
Ask HN: Does reading about climate change give you anxiety or depression? - undefined3840
I’ve always suffered a bit from existential dread, and I feel like the amplification of climate change related news over the last year has really compounded it for me. Does anyone else experience the same issue? How do you manage it?
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sevilo
No, the earth doesn't need our "saving", that's a very self-righteous view to
hold imo. What we are attempting is really to save our own species.

I don't know why, I've never really shared the concerns that our species must
go on, just like how some people believe if they don't have children and their
bloodline ends there, it's a terrible thing, but for me if that's the case
then that's the case.

I honestly feel like maybe it's causing more harm to put people in anxiety and
depression, and to tell our kids that we're all gonna die when they're just
getting to know the world.

But that's just me /shrug

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kopiblanca
No, no at all. I believe that our planet are able to recover on any situation,
including climate change.However, to keep environment clean and sustainable is
my priority.The question is either I am able to live for today or tomorrow, I
am not sure about that.

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jstewartmobile
Since this is HN, I am going to prefix this with the disclaimer that this is
not a denial of climate change. Here goes:

Bloomberg terminal is $24K/yr. I use that as a baseline for the market value
of somewhat accurate/timely information--they don't give it away! Contrast
with newspapers, which are sold primarily at cost of distribution, "5 free
article" news websites which are more PR-organ than journalism, and cable news
--which is virtually given away to the point of ubiquity (restaurants, salons,
dr's offices, etc).

This whole " _you are the product_ " biz is nothing new. Media serves its
advertisers. They have to keep us exposed to the ads, and crises are effective
at that--keeping us all under a sort of _siege mentality_ \--where we check
compulsively as if life and limb were at stake. Actual knowledge or
constructive insight will _never_ be offered. That would diminish the effect.
Instead, they offer a round-table of whores and buffoons (all billed as world-
class experts, of course) to crank the despair up to 11.

To go to the shrink and take the pills is to succumb to both stages of the
scam. Before going there, first try disengaging from media. Grab a book off
archive.org instead--preferably, an old one.

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flukus
You need to develop a healthy dose of apathy. You're a cog in a machine and
there are many things beyond your individual control from climate changes work
projects heading for a cliff to your sports team winning the wooden spoon. The
best you can probably do is try your best and learn to laugh at the situation.

