Pretty much the title. I'm much better at being able to focus on what's around me and knowing those are the only things I can have an impact on. I try to strike a balance between enjoying my life (not hedonisticly) and looking for ways I can help others and learn useful things. I've been through the wringer before as far as feeling guilty for my life, I'm privileged and I understand that. I practice gratitude for the things I have every day. But the past few days I've kind of wound up in the weird place of feeling sorta lost and empty, just about the state of the world and down to my personal life, I just walked out of a job I've been at for three years that became very taxing and disorganized and will be starting a new job next week. I'm attempting to find some small goals and projects to work on. Trying not to spend as much time looking at news (as in scrolling for hours on end). How do you pull yourself out of these feelings? Get that... vigor(?) back again? I do love my life and try not to take it for granted, but this floating feeling sucks....

Although I perfectly well know that the collapse is “coming for me” I somehow cannot take it REALLY seriously before I’ve seen the first catastrophe?

I’m just working full time and living alone, and I’m in my 30’s and have plenty of money to do whatever I want. And I do want to live another way and I’d like to be more active as a climate activist but something is just holding me back and making me continue my boring more or less “corporate life”.

On the surface I’m just saving up for a new apartment or small house or whatever. I’ve even invested a lot of money in the stock market (from way back) although I know the risk is so high it will all collapse sooner or later and I will probably lose everything when the first catastrophe hits.

I feel so stupid, weak and lost. I want A but somehow I keep doing B, even though it doesn’t make sense anymore and the first major catastrophe will destroy my life as it is now anyways. But somehow I just still “can’t believe it”? It’s like I have to be there when the catastrophe hits before I’ll finally change my life and at that point it will be too late anyways?

I’m just a weak loser continuing my loser life and no one wants to have anything to do with me, not even other “corporate normal people” or the climate activists I look up to so much.

Impending climate doom and widespread extinction make me hopeless. Why bother studying, getting a degree or even do anything but lie in bed and wait for the day I'll starve due to food shortages?

The planet is terminal and humans keep exploring for more oil and gas; we'll never reach peak oil and alt tech seems to be woefully inadequate.

I am considering self die due to climate catastrophe.

I mean like a century or so after SHTF or after reaching wide public awareness (whichever form you've thought about more). It's worth noting that all computerized items have a limited number of hours that can be run, and it's unlikely components could be replaced for a long time. Meaning that even with renewable energy you'd still run out of technology after a while.

I think eventually the world would again reach a steady-state similar to pre-industrial Europe where carrying capacity is reached (albeit lower due to the differences in climate). Politically, I'd hope that we learned our lesson about banking on endless growth, but you never know with how resistant cultural inertia can be.

But I wonder how much of our life and culture today would be preserved. Will people a hundred years from now ever know what "may the fourth be with you" ever meant? With no TVs the only thing that would survive are the associated books. Similarly, what about the advances of science? Do you think it would ever pick up again someday? Given that the cutting edge is reliant on abundant energy and high forms of technology I think it's highly susceptible to collapse. Science might be the most advanced in this decade that it will ever be.

I teach English to not English speakers and for the first time today one of my student brought up climate weirding while talking (he listens to a slow English podcast I recommend) he said it was interesting how in Asia they have had both record flooding and rain while also having record backing heatwaves. At first I was unsure if it was a topic for us to have in our lesson and then had a wave of grief come over me. I had to swing the conversation to another topic quickly. Needless to say the rest of the lesson was a little flat. I expect that as time goes on and it becomes obvious that more and more people will want to discuss it. Although I’ve known what’s going for a long and come to terms with it all I am now worried about how I will manage it professionally when people want to talk about it going forward. I’ve always kept that as a separate thing to my work life. Has anyone else had this sort of thing happen before?

Peace guys ❤️ . My mental health hasn’t been the best lately, I decided to not to interact or follow anything collapse related for a while. Well I think it just made me dumber and reading and engaging with comments in non collapse subreddits further exhausted my brain cells, whatever I have left anyways. Just wanted to say I appreciate you, who’s reading this and all the collapseniks out there. You guys are great. Even though this stuff is horrible I’m glad we’re going through it together:’)

It's been about 8 years since I've become collapse aware and a year since I stopped working and turned prepping into my full time job. It's been a journey both metaphorically and literally, many ups and downs.

