Hello, I'm much younger than you. I want to help but despair can sometimes stop me. I know it's grim, but I think, even if I do work to help, I should try and die early to avoid too much pain and disorder. No matter what I do, I feel scared of my life getting cut shorter then I wanted. It stinks to be born at this time. I wish people would stop having kids. It feels very strange, being so sad all the time and not feeling able to tell your family without coming off strange. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I saw your interview and respect you. I normally can't find it in myself to interact with or read the words of more "doomer" like people, but you're an acceptation. I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this.
I showed your interview to my classes. It generated two questions 1) what are you, our teacher, personally doing to avert this? And 2) do I think humanity is going extinct.
In answer to 2) I said I thought we were scrappy enough to survive (but left unsaid the scale of loss I think might occur)
My prediction is that if the super rich cotton on to the threat to themselves, they'll send up a fuckton of shiny chemicals into the atmosphere to engineer the atmosphere. It'll be a disaster and billions will die from the floods and droughts BUT humanity will live to fight another day. Depressing.
I agree about the use of art. I saw Oppenheimer this weekend, and it gave me two contradictory perspectives: what one person can do to change the world and how powerful they are in the right place and the right time AND how essentially powerless every individual is as part of a machine, whether it's a war machine or an emissions one. And this was about the same guy.
What did you say to 1? My answer would be "what are _you_ doing?". Not because they should be doing anything much, but because the problem is not so much inaction, as thinking the "correct" action is on someone else.
Geoengineering is the only thing which actually scares me.
My answer to 1) was honest, I don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and I used The Jump as a way to illustrate which things I've changed, and maybe inspire some action from them.
I've also said my generation tried and now it's their turn to have a go because no one listens to middle aged women. 😂
I was looking back at the early days of Lockdown, it was surreal. Despite the visceral fear, I felt enormous hope for mankind. I remember seeing the satellite images of China’s clean air, how the smog and pollution had dissipated, how wild animals explored our abandoned cities, how we heard the songbirds. I was, in a sense, ecstatic - overcome with hope, exhausted with creativity. I wrote songs, I painted. I sowed seeds. Surely this is it! This will teach us all how to simplify, how to live, how not to live. Collective survival! But I was in a bubble.
I wonder really whether we deserve to survive. The planet would thrive without us, but we are in danger of taking it with us.
We are mostly hapless fools, doomed, but how sweet to be an idiot!
Yes. People tell me to meditate and stay calm. That seems very self-centred to me! We need to join forces and get out there. But the powers that be are now using weapons against us and putting us in prison.
I don't think it is self-centred to provide for yourself through meditation. We have to stay sane. Anger is a powerful fuel for taking action. But when the anger takes hold of you, it can limitate and harm. Anger is just a sign from our body that something is to be done. When you follow that sign, you could let the anger go. Its hard, I know. There is a kind of meditation called Metta Meditation, maybe that could be helpful.
I still cannot believe that we can change the state of things merely by positive thought. A lot of people in the world are meditating and staying positive but that won't change the minds of the oil barons and their political friends. Yes, meditation helps on a personal level but I'm exasperated at our inability to turn things around.
One can do both. Stay mindful and fight for a better world. You don't have to be full of hate to try to change things. You will only harm yourself. My last hope is that we will reach social tipping points by peaceful revolution.
A follow member of my local Parents of Future group said: Its marvelous, we are living in the most exciting times. At first I was taken aback. How could she describe the grim circumstances we are facing as "exciting"? Then I started to think about these words and realised that they actually helped me a lot. We can sail these waves and have fun doing it, even if the ship will sink. But I must admit, I will have to do a fair share of meditating to really let the message sink in ;)
I mean, it's definitely exciting, I'm not sure it's marvellous.
I was asked my a journalist recently if we shouldn't just all give up and have a good time. I don't think this is a terrible response to at all. It's not mine, but I understand it.
I can't give up but I'm finding myself completely and utterly frustrated and depressed. I see and hear politicians talking and frankly feel very murderous feelings. I despise them. They care not for anyone else but their elite kind. The film with DiCaprio 'Don't Look Up' sums it up. We'll wear ourselves out trying not to use cars and planes (I'm exhausted from my trip to the UK last week by coaches and trains), break our purses buying so-called organic (while the majority are stuffing their faces with poor mistreated dead animals), work like donkeys in our veggie patches but will run out of water or be flooded, welcome climate change migrants to our doors to eat what's left of our food and slowly each species will become extinct before our eyes and the world will have a layer of plastic and slowly sufficate. THAT'S how I feel today. The happy has gone. Greece is on fire and my partner is saying that it's the 'weather'. What does one do?
The funny thing is, even in a "perfect" world, I would have a good time doing the things I do now. Gardening, spending time with family and friends, watching the clouds. I'm sorry, that sounds so cheesy. What I mean is, we can have a good time, while not giving up. It's hard, but I try.
Here's what I struggle with... The human spirit is often portrayed as something strong with an innate ability to survive. Over and over, we read about how someone overcame impossible odds to get through a particularly difficult survival situation. We hear stories of humans doing that grit-your-teeth kind of battle...right up until the last breath. Indeed, when I look at my own life, I realize I have also shown an innate ability to overcome what is supposed to be an incurable disease. Yet...when humans are faced with extinction - the utter and complete loss of humanity - we seem to kick back and do very little - except maybe worry a bit about the bank account. It seems absurd - humans can overcome personal threats...but when it comes to our collective survival, we can easily close our eyes and simply say...ah fuck it.
It's the same as considering seeing one child drowning whom we instinctively save vs the entire population of a far-off country drowning, whom we (not me, personally) can ignore completely and consider 'not my problem' (Famine, Affluence, and Morality book by Peter Singer).
Hello, I'm much younger than you. I want to help but despair can sometimes stop me. I know it's grim, but I think, even if I do work to help, I should try and die early to avoid too much pain and disorder. No matter what I do, I feel scared of my life getting cut shorter then I wanted. It stinks to be born at this time. I wish people would stop having kids. It feels very strange, being so sad all the time and not feeling able to tell your family without coming off strange. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I saw your interview and respect you. I normally can't find it in myself to interact with or read the words of more "doomer" like people, but you're an acceptation. I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this.
I showed your interview to my classes. It generated two questions 1) what are you, our teacher, personally doing to avert this? And 2) do I think humanity is going extinct.
In answer to 2) I said I thought we were scrappy enough to survive (but left unsaid the scale of loss I think might occur)
My prediction is that if the super rich cotton on to the threat to themselves, they'll send up a fuckton of shiny chemicals into the atmosphere to engineer the atmosphere. It'll be a disaster and billions will die from the floods and droughts BUT humanity will live to fight another day. Depressing.
I agree about the use of art. I saw Oppenheimer this weekend, and it gave me two contradictory perspectives: what one person can do to change the world and how powerful they are in the right place and the right time AND how essentially powerless every individual is as part of a machine, whether it's a war machine or an emissions one. And this was about the same guy.
What did you say to 1? My answer would be "what are _you_ doing?". Not because they should be doing anything much, but because the problem is not so much inaction, as thinking the "correct" action is on someone else.
Geoengineering is the only thing which actually scares me.
My answer to 1) was honest, I don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and I used The Jump as a way to illustrate which things I've changed, and maybe inspire some action from them.
I've also said my generation tried and now it's their turn to have a go because no one listens to middle aged women. 😂
I was looking back at the early days of Lockdown, it was surreal. Despite the visceral fear, I felt enormous hope for mankind. I remember seeing the satellite images of China’s clean air, how the smog and pollution had dissipated, how wild animals explored our abandoned cities, how we heard the songbirds. I was, in a sense, ecstatic - overcome with hope, exhausted with creativity. I wrote songs, I painted. I sowed seeds. Surely this is it! This will teach us all how to simplify, how to live, how not to live. Collective survival! But I was in a bubble.
I wonder really whether we deserve to survive. The planet would thrive without us, but we are in danger of taking it with us.
We are mostly hapless fools, doomed, but how sweet to be an idiot!
Yes. People tell me to meditate and stay calm. That seems very self-centred to me! We need to join forces and get out there. But the powers that be are now using weapons against us and putting us in prison.
I don't think it is self-centred to provide for yourself through meditation. We have to stay sane. Anger is a powerful fuel for taking action. But when the anger takes hold of you, it can limitate and harm. Anger is just a sign from our body that something is to be done. When you follow that sign, you could let the anger go. Its hard, I know. There is a kind of meditation called Metta Meditation, maybe that could be helpful.
I still cannot believe that we can change the state of things merely by positive thought. A lot of people in the world are meditating and staying positive but that won't change the minds of the oil barons and their political friends. Yes, meditation helps on a personal level but I'm exasperated at our inability to turn things around.
One can do both. Stay mindful and fight for a better world. You don't have to be full of hate to try to change things. You will only harm yourself. My last hope is that we will reach social tipping points by peaceful revolution.
A follow member of my local Parents of Future group said: Its marvelous, we are living in the most exciting times. At first I was taken aback. How could she describe the grim circumstances we are facing as "exciting"? Then I started to think about these words and realised that they actually helped me a lot. We can sail these waves and have fun doing it, even if the ship will sink. But I must admit, I will have to do a fair share of meditating to really let the message sink in ;)
I mean, it's definitely exciting, I'm not sure it's marvellous.
I was asked my a journalist recently if we shouldn't just all give up and have a good time. I don't think this is a terrible response to at all. It's not mine, but I understand it.
I can't give up but I'm finding myself completely and utterly frustrated and depressed. I see and hear politicians talking and frankly feel very murderous feelings. I despise them. They care not for anyone else but their elite kind. The film with DiCaprio 'Don't Look Up' sums it up. We'll wear ourselves out trying not to use cars and planes (I'm exhausted from my trip to the UK last week by coaches and trains), break our purses buying so-called organic (while the majority are stuffing their faces with poor mistreated dead animals), work like donkeys in our veggie patches but will run out of water or be flooded, welcome climate change migrants to our doors to eat what's left of our food and slowly each species will become extinct before our eyes and the world will have a layer of plastic and slowly sufficate. THAT'S how I feel today. The happy has gone. Greece is on fire and my partner is saying that it's the 'weather'. What does one do?
The funny thing is, even in a "perfect" world, I would have a good time doing the things I do now. Gardening, spending time with family and friends, watching the clouds. I'm sorry, that sounds so cheesy. What I mean is, we can have a good time, while not giving up. It's hard, but I try.
No, it sounds pretty good, and I wish you, with love, all the best for it
Here's what I struggle with... The human spirit is often portrayed as something strong with an innate ability to survive. Over and over, we read about how someone overcame impossible odds to get through a particularly difficult survival situation. We hear stories of humans doing that grit-your-teeth kind of battle...right up until the last breath. Indeed, when I look at my own life, I realize I have also shown an innate ability to overcome what is supposed to be an incurable disease. Yet...when humans are faced with extinction - the utter and complete loss of humanity - we seem to kick back and do very little - except maybe worry a bit about the bank account. It seems absurd - humans can overcome personal threats...but when it comes to our collective survival, we can easily close our eyes and simply say...ah fuck it.
Yes, I have often asked myself where is the survival instinct of the average non-believer?
It's the same as considering seeing one child drowning whom we instinctively save vs the entire population of a far-off country drowning, whom we (not me, personally) can ignore completely and consider 'not my problem' (Famine, Affluence, and Morality book by Peter Singer).
I think I've mentioned Singer before on the newsletter. That book is, IMO, the most important book ever written.
If people aren't inclined to read it, this video is stunning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVl5kMXz1vA
Yes, interesting video. Definitely worth sharing Ben.
Winning anything is a minimum of 50% luck. The winners write history.