How do you cope?

[LynzM]

This isn't news, per se, or aimed at one aspect of Climate Change/ Environment/ Energy, but more the picture, overall.

How do you cope?

How do you deal with depression and fear coming from all the terrible things happening, or on the verge of happening?
How do you deal with other people not knowing, or not believing, and certainly not understanding the stress you feel from it?
How do you deal with the speculation of what it's going to be like to live on this planet in the coming decades?

How do you do it, and not go crazy? Because sometimes I really feel like I want to stand up and scream at people to open their eyes, to stop caring about all the petty shit that eats up their day-to-day, to wake the fuck up!! Gah!

[Newsjock]

1. By making what plans/changes I can

I'm desperately trying to move back to an area where I have friends and a support network, and where everything I need to live (and love) is no more than a few miles away at most.

I have practically none of those things at the moment, and I feel as if I'm in a desperate race to make these changes quickly, before everyone else starts feeling the need to do likewise.

Even at that, however, I remain unspeakably hopeless about what's ahead -- even in the short time frame of the rest of my life. One of the most disturbing unexplored subjects out there is a possible sharp increase in suicide as the world deteriorates: If things get as bad as folks are predicting (in the environment and in politics and the world condition), why would anyone want to live in such a world?

I hope and pray that I'm wrong, but that's one hell of a cloud to be hanging over my head 24/7.

[LynzM]

9. I hear ya, Newsjock

I guess that part of it for me is that I have Type 1 diabetes, so the shit hits the fan, I can't get insulin, I'm outta here... that part is scary for me. Learning how to live with way less, to farm, to live out in the midwest with my inlaws where there is space and knowledge to do that, ok. But without insulin, I'm screwed. Oy.

So I guess part of it for me, really, is learning to face and be ok with my own mortality, yk? I think your comment about increased suicides is on the money, if things get as bad as they very well may.

[XemaSab]

32. I have asthma

(which is an expensive habit; I really don't recommend starting.)

I just figure if I die in the coming bottleneck that's just how it is. Why should I survive when others die? Why should it even be the asthma that kills me, for that matter, and not starvation or dysentary or something?

Being a biologist, nature is harsh. Kipling's right, it's "Red in tooth and claw" and I've seen some rough stuff out there. You can die in your sleep at the age of 90, or you can die some other way, and the other ways aren't that sexy, ya know?

That being said, I understand your anxiety. :pals:

[NickB79]

37. Ditto. Just do what you can to prepare, and educate your friends as best you can

My plan involves moving back to the family farm from suburban hell once the economic collapse sets in over the next decade, so I've been spending my free time driving back home and making improvements to the farm. This includes planting an extensive fruit orchard, nut trees, edible landscaping, and heirloom garden vegetables, composting to improve garden soil fertility, helping my dad install a wood-burning stove, cutting firewood, setting up my own charcoal-making system to produce terra preta (again, to increase soil fertility), fixing up the house and barns to be more efficient, etc.

Otherwise, I just do my job, earn a paycheck, and work to become debt-free. I've spoken with a few coworkers and friends about Peak Oil and climate change, but pitifully few pay any attention.

I also have a few semi-automatic assault rifles for target practice and plinking (along with 5,000 rounds of ammo), and I hope that's all I need them for.

[Az]

2. We regularly shout out "We melted the planet"

Its sort of an utter sense of disdain for the idiocy of humanity. Although I put it more on the shoulders of a creation of humanity that we let get out of control. Corporations and their nonhuman singular drive for profit and power.

I honestly do not believe that Corporate/Media controlled American society will wake up until its too late. There is going to be a national "Doh" and then they are going to turn to whomever they think has answers and beg "well what do we do now". And the scientists will simply look them in the eye and say "evolve or die".

We are blinded and deafened by the cacophony that is the media. And since there is no profit in dealing with global warming to be had the Corporations are certainly going to have nothing to do with it till it is profitable. And destruction makes for marvelous opportunities for profit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krcNIWPkNzA

[Newsjock]

3. 'The media'

And I'll add that, as a member of "the media" myself, it's comments like these that further make me sick to my stomach. Not because I disagree with them -- oh, no, quite the opposite. I feel like my (in)action the past few years is part of the problem, and I fear that there's no practical way I can atone.

So when the lynch mob shows up at my door, it will just be far easier for me to do the deed myself.

[Az]

4. Thats the thing

There are good and decent people within the media. Hell there are good and decent people within corporations. But its the system. We have created automated systems that make use of people as components. Good and decent people. But because they work for the Corporations that have to abide by the rules of the system. A Corporate CEO that does not make decisions based on what is best for the Corporation finds themselves booted out at the next share holders meeting if not bought out by a competing company willing to take the steps they could not.

