-based diets, etc.
By not having kids
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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