Shit’s Fucked, But I’m Still Trying (February 2023)

Myth’s Note: This narrative compilation of quotes was originally shared on r/collapse, thread hyperlinked here. This piece is dedicated to my late father. I will always love you, Dad.

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The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions - Peter Brannen

[...] Underlying certain segments of the environmentalist movement is a sort of existential misanthropy, the idea—even hope—that humans will get what they deserve. That getting spat out by Gaia is just recompense for trashing the planet. These sentiments pop up both in unenlightened online comment sections and in the understandably resigned fatalism of working scientists, many of whom will tell you after a few beers, “We’re fucked.”

Indeed, if the worst projections of climate models come to pass, I will admit to feeling a certain fleeting schadenfreude when today’s climate change–denying politicians live to see their home states confronted by rising seas and temperatures. That sort of cruel vindication will of course be tempered by the knowledge of the immense misery visited upon their constituents. As Sandberg and others have pointed out, the experiences of conscious creatures like ourselves should really be the only thing worth caring about.

“There’s a whole branch of philosophy, axiology, that thinks about what’s good, what’s valuable,” he said. “I think a fairly common view is that there at least needs to be a valuer. You can’t have a universe where there’s no one home but there’s still an amazingly valuable state of affairs. No, for that we need to have minds in the universe that can actually look and see what’s good about it. So we better have more minds. If we foul things up, all the stuff that past generations have been striving for will be lost. They were aiming for some indefinite future, and now it doesn’t come around and nobody will even remember what they were striving for. And all the good things we could be making will not come around, and neither will the countless lives.

“But the most chilling thing might be that if there is nobody around, there is no value at all. There is suddenly no point to the universe.”

If the human project fails in the next few centuries, that failure will foreclose the joys and sorrows of billions of possible lives. It will also waste the sacrifice of legions of dead soldiers, the masterworks of great artists, and the thoughts of great thinkers who committed the ideals of civilization to yellowing pages—pages that will wither away as surely as the leaves. Great symphonies will go unwritten. The stakes are as high as can be imagined. [...]

Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis - Britt Wray

[...] My daily walks and meditations have taught me to look at the trees with an appreciation of impermanence. They come and they go, often on time scales way longer than humans can meaningfully fathom. These redwoods can live up to two thousand years, which feels like forever to us yet is a blip on the geological time scale. If the study I cited in Chapter 1 is right—the one that warns most trees alive today will be killed within forty years in massive die-offs, caused by heat waves and drought, if we don’t quickly and dramatically curb our emissions—all the trees in this area may not stand a chance. Something else will be here instead, but we certainly don’t know what.

The thought of a world with very few trees is utterly horrifying, and yet science is asking us to act immediately or else prepare for that scenario within our lifetimes. The anticipation of such an extreme outcome, combined with the lack of bold climate policies where they’re needed most, leads many people to feel in the pit of their stomach that “it’s too late.” Dark thoughts ensue: gulp, we’re going extinct, we’re fucked, there is nothing we can do. The logical through line to ecological breakdown is that we are headed for an ending. The falsity of this sentiment has already been pointed out, but there are even more reasons to refute it.

The world has ended for many people, many times before. Where are the Mesopotamians? The Mayans? The Easter Islanders? It is certainly too late for them. The endings are ongoing and they occur at different scales. Thinking of what we’re faced with as one big punctuated ending for our species doesn’t only abandon the future, it forsakes the past. As Robert Jay Lifton writes, “Hiroshima was an ‘end of the world’…And yet the world still exists. Precisely in this end-of-the-world quality lies both its threat and its potential wisdom.” We learn from each apocalypse and sensitize ourselves to do better at preventing our worst fears going forward. Fittingly, the Greek root for “apocalypse” means to reveal, lay bare, unveil, or disclose.

Of course, it is too late to keep the biosphere as we have known it. We are going to endure further ecological losses, a hotter planet, a lot of hardship, and whatever new, intensely strained politics that will create. Rich countries and wealthy elites cannot continue to consume the way they do, and much will change—but we also can’t give up. Through mass mobilization, community resilience, and political reform, we can make the losses far less devastating than they will be if we take no mitigating action at all. It is not too late to build the oases of existence we strive for, where we can practise being the kinds of people we want to be for one another, with more compassion for the Earth itself and all its life forms.

Gary Belkin, a psychiatrist who once got arrested during a protest in New York City along with a group of activists from Extinction Rebellion, told me, “When I was in jail, we did this exercise where we went around in a circle breaking the ice and team-building, and they asked what we are hopeful for, and I heard myself saying, I am not hopeful. We are going to see huge levels of mass destruction and it is not clear how much of human society is going to make it out of this tunnel. But what I am hopeful for is that we can build islands of what doing this whole human society thing better can look like.” Though it is too late to keep the world as it is today, it is far from over. It, in fact, is the beginning of something else.