The same is true of people within the media. Ratings and marketing drive everything. And marketing ultimately serves corporate interests. How is anyone within the media supposed to act out on their own. The first time they go rogue they are out of a job. Off the air. Silenced.

Its not a question of good or evil people. Its the nature of the rules of the system we have created and let get out of our control. Both Corporations and the Media were created to serve us. But we let them out of the bottle and they have placed us in gilded cages and now control us.

[LynzM]

10. Yep.

The "oh, somebody save me!" syndrome is going to be tough to cope with for those of us who've known and been aware...

Will take a peek at the video when I get home.

[GliderGuider]

5. That's a very, very, very good question

Lots of people go through profound emotional upheavals, sometimes even clinical depression, when they first grasp the enormity of the existential crisis we're facing. This is made worse by the all-too-human tendency to keep probing a sore tooth with your tongue - you can become gripped by the overwhelming need to know the full shape and extent of the crisis. Ask me how I know...

I've written a couple of pieces about this on my web site. One is called The Spiritual Effects of Comprehending the Global Crisis, and in it I compare the initial response to Kubler-Ross's five stages of grieving.

Ultimately, I found that a complete transformation of viewpoint was required to come to terms with the knowledge. Initially, in that article, I described it as a pantheistic spiritual breakthrough. Since then, I've come to understand that for me, at least, it was actually a spontaneous discovery of the principles of Deep Ecology. Recognizing the interconnectedness and intrinsic value of all life, and seeing humanity as simply one thread in a gigantic, self-regulating tapestry has given me a lot of comfort. Dropping the anthropocentrism and dualism that our civilization insists is the "correct" view has allowed me to become a lot more sanguine about the troubles we are facing.

Another realization that helped was, "We may be like yeast, but we're also like cockroaches." We are like yeast in that we reproduce and consume until our ecological niche is stripped of resources and poisoned by waste, then we die off. However, we are also like cockroaches, in that we are resourceful, adaptive and hardy, and you can't kill us all. There will always be people left, unless something really, really cataclysmic happens, and that's not in the cards at this point. so there will be fewer of us, and our lives will be harder. That's OK - there have usually been fewer of us, and until recently our lives were much harder indeed. foing back to our "natural state" isn't something to get too bent about. We may rebel against the idea, but as a species we'll just keep on going.

The third thing that gave me hope is something I describe in my article Population Decline - Red Herrings and Hope (an article I'm still quite proud of, actually). In it I say:

Start from these three realizations:
1. The genetic imperatives that drive our reproduction, consumption and competition guarantee that we will not change our civilization's value set voluntarily or preemptively.
2. Humanity is like yeast. We reproduce and consume until our ecological niche is stripped of resources and poisoned by waste, then we die off.
3. Humanity is like cockroaches. We are resourceful, adaptive and hardy, and you can't kill us all.

These three facts mean that although we are heading for a bottleneck, some portion of humanity will survive to regroup and rebuild in a massively damaged, resource-poor world. On our way through the bottleneck we will lose much of our physical and social capital. The one and only good thing about this, from a species, biosphere and planetary perspective, is that the existing socioeconomic structures will be forcibly and involuntarily stripped away, leaving room for new structures to take their place.

The change in perspective involves not looking forward from our current situation into the decline. Rather, step forward a couple of hundred years and look back. what I believe you will see is the rebirth of the next cycle of civilization.

The question for me has become, "How do we ensure that the seeds are in place for a value set that will survive through and bloom after the bottleneck, a value set that will ensure that the next cycle of civilization has a chance at sustainability even in such a badly damaged, resource-poor world?" How will we ensure that our descendants will eventually inherit a sustainable world, even though our current situation is not sustainable by any stretch of the imagination?

I've become convinced over the last couple of months that the seeds for such a transformation have already been planted. They are even resilient enough to make it through the bottleneck, and they carry the correct values for the rebirth I suggest.

American activist Paul Hawken has just written a tremendously important book called "Blessed Unrest" in which he describes a set of one to two million local, independent, citizen-run environmental and social justice groups. These groups exist world-wide, and each is acting on local problems of its own choosing. There is no overarching ideology beyond "making the world a better place", there is no unifying organization, no white male vertebrate leader setting the agenda. As a result the movement is extremely resilient - no government action anywhere can shut it down, even though individual groups may be suppressed. These groups make up the largest (though unrecognized) social movement the world has ever seen. For a glimpse of some of these organizations, take a look at the web site WiserEarth.org.

