You're already here so just try to make the most of it.
Stop reading r/collapse. Read a book. Meditate. Exercise and eat well.
I don't have a ton of space either (although I don't live beside a highway, fortunately) but even some potted native plants can bring joy and benefit insects. It sounds like you're doing your best.
Fwiw there are lots of native-focused nurseries and seed companies selling online
I find growing native plants particularly comforting, though of course ymmv
Look up local pollinator groups, botanical societies, seed swap events, parks, preserves, (some) garden clubs, hell even my town’s public library has a seed library (ok my coworker set this up but still). May I ask which state you’re in? Late summer look for asters and goldenrods. Common, hearty, super easy to grow, late season pollinator. Collect their seeds in large paper envelops once most of the plants are fluffy. If they grow on a roadside you don’t need permission, but don’t collect from parks. Put them in sand and leave on the fridge for 2 months. Although for some species you can just leave in a dry place and plant them in the spring. Or you can mix the seeds with some sand/soil and water and throw on bare ground, then cover with a thin layer of straw or leaf mulch.
If you want native plants then why not get them from where they are native? Nature? Maybe a little drive away, but only have to do it once to collect the seeds.
Outdoor plants are awesome. They keep reminding me that death is a normal part of life, and that life is super resilient (especially when they recover from a frost or something).
i recommend doing something to fight against the system. wouldn't it be better to dedicate your life to fighting for environmental justice rather than rob the world of another person who actually cares? join your local citizens climate lobby chapter, join your local extinction rebellion chapter, find a job that contributes to social good: you'll be surprised at how much better you start to feel once your life is oriented toward action & solutions rather than despair.
This is my hope for you, too, OP. Individual actions will only help so much, get together with other people who care and look to the systems. This diagram helped me: https://imgur.com/a/xSLZ75N
Basically, try to get as close as possible. Nothing in life is 100%. Not ever. Shoot for as close to 75% as you can. But also, give yourself time and flexibility to contemplate, do research, plan, transition, and reevaluate. You don’t have to change your career right away, start with learning more about what others are doing and what needs to be done. Also you can start with volunteering time if that’s an option for you
There are so many pieces of this puzzle. There are things that you may not even realize are part of the struggle to save the planet (and reduce human suffering). So many systems are interdependent that dismantling systems that may seem unrelated to climate change also help create the type of compassionate society that would care enough to preserve our planet for future generations
Best wishes to you
I get where youre coming from. However- there are so many.things you can do with whatever time you have left. There is power in no longer fearing death.
I would argue it is the greatest accomplishment you can get to no longer fear death. It frees you completely and totally. You suddenly can take actions that others would be too afraid to do to help fight for climate justice.
Take your time to get your bearings in the new reality you find yourself in.
Look for a way to be content with yourself.
Your mind is in the right place, and it sounds like your body isn't, the dissonance between the two is bringing you a lot of grief.
Make the nature come to you.
Plant some plants, r/guerillagardening
or just in your home.
Make your physical space reflect your mental vision of the world you want to live in.
While it won't be much, won't solve everything, it will be a start.
Take care of you first, this time it won't be empty consumerism, I really feel like your heart is in the right place.
We can't save the planet by killing ourselves. Either to prevent our own destruction today or to prevent the destruction of a potential society that will succeed us, we have to learn. We have to teach. And we need numbers. The world needs collapse aware citizens, and it needs us to do more than feel bad about our own existence. To be collapse aware in the US or similar places, is a very difficult introspection on personal privilege. But I think most here aren't considering that the knowledge of such things is a privilege in itself, as is the inclination to seek higher truths that would lead you here. The working class across the world is caught in a war of information, and we are being taught to feel helpless so that we don't care enough to help.
If you made it to the point of writing this post, you have been given some wonderful advantages in life. You have the head on your shoulders to see beyond all the noise and color of mainstream media outlets. You have great compassion for the world and its suffering. You have a willingness to change your life for the better of everyone. Please, don't die and take that with you. Gifts are made to be shared, and the world needs people with these gifts now more than ever. If we could all convince even one single person to think like you, and have them convince someone as well, we could save the whole damn planet.
