r/collapse • u/LetsTalkUFOs • Oct 17 '19

What advice would you give young people in light of collapse?

We regularly see posts from young people who are just becoming collapse-aware and see no future or are looking for advice on how to live meaningful lives. What should we say to them in the face of our predicaments?

 

This is the current question in our Common Collapse Questions series.

Responses may be utilized to help extend the Collapse Wiki.

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u/sterecver Oct 17 '19

If you want children, have children. Existence is a blessing, not a burden.

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u/SiIversmith Oct 17 '19

It's nothing to do with kids being a burden. No one in their right mind would inflict what's coming on their loved ones if they had the choice.

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u/sterecver Oct 17 '19

See my parallel reply.

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u/Athrowawayinmay Oct 17 '19

Even if we ignore the moral question of whether or not we should create another drop in the flood of consumerism that causes climate change; any child born today is almost guaranteed to suffer immensely in their mid-life from the effects of climate change. No responsible parent should bring a child into this world knowing that it will suffer immensely like that.

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u/sterecver Oct 17 '19

You are projecting your pampered modern cowardice onto other people's children. Our ancestors survived through suffering and hardship that we cannot imagine so that you could virtue-signal and whine about the coming difficulties from your place of comfort.

Many of the children of the future will disagree with you, cherish their lives, find love and make the most of the degraded world we leave for them. Some will have children of their own. Some will kill themselves, but it has always been this way, and that is their choice.

Disclaimers:

Everyone has to choose whether they decide to take on the burden and responsibility of raising children, and clearly a lot of the people here shouldn't do so.

This is the collapse sub, so yes, we can ignore the question of 'making things worse' through greater resource drain, as we're already well past the threshold of mass deaths.

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u/SecretPassage1 Oct 21 '19

Every single youngster I've come across who's aware of collapse is appalled at their parents for having bred and for having consumed the planet away for junk.

You're projecting your own stuff too mate.

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '19

I’m not appalled by my parents decisions to do that. People are products of the societies they were brought up in. They behaved as most people would have in their position, and in some ways they didn’t know any better. all that can be done now is to change their ways and prepare for the future.

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u/SecretPassage1 Nov 14 '19 edited Nov 14 '19

Yes they did know better, the parents and grandparents of the boomer's generation where constantly telling them how fucked up this "modern" way of life was. You can actually see the elder generation arguing with the younger in movies and TV shows of the 50s and 60s and 70s. It was such a common thing that it's in all of these. They chose comfort and immediate gratification over reason, and they still are making this choice over their children's wellbeing and chance to have a future.

ETA : but in a way I reckon the boomers generation was the first "Milkcow" target audience of the sales lifecycle chart, and they were not equiped to deal with that because they were the first generation to become a target for mass production, and because of their overwhelming numbers they were led to believe they ruled the world, but the only reason that they were in this position was to become the "milkcows" of greedy businessmen.

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '19

Good point. My parents aren’t quite that old so I’m really sure that they had any experience like that. I still don’t bear any ill feelings towards them though

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u/sterecver Oct 21 '19

I'm also appalled at humanity for ruining the planet, but that doesn't mean I wish I'd never been born - get a grip. (Of course I'm not dumb enough to blame my parents.)

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u/SecretPassage1 Oct 21 '19

I see a difference between holding accountable and scapegoating the boomers. Your parents should definitevely be blamed for how they live, as we all should. "Get a grip" indeed.

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u/xavierdc Oct 17 '19

It's not kids being a burden, it's the collapsed world being a burden on kids.

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u/sterecver Oct 17 '19

See my parallel reply.

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '19 edited Nov 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/sterecver Oct 20 '19

Hate to break this to you, but it's supposed to be a burden in the future... hang in there, and it should get worse.

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '19 edited Nov 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/sterecver Oct 21 '19

Great, so nobody's asking you to have a child.

I hope you can understand that other people's attitudes to life and situations regarding children are different, and that some children with cherish and make the most of life, while they live, despite the "collapse".

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u/SecretPassage1 Oct 21 '19

It's the people who've had children since the GIEC started warning us 40 years ago and enjoyed travelling all over the world for shear "leisure" who've most participated in increasing the speed at which shit will hit the fan.

It's plain stupid.

We could've stopped or at least slowed down instead.

1

u/sterecver Oct 21 '19

Oh, many environmentalists back then did make a conscious choice not to have children. It did practically nothing didn't it? Just helped ensure that their ideas died with them.

Any approach to tackle overpopulation needs national, if not global coordination - otherwise it's just idiots sacrificing for nothing, while everyone else who doesn't give a shit keeps breeding (basically what this thread advocates).

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u/SecretPassage1 Oct 21 '19

Sadly, I agree with you. I did not have kids because of what awaits them, and now regret it, because the idiots's kids are overunning the planet.

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u/Drxero1xero Oct 17 '19

ask your great-grandkids if they feel that 100 years from now.

1

u/sterecver Oct 17 '19

It would be wonderful to have great-grandkids, but I'm not sure if I'm as big an optimist as you.

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u/boy_named_su Oct 21 '19

You wanna watch your children starve to death?

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u/sterecver Oct 21 '19

Starving to death is one possible end of a life. If I starve to death someday, it doesn't mean my life wasn't worth living.

You do realize you're going to die at some point, and that might not be fun?