Hawken sees this movement as part of humanity's immune system. While I like the metaphor and think it is exactly correct, I believe the importance of these groups is much greater than just their efforts to mitigate an unavoidable collapse. These groups have been called into existence by the world's dis-ease, and do two things: they work to fix local problems now (which will mitigate some local effects of the collapse), but more importantly they act as carriers for the values of cooperation, consensus, nurturing, recognition of interdependence, acceptance of limits, universal justice and the respect for other life. Those are precisely the values that a civilization will need to achieve stability and sustainability. To top it all off, many of these groups are led by women or espouse specifically matriarchal values, one attribute I see as essential for any sustainable civilization.

At the risk of sounding sentimental, I call these groups the antibodies in Gaia's bloodstream.

I am convinced we will not save this civilization, and will lose a large fraction of humanity in the process. But I'm equally convinced that thanks to the seeds that have already been planted in these groups we have a shot at a much better one in a couple of hundred years. The crucial change in perspective required to see the hope in this is to stop looking from here forward into the decline, and instead look backward from a position out two hundred years and imagine what it will take to rebuild a truly sustainable civilization from the ashes of this one. The values required are already embodied in a resilient organization, enough of whose elements will survive to transmit a sustainable value set into the ecologically damaged, resource-depleted world we will bequeath to the future.

So yes, there are ways of maintaining hope without denying the enormity of our circumstances or feeling like a Pollyanna fraud.

Best wishes for continued mental health :-)

Paul Chefurka

[LynzM]

11. Thanks, Paul

:) I've been reading some of the other stuff you've posted in here and have a lot more learning to do, for sure. I'm definitely going to take a look at all the links you provided, later today. I appreciate your thoughts and response.

[XemaSab]

31. Good stuff...

I think we're in general agreement on the big picture here. :pals:

[ThomCat]

6. Be developing a bit of a fatalistic attitude.

:(

Bullies win. People often say "fuck it" and let bad things happen. Sometimes the best we can do is hang on tight and just try to endure.

[LynzM]

12. Heh.

Coming from the master, I'm guessing? :hug: I know what you mean, though. Diabetes = Lynz is screwed, the end. I guess I'm having a hard time with that aspect, that no matter what other planning I may/can do, my body just might betray all those efforts.

[ThomCat]

15. I hope

that your body never gets the chance to betray you. You seem to put a lot of time and attention into keeping the diabetes under control. I hope you have a lot of more years of good health.

But, yeah, I have a hard time with that too. I expect my body to break down in painful and inconvenient ways. I just try not to care too much about it when it happens, and find ways to keep doing whatever I can still manage. :(

Life is an extension of that. Try not to care too much about the things you can't control, and try to enjoy the things you can.

:shrug:

:hug:

[The2ndWheel]

7. I cope by knowing we have a choice

"How do you deal with depression and fear coming from all the terrible things happening, or on the verge of happening?"

By knowing that basically everything we do is unsustainable. And the more we try and sustain the unsustainable, the more unsustainable it gets. Also that things change. It's called evolution. Evolution isn't always pretty. It doesn't go in a straight line towards some advanced form. We're not going forward or backward. That life isn't predictable. That chance still plays a role. I'm not sure why, but to me that's comforting. I can't really explian it, and I know that bad things can happen because of chance, but that's existence. That's the price for life.

"How do you deal with other people not knowing, or not believing, and certainly not understanding the stress you feel from it?"

That's diversity for you. People are different. Again, to me that's comforting, in an odd way. It's not people that I'm worried about. A person can only do so much, good or bad. It's our institutions that require growth that worry me. They can't exist without growth, so the only way to stop that would be to dismantle them. Good luck.

"How do you deal with the speculation of what it's going to be like to live on this planet in the coming decades?"

I'll deal with it when it comes. It's called adapting. The more we try and adapt the planet to fit us, the worse we make it. So we need to start doing the opposite. Yes, that would be ugly, and messy, and potentially very dangerous. But we're going to hit that wall either way.

"How do you do it, and not go crazy? Because sometimes I really feel like I want to stand up and scream at people to open their eyes, to stop caring about all the petty shit that eats up their day-to-day, to wake the fuck up!! Gah!"

You can't force it. You can try, but it's not going to work. Increasingly large scale, organized force got us here. To me, we have to stop worrying about people. We have to stop making people do everything the same way. Oddly enough, that would include not trying to make people not do everything the same way, if that makes any sense(it does in my head). In my opinion, we have to stop doing everything in mass quantities. Mass society, mass production, etc, etc. Now, that won't solve every problem, but nothing ever will(then again, that's trying to predict life...but it's the only thing I'm certain of).

