I am struggling with this as well. Even after deciding to be vegan, child-free, considering leaving a job in aerospace, deciding never to fly across the ocean ever, growing native, buying less, trying to buy land to conserve,etc…I still feel an immense burden.
Not much gives me happiness nowadays…it is like looking at a loved one about to die and painfully.
I realize that extinction events and pain have happened…but not on this sort of scale and what’s worse…humanity acts like this is normal…like it is okay to breed and they are happy to do so which consumes ALL.
I’m sick of it and the more I learn the more I cry and mourn and scream and struggle to find meaning or even have the energy to stand up and speak out.
Its like people look at me like I’m crazy and I see all the pavement and think “Oh wow…what’s going to happen when the ish hits the fan?” I’m prepared to take measures and yet I don’t want to do so…I don’t want to fight off humans in my lifetime…I think this could happen. I think it will get very ugly before it becomes a real horror show.
You wanted some hope I’m sure? I have none…I think the die is cast and all we will do is slow it down slightly…it will still be very ugly no matter what and we will suffer.
I’d rather suffer knowing the cause of my pain rather than asking “Why?” Oh…I’ll know why…the second humans thought they were God and pretended to revere God while all around them heaven was already here and they turned it all into hell.
I’m not religious either…I don’t know what I believe…I just know science works and religion is yet another denial mechanism to me which can make the world pretty horrible.
For me, I’m on medication and going to therapy and volunteering and hoping to buy land and defend it from the future hordes and hopefully aligning with folks that have awakened as well.
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen.”
All I can suggest is that you try to find the beauty in the world (there is still so much that is beautiful and worth caring for), and not to let things beyond your control weigh too heavily on you. I am also not religious, but there is much to be said for the insight of the serenity prayer:
“grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Quick thoughts on my current go-to recipe for holding myself together so I can keep going. Reading all the supportive comments here really helped me focus my thoughts.
1. Serenity prayer as a 60-sec calm down.
Grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change…
Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
2. Gratitude for the ability to get out, feel the awe, like the OP and so many here have said. 3. Cultivate that Courage and ACT on it by drawing on that awe as inspiration. 4. Reflection (like we’re doing right here!) to use my time here wisely and with intention, to attend to my emotions with compassion, and to acknowledge that I’m not alone. The Leopold quote helps me with this: so many of us feel the burden, but I’d rather know than be ignorant. How can I subscribe to notions that knowledge is power but also that science is a social construct? I want to be a force (even if only a smidgenary force) in constructing the science, so I’m pursuing it to the best of my abilities. 5. Retain Hope that with solidarity, the recognition that so many of us are in this together, that biophilia is human nature, that we can be persistent, patient, compassionate, grieving and even joyful (even though the world, the greed, our vulnerability and mortality can be brutally harsh) as we harness our collective power and work together to leave this place better than we found it. I so appreciate the transformative positive examples in this thread. 6. Start small and learn. Boldly go for the easy, obvious stuff first to learn and get better at tackling more complex problems. 7. Be forgiving cause no one’s perfect, we’re all mortal, challenges abound. It’s impossible to understand what anyone else faces in their mind, body and circumstances. I often find it difficult to forgive myself for not doing more, but acceptance of our current state seems like another aspect that’s important for not getting stuck or feeling paralyzed but moving forward.
From my personal experience two things seem to work like a charm.
A) taking a break, if it’s not part of your job, one can take a break and it’s well respected, don’t be scared.
B) Imagining what else would I do with my time, thinking how valuable this truly is to you, may sometimes get lost in monotony, but if you think about it, you appreciate it more.
But sometimes a burnout is bound to happen, a break can help or just a complete change of schedule or location may help to refresh yourself. Hopefully some of this posts will help you and others that may come across this problem.
I was watching a documentary about Greta Thunberg today, and one thing she said toward the end really stood out: “You don’t have to feel hopeful to act.”
She went on to explain that action without hope is possible, but hope without action is impossible.
The thing with pessimism is that it’s not hopeless.
I believe that a lot of the trouble we have dug ourselves into is the result of being too optimistic to acknowledge what’s really happening.
“Oh, we’ll deal with that problem when we get to it.”
“We’re a smart species. We’ll just invent something to fix that.”
“It’s too early to worry about that problem. It’s just a prediction model. It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
Part of the problem is our habit of rewarding and promoting optimists to leadership roles.
My best bosses weren’t the most optimistic, they were the best listeners and doers. The worst bosses were the biggest optimists who didn’t want to hear about growing problems and generally got promoted out of their trouble once it all hit the fan.
Optimism is overrated. Too much of it and you’re an idiot or too wealthy – or both.
I’m sorry, but her figure just shows the state of current Western politics, instead of doing something they choose a child ready to scream some obvious or wrong stuff and people feel good about it, everything hypocritical to not actually help those nations that they exploit for centuries.
Then how, pray tell, did he get 490 observations of 370 species? That’s only 44% of the number of your observations, yet approximately half-again as many species, and in a less biodiverse part of the world.
No shade on @broacher from myself, but I doubt it takes a whole day anywhere to find 400 species if it’s needed, especially if we talk through the summer as those are not observations from one day. I’m sure, we all know, why many countries have the amount of observations they have, you wouldn’t ask why a tropical country has less observations than a wealthy European one? (try Kenya vs. Germany) Where wealth comes mainly from modern economical colonialism that makes it real to have the time to observe nature around them, nature that is still there while they live on resources of other places.
