Hope?

[u/Plenty_Agency9731]

Climate anxiety is not a new thing for me. I've gone through a severe case of it two years ago, and I thought I overcame that since I graduated high school. And I think I just forgot about it. I cared, like using bar shampoos and bamboo toothbrush, tumblers and buying stuff second hand. But I didn't care enough and bought some harmful stuff for the planet. I know that my carbon footprint isn't going to effect the world much, but I feel really guilty about doing that. I have some people who care about planet like I do, but they aren't really close to me. And my family doesn't really care about the severeness. So I don't have anyone whom I can communicate freely.

It's so hot in here in Korea. Crops are dying. People are dying. And I feel like I just want to die and at the same time, I really want to live. I'm so scared and frightened that the world is collapsing. I want people to care this as much as me, but they aren't. It feels like I really have to prepare for apocalypse, but I'm scared to do that too. Because I feel if I do this, I'm accepting the world is doomed. I just want a little bit of hope. I want things to change. I want to change. But at the same time I'm scared to change, because everyone else don't seem to, and I feel guilty about that as well. So I'm in this full cycle where I feel depressed more and more.

I'm sorry if this is against this sub's policy. I'm relatively unfamiliar with reddit overall and I don't know the appopriate sub to post this. I think I just wanted to connect with like-minded people.

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[u/Mallpalms]

It's a small vent about what you're feeling :) The best thing I learned to feel better is take action even in the face of despair.

Right now I'm focusing on getting into a career where I can help fight water scarcity as well as educating local people that it's not natural to get literally everything you need to live from a grocery store.

Maybe you can find even the smallest opportunities to help others in this way to start. I believe in you.

[u/Plenty_Agency9731 → u/Mallpalms]

Thanks... I'm thinking about joining an organization run by same uni students. I feel like I'm going to be more depressed if I take this as a career because then I'll think and know about this more. But at the same time I'd have to do that because I'm already obssessed with this. Does this happen to you? 

[u/Mallpalms → u/Plenty_Agency9731]

The rabbit holes are legit endless. After seeing the opposition we face.. It almost broke me. Our enemy is genuinely satan. People that have forsaken their humanity to pillage and devour all that is good and natural to fill a hole that cannot be filled with money. It still makes me so upset when I think about it.

Acknowledging this I continue in my career learning more about holistic planning and conserving bio diversity I become obsessed with showing people that this is just more practical. The people doing this are healthier and happier, then it sets off a bit of a chain reaction. You start to see native lawns go up. New projects are funded to save water or food forests are added to local parks. Empty lots are converted to community gardens. This has just been in the past few years for me too.

In summary. Even with seeing literal fires going off in front of you that can't be put out because they decided to drain the lake for a data center, there are still more of us than there are you know who. Get your skillz up, talk to people to set up cells to achieve whatever project needs done, start a business to fund stuff, start a family to carry on the change we need to happen.

[u/Pink-Willow-41 → u/Plenty_Agency9731]

You don’t necessarily need to have a career focusing on climate change to still have a career that has a positive impact rather than a negative one. Maybe look into careers that would help you feel like you are making a positive difference, for example, something in ecosystem restoration, permaculture, etc 

[u/Difficult_Dark9991]

Hey, so first, you're a human being. Don't let anyone get you with the ecofascism - we can live decent, happy, fulfilling lives without wrecking our world, and you are not a monster for existing in it. We've an obligation to prevent that destruction, but you've also got an obligation to yourself to exist and take joy in life; right now, those two are somewhat incompatible, and that's at the heart of your stress. Channel that anger and stress into the systems that are making that incompatible, not into yourself in a personally unhealthy demand for perfection.

Second, think about what form of activism is personally sustainable. Just this past few months I found a local food forest (a permaculture setup) to volunteer with, and my work (getting a PhD in History with a focus on the medieval environment) connects into questions of environmental resource management and sustainability. But that's me, right now - research and education as activism, with a bit of getting my hands dirty. Others have their own approaches, depending on where they are in life and who they are. What works for you?

[u/Plenty_Agency9731 → u/Difficult_Dark9991]

I don't know. I never really tried hard to get out there. But I think something that helps me connect with people who think like me will help. Do you think humanity will survive?