Life is a funny thing. The more we try and control it, the more we must control it. I say we let go and let it live, but that's just me.

P.S. - one day I was flipping through the channels on the TeeVee, and I stopped on a public access/college type station. They had a program running with Derrick Jensen, who talks about this sort of thing. I know he made sense to me. So I looked up other stuff from him, which led me to other authors and the like, just to try and see if it could help me make sense of what exactly I've been thinking. It does help to know you're not the only nut out there with a differing opinion.

[LynzM]

13. Thanks, NMM

I appreciate the alternate viewpoints. I've got such an urge to save and help everyone, maybe I ought to do some of that reading and try to get my brain around not being able to do that, lol. Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions.

[Gregorian]

28. I love those thoughts.

I've also come to those same concepts. I've spent many years in turmoil over the reckless and careless behavior of humans.

The death of my beloved cat, a year ago, really woke me up to the reality that things are not permanent. I have a problem with things not lasting forever.

The hardest part for me is my incredible value of beauty. With the population on this planet, by the time I discover something beautiful, it's killed almost as fast as I can experience it.

But I think your thoughts are valuable in that they encompass a bigger scheme. I see the roadkill. But what will I see in a thousand years. One is tragic. One is galactic. And more meaningful of the true nature of the universe.

[Lorien]

43. I will never, ever adopt such a dangerous viewpoint

it's the viewpoint of the GOP; climate change is inevitable. Don't try to sustain life. Let it die. Make money and follow your bliss because NOTHING YOU DO MATTERS. It'll happen anyway. Eat cake.

Bullshit.

Part of being a responsible adult is accepting accountability for your actions. Part of being a person of conscience is caring about your fellow life forms enough to fight for their right to exist. Part of being at least blessed with a little intelligence is doing the right thing and using it to find a better way. To innovate. To enlighten other whenever and wherever you can find an open mind that will listen. This really is a case of "if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem".

[The2ndWheel]

50. Good. I may not be right

"climate change is inevitable"

It is. Whether we have anything to do with it or not, climate does change. Obviously doing as much as we do, on as large a scale as we currently opperate(any scale really, but especially the 2007 version), has to have an impact. Climates do change though. That's why we have seasons.

"Don't try to sustain life. Let it die."

I said let life live.

"Make money and follow your bliss because NOTHING YOU DO MATTERS."

Not sure where I said that, and I know I never said make money.

"Part of being a responsible adult is accepting accountability for your actions."

Very true. That is something this whole thing we call civilization does not allow us to do. If we had to accept accountability for our actions over the last few thousand years, it would be a very different world.

"Part of being a person of conscience is caring about your fellow life forms enough to fight for their right to exist."

Also true. So when do we stop scientific research on non-human life? When do we stop expanding? When do we stop trying to control the DNA of every living thing, including humans?

"This really is a case of "if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem""

That depends on what the solution is. Are you part of the problem if you don't fit my solution? Is there only one solution? Should there be? Why would there have to be? Plus we have to be able to define the problem. The problem is also different for different people.

We're not getting out of this one for free. If we really want to solve anything, we're going to have to give something up. It'll also have to come voluntarily, or else it won't work.

[Al Federfer]

8. What you do is get ahold of yourself. n/t

[LynzM]

14. Thanks, Al. Helpful advice. n/t

[phantom power]

16. I have adopted a strategy based on dissociative identity disorder

Here on DU, I bravely stare into the abyss, armed only with my infinite sarcasm and bitterness. In real life, I mostly go about my business like a lemming.

"It seems that you have been living... two lives... Mr. Anderson."

[stuntcat]

41. yah, I think

I think I'm kinda doing this. I've disassociated myself from everything though. It's shocking we'll do all we've done and not stop, and the more time I spend with people the more ashamed I feel.
My bitter sarcasm is constant but I'm also laughing a lot- it's laugh or cry for me from now on.

It is going to get messier and dirtier. and more violent. the mass extinction won't slow down. pity the soft lil' babies you see :hi: (That was no BSing right there, mark my word..)

[silverweb]

17. This is a very important discussion.

I've been wondering myself how I'm going to cope as things inevitably get worse. Even more importantly, I wonder how I'm going to help people close to me cope -- especially the young ones, whose futures have already been seriously compromised.

