Ashes are falling from the sky and the sun is practically red. People don’t care. Nobody notices or even makes changes in their daily lives to do anything about it. People are selfish. Why does nobody care?!?! My family and everyone else around me is walking around like brainless zombies. Indulging in their selfish daily habits without a second thought about the very planet they live on. I straight up have a headache and feel nauseous just thinking about it. When you do mention it, they ridicule you and call you insane or a hippie for demanding for them to change their lifestyle and align their actions with their moral. I seriously cannot be closely related to the human specimen.

All they do is consume without empathy, without any regard, without consciousness.

Maybe people are busy. Maybe people have personal problems and a lot going on in their lives. Some people have a limited capacity to understand like so many of us do. Maybe their emotional bandwidth is currently limited. Maybe understanding would destroy their worldview. Maybe it would plunge them into a deep depression ... and do I want that for them to prove that they care? No. They have nothing to prove to me.

I know that because they're just like me, and you. Just look at all the common ground we stand on as human beings. They are still the innocent children they once were, just all grown up and affected by their environment, living in a dysfunctional society. It doesn't mean they don't care about the admittedly amazing and beautiful natural and man-made world. Just because they're distracted and seem unappreciative of what they have doesn't mean they don't wish to preserve it like us.

Most people are empathetic souls and good at heart. Mental health is in decline for a reason. They deny and distract for a reason. Maybe it's because they feel helpless or don't want to think about depressing things. And maybe that's because of their backgrounds. Maybe it's a trauma response. Maybe it's just "too much" for them. But it's not because they "don't care."

Lots and lots and lots of people care. MOST people care. If they could change things, they would change a lot of things, just like you. If they could prevent climate change and plastic pollution and ignorance and suffering and chaos and pollution and disease and declining quality of life they would -- for the other animals, too.

And just like the innocent children, they are no less deserving of the same kind of empathy and care children are allotted.

They did not ask to be here. We did not ask to be here. They did not ask to struggle and work their whole lives. They did not ask to be problematic and to be scolded for being problematic when they never meant to be in the first place.

Please stop reducing people who don't understand or don't have a healthy perspective to worthless, parasitic sheep.

We are literally family, along with everything else walking, flying and swimming the Earth. We are in this together and need each other. Try to show a little respect even when others seem disrespectful. Understand that we are all sometimes messy, imperfect emotional creatures. And at the end of the day, we would hope to leave the world a better place than we found it, just as it was left for (most of) us. You see how attached people are to comfort ... And they are just like the people that will be born in the future. That tells you all you need to know about how much they care about future generations, and people JUST LIKE THEM all around the world. Because they basically currently *are* those living creatures

They may not know it, they may not say it, but they care.

Hi, I know I posted like 2 days ago but my brain is in hyper fixation and nobody in my real life to process this with, so hopefully it's okay.

First I have a question that may be better for the main collapse sub but honestly I feel intimidated by the big brains over there. Do we know why all these predictions seem to be 10-15 years ahead of schedule? I get some of the initial causes, like feedback loops and stuff but why does it seem nobody's adjusting for that now?

This brings me to my next question that came about as I was searching for the answer myself. Why does there seem to be an almost optimism among environmentalist? Not just neo-liberal "don't give up, write your politicians" optimism, though that is the bulk of what I'm talking about. Predictions that are still more conservative than even current reality is a big part of it, but also I've seen people saying that it won't be as bad as we imagine in places like r/climate. I found videos from "climate scientist" who say people who say we're collapsing are actually just propagating big fuel propaganda to give up. I'll admit, I do think we should give up on trying to fix the system within the system, but it's because all we can hope for now is mitigation and it's blatantly obvious that it won't be coming from world leaders. That said, I don't see it as trying to convince people to give up as much as prepare them to shift from big scale global efforts to more localized community efforts that actually have some degree of impact.

