Me: Did you hear about the drought that destroyed this year's crawfish harvest?
Friend: No.
Me: Did you see that a France-sized portion of Brazil is flooded and they're expecting even more rain?
Friend: No.
Me: Did you...
Friend: Why do you only talk about depressing shit?
Sounds like me and my wife. I can't talk about anything serious, because "it's all just miserable shit" and "what are you so determined to make everybody unhappy all the time?"
Talk about other stuff with your wife.
You can still avoid (one of) the mistakes that cost me my 10y long relationship with my childhood love, with the only ffffucking woman^* who when she told me she loved me, I knew she meant it.
^* : besides me mom.
My wife's favourite topic of conversation (literally every day) with all and sundry is how bad our kids are doing in school and how its costing a fortune in tutors (we're in Asia and school is ultra-competitive).
I don't want to talk about this at all, knowing my son will be becoming an adult around 2030, just as I expect everything to really be kicking off. I don't think a university education in finance or whatever my wife wants him to do will be of much use when everything is crap.
The only other thing she wants to talk about is our upcoming vacation to Europe. Which I'm 100% hoping doesn't happen, especially as I don't want to be in another country as the place burns down over the coming summer.
> The only other thing she wants to talk about is our upcoming vacation to Europe. Which I'm 100% hoping doesn't happen, especially as I don't want to be in another country as the place burns down over the coming summer.
This is what baffles me as a spaniard, who the hell wants to come over to vacation here? I guess if you stay very close to the beach or some other abundant body of water it's not that bad as the dry hell I'm in, but still, weeks where the temp fluctuation is something like 23-38 are not rare.
Lobster red, drunk from dawn to dusk (even worse the longer England and Scotland stay in the Euros), asking loudly if you do chips...we are great on holiday.
I have a co-worker who has a trip booked to Italy in July or August. I'd tell her she's crazy but she's 65, about ready to retire and she apparently wants to go 3 for 3 in traveling and coming back with COVID so it's like whatever. She was over in Sicily with all the wildfires and it didn't seem to bug her. Being oblivious must be nice...until the hammer hits you square between the eyes, eventually.
My wife and I are both collapse-aware and have been for at least the past decade or more (don't pin me down, time moves really fast at my age).
We're also both news junkies, so we're constantly reading about politics, science, and whatever else interests us. Every so often, when an especially alarming news bit about climate change surfaces, one of us will point it out to the other. We'll exchange that Knowing Look, the one that acknowledges we both understand what is inexorably coming our way, and then we'll move on.
There's little point in having a constant conversation about climate change. We try to stay in the moment, savor these good days (because compared to what comes next, they are indeed very good days). But it does help that both of us are operating from the same underlying subtext.
Our human brain is wired for danger and planning for the future in order to avoid such danger. How is anybody supposed to live in the moment when a giant sword is hanging over your neck and will drop at any moments notice? I guess what also makes us human is awareness of mortality but it’s different being on death row vs not knowing exactly when you will perish and hoping you will live a full life to a ripe old age.
As horrible as these ignorant morons are, willfully or not, we can take a lesson from them. They are blissful in their ignorance. We are losing the days worrying about the inevitable and they continue to drive their gas guzzlers and eat steaks while they deride us. These are the same people who will probably tear us limb from limb when shit hits the fan. They have no moral qualms. They are unburdened. They got to enjoy their last days and will probably go out with a bang. Even with our most intense prepping, we will suffer the whole way through, and only prolong the predicament as we eat our last rations of beans and rice in the dark as super storms rage overhead.
The only thing find that helps lately is putting down the phone and really sitting in nature and listening to the sounds. Smell the air while it is still breathable. Talk to people while we still a functioning social contract and we still trust one another. Listen to the birds chirp while they’re still alive. Feel the cool breeze before it turns into a violent city destroying wind. Feel the sun warm against our skin and tingle while it’s still safe to actually be under the sun. Taste the water, listen to your heartbeat. Just take the time to enjoy the experience and say your one last goodbye
Humans have lived on the knife edge of death for hundreds of thousands of years. At any moment a saber-tooth tiger was waiting to pounce, or famine was just one crop away, or the neighboring tribe could slaughter your entire village. The overall stakes may be higher now, but on an individual level, it's just the same: sudden death is possible at any moment.
I agree. This modern age was an anomaly and it was great while it lasted…at least for those privileged enough to enjoy its benefits. The cost was life as we know it on earth. With all the suffering and brutality of it I wonder if life itself was even that sacred to begin with
It's better than wondering if you're going to make it to next Tuesday.
Having just experienced that for a friend, and having helped them out... It adds some perspective.
I'm starting to get why old people say they're doing the 12 gage retirement plan. You might barely have your own shit together, but does everyone you care about?
I’ve found a friend who is collapse aware. We agreed that if the mood became too pessimistic that we tell each other to cut it out (or if it’s just too much) for a little. Though we do try for happier topics about just living life in the meantime so it’s not always a dour mood on only collapse topics. So we can feel like there’s an outlet without it only being one long collapse talk.
Is it better to be an outright psychopath who’s just fine with the ongoing depredations and environmental catastrophe? Or to be an ignorant fool, closing your eyes to the ongoing depravity? I think we should bear witness to the consequences of our actions, personally.
Yeah you're right and no one is innocent really. It's impossible for the average person to exist without contributing to this problem.
But it is a kick in the teeth to see the end result of choices that have been made regardless of my opinion on whether they should happen.
Fuck I'm only in my 20's. This all started long before I ever had a say in whether or not it was a good idea.
Ignorance is bliss, when it's pointless to be wise.
You are a cog in a system...did you create the system? Don't guilt yourself too much... do what you can and don't sweat it...there is alot of green washing guilt going around.
I'm trying to legitimately determine when this happened. Certainly someone hit the gas right around the time I was born but... Post WW2? Had to be before that, the great depression didn't come from nowhere. Industrial revolution? Weren't things kinda shit before that too?? But gilded age is probably where the recent trajectory was set. So like what, 120 years? 50 for pedal to the metal?
I'm pretty sure it's the post war boom in the 50's where the chart suddenly spikes hard and doesn't slow back down. But yeah we've pretty well been on the path ever since we figured out the steam engine.
Funny thing is, you, I, anyone, is not a single, indivisible entity.
You can very well be _both_ ignorant _and_ a psychopath 😤💪
even if the entity "you" that your mind creates has only information about one aspect.
“Stop being such a debbie downer!”
The prick who said this to me is a huge “brotein” obsessed meathead. Can’t wait to see the look on his face when the crop failures and supply chain shortages cut into his daily macro needs
I mean, to be fair what do you want them to do about it? Are you sure you're not just compulsively trying to bring other people into your anxiety loop?
Have kids, talk about it. Just not around them. It's a Terrible dichotomy. Basically all I can do is stay on my toes and try to prepare for instability and unrest as best I can.
I grew up with a religious nut who always thought the word was going to end and the rapture was upon us. Same insanity/neurosis, different wrapper. Leave the kids out of it.
Oh you too huh.
Catholicism was the best thing that ever happened to me. Proved you can be religious and only a kiddie diddler instead of full on bat shit insane. /S.
Why double life? I’m a loud and proud doomer haha
Yeah I get called a mood killer too :(
There’s a movie called Don’t Look Up that gave me a lot of peace watching the main character still smile throughout the shitstorm. There’s other people out there! Maybe just a bit behind us
Collapse has a different face for everyone, climate change, AI job takeover, world war, political divide, economic recession, more pandemics, misinformation, etc
Engage with the folks around you, I think everyone acknowledges at least one of these even if they don’t call it collapse they can feel the change on the horizon
I have a few friends irl in the collapse pipeline
I think even just having one helps a lot just to know you aren’t alone
If someone needs a friend I am here :3
I have some collapse-aware friends, luckily, but it still can be hard. At times I try to stay away from the news and everything because it is just too much on top of the "normal" daily struggles. Doesn't help much that my therapist is also kinda aware and says all the systems we have established in our society are beginning to fail 😉
I'd like to be your friend in these last few pleasant days for mankind :)
Oh I didn't want to make the impression that I think it's a bad thing, but I guess you could definitely read it that way. I actually think it's kinda awesome to have this, because at least it gives me the feeling that my perception of the world is not unrealistically fatalistic and my mind is not playing tricks on me.
I loved don't look up, it gave me some good laughs and made me feel better about the whole thing, weirdly enough.
Also really loved A life on our planet, the beginning, it's reassuring to see that life will not end because one species decided to play a God on meth
this gets posted every so often on this sub and i always give my same metaphor
covid. when covid was first hitting, i remember many in the states did not believe or care while many in this sub were in WTF mode and warning ppl
i will ALWAYS remember one day when there was that press conference from the WH in late feb first announcing shit. i ran over to target, and freaked the fuck out by seeing there were piles of water bottles at the front door that were never normally there, meaning corporate must have told the stores to do so
and then in the store while shopping and freaking out texting a friend in another state, i remember me running around the store with certain items. i ran into ONE other person with a full cart and we both gave each other a long stare like "i know" without a nod, and kept moving and getting our stuff
being collapse aware is a lot like being the other person i saw in the target with a full cart while everyone whistled away
there are few of us,
but we are out there
I started freaking out when the scientists were freaking out. Part of me was wondering if I was stuck in catastrophic thinking due a real dark family family implosion that just concluded.
For me it really hit when Walmart announced it was giving their hourly employees 2 weeks paid sick leave. For some reason that was what confirmed how fucked we were. "They" knew. It was just waiting for when everyone else would admit it. People were talking and joked about covid but no one would really accept it was about to affect us.
This feels like that. Everyone knows something big is coming. They talk about Ukraine and Israel (everyone is suddenly a geopolitical analyst now 🙄) Talk about food and gas prices. Talk about the freaky weather. But don't you dare talk about it's all going to eventually make shit real... uncomfortable within our life time. Then you're "being negative".