My basic recipe for now (hopeful of improvement) consists of a base ingredient of cosmic/philosophical perspective, flavored with a dollop of fatalism. Add a heaping cupful of conscience-driven, minimalist lifestyle. Stir in a generous sprinkling of hope. Beat vigorously to break up the heavy lump of dread that tends to persist and thin the bitterness of anger.

[emmadoggy]

18. Good question, LynzM.

If you figure it out, could you please let me know? Because right now, I feel like I'm in my own private little panic room. And if you express your fears or panic to others they look at you like you are some poor pathetic crackpot whose been bamboozled by doomsday propaganda. Recently, my own brother and uncle argued with me that we would never run out of oil. :banghead:

I have two five-year-olds and more and more, instead of looking to their futures with joy, excitement, and anticipation, I am filled with fear, dread and anxiety at the thought of what may lie ahead for them. Not to mention a feeling of guilt for bringing them into this world only to have to face what could be a really dismal future. :cry: :scared:

[crispini]

19. Wow, something must be in the air. Thanks for posting this.

I was feeling exactly the same way today and started looking around here on DU and on other places to see if I could find someone to chat with.

I have been thinking for awhile now that I need to start getting ready for things. I got a very strong feeling that no matter HOW we prepare, and for what, the preparation needs to be done with joy. In other words, now is the time to touch as much as we can on the positive, and cultivate our ability to keep a good mental attitude.

But, for lack of support here in real life, I am feeling very alone and isolated right now. So I went on Meetup.com to see if I could find any local meetups related to this topic. I could not, but I am seeing lots of local interest, so I think I will start one myself. And I think I will continue my dialogs with local people, friends whom I know to be wiser than I in philosophy and in ways of the spirit.

I love online -- it is a great starting place -- but I think ultimately, connecting with others in real life and actually doing real things is a better form of therapy. It makes me feel much more productive.

[jody]

20. I ask myself whether a million years from now what I do or don't do today will matter. Then I enjoy

every second I'm alive because I really don't matter in the universal scheme of things.

[Newsjock]

21. K&R #5

OK, several hours later, here we go.

[bonito]

22. With what I have on my plate right now

And its keeping my wife alive, and do I think I should be planing for the future? hell ya, but what I got is today, as always.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Work with your hands and build something.

Turn your back on people who depress you.

[young_at_heart]

24. I drink wine daily and if I'm really blue, watch old movies that I love

At age 68 I find myself literally in shock about the state of our country and there are times when I become overwhelmed. One of my favorite movies to take me to a 'different place' is "Moonstruck".

[Newsjock]

25. I feel for you

But in a roundabout sort of way, hearing stories such as yours makes me feel at least a little bit better. I'm reminded that, no, it's not me ... things really are this way.

[Gregorian]

26. I try to find a beautiful place to live, and just be there.

I can't even see the streams of cars without going insane with rage now. Of course I've felt that way for thirty years. Most people don't even notice.

I thought I would find peace. But it is fading. I can't explain very well, but I know in my mind just exactly what is going on. I'll just say this one thing- Today I was riding my bike, and thinking about what people are going to do when oil hits $150 per barrel. I was thinking this due to the fact that I have recently moved back to an area that used to be "magical". But it's gone. It's god damned cars now. I'm really pissed off about it. People won't change. They'll still be thinking it's "only them". Just this trip here, and just this one there. But they'll complain. They'll complain about high prices of fuel, but they won't change. We'll start demonizing those who appear to be energy hogs, whether they are or not. We'll engineer smaller more efficient ways of getting around. It'll change slowly. But there is an underlying problem that won't change. The very fact that we are asking something to do our work for us. It's lazy. But that's not the problem. It's wrong. But it's how things are. And it's not going to change. And I hate it. I hate the sound of cars whooshing through the air when I try to just sit in the sun. Or want to ride a bike. And the tire noise. And the baby diapers that are tossed out the windows. And the dead animals by the side of the road. I have a lot to be angry about. Most people don't see it, isolated from their world by glass and steel. But get out and ride a bike, and it's a whole different world. You see, you smell, both the world that was and the one that is now. I pass by a newly killed deer every day. It was hit and then stumbled into the forest to die. Just one example.

So I try to get away. But I'm sad to say that there is no "nowhere" any more. And I decided to get into top physical shape. So no alcohol. I used to pound beers from six until eight in the evening. Then fall into bed. That was a way of coping.

I'm sorry to say that we've polluted our world to a point where there are few places to hide. Or cope.

It's like politics. Ignorance is bliss. Most people don't see what I see. But if you do, you are enraged. It's the same with the environment.