As a fledging naturalist, (and not so fledging human) I have noticed something about my area. I’m sort of in-between a mid-size and a large city along one of the Great Lakes. The Niagara Escarpment is the last remaining large swaths of ‘natural’ space’ in this area, protected (mostly) by legal acts and conservation laws. It’s a world heritage site, and I guess that term has new meaning to me of late.
What sort of world am I leaving for everyone? What sort of world was inherited? What was squandered? What was protected? What was improved? What was willfully ignored or actively discussed? Acted upon? I don’t have the answer to all that stuff. But I do feel that the mere act of observation is a good step in the right direction.
One thing I’ve noticed in my observations is just how many are of rare, or relatively rare status to my region, sometimes province, and even nation on rarer occasions, to the current iNat listings, but not necessarily to those who understand it with their experience. In fact, I received a brief explanation the other day from an Identifier when I shared with them that I hesitated in using my first ID because by the map, it was just too rare. And I have had a lot of those lately. But they replied that “[the species is] very common in your area. iNaturalist observations do not accurately reflect occurrence.”
That kind of shook me. Wait a minute, these ‘rarer’ species are really just under-observed species! I think that this has shifted the way I’m going to approach identification for my observations from now on.
Another new reality is that climate change is just starting to have a tremendous impact on new species migrations, and as we’re a northern country, with a huge southern one just below us, I can see where this is headed. I expect to be reporting (not always so enthusiastically) more new species in the years ahead.
I have said before, when I started here, my enthusiasm for iNat fun does not extend into taking long trips or hard treks through the undergrowth even. I’m a trail side observer, and of course, my backyard (over 120 species on my list are from there alone). Not only am I a little too old to handle more strenuous excursions (I just had a little heart surgery a few weeks ago, which really helped up my backyard list!), plus I’ve got other active interests as well.
But I do find the iNat ‘work’ the most fulfilling, for now. It’s a relaxing, fun, healthy, escape into reality (contrary to popular trends) and I do probably go on way too long about it all here, but it’s almost a case of, where else can I really go on about this stuff?
As to the charge of mansplaning, I’m still not sure how to find out more about things and other people’s experiences without throwing my own into the mix. On the technical side, if I think it might help someone, or prod a discussion along, then – well, read it or don’t. If I offend people by doing this, I have to wonder about the whole premise of sharing observations. Is naturalist observation inherently ‘splane’-heavy? Then, as a male, that puts me in a tricky spot.
Something my folks always, ALWAYS encouraged me and my large sibling group (who were, yes, pretty poor folks for most of my childhood) was to never shy away from asking good questions.
As to the West being privileged, that’s a fact that doesn’t take much observation skill. What we do with that besides file it away as a painful historical shame–that remains to be seen. And seen enough to make changes at the top, I believe.
I think I will try to be less verbose and anecdotal, but I can’t honestly promise not to say what I think based on my experience. I’m willing to be corrected, and I don’t mind helpful criticism (love it!), but I don’t feel like my ‘privilege’ of being born where I am should be a guilt-filter for my freedom of speech.
When you think about it, anyone reading or writing to this forum is privileged. Does that mean we should all go home and live with that shame?
Anyhow, I’m off to the trails now as a matter of fact. May all your discoveries include explorations.
For sure observing everything around you is one of the best ways of action if you have that possibility! I think it fits the topic, that’s what helps people staying optimistic, as we see not only bad changes, but how something is still there, how it’s saved from all the pressure! And making underobserved species a common one.)
In the exact same way there is a necessity to educate los jovenes (the youth) of the atrocities instigated upon the indigenous peoples (of basically everywhere) at the hands of the colonizers, I think it’s very important for people to know, understand and reflect upon how these brutal ideologies have and will continue to contribute to extreme habitat and thus losses of further species diversity.
How you process things is your own business, but if I think everyone should be aware of how much we all benefit from the destruction and theft of the natural wealth, habitats and lands that never belonged to us or our nation(s) to begin with.
Absolutely. The eternal story of humanity’s darkest side. And not just immediate benefits, but long-term COST to future generations who will be burdened by the consequences of our shortness of vision, and bias towards selective recall.
On the plus side, the understanding that given enough data and support, science can give us real hope that we can still avert complete… Well, hopelessness!
May your travels be enlightened with great discovery and understanding. And as the African proverb says, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
And as my wife used to say to our young children, “It’s a big place. Stay close.”
I wouldn’t worry about the charge of mansplaining on this forum. We’re not a captive audience and are free to speak our minds (civilly) and engage or ignore as we see fit. And there’s no interrupting.
This post suddenly went from “Staying Optimistic” to being reasons for being pessimistic. I get it. It is so easy to blame everyone else. We can blame; colonialism, racism, Boomers, people who refuse to recognize their privilege, avocado toast munching millennials, tech obsessed Gen-Z snowflakes, politicians, stupid people, greedy capitalists, and naive socialists. The list is endless. There is always someone else to blame.
Ultimately though it doesn’t matter to the non-human world. The buffalo don’t care if the last reserve they survive in was set up by a racist. The trees don’t care if the person who stopped deforestation was a brutal dictator. What you think doesn’t matter. Who you blame is irrelevant. All that matters to the non-human world is what you do.
