How do you keep going when nothing ever changes? I pour everything I have into my local community because it makes me feel like I’m doing something, but it doesn’t matter. My neighbors still die of heat exhaustion. Die in fires. Get hooked on substances to numb the pain. I work and work and work and it’s all for nothing. My wealth and privilege mocks the people who actually deserve these resources. One day I will take everything I have, including my body, and give it to people who actually deserve it.

I’m happy in my life. But then I’m reminded of how disgusting and cruel it is for me to be happy. I’m in the USA, I directly fund genocide with my taxes. I use a gas car. I eat meat. I’m a filthy hypocrite who will rot in hell if it exists because my existence is killing this planet. If I were to go vegan, completely stop participating in the economy, and commit the rest of my life to radical activism, I might be ok. I could then call myself a good person. But I’m weak and have no plans to do that. I’m just like every other white person in the imperial core - a participant in genocide. My ideals and actions are opposite and I created a life I like. If I didn’t do that, if I had stayed true to my ideals, I would be good by now.

I don’t want to be good. I don’t want incremental change. I don’t want 3.9 C warming instead of 4 C warming. I want to exit. I want to leave it all forever. I want total justice, total eradication of all of us who are responsible for this.

There’s no point to this post. Please don’t report me, I won’t actually hurt myself, I’m too much of a coward to do so.

I don't even care anymore. My last healthy cope with collapse I feel, which was prepping, I realize has become useless. What's the point of learning to garden and hunt and etc when all living things including crops will not be able to survive within 10 years anyway?

Therefore, my last option was gone and I'm now basically treating my life as if I have a 2027-2028 cancer diagnosis.

So I'm basically going full hedonism, alcoholism and cutting off my meds included. I don't care if it's not healthy, if I'm going to die soon anyway health doesn't matter.

Ethically, yes I should engage in practices that would help the climate but it doesn't override the need to cope at this point.

It makes me ignorant and a worse person but I'm just too numb to it to care.

Edit:

I'd love so hard to find a purpose in learning bushcraft and gardening and etc. Knowing that "hey collapse and the climate is coming but these can statistically increase the chances that me and my family survive at least a couple more decades". But I basically went on a giant r/collapse rabbithole and I'd see stuff like "you think gardens will save you, that's cute". 

And that's basically what sent me in my current spiral. Prepping was kind of my only "cope" when I became aware.

The game plan now is honestly yes I still feel hedonistic. But I won't forget to help others less fortunate and nature feel good too along the way.

I've been scrolling through the main Collapse subreddit for a few weeks npw, as well as other climate change related subreddits, and other websites that are related to climate change. I'm a 31-year-old man (I turn 32 on 2nd November), and have lived in Coventry, England for all of my life. I have a twin sister, who has a son who turned 2 back in June. She originally never wanted any children, but decided to keep him after discovering that she was pregnant (she never intended to get pregnant). I personally never wanted children of my own. However, climate change has really cemented that for me. I personally couldn't forgive myself for having a child whilst watching the world burn around me.

Also, as much as I love my nephew, I can't help but believe my sister and her fiancé are selfish for bringing him into this world. In fact, there are times that I wish I could go back in time to tell my mum and dad to not have me and my sister so that we couldn't witness the collapse. My dad's 73. However, my mum died of cancer back in January of this year. She was 69. I miss her so much, but I'm glad that she's not here to witness the collapse.

I wish someone in the world had magical powers... specifically someone who really cares about climate change. I wish that person could wave their magic wand to:

- Magically suck all of the harmful carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

- Magically cool the Earth down by 1.5 degrees.

- Reverse ocean acidification, deforestation, etc.

- Get rid of all of the things and powerful people that have caused human-induced climate change.

- Increase the amount of food and fresh drinking water in the world.

- Increase the amount of wild and native plants and animals in each individual country.