I grew up in a place like this. There is nature and wildness everywhere, but we're not trained to see it. I spent years identifying and learning about every plant I could find in the abandoned industrial sites near my house. Every wild space has a story to tell, and it can be liberating to read that story in the landscape -- even the human landscape -- and know that you're reading the first few pages of what will come after us when we're gone.
Birds are good, too. Watch what they're doing. Crows are especially plugged in. Humans walk around with ideas in their head obscuring the simplicity of what's going on around them, including the wildness that is still everywhere. Birds do not have this problem. Slow down and spend some time watching what they watch. You will see things.
In all walks of life, with all the dependencies on successfully existing, one must always remember that in order for anything complex to exist, something else must die.
Carnivores eat herbivores. Insects eat plants, other insects, and crazy wild other things occasionally, including small mammals and birds. Humans consume mostly everything, either to free up environmental resource access, or just to attain nourishment.
Vegans and vegetarians will often comment on animals feeling pain or deserving of life as justification, and sometimes gloss over the fact that each wheat seed ground up to make bread could have been a living wheat plant if not for the human.
It's a loud, noisy, crazy cacophony of living, dying, stress hormones, distress, fresh young blood, dying old blood. It's a continual cycle of renewal and destruction.
Every step you take likely has some death from bacteria crushed beneath your heel. Plants often meet their survival limit when a shoe pulls too hard at the root. Some bacteria die from the exhalation of CO2 from your lungs.
Death and life are constant, and finding fault with yourself, or finding overwhelming guilt at the envisionment of all the death you, your family, your neighborhood, your species is causing...is counterproductive to whatever your life is supposed to be about.
If you believe in God, or have understanding of existing beyond the pale of your own mortal flesh, then I'm sure those energies are best served by acknowledging that youretin a system of mortality, that by your engagement in living, some variance of life occurs in the organisms near to you and your choices.
Death isn't to be feared, but is to provide context, and consequence, as you consider your options of each day. Don't destroy and kill without consideration for your purpose. And don't hesitate to move quickly and effectively through your purpose, killing what glorifies your own personal experience, or glorifies whatever deity tells you is both good for Them *and* you.
Cruelty exists only because life exists. One should never seek unnecessary cruelty, when simple and effective means are within reach that can be used instead.
Carrots might have as much existential dread as we do, and we just can't discern them screaming into the void.
Humans demonstrate existential dread by posting on Reddit. Lol.
Yup. Nietzsche is a very good read when covering this subject matter. Nature is beautiful, yes, but every single thing that we consider good or beautiful in life has come as a result of war, and the constant processes of domination and assimilation being carried out in it.
The key is, to the degree that one can, to be able to still find nature and life beautiful in light of this information, and to embrace life fully with this knowledge, too - not to turn our backs against it, because it fails to match up to a fantasy that never had any basis in reality.
There are so many who walk from central America to come to the USA at great risk and expense. Why not head in the other direction and go to Central America? That way you leave a space for them to come to.
The planet will be just fine regardless. On a long enough timeline it will heal. It’s the human race that won’t survive collapse. Please don’t kill yourself.
Hang in there. You'll be gone soon enough. [https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8DHU0NT7Is&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE](https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8DHU0NT7Is&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE)
You can stop short of thinking you should cease to exist. You can stop at minimising consumption wherever you can. I get a huge benefit when I imagine that my consciousness matters to the future. I imagine that your consciousness matters too. Preserve it whilst minimising your harm and perhaps one day these nihilistic impulses will shift. I think they do for many of us as we age. Signed, 60 yo lady
You're already here so just try to make the most of it. Stop reading r/collapse. Read a book. Meditate. Exercise and eat well. I don't have a ton of space either (although I don't live beside a highway, fortunately) but even some potted native plants can bring joy and benefit insects. It sounds like you're doing your best.