The emergence of something else, even when all that surrounds us feels toxic and oppressive, has led to many better things for people throughout history. The Nigerian-American philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is a scholar of climate colonialism, and though it horrifies him to see how this phenomenon is ramping up and exacerbating deadly divides between the world’s haves and have-nots, he doesn’t collapse into despair. Why not? As a member of the African diaspora, he feels that his people actually have it better now than they have had it for the last five hundred years. As he told me, “Yes, tomorrow looks dire, but my ancestors dealt with the transatlantic slave trade and Jim Crow and colonial apartheid. And while what’s happening today is neo-colonial and is not in any way just, it is in fact not as bad as things have been for us. And so, there is a kind of ‘sky is falling’ mentality that is precluded from that political perspective.” Giving up just because it is hard right now is not viable; history provides reasonable assurance that doing so would forgo many better things that are yet to come. [...]

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming - David Wallace-Wells

[...] I know there are climate horrors to come, some of which will inevitably be visited on my children—that is what it means for warming to be an all-encompassing, all-touching threat. But those horrors are not yet scripted. We are staging them by inaction, and by action can stop them. Climate change means some bleak prospects for the decades ahead, but I don’t believe the appropriate response to that challenge is withdrawal, is surrender.

I think you have to do everything you can to make the world accommodate dignified and flourishing life, rather than giving up early, before the fight has been lost or won, and acclimating yourself to a dreary future brought into being by others less concerned about climate pain. The fight is, definitively, not yet lost—in fact will never be lost, so long as we avoid extinction, because however warm the planet gets, it will always be the case that the decade that follows could contain more suffering or less. [...]

Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything - Viktor Frankl

[...] We give life meaning not only through our actions but also through loving and, finally, through suffering. Because how human beings deal with the limitation of their possibilities regarding how it affects their actions and their ability to love, how they behave under these restrictions—the way in which they accept their suffering under such restrictions—in all of this they still remain capable of fulfilling human values.

So, how we deal with difficulties truly shows who we are, and that, too, can enable us to live meaningfully. And we should not forget the sporting spirit, that uniquely human spirit! What do athletes do but create difficulties for themselves so that they can grow through overcoming them? In general, of course, it is not advisable to create difficulties for oneself; in general, suffering as a result of misfortune is only meaningful if this misfortune has come about through fate, and is thus unavoidable and inescapable.

Fate, in other words, what happens to us, can certainly be shaped, in one way or another. “There is no predicament which cannot be ennobled either by an achievement or by endurance,” said Goethe.3 Either we change our fate, if possible, or we willingly accept it, if necessary. In either case we can experience nothing but inner growth through such misfortune. And now we also understand what Hölderlin means when he writes: “If I step onto my misfortune, I stand higher.”4

How misguided it now seems to us when people simply complain about their misfortune or rail against their fate. What would have become of each of us without our fate? How else would our existence have taken shape and form than under its hammer blows and in the white heat of our suffering at its hands? Those who rebel against their fate—that is, against circumstances they cannot help and which they certainly cannot change—have not grasped the meaning of fate. Fate really is integral in the totality of our lives; and not even the smallest part of what is destined can be broken away from this totality without destroying the whole, the configuration of our existence.

So, fate is part of our lives and so is suffering; therefore, if life has meaning, suffering also has meaning. Consequently, suffering, as long as it is necessary and unavoidable, also holds the possibility of being meaningful. [...]

Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room - Ellen Barry

[... Dr. Thomas J. Doherty] also draws on logotherapy, or existential therapy, a field founded by Viktor E. Frankl, who survived German concentration camps and then wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which described how prisoners in Auschwitz were able to live fulfilling lives.

“I joke, you know it’s bad when you’ve got to bring out the Viktor Frankl,” he said. “But it’s true. It is exactly right. It is of that scale. It is that consolation: that ultimately I make meaning, even in a meaningless world.” [...]

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

[...] As we said before, any attempt to restore a man’s inner strength in [a Nazi concentration] camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal. Nietzsche’s words, “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how,” could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic and psychohygienic efforts regarding prisoners.

Whenever there was an opportunity for it, one had to give them a why—an aim—for their lives, in order to strengthen them to bear the terrible how of their existence. Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. The typical reply with which such a man rejected all encouraging arguments was, “I have nothing to expect from life any more.” What sort of answer can one give to that?

What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. [...]