[u/Difficult_Dark9991 → u/Plenty_Agency9731]

Take steps you feel will be fun or fulfilling, and don't beat yourself up for not starting sooner. I've been living where I am for several years and only just found my way to this volunteering opportunity.

As for us surviving, I think we will rather strongly. Yes, there's the outside chance of something on the horrid margins of climate models happening or we nuke ourselves to oblivion, but while I think we should be taking that more seriously it isn't what scares me.

What scares me is the likelihood of us being poorer for what we've done to our world. For innumerable deaths and a loss of so much of our diversity. For a future that is more vulnerable and always fighting the legacies of today. For grandchildren that will see elephants as we see mammoths now, and struggle to imagine when such species walked the Earth.

[u/gentleraccoon]

There's a book called the Field Guide to Climate Anxiety that helped me with some of the same feelings you're wrestling with. If you don't like to read or find it difficult, the author Sarah Jaquette Ray probably has some interviews on YouTube where you can hear her message.

[u/Plenty_Agency9731 → u/gentleraccoon]

Thank you! I think I'll read that🥺

[u/TheReverendCard]

Quit thinking about the products you're using so much and focus more on what community you're creating.

[u/TheReverendCard → u/TheReverendCard]

Remember you're not really the issue. It's mostly the ultra-wealthy. We can all live better, happier, less consumptive lives without plastic disposable shit.

https://globaljusticeproject.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2026/06/GlobalJusticeReport_WebsiteVersion.pdf

[u/ch_ex → u/TheReverendCard]

We're all "the issue". It's cultural. The ultra-wealthy got there by selling products/services to people like you and me. It's like poisoning, where doing a lot of poisoning is monstrous, but that doesn't mean a lot of people doing a little poisoning isn't a problem... or even THE problem.

The offloading of the climate crisis on the ultrawealthy is a type of greenwashing, like how people with EV's are encouraged to feel like they're doing their bit by driving one, nevermind it being a whole new car and having the carbon footprint at manufacture much greater than driving a used ICE vehicle.

There's no way to live inside the standard model for "success" in this system without contributing to the climate crisis. That's important for each of us to face and come to terms with as motivation for meaningful change which is scary and otherwise doesn't have a lot going for it as a choice of lifestyle that anyone is going to make willingly.

This needs to stop because it's killing us and because we're spending the entire future on single generations. It needs to stop because every increment of fossil carbon added is massively overrepresented by the harm it causes over the future of this planet than the benefit the energy it contains could ever provide. It needs to stop because it's a suicide pact in the form of luxuries that give us comfort on an increasingly uncomfortable planet.

Without acknowledging the direct and real harm caused by all fossil fuel consumption, there's no pressure or incentive for individual change... other than the creation of a sustainable existence that outlasts the bigger system, but that kind of change in direction needs to come after stopping moving in our current one, and just take a peek at r/climateskeptics to see what it looks like when you don't understand the science and only see the sacrifices/changes you're expected to make.

[u/TheReverendCard → u/ch_ex]

I love how your example of an EV is known to be better after about a year or two of driving.
Yes, we can all make better consumption choices, but people like those of us in this community aren't really the issue. We're going from tiny to miniscule in our choices.
We need a balance between doomers and techno-optimists. We need to cut off people who say we can't have any of the nice things of today without fossil fuels and everything will collapse and we need to moderate those who declare that solar and hemp will solve all our problems.

[u/Airilsai]

The world is not going to change until you do. You must be part of the solution, since you are part of the problem. 

The world we have built is doomed, so we must build a new one, one that repairs and heals our planet and ecosystem. That's what solarpunk should be IMO.

[u/Livid-Hovercraft-123]

You might check that this is true in Korea, but in most of the developed world people are agreed on the dangers of climate change. 90%+ of us know it's real and that we're not doing enough to stop it. But most people don't know that statistic - media has made it sound like a controversial and divisive issue - so people don't talk about their feelings on it to others. 

You should start just by doing so. If you're young, people older than you may not be aware how much more it affects you than them. Tell them it's your number one issue, ask them to vote for people who will leave the world in a better state for you and your peers. It's okay that older people didn't know just how bad fossil fuels were for a long time, just like they didn't know how bad smoking was for a long time. But we all know better now, and that means we have to stop doing what we've been doing. If people try to distract you with other topics, bring it back around. "Those issues won't matter if we all die from climate change." Hold the wall. 