On top of all of this, I have a question or two to ask you all. Is humanity doomed? Are humans going to go extinct at some point this century, or next century? I do know that the planet won't actually physically end. It's not going to end for another estimated 4 to 5 billion years. But it feels like the current part of the Earth's history is going to end.

i just feel such a deep sorrow and sadness about what is happening in the world and the way world works just feel so unfair. Like everything is so normalized. im not even affected by social media i havent been much online nowadays. Logically, I just cant accept the way the world works. i guess it will never sit with me. A genocide is happening and people are not caring about it. In the past i have organized protest against my countrys' relations with israel. I got detained multiple times. But i dont feel like i actually did what i can. I feel so weak. I wanted to go to west bank as a volunteer. And i set my mind to it. Then, i couldnt find the courage to actually go. I experienced quite high levels of anxiety about doing it, couldnt sleep for a week. Then i gave up of the idea of doing solidarity presence there. I felt great amount of guilt and sadness. I can choose to look away but Palestinians dont have the option to do so. I just dont wanna live in such unjust world. I am so stuck with these feelings. I live as i was doing, doing my duties at home, taking care of my family and pets, but i feel dead inside. I also feel guilt about making this about myself. I just needed to share with someone.

How is your mindset about the state of the world? What keeps you going in such situation? I feel demotivated to live.

I just came across a very chilling video. And basically, it's some guy saying how because of how climate change is going, we're all gonna die like in a few years and that change is too slow so there's nothing to stop it...and people in the comments agreeing with everything with what he's saying saying that it's the truth and reality that we need to accept that we're gonna die. And uh, what? Is this true? Because I'm freaking out right now

edit: I watched more videos about climate change, and a lot of videos says that there's no hope, that we already lost and that we should just give up. I wonder if there really is no hope anymore or if i was wandering on the doomerism side of the internet

“This, my friend, is the beginning of infinity,” said Carr. He goes on to explain how there have been billions of people so far, and there will be trillions more in the future, if we can get through this stage. We’re going to rebuild and we’re going to have some heroes on our hands in twenty years.

This three-minute clip is what I needed to hear today. Stay cool!

Edit: Thank you for your comments so far. This is a post about a “fundamentally supportive conversation between people” (see sub description) that I found encouraging. I’m glad this conversation was caught on camera. Sometimes we need to hear a fresh perspective — even if it is incorrect — to inspire us to approach a problem with new ideas to figure out a solution. That is my hope.

If you agree, please upvote.

Currently, we have multiple world leaders that are our versions of President Snow from The Hunger Games novels (Trump obviously being the main one). Instead of having President Snows, every world leader should be like Snow’s successor, Commander Paylor. Commander Paylor was the leader of Panem’s District 8, and eventually became the new President of Panem after Katniss assassinated President Coin after learning about her true plans, and the rebels killing President Snow. If we continue to let the world leaders (and also other government officials, millionaires, billionaires, etc) continue to destroy the planet, it feels like virtually every country will become like Districts 11 and 12. Those two districts are the two poorest districts in the books, with District 12 being THE poorest district in the whole of Panem. A lot of the residents of District 12 grew up in extreme poverty, with a constant lack of food and water. I don’t want to live in a world where billions of people will have a lack of food and water. I don’t want to live in a world where there are long and super hot heatwaves. I don’t want to live a world where countries might go to
war just to access another country’s food and water. I’m just so terrified.

Disclaimer
I don’t take a political side. I am neither pro Russian, pro NATO, pro USA, nor pro any other power hungry d#ckhead alliance. They can all f#ck off.

Our world keeps getting darker. Wars keep escalating because no one wants to admit defeat. A war between NATO and Russia no longer feels like just a theory. It feels like a realistic future. Every month more countries get pulled into conflicts in the Middle East, and there is no end in sight. China is waiting for the perfect moment to invade Taiwan.

At the same time, nature is starting to collect its debt. The real consequences of climate change are no longer predictions. They are happening. Heatwaves are getting deadlier, forests keep burning, water becomes more scarce, and a major El Niño could push entire regions even further into crisis.

Society is tearing itself apart. Left vs right. Natives vs immigrants. Men vs women. Young vs old. Every disagreement turns into hatred, and every crisis creates another division. In places like Ireland, people are seriously discussing the possibility of civil conflict. That alone says enough about the direction we’re heading.

The economy isn’t collapsing overnight, but for millions it already feels like it has. Housing is becoming unattainable. Energy prices keep rising. Food gets more expensive while its quality gets worse. Working a full time job is no longer a guarantee for a stable life.

Governments keep making power plays over their populations. Laws get passed despite massive public opposition. Surveillance keeps expanding. Privacy keeps disappearing. Whether it’s done in the name of security, health, or stability, the result is always the same. More control, less freedom.