I don't want to accuse everyone who has less extreme views on this issue if the same thing but... I don't really grasp how anyone who is working with the data + witnessing real world events can downplay the realities either to the point I wonder if anyone else is suspecting massive plants? I just can't wrap my head around it. Of course it gets eaten up and any doom gets nothing but criticism. I actually sat and really reflected on of maybe I really was falling for conspiracy thinking but I can't find any wild leaps or cognitive biases between the data and my conclusion, though I know I am certainly not the most educated on the subject it just comes back feeling like gaslighting.

Last bit to my rant is, what if we are being overly cautious? I know there's the whole apathy thing but I really think it anything climate deniers pushed the entire conversation into a place where people are apathetic because it's "not 'that' bad".

I went to college straight out of high school for a chemistry degree, wanting to do good work for our world. I knew scientists didn't make fantastic salaries, but the idea that I could be even a small part of progress meant so much more to me than a paycheck. But through my education I gradually came to learn that it's all so much more fucked than I previously thought, and I was already kind of a pessimistic teenager. I graduated a few years ago only to finally discover there is no good work to be done precisely because there's no money to be made in making the world a better place. Now anytime I see news of some new scientific/mathematical/technological breakthrough it's completely drowned out by a constant "so fucking what?"

We went to the Moon again, but for what purpose? How is it going to meaningfully impact anyone here on earth?

New cancer treatments? Who's going to afford it without bankruptcy?

Greater solar cell efficiencies? Not like that's gonna stop us from burning oil until it runs dry.

Breakthroughs in machine learning and the AI boom (bubble)? Too bad it's largely being used to produce propagandic falsehoods, surveillance tech, and worthless slop no one cares for.

I know part of my issue is a pessimistic outlook, but how can I look at it any other way? We've had solutions to our most existential problems for decades, but the incentives to destroy our habitable world is seemingly far greater than incentives to fix anything. I feel now that the most optimistic outlook I can have is to hope the collapse of modern society doesn't cause human extinction, so that hopefully those remaining can do something useful with our advanced technologies and base of knowledge. Or who knows, maybe aliens will discover our remains in the future and find it cute that these apes managed to learn so much before killing themselves.

This is mostly a vent post, and I apologize if that sort of stuff isn't allowed here. I've lost the inspiration and hope I once had, and I'm curious if any fellow nerds have experienced a similar erosion of the spirit through education.

Especially now. I used to post on here a bit too much honestly, I would ruminate on shit like nobody's business and it hurt me mentally for the past 4-5 years and within the past year (in my personal life at any rate) I've gotten much better and been able to get a better handle on my nervous system. But it still hurts thinking about the way the world is and is going, I try to do good, and I also try to enjoy what I have in front of me. Hoping there's at least a few things I might still get to experience in my 20's but who knows. I still struggle with how things are or what I should do with my life at this point, but that's normal I understand. But what keeps life worth it to you? Where do you find what joy you can?

How do I go on like not feeling like a piece of shit because I’m enjoying the little things in life when everyone is literally being done wrong in the country , no one has the basic things they need and it’s like a new horror story day after day . I literally feel guilty for being able to enjoy a safe home and neighborhood I can ride my bike when 3 months ago I was in a place people are getting shot and killed daily , police , ice , trump, fires , I care and I also feel like overwhelmed and at the same time like nothing i can do will make a difference but im so deeply depressed by the state of the world I don’t feel like it’s right to enjoy life .

I have been maybe experiencing my own personal collapse in addition to general collapse as the past year of news (Epsetin, Pelicot, the website that teaches/encourages men to drug and rape their wives) has made it impossible to avoid acknowledging how grooming and r*pey behavior has affected me throughout my life.

But I also feel like in the past 5-10 years being a woman has become increasingly difficult. I feel like I get casually harassed more often, men I try to date are pushier about sex and weirder and more defensive about it when I call it to their attention, I feel less able to assert myself in intellectual/professional/artistic spaces without getting at least a little bit of redpill/manosphere adjacent vitriol thrown at me. I have been trying to give up on my hope to find a partner to share this life with because dating apps in the past 5 years have led to me having to fend off sexual assault or stalkers, or navigate men who lie to get what they want out of me anyway.