16M scared and anxious for the future - /u/starspangledxunzi

[...] Be aware that there are many regulars in this forum who believe the world essentially already has taken a fatal dose of radiation, and we're all just the walking dead, now. Personally, as I've explained here a few times, my take is, while the science and math strongly suggest this is correct, as a human being I'm an animal, not a math equation: even if my intellect leads me to conclude I'm doomed, I'm going to set that view aside, and focus instead on surviving as best I can, helping my family survive, improving the world to the extent I can.

Why? Well, for lack of a better way of putting it, I think it's more dignified to go down fighting. I'd rather perish trying to survive, trying to help my loved ones survive, trying to make the world a better place, than go out from a heroin overdose at an "End of the World" party. [...]

I point young people to The Martian: castaway Mark Watney "knew" he was a dead man, but rather than dwell on that, he pretended survival was possible -- and it was that game willingness to pretend survival was possible that allowed him to survive on Mars when death was certain. That is a theme throughout the film: don't have an emotional meltdown because you're screwed, just work the problem in front of you as best you can. If you're screwed, you're screwed: you don't have to "worry" about it. And chances are, yeah, you're probably doomed, but if there's even an infinitesimal chance you can survive, succeed against the odds, well, the only way to actualize that is to pretend success is possible in the first place, and just concentrate on solving the problem.

(This is not the same as "hopium'; you do not dwell in a hope that things will "somehow work out" by rejecting reality. You accept reality, set the hopelessness aside, and pretend the problems are solvable, riddling out what solutions look like. The subtlety of this perspective is sometimes lost on people in this subreddit...)

Anyway, to me, this is a far more constructive and healthy mindset, even if it is contrived as a coping strategy.

[...] There are many regulars here who would reject -- or have rejected -- my perspective/strategy. They say collapse is a process of acceptance, like accepting the death of a loved one, or your own death, conflate collapse with personal death. We all die, yes -- but in the meantime, we have to live. I think we should focus on that; the dying will take care of itself, inevitably [. ...]

[...] my advice to you as a young person is three things: [first,] you're already aware, so lean into being informed. Hone your critical thinking skills so you can sort science and sense from bullshit [. ...] enrich your mind to understand, not to terrify yourself. It is through understanding that we can begin to formulate constructive responses to our predicament.

Second, let your self-education lead to learning practical skills. The future is going to be challenging. Study everything you study in school with an eye towards making it relevant in the context of collapse. Learn to fix machines. Learn to make tools. Learn to grow food. And with all this skill acquisition, do it in a context of being part of a community, like a family or family-of-friends. Learn skills from others, teach skills to others. Your learning is most robust when you are teaching skills to others.

Third, having studied philosophy pretty heavily in my youth, I'll borrow from Enlightenment philosopher David Hume, paraphrasing: "Amidst all your collapsing, be still a man." What he actually said was:

“Indulge your passion for science…but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.”

... by which he meant, after many hours contemplating the Meaning of Life, go down to the pub, chat with your friends, have an ale, play a game of darts, sing a song. In other words, remember to enjoy life. (Gotta love the Enlightenment philosophers: they were such pragmatists.) ... All the big stuff, like The End Of The World As We Know It, is always going to be there. We live in the shadow of such realities. So, make the home of your life here: live. Allow yourself to love and be loved. Dance. Paint bad pictures. Play games with friends. Make and share playlists. Make bad tiktok videos about stuff you care about.

[...]

You are a young person: remember to be kind to yourself, too.

How can we best cope with knowledge of collapse? [in-depth] - /u/myth_of_progress

[...] I have personally found some small amount of spiritual salvation, if you want to call it that, by finally realizing that we live in remarkable times - and that we all have the ability to choose how to improve ourselves (and help others) in the face of incredible odds.

The collapse of complex societies, including our genuinely unique and wondrous global industrial civilization, is a topic that I've enjoyed researching outside of my career and formal academics for over a decade now. I've even had a chance to share this space with others here in this community, both privileged and grateful to know that I am no longer alone in my thoughts.

Knowledge without action, however, is profoundly pointless - and yes, this may be a harrowing subject, but it certainly hasn't rendered me useless in the face of the future. In truth, "collapse" has been a guiding force in my life, and it has served as my personal inspiration to be the best person I can be to myself, to family, to friends, and to others.

I've found "collapse" to be a profoundly constructive force that has shaped who I am to this day. Not only have I learned that I haven't wasted my time or talents over these years (there is little relief to be drawn from smug righteousness), but that we all share a rare window of opportunity before us. The odds may seem impossible and the conclusion foregone, but this gift of knowledge allows each and every one of us to take action, no matter how small it may be, to lessen the bleakness of the future Earth and all life that comes after us. The onus consequently lies on us, those who are fortunate enough to be alive today.

So, I cope with this knowledge not with a sense of deflated defeat or surrender, but with a cautious optimism and a renewed sense of purpose. Why?

Because while shit's fucked, I'm still going to try my best.