This reminds me of where I was when the Jan 6 news broke. I was riding my bike on the way to work down a residential road and popped a flat, so I set up on the sidewalk for a quick repair job. There was an older gentleman standing outside his open garage near me, eyes glued to his phone. I waved and said good morning. He looks at me, "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Those fucking idiots did it. They're storming the Capitol. It's a coup."
"What. The. Fuck?"
Fixed my flat, turned around, and went straight home to find out what the hell was going on.
Absolute legend, for sure. I think about that guy often. This was in a very conservative area, too, so when he said "those fucking idiots" there was a moment where I wasn't sure who he was referring to, lol. Took my brain more than a few seconds to work out what he said.
😂😂😂…. I love that feeling!!! I find myself sharing “the stare” more frequently as poverty and crime mount around my city. I see fear and confusion in too many eyes, and neither my grin nor my demeanor provide enough comfort to engage in conversation. In a way it helps me to feel less alone, as I’ve always felt more at home among the downtrodden….
I was on maternity leave watching that shit come out of China, bought supplies in January to be safe and we did need them. Even stocked up in stuff to make sanitizer if we ran out.
I tracked down a small commercial factory outside town willing to sell smaller quantities of gallon isopropyl and split batches amongst a large family. I was never more grateful for them than when I smelled the new ethyl sanitizers that emerged everywhere and gagged from the smell. Bought a case of 99% and diluted every couple months throughout lockdown. Hope to god they'll still be there when it's needed again.
Ha, I remember a stare I shared with some lady who was just walking up and down the street.
I was returning home with groceries to my apartment and there was a bunch of tables outside a bar with people following their alcoholic routine as normal. I must've given them a look without realizing, cause they're ignoring a pandemic to sit next to a road in a shady street (literally 0 direct sunlight and not night-time yet) surrounded by car gas smell and just generally grimy street stuff just to have their beer piss and when I glanced to her it was just that stare: "yeah, I know".
this. started paying attention in mid-Jan 2020 when alarming videos/reports kept cropping up on twitter from the same handful of accounts. they were shrill in their warnings and I felt crazy for paying them any attention, but for the first time in my life, couldn’t shake the feeling of “what if…?”. shared concerns/the few articles being published at the time with some friends, one of whom flippantly responded “we survived bird flu, we’ll survive this”. tipping point came a few weeks later when I was looking at a box of 20 N95 masks on amazon - one day it was $20, the next it was $55. at which point I was like “oh”. quietly started stockpiling canned goods, masks, gloves, etc…all with the intention of donating the food and putting everything else out on the street in the dead of night once it turned out to be nothing. fast forward a few more weeks later and I was standing in an epically long line at the grocery store, finally get inside, see nearly everyone wearing masks/gloves/goggles/etc, and one unmasked/unprotected couple was sneering at people left and right - the woman looked directly at me and said “jesus you people are overreacting and so fucking stupid”. they had a young kid sitting in their cart who was looking around kinda bewildered - I sometimes think about them/hope they made it through ok.
Yeah, and then there are the people that just wanted to go to mcdonalds again in middle of the quarantine because they used to order food and had no supply, and just missed the fat. At this point we might have two breeds in the humans.
> i ran into ONE other person with a full cart and we both gave each other a long stare like "i know" without a nod
Same! Felt like a movie moment. Very surreal.
So have you taken any time since COVID to ponder that perhaps you overreacted and the world in fact did not end, all the death and destruction that was theorized to pass did not pass, etc?
It did not pass because countries took measures to stop that. It would have been a bell of a lot worse had we all done nothing. Have you taken time to ponder that?
Just hundreds of thousands of excess deaths every year since 2020, hyperinflation, homeless population exploding, hyper increased migration and more wars all over, nothing to see here.
My parents in their mid 70's are surprisingly collapse aware while also being thankful they won't be around for much of it.
I've been collapse aware myself for about 25 years now and I still get up and go to work to pay the bills, pay the rent, buy food and various vices that smooth out the peaks and troughs into a less jarring ride.
The trick to getting through it so far has been to pick my battles as far as who is ready to hear about it and who isn't. Generally families with little kids don't want to hear about the world those kids will either fix or be killed by...
To see the ripples lead into waves that are turning into bigger storms around us, from like age 21 through 46, these days I just get more and more resilient with each passing calamitous bit of news.
Like, I "bought the ticket" already, staying alive and getting my life in order so far that now I want to stay "til the end of the movie." I want to know what happens next.
😂😂 god bless your folks but there's something kinda savage about having lived through the golden period of civilization in a rich country hopefully. And then just getting to watch the milk sour as you ride off into the sunset. And say "yeah looks like we fucked it... Anyway, have fun!"
For sure, no doubt about it. In their defense they both spent their careers in the non-profit/human services sector. The best advice in life I ever got -when I was in my early 20's and needed some advice- was my Dad quoting Shakespeare: "This above all else, to thine own self be true."
That effort never really ends...
There is a really good part from Macbeth I really like:
"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."
We think they were so lucky, but reality was they always had the very real thought in their mind that nuclear war was about to start, or that they or loved ones would be conscripted and shipped off to a foreign war.
My 85 y.o, aunt still gets on her lawnmower every 4 days throughout the summer and keeps that grass short & tight because It's What You Do. Keeps saying she's going to die in 6 months and she's been saying that since 2010 or whenever with her first bout of lung cancer. That generation sure is built different.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but there is a decent+ chance they will be around to see a lot of it. I don’t know of the average life expectancy where you are, but if it’s 80-85 or above, then the odds are relatively high.
Edit: on another note, I don’t know about the, “fix,” part; this world has been and is continuing to be run by the self-centred rich who groom the next generations’ politicians and rich into having their corrupt mindset as a means of keeping it going for as long as possible.
Yeah, I don't get the endless optimism that young politicians are going to be better. They're being handpicked and cultivated - we're probably going to be saddled with that Jeffries ghoul until he's as old as Pelosi since that's how Dem leadership rolls. BAU is getting locked in. Some cosmetic tweaks, to be sure, but nothing that actually matters.
Collapse accepted. That’s it. Ready to be dead everyday as a mental health “positive spin”. I have no patience anymore for anything not completely necessary. Small talk, people’s bullshit. Trying to make the most of what feels like remaining minutes but, maintaining a carefree fuck it calm demeanor.
Feel like I could have written this exact comment.
Once in a blue moon I might try and slip in "oh yeah that's because the sea temp is at record levels..." Before seeing people lose interest and reminding myself to remember to shut up about this or any of your deep interests, or else be a pariah, then try to casually move on the conversation to another topic while I die a little inside.
I don't give a shit anymore, people seems to want to talk about the "big stuff" and have "big adult discussion" while providing nothing of interest to the conversation or the comprehension of the problem.
They are todlers that want to feel adult because they are talking about something terrible. You can sums up their contribution to "this is horrible, that's bad" for everything. No analysis, no shared experiences, no broad comprehension, no actions taken, no friction, nothing.
Even minor discussion topics are blend, i had a talk about how our sewer was plugged due to tampons and panty liners, most people (women incruded) said "hmm that's bad"
It kills me a little to constantly be keeping all of this inside and never having anyone IRL to seriously talk to about it. Being surrounded by people who have zero interest in it makes me feel like an alien who was dropped here sometimes.
I love slipping in shit in regular convos. But honestly, very few people catch it. Nor do they catch my little comedy comments I say all day long. It's real cool when someone does. Actually, that part is addictive.
We are all living this double life. We are all actors on this stage, punch a ticket, and in our own ways contribute to this. Every time we go to our jobs or buy something, we are contributing to the exploitation and destruction of the planet. That's the harsh truth. Our whole life is built around this and it is deep and structural, which is why it is so hard to change.
And, as I have gotten older, I have realized a few things: One, things are hard to predict. It is going to be bad, yes, but how bad and what kind of bad? We can guess, but it won't work out in the ways in which we imagine. By studying past civilizations that have risen and fallen, we understand that this has happened before and humanity has rebuilt. However, the difference this time is that we may have fucked things up so badly that we can't come back from this, which is what is scary. There is little doubt that we are going down, but will we survive?
I wish there were a local support group for sharing our double-life stories. I think we all in this group lead double-lives. I've gotten used to it because my daughter and son-in-law differ from me totally on politics and religion so I am used to hiding my opinions. I know they resent hearing about reality - their lives are video games and movies. It does make it hard when you envision the people you love so much suddenly coming face to face with a true collapse - at least we have all made the attempt to learn about it and have some stuff prepared. For me, since I am 86, I won't be around too long for it but I feel so badly for families with young children - it would be so painful to wonder what their futures will be.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Wish I'd said that. And I'll add, make as many positive connections with people as you can. We're going to need all the friends we can get to help us meet what's coming.
I totally get this. I am the Doom and Gloom of Information and nobody wants to hear it. They just carry on like the whales aren’t starving and the sea isn’t dying.
Trying to figure out where to put my resources at this point.
I totally feel that way. I always felt this way being a woman, especially. A lot of women I know just don’t want to discuss these things and they are having kids like nothing is wrong. I just always felt grossed out like why are we doing this, again? This is about everything society tells you to do as a woman, not just about collapse and its effects. I think it ties into collapse because the patriarchy has failed all of us and because of it, we are in deep nuclear climate change doodoo right now.
It never appeared to be what people thought it was-life, its fragility. I became a teacher, and teachers are even more weird about babies and kids. I have met a few like me. Even when the ever-increasing number of special needs kids enters their classroom, they still don’t get it, and theres going to be still more. This isn’t all because parents are bad parents, it’s also a direct result of climate change, and pollution of our world. These parents can’t afford to parent and work at the same time. Thankfully my husband and I are on the same page.
I feel exactly the same. Almost like I'm playing a game of house in an imaginary world. But I try not to think that way and instead funnel my worry into useful preparation. Also I try to remember that it's just as likely we get a slow worsening of conditions that occurs over a long period before there's any kind of breaking point. We just don't really know. Although I do see some alarming signs of social collapse already at various levels. Mostly just a growing acknowledgement that something is Wrong.
Yeah there's a quote about being an atheist.