I know it's always kind of been like this but I didn't feel like this 10-15 years ago. I have always had really close male friends, and I love the men in my life, and I had dated many people with whom it didn't work out but I never felt so disrespected and objectified as I do now. It makes me really sad because recently I feel like I just need to avoid men altogether because I am genuinely scared of them. I never felt like this before. Maybe I was just naive.

I am sorry I don't mean to be offensive either, I don't want to avoid men, I am genuinely just afraid of them. Too many bad things have happened. And seeing what types of porn are available and what it sometimes leads to just makes me really afraid of them. Have any other women experienced this?

I know not all men are like this. I just feel like it's too dangerous for me to assume the better of them anymore because in the past few years I've had some really, really terrifying experiences and again the news cycle this past year has only cemented my fears. I guess just wondering if any other women have experienced the same.

I guess also for clarification, I feel like this is an effect of collapse in some way, like as the social fabric disintegrates and people become more and more alienated from each other and themselves, things like racism and sexism just get worse. In some way I feel really bad for men being affected by the culture of dating apps and how the sex industry targets them to become addicted to porn and align their self-worth to whether or not women find them attractive, but the more empathy I extend to them the more danger I find myself in. So I guess yeah, I'm just sad.

Are you really so afraid to die in what could be a beautiful time and place to do so that you would spoil it to call for help just to bring you back to society and its insanity?? Just for something as trivial as not packing enough food or water or the right cloths and the weather turns, to a sprained ankle because you took a stupid step with incorrect foot wear or walking strength for your track grade, one would assume riskiness is genetic for some..... is it so much for one to fall on one's own sword and admit failing at something just as simple as an overnight hike that you may not be strong enough to proceed???

To die at what you love doing, is it not the end game??? Yet you'd rather survive a measly encounter to return and die in a cubicle in debt instead of free in nature.... how much would you be at ease knowing if you got kissed by a king brown or inland taipan and help was just further then the hour you have to survive? (conservative estimate) would you take in your view and peacefulness or recount the idiocracy of society and the material you can't take???

I don't really know how to start this or exactly what I want to say. Admittedly I just need to... Vent isn't the right word but maybe process? I hope that's okay but if not I get it.

I've been collapse aware for some time now and have, for about 10 years started feeling certain that the prediction models were off by a lot and have been guessing at around 2030 for things to become unrecognizable, though things are crumbling all around us right now, but most people's day to days are the same and even when people are hit with climate disasters it seems for now we just pick up and move on like these events are no different than any other natural disaster or crisis. Often the root being climate changed isn't even acknowledged by those who go through it (example I live close to an area, in Appalachia, that had a massive tornado last year with multiple casualties and entire neighborhoods destroyed and outside of groups like this and the tornado tracker groups online people acted like it was normal, or at least didn't draw any correlation)

Anyway, over the last 5 years my life feels like I've been falling down in a mud pit that I can't get out of in my personal life to the point it's become clear that if I don't make some major changes (like moving or going back to school) things are going to get really bad for my family. Not even climate stuff, directly anyways, just Appalachia stuff (lack of jobs, discrimination, lack of social safety nets and access to decent healthcare, etc.). But I really struggle with the idea of taking such large risks when and planning for a future with plans that are 2-4 years out when things are accelerating so quickly. I don't know how to explain this war inside my brain if someone who wants to be optimistic and make future plans butting against the reality of what I've predicted for some time and the reality if that.

I'm being long winded but one other thing since I'm rambling, I also really struggle looking around and people talking about planning and preparing for things like retirement, or having babies, or just even things like panic of declining birthrates. It all feels so pointless. To be clear I know that sounds and I swear that I'm not so depressed that... And I'm also not resentful of people doing what they want it just feels, for me, like "long-term planning" almost has become the short-sighted option? Or at least any long term planning that isn't specifically collapse prep (which I'm not doing because for my tax bracket there's no point beyond a few extra bags of rice and beans).