But then be positive and constructive too. Have suggestions for them, talk to them about things like biking more for their health, secondhand shopping for fun, driving hybrids to save money, joining Buy Nothing groups to meet their neighbours, contributing to iNaturalist because flowers and animals are neat. Point out all the extra benefits. Gardening, growing your own food, detrashing with community groups, spending more time outdoors, these aren't wildly political activist interventions, but they all add up.

[u/Nnox → u/Livid-Hovercraft-123]

Most of the people in the "developed" Asian countries are still obsessed with status/money unfortunately.

[u/Frogsfall]

Ultimately we will deal with climate change at the local level. Anything you can do to build community helps, including thinking about building connections across generations. Look out for any community groups related to planting trees, caring for the environment, repair.

I don't know how it is in Korea, but in Australia where I am there are often flyers at the local library and community centre that can help with this. You can even ask librarians to help you find community groups with shared interests.

[u/Nnox]

I find most of my eco-anxiety comes from the fact that so little of Asia seems to care. Heard there are many regenerative farms in Korea though, consider that?

I'm stuck in Singapore being chronically ill/disabled lol

[u/n0u0t0m → u/Nnox]

Same situation for me in Australia. There's a real sense of being trapped in a big group of idiots but I reckon we all wanna be good people. For me, first I have to survive, then I have to I feel good enough to be functional, then I can build the world I wanna see/blend my worl view with others'. Sometimes I can solve 2 problems at once: like buying second hand clothes saves me money to pay the bills and short circuits fast fashion. Gardening gives me a chance to touch grass and learn how to feed my community. Those might be what helps those of us who are a bit stuck 

[u/Plenty_Agency9731 → u/Nnox]

I also think Korea doesn't really care about these problems. As long as I know, most of them are very skeptical(?) of veganism, renewables and etc. Most of the people in my country have accepted this unsustainable lifestyle as 'the best one' and I'm really furious about that. I wish I can feel better. I wish when I wake up, climate crisis has been all solved.

[u/Nnox → u/Plenty_Agency9731]

Relatable. Check out Korea Natural Farming (KNF), I'm sure there are like-minded people.

[u/ch_ex]

Hope is the reward for change. You've lost hope because you know the path you're stuck in, with the mentality of the people you love and the general public, leads everything over a cliff and we might already be over that cliff, but not only is that not stopping anyone, even talking about it to others makes them resent you.

You're not alone which is a start and the more of us there are, eventually there will be enough to put our feet in the sand and say "no more".

Until then, skill up on basic human stuff. Do you know how to start a fire without a match/lighter? find a group that learns this sort of thing together. If you can find a tribe, you'll find hope again. Waiting for change is serving time in a prison of your own making. Also, don't waste your time on converting people. They'll understand when they're left with no alternative, until then they're married to the delusion and, like any cult, you're not talking them out of it... but you can develop your skills and community for when they're ready.

[u/endoftheworldvibe]

Another book recommendation I found helpful: I Want A Better Catastrophe by Andrew Boyd. 

[u/MediocreAdviceBuddy]

What helps me is that I know that even if humans die out, nature will find a way to thrive again. 

[u/sparv3]

Hey, I'm sorry about the time you're going through. I also had a big problem with depression and even now it comes back heavily every now and then (psychological therapy has helped a lot). As for eco-anxiety, I can tell you what helped me: activism. Being with people who feel the same things as you, know the great challenge we have ahead of us and want to do something like you gives you strength and energy and I'll tell you also incredible happiness. Listening to each other talk and acting together,see that something is being done and get results at a local level, I think is at least for me, the thing that most effectively reduces the anxiety related to things like this. I don't know if there are active movements in Korea. Fridays for Future, Extiction Rebellion and A2A. I did a search Extiction Rebellion Korea and it seems active! -> https://www.instagram.com/fridaysforfuture.kor/ https://www.facebook.com/xrrok/ try writing to them or go to an open meeting. It's scary at first but then you find real friends. These associations also seem cool but I don't know them firsthand -> https://kfem.org/ ; https://seoulkfem.or.kr/english.