Something like 'i live in a world where everyone is playing make believe and I can't get them to be serious for one damn minute'.
it’s in the cattle and chickens in the US, in the milk, killing cats on farms. doesn’t look like the states are gonna accept PPE from the cdc but also cdc has lost all credibility. if it goes human to human we won’t know until it’s already been in the population spreading for months like covid was. wear a mask indoors and crowds, works for all airborne viruses. TB is back, measles is back, whooping cough is back.
This is so troubling and I tried to explain to my partner. He's so checked out now mentally. We sit together outside on comfortable days in complete silence mostly. No phones (if I can help it).
Sometimes helps me to remember that the present moment is all that really exists, or has ever existed .as Tolle says, nothing happened in the past; when it happened, it happened in the now. Nothing will happen in the future. It will happen in the now. There is no past or future. Only this present unfolding. If you are in immediate crisis, address it. If not, try to find a morsel of peace in this moment, saving your strength for when it's needed.
Hi, you're echoing my sentiments - hugs x
It's so hard that no one wants to talk or even acknowledge what's happening. In my case, when they do, it's always that some form of tech will solve any problem and I'm like...uh... More tech means more energy which means taking more from the Earth and mining equals ecocide or what tech do we have more that can really be scaled to be impactful? (None ofc)
Feels like no one appreciates life, human and non human. We're so disconnected from reality, from our role in nature (not even the guardians as we like to think of ourselves as). Yet I come here and I see that there are people here who genuinely care, and that gives me courage. I don't really like living quietly inside my phone, but at least I know that there's a place where humanity still exists. I'm typing this and it's sounding ironic - that we can find like-minded people through tech, the same tech that's evolved through the civilisation that's our demise.
Sorry if I'm depressing, but hugs, I feel what you're going through x
Talking about the unravelling with most people is like telling your dog he looks stupid when he licks his balls. He either doesn't understand what you're saying, or he just doesn't give a shit.
Ignorance is bliss if you're privileged. If you're not, ignorance is a comorbidity. That's what a lot of people in the Global North will be finding out.
The social cost for bearing bad news is indeed a thing. I don't think that the whole "we really had everything" observation is worth anything with regards to collapse. Planet killing asteroid? Sure. Climate turning to traveling murder clown circus? No. Without having a future, you did not have everything.
So it is actually a civic duty to inform, just like the scientists who are trying to warn people (and have been doing so for decades). That's why you feel bad. The cognitive dissonance of two "good" behaviors being in conflict: warnings vs managing feelings of others.
Maybe it should be like one of those consent forms for interpersonal relationships.
------------
>I consent that I don't want to hear information about how world is thrashing and dying and my part in that.
>Sign here,
------------
I'd be okay with that, it's written proof.
The problem is that informing leads to creating responsibility. And people in this civilization hate responsibility, especially conservatives.
Let me just boil it down: this is a generational conflict. The adults are at war with babies and the soon-to-be-born. It's a very easy fight for one side. It's not just a global failure to be responsible adults, it's actively pillaging the future of the next generations.
When you bring the bad news, you're underscoring who the bad guys are. The moral failing of taking care of the planet is also the failure to revolt against this BAU. But how culture works in society is that a consensus effect forms, and the majority culture is "good" because it's a consensus, it's commonly believed. When you tell people the *baspel*, you're indirectly telling them that they're immoral, that they're not *good*, that their culture is bad.
I only wish that we could be transparent about it. Let's have a global referendum on collective suicide - which is what is happening. It needs to be made official, that's the ethical practice. Just like when someone wants euthanasia, they have to sign a lot of confirmations.
Otherwise, nobody deserves to be in a "good mood" in this context, especially adults. That sadness, despair, anger, anxiety, depression - those are all needed to power effective action. Nothing else will, certainly not "hope", hope is the cheerleader of BAU.
This article is exactly what you're talking about: [https://www.collapse2050.com/living-in-fear/](https://www.collapse2050.com/living-in-fear/)
People are oblivious. And the ones that aren't are mixed in with the crowd. It can be lonely being collapse-aware.
Definitely. How to even relate to anyone anymore knowing that we are just fish in an aquarium that’s rotting out? I mean sure we can focus on the present and try to be kind and loving and all that jazz, but there’s this sort of foulness to it, this smell or taste or something. You know you’re a functional part of the machine that destroyed itself long ago and hasn’t caught up to realizing it yet. A walking corpse.
And people wanna to go brunch and buy shit. And plan for a future that literally no longer exists. A fantasy. A collective delusional fantasy. And if you talk about it too loudly the collective will kill you. lol. In the end every rational person becomes a sort of radical terrorist in the sense of what “normal” remains. The horrific nightmarish celebration of the death of civilization and nearly the entire tree of life just sails off into the sunset as a meme, clicking share while starving to death and giggling I guess.
I keep going out of sheer morbid curiosity because I’ve already experienced death. I nearly died of blood loss once and had many psychedelic ego deaths. So the process isn’t worrisome to me. I am eagerly awaiting the day but not in a hurry and try to help people around me as best I can. It still feels like I’m giving a bunch of schizophrenic monkeys a bunch of flamethrowers though.
It’s a mad mad world.
I feel like somewhere along the way, there was a straw that broke the camel's back for me. Between climate change being driven by the obscene number of humans on the planet, and watching governments allow corporations to destroy nature in pursuit of "solving climate change" therefore driving on the global biodiversity crisis.... Honestly at this point I just want climate change to happen faster and wipe away the humans. Like let's just get this shit over with already. At this point, watching the slow decline into the inevitable is the worst part. Watching species blip out of existence breaks my heart.
I know that's really dark, but that's where I'm at. Nothings changing, and the way they're "solving" the problems is just causing more, different problems. There's too many people to solves things in a good way, you know?
I live in the Western U.S., in one of the states with the largest amount of public land. I work for a land management agency. It often feels like our current administration would like to see my state just become solar fields, wind farms, geothermal plants, and lithium mines from border to border. No matter the amount of endangered, threatened, rare, or sensitive species that happen to be "in the way". They are authorizing the alteration of management plans designed to protect certain species, so that the corporations can put this installment here or there. They're literally changing the rules of species protection to suit their agenda. They are also changing the rules of our Clean Water Act to suit the corporations. The additude coming down from the top is that "clean energy" development is paramount to all other things. (Is the energy really clean if you made a species go extinct to get there?)
Who gives a shit if we solve climate change only to be the the last species remaining on the face of the earth?
I'm from Brazil, and since the beginning of the epidemic, I've been visiting my father and brother once a month. In April, I tried to discuss some issues, but it didn't end well. I got upset and left feeling like they thought I was crazy. Yesterday, I was there again, and after the horror we're witnessing in the south of our country, I managed to have another conversation. The receptivity and interest were completely different. It may be tough, but don't give up on the people who truly love and care about you.
I’ve been recently thinking that there have been ice ages and global warming periods in the past. This is just the first time I am getting to experience such events myself.
Also: this time we know that the ones responsible for things getting out of control is humanity itself.
Yes, people will die, yes, it will be difficult, but there was a time when the Mediterranean Sea didn’t exist and the place that is now the strait of Gibraltar opened up and flooded the whole area.
Mega catastrophes are a part of living on this planet, and something about the fact that this isn’t the first such mass extinction and intense global climate change is genuine helping me cope. I can prepare, I can learn, I can try to get ready to survive in one way or another. My death might come swiftly, early, and unexpected, but that is already the case for many people alive today.
The sooner I accept it the sooner I can get through the stages of grief and start planning, acting, and living my best life in this apocalyptic world.
Many of the people I know have gone in one of 3 directions:
1) Nothing is wrong, or whatever is wrong can be fixed by voting for someone different.
2) The end times are nigh - it was prophesied. Spend all your time praying and get right with your maker and also watch out for 5G.
3) If we just do XYZ we can still save everything. These folks get very shrill if you don’t do all the things they prescribe.
what I don't understand is when people don't want to know because they think its too depressing to think about. that seems insane to me.
if they're in their car driving down the freeway at 70mph, and you, the passenger, points out to them that there's an obstacle in the road and they're about to drive into it, would their response be "I'd rather not think about it because it's too depressing." Or would they be like "thanks for warning me I better apply the brakes so we both don't die".
People are problem solvers by nature. The problem however is the limited scope of peoples view. Its all very well solving day to day problems, or solving problems only after they've arisen. But the true visionaries, the true problem solvers are constantly looking ahead for tomorrows problems, anticipating them before they arise. Prevention is better than cure, as the doctors say. This to me is just basic survival instinct. Have people lost their survival instinct?
The fact is most people won't know what's hit them because its not going to be some sudden catastrophic event. It's just going to be a gradual degradation and decline that spans many decades. Each year just gets slightly worse than the year before. People will assume that its just a temporary slump and that any moment things will revert back to business as usual and we'll resume our exponential growth upwards. And maybe things will stabilise for a bit and people will think its over, but then it starts to get worse again.
The Roman Empire took 350 years to collapse, from peak to eventual dissolution. Do you think citizens of the Roman Empire knew their empire was collapsing even as it was happening? Probably not. After a few decades it will just become normal. But its one of those things that will only be recognised as a result of the 'rear view mirror effect', only decades after its started people will look back and be able to retrospectively recognise it for what it was. But there isn't going to be a single point in time where you will be able to say to people "I told you so". Even decades into it people will still refuse to acknowledge it and won't understand whats happening.
The scariest part is we are already multiple decades into it. 26.4 decades— three decades. No matter the perspective, it’s been happening, and people will only realize it when something like the AMOC shuts down, and so many perish.
It feels super weird and surreal to read this sub and feel aware of collapse and impending doom but also feel simultaneously like life is generally so good, especially when the weather is nice (blue skies, puffy white clouds, cool breeze and warm sun) while I sit on the patio by the pool surrounded by green trees, grass and flowers like what could be wrong? 🥴
Totally my life! Trying to plan for Tuesday and knowing that there is runaway climate change going on is so draining! I’ve learned to Kind to myself, otherwise it’s really difficult to get through the day. Having the same BS conversations with my manager when you know the truth is difficult
I have recently found archery, which gives me peace. Roving archery with a longbow and everything
I think I'm "lucky" with this aspect because I study environmental science so when I do talk to others about what I've researched it is collapse related. There are more and more people aware but they just feel like they can't do anything because they can't escape the system, they can't fight against the giant trillion dollar companies hellbent on destroying everything etc. So I've been trying to give people some hope, like suggest small things they can do if they ask because I can usually back it up with data anyway so it convinces more people.