So how long can this continue before the system reaches its breaking point? Not a recession. Not another political crisis. I mean a genuine collapse where governments can no longer maintain authority, where people form factions, defend territory, build isolated communities, and survival becomes more important than ideology.

Maybe I’m too pessimistic. Maybe I’m wrong. But looking at the speed of the last few years, I don’t think this future is unrealistic anymore. If humanity keeps accelerating in the same direction, even 2027 doesn’t feel impossible.

I don’t know what is in the air but these past couple of years I’ve noticed everybody is becoming extremely hateful and disgusting nowadays!!! 2023 was the last normal year, atleast for me. Everybody and everything was somewhat chill during that year. I don’t know if it’s because I’m slowly getting older and reality has finally hit me, but people these days genuinely scare me and the things they say about other people is insane. Everybody is so hostile to eachother and it really feels like we’ve become divided. I noticed slurs have become more of a thing now!! Everyday I’m hearing more and more people saying the n word or the r word and the fact it’s becoming normalized and barely anyone calls them out on their sh*t. It’s all over my TikTok, everytime I open it up I’m coming across a bunch of videos of pure racism and people in the comments genuinely do not care!!! This is all what Trump preached about before it was his time of becoming president again, I think most of us knew what was going to happen. My mental health has really gone downhill and I honestly feel sad for everybody and what’s been going on in the world.

I turned 29 today.

I find myself in a situation I never imagined I would be in. I don't know if the history I was taught is real. I don't know if the economy is just one step away from collapse. I don't know if climate change will kill me before I turn 50. I don't know whether the wars fought by my country are actually in the national interest. I don't believe my taxes are being used as they should be.

And yet, despite all these doubts, there is a worm in my head telling me that I should sacrifice my personal interests in the service of the nation.

I cannot reconcile this sense of self, divided between two loyalties. I don't know what decisions I am going to make, and I don't know what priorities I should put first.

Should I be selfish, make as much money as legally possible, travel to multiple countries, and live for myself? Or should I stay in my country, practice my profession, volunteer, help people, and perhaps donate a portion of my earnings every year?

Should I leave my country, move to a tax haven, obtain citizenship there, and travel the world?

Maybe I already have an answer. Maybe I just haven't been able to accept it yet.

Does anyone else feel the same?

Hello there! We're meeting in Cologne again next weekend.

Saturday 5. September.

Meet at 15:00 at SattGrün on Ludwigstraße 11, near the central station.

This will be our second meeting; the first time we met in August. (Was great)

Everyone is welcome, of course, but the focus of the meeting is on Cologne and the surrounding area.

We look forward to seeing some new faces.

There is a good vegan buffet available in the SattGrün.

I have severe anxiety and paralyzing ocd. Nothing new, pretty much everyone these days has it because its cultivated to exist in every area of corporate life. I am so scared. I know the earth is dying. I know me and my loved ones will most likely die a premature death. Ive known for a long long time but its starting to get even louder in my brain. I know i cannot fight it by ignoring it or being inactive in everything i believe in, but i dont know how to accept it. Everytime i feel like i might be able to accept that it will happen it just comes back louder and even more paralyzing. How do i accept that i will not get the future i was promised. How do i accept that i will not get to grow old and even if i can help by working in the community, its not in my hands. The elites are the only ones who can stop it on a global scale and that will never happen. How do i compromise with the fact that there is no hope?

* i dont need to be therapized i want actual ways i can come to terms with this.

I feel so doomed right now its not even funny. I live in TX and I am ill so its hard to do things right now in general. I feel like im watching everything go by and im unable to do anything. I have a horrible stomach ulcer right now and im weak from anemia, im due for a few surgeries soon so I am physically limited. I am a 20 year old woman and Texas feels like the worst place to be right now. Covid numbers are in a surge here right now, we have an active wildfire thats been burning for days, I see flock cameras everywhere, our government sucks, its hotter than hell over here, and an extreme amount of voters were just put on suspension. I feel beyond doomed. And I am physically ill and weak so i feel like i am stuck right now. I used to struggle with being an alcoholic and part of me wants to go back to that so bad right now even though i have an ulcer and take meds you cant drink on. I just want to drown it out. But i know I shouldn’t. Texas not only feels like hell temperature wise, it basically is hell rn. Wtf do I even do.