Now, right as I'm typing this, the young deers that were babies at the beginning of the year are strutting outside the window. That is how I cope. Beauty, wherever it may be. Like the rabbit that I saw today. That is what the human being needs.

Something else kind of cool happened today. I ride almost every day, about twenty miles. Today, suddenly, huge mushrooms everywhere. It was like they exploded over night. That is how I cope.

[Nictuku]

27. Wow....

I had clicked on refresh for the Greatest page and was thinking to myself before I saw this post:

I feel like I need to scream.

I thought of calling up my leftie friend and asking her to allow me to vent. But that is hardly fair.

It is there, (anger) it is real (frustration). I'm mad as hell... and ... and ....

I want to finish that sentence .... (but I need my job to survive, so I can't really act)

I feel impotent. Unable to make a difference. Amazed at how so many people in our society are totally unaware of what is going on here. It is like the frog in the slow boil... fascism is taking root.

[gulfcoastliberal]

29. I live the cliche of "taking it one day at a time".

What more can we do? Sure, stockpiling food & water is prudent - but would not last long. If I was super wealthy I'd consult with geologists, hydrologists, and agricultural experts about building a fortress in Greenland or a Nordic country.

[XemaSab]

30. I've taken too much geology and ecology to get too freaked out.

It'll probably be a bottleneck event for our species, sure, but humans will probably survive, and the Earth will definitely survive.

Whenever I feel freaked out about it I go and listen to Modest Mouse and feel better.

There's no work in walking in to fuel the talk
I would grab my shoes and then away I'd walk
Through all the stubborn beauty I start at the dawn
Until the sun had fully stopped
Never walking away from
Just a way to pull apart
Dehydrate back into minerals
A life long walk to the same exact spot

Carbon's anniversary
The parting of the sensory

Well some day you will die somehow and
Something's going to steal your carbon

(Sleeping in the woods and looking at birds also help keep it in perspective.)

[progressive_realist]

33. I'm immune to it

At least to the emotional content of it. I spent most of my formative years in extreme poverty. I've spent plenty of time in situations where I had no money, no "stuff" except what I could carry, and no home to call my own. It won't be any great shock for me to go back to that. No matter what happens, I'll do my best to adapt and keep going.

That's my background. So maybe my answers wouldn't apply to others. But I'll give it a shot:

How do you cope?
Realize your only choices are to give up or to cope. Each person has a different point at which they will throw in the towel. Yours is probably a lot further than you give yourself credit for.

How do you deal with depression and fear coming from all the terrible things happening, or on the verge of happening?
You should not invest yourself emotionally in thoughts of the future. Your emotions should stay grounded in the here and now. The usefulness of abstract thinking is that we can better anticipate and plan for future events; being paralyzed by phantasms of our own imagination is not helpful. No matter how certain you are of something, it's not real until it actually happens.

How do you deal with other people not knowing, or not believing, and certainly not understanding the stress you feel from it?
Most people use the tried and true formula of assuming that tomorrow will resemble today and yesterday. Most of the time that is correct. The burden of proof is on those of us who believe tomorrow is not going to be like today. It's not an argument worth having. Make sure you have at least some friends who think the way you do. Don't bother trying to convince the rest. Just remind yourself that, statistically speaking, their approach to life makes perfect sense and works just fine for them. Cassandra may be speaking the truth, but the people who ignore her have the complementary piece of that truth -- they are not any more wrong than she is, in the big picture.

How do you deal with the speculation of what it's going to be like to live on this planet in the coming decades?
I'm not sure that what is coming will be any worse overall than the soul-deadening corporate world I live in now. I have material stuff and I'm comfortable, but there is a lot more to life than that, and our current society tries its damnedest to take those other things away. Cultivate good relationships and community, and you will be in good shape no matter what the future brings.

How do you do it, and not go crazy?
I'm probably already crazy. :freak:


As a last note, your comment further downthread about facing your own mortality is probably spot on. If you were given fifty more years of life, what would you do with it? Why aren't you doing it now?

[roguevalley]

34. you wage war against it in your own life. You do EVERYTHING in

your own power and pray that there are millions more just like you.

[losthills]

35. I'm just a country boy.

I'm a blue collar worker with a college degree that I never used for employment-- long story....
I worry about paying the rent on time, and making my land payments, truck payments, utilities, etc. on time. I worry about whether I'm going to get through the weekend with good beer, cheap beer, or no beer. Every week is an obstacle course that I have to negotiate. If the system crashes, it will just be a new set of obstacles to deal with. "Country folks will survive...."

If I were a Senator, I could author a set of bills that would get us out of this, but they would not pass...