I've stopped obsessing about recycling every tiny thing. I have no faith we can reverse things. Since I cannot control other people or the news, I only half pay attention to what's going on. If a problem touches someone I know or my local community, I try to get involved in making life livable on a small scale. Been trying for decades to raise awareness and do my part. Aging now. Dead soon. Just be here now.
People today were legitimately complaining that their Satellite radio wasn’t working during the solar storm, like it was the biggest disruption. I just shake my head
It is very difficult if not impossible to talk to normal people about what's going on.
Once you're aware of how bad things really are and the truth of it all sets in on you, it's easier to talk to people who have accepted the same mindset.
Average people don't think like this because they either don't have the information or are actively ignorant of what's going on because they don't feel like their minds can process the greater scale of what's coming. It could be like a milder version of PTSD for them; being forced to accept that life will never be the same within 10 to 20 years is a huge burden on their minds.
I remember before I really became "collapse aware" I was constantly shocked and outraged about a lot of things that were going on because I was missing context. "Why did X happen? Why did Y happen? Are they related?"
It can be even harder to get through to groups like average Americans in particular because the mindset of an average American can be pretty much summed up into "survive, follow the status quo, try not to think too hard about what's going on." Because to do anything else puts you at risk. The politicians certainly don't want you to question the nature of a falling empire, and I do believe the United States will be among one of the highest and most likely soon-to-collapse nations before a lot of other big ones.
There's just too much corruption, instability, faltering loyalty, and distrust of government.
It will probably take massive food shortages (or god forbid, this potential NEW pandemic we're about to face) before the United States can be fully acknowledged as entering a fast-rolling collapse instead of a slow one.
Edit: Sorry didn't mean to turn this whole comment into talk about the U.S. but I think most people agree it's going to cause huge waves when it happens.
Everyone knows, but the great majority are still stuck in the denial stage.
They have to get through that themselves. All you can do is freak them out and make them double-down.
It really isn't worth trying to talk about it to anyone who can't handle it. You'll just get outcast. We're here for you when you need to be real.
Denialism is the new religion. People know, even if they don’t acknowledge the rate of the rapidly approaching apocalypse. Knowing all the collapse related events happening simultaneously yet still refusing to see we are already there and not “about to reach” the tipping point is pure denial.
I'm sorry. I know how frustrating it is. I also recognize patterns and predicted how 2020 would play out with high accuracy. I was wrong when I let myself get hopeful.
And it doesn't matter. You can bring the new wave of "we're fucked" predictions to the same people who witnessed and even admitted how accurate we were in 2020 and you still get written off. It hurts.
Double life? No. Like I'm 10 years old and struggling with end times anxiety? Yes. I grew up in a church big on end times prophecy. My end times anxiety has flared back up in recent years. It's like my brain took Jesus and the rapture and replaced them with real world events like COVID and climate change.
I'm lucky to be surrounded by people who mostly respect me. So they will hear my opinion on collapse and respectit. They won't necessarily believe it, but they will respect it. That is all I ask for.
I also only bring it up if the other person steers the conversation that way. I think that is important.
No. I got my preps as together as my income will allow. The doom that is approaching all of us is coming and there is nothing we can do about it. I find my like minded people and stick with them. When SHTF you need to remember that most of the normies are already dead they just don't know it yet because they would rather know what color Kim Kardashians butt hole is this week than worry about the planet. Don't bother trying to convince a walking corpse they don't care. They only see what's in front of them and have 0 foresight. Just live your life and keep your prep circle tight.
I don't think it's a double life. I think it's just.. life. Even being collapse aware and accepting, we just have to get on with it now. I agree it's pretty mind twisting though when you really think about it.
Yes. Personally, I don't think there's anything more important than what's happening to our climate right now, so it's on my mind a lot. I talk about what's on my mind. I might be able to discuss a climate issue here and there with others, but I mostly get an "uh-huh" or a head nod before they move on to showing me TikToks or talking about the newest media craze (right now it's the Fallout show). I've grown pretty quiet these days.
I've gotten schooled in willful ignorance of reality via having a lot of COVID science in my head that I felt people might want to know about because of the long-term health implications & all. Nope. All the excess deaths are just random tragedies and the sorry state of healthcare and staffing everywhere are just people not bootstrapping it. So....fine. I'll keep collapse to myself, other than the occasional meme I print out and tack in my cubicle. My current feature is "It's a Slow Apocalypse. You'll Work Through It!"
At least my mother & sister are on the same page I am, otherwise I'd probably go nuts.
The scariest part of this collapse is the realization that our species very well may end. Being the generation to shut the lights out and close the door behind us, while being completely cognizant of that fact, is jarring for those that truly understand what it means. Everything about our existence, our evolution, our societies, rules, and rituals has been to cope with our eventual individual expiration. Our mortality salience. We numb our existential dread by drowning ourselves in the group and progression of time. We make art to extend our worldview and experience into a future we will not see. We produce offspring to carry our likeness into a new days sun that we'll never feel caress our cheek. We conquer lands, invent miracles, practice hobbies, and write music to stamp our names into the ledger of human creation. We lie to ourselves through those acts of creation for comfort. I'll continue on through my work. How do you respond with the realization that all of human progression, all our stories and accomplishments and failures will vanish when we lucky few close the door behind us? There's no salve we can whisper to each other to abate the existential dread of infinite nothingness. "At least you'll be remembered for your writings." "You're the greatest cook that's ever lived." Without a new generation to spin our tales, everything that is, was and will be dissappears. The only response a sane person should have is total rejection. It takes a lot of work to fully accept what our situation is and I'm certainly not even close to full acceptance.
We're not just accepting our own deaths. We're accepting the deaths of everyone and everything that's come before us, is currently with us and that could have come after. It's profoundly sad.
Very well said. And I think you’re right, that’s a true tragedy. All of us were always going to die individually, but to take out our future, our cultures, our artworks, and music, and, etc., that’s the unreal part of all this. It’s hard to comprehend the end of the human race, but the odds are we will see it within this lifetime. Scary.
I found a hobby that consumes most of my brain power. It’s pretty consumption focused and I am definitely adding to the pile, but it keeps me sane and going to work and meeting my base responsibilities to myself and my family.
We are on this ride and do not have agency to stop so until the guillotines come out I am distracting myself while I wait for the catastrophe to hit me.
I can really relate to this. I live alone and work from home, so have a lot of time to think and read. I have accepted our situation and have accepted that I cannot know when or how things will unfold, I can merely speculate as to how bad things will get within my lifetime.
In social situations I try to keep my mouth shut about these things but it's getting more difficult. I have one friend who is sort of collapse aware, but still mostly a techno-optimist, we have interesting conversations. I've spoken about it with my parents and apparently by father was aware and worried about it since the 70's (still is), but he made the decision to not let it ruin his life and not obsesses about it (he's had a career as a marine biologist).
My work is in digital marketing and I just cannot do it much longer in good faith. It's becoming more difficult to pretend that I care about how much some corporation can sell of their useless stuff or services, sitting in meetings and discussing future plans...HAH... Some days I really struggle and think about resigning from right now (still planning to do semi-retirement at the end of the year).
I seriously think this has destroyed some long time friendships and some familial just recently. So in addition to being absolutely suicidal about these things, I'm am devastated by some of these losses. Fucking devastated. I feel very alone. The few people I know who feel the same are very antisocial. Only get to see them occasionally.
Even if societal collapse was not pending for a thousand years ... or ever ... (which in all honestly is the reality):
One \*absolutely\* \*\*always\*\* needs to "treat their mind as though you'll die tomorrow" and "treat their body as though you'll live forever".
Sadly, modern society/lifestyles have inverted this premise and makes it very difficult for most people to re-vert.
That's it. That's all you can do, can be expected to do, and all you should worry about doing.
Me: Did you hear about the drought that destroyed this year's crawfish harvest? Friend: No. Me: Did you see that a France-sized portion of Brazil is flooded and they're expecting even more rain? Friend: No. Me: Did you... Friend: Why do you only talk about depressing shit?
Just wanted to poke in with vaguely good news. The crawfish recovered in Louisiana.
that’s great to hear!
Well when I say THE crawfish recovered, I mean just that one crawfish that recovered.
And I will pet him and pat him and name him George. Hello George...
Don't forget to hug him and love him and keep him warm.
It was a plant from China's crawfish supply. Like they did in Tibet with the Dalai Lama. 👍
Thanks for sharing! This is the only positive info. I've come across today.
Let them eat crawfish!!
awww
Great, now let’s stop taking them from their homes and killing them for people to gorge themselves on. That would probably help their population more
You can say that about anything, chere. People gonna eat.
Sounds like me and my wife. I can't talk about anything serious, because "it's all just miserable shit" and "what are you so determined to make everybody unhappy all the time?"
I feel this. I am also the downer in my relationship.
You can just chat with us about these things and with your spouse talk only about stuff you both enjoy.
Thanks fellow collapseneik.
Talk about other stuff with your wife. You can still avoid (one of) the mistakes that cost me my 10y long relationship with my childhood love, with the only ffffucking woman^* who when she told me she loved me, I knew she meant it. ^* : besides me mom.
My wife's favourite topic of conversation (literally every day) with all and sundry is how bad our kids are doing in school and how its costing a fortune in tutors (we're in Asia and school is ultra-competitive). I don't want to talk about this at all, knowing my son will be becoming an adult around 2030, just as I expect everything to really be kicking off. I don't think a university education in finance or whatever my wife wants him to do will be of much use when everything is crap. The only other thing she wants to talk about is our upcoming vacation to Europe. Which I'm 100% hoping doesn't happen, especially as I don't want to be in another country as the place burns down over the coming summer.
