r/DelusionsOfAdequacy

We were born to be more than slaves to the rich.

Wake UP!

Shifting Baseline Syndrome is one of the major reasons ecological collapse and species extinction are often widely underestimated.

Each generation grows up accepting the environment they inherited as “normal", forgetting how abundant wildlife, forests, rivers, and ecosystems once were.

>As biodiversity declines gradually over decades, society adapts to lower & lower ecological baselines instead of recognising the scale of loss and it's tragic consequences.

For centuries, dolphins and other large aquatic species were common in rivers and coastal waterways, but now, these waterbodies are considered too polluted or urbanised for them. Historical records describe dolphins in the canals and lagoon systems around Venice, while the Ganges river dolphin once thrived across much of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system.

Today, many people view heavily degraded rivers as “normal” like the Seine, simply because they never experienced these ecosystems in their older abundance. What previous generations would have considered ecological collapse is now often mistaken for a healthy or restored environment because collective ecological memory has faded.

However, during Covid years, we saw these vectors changing due to our lack of pressure on environment and that lead to the flora & fauna recovering from our damage and pollution.

Source:

>Pic 1: @emilyebuchananc on Instagram

>Pic 2: @weareparklanelandscapes on Instagram

SBS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifting_baseline

Dolphin in Venice: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/06/mimmo-bottlenose-dolphin-seen-near-st-marks-square-inspires-venice-rescue-effort

Records of Gangetic Freshwater dolphins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges_river_dolphin

Global coral bleaching event 23-25: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%932025_global_coral_bleaching_event