Right now I feel great, collapse acceptance isn't all doom and gloom. My garden is doing amazing, my chickens keep me fed and entertained, I've got good collapse aware people around me who help, I've completed many projects and have many others going, and I love working with the soil outside enveloped by the sweet smell of flowers.

I just got some money for the first time in a long time and it's strange because I really can't think of much I want to buy. It reminds me of an addiction, something that you once believed you couldn't live without now seems unnecessary or even disgusting in retrospect. I think I'll get a few new plants for the garden but the main thing is I'm happy and content even with so little.

Collapse acceptance is an emotional journey and it doesn't have to end in heartache and depression. There is light on the other side and as long as you listen to what the planet is trying to tell us you can find peace.

I've been thinking about this. Wanna write this post to give a ray of hope, and also express my disagreement with a certain part of the collapse circles.

In particular, in that part, there's the idea that collapse is inevitable because humans are like any other animal, reproducing and consuming resources until there's nothing left.

We aren't very different from other species, that's true. At the end of the way, we deal with the same sort of natural dynamics.

However, other animal species generally live entirely in the present, and don't really have ability to plan for the future. If they were to consume too much resources, they wouldn't be aware of that fact, they wouldn't be conscious of the dynamics at play.

This is where we are different. We do know what's going on.

Former civilizations facing a similar situation might have decided that it was "the Gods' anger" or something, and that they should sacrifice 24653 goats to appease the Gods (and it would fix absolutely nothing). Probably far-fetched, but you get the idea.

By comparison, we know what's going on with the environment and what's responsible for the disorders. We have a vast amount of knowledge accessible to us.

We have been through decades of capitalist propaganda, but even then, people are increasingly connecting the dots and figuring it all out.

What we do with this knowledge is another issue, but I figure we atleast have a shot at fixing things.

But as long as capitalism is standing, we can't really do much more than picking up the pieces.

They don't have to be collapse related

I have been going through phases of depression and grief regarding the state of the world and related things. While these things definitely don't help, and maintaining mental health can be challening in these troubled times, I think depression will absolutely feed from anything. During these phases I would think about things and inevitably end to some scenario where everything is irremediably fucked.

I have been feeling better these days. It reflects in the way I see and think about things. I don't deny that the overall situation is dire, but I also acknowledge that the future isn't written and things may change, for the better or for the worse.

I'm standing at the crossroads now. On one hand, processing the collapse stuff, on the other hand, I have some interest for communism, and I'm trying to synthesize it all.

I don't know what to think of the idea of a world of superabundance. Sounds attractive on paper. Is it possible in this day and age? I'm not sure, really. Of course I still think it's worthwhile to struggle for a better society, more equality etc. In the worst case it may be a more controlled landing as opposed to brutal collapse and descent into barbarism.

But in the collapse circles, there's the idea that civilization, or technology, are inherently bad and responsible for the situation we're in. There may be some truth to it, but it feels like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

A prime example, modern medicine and healthcare. For example, I'm trans, and adequate care is a night and day difference in quality of life for us.

Going back to a simpler life may sound appealing, but throwing out technological advancement entirely also means throwing entire minorities under the bus.

At the same time, how far is it possible to take technology? Is 'human ingenuity' guaranteed to eventually solve the problems, even if rid of the fetters of capitalism? I don't know.

I still want to fight for what's just in my eyes. One of my problems is patience. I'm a practical thinker, I want to solve problems by dealing with the root causes, not just deal with the consequences and go around picking up the pieces. But in this instance, you don't overthrow capitalism in one day. Revolution isn't something one can just invoke. Mass movements are things that just happen, they aren't controllable. But at the same time, if everybody uses this as a pretext to sit and wait, then nothing gets done. And movements also need some form of organization and structuration if they're to last enough to make a difference.

I don't know. This has been kind of a disjointed rambling.

