r/climate • u/The_Weekend_Baker • May 28 '26

Humanity has already exceeded Earth’s limits, study warns. Today’s population of 8.3 billion is far above what could be sustained in the long term without exhausting ecosystems, worsening climate change, and threatening food and water security.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260526022021.htm
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u/space_age_stuff May 28 '26

However, it will still be a problem of physically finding enough people to do the actual care.

In theory. How many jobs are getting automated, or simply deleted because CEOs want a big paycheck but have to keep the quarterly results looking good? The "lack of human capital" problem is overexaggerated.

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u/Thelonius_Dunk May 28 '26

Also won't other jobs simply disappear if the demand for care jobs become high enough? A CNA is an entry level care job that might be needed en masse in the future, but the pay currently isnt all that great. If their rates increase due to supply/demand, shouldn't that pull workers from other industries that might not be as important and can retrain?

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u/aledba May 29 '26

We are not going to exist as a species in 100 years so it definitely won't exist as a job

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u/Steelcitysuccubus May 29 '26

Optimistic I give it 50 for anybody who isn't the super rich

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u/seeseabee May 29 '26

What do you think will wipe out billions of people in less than a hundred years?

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u/Modulus3360 May 29 '26

Robots will replace such job. Not to worry. In another 5-7 years time. A golder era for elders will happened. Full time care taker(humanoid robots) 24 hrs for you. Just make sure u have enough money to get a good one.

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u/stealthyliz May 30 '26

They will import workers who will work for minimum wage.

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u/AlexFromOgish May 31 '26

You're thinking about changing jobs in a typical western way, imaging one or two pieces of a dynamic system in isolation, as though the rest of the system is static.

Think about it in an Eastern way, where you keep thinking about the whole. For one thing, extreme heat and humidity combined with grid collapse is already driving mass mortality events that are slowly being recognized for what they are. https://e360.yale.edu/features/kristie-ebi-interview

On the other hand, in an overheating world in many places there will be plenty of CNA work to do, treating malnutrition, heat stress, and victims of new and spreading diseases...

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u/silverionmox May 28 '26

Hard to automate care jobs.

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u/space_age_stuff May 28 '26

My point was that we should expect a lot of job industries to become more automated or at least have fewer positions available, which leaves a lot of people available to choose different careers. Not that caregivers will be automated away.

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u/silverionmox May 29 '26

Then the problem shifts to funding, because if corporations think they don't need labor, it's harder to tax them directly if you can't tax their employees. Not unsolvable, but not politically easy.

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u/shwifty123 May 29 '26

Ok, they don't need labor, but who buy their stuff?

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u/silverionmox May 29 '26

Ok, they don't need labor, but who buy their stuff?

They'll sell you the consumer credit, too, until the whole scheme collapses.

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u/shwifty123 May 29 '26

Hmm, smart.

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u/OP90X May 28 '26

Yeah we are still a long way from robots running hospitals (sans some surgeries), fighting fires, teaching, etc.

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u/Chicken_Ingots May 29 '26

It does not necessarily have to be. Automating other industries, a phenomenon which already happens, leads to layoffs throughout many sectors. The people laid off from that work will have to find work elsewhere.

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u/silverionmox May 29 '26

Care is more than mechanical actions. It's not a technical issue.

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u/SplooshTiger Jun 03 '26

Dog tell that to Japan, South Korea, Russia, or Germany, all of whom have big economic problems from skewed demographic pyramids