Idk what I'm saying IDK that I'm looking for advice, but I'm certainly open to it too. I had reached a place of radical acceptance that I'd try and live a happy life today with some preparations to ease things before it got too bad and just see where things went from there but we haven't even really tipped our toe in and I'm already boiling and don't know what to do about it.

I don't know if you are sensing the same as me, but I'm feeling this summer as a kind of definitive inflection point, like if we're starting to get into the serious part of the exponential curves of many of the macroscopic variables that coarsely characterize our predicament. Could be exacerbated by the super El Niño doing its nasty thing, but I believe we're heading into the interesting times, so to speak. Of course, for many people collapse has come already, but I'm speaking now from what I'm seeing in my region and in internet (biased as that is). I admit I could just be projecting my inner level of awareness, but I'll share this anyways.

I've been personally collapse-aware for quite a while, however, I can now acknowledge I had a subconcious hope or belief that in the end, some miraculous event would happen and make everything somehow right. Or perhaps, that it would happen later in this timeline (it's always later, isn't it?). I suppose it's just a natural bias related to TMT.
I didn't even know I had such deep belief in me; in fact, I thought I had absorbed all I needed to know about the metacrisis to realize how dire the situation is. It's only now, this summer, that I'm finding out all this is not some vague speculations about a future set in 2030 or so. I feel like the time has come already when the reality is so blatantly clear that most people must be able to sense it in some way. How will people respond, that's a huge mistery for me. I hope compassion and generosity overpowers violence and hoarding.

Coincidently enough, my country just won the football world cup, and everyone is all out celebrating the result. The whole country full stopped for 3 hours to watch the game: empty streets, highways almost clear of traffic... Nothing wrong with it, I guess. Still, if only the regeneration of Earth and Life had that much appeal to people, but well, it is what it is, we're a species after all, even if we've somewhat forgotten it. If anything, it seems the bleaker the scenario is, the noisier/busier the people get; understandably, no one wants to hear their spirit crying in anguish.

Anyways, may we all have some degree of serenity in this great unraveling, and as we eventually pass through the final portal, show the same dignity and willingness that the rest of living beings display.

Posted on some climate threads inquiring about others’ experiences about grief finally breaking through. I ask because I’m finding this wall separating mind from body has collapsed for me, and I’m finally feeling full force of grief. Not nihilism, I make this clear. Yet these questions get removed by moderators. Maybe these threads have specific rules I didn’t see, but I’m just further disheartened. Can we not even broach the subject of the grief we all feel or will feel? We need to grieve together. And I’m doubting whether such spaces exist outside of niche pockets of the internet and real life. How do we move forward collectively if grief is so untouchable we can’t begin to connect over it?

I’ve been reading and learning about climate change for 20 years now. I think I’d had a kind of false hope in my teen years that something would change/happen that would prevent it. Or it just wasn’t as bad as they were saying it was going to be. I then managed to basically ignore it and leave it as a lingering niggle in the back of my mind for about 10 years.

Since having children (my eldest is 5) I’m constantly living in a state of impending doom and guilt. There’s a heavy sadness with knowingly having children despite being educated on how the world may turn out and I can’t help thinking I shouldn’t have had them.

When we go through beautiful places, there’s a voice in my head saying ‘enjoy it now because it’ll be gone in 5-10 years’. I don’t plan for the future anymore because, a) it is completely unpredictable at best (despite all of the modelling, it’s happening quicker than scientists ever could have anticipated) and b) the guilt is so overwhelming for my children that I have to switch it off.

I’m finding it difficult to live through each day. I think once you accept it, there’s no going back. You cannot go back to being ignorant of it. It isn’t depression and anxiety based on unfounded fears, they are projected and accurate tragedies that WILL occur.