I am struggeling in everydaylife because I have lost the ability of appreciating smalltalks. When I meet family, friends, neighbours and such I am just bored about any «normal» conversations. I urge for the deep and concequential talks about our predicament. I am lucky to have two collapse aware friends, and I realised that I can talk to them about all the everyday smalstuff without beeing boored. Why? I guess it must be the feeling of common base reality. I feel safe. There are no «traps» to fall into and no «off limit» areas to constantly look out for. Then I can appreciate all the possible twist and turns in a conversation, and not beeing limited to a narrow boring path.

Military Provisional Psych here, formerly in the engineering space also within military. I'm no 'prepper' per say however have the readiness mindset instilled by serving.
I enjoy helping people get psychologically prepared (and physically prepared) for life and unexpected events through doing hard tasks / challenges and contemplating / reflecting to iterate and improve for future circumstances. I am keen to reach wider audiences and am trying a different approach to traditional 1 on 1 therapy styles.
I send a free monthly newsletter out that outlines a unique challenge (known as a Misogi based on an old Japanese practice). It's simply posing a physical, highly demanding challenge that serves to push your limits and test your resolve (different options available for different skill levels). Sent one challenge so far with around 100 people involved. :)
Completely free, feel welcome to have a bit more of a read if 'psychological prepping' or fitness challenges are something you're interested in.
https://monthlymisogi.carrd.co/
Cheers for taking the time to read!
Have a good one and stay safe.

All the recent news I’m seeing on H5N1 is deeply concerning me, bringing me back to that late 2019/early 2020 mindset where you could feel the powder keg bubbling.

I don’t know what to make of it, and I’m scared about how it will disrupt mine and everyone I love’s life.

But then, I lost my Mum last year and her death has changed me completely. I no longer feel the desire to survive a pandemic as I did in 2020. Death would be a chance to be with her again. And when I know what’s coming climate change wise, it feels almost a relief.

It’s like if I was diagnosed now with a terminal illness - I wouldn’t want to fight it. I’d see it as my natural time to end.

Anyway, just a post screaming into the abyss as no one around me takes these threats seriously. The only one who did was my dear Mum.

I really don’t know what to say. I cannot believe that students are going to be expelled for occupying a building and demonstrating peaceful protest.

I can’t believe that protesters are facing possible suspension.

Universities are MEANT for safe, educated discussions. As students, we have every right to question the systems we have in place and to really, critically think about what is going on in the world. We are here to learn, our professors are here to facilitate discussion.

Was I foolish to believe that educational institutions were bastions of hope? Of knowledge? Of social progress? Of PEACE?

Edit: I am glad that we can at least have a civil conversation on this subreddit. I do not condone violence nor hate speech. The fights breaking out on college campuses are awful. Please stay safe out there guys.

A cognitohazard is a subset of information hazards, which are types of knowledge which can result in harm due to their dissemination.

Most infohazards have the potential to harm only by misuse or malicious actions, such that something needs to be done, or actions taken using said knowledge to realize harm. For example, a recipe or instructions to build a bomb is an infohazard if it falls into the wrong hands and someone actually builds it, or if someone wants the information badly enough to torture it out of you.

Cognitohazards are different, though, in that the knowledge itself is enough to inflict direct harm on the person who knows it, without any outside forces or factors. They are things which once known, cannot be unknown, and cause severe or crippling mental harm or distress. Examples might be things like finding out that you were responsible for someone's death. However, general cognitohazards--things which can spread to and affect anyone who knows it--have been known only in fiction, such as eldritch horrors, arcane knowledge, mind viruses, the matrix, etc.

Collapse awareness may be the first real, general cognitohazard. Once it finds you, your life will never be the same. You've effectively been red-pilled and you can't go back to ignorance no matter how much you wish you could.

This creates an ethical dilemma. Now that our path to collapse is set and unavoidable, can spreading awareness do more harm than good? Do we have a moral obligation to keep it to ourselves--to not talk about collapse club--because ignorance is the only thing many people have left that allows them to go about their daily lives with some semblance of happiness and contentment? Is it wrong to take that away from them?

