How much do you worry about things like global warming/global recession due to oil running out/terrorism etc

[emkana]

Sometimes I read something and I feel absolutely terrified at what the future might hold for my children. Then I google things and read the more positive views and cling to those, but still worry that I'm sticking my head in the sand and that we're all doomed.

Anybody else?

I know exactly what you mean.

More and more I try and avoid the news now, tbh. I remember being absolutely panicked just after 9/11 when ds1 was a baby. There were a load of scare stories in the press about biological terrorism and I was convinced we'd all die horribly and painfully very soon (they were projecting infection rates from the airports, and we lived close to a major London airport).

But there have been so many worse-case scenario scare stories recently - bird flu wiping a quarter of us out, for example - that I'm becoming slightly immune to it. I do what I can re: recycling etc, and the rest I don't think about. It's not like I personally can do ANYTHING that would stop a terrorist or prevent temperatures from soaring.

I focus more on the stuff that I can change.

So generally not much worrying going on on MN then?

I am too busy to worry about things that are beyond my control

yes i worry - we are doomed. not alot one person can do is there, i'm not in charge

lovely blog post to counteract the negativity of current affairs

tries again

I keep my head firmly in sand.
The one thing that comforts me is that there have been a lot of points in human history when things looked very grim -- think WWI followed by the worldwide flu epidemic which killed millions. How grim do you suppose the future seemed then?
Or at any point during the Civil War in England...
I'm thinking...Be glad we have so few immediate problems to worry about. We aren't living in Darfur or Pakistan.

Happy coincidence this. I just finished
reading this really thought-provoking Economist article
and then stumbled upon this thread.

Quote from the last paragraph:
'There is a modern moral in this story.
We have been creating ecological crises for ourselves and our habitats
for tens of thousands of years.
We have been solving them, too.
Pessimists will point out that each solution only brings us face to face
with the next crisis, optimists that no crisis has proved insoluble yet.'

Yes I worry a lot
I really try to do what I can, our modern way of life seems to be leading us down a very wrong path.
As this thread has shown one reason for lack of activity is denial!
I also worry about our completely dysfunctional society that passes for the norm for so many.
I really try to do what I can, I think we all should I agree me recycling my newspaper will have absolutely no effect on anything but if everyone on the planet does then we might stand a chance.
We all desperately need to use less oil/fossil fuels, consume less material goods and eat less(Western world) espc. meat, there is also an arguement for having fewer children . Our living arrangements need a sort out too sometimes!
I take heart from campaigns like the anti-consumerism one which would have been unheard of 20 yrs ago (just as the idea that you might need 20 new Primark tops every season would have been)
I get quite distressed when I think about the world we are leaving for my grandchildren and and can only hope and pray that it gets dorted.
(I sound like a bit of a loon don't I?!)

Or even sorted!

Seeing as mumsnet is mostly about having babies and breeding, maybe you should all open your eyes a bit and take a serious look at global warming. First check out Easter Island and what happened there, as I think we are going the same way, there is plenty of info on the internet.
The main thing about global warming besides the temperature rise, is the sea rising. Within most of our lives it will be 10 feet, probably more. There is plenty of info about this on the internet. That means there will be about 100,000,000 people displaced. Where do you think those people will go, or do?
Then there is the sad fact that businesses and governments are trying to make money out of the bad situation, which is just making things worse, take carbon trading for an example.
Then we have the real polluters. massive ships using about 380 tons of crude oil to propel them through the water/day. the fumes and soot are pumped into the sea so you do not see the smoke. These ships are increasing 10%/year.
Then we have military, I believe US military produces 50% of the worlds pollution.
How about rockets, they are far from pollution free.
O.K. now consider this:- the authorities are going be picking on us, our heating and consumption. Our carbon footprint that they are going to be taxing us on.
Why are they not taxing the real polluters?
This November 30 2015, the UN are going to be holding a conference in Paris to tie governments to restriction co2 emissions. It will probably be as big a fiasco as the Kyoto agreement in 2006.
Wake up people, if you want a world for your children and grandchildren to live in you had better unite and do something. Personally I think we are nearly too late.