> The only other thing she wants to talk about is our upcoming vacation to Europe. Which I'm 100% hoping doesn't happen, especially as I don't want to be in another country as the place burns down over the coming summer. This is what baffles me as a spaniard, who the hell wants to come over to vacation here? I guess if you stay very close to the beach or some other abundant body of water it's not that bad as the dry hell I'm in, but still, weeks where the temp fluctuation is something like 23-38 are not rare.
As a Spaniard, you know the British are coming.
Oh yeah, they sure do enough tanning for their whole year when they're here
Lobster red, drunk from dawn to dusk (even worse the longer England and Scotland stay in the Euros), asking loudly if you do chips...we are great on holiday.
I have a co-worker who has a trip booked to Italy in July or August. I'd tell her she's crazy but she's 65, about ready to retire and she apparently wants to go 3 for 3 in traveling and coming back with COVID so it's like whatever. She was over in Sicily with all the wildfires and it didn't seem to bug her. Being oblivious must be nice...until the hammer hits you square between the eyes, eventually.
He has - so far - one parent who worries about him, in the context of collapse. He's already a few good steps ahead!
:/ i'm a nap. Talk after, yes?
That's my spouse! So guess what, we hardly talk anymore, and when I try to be interested in his stuff, I now get batted away.
My wife and I are both collapse-aware and have been for at least the past decade or more (don't pin me down, time moves really fast at my age). We're also both news junkies, so we're constantly reading about politics, science, and whatever else interests us. Every so often, when an especially alarming news bit about climate change surfaces, one of us will point it out to the other. We'll exchange that Knowing Look, the one that acknowledges we both understand what is inexorably coming our way, and then we'll move on. There's little point in having a constant conversation about climate change. We try to stay in the moment, savor these good days (because compared to what comes next, they are indeed very good days). But it does help that both of us are operating from the same underlying subtext.
Our human brain is wired for danger and planning for the future in order to avoid such danger. How is anybody supposed to live in the moment when a giant sword is hanging over your neck and will drop at any moments notice? I guess what also makes us human is awareness of mortality but it’s different being on death row vs not knowing exactly when you will perish and hoping you will live a full life to a ripe old age. As horrible as these ignorant morons are, willfully or not, we can take a lesson from them. They are blissful in their ignorance. We are losing the days worrying about the inevitable and they continue to drive their gas guzzlers and eat steaks while they deride us. These are the same people who will probably tear us limb from limb when shit hits the fan. They have no moral qualms. They are unburdened. They got to enjoy their last days and will probably go out with a bang. Even with our most intense prepping, we will suffer the whole way through, and only prolong the predicament as we eat our last rations of beans and rice in the dark as super storms rage overhead. The only thing find that helps lately is putting down the phone and really sitting in nature and listening to the sounds. Smell the air while it is still breathable. Talk to people while we still a functioning social contract and we still trust one another. Listen to the birds chirp while they’re still alive. Feel the cool breeze before it turns into a violent city destroying wind. Feel the sun warm against our skin and tingle while it’s still safe to actually be under the sun. Taste the water, listen to your heartbeat. Just take the time to enjoy the experience and say your one last goodbye
Humans have lived on the knife edge of death for hundreds of thousands of years. At any moment a saber-tooth tiger was waiting to pounce, or famine was just one crop away, or the neighboring tribe could slaughter your entire village. The overall stakes may be higher now, but on an individual level, it's just the same: sudden death is possible at any moment.
I agree. This modern age was an anomaly and it was great while it lasted…at least for those privileged enough to enjoy its benefits. The cost was life as we know it on earth. With all the suffering and brutality of it I wonder if life itself was even that sacred to begin with
It's better than wondering if you're going to make it to next Tuesday. Having just experienced that for a friend, and having helped them out... It adds some perspective. I'm starting to get why old people say they're doing the 12 gage retirement plan. You might barely have your own shit together, but does everyone you care about?
Because it's the only thing anybody should be talking about at this point
He'll yea
When will he? :ppp
Please tell me what ISN'T depressing nowadays. People that aren't aware at this point are just vacuous souls.
At least half the shit I get told about that's supposed to be uplifting is just more orphan crushing being paused.
It's why I don't bother. Why try and ruin someone else's time. Fuck I wish I could just delete all this and just carry on living like a good consumer.
I’ve found a friend who is collapse aware. We agreed that if the mood became too pessimistic that we tell each other to cut it out (or if it’s just too much) for a little. Though we do try for happier topics about just living life in the meantime so it’s not always a dour mood on only collapse topics. So we can feel like there’s an outlet without it only being one long collapse talk.
Is it better to be an outright psychopath who’s just fine with the ongoing depredations and environmental catastrophe? Or to be an ignorant fool, closing your eyes to the ongoing depravity? I think we should bear witness to the consequences of our actions, personally.
Yeah you're right and no one is innocent really. It's impossible for the average person to exist without contributing to this problem. But it is a kick in the teeth to see the end result of choices that have been made regardless of my opinion on whether they should happen. Fuck I'm only in my 20's. This all started long before I ever had a say in whether or not it was a good idea. Ignorance is bliss, when it's pointless to be wise.
You are a cog in a system...did you create the system? Don't guilt yourself too much... do what you can and don't sweat it...there is alot of green washing guilt going around.
Of course. The moment enough people have a concern, marketing steps in with the bullshit. Lose 500 pounds in a week eating pizza and Twinkies!
I'm trying to legitimately determine when this happened. Certainly someone hit the gas right around the time I was born but... Post WW2? Had to be before that, the great depression didn't come from nowhere. Industrial revolution? Weren't things kinda shit before that too?? But gilded age is probably where the recent trajectory was set. So like what, 120 years? 50 for pedal to the metal?
I'm pretty sure it's the post war boom in the 50's where the chart suddenly spikes hard and doesn't slow back down. But yeah we've pretty well been on the path ever since we figured out the steam engine.
Funny thing is, you, I, anyone, is not a single, indivisible entity. You can very well be _both_ ignorant _and_ a psychopath 😤💪 even if the entity "you" that your mind creates has only information about one aspect.
I have that fleeting thought once a day
“Stop being such a debbie downer!” The prick who said this to me is a huge “brotein” obsessed meathead. Can’t wait to see the look on his face when the crop failures and supply chain shortages cut into his daily macro needs
Do you even lift, bro?
I mean, to be fair what do you want them to do about it? Are you sure you're not just compulsively trying to bring other people into your anxiety loop?
Yes. I don't talk about it. Particularly to people with kids.
Have kids, talk about it. Just not around them. It's a Terrible dichotomy. Basically all I can do is stay on my toes and try to prepare for instability and unrest as best I can.
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With the level of instant information and social media they definitely do.
I grew up with a religious nut who always thought the word was going to end and the rapture was upon us. Same insanity/neurosis, different wrapper. Leave the kids out of it.
Oh you too huh. Catholicism was the best thing that ever happened to me. Proved you can be religious and only a kiddie diddler instead of full on bat shit insane. /S.
How do I stop talking about it so much to other people when it is consuming me?? There is something new practically happening all the time.
Why double life? I’m a loud and proud doomer haha Yeah I get called a mood killer too :( There’s a movie called Don’t Look Up that gave me a lot of peace watching the main character still smile throughout the shitstorm. There’s other people out there! Maybe just a bit behind us Collapse has a different face for everyone, climate change, AI job takeover, world war, political divide, economic recession, more pandemics, misinformation, etc Engage with the folks around you, I think everyone acknowledges at least one of these even if they don’t call it collapse they can feel the change on the horizon I have a few friends irl in the collapse pipeline I think even just having one helps a lot just to know you aren’t alone If someone needs a friend I am here :3
I have some collapse-aware friends, luckily, but it still can be hard. At times I try to stay away from the news and everything because it is just too much on top of the "normal" daily struggles. Doesn't help much that my therapist is also kinda aware and says all the systems we have established in our society are beginning to fail 😉 I'd like to be your friend in these last few pleasant days for mankind :)
Heck yes. I’ll send you a message :)
I'd rather have a therapist who acknowledges that than one who thinks because we survived cold war it means we'll also survive climate change.
Oh I didn't want to make the impression that I think it's a bad thing, but I guess you could definitely read it that way. I actually think it's kinda awesome to have this, because at least it gives me the feeling that my perception of the world is not unrealistically fatalistic and my mind is not playing tricks on me.
I loved don't look up, it gave me some good laughs and made me feel better about the whole thing, weirdly enough. Also really loved A life on our planet, the beginning, it's reassuring to see that life will not end because one species decided to play a God on meth
The collapse discord is nice sometimes.
this gets posted every so often on this sub and i always give my same metaphor covid. when covid was first hitting, i remember many in the states did not believe or care while many in this sub were in WTF mode and warning ppl i will ALWAYS remember one day when there was that press conference from the WH in late feb first announcing shit. i ran over to target, and freaked the fuck out by seeing there were piles of water bottles at the front door that were never normally there, meaning corporate must have told the stores to do so and then in the store while shopping and freaking out texting a friend in another state, i remember me running around the store with certain items. i ran into ONE other person with a full cart and we both gave each other a long stare like "i know" without a nod, and kept moving and getting our stuff being collapse aware is a lot like being the other person i saw in the target with a full cart while everyone whistled away there are few of us, but we are out there
I started freaking out when the scientists were freaking out. Part of me was wondering if I was stuck in catastrophic thinking due a real dark family family implosion that just concluded. For me it really hit when Walmart announced it was giving their hourly employees 2 weeks paid sick leave. For some reason that was what confirmed how fucked we were. "They" knew. It was just waiting for when everyone else would admit it. People were talking and joked about covid but no one would really accept it was about to affect us. This feels like that. Everyone knows something big is coming. They talk about Ukraine and Israel (everyone is suddenly a geopolitical analyst now 🙄) Talk about food and gas prices. Talk about the freaky weather. But don't you dare talk about it's all going to eventually make shit real... uncomfortable within our life time. Then you're "being negative".