I've struggled with this for years now. At some point the writing on the wall will reach everyone, and it won't matter anymore... but right now we're in that limbo between Fuck Around and Find Out where a lot of people are ignorant, who may be able to stay ignorant just a bit longer and thus enjoy the best part of what they have left in life before they know.

Part of me resents the people who don't know, and vindictively wants to tell them, especially those who have through their recklessness and willful ignorance have put us on this path. They've made me miserable, so why should they be happy? But a lot of it is just genuine ignorance, and they'll get what comes to all of us in the end, so is there really a need to increase the total suffering of the world in the meantime? Maybe it would be better to start easing them into it with teaching Buddhist philosophy on impermanence etc., rather than going straight for the jugular with "oh by the way we're all going to suffer and die soon." The ones who actually deserve to suffer with us won't believe us anyway until they find out on their own. They'll remain ignorant to the end.

I was on a team meeting today and at two points in the conversation collapse related points were made. For context, I work for a food brand so not only are we impacted by the global economy, we are also immediately impacted by global harvests. The first point was about the US deficit, it was brought up in relation to interest rates and resulting increases to cost of living/loss of wallet share. The second point was about El Niño and how it is impacting crop yields.

When I hear these things they signal the instability of the situation we are in and reinforce my collapse beliefs, but that isn’t necessarily how the rest of my team sees them. I would imagine, though I can’t 100% confirm, that my team sees them as a bump in the road or a blip on the radar. I realize I am speaking into the echo chamber by posting this question here, but do you ever wonder if we just take these things too much to heart? Sometimes, I wish I could just see them as independent, one off events, but at this point in my acceptance, I find it incredibly hard to do that.

recently, i lost a coat on public transit, and im terrified that it will become textile waste piling up in south america. that my stupid mistake is causing the problem

a lot of this is just my own self-hatred, but im genuinely terrified

once i even made a post here about leaving something on for a couple hours by accident and being terrified of the environmental impacts. I've been scared of things like this since I was a kid. i used to freak out when i accidentally left the lights on for a few hours

in elementary school, i was in my school's environment club. they always focused on things like turning off lights and reusable water bottles. i didn't know how serious it really was beyond things like that, honestly. childhood, I guess

(i think it's worth noting that said elementary school was in a car-dependent suburb surrounded by big detached houses.)

now that i think of it, how many people knowingly throw clothes away? i assume most people attempt to donate them but they get thrown away anyway. so idk how much of the textile waste problem is related to personal responsibility. this doesn't help my worries, of course, but It's still something I think about

Hey guys. I'm in the process of joining an IC located in Halifax County VA, near the town of South Boston VA. This is not an explicitly collapse-aware IC. However, it does have potential for those looking to prepare for what’s ahead by practicing permaculture and forming communities.

We are a cooperative land stewardship group that is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the land while creating a vibrant and inclusive community where we can grow, learn, live, play, and thrive together. As land stewards, we are responsible for the care and management of the land, including preserving natural resources, promoting sustainable practices, and protecting the environment. Our goal is to break down class barriers, support one another, and have a positive impact on our communities.

It has 200 acres of undeveloped land, some forested and some recently clearcut. There's a river and streams on property. Soil appears to be mainly clay.

The founding member, Peter, has anarchist/leftist leanings and seems like a nice/chill guy. The community will be organized around 'Sociocracy' which is basically breaking into task-groups that operate by consensus instead of majority rule. There's no hierarchy among full members, members have equal say in group planning/direction, and disagreement is based on reasoned objections.

The membership cost is flexible, around $200 a month. This makes you co-owner of the LLC that the loan is for, and also means the monthly cost will go down over time. You can be a partial/interested member for free.

We use the governance model of sociocracy to make decisions as a group, which emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. In sociocracy, decision-making is decentralized and power is distributed among various circles within the organization. Each circle is responsible for a specific area of the organization's work and has the authority to make decisions within its scope of responsibility. Circles also have the ability to delegate decision-making to sub-circles or individuals as needed. Decisions in a sociocracy are made using a consent-based process, in which decisions are made only if there are no reasoned and articulate objections from members. This helps to ensure that all members are heard and that decisions reflect the will of the group as a whole.