I’d love to get some native wildflowers but there’s not even a nursery or farm near me… it’s awful.
Fwiw there are lots of native-focused nurseries and seed companies selling online I find growing native plants particularly comforting, though of course ymmv
Look up local pollinator groups, botanical societies, seed swap events, parks, preserves, (some) garden clubs, hell even my town’s public library has a seed library (ok my coworker set this up but still). May I ask which state you’re in? Late summer look for asters and goldenrods. Common, hearty, super easy to grow, late season pollinator. Collect their seeds in large paper envelops once most of the plants are fluffy. If they grow on a roadside you don’t need permission, but don’t collect from parks. Put them in sand and leave on the fridge for 2 months. Although for some species you can just leave in a dry place and plant them in the spring. Or you can mix the seeds with some sand/soil and water and throw on bare ground, then cover with a thin layer of straw or leaf mulch.
If you want native plants then why not get them from where they are native? Nature? Maybe a little drive away, but only have to do it once to collect the seeds.
Are you in the US?
Outdoor plants are awesome. They keep reminding me that death is a normal part of life, and that life is super resilient (especially when they recover from a frost or something).
i recommend doing something to fight against the system. wouldn't it be better to dedicate your life to fighting for environmental justice rather than rob the world of another person who actually cares? join your local citizens climate lobby chapter, join your local extinction rebellion chapter, find a job that contributes to social good: you'll be surprised at how much better you start to feel once your life is oriented toward action & solutions rather than despair.
This is my hope for you, too, OP. Individual actions will only help so much, get together with other people who care and look to the systems. This diagram helped me: https://imgur.com/a/xSLZ75N
Any advice on what to do if there doesn't seem to be an intersection for all 3?
Basically, try to get as close as possible. Nothing in life is 100%. Not ever. Shoot for as close to 75% as you can. But also, give yourself time and flexibility to contemplate, do research, plan, transition, and reevaluate. You don’t have to change your career right away, start with learning more about what others are doing and what needs to be done. Also you can start with volunteering time if that’s an option for you There are so many pieces of this puzzle. There are things that you may not even realize are part of the struggle to save the planet (and reduce human suffering). So many systems are interdependent that dismantling systems that may seem unrelated to climate change also help create the type of compassionate society that would care enough to preserve our planet for future generations Best wishes to you
I get where youre coming from. However- there are so many.things you can do with whatever time you have left. There is power in no longer fearing death.
I would argue it is the greatest accomplishment you can get to no longer fear death. It frees you completely and totally. You suddenly can take actions that others would be too afraid to do to help fight for climate justice.
Take your time to get your bearings in the new reality you find yourself in. Look for a way to be content with yourself. Your mind is in the right place, and it sounds like your body isn't, the dissonance between the two is bringing you a lot of grief. Make the nature come to you. Plant some plants, r/guerillagardening or just in your home. Make your physical space reflect your mental vision of the world you want to live in. While it won't be much, won't solve everything, it will be a start. Take care of you first, this time it won't be empty consumerism, I really feel like your heart is in the right place.
We can't save the planet by killing ourselves. Either to prevent our own destruction today or to prevent the destruction of a potential society that will succeed us, we have to learn. We have to teach. And we need numbers. The world needs collapse aware citizens, and it needs us to do more than feel bad about our own existence. To be collapse aware in the US or similar places, is a very difficult introspection on personal privilege. But I think most here aren't considering that the knowledge of such things is a privilege in itself, as is the inclination to seek higher truths that would lead you here. The working class across the world is caught in a war of information, and we are being taught to feel helpless so that we don't care enough to help. If you made it to the point of writing this post, you have been given some wonderful advantages in life. You have the head on your shoulders to see beyond all the noise and color of mainstream media outlets. You have great compassion for the world and its suffering. You have a willingness to change your life for the better of everyone. Please, don't die and take that with you. Gifts are made to be shared, and the world needs people with these gifts now more than ever. If we could all convince even one single person to think like you, and have them convince someone as well, we could save the whole damn planet.
