Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?

[The_jackalope]

This is my story about falling into - and then climbing out of - a dark night of the soul, in the company of a collapsing civilization. In the end, our stories are about how we respond, and the personal contributions we bring, to a world in crisis.

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Paul and Michael, hang in there.

Nothing could be worse than giving up the fight without any attempt to move beyond that dark moment.

[Mickju]

2. Thank you for this.

It is superb. I would recommend this to anyone who is struggling with the prospect of certain doom.

[Boomer]

3. Time for the big picture

That's such a key point, and it's one that I continually remind myself about when I get too impatient with other people. Most people simply don't have enough time to read and absorb all the news and information about climate change, much less human nature, to wrestle with these issues at a substantive level.

I'm childless, with a comfortable but not time-demanding job. That has provided me with the luxury to spend 2-3 hours a day for decades reading science news, from anthropology, psychology to climate research. This wide-ranging background is the base for my recognition of what we're facing, the likely outcome, and to some degree the inevitability of what we're doing. We've been extinguishing the light of other species since we emerged in the paleolithic. Our spread -- and the accompanying damage -- has been inexorable; the only change in modern times is the accelerated pace of our consumption.

I'm rocky ground for a spiritual acceptance of this scenario. Instead, I've found my comfort in geology, in reading more deeply about the vast cycles of time and extinctions. From the torpid Ediacaran plants pushed out of existence by the Cambrian Explosion to the mastodons and mammoths that were hunted beyond recovery, life ebbed and flowed in waves. Our disappearance, along with all the plants and animals we take with us, will leave a blank canvas for new forms of life. It is what it is.

Thank you for this video.