As a teen, I’ve always been taught to think about my future — my dream college, my career. But with the way things are going with climate change, it’s getting hard to even imagine a future.
I read a recent study that showed in about 50 years, one third of all species on earth would be wiped out — so what does that mean for humans?
The next day, I saw a pair of shoes I really wanted go on sale. At first I thought, “Nah, I need to save money.” But then I wondered, “What am I saving up for?” I didn’t end up buying the shoes, but the feeling stuck with me.
I try and look on the bright side — maybe there’ll be some scientific breakthrough that’ll solve everything. But there’s always a nihilistic voice telling me there’s no point in doing homework because the world’s gonna end anyway.
While 50 years is a long time, that perspective makes it hard to think about the future knowing I could be enjoying my life right now. Because unless someone figures out how to fix this, it might be better to spend my college savings on apocalypse survival training.