How are people getting through it? How do I explain to my children, when they’re old enough that I brought them into the world knowing about this? That I had them despite being educated in all the ways the world was going to create distress and hardship for them? I cannot reconcile anything with myself and just want to cry when I watch them playing. Their innocence only alive for a little longer before they have to face the reality of the world they’re growing up in. That I forced them to grow up in by having them.

Help. I’m finding it hard to live with myself.

I am really tired of all this happening around in my own country and the rest of the world. There are protests going on that are not even working because the government don't wanna listen to people at all. I cannot even study or think of a future anymore. Every day they take another step that leads to destruction.

something i often struggle to answer is whether people like us are being objective (if it's even possible to be objective), or are we just being extra sensitive (i'm highly sensitive)

based on my personal observations, you have to have above average optimism and a good ability to tune out and not care about anything but yourself or your life to enjoy living in a world like this. i have neither. the people i know who are happy are either religious, too distracted/driven by personal and professional ambitions, dumb and/or simply don't care/question the world around them. i don't think any of them would describe the current state of the world as anywhere towards "collapse."

the things that people in this sub say are things i've thought many years before. so how do we know what we see is true and we're not just being doomers?

Mostly just a vent. I'd post this on a trans sub, but I'm sure they'd dismiss the collapse doomerism.

I'm a trans guy waiting to be scheduled for a hysterectomy. I have to make a decision on whether or not to keep an ovary (what my doctor recommends) or have both removed. In theory keeping one gives the advantage of protecting my health if I temporarily lose access to my hrt since having a primary sex hormone is sort of important for the body. The issue is I anticipate losing my hrt /permanently/ in the future either to fascism or the collapse of modern medicine. The most likely scenario to happen first is that the US gov passes a full ban on gender affirming care for trans people. My partner is sort of pushing me toward keeping one because they understandably don't want me to die, but neither of us can really imagine making to 40 in our current world anyway and I would genuinely rather wither away and die than let this dictatorship forcibly detransition me.

Let’s be real, the state of the world isn’t great, and it’s unlikely that it will improve anytime soon. The thing is, this is the common sentiment and it gets overwhelming, for me at least. Yet despite this, many people I know are still happy and able to find motivation. A friend of mine knows more about geopolitics, yet he is still happy. I’m no pessimist, but it’s hard for me to find the good in life. The reason I’m posting this is because this way of thinking is impacting my motivation to be productive as well as my mental health. I’m mature enough to understand that having this doomer mentality won’t get me far in life.

Basically what I’m asking is what philosophy, worldview or whatever motivates you to keep going during these times.

My mental health is not fairing well this year, and a large part of it is the state of the world currently.

In the US we're teetering on the edge of a real energy crisis from the war we're in. The multiple nuclear armed nations are realistically only a button press away from ending for all of us, and with geopolitical tensions rising, this feels more critical than ever. Particularly Russia and China have me nervous right now. That Einstein quote about not knowing the weapons for WWIII but WWIV being fought with sticks and stones rings in my mind often.

Climate change is actively destroying the area of the country I live in since it's beginning to be too hot here to live comfortably through the summer (and I don't even live in Phoenix, just elsewhere in the southwest!). We're hurdling towards a water crisis, and the development of more data centers to support mass surveillance and AI research is only speeding things up more.

On top of all of this, we've got mass surveillance in the US watching our every move. Shits real dystopian here.

I know that MIT did some research a while back that predicted we were on track for societal collapse in 2040, and it's not lost on me that this is within my lifetime, but truly this feels like it's gonna happen sooner. What do we even do when this does happen? Why the fuck should I bother fixing my credit score or whatever? What if I never get to see my family or friends again since I moved out of my home state a couple years back? I'm only just now hitting 30 and I feel like it's pointless to even plan to have a life. I know that if it happens it happens and if it doesn't it doesn't, but fuck, is everyone else just not paying attention?

Hi, if anyone is an asset management professional and a collapsnik, please PM me

Basically title. I have a small raised bed but also a decent sized yard in suburbia that I’d like to start converting into a veggies, fruits, and herbs garden. I’ve been unsure of where to start the last few years and basically haven’t done much, but I’m finally feeling more motivated to start planning and doing.