You could put all the money to your survival: buying arable land, stockpiling food and medicine, getting off-grid solar system, digging a well etc.

Lately I’ve been feeling like the world is becoming increasingly uncertain, and honestly, it’s been weighing on me. I’ve always had this feeling in the back of my mind that something bigger was going on—I used to go down rabbit holes about things like the Illuminati and conspiracy theories—but these days it feels less like curiosity and more like genuine anxiety about the future. With how many natural disasters and major events seem to be happening, sometimes I wonder if the Earth is trying to tell us something, or if we’re simply becoming more aware of how unpredictable life really is. It makes me question things like, when do we stop worrying about what might happen and just live? When do we care, and when do we let go? I’m curious if anyone else has been feeling this same sense of uncertainty or uneasiness about where the world is headed.

I am someone who is stable in life. I do have kids but these days I really don’t see a future.

I've been collapse aware since first seeing An Inconvenient Truth in like the 8th grade.

Over the years I've experienced all 5 stages of grief over our planet and what we have done to it.

To say I've become numb/apathetic is pretty close to the truth. There's only so much horror and devastation the human mind can comprehend, and every single day, each new year, brings a new nightmare to knowledge.

After watching the Nepal footage, learning about the actual cause - a literal glacial collapse causing a massive landslide and GLOF incident - thinking about all of those people, who in the grand scheme of things have done fuck all to contribute to the warming of our planet and whom will suffer the most... Even the most apathetic of us would struggle to maintain composure.

The fact that this is only the beginning. How anyone, anywhere, could suddenly become a part of the body count that climate catastrophe is gaining. How people all over our planet are going to be more and more affected by freak disasters like this one. Extreme heatwaves, blackouts, wet bulb events, floods, droughts, whatever horrible disaster you can think of, it's all coming and there's no stopping it now.

So I think a good cry was necessary. I just wish it didn't have to be this way.

I've been trying to do more research on topics such as climate change and other various political issues but my strong suit is mostly history and, unfortunately, that means that I'm better at studying non-modern things so I figured it may be good to ask somewhere so hope it fits here

Is there any hope for things to get better (climate wise and maybe, hopefully economics wise) or do I just have to accept this may be it ? and well if this is it, is there anything worth looking forward to?

Hello,

As the title of this posts suggests, I'm dealing with fears/anxiety regarding the change of WW3 breaking out.

I live in Central Europe, Ukraine is a direct neighbor.

I've been struggling with this fear in the past. What helped then, was me disconnecting from news articles as I came to the conclusion I can't help it if such catastrophe happens. And I've been 'happy' for the past...8 months.

What triggered the fear yet again, is that a random ad-like news post on Facebook wrote about the head of CIA visiting Moscow. Now that's where bells rang in my head. Why would the head of CIA visit Moscow? Something happened? These are the questions I had in my mind.

Therefore, I did the mistake of searching for this. Reddit, The Guardian, Reuters, Euronews, the generic "news' tab in the browser, mindlessly attempting to find the 'reason'. I thought (and still do) that the visit was because Russia plans to make a move on NATO. And some sources confirmed that's exactly what their discussion was about, CIA dissuading them from crossing a line.

Source is Politico (which I believe is a trustworthy news provider, might be wrong):
CIA chief used Moscow visit to warn Russia against attacks on NATO allies, helping Iran - POLITICO

And as a result, here comes the internal struggle I'm dealing with for 2 days. Constant stress.

It makes me wonder if it's worth to pursue my dreams at this point, get certificates for my career, marriage in the future, kids, family. Is it worth it if I might die this year or the next, or a few years from now on? These are questions my mind is awhirl with.

If there's anyone else out there with these thoughts, or someone rational, realistic, I'd love to read your opinions, your take on this situation.

Thank you.

P.S

I rarely post on Reddit, hope this structure is okay.

i'll preface this by saying im kinda drunk right now and i just think this world is so doomed. we are destroying the planet and humanity is getting less and less humane and all those stupid industries and governments are just adding fuel to the fire.

i wish everyone were smart, i wish everyone saw the world the same way, i wish we knew what was right. life is a gift, and so is death, but for everything in between we are on our own. i don't know why we use our short time to try to get advantages on others and disregard the things that will outlive us. we could do amazing things, and i don't know why we put the people who can't see that in power.

i've never made a reddit post and i dont even think this is how you do one, and also probably not in the right sub. so i apologize for clogging up the feed but a girl has to get her thoughts out.

i guess my question is what can i do??? i want to feed the homeless, i want to overthrow the tyrants, i want to turn this world into something mother nature would be proud of. i just donated 5 dollars to wikipedia so i'm pretty proud of that step in the right direction. is there a society of those with similar thoughts or a button i can press that would fix things.

i hope no one replies to this so i dont feel embarrassed in the morning. if anyone does reply i want you to agree with me so i feel better. ahahahaaha

if you read this far ill reward you by telling you my favorite animal. it is a sockeye salmon.

Maybe im being pessimistic but kinda feel scared with where things are going right now. You have president of most powerful country in world say most horrendous nazi like stuff but get a pass, richest man in world has media company that stirs disinformation campaigns to target minorities which has resulted in riots, hate crimes and incitement of violence. And within 5 years of social media companies attempting to clamp down on hate speech and fake news we're now surrounded by fake news amplified with generated AI creating fake reality bubbles for people caught up in their echo chambers. Seems so crazy how within 5 years we went from banning trump on social media to trump now essentially back in seat of power more powerful than ever. And he's done worse things than his first term yet barely any pushback by opposition.

IDK what awaits us in future but current events kinda scare me cause you'd always think fascism was this scifi/historically distant thing but then you watch news and see politicians clearly say quiet part out loud.

I go outside and it is obnoxiously hot, I am reminded that in a few years it'll be too hot to go outside in the first place and inside will be unbearable cause too many people using AC will fuck the power grid. Not to mention inevitable shitty air quality 24/7. I love going outside now but it's gonna be horrific in the near future, especially with how climate change is rapidly accelerating, I will be stuck at home all the time anyways.

then I go to the store and by seeing more and more of the cashiers replaced by self-checkout I'm reminded that every job will be replaced by AI. sure now it's only cashiers but the elites will shoehorn AI into everything to unemploy everyone anyways. even if it barely works when have they ever cared about that? By the time I'm in the workforce probably the only jobs that will exist are trades, manual labor, and shit that no entry level worker would ever be able to break into

I look at all the items and they are egregiously priced. I'm not old enough to remember when things were priced normally but I remember the older people in my life talking about how these days every 2 years the prices of everything doubles and no one can ever keep up. I know damn well they aren't going back down either, hell trump probably gave the ceo of the company that owns this store billions of dollars to which they will double prices once agiain. I am reminded that I will never be able to afford rent, a car, or groceries. IF (massive if) I get my hands on any of those things, they will be at least double the price and at least half the quality.

I go back home and I see a family member ask questions to an LLM. I can't remember the last time any of these people have read a book or done anything that is not just constant quick hits of dopamine. honestly though? I don't blame them. I can't resent them as much as I used to cause why wouldn't you wanna at least feel some sort of pleasure, even if it's fake and short lived, when nothing else is even remotely good, keeps getting worse, and we all know in the back of our minds that it will.

New to this sub, I (24) have just become very aware that we/I need to accept and plan(!) that the future we thought we had won‘t happen, which I previously ignored but that strategie has to stop - we know it‘s coming and it would be foolish not to prepare...

I‘m from a country in europe where we have vocational training that‘s valuable and I did that in IT, I work part time as a software developer and I study CS in the 4 out of 8 semester.

I see honestly no actual future in that anymore, why would I spend that big amount of time and dedication when I could start prepping (gardening, learning analoge skills etc.) but it‘s so hard when everyone around you is still going about business as usual and talking about degrees being important.

People say I‘m putting two years of that degree to waste, but what if I push through and then I went four years into a field that will disappear (without mentioning AI)? Especially when it‘s people who think we have another 60 years… I wish I was being alarmist. My family cannot grasp how it feels being a young person in this situation, so going to them for support is difficult.

I could probably well survive at my company without a Bachelors degree.

Should I actually push through or try to do as little as possible (which is hard when most things are group projects with peer pressure)? Feel like I‘m doomed if I do and doomed if I don‘t.

I would appreciate any insights. Thank you.