I’d classify myself as a “reluctant doomer”. I try to minimize my environmental impact and encounter others to do the same, but privately, I think we’re fucked. I act like my assumptions are wrong, though. I hope I am.
Based
I just want people to go vegan because it’s so easy, healthy and the right thing to do if you dare to look at it. Simple most powerful powermove any random chad can do NOW.
Absolutely. It’s never too late to keep trying and every little helps:
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/06/too-late-climate-crisis-myth/
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/can-we-stop-climate-change
https://plana.earth/academy/is-it-too-late-for-our-planet
Doomerism achieves nothing, it’s not helpful: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23622511/climate-doomerism-optimism-progress-environmentalism
And pessimism isn’t realism: https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-magic-that-happens-when-we-stop-equating-pessimism-with-realism-9480a5481540
And individual actions make more of a difference than you might think: https://theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169
Finally don’t get addicted to doomscrolling, it’s bad for your physical and mental health: https://www.ramsaymentalhealth.com.au/en/resources-support/addicted-to-bad-news/
So here are some positive climate stories to motivate and improve your day:
Idk, people who were safe in western states called me a doomer and got mad at me for my sadness being unproductive while a hurricane killing people and flattening neighboring towns. No one is an effective activist 100% of the time, maybe let people grieve for five seconds.
I’m doing what I can, and encourage others to do the same cuz why not; but also under no illusion that our efforts are going to even delay our extinction by a meaningful amount.
We’re at the mercy of some miracle-tier scientific breakthroughs, or literal divine/extraterrestrial intervention. There’s a shred of hope in the former, but realistically, we’re fucked.
The problem is your dooming inspires others to give up.
one big disease could thanks snap the population. how we would survive afterwards is another question.
but high pop loads lead to more chance of drastic collapse.
I planted 3 trees this week and have been making biochar in winter when fire restrictions are lifted.
Nice work! Keep at it!
I’m hoping to plant some more trees this season but don’t know where yet. Will have to do some more scouting.
I’m just about out of space on my property until my nursery trees are mulched for soil so I’m currently in the market for endemic natives to guerilla garden with.
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Excellent work climate patriot 🫡🌍
I’ve moved to stainless steel for basically everything. Including plates, bowels, cups, etc. So no more microplastics there at least. I’ve tried to find environmentally friendly soap and detergents where feasible.
I started cooking bulk slow cook meals at home to reduce waste in my food, i got energy efficient everything. My dishwasher, washing machine and dryer (heat pump dryer) are near the top of ESR. I installed solar ( self consumption not grid tie) and in the summer with my batteries can almost meet 100% of my power needs. Winter varies but can sometimes still offset 60% i also use heatpump hot water and room heating. All my lighting is custom high efficiency led strip lights running on the 48v if the solar batteries directly.
I drive a tiny smart fortwo which as far as I can tell is one of the least polluting non-hybrid vehicles the road, I would like to eventually get an electric car to compliment my solar but that’s a purchase for later. I feel as though I’ve done all that I can do without unreasonably disrupting my life I just feel sad knowing that it’s basically worthless in the grand scheme of how much companies are polluting
Why stainless over cheap regular ceramic plates or drinking glasses?
I decided part of reducing waste was getting myself something that’s basically guaranteed to last me the rest of my life, I can use these dishes as footballs for a family football game or to practice my hacky sack throwing and never worry about them getting damaged.
Yeah, I guess your only options for any further impact are to persuade as many other people to do some of what you’ve done. The least intrusive changes will obv be the easiest ones to persuade people to make
All of this is incredibly impressive. I don’t own my own place yet or have a car, but I’m hoping to buy an electric vehicle in the next couple of years and then find an apartment. I’ll be chuffed myself if I accomplish even a quarter of what you’ve just described. You say it’s worthless - it has inspired me. Years from now maybe I’ll describe my setup and inspire another, and you’ll have played a part in that.
I’m glad that it has inspired you, but when I say it’s worthless I mean that honestly even if a majority of people did everything I’ve done it would still barely make a dent. The major polluters are not people that is just a lie that’s been sold to us the major polluters are major corporations. It’s nice living more sustainably I genuinely find many of these changes to be nicer than what I had before them I think they can be used to improve one’s life when done correctly. But in terms of helping the climate change process? Despite everything I’ve done I’m still a Doomer because I know that the people can’t fix it
If possible don’t buy a car. Cars, even electric ones, have a huge environmental cost. It’s not always possible but we should be using public transportation and bicycles way more than we use cars.
Precisely my point. Even if recycling is a corporate propaganda to shift blame to consumers and the majority of plastics do not get recycled, or that saving water is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of water lost to pipe leaks, it is still better than doing nothing.
Would these doomers have preferred if they had done nothing at all?
The reason the corporate propaganda to shift blame works is because you are spending your energy worrying about and debating it and telling people that every drop counts rather than doing the far more effective work of organising and fixing the actual problem which is the fact that capitalism is destroying our ecology.
They know it works, they’ve reused the same playbook for every major ecological disaster, and it keeps working, because we’re here chastising each other to just recycle, just save water, just reduce your carbon footprint, just don’t use plastic straws, and on and on and on, instead of organising a real solution.
And in case anyone asks whether you can do anything to change the capitalist hellscape that we’re living under, I would give your own logic back to you - every little bit works towards the solution. Build local solutions, build mutual aid, wean yourself and your community off of dependence on capital and the state, build mycelial networks of resistance, and you might find that you’re less alone and more powerful than you realised before you did this.
every little bit works towards the solution. Build local solutions, build mutual aid
build mycelial networks of resistance, and you might find that you’re less alone and more powerful than you realised before you did this.
I didn’t mean to say otherwise in my initial comment, but that is what i am trying to say. It is a collective effort-- all from all individual effort, from your neighbours, to yourself, to companies, to politicians, each of which combined together progress towards a meaningful path. We all have to hold each other accountable. It has not come perfectly of course, but at the very least there is some move towards combating climate change, which is better than doing nothing.
My comment is towards those who resign themselves to apathy when they find out that saving water doesn’t do as much or what they put into recycle bin turned up in landfill. These little things are better than doing nothing at all. Some people have a notion that they are some sort of superhero. That’s why I hate the phrase "hero of your own story. No, we are all just mere humans doing what we can to survive and help one another.
Can you explain what you mean by “hold each other accountable”?
A drop in the bucket, which is fully comprised of drops ;)
“What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?”
- Cloud Atlas
Definitely one of my favourite quotes.
Doing what I can still basically feels like doing nothing anyway. Like when you finish a mission in Helldivers and it shows how much your team contributed to the total effort.
The tare machine: “You have used a reusable bag for a decade and recycled every recyclable object you bought after using it until it was unuable. You have decreased the effect of climate change by 0.00000000125%.”
Me: Yay! I’m helping! 🥹
You’re helping!