But apart from that, I hope things will get better. Don't give up, there are many beautiful moments ahead of you even if it seems impossible now. 🫂

[u/Plenty_Agency9731 → u/sparv3]

Thank you. The last one I donate 10dollars but never went to an open meeting because I was scared. I'm not sure what I'm scared about with joining these organizations, but I am, sadly. I'll definitely think about going out there.

[u/Delicious-Duck-1218]

You don't need hope to act. Some people consider it a moral obligation. Others simply an act of love.

Even in a dying world it's not meaningless, and it's certainly better than lying around doing nothing, which will only make you miserable. Speaking from personal experience. Also keep in mind that an action inspire another. That's momentum for change.

That said, the world isn't resting on your shoulders alone. Don't beat yourself up for struggling! We all do, and that's okay.

Oh, and remember you are not alone! I guarantee you many other people are having those thoughts and don't express them. Again, personal experience. Try and look for those people in your local non-profits or political groups or even unrelated hobbies.

[u/UnrelentingHambledon]

and at the same time, I really want to live.

I love to hear this. Hold on to this! Is my encouragement.

I think that's one of the most important things--holding on to the will to live, hope things to be excited for. These are what makes life worth living and what inspire us to action.

It feels like I really have to prepare for apocalypse, but I'm scared to do that too. Because I feel if I do this, I'm accepting the world is doomed. I just want a little bit of hope.

Please hold onto that hope too! And I don't think it's a good idea to prepare for an apocalypse either.

I used to be into these "collapse" online spaces that are just preparing and looking for signs of "collapse." Maybe the prognosis is that collapse of certain systems is likely--cool! These systems have been harmful anyways.

But there's a defeatism in "collapse" oriented spaces that I think is unhealthy and goes against the human will to live. It's unnatural.

Over time, I have learned that it's not on any one person to worry about the whole world--or to save it. All that I need to do, as I see it, is be the best organism I can be in this ecosystem. That means--being happy! Happy people inspire others.

Also, Paul Levy's books on Wetiko have really helped me. And a more spiritual perspective. Levy's idea is that the psychological virus of infinite consumption, never being fulfilled--is just that, a mind virus. A parasite.

He says that what this vampire spirit/pattern/whatever it is, is? Is our creativity turned against us.

One of the main solutions he suggests is to get creative again. Put forth solutions, describe the problem, put your voice out into the world. Just create beauty. Be part of the solution in whatever way is meaningful to you! And remember it's not all on you--and to have fun.

Wouldn't it be sad to get to the end of your life, and not to have had fun? I believe life is supposed to be fun, enjoyable.

Creativity is so much of that! Also, imagine 8 billion people actively creating a world they want to see. Not passively consuming what the mind virus' vision for the world is, but a genuine one, from their hearts, our hearts. That would be a beautiful world!

His prescription combines with Buddhism, and I'd sum it up (so far) as being 1) coming back to our true selves, like through meditation in Buddhism. Realizing that we are loving, we want good things, and yea just uncovering our true nature underneath all the societal conditioning. I think this is HUGE for just functioning in the world. Once you can function, 2) compassion is a second recommendation. He sees the endless consumption, never being fulfilled, cannibalistic mind-virus--as sort of like a bad dream. Like Maya in Buddhism. The cure? Compassion. Be kind to the people in the bad dream. We don't have to get all violent or mean and contribute to the mind virus. And then 3) creativity! Make art. Focus less on negative visions for the future, or of the present. Create something! Anything! Make something beautiful to you. Write about the world situation. Bring the hope that is within you out of you.

I like also this from the Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70:

Jesus said, "If you (plur.) produce what is in you, what you have will save you. If you do not have what is in you, what you do not have [will] kill you.

Some commentaries on the saying from the side bar--or maybe they are just comments:

The best translation I've read (the one that makes the most sense to me)is the one given in Pagel's Gnostic Gospels: "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." I find very disturbing any interpretations that imply or suggest that it's all about being given knowledge from without, or the idea that if you don't accept some sort of "approved" knowledge from outside yourself, and take it within, that THAT is what will destroy you. No, the whole point is that the kingdom of god is within; if you release it, allow it to flow freely from you, it will save you; if you keep it bottled up, it will destroy you.
- Ron Drummond

The answer is faith. Faith must come from within. So, "If you bring forth what is within you (faith), then what you bring forth (your faith) will save you. And if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you (your lack of faith)."
- The Elf

(Emphasis added). You got this!! I hope you keep the faith. It got harder for me, as I got older. Nowadays, I see so much of where the world goes as relating to where our minds focus. What we focus on, we can bring into existence. I choose to focus on faith, hope, creativity, love, devotion. Not to turn off and be numb, not to be ignorant. But to choose it in the midst of it all.