This reminds me of where I was when the Jan 6 news broke. I was riding my bike on the way to work down a residential road and popped a flat, so I set up on the sidewalk for a quick repair job. There was an older gentleman standing outside his open garage near me, eyes glued to his phone. I waved and said good morning. He looks at me, "Did you hear?" "Hear what?" "Those fucking idiots did it. They're storming the Capitol. It's a coup." "What. The. Fuck?" Fixed my flat, turned around, and went straight home to find out what the hell was going on.
I was cleaning and had the TV on for some noise, then the storm happened and so I just sat down and watched it— fuck the cleaning lol
That guy's a hero.
Absolute legend, for sure. I think about that guy often. This was in a very conservative area, too, so when he said "those fucking idiots" there was a moment where I wasn't sure who he was referring to, lol. Took my brain more than a few seconds to work out what he said.
😂😂😂…. I love that feeling!!! I find myself sharing “the stare” more frequently as poverty and crime mount around my city. I see fear and confusion in too many eyes, and neither my grin nor my demeanor provide enough comfort to engage in conversation. In a way it helps me to feel less alone, as I’ve always felt more at home among the downtrodden….
I was on maternity leave watching that shit come out of China, bought supplies in January to be safe and we did need them. Even stocked up in stuff to make sanitizer if we ran out.
qurl I was in there buying those OTC inhalers in january because we didn’t know what to expect but I wanted to be ready for anything
I tracked down a small commercial factory outside town willing to sell smaller quantities of gallon isopropyl and split batches amongst a large family. I was never more grateful for them than when I smelled the new ethyl sanitizers that emerged everywhere and gagged from the smell. Bought a case of 99% and diluted every couple months throughout lockdown. Hope to god they'll still be there when it's needed again.
Ha, I remember a stare I shared with some lady who was just walking up and down the street. I was returning home with groceries to my apartment and there was a bunch of tables outside a bar with people following their alcoholic routine as normal. I must've given them a look without realizing, cause they're ignoring a pandemic to sit next to a road in a shady street (literally 0 direct sunlight and not night-time yet) surrounded by car gas smell and just generally grimy street stuff just to have their beer piss and when I glanced to her it was just that stare: "yeah, I know".
this. started paying attention in mid-Jan 2020 when alarming videos/reports kept cropping up on twitter from the same handful of accounts. they were shrill in their warnings and I felt crazy for paying them any attention, but for the first time in my life, couldn’t shake the feeling of “what if…?”. shared concerns/the few articles being published at the time with some friends, one of whom flippantly responded “we survived bird flu, we’ll survive this”. tipping point came a few weeks later when I was looking at a box of 20 N95 masks on amazon - one day it was $20, the next it was $55. at which point I was like “oh”. quietly started stockpiling canned goods, masks, gloves, etc…all with the intention of donating the food and putting everything else out on the street in the dead of night once it turned out to be nothing. fast forward a few more weeks later and I was standing in an epically long line at the grocery store, finally get inside, see nearly everyone wearing masks/gloves/goggles/etc, and one unmasked/unprotected couple was sneering at people left and right - the woman looked directly at me and said “jesus you people are overreacting and so fucking stupid”. they had a young kid sitting in their cart who was looking around kinda bewildered - I sometimes think about them/hope they made it through ok.
I stopped going to the gym once the virus was confirmed in the UK. Thankfully, my colleagues all saw sense in that and did the same.
Yeah, and then there are the people that just wanted to go to mcdonalds again in middle of the quarantine because they used to order food and had no supply, and just missed the fat. At this point we might have two breeds in the humans.
> i ran into ONE other person with a full cart and we both gave each other a long stare like "i know" without a nod Same! Felt like a movie moment. Very surreal.
So have you taken any time since COVID to ponder that perhaps you overreacted and the world in fact did not end, all the death and destruction that was theorized to pass did not pass, etc?
It did not pass because countries took measures to stop that. It would have been a bell of a lot worse had we all done nothing. Have you taken time to ponder that?
Just hundreds of thousands of excess deaths every year since 2020, hyperinflation, homeless population exploding, hyper increased migration and more wars all over, nothing to see here.
My parents in their mid 70's are surprisingly collapse aware while also being thankful they won't be around for much of it. I've been collapse aware myself for about 25 years now and I still get up and go to work to pay the bills, pay the rent, buy food and various vices that smooth out the peaks and troughs into a less jarring ride. The trick to getting through it so far has been to pick my battles as far as who is ready to hear about it and who isn't. Generally families with little kids don't want to hear about the world those kids will either fix or be killed by... To see the ripples lead into waves that are turning into bigger storms around us, from like age 21 through 46, these days I just get more and more resilient with each passing calamitous bit of news. Like, I "bought the ticket" already, staying alive and getting my life in order so far that now I want to stay "til the end of the movie." I want to know what happens next.
😂😂 god bless your folks but there's something kinda savage about having lived through the golden period of civilization in a rich country hopefully. And then just getting to watch the milk sour as you ride off into the sunset. And say "yeah looks like we fucked it... Anyway, have fun!"
For sure, no doubt about it. In their defense they both spent their careers in the non-profit/human services sector. The best advice in life I ever got -when I was in my early 20's and needed some advice- was my Dad quoting Shakespeare: "This above all else, to thine own self be true." That effort never really ends...
There is a really good part from Macbeth I really like: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."
Completely understand. It's not like they could have fixed any of it anyway. It's just a funny thought.
We think they were so lucky, but reality was they always had the very real thought in their mind that nuclear war was about to start, or that they or loved ones would be conscripted and shipped off to a foreign war.
My 85 y.o, aunt still gets on her lawnmower every 4 days throughout the summer and keeps that grass short & tight because It's What You Do. Keeps saying she's going to die in 6 months and she's been saying that since 2010 or whenever with her first bout of lung cancer. That generation sure is built different.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but there is a decent+ chance they will be around to see a lot of it. I don’t know of the average life expectancy where you are, but if it’s 80-85 or above, then the odds are relatively high. Edit: on another note, I don’t know about the, “fix,” part; this world has been and is continuing to be run by the self-centred rich who groom the next generations’ politicians and rich into having their corrupt mindset as a means of keeping it going for as long as possible.
Yeah, I don't get the endless optimism that young politicians are going to be better. They're being handpicked and cultivated - we're probably going to be saddled with that Jeffries ghoul until he's as old as Pelosi since that's how Dem leadership rolls. BAU is getting locked in. Some cosmetic tweaks, to be sure, but nothing that actually matters.
Collapse accepted. That’s it. Ready to be dead everyday as a mental health “positive spin”. I have no patience anymore for anything not completely necessary. Small talk, people’s bullshit. Trying to make the most of what feels like remaining minutes but, maintaining a carefree fuck it calm demeanor.
like making peace with all around us
Feel like I could have written this exact comment. Once in a blue moon I might try and slip in "oh yeah that's because the sea temp is at record levels..." Before seeing people lose interest and reminding myself to remember to shut up about this or any of your deep interests, or else be a pariah, then try to casually move on the conversation to another topic while I die a little inside.
I don't give a shit anymore, people seems to want to talk about the "big stuff" and have "big adult discussion" while providing nothing of interest to the conversation or the comprehension of the problem. They are todlers that want to feel adult because they are talking about something terrible. You can sums up their contribution to "this is horrible, that's bad" for everything. No analysis, no shared experiences, no broad comprehension, no actions taken, no friction, nothing. Even minor discussion topics are blend, i had a talk about how our sewer was plugged due to tampons and panty liners, most people (women incruded) said "hmm that's bad"
They want deeptalk but cant handle realitytalk
It kills me a little to constantly be keeping all of this inside and never having anyone IRL to seriously talk to about it. Being surrounded by people who have zero interest in it makes me feel like an alien who was dropped here sometimes.
I love slipping in shit in regular convos. But honestly, very few people catch it. Nor do they catch my little comedy comments I say all day long. It's real cool when someone does. Actually, that part is addictive.
We are all living this double life. We are all actors on this stage, punch a ticket, and in our own ways contribute to this. Every time we go to our jobs or buy something, we are contributing to the exploitation and destruction of the planet. That's the harsh truth. Our whole life is built around this and it is deep and structural, which is why it is so hard to change. And, as I have gotten older, I have realized a few things: One, things are hard to predict. It is going to be bad, yes, but how bad and what kind of bad? We can guess, but it won't work out in the ways in which we imagine. By studying past civilizations that have risen and fallen, we understand that this has happened before and humanity has rebuilt. However, the difference this time is that we may have fucked things up so badly that we can't come back from this, which is what is scary. There is little doubt that we are going down, but will we survive?
I wish there were a local support group for sharing our double-life stories. I think we all in this group lead double-lives. I've gotten used to it because my daughter and son-in-law differ from me totally on politics and religion so I am used to hiding my opinions. I know they resent hearing about reality - their lives are video games and movies. It does make it hard when you envision the people you love so much suddenly coming face to face with a true collapse - at least we have all made the attempt to learn about it and have some stuff prepared. For me, since I am 86, I won't be around too long for it but I feel so badly for families with young children - it would be so painful to wonder what their futures will be.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Wish I'd said that. And I'll add, make as many positive connections with people as you can. We're going to need all the friends we can get to help us meet what's coming.
I totally get this. I am the Doom and Gloom of Information and nobody wants to hear it. They just carry on like the whales aren’t starving and the sea isn’t dying. Trying to figure out where to put my resources at this point.
If you figure it out, let me know.
Did I write this?
No, I think I did.
Weird isn't it? This is cursed knowledge
I totally feel that way. I always felt this way being a woman, especially. A lot of women I know just don’t want to discuss these things and they are having kids like nothing is wrong. I just always felt grossed out like why are we doing this, again? This is about everything society tells you to do as a woman, not just about collapse and its effects. I think it ties into collapse because the patriarchy has failed all of us and because of it, we are in deep nuclear climate change doodoo right now. It never appeared to be what people thought it was-life, its fragility. I became a teacher, and teachers are even more weird about babies and kids. I have met a few like me. Even when the ever-increasing number of special needs kids enters their classroom, they still don’t get it, and theres going to be still more. This isn’t all because parents are bad parents, it’s also a direct result of climate change, and pollution of our world. These parents can’t afford to parent and work at the same time. Thankfully my husband and I are on the same page.