The only thing that gives me hope is knowing that Rooseveldt could not have initiated the reforms that saved us from the ravages of the Great Depression before it happened. The situation has to become desperate for everyone before desperate measures will be accepted. So just keep talking and working. We know what's going to happen when oil hits 2, 3, 4 hundred dollars a barrel. That's when our leaders will start to take action, and not before.

Until then, the prudent person would formulate their own escape plan.

Because many people are going to die before our government leaders take this seriously...

[OKIsItJustMe]

36. Brighten the corner where you are...

It's an optimistic old hymn my Mother would sing. It essentially means, "Do what you can to make the world a little bit better place."

I can't do much about FOX "News" spouting lies. I can't do much about the simpleminded, shallow coverage by the rest of the "News" media. I can point individuals to what I consider to be good, sound science.

I can't do much about the melting ice caps. I can try to teach young people that working together is the best way to overcome challenges.


A while back, faced with overwhelming negativity, I resolved to find "good news" which was relevant to this forum, and to post it.

Sometimes, it helps to simply "Brighten the corner, where you are."

[depakid]

38. I look for silver linings

and they are there- in both the positive and negative sense.

I foresee a growing interdependence and community ties- a return to simpler pleasures and sharing of skills uniquely and personally ours. For example, a couple of years ago, my best friend in Britain made me a quilt. It's about the finest gift I ever got. On the last panel, in the bottom right hand corner very subtly embroidered are the words:

"What I make my hands, I give with my heart."

We could all do with a lot more of that.

I also foresee the decline of "Walmarts" and the pathology of consumerism and corporatism. In the coming decades, it's going to become an outmoded "way of life."

If you read the literature of collapse (or decline and fall) you see many instances of where what really "collapsed" was complexity- centralization and ostentation. As Joseph Tainter notes- the underlying "cause" was a fairly simple one- the organizational scheme of the system- the "way of life," began to show declining and then negative marginal returns. The systems no longer responded effectively to the problems that arose and eventually adapted to newer, less centralized dynamic states, requiring less energy.

I take it as a given that the current "globalized" economy is unsustainable- and cannot continue to "grow" as the neoclassical economists "require." That's just a natural law- and one that, on the whole- NO ONE can do anything about.

So rather than worry with it- I look around when I ride my bike and think when I see this or that, how it's going to change, and take solace in the fact that many of the irritants I come across will fade from view. More importantly, I also note certain things I love, and wonder how they will adapt and eventually blossom.

[BornagainDUer]

39. I throw darts at a Georgie Bush doll. Sometimes I stick pins

in it.

[stuntcat]

40. I have to laugh.

It's laugh or cry, you know what I mean? I'm totally on Earth's side and it's horrifying what we're doing to it, but at least I'm almost 40 and I haven't given 85-90 more years here to anyone else. I do all I can with my house and my yard and my cats and my trash and my gardens. I take care of all the wildlife I can, squirrels and sparrows and possums and stuff.
I try to laugh.. just think of how ridiculous it is that the species who thinks it's Godlike is trashing it's own heavenly beautiful home planet beyond all hope :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I'm just watching and laughing from now on.

[tom_paine]

44. You beat me to the punch, stuntcat. Schadenfreud and entertainment.

After all, what is our relentless drive towards Dark Ages and possible extinction but the greatest reality show of all time.

My thought is: One the internal screaming at the onrushing train stops, the laughter at the people standing oblivious on the tracks with their Brittney Spears people magazine starts.

Can you imagine the looks on their sheep's faces when the truth becomes clear, about "one second", metaphorically-speaking, before the train hits?

It will be something like this:



I would like to give a ringing endorsement of this strategy of enjoying the show, but I have just starting out on this coping strategy and so I don't yet really know if it is yet effective.

[stuntcat]

45. "don't yet really know if effective"

actually it isn't effective, it's just crazy I think. I've been sicker and madder about this every year. I do what I can with what I can control (grow some food, stop eating meat, help the bats, sign petitions, not birth another western consumer..) but the damage we're all doing together is HUGE. A maniacal laugh is mental strategy :crazy:

[tom_paine]

49. You have given me food for thought. Thanks.

:hug:

[Lorien]

42. I continue to be an activist and advocate for the environment

because doing nothing truly does make me feel powerless. I have managed a few small victories along the way, but far from enough of them. I'm fighting for others because I myself am unattached to my life. I work very hard to survive, and I'm extremely tired. I had a lifelong dream of having my own family since I never felt as if I were a part of one, but I won't have children because of what's happening to the planet. I'm in my forties now, so finding love is out of the question. Since I have nothing and no one to lose I don't fear loss for myself, but I do feel quite a bit of sadness about all the beauty that is being destroyed every minute of every day. All we can do is everything we can possibly do. To sit by and say nothing at all is to admit complete defeat, and while there is life there's no point in giving up on the planet and all the wonderous species that still inhabit it.