Sociocracy is a theory of governance that seeks to create psychologically safe environments and productive organizations. It draws on the use of consent, rather than majority voting, in discussion and decision-making by people who have a shared goal or work process.

The other founders are successful corporate types, but also hippies (ie they go to burning man and such, hence them buying this land). They don't live nearby and will likely only visit/vacation for the foreseeable future. Peter is mainly planning things like food forests, camping sites, etc. Peter lives in town nearby, and there's one other person living on the land rn, out of a camper IIRC.

Lastly, Halifax County and the whole region of Southside Virginia has advantages. It's very rural and economically slow, unlikely to be developed or grow a lot ever. The county population is low, 34,022 people over 830 sq miles, or 41/sq, with about a third of that (roughly 9,000 people) being in the town of South Boston or nearby town of Halifax. To the point where the whole region is an International Dark Sky zone, where you can still see the pure night sky. There are also a few state parks in the county, including the Staunton River State Park.

It's a very diverse region compared to most of the rural US, as well. It has about 30% African American demographics, which is very high for most of the rural US. It’s the only rural place I haven’t driven through with MAGA/confederate flags everywhere, and also the only rural place I’ve consistently only heard good things about from PoC.

Again, this isn't some perfect collapse paradise or something. But it has lots of potential for those seeking to get out of the system, live closer to nature, and practice your own subsistence. You could definitely do permaculture and build a tiny house or natural building.

There is the possibility, though unlikely, for differing goals between the absentee OG members and newcomers like me (though it shouldn't be able to be a problem within the IC's rules, anyway). That will also be impossible with more new members, as well. So all this to say, hopefully this is helpful to anyone who is interested in dropping out and preparing for the days ahead. Any questions, feel free to message me or Peter on the website!

http://www.collectivespacesproject.com/

https://www.ic.org/directory/collective-spaces-project/

Looking for a friend for the next few years to watch things continuously decompensate.

I’m fresh from reading, The Crisis Report 70 and feeling heavy.

Edit: thank you for the responses. Any folks who live alone me or estranged from family? I live alone in a tiny apartment with a pool and I have lost purpose. Weed and work :/ I don’t know how to find purpose in ecocide.

This is quite a long post and there are no words of hope or encouragement, sorry. It is more of my coming to accept our fate, so to say.

Let me start out by saying that since I was a small child I have always cared deeply about nature and the environment. Almost like I understood that it is important, it keeps us healthy, it keeps us alive. I was fortunate enough to grow up right next to a forest park filled with wildlife. I would climb trees with my friends, pick the wild berries and catch frogs in the ponds. And in my later years I still love to feed the birds and small mammals in this same exact area.

In 2019 when I was 24, I moved to Australia for work. While I was there I decided to take the chance to visit the Great Barrier Reef. I originally hadn't intended on it but it is one of the great wonders of the world after all, why not take the chance.

Well, from the very moment I signed up for it I knew that something was deeply wrong. The guide recommended me a specific tour that would go to a place where quote on quote 'there are still fish'. My heart was broken upon witnessing it in person. Yes, there were still some fish but it was nothing like I had seen it in the nature documentaries from my childhood. It was dull, grey, clinging onto life. Much of the surrounding reefs were completely dead.

That was the moment in my life where everything hit me.

We did this.

I was so naive as a child, in my little bubble of the world.
Growing up and realising that just by *existing* in this global North, capitalist hell system I am contributing to the destruction of ecosystems around the world hit me like a tonne of bricks and I fell into a deep depression.

If I bought something, anything, really; let's give chocolate for example. By buying that bar of chocolate, dozens, hundreds of trees and vegetation had to be destroyed, all of the wildlife that depended on them, slaughtered or left homeless, starving with nothing to eat, maybe they'd try to take some of our crops and we would kill them for trying to feed themselves. Some poor third world farmer basically being treated as a modern slave has to harvest the beans for my 'chocolate' in shit conditions for shit pay by a massive company who is the only one that profits in all this.