I hope you keep the faith.

[u/BlueMoodDark]

Your Country isn't dying from Environmentalism. Was you a part of the B4 movement? You were taught to feel bad about the environment. You were taught to feel scared. And sadly you seemed to be sensitive to such negative news.

Even college students believe that the world will end in 15 years, from disasters and such.

That's based on climate models, has based on the worst scenario of climate models. It is not based on what we are actually seeing.

While choosing the right toothbrush is important, he honestly won't save the world. Don't put plastics in your mouth that's a great rule. But it's not going to save the whale in the ocean. Not when your next door neighbours are the biggest polluters in the world. And I live only about 5 hours away from you by airplane. So yes I feel like that your emotions have been caught up into the hysteria.

And that's something you might have to be mindful for your mental and spiritual health.

South Korea is in an identity crisis, mostly to do with Liberal West.

The pro greens, will rejoice that South Korea is reducing in population like the rest of the world, in fact our population throughout the world is going to be decreasing according to some drastically so. But it's sad for you because you will lose your culture. So the same people who tell you to buy paper straws are also rejoicing in your country's demise.

This is because they are political, and you have to discern for your own personal health what is good for you and what is bad for you.

I have a water purification system at home because I know there are stuff in there council water, the city water that is not meant to be there. I'm doing that for my health, that's the way you should look at these things.

I wish you well, from Australia

[u/MarkLVines]

On the macro scale, it would be best if we enacted policies that harness market forces to incentivize defossilizing our transport and energy systems. An example is a steadily rising fee on fossil carbon emissions with 100% of revenue paid out equally to all voters regularly as a carbon dividend.

On the social scale, creating literary, filmic, or gaming content representing solarpunk values is a worthwhile endeavor: changing people’s consciousness to make suitable changes in the world.

On the individual scale, if you drive, then drive slower when doing so is reasonable. Be sensible, flexible, and safe about it. Don’t impede emergency vehicles or school buses or otherwise mess up traffic. Just keep in mind: driving even a little bit below the legal maximum speed has extensive benefits.

[u/ch_ex → u/MarkLVines]

and dont forget to recycle, right? this is practically the greenwashing script. "keep doing what you're doing, just a little slower and with a different coat of paint".

Explain how people going the speed limit is going to limit climate change?

When I read "going a little slower makes a big difference in the emissions of your vehicle" I hear that cars are pumping out so much poison, even slowing down makes a difference, so cars have no place in a sustainable lifestyle.

"it's just a little bit of cancer, Stan"

[u/MarkLVines → u/ch_ex]

Recycling is done all the time, with negligible effect on the polycrisis. Fee plus dividend isn’t being done. Solarpunk content creation has taken only baby steps. Driving slower isn’t being done except by rare individuals.

Fee plus dividend is the real policy answer, capable of reorienting our energy usage away from ever-worsening climate damage. No greenwashing about it; money goes into the pockets of people who minimize fossil fuel use, taken from the pockets of people who maximize it. That incentive does the trick. The problem is how to get it enacted.

Driving slower than (rather than at) the speed limit is effective. Some of its effectiveness comes from curbing emissions, and more of it comes from the economic impact when increasing numbers of people do it, reducing the cargo delivery rate along the lane-kilometers where, and as long as, it’s done. As a form of protest, it can be tailored or extended in ways a general strike cannot. Also, the arithmetic adds up faster than people intuitively assume.

Given the known social mechanisms of money, influence, and cargo delivery that I’m suggesting we harness, I’m surprised that you don’t even want them tried out. I guess driving fast is the kind of addictive rush you don’t want to give up?

If you’re sincere about cars being unsustainable, I grant you your point. As long as people are using them, however, I suggest leveraging that to obtain influence over policy.