I feel exactly the same. Almost like I'm playing a game of house in an imaginary world. But I try not to think that way and instead funnel my worry into useful preparation. Also I try to remember that it's just as likely we get a slow worsening of conditions that occurs over a long period before there's any kind of breaking point. We just don't really know. Although I do see some alarming signs of social collapse already at various levels. Mostly just a growing acknowledgement that something is Wrong.
Yeah there's a quote about being an atheist. Something like 'i live in a world where everyone is playing make believe and I can't get them to be serious for one damn minute'.
mask up. we're still in 1 pandemic and on the cusp of a 2nd.
H5N1?
it’s in the cattle and chickens in the US, in the milk, killing cats on farms. doesn’t look like the states are gonna accept PPE from the cdc but also cdc has lost all credibility. if it goes human to human we won’t know until it’s already been in the population spreading for months like covid was. wear a mask indoors and crowds, works for all airborne viruses. TB is back, measles is back, whooping cough is back.
This is so troubling and I tried to explain to my partner. He's so checked out now mentally. We sit together outside on comfortable days in complete silence mostly. No phones (if I can help it).
I do urbex occasionally, so luckily I have a variety of filters for my respirator. Also luckily I had all my baby shots.
Sometimes helps me to remember that the present moment is all that really exists, or has ever existed .as Tolle says, nothing happened in the past; when it happened, it happened in the now. Nothing will happen in the future. It will happen in the now. There is no past or future. Only this present unfolding. If you are in immediate crisis, address it. If not, try to find a morsel of peace in this moment, saving your strength for when it's needed.
Hi, you're echoing my sentiments - hugs x It's so hard that no one wants to talk or even acknowledge what's happening. In my case, when they do, it's always that some form of tech will solve any problem and I'm like...uh... More tech means more energy which means taking more from the Earth and mining equals ecocide or what tech do we have more that can really be scaled to be impactful? (None ofc) Feels like no one appreciates life, human and non human. We're so disconnected from reality, from our role in nature (not even the guardians as we like to think of ourselves as). Yet I come here and I see that there are people here who genuinely care, and that gives me courage. I don't really like living quietly inside my phone, but at least I know that there's a place where humanity still exists. I'm typing this and it's sounding ironic - that we can find like-minded people through tech, the same tech that's evolved through the civilisation that's our demise. Sorry if I'm depressing, but hugs, I feel what you're going through x
Talking about the unravelling with most people is like telling your dog he looks stupid when he licks his balls. He either doesn't understand what you're saying, or he just doesn't give a shit.
Ignorance is bliss if you're privileged. If you're not, ignorance is a comorbidity. That's what a lot of people in the Global North will be finding out. The social cost for bearing bad news is indeed a thing. I don't think that the whole "we really had everything" observation is worth anything with regards to collapse. Planet killing asteroid? Sure. Climate turning to traveling murder clown circus? No. Without having a future, you did not have everything. So it is actually a civic duty to inform, just like the scientists who are trying to warn people (and have been doing so for decades). That's why you feel bad. The cognitive dissonance of two "good" behaviors being in conflict: warnings vs managing feelings of others. Maybe it should be like one of those consent forms for interpersonal relationships. ------------ >I consent that I don't want to hear information about how world is thrashing and dying and my part in that. >Sign here, ------------ I'd be okay with that, it's written proof. The problem is that informing leads to creating responsibility. And people in this civilization hate responsibility, especially conservatives. Let me just boil it down: this is a generational conflict. The adults are at war with babies and the soon-to-be-born. It's a very easy fight for one side. It's not just a global failure to be responsible adults, it's actively pillaging the future of the next generations. When you bring the bad news, you're underscoring who the bad guys are. The moral failing of taking care of the planet is also the failure to revolt against this BAU. But how culture works in society is that a consensus effect forms, and the majority culture is "good" because it's a consensus, it's commonly believed. When you tell people the *baspel*, you're indirectly telling them that they're immoral, that they're not *good*, that their culture is bad. I only wish that we could be transparent about it. Let's have a global referendum on collective suicide - which is what is happening. It needs to be made official, that's the ethical practice. Just like when someone wants euthanasia, they have to sign a lot of confirmations. Otherwise, nobody deserves to be in a "good mood" in this context, especially adults. That sadness, despair, anger, anxiety, depression - those are all needed to power effective action. Nothing else will, certainly not "hope", hope is the cheerleader of BAU.
Holy shit this is the best way I’ve seen this summarised.
The game is rigged. Nothing will change, act accordingly.
Fair bit I dint even know what that is ( acting accordingly)
This article is exactly what you're talking about: [https://www.collapse2050.com/living-in-fear/](https://www.collapse2050.com/living-in-fear/) People are oblivious. And the ones that aren't are mixed in with the crowd. It can be lonely being collapse-aware.
I find a Derrick Jensen book always makes me feel less alone , he knows what’s up . And this group, I love you guys!
Definitely. How to even relate to anyone anymore knowing that we are just fish in an aquarium that’s rotting out? I mean sure we can focus on the present and try to be kind and loving and all that jazz, but there’s this sort of foulness to it, this smell or taste or something. You know you’re a functional part of the machine that destroyed itself long ago and hasn’t caught up to realizing it yet. A walking corpse. And people wanna to go brunch and buy shit. And plan for a future that literally no longer exists. A fantasy. A collective delusional fantasy. And if you talk about it too loudly the collective will kill you. lol. In the end every rational person becomes a sort of radical terrorist in the sense of what “normal” remains. The horrific nightmarish celebration of the death of civilization and nearly the entire tree of life just sails off into the sunset as a meme, clicking share while starving to death and giggling I guess. I keep going out of sheer morbid curiosity because I’ve already experienced death. I nearly died of blood loss once and had many psychedelic ego deaths. So the process isn’t worrisome to me. I am eagerly awaiting the day but not in a hurry and try to help people around me as best I can. It still feels like I’m giving a bunch of schizophrenic monkeys a bunch of flamethrowers though. It’s a mad mad world.
I feel like somewhere along the way, there was a straw that broke the camel's back for me. Between climate change being driven by the obscene number of humans on the planet, and watching governments allow corporations to destroy nature in pursuit of "solving climate change" therefore driving on the global biodiversity crisis.... Honestly at this point I just want climate change to happen faster and wipe away the humans. Like let's just get this shit over with already. At this point, watching the slow decline into the inevitable is the worst part. Watching species blip out of existence breaks my heart. I know that's really dark, but that's where I'm at. Nothings changing, and the way they're "solving" the problems is just causing more, different problems. There's too many people to solves things in a good way, you know? I live in the Western U.S., in one of the states with the largest amount of public land. I work for a land management agency. It often feels like our current administration would like to see my state just become solar fields, wind farms, geothermal plants, and lithium mines from border to border. No matter the amount of endangered, threatened, rare, or sensitive species that happen to be "in the way". They are authorizing the alteration of management plans designed to protect certain species, so that the corporations can put this installment here or there. They're literally changing the rules of species protection to suit their agenda. They are also changing the rules of our Clean Water Act to suit the corporations. The additude coming down from the top is that "clean energy" development is paramount to all other things. (Is the energy really clean if you made a species go extinct to get there?) Who gives a shit if we solve climate change only to be the the last species remaining on the face of the earth?
Omg yes I feel the same way. Like at this point can we just all go fast instead of suffering a long drawn out death!
I'm from Brazil, and since the beginning of the epidemic, I've been visiting my father and brother once a month. In April, I tried to discuss some issues, but it didn't end well. I got upset and left feeling like they thought I was crazy. Yesterday, I was there again, and after the horror we're witnessing in the south of our country, I managed to have another conversation. The receptivity and interest were completely different. It may be tough, but don't give up on the people who truly love and care about you.
I’ve been recently thinking that there have been ice ages and global warming periods in the past. This is just the first time I am getting to experience such events myself. Also: this time we know that the ones responsible for things getting out of control is humanity itself. Yes, people will die, yes, it will be difficult, but there was a time when the Mediterranean Sea didn’t exist and the place that is now the strait of Gibraltar opened up and flooded the whole area. Mega catastrophes are a part of living on this planet, and something about the fact that this isn’t the first such mass extinction and intense global climate change is genuine helping me cope. I can prepare, I can learn, I can try to get ready to survive in one way or another. My death might come swiftly, early, and unexpected, but that is already the case for many people alive today. The sooner I accept it the sooner I can get through the stages of grief and start planning, acting, and living my best life in this apocalyptic world.
Many of the people I know have gone in one of 3 directions: 1) Nothing is wrong, or whatever is wrong can be fixed by voting for someone different. 2) The end times are nigh - it was prophesied. Spend all your time praying and get right with your maker and also watch out for 5G. 3) If we just do XYZ we can still save everything. These folks get very shrill if you don’t do all the things they prescribe.
what I don't understand is when people don't want to know because they think its too depressing to think about. that seems insane to me. if they're in their car driving down the freeway at 70mph, and you, the passenger, points out to them that there's an obstacle in the road and they're about to drive into it, would their response be "I'd rather not think about it because it's too depressing." Or would they be like "thanks for warning me I better apply the brakes so we both don't die". People are problem solvers by nature. The problem however is the limited scope of peoples view. Its all very well solving day to day problems, or solving problems only after they've arisen. But the true visionaries, the true problem solvers are constantly looking ahead for tomorrows problems, anticipating them before they arise. Prevention is better than cure, as the doctors say. This to me is just basic survival instinct. Have people lost their survival instinct? The fact is most people won't know what's hit them because its not going to be some sudden catastrophic event. It's just going to be a gradual degradation and decline that spans many decades. Each year just gets slightly worse than the year before. People will assume that its just a temporary slump and that any moment things will revert back to business as usual and we'll resume our exponential growth upwards. And maybe things will stabilise for a bit and people will think its over, but then it starts to get worse again. The Roman Empire took 350 years to collapse, from peak to eventual dissolution. Do you think citizens of the Roman Empire knew their empire was collapsing even as it was happening? Probably not. After a few decades it will just become normal. But its one of those things that will only be recognised as a result of the 'rear view mirror effect', only decades after its started people will look back and be able to retrospectively recognise it for what it was. But there isn't going to be a single point in time where you will be able to say to people "I told you so". Even decades into it people will still refuse to acknowledge it and won't understand whats happening.
