I'm afraid
I posted the following over on r/NoStupidQuestions:
"So, from what I can tell, we have been barreling toward a negative feedback loop that will eventually lead to the AMOC Collapse. The US has just put a cinder block on the gas pedal of the Climate Crisis in it's love affair with AI, which means that the timeline to AMOC collapse is shrinking exponentially. Assuming the worst and there's no eco-revolution that eliminates the major forces driving this (trillionaires, rampant anarcho-capitalism, petroleum industry, etc.), once that collapse takes place, its over. Earth becomes uninhabitable within a few decades or less.
There's no way to predict the exact timeframe of this collapse, but it could be anywhere from 5-50 years. No longer than a single human generation. Even if we cut all contributing factors today, we'll still keep moving toward this negative feedback loop. It's not enough to just stop, we have to proactively counter-act it, and idk if we can even manage the first thing.
I'm only 30 and I'm reasonably healthy, so I'll have to watch it all happen. I'll have to watch as all the beauty I grew up loving dies, my communities starve or burn to death, all the art and knowledge of the world melt. I'll have to watch as my family, friends, children, pets suffer. So, I'm just wondering, how do I, a poor and unemployed veteran with an associates degree in Business Management, spend the next 5 years? Should I keep trying to get a job so I can maybe afford an apartment for me and my girlfriend? Should I keep dreaming of writing books, becoming a teacher, and opening a table-top gaming store in my hometown? Or should I just do tons of drugs and blow all my remaining money on backpacking across Europe? What do you think?"
I didn't get very many responses but I'm still dealing with these feelings. I'm trapped in a home with two people (MAGA conservatives) who keep telling me that I'm wrong or crazy about the issues causing our collective problems, and when I bring up the completely avoidable end of the world they just tell me to get right with God because there's no way to change things. Instead of taking responsibility for their moral contradictions, they just invalidate me for having consistent values and tell me to just go back to being brainwashed by the pulpiteers.
I'm so anxious and depressed, but I don't think it's something antidepressants can cure! It's not like I'm sick, I just see what's happening, what evil people are doing, and I have what I view to be the very natural response of get stressed tf out about it. I don't smoke weed that much anymore, and honestly that's been really good for me, but when this dread hits me, all I want to do is toke until I die. Anybody here have some advice for dealing with these feelings in a healthier way?