Essays | Earth & Environment | Mental Health

Is the Future Really as Fucked up as We’ve Been Led To Believe?

Or is there more hope for us than we realise?

“This is not fine”, states the Earth, as we fittingly incinerate it.

“We’re all going to die!” exclaimed a friend of mine, to whom I was about to facetiously tell how desperately I needed the obvious pointed out to me. Before I got the chance, they continued “The ice caps are melting, the world is on fire, the pangolins are becoming extinct… what’s the point in trying anymore?”.

That all seemed quite worrying, including the part about the pangolins — albeit oddly specific. However, I’d heard it all again and again, to the point where I’d become desensitised.

So naturally, the part of the exchange that worried me the most was the defeatist conclusion. Yes, it’s obvious that things are bad for the world right now, but is that a credible reason to turn away from life and its problems?

Whether it was a manifestation of eco-anxiety, exaggeration, or truth… I could only guess. Either way, it led to me diving into the question for myself, so I could come to an accurate conclusion that isn’t shrouded in sensationalistic media and overt subjectivity.

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