So many people, especially in urban areas are not aware of any of this and how could you blame them? It is hidden so well. You're not thinking about any of that when you buy something in the store, you've not thinking about where it came from or the damage it caused, just that it is there on the shelf and you can buy it. We are so detached from the natural world that there is no appreciation for how much blood was spilled for us to be able to live a comfortable life.

I couldn't watch nature documentaries anymore. I would cry and every time toward the end they would show what humanity's destruction is doing to kill off every last living thing that is not us or our livestock but there would be some hopium thrown in like 'BUT it's not too late! You can switch to an electric car' or some bullshit--

It did nothing to relieve me of the deep sense of dread I felt for years and still do to some degree. I think I've gone through every stage of grief. denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

But how do you accept this when it hurts you so deeply? How do you accept that we are destroying not only ourselves but everything around us and there's nothing we can do about it?

I started listening to Dr William Rees talk about overshoot and his understanding of life, death and everything in between.

I specifically want to quote what he says here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE39xfNRRyw&t=36:52

(That entire podcast is a very good watch for anyone suffering the same unsettling thoughts as me btw.)

He mentions how unsustainability is the default. It has really helped me to cope with all of this. I love how he explains that humans are still a part of nature and cannot extract themselves away from it no matter how hard we try, we are all still bound by the same laws of the natural world. How living things are all just varying degrees of energy gradients. It is a natural phenomenon built into the DNA of every living thing on the planet to want to consume as much energy as they can and expand their population as wide and far as they can. Usually there are negative feedbacks such as disease, war, famine that prevent such exponential growth but they were temporarily halted due to the use of fossil energy. So what you get is overshoot on a global scale. What happens when we no longer have cheap and easy to extract fossil fuels? The same thing as all other species that exceeded their carrying capacity.

The thing is, humanity is supposedly self-aware that it is doing this, yet denies it's animal nature.

Wouldn't an intelligent species look at what we are doing and think, hey, maybe we should cut back, stop depleting all of the non-renewable resources at an outrageous pace and leave some for the future generations? Leave some room for all the other species on Earth?

I guess the more frustrating part about this is that we call ourselves an intelligent species far above everything else yet we are doing the exact same thing as what a fucking yeast in a petri dish would do. We are no different from the cyanobacteria that caused a mass extinction.

Only we are self aware.

And sadly this will correct itself if we don't do so ourselves. And we won't because who wants to reduce their energy consumption? The majority don't want to give up what they have. People are rioting right now because of the planned '15 minute cities'. It's not going to change until nature corrects us itself.

When there is a boom among any species there has to be a bust.

But I have accepted the fate of the natural world, our fate and accepting that we are not removed from nature, we are animals behaving in an animal way.

Maybe I had hope that we were something more at some point and that's why I couldn't accept this for a long time.

tl;dr: Humans are a living species and act like any other species would in favorable conditions. Because of this, there is really no solution to the many environmental problems we've caused. We will just have to let it play out in nature.

I realise this may be an unpopular opinion and it's not to say that you shouldn't still care for your surroundings and the environment but it has helped me to understand the whole mess, I suppose.

I'm 54 and starting working on this when I was 17. For a lot of years, sustainability and climate in particular were the main focuses of my life. I lived in an ecovillage for 10 years, built my own strawbale off-grid house. I've done a fair bit of farming. I did a TEDx talk in 2013, and a national speaking tour in 2015, and have written books. I even ran for US Senate. All strongly motivated by being part of the climate justice movement. My current job is also related.

I'm still here in action, but emotionally, I'm fucking trashed.

The suggestion to "find something productive to do" is just making my anxiety and grief worse because the reality is, I've done a shit ton of that and I'm deeply angry that it feels like nothing is changing - at least at a rate that will matter. I have really caring scientist friends who have just completely checked out, and I'm one foot out that door myself.

My therapist says this is too much of a niche need for her to know what to do with it. So that sucks. But the grief is getting to me. I went to a workshop recently on climate grief, and while it was hard, hearing other people's stories DID help. So - what have you got? What are your stories with this? I desperately need to feel less alone with taking this really seriously and watching racialized capitalism and government bullshit run us over the collective cliff.