Read this, and then try not to run around screaming…
We are 37 years away from the end. That means climate change isn’t a problem for our children or grandchildren, it’s a problem for us. It’s you and I that are going to have our natural lives cut short, you and I that will bear witness to the collapse of human civilization. Fighting climate change isn’t so the hippies can save the polar bears, or so the scientists can save the Arctic ice. It’s a battle for all of humanity to save itself.
I don’t really know what to say. I’m still working on figuring out how to make a difference. This stuff is paralyzingly scary, but…there’s got to be some hope, right?
Tutus And Tiny Hats 
I have come to think that there’s not any hope, largely influenced by Derrick Jensen’s writing. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to affect the trajectory, and so I try not to fret about it too much. All worrying about does is mean that I’m worrying. It simply has no other effect. I try to work on other things – fat acceptance, anti-racism, feminism – that are good in the here and now and that will also be helpful for the future if there’s some technological miracle.
I haven’t read any of Derrick Johnson’s work–I’ll have to check it out. My views on climate change are mostly influenced by Bill McKibben, who has some pretty scary stuff to say but also seems to genuinely believe that we can change our trajectory in time. For met at least, I have to believe there’s some hope in order to stay sane.
Its amazing how willfully ignorant people are about the environment. I was just speaking with a neighbor yesterday who did nothing but complain about how there is no such thing as global warming and that he did not need to recycle.
I don’t understand people like that. We live in Hawaii. Islands in the south pacific are going under water and as a result the inhabitants are starting to come and live in Hawaii. However, my neighbor still doesn’t see it as a problem. I wonder what everyone will do when Hawaii goes under water? Hopefully my blog will still be around so our grandchildren can know what it once looked like.
Uggh, that’s awful. I don’t understand people like that either–although unfortunately, whether or not people recycle doesn’t make much difference in the big picture.
It’s so scary how so many islands are already going under water. I hope that doesn’t happen to Hawaii!
It’s only scary if you think human civilization is worth saving.
Barnacle, I debated whether to say something like that, but I didn’t want to be more depressing! It’s possible that any efforts to “save” us only prolong the damage we’re doing to the planet, the rest of the animals here, and whatever societies come after us. Perhaps a crash and burn scenario would be the best thing at this point.
I kind of understand that way of looking at things, but I also think it comes from a place of privilege. Global warming is already having the worst impact on poor and otherwise marginalized people, and the worse it gets, the more it’ll do so.
Wiping out all of human civilization may sound good in theory (well, not actually good, but you know what I mean), but in practice it would mean a shit-ton more suffering for the people who least deserve it. I just can’t get on board with that.
“Civilization” is what I would argue is the thing that is doing the damage to globally marginalized people. Civilization is not the only way of existing for humans, but it is what currently dominates 99 percent of the people on the planet. That shit-ton more suffering is coming either way, it’s just a matter of the speed of the decline and what’s left when it’s over.
You know what? I don’t really want to have this conversation, and I’m going to bow out. I used to be very active in anti-civ efforts, but I no longer find it conducive to my mental health. It’s so easy for me to get pulled back in, I apologize for doing so. The only thing that can happen here is that you disagree with me and I sound sort of conspiracy-theoryish and macabre or you come to agree with me and then you’re even more depressed and angry than you are about the topic now. I recommend the books of Derrick Jensen, and recommend the website Nature Bats Last.
Thanks, I’ll check them out! I’m just as happy not to get too far into this conversation too…
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