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How do you deal with depression about climate change?

I started getting sad about climate change two years ago after seeing Planet Earth and many documentaries. I completely changed my lifestyle to reduce my part and put significant effort into it.

But seeing rich celebrities who use as much as a common man’s lifetime resources in a week or two, and others who barely put in any effort to combat it, and corporations fucking the entire planet for quarterly profits, barely any efforts towards fighting it even though we had known about its consequences 30-40 years ago, I get this feeling that my efforts are even worth it.

Slowly, I told myself that evolution failed itself by giving a bit more individual selfishness over community/species survival. Just like human beings, Earth’s time has started to end. Its death is inevitable. Everything should come to an end. Only if evolution had given a bit more thought to species survival, we would be in a much better place.

How do you all deal with this?

xmunk ,

Cynicism, trying to do what I can personally, voting and participating in politics, and just fucking hoping we’re over estimating the effects or that we’ll manage to come up with the political will to mitigate the worse effects.

Also, praying to Cthulhu that boomers hurry the fuck up and kick the bucket… at least the ones that aren’t cool.

Looking at Trump’s climate priorities (basically, burn as much coal as possible) and the people who support them fills me with disgust… it is as greedy and uncaring as our shitty late stage capitalism and I can’t comprehend existing with so little empathy or foresight. The deniers are essentially incomprehensible to me so I avoid them whenever possible and just hope they’ll die off faster than sane people.

ganymede , (edited )

Notice how public discourse goes round & round in a lively show, but never seems to get anywhere?

This is strawman public discourse, and its largely by design.

Stop thinking, worrying and especially talking about climate change.

Instead talk about pollution & poison

Everyone can see it. It can’t be denied or handwaved or debated away.

STOP POISONING OUR AIR, WATER AND SOIL.

WE NEED THEM TO BREATH, LIVE AND GROW OUR FOOD. (duh)

stoy ,

I don’t think about it.

Really, that is it, I don’t deny climate change, it obviously is real.

But I am just an IT guy, I live alone, I commute with public transport, I have a small apartment, my car is a PHEV, bought used, consuming 4,5L/100km petrol on average.

I keep my computer turned off when I am out, I won’t pretend that I am super eco friendly, I do fly from time to time, this year I’ve been to Spain twice. I also enjoy driving my car, but I am cutting back on it.

When celebs and VIPs are bombing around the planet in business jets, companies and governments are actively working against electrified rail or rail in general, and pushing for more car infrastructure, then I can see that me feeling guilty about driving my car for fun or just to get to cool photo spots won’t make a difference.

Add to that the huge waste of energy that us crypto, and I have realized that yes we are fucked, but I have time to see cool stuff before everything goes to hell, so I try to use it.

I am planning on taking a trip down to germany next year and see some cool museums, and won’t feel bad about it.

cymbal_king ,

Focus progress that has been made, we solutions to the climate crisis have been growing exponentially over the past decade. And it’s not a binary issue of everything is sunshine and rainbows vs we’re all fucked. There’s more of a spectrum. Also remember the past environmental successes we’ve had with like acid rain, the ozone layer, leaded gas, mercury pollution. We’ve come a long way.

Making any progress, no matter how small makes the future just that much better than it otherwise would be. Yes, systemic changes out of the control of anyone on Lemmy are needed, but if say every person on Lemmy worked towards reducing their own environmental impacts that could have huge ripple effects in the economy of the green transition. Just plan out pragmatically/realistically how much time, mental energy, and resources are worth it to you.

A lot things that individuals can do to help with the climate crisis often also have personal benefits like long term financial savings, less pollution exposure, healthier plant-based diets, etc.

bizarroland ,

I'm taking a nihilistic approach to it.

I turn off the lights when I leave a room. I'm conscientious about my water usage. I recycle.

When I find that a company is a mass polluter, I do everything in my power to not give them any of my money.

I'm doing my part.

The fact is every human being on the planet in their own personal circle could go carbon neutral and climate change would still happen because it is industrial processes and commercial shipping that are driving the great majority of carbon and methane release in the atmosphere.

It's not anything that you or I are doing, or rather, in the scheme of things what we are doing is negligible, easily absorbed by the natural cleaning processes of the planet like trees and algae and rain and time.

Our current system has incentivized pollution. There's no amount of personal choice that we as individuals can take to stop it.

What we need are politicians who acknowledge the issue and who override the objections of the vocal minority to fix them even at deleterious costs to the economy.

After all, can't have an economy when the world is dead.

socsa ,

By not having kids

The_Picard_Maneuver ,
@The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world avatar

I try to watch what I read online, and it truly helps.

Do:

  • Keep yourself informed by reading bland articles about climate studies with direct interviews from the scientists conducting them.
  • Stay knowledgeable about who to vote for to support reasonable climate policies.