Just don't get too apathetic, there are things you can do to help like voting
and creating less waste.

~~~
valand
This is actually a good suggestion.

If we don't care, why anxious?

If we do care, having clear mind helps with thinking how we should act to
deter the incoming disaster.

What makes us anxious more than we should is the lack of number. People say
there's an impending doom, but we don't know how severe it is.

We need numbers over the course of time to keep monitor.

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943_924
No, and there's absolutely no need to be. It's perfectly fine to be concerned
about climate change, but if you're experiencing anxiety or depression, it's
best to seek help and overcome that. It's still a vast and complex discussion
of what to be done, but as soon as you subject yourself to the climate
hysteria (with the latest outlandish and
untrue([https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/no-
climate...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/no-climate-
change-will-not-end-the-world-in-12-years/)) claim being that the world will
end in 12 years), you're being manipulated by politicians, media outlets, and
other charlatans for fun and profit.

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andyreed
Yes. IDK how to manage it, so I ignore it as much as possible. But I do so
knowing that it contributes to a growing low level subconscious anxiety that I
don’t know what to do with.

At root I believe that we are all slowly killing ourselves and that likely in
my lifetime we will reach a tipping point. Humans may continue for another 5-6
generations but then we will become extinct too. Culture as we know it will
die, and all of the achievements of human mind and all of the natural splendor
of our world will disappear into the cold void of space.

Everything seems futile. Our society is so geared towards consumption and
pollution, how can we possibly reverse course? Life is still beautiful, and
worth living, and worth fighting for, but all signs point to us being screwed.

How do you cope?

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anywherenotes
That is the only topic my kid, who recently went to high-school brought up so
far. She said her teacher talks endlessly about it, how everything is bad. I
think we need to take a step back and think as to what it really means, and to
whom. If we're talking about global scale, then sure, it'll be bad, but if
we're freaking out our kids, you know the kids in the first world, well how
bad is it going to be? We need to stop freaking the kids out and telling them
they are doomed.

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piplgobde
Yes, already was pretty anxiety-ridden about the non-action I've seen from the
biggest economy in the world, and after reading the paper Deep Adaptation: A
Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy[0] by Jem Bendell, can say I'm much less
thrilled about our chances, especially if the denial is still there as "the
science has always been wrong in predicting the end, because we are still
here..."

Sounds to me like some sort of hot hand fallacy with the chips being billions
of lives. Problem is coming too fast, with too much at stake, for the powers
that be to still act as if we have all the time in the world to do something
about it. But people still believing there is a way to reverse course may keep
this twisted musical chairs we are playing, going for a little bit longer.

Will there be humans still around? Maybe, chances are there will be
descendants of ones who could and did hoard material, but everyone else? Not
so sure on that front.

But hey, all the fascination with total societal collapse coming via zombies.
super villains, or the like may have some weirdos actually pining for that.
Lets see what happens when the death cults start popping up.

[0]
[http://lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf](http://lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf)

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el_dev_hell
No. I have zero depression or anxiety about climate change.

I have enough micro-environmental stresses to keep me perpetually at a
med/high level of depression at all times.

When I'm exceptionally depressed (maybe 2 times per week), I actively look
forward to my own death and couldn't care less about the environment.

I know that sounds heartless, but it's the truth. Miserable people often don't
care about their own life let alone the life of 8 billion unknown people. A
strategy to improve the general public's opinion on climate change might be to
spike the water supply with Prozac.

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chriscoxart
Dread that so many people are believing propaganda over science. Dread that
there is so much resistance to simply making our world livable.

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sethammons
If you can't do anything about something, why worry? If you can, then do, and
why worry?

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eucryphia
Yes, the wallet in my back pocket throbs with Existential Dread every time I
read an article justifying why I'm forced to subsidise wealthy people's
expensive, unreliable power for their multiple fancy homes and the SUV's that
shuttle them back and forth.

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bjourne
I might live through the biggest upheaval in mankind's history since the
invention of agriculture. We're in for some interesting times!

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gaspoweredcat
nope and its only partially because im a selfish git, the other part is simply
that i have more immediate and pressing concerns to deal with in my world, if
someone doesnt do something about climate change then sure people will suffer
in years to come but if i dont keep my wages coming in ill suffer a lot sooner

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meiraleal
be attacked every minute by food ads, places and people eating while walk on
the street or watching TV/scroll instagram gives me anxiety. And also is
terrible for climate change.

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sarcasmOrTears
At least you can talk about it without being expelled by webhosts,
communities, payment processors, etc You even get invited to cool events with
world leaders. Not a bad gig.

Imagine being one of those preoccupied with the collapse of white population
worldwide and western civilization in general. Now, those guys really have a
reason to be depressed, and if they look for mental health's help, most
therapists would probably refer them to the police. If they talk about it,
banks will ban them and so will web hosts and such stuff. They're marked and
targeted, with harassment and violence, by the police and leftists thugs.

As long as you have a big community to support you, you can't complain that
much, even if the world is gonna collapse. Because maybe humanity kinda
deserves it.

~~~
omar_a1
Yes, why won't _anyone_ think about the plight of the White Supremacist
anymore. Just awful.

What fucking year is this again?

~~~
dang
Please don't reply to flamebait with more flamebait. That makes this place
even worse, and is against the site guidelines too.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
omar_a1
Would have flagged, but didn't realize it was possible (not at the karma
threshold). Will keep in mind for future reference.

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thrower123
Nope, not in the slightest. I've got more pressing concerns.

I'm pretty much desensitized and take with a grain of salt almost anything the
news pushes; after a while, you see that the same stories get trotted out year
after year, almost like clockwork, on a wide array of topics, and it's the
same thing, with nothing ever actually changing. The stories wear different
clothing, but it's always the same; the end is nigh, repent o ye sinner,
believe and ye shall be saved, and reborn again pure. If I had a fit about
everything that the newspaper or the TV anchors try to work up a dudgeon
about, I'd be a constant nervous shaking wreck. So I just go about my business
and ignore the panic of the day.