FDA, CDC, WHO are all cut back, Our food is even more dangerous than before, multiple outbreaks of foodborne illness due to lack of regulation, water isn't required to be checked for micro plastics anymore, AI data centers are everywhere, we are facing rising temperatures and drought, it just seems like constant doom.

I never see any news of anyone protesting or just anything positive anymore, I live in Texas and it's miserable, we are getting so many new data centers and our governor is horrible.

I followed a bunch of 'climate optimist' accounts a while back because if I just keep getting bad news it will actually kill me. But it doesn't feel like good news or relevant at all? Like I'm happy that US scientists have their own website to document climate change and that renewables are growing.... but its not exactly good news to me just news. FOR EXAMPLE a country ordering companies to not hide their emissions doesn't stop them from emitting, just that they have to report it. And all the news I see is just we COULD do this, we HAVE the methods we just need to implement them... it's the potential man of climate change... because in our capitalistic fossil fuel worshipping world we'll never do anything that makes renewables competitive. We might be able to reach net zero which is hopeful but at the same time I know we won't so whats the point. How is that good news?

To me good news would be "wow we went back to pre industrial carbon levels overnight and scientists are baffled!!!!"/ "arctic sea ice just gained like more than it ever has before". Meanwhile the bad news or doomer accounts have fresh new information to post every day that things are getting worse than it ever has been before. So like if the optimists have to basically recycle content or say stuff that's not relevant/filler (one reel i saw had "my friend got her masters" as an example for why the world's not doomed.... well im happy for her I guess) isn't it over???? I hate this life. I wish I was one of those moths that exist to fuck and then die immediately afterwards so I couldnt comprehend the scale of the horrors we will face.

I don’t know how to keep going. It’s just making me cry

It’s so annoying because we KNEW. Summit after summit was all umming and ahhing about money

And they’re building a fucking data centre in my city

Idk if maybe there could be some tech to mitigate some of this. Maybe not. It seems that the rich just want us to die. And I hate it and I can’t accept it. But I am losing my will to live because I just hate being born into a world that is ending

I am STRESSED TO BE LIVING IN THIS WORLD IN THIS TIME

I am 24 years old. Going to be turning 25 soon.

(Reddit told me I wasn’t allowed to swear but trust me I tried FIVE TIMES so now have switched to fake swear words) - edit. Took those out. I did start with I am f\*\*\*\*\*\* stressed about the state of the world but WHATEVER. you get the point

You know what people in their 20s were doing in the 2000s? The 90s? The 80s?

I have no freeeaking \[yes there were swear words\] clue because all I can think about is how my province is ON FIRE.

my dog literally died today because his lungs couldn’t handle the smoke coming from MILES AND MILES AWAY. so f u c KING SAD SO Fing sad I can’t believe im not allowed to swear ( do not come at me I did NOTHING WRONG THE VET TOLD ME HE WAS HEALTHY BUT SOMEHHOA HIS LUNGS COULDNT TAKE THE AIR QUALITY )

WHY HAVE WE BECOME SO DESENSITIZED?!??!!

I have no idea what to do but I want to do something.

Also the education system sucks and I have never been taught how politics work. I’m literally in university and still feel like a dumbass

You want to call me an idiot?!
Great! I am an idiot
SO ARE YOU

WHY ARE WE LETTING THIS HAPPEN TO US

we need to stop it

Im really trying to find a group of people who want to change the world like I do

All of my friends think I care too much

And then I think of the quote “climate change will happen as a series of events that you see on your phone until you’re the one filming it” or WHATEVER IT IS

I DO NOT WANT TO FILM A FOREST CATCHING FIRE

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THAT

What about when the phones melt and all of the animals are dead and we are dead

I am new to Reddit

I know this post will go very unseen

But I am praying to every god that I eventually find like minded people who also do not want to live through the apocalypse

WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE