The remarkable concurrence of three dramatic climate events:
- Antarctic sea ice extent now over 2 million kilometers below the 1991-2020 mean
- global 2-meter surface temperatures breached the 1.5°C barrier for the third consecutive day
- WTF is happening to the world’s oceans, and in particular the North Atlantic? Ocean temperatures have been setting unprecedented daily records, spiking to highs that are shocking climate scientists, as they look for possible reasons.
It’s hard to not feel hopeless when reading things like this.
I figure we’re well and truly fucked at this point. Even if humanity went carbon neutral right now, we’d probably still be fucked, but I doubt we’ll see any actually meaningful action being taken until it’s blindingly obvious it’s too late – especially with how popular conservative politics are now in the “western” world.
Yeah, people are too caught up in their political and ideological struggles. There’s not even thinking about tomorrow, let alone next year. Out short sightedness is only being perpetuated by the capitalistic bullshit we’re already drowning in. We’re well and truly fucked.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer species.
My only saving grace is that I’m middle aged and don’t have all that much life left in front of me due to rapidly failing health. And if things do get bad enough during my lifetime, I’ll simply kill myself – my tolerance for extra bullshit at this point is essentially zero, and having to endure climate disaster bullshit caused by the pig-headed idiocy of other people is out of the question.
Hey, still, despite everything, I hope you find some joy in the time you (we) have left. Take a breather and seek comfort in the smaller, closer, less abstract things. Love will only burn with the last human, and until then I try to give as much of it as I can. We’re all just lost confused children, yelling out into the void.
I feel like you’re me. After college and steady employment for 30+ years, I realized a couple years ago that I’ll never really have a comfortable retirement, whatever that may be. Health issues definitely were taking a toll as well. I decided to fuck out of the rat race, live off my quickly dwindling savings, and just check out when I run out. I’ve enjoyed these past couple years more than the previous decades. It’s fucked what we have done to this world, but after beating the drums since the '70s about the environment, the process of letting go and accepting that I am just an observer has helped my mental health so much. I should last a couple more years. If I start actually giving a shit again, I may open that door up a little sooner.
Yes, relatable. I try to not see it in absolute terms. We ultimately failed, but we can still decide how fast changes come, and how much. Both matter a lot for families, farmers, emergency services, animals and plants to adapt.
So I take it as a reminder about the urgency and severity, but the conclusion remains: Every tenth of a degree counts, leave fossil fuels in the ground.