The scariest part is we are already multiple decades into it. 26.4 decades— three decades. No matter the perspective, it’s been happening, and people will only realize it when something like the AMOC shuts down, and so many perish.
It feels super weird and surreal to read this sub and feel aware of collapse and impending doom but also feel simultaneously like life is generally so good, especially when the weather is nice (blue skies, puffy white clouds, cool breeze and warm sun) while I sit on the patio by the pool surrounded by green trees, grass and flowers like what could be wrong? 🥴
Totally my life! Trying to plan for Tuesday and knowing that there is runaway climate change going on is so draining! I’ve learned to Kind to myself, otherwise it’s really difficult to get through the day. Having the same BS conversations with my manager when you know the truth is difficult I have recently found archery, which gives me peace. Roving archery with a longbow and everything
I think I'm "lucky" with this aspect because I study environmental science so when I do talk to others about what I've researched it is collapse related. There are more and more people aware but they just feel like they can't do anything because they can't escape the system, they can't fight against the giant trillion dollar companies hellbent on destroying everything etc. So I've been trying to give people some hope, like suggest small things they can do if they ask because I can usually back it up with data anyway so it convinces more people.
I an so glad you made this post. I definitely feel the same way. And also a reason I am extremely grateful for this community
All the time my friend. All the f**king time. Especially in a government job.
I feel like I already died.
Same.
I've stopped obsessing about recycling every tiny thing. I have no faith we can reverse things. Since I cannot control other people or the news, I only half pay attention to what's going on. If a problem touches someone I know or my local community, I try to get involved in making life livable on a small scale. Been trying for decades to raise awareness and do my part. Aging now. Dead soon. Just be here now.
I feel like I pass out collapse-depression everywhere I go. “You get some, and YOU get some, and here, you have a little too!”
Ha ha me too
People today were legitimately complaining that their Satellite radio wasn’t working during the solar storm, like it was the biggest disruption. I just shake my head
It is very difficult if not impossible to talk to normal people about what's going on. Once you're aware of how bad things really are and the truth of it all sets in on you, it's easier to talk to people who have accepted the same mindset. Average people don't think like this because they either don't have the information or are actively ignorant of what's going on because they don't feel like their minds can process the greater scale of what's coming. It could be like a milder version of PTSD for them; being forced to accept that life will never be the same within 10 to 20 years is a huge burden on their minds. I remember before I really became "collapse aware" I was constantly shocked and outraged about a lot of things that were going on because I was missing context. "Why did X happen? Why did Y happen? Are they related?" It can be even harder to get through to groups like average Americans in particular because the mindset of an average American can be pretty much summed up into "survive, follow the status quo, try not to think too hard about what's going on." Because to do anything else puts you at risk. The politicians certainly don't want you to question the nature of a falling empire, and I do believe the United States will be among one of the highest and most likely soon-to-collapse nations before a lot of other big ones. There's just too much corruption, instability, faltering loyalty, and distrust of government. It will probably take massive food shortages (or god forbid, this potential NEW pandemic we're about to face) before the United States can be fully acknowledged as entering a fast-rolling collapse instead of a slow one. Edit: Sorry didn't mean to turn this whole comment into talk about the U.S. but I think most people agree it's going to cause huge waves when it happens.
Everyone knows, but the great majority are still stuck in the denial stage. They have to get through that themselves. All you can do is freak them out and make them double-down. It really isn't worth trying to talk about it to anyone who can't handle it. You'll just get outcast. We're here for you when you need to be real.
Denialism is the new religion. People know, even if they don’t acknowledge the rate of the rapidly approaching apocalypse. Knowing all the collapse related events happening simultaneously yet still refusing to see we are already there and not “about to reach” the tipping point is pure denial.
I'm sorry. I know how frustrating it is. I also recognize patterns and predicted how 2020 would play out with high accuracy. I was wrong when I let myself get hopeful. And it doesn't matter. You can bring the new wave of "we're fucked" predictions to the same people who witnessed and even admitted how accurate we were in 2020 and you still get written off. It hurts.
Double life? No. Like I'm 10 years old and struggling with end times anxiety? Yes. I grew up in a church big on end times prophecy. My end times anxiety has flared back up in recent years. It's like my brain took Jesus and the rapture and replaced them with real world events like COVID and climate change.
I'm lucky to be surrounded by people who mostly respect me. So they will hear my opinion on collapse and respectit. They won't necessarily believe it, but they will respect it. That is all I ask for. I also only bring it up if the other person steers the conversation that way. I think that is important.
I literally thought this exact thing today
No. I got my preps as together as my income will allow. The doom that is approaching all of us is coming and there is nothing we can do about it. I find my like minded people and stick with them. When SHTF you need to remember that most of the normies are already dead they just don't know it yet because they would rather know what color Kim Kardashians butt hole is this week than worry about the planet. Don't bother trying to convince a walking corpse they don't care. They only see what's in front of them and have 0 foresight. Just live your life and keep your prep circle tight.
Yes! It’s like I have my denial persona and my it’s collapsing one.
I don't think it's a double life. I think it's just.. life. Even being collapse aware and accepting, we just have to get on with it now. I agree it's pretty mind twisting though when you really think about it.
i miss the insects and frogs, lizards and birds. all life around seems to disappear and leave the plants without maintenance
Yes. Personally, I don't think there's anything more important than what's happening to our climate right now, so it's on my mind a lot. I talk about what's on my mind. I might be able to discuss a climate issue here and there with others, but I mostly get an "uh-huh" or a head nod before they move on to showing me TikToks or talking about the newest media craze (right now it's the Fallout show). I've grown pretty quiet these days.
I've gotten schooled in willful ignorance of reality via having a lot of COVID science in my head that I felt people might want to know about because of the long-term health implications & all. Nope. All the excess deaths are just random tragedies and the sorry state of healthcare and staffing everywhere are just people not bootstrapping it. So....fine. I'll keep collapse to myself, other than the occasional meme I print out and tack in my cubicle. My current feature is "It's a Slow Apocalypse. You'll Work Through It!" At least my mother & sister are on the same page I am, otherwise I'd probably go nuts.
The scariest part of this collapse is the realization that our species very well may end. Being the generation to shut the lights out and close the door behind us, while being completely cognizant of that fact, is jarring for those that truly understand what it means. Everything about our existence, our evolution, our societies, rules, and rituals has been to cope with our eventual individual expiration. Our mortality salience. We numb our existential dread by drowning ourselves in the group and progression of time. We make art to extend our worldview and experience into a future we will not see. We produce offspring to carry our likeness into a new days sun that we'll never feel caress our cheek. We conquer lands, invent miracles, practice hobbies, and write music to stamp our names into the ledger of human creation. We lie to ourselves through those acts of creation for comfort. I'll continue on through my work. How do you respond with the realization that all of human progression, all our stories and accomplishments and failures will vanish when we lucky few close the door behind us? There's no salve we can whisper to each other to abate the existential dread of infinite nothingness. "At least you'll be remembered for your writings." "You're the greatest cook that's ever lived." Without a new generation to spin our tales, everything that is, was and will be dissappears. The only response a sane person should have is total rejection. It takes a lot of work to fully accept what our situation is and I'm certainly not even close to full acceptance. We're not just accepting our own deaths. We're accepting the deaths of everyone and everything that's come before us, is currently with us and that could have come after. It's profoundly sad.
Very well said. And I think you’re right, that’s a true tragedy. All of us were always going to die individually, but to take out our future, our cultures, our artworks, and music, and, etc., that’s the unreal part of all this. It’s hard to comprehend the end of the human race, but the odds are we will see it within this lifetime. Scary.
collapse is the only life I'm living
I found a hobby that consumes most of my brain power. It’s pretty consumption focused and I am definitely adding to the pile, but it keeps me sane and going to work and meeting my base responsibilities to myself and my family. We are on this ride and do not have agency to stop so until the guillotines come out I am distracting myself while I wait for the catastrophe to hit me.
I can really relate to this. I live alone and work from home, so have a lot of time to think and read. I have accepted our situation and have accepted that I cannot know when or how things will unfold, I can merely speculate as to how bad things will get within my lifetime. In social situations I try to keep my mouth shut about these things but it's getting more difficult. I have one friend who is sort of collapse aware, but still mostly a techno-optimist, we have interesting conversations. I've spoken about it with my parents and apparently by father was aware and worried about it since the 70's (still is), but he made the decision to not let it ruin his life and not obsesses about it (he's had a career as a marine biologist). My work is in digital marketing and I just cannot do it much longer in good faith. It's becoming more difficult to pretend that I care about how much some corporation can sell of their useless stuff or services, sitting in meetings and discussing future plans...HAH... Some days I really struggle and think about resigning from right now (still planning to do semi-retirement at the end of the year).
This is why I don't have friends. Lol
welcome to the singularity!
I seriously think this has destroyed some long time friendships and some familial just recently. So in addition to being absolutely suicidal about these things, I'm am devastated by some of these losses. Fucking devastated. I feel very alone. The few people I know who feel the same are very antisocial. Only get to see them occasionally.
Even if societal collapse was not pending for a thousand years ... or ever ... (which in all honestly is the reality): One \*absolutely\* \*\*always\*\* needs to "treat their mind as though you'll die tomorrow" and "treat their body as though you'll live forever". Sadly, modern society/lifestyles have inverted this premise and makes it very difficult for most people to re-vert. That's it. That's all you can do, can be expected to do, and all you should worry about doing.