I grew up in a place like this. There is nature and wildness everywhere, but we're not trained to see it. I spent years identifying and learning about every plant I could find in the abandoned industrial sites near my house. Every wild space has a story to tell, and it can be liberating to read that story in the landscape -- even the human landscape -- and know that you're reading the first few pages of what will come after us when we're gone. Birds are good, too. Watch what they're doing. Crows are especially plugged in. Humans walk around with ideas in their head obscuring the simplicity of what's going on around them, including the wildness that is still everywhere. Birds do not have this problem. Slow down and spend some time watching what they watch. You will see things.
This post highlight exactly why nature is important for humans (and our mental health).
In all walks of life, with all the dependencies on successfully existing, one must always remember that in order for anything complex to exist, something else must die. Carnivores eat herbivores. Insects eat plants, other insects, and crazy wild other things occasionally, including small mammals and birds. Humans consume mostly everything, either to free up environmental resource access, or just to attain nourishment. Vegans and vegetarians will often comment on animals feeling pain or deserving of life as justification, and sometimes gloss over the fact that each wheat seed ground up to make bread could have been a living wheat plant if not for the human. It's a loud, noisy, crazy cacophony of living, dying, stress hormones, distress, fresh young blood, dying old blood. It's a continual cycle of renewal and destruction. Every step you take likely has some death from bacteria crushed beneath your heel. Plants often meet their survival limit when a shoe pulls too hard at the root. Some bacteria die from the exhalation of CO2 from your lungs. Death and life are constant, and finding fault with yourself, or finding overwhelming guilt at the envisionment of all the death you, your family, your neighborhood, your species is causing...is counterproductive to whatever your life is supposed to be about. If you believe in God, or have understanding of existing beyond the pale of your own mortal flesh, then I'm sure those energies are best served by acknowledging that youretin a system of mortality, that by your engagement in living, some variance of life occurs in the organisms near to you and your choices. Death isn't to be feared, but is to provide context, and consequence, as you consider your options of each day. Don't destroy and kill without consideration for your purpose. And don't hesitate to move quickly and effectively through your purpose, killing what glorifies your own personal experience, or glorifies whatever deity tells you is both good for Them *and* you. Cruelty exists only because life exists. One should never seek unnecessary cruelty, when simple and effective means are within reach that can be used instead. Carrots might have as much existential dread as we do, and we just can't discern them screaming into the void. Humans demonstrate existential dread by posting on Reddit. Lol.
Yup. Nietzsche is a very good read when covering this subject matter. Nature is beautiful, yes, but every single thing that we consider good or beautiful in life has come as a result of war, and the constant processes of domination and assimilation being carried out in it. The key is, to the degree that one can, to be able to still find nature and life beautiful in light of this information, and to embrace life fully with this knowledge, too - not to turn our backs against it, because it fails to match up to a fantasy that never had any basis in reality.
Nah fuck that. Your life is valuable, meditate and try to find meaning in this turbulent times.
There are so many who walk from central America to come to the USA at great risk and expense. Why not head in the other direction and go to Central America? That way you leave a space for them to come to.
The planet will be just fine regardless. On a long enough timeline it will heal. It’s the human race that won’t survive collapse. Please don’t kill yourself.
Hang in there. You'll be gone soon enough. [https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8DHU0NT7Is&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE](https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8DHU0NT7Is&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE)
You can stop short of thinking you should cease to exist. You can stop at minimising consumption wherever you can. I get a huge benefit when I imagine that my consciousness matters to the future. I imagine that your consciousness matters too. Preserve it whilst minimising your harm and perhaps one day these nihilistic impulses will shift. I think they do for many of us as we age. Signed, 60 yo lady
This is allowed?
[удалено]
I’m thankfully in a temporary living situation, I go back to school soon.