Do NOT:

  • Read articles that inject opinions from the web journalist, terrifyingly worded headlines designed to get you to click, or anything written for a secondary purpose (e.g. voter mobilization).
  • Get your info 2nd, 3rd, or 4th hand from social media personalities on tiktok, youtube, twitter, or any website with an algorithm than rewards the most extreme takes with more engagement.
  • Let fear prevent you from living the life you want to live or making long term plans.
mathemachristian ,

by worrying about the rampant militarization and progressively hawkish stance of nato with overt threat towards china and russia and how i could escape this hellhole with my family instead.

saigot ,

Earth’s time has started to end. Its death is inevitable.

Even in a worst case scenario life will continue on earth. It’s honestly doubtful that humanity will end. This is not controversial among climate scientists. Don’t get me wrong, societal collapse, mass human deaths and a huge extinction event are all on the table, but there are many lifeforms that will thrive.

Timely_Jellyfish_2077 OP ,

Yeah I know. It’s just what I told myself to cope about it.

ssm ,
@ssm@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

View the end of humanity as a positive, the suffering machine will be over (at least until it re-evolves).

kriz ,

“Slowly, I told myself that evolution failed itself by giving a bit more individual selfishness over community/species survival.”

There are a lot of great answers here already, but I would like to put forth the anticapitalist position that the quote above is likely false. Humans can work together, we have developed systems of cooperation that can deter selfishness from destroying a community. This is possible (and despite decades of propaghanda…popular!) What is stopping it is the greed for wealth and power of the 1% at the expense of everyone else and the planet. The masses of people are constantly trying to stop this, and mostly fail. But cracks in their power do open occasionally, and you just have to do what you can until a Crack is available for you to help widen. I think it’s possible to win, but not through personal lifestyle changes and voting alone. Only through activism and protest is it possible. Most humans keep trying to solve this, and that gives me hope.

some_guy ,

Take a break from the internet for a bit. I got offline as much as possible for two weeks a few months ago and it did wonders for my mental health.

Vibi ,

Unfortunately this is some of the best advice. I think different people are more susceptible to existential anxiety - or moreso anxiety over things that will never be able to change or control. Some people can channel that emotion into advocacy, volunteer work, etc while others mentally drown in thought loops. As rude as it sounds, sometimes it really is a ‘touch grass’ type of thing. You HAVE to watch out for your own mental health and oftentimes that means disconnecting from triggers and focusing on your own life and interests. Play a game, watch something, read a book, go to the zoo, meet up with friends - live in the moment and outside your head. I also recommend using the internet purposefully and not just to kill time - use social media for discovery and research of specific topics and not for just general consumption.

The_Picard_Maneuver ,
@The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world avatar

This is the way.

Social media will jump from one super important and stressful thing that we all need to lose sleep over to the next with or without us. Yes, these things might be important, but a lot of online activism seems to be about who can scare more people into supporting X, Y, or Z with zero regard for the reader’s mental health, the rhetoric used, or even being 100% factual.

It doesn’t hurt to disengage every so often.

slazer2au ,

This is going to get some upset

On an individual level, there is not much you can do. Because of that why let it get to you? If you do not effect the outcome it shouldn’t be on your radar.

LiamMayfair ,

Someone once said to me “Relax! Nothing is under control.”

Worry about what you can control —which is very little, especially when facing a world crisis like climate change— and accept what you can’t.

The people who should be fixing this mess are not you or I. It’s the big corporations and the Governments that should regulate them through robust, uncompromising climate policies. Vote for Governments with honest, solid climate agendas.

Other than that, contributions from individuals like you and I are but a drop in the boiling ocean of global warming. By all means, keep doing what you’re doing. It certainly doesn’t hurt to lead a more sustainable lifestyle but don’t feel bad if you don’t do everything you’re supposed to do. Don’t let the real culprits here gaslight you into thinking otherwise.

Again, if you’re worried more about your mental health than the problem itself at this stage, it’s ok to feel that way. Many of us do. But the best advice I can give you is to just accept there’s nothing you can really do about the situation. Whatever happens, happens. Easier said than done, I know, but once you “learn” to accept this fact, your anxiety will drop right down.

kambusha ,

Yep. Fix what you can control, and accept what you cannot. You cannot control what others do, you can only try to persuade. What you can control is your reaction to it.

OP, you may want to try reading some books on stoicism.

Jackthelad ,

Everything this guy said.

I’ve struggled with anxiety my whole life. But my anxiety is about things that I can control. I don’t worry about climate change, or wars or pandemics or whatever, because it’s pointless worrying about things that you can do literally nothing about.

flamingo_pinyata ,

Anger, knowing they will get what they deserve more quickly than I initially thought. I’m not thinking about rich celebrities, they are just a few people. There are so many regular people who refused to modify their lifestyle even a little to mitigate the problem. They will suffer alongside me and I find some solace in that.

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