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Comment by tempsy | Hacker News Reader

How does one prevent themselves from being consumed by existentialist thoughts caused by climate news?

I really have had a lot of trouble concentrating lately because things just don’t feel important to me anymore...

Stop paying attention to the hysteria. It's great for views and clicks. It's terrible for viewers and clickers.

"We have been told that climate change is an ‘existential crisis.’ However, based upon our current assessment of the science, the climate threat is not an existential one, even in its most alarming hypothetical incarnations."

https://judithcurry.com/2019/12/14/the-toxic-rhetoric-of-cli...

For context: Between 2014 and February 2019, Curry testified before at least six Republican-led House committees, expressing the idea that the dangers of global warming are overstated and difficult to predict. These testimonies include statements criticizing President Obama’s climate plan, the UN climate action plan, and other policy proposals aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

> expressing the idea that the dangers of global warming are overstated and difficult to predict

She actually expressed the idea that the effects of global warming are difficult to predict? What is she, some kind of denier? Why hasn't she been canceled yet?

I've felt this too. My best strategy is to do something productive with that natural stress and worry. Go to climate rallies. Move to banks that don't invest in fossil fuels. If you have retirement savings, make sure they are not used for fossil fuel investment (in Australia we have ethical super funds that commit to this). Call up you government representatives and make sure they know you are worried about the future and want them to act. Vote and donate to political candidates that support reducing emissions to zero at least by 2050. Get your friends and family to do the same. The biggest impact we can have is economic and political, and if we work together we can change a great deal!

I'm not sure, but I would love to hear any answer you have.

Then again, action is the antidote to despair, (Joan Baez) - do something in your own life to help fight it or ameliorate the effects. This isn't some "you can fix it!" post - you, personally, can't. But doing something to get yourself ready, be it moving to a stable democracy on high ground at a high latitude with adequate defense, or learning to be self-sufficient in the event of supply chains collapsing, or becoming friends with your neighbours so that in the event of serious problems (empty shelves, taps running dry, etc.) you have a network of friends and not just a neighbourhood of competitors.

Or just wax philosophical and enjoy the life you've got. In the end, we're all mortal.

Realize how precious life is. It is short. I, for one, enjoy every morning for what I can do only at morning. A nice spot of maple syrup dissolved in a hot coffee or tea, for instance. I can really only drink one or two such drinks per day and only at the morning without experiencing affects I don’t want later on in the day. That in a sense gives me both something to look forward to and to mark as a way I enjoyed my existence.

To expand on this a little - my morning hot beverage is something complex enough to be worth reflecting on and savoring but finite. In a way it’s fleeting nature is not unlike our own but in miniature. My life will surely end just as surely as it started. But maybe if I learn how to properly appreciate a good morning beverage for the fleeting experience that it is I’ll have a chance at developing some of the tools needed to appreciate a finite life. Edit-or even just identifying them.

Get comfortable with the fact that you will die.

I'm a temporarily-embarrassed survivor of catastrophic climate change.

From this moment despair ends and tactics begin.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/26/london-...

Actually look at the data. Climate change will cause significant harm, but even in the worst plausible scenarios it's not anywhere close to the end of humanity or of technological civilization. If you're in the first world, you'll almost certainly be fine.

"Activism is the last stage of grief"

The antidote to despair is action.

people felt this way about overpopulation in the 70s for what it's worth

Overpopulation is pretty far from being solved. Climate change is a symptom of too many people consuming too many resources.

i am only trying to contextualize op's media-induced mental illness. also, climate change is a symptom of carbon release, a subset of byproducts of specific kinds resource consumption. it seems the meme may have captured you too.

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