[Kolesar]

47. That's me, too

I have found that media and government people are more receptive to "our" message in the last year. Hope it is not too late.

[Shoelace]

46. I plant trees, flowers - lots of them

it's my way of giving back to life what it's given to me. In that process, it's life affirming. In my long life, I've planted over 1000 trees and just can't seem to stop planting flowers that attract and help bees thrive, and make others smile (especially children).
Just this summer, I noticed that the once missing bees had returned and thrived right up until the first frost.
HOPE! It's what keeps us going, so I fake it 'till I make it and somehow it works for me.

Another thing I do is study the science itself as the research papers become available. Knowledge is a valuable tool to help others understand what is happening to our earth and why.

Sure I get depressed and angered by the deniers and the lies they spread, but I challenge them every chance I get with what I do know. Then there's the constant awareness that I must use as little of Earth's resources as possible in my day to day life. That's my little Earth survival tool box. :)

[4dsc]

48. Very well thank you

considering there's nothing more I can do than to post article's about peak oil to the people of Iowa and hopefully someday they get it, I just live everyday like its my last.. I enjoy this beautiful thing called life and realize that everything has an beginning and an end..

I've been lucky up to now so if TSHTF I'll just have to see how lucky I am then..

[stuntcat]

51. you'll be lucky! :)

most of us first-worlders will be

[ramapo]

52. Diversion and resignation

I have many interests, not the least of which is a love of the outdoors. I try and get out hiking at least every other weekend. There are many fantastic places to hike here in North Jersey.

The world I see is one that few others notice. Sitting in traffic, I see the pounds of CO2 being added to the atmosphere with each gallon of gas that we burn. I see the aquifers dropping lower and lower as we drain the fossil water in order to water the desert and wash our cars. The houses growing where farms once stood adds to a constant sadness. Other new homes consume precious forest and, adding insult to injury, are built in enclaves often named "... Preserve".

I have a sadness that my kids might just live to see real hardship when the world we've come to know just might meet its inevitable tipping point.

Most incredibly, few give any real thought to the possibility that there are limits to growth and resource usage. Some might give lip service on the way to the big box store or Hummer dealer but life continues on.

What bothers me most is the feeling that the worst of what we see unfolding might have been mitigated had our society made better choices a few decades ago, both in lifestyle and leadership. We are now too far down a long road to have any real hope of avoiding trouble ahead. At best, we might limit the damages once society wakes up.

I have no expectation that people will wake up until they are hit in the head with a hammer. But I take comfort in the thought that eventually nature will make things right. Humans may bring destroy much of the life on this planet, including our own, but in the long run nature will change the planet and the signs of our presence may well be lost.

I do keep a bit of hope on hand that perhaps one day soon people wake up. Until then I keep myself busy and pay as much respect to life as I can muster.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

53. I get very discouraged about people's obliviousness

It reminds me of the Biblical parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in which the selfish rich man, having been sent to hell, asks Abraham to send Lazarus (the beggar who died in his doorway) back from the dead to warn his brothers to be less selfish.

Abraham responds that the brothers have the Jewish law and the words of the prophets (both of which speak of taking care of the poor), and if they do not heed them, then even someone coming back from the dead won't phase them.

That's kind of how I feel about people who are oblivious to environmental warnings. In the backs of their minds, they've heard about the environmental crisis, but their desire to keep up with yuppie consumerism trumps their concern. So yes, they'll make a big deal about how they're buying fluorescent light bulbs and a Prius, but then they'll build a trophy house on what used to be a productive farm and own a regular fleet of vehicles because they now live an hour from their jobs and of course, they have to enroll their kids in every lesson and activity that there is and drive them there, unless the kids are over 16, in which case they have their own car. Then the parents complain about how overextended their budget is.

You just want to bang people's heads against the wall sometimes.

Personally, all I can do is live in an environmentally responsible way. I live in a walkable neighborhood and buy most of my food from a co-op that emphasizes organic, humanely-raised and local products. My car was "inherited" from my mother; I use it mostly for running errands for my mother and stepfather, and when they're gone, I plan to get rid of it, move to an area that has better transit, and buy an electric bicycle or moped. Since I've never been rich, I hope that I can survive downturns better than some who have become accustomed to luxury.