Venting Exploitation under capitalism, global warming causing depression

[ultraviolet]

Has anyone else gotten significantly more depressed after learning about how fucked our current society is?

Global warming is predicted to cause famine, war, migrations etc. in the next 50-100 years. I've read stories about poor farmers in Central America who have lost everything when it doesn't rain for two or three years. And right now in India the heatwaves are breaking records and it's not even summer yet. Twelve people have died so far.

Imagine being a homeless person in India and dying on the burning concrete...

And don't get me started on how cruel and heartless late stage capitalism is. I read regular stories about how shittily workers are treated by companies and I want to die.

Coca Cola hired death squads to murder three Colombian farmers who were unionizing, all so we could have syrupy, garbage soda. Big fruit companies hire illegal immigrants to pick fruit in 110 degree weather, then deport them after the season ends. Even personally, one of my friends parents lost their jobs in the 2008 financial crisis, and the only place that would hire them was 4,000 miles away. So they had to move.

I volunteer at a soup kitchen regularly and I meet people who are the same age as me but because of poor parents, mental illness, bad luck have ended up homeless. It's terrifying to realize that one bad month could land me in the same spot.

The more I read about how the poorest people suffer around the world like in South America, Africa, Asia the more depressed I get. The thought of millions of humans around the world screaming out in pain almost makes me choke. We've created a hell on earth.

Our broken global capitalist system makes me depressed because I don't think we'll ever get rid of it. I try to volunteer, be politically active but most people are either ignorant, or don't care.

 

[motel rooms]

Global warming is predicted to cause famine, war, migrations etc. in the next 50-100 years.

Much sooner than that.

 

[ultraviolet]

Yep, even if I were to solve my current shitty situation, it's hard to muster up hope for the future when we'll likely be living in mudhuts foraging for acorns in the near future.

What's the point of living now?

Much sooner than that.

 

[wljourney]

Your points are valid.
Environmental despair absolutely is leading to many feeling depressed and questioning their existence.

Sadly we already see the warnings of the last 40 years coming true. The heat dome over western Canada last year cost many lives and I expect these kind of events to continue and grow. All around the world.

Our job is - as long as we are here - to conserve energy, be vocal about climate change and speak up about how essential it is to use alternative energies and reduce emissions.

But yes, I do not envy kids growing up now who are inheriting a climate that was destroyed for generations to the benefit of their capitalist grandparents and great-grandparents.

 

[demuic]

The problems started long before capitalism. Consider the monarchies and empires of old. Agriculture and the resulting formation of civilizations was a mistake. There was never supposed to be this many people. The majority of exploitation and abuse comes from human nature which is worsened by the values and attitudes perpetuated by society, and will continue to persist regardless of the economic system. There's no massive civilization without the hierarchies that put a small number of people at the top and a large number of people at the bottom. Even if there was, people don't want it. It's far too late.

It doesn't make me depressed. This world that has been propped up off the back of untold suffering for milennia deserves to, and will, come crumbling down sooner rather than later. What might make me depressed would be to think that this way of living for most will go on for many centuries more, but luckily I don't have that fear.

 

[RandomBeaver]

Am I mistaken but forecast for future population growth all say the world population will decline by the end of this century (if we're even conservative on that)?

Wikipedia on Population decline (mainly citing raw UN source):

Long-term projections indicate that the growth rate of the human population of this planet will continue to decline, and that by the end of the 21st century, it will reach zero.

 

[motel rooms]

Am I mistaken but forecast for future population growth all say the world population will decline by the end of this century (if we're even conservative on that)?

Long-term projections indicate that the growth rate of the human population of this planet will continue to decline, and that by the end of the 21st century, it will reach zero.

Yes, you're mistaken. The world population is predicted to continue growing & to finally level out at 11 billion only around the year 2100. There are 7.95 billion of us today. Population growth =/= population growth rate.

 

[RandomBeaver]

I know the difference. What it's saying is that it will reach zero and it will decline after that.

Some western countries are already experiencing decline in their population and if it wasn't mostly because of high fertility rate from Africa, global population would decline much sooner than 2100.

I've been told from my childhood that this world is overpopulated and that it will cause our extinction. That can be quite depressing and cause bad nights for a child. But it's simply isn't accurate if we consider scientific data.

An other issue to consider would be natural resources management, but that's in itself weakly related to population growth. We're not going instinct because we'll lack cobalt or palladium. I've never seen someone die because lack of those things.

 

[Alex6216]

I've been told from my childhood that this world is overpopulated and that it will cause our extinction. That can be quite depressing and cause bad nights for a child. But it's simply isn't accurate if we consider scientific data.

An other issue to consider would be natural resources management, but that's in itself weakly related to population growth. We're not going instinct because we'll lack cobalt or palladium. I've never seen someone die because lack of those things.

"Technically" we aren't overpopulated but if you want everyone to have a similar life to someone in the first world you would need a lot of resources, more than we have.
Before you say "We can remove x and just do x and x and x instead!" that just proves my point, if we all have to live in a specific way to avoid climate damage then that proves we have too many people. I dislike the crowd who acts like we have to kill everyone to lower the population, simply making more people educated and making suicide easy to do for the suicidal + physically ill (Not mandatory, just have it available for people who want to have access to these stuff. Something like having hotels where people fill a form and be given N is good enough) will be enough to lower the population to a suitable amount