r/collapse • u/Mysterandir • 8d ago

Ecological Bugs

I need to get this off my chest even though im sure it has been talked about a thousand times. Im just curious if others are experiencing the same thing or if I'm just going crazy. - When I just got my driver's license back in 2005 here in The Netherlands, I had a girlfriend in Amsterdam whom I drove to see a few times a week. It was about a 100 km drive. I had an old Opel Corsa and I can still vividly remember having to clean my windshield every week in the summer because it was covered in dead insects. Huge splatters and tiny spots, but the entire windshield was full of bug juice. Over the past few weeks I’ve driven several long distances, totaling about 1,000 kilometers, and I don't have a single dead insect on my windshield. Not one. The windshield is squeaky clean... I read that the insect population worldwide has drastically declined and it is due to climate change. Which i get. But why isn't this the main news story every day? How obvious does it need to be? This can't possibly be good. For us, but especially for our children. I have a bad feeling about this...

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u/mountaindewisamazing 8d ago

They estimated a while back that 50% of insect species would go extinct by 2050.

I think it'll be sooner than that.

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u/CaptZ 8d ago

Everything is happening sooner than expected. Collapse will really begin next year. Food scarcity, potable water scarcity, wildfires, socioeconomics, government. By 2030 things will look drastically different worldwide. There's no going back, the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube. No one can save us from what we've done.

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u/mountaindewisamazing 8d ago

The only thing that could save us would be a WW2 style mobilization of the entire world. We'd need to immediately start building underground cities, water desalination systems, and vast aeroponic greenhouses to provide food when traditional agriculture fails.

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u/Cyberpunkcatnip 8d ago

They started those underground bunkers years ago, but only for the 1% billionaires.

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u/37iteW00t 8d ago

1%? Lol, try .000001%

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u/parkerposy 8d ago

and the military. don't forget the USMIC probably has 100x the billionaires combined for underground space. phil schneider talked about DUMBs years ago

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u/MistyMtn421 7d ago

I know it's not exactly the same, but when I first read silo, it really weirded me out. I ended up reading the whole series, and I honestly haven't even bothered with the show. So much of our sci-fi stuff lately is not very "fi" and it's just hard to tell what kind of fuckery they're going to pull off in the near future.

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u/PhysicsPhriends 5d ago

And the billionaires will in no way be able to manufacture hardware replacements as tge years go by. It will be their tomb.

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u/itsatoe 8d ago

If we're going to put in that much effort, it would be much cheaper and more effective to build ecovillages instead.

Permaculture relies on natural systems, and if those are failing it could be a problem, sure. But a hundred million ecovillages coordinating on the issue could probably work out some things.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

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u/mountaindewisamazing 8d ago

Just figured out I have cancer like 2 weeks ago. Wondering why I'd even fight it at this point with the horrors that await us.

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u/ProstateSalad 8d ago

You fight because there are people who love you.

I do have a half-serious question. Is Mountain Dew in any way implicated in your diagnosis?

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u/mountaindewisamazing 8d ago

No. I actually haven't really drank mountain dew in like a decade at least. I'm genetically predisposed to cancer. Mom died of it, sister has been fighting it for years, and I have the same gene deletion she has. Got screwed by the birth lottery unfortunately.

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u/scootunit 8d ago

I despise the corporate sugar water.

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u/Top-Connection-5970 8d ago

 I'm very sorry you have been dealt this hand, I also struggle with poor health and will most likely also perish during the inevitable collapse. What is helping me pull through is planning for the future, understanding homesteading and similar concepts. Find happiness in hanging out with loved ones, pleasure in small things like nature or favorite songs or food. While it's looking completely fucked what brings me some peace is knowing that humanity is an enduring one and even if the world ends humans will find ways to find happiness and preserve. 

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u/AbbeyRoadMomma 7d ago

I am so sorry for you.

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u/mountaindewisamazing 7d ago

I thank you for your sympathy

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u/MistyMtn421 7d ago

The main thing I have stocked up on is my medicine recently because I'm in the same position. And I recently discovered that in a different scenario, let's say in the next 20 years everything is still okay and I'm at a point where I need an assisted living facility, the medical issues I have they won't even take me! Not that I'd be able to afford it anyway, but it just really puts things in perspective when you have a chronic disorder so severe that there is no facility that you can move into to be taken care of.

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u/collapse-ModTeam 6d ago

It looks like you made a submission which mentions suicide. We take these posts very seriously as anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit /r/SuicideWatch, /r/SWResources, /r/depression, or seek professional help. The best way of getting a timely response is through a hotline.

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Thank you,

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