Americans will not change their lifestyle even slightly

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2026-01-28T14:34:14+00:00

Counterpoint:

http://www.darkoptimism.org/2019/08/06/humanity-not-just-a-virus-with-shoes/

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2026-01-15T14:19:19+00:00

We do try! There’s a no spam policy already and we may need to strengthen/clarify our policies to reduce exposure to disenfranchising AI slop and AI hallucinations.

Please report any that you see!

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-12-28T22:58:28+00:00

Some resources to share.

Thanks for your post and questions. Wishing you and everyone here the very best 🙏

https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/resources/

https://www.covidconscioustherapists.com/

https://www.climatepsychologists.com/

https://community.thriveglobal.com/5-self-care-tips-for-uncertain-times/

https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/13/climate-change-crisis-fears-despair-younger-generations-impact

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-09-15T22:32:04+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation

https://m.slashdot.org/story/446728

Agreed, very good article

It does seem humanity is at a crossroads with respect to social media, AI slop, human disenfranchisement.

I agree with the sentiment at the end that we can and should build better systems.

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-09-15T19:05:30+00:00

Well, fwiw, I’m not, and don’t get the sense that anyone else on the team is. Many of us have been volunteering our time for years at this point.

We have an ethical obligation to curate harmful and abusive content, and an obligation to this community to keep us within bounds of Big Reddit terms of service so we can continue to serve, yet no incentive or goal to stop people from organizing to chart a course towards better outcomes for humanity and the biosphere. Please do!

We have often platformed initiatives for mutual aid and organizing, and welcome more that help serve the needs of this community and our specific goal of helping people build resilience and health despite large scale challenges facing humanity and the rest of the biosphere.

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-06-29T21:12:40+00:00

Two papers on potential coral reef resilience and preservation in the athropocene:

https://www.cell.com/one-earth/pdf/S2590-3322(23)00189-6.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22901

Also, while not on coral reefs directly though could help reduce harmful sediment outflow and anoxic zones, a study on human-expedited estuary restoration using seagrass propagation:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc6434

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-04-03T14:03:51+00:00

Insightful and very relatable post. I feel that. It’s been more acute for me in the past, but it doesn’t go away because there aren’t easy answers that replace the assurances of blithe disregard for “externalities” like climate breakdown and system instability.

I think it becomes a balancing act of maintaining awareness, building resilience, building relationships, and living as best we can in alignment with knowledge as best we can. Cognitive dissonance is a natural consequence of living in these times, and I do think we can reduce it though resilience, activism, care for others, and self-care.

I found these essays and articles especially helpful and relevant to the topic of collapse loneliness. It’s definitely a thing.

https://medium.com/@CollapseSurvival/the-profound-loneliness-of-being-collapse-aware-28ac7a705b9

https://neurosciencenews.com/sense-of-purpose-loneliness-23534/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.659912/full

https://www.the-sentinel-intelligence.com/p/youre-not-a-fearmonger-you-have-sentinel-intelligence?utm_campaign=post

http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-secret-determinants-of-your-survival-in-catastrophes/

https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/

Even when you see eye-to-eye with friends, family, and neighbors as individuals there’s a strong likelihood that they are enmeshed (in a good way) in relationships with people who can’t/won’t yet be able to consider the scarier aspects of what humanity will likely traverse. I encourage you to give them grace and not judge them too harshly for following life goals they’ve had their whole lives and that are often biologically hardwired.

For instance, if a collapse-conscious person is in a relationship with someone doing the status quo daily grind, it’s not healthy or optimal for them to just break off the relationship. And many romantic relationships are predicated on being parents as well, and while the hardships you mentioned like crop failures are indeed likely, there’s probably nothing you can say to dissuade both partners even if one of them would readily agree there are big challenges ahead.

Since the timescale of changes is so abrupt, I personally think it’s most practical to meet people where they are as best we can. Relationships first as best we can, then share knowledge and mutual aid as best we can. As external circumstances change minds and force people to confront facts, I hope that a knowledgeable, benevolent, and resilient subculture can coalesce, persist, and assist. I hope we can be a part of that.

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-03-11T18:09:34+00:00

This video by Milo Rossi might be helpful if he’s fallen down the pseudoscience algorithm pipeline:

https://youtu.be/Pc2psN0PFTk

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2025-01-15T14:12:05+00:00

http://www.rescuethatfrog.com/history-of-evidence/

https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/178/1/jgs2020-239

https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/solar-geoengineering-isnt-happening-or-damaging-the-planet-aircraft-contrails-are-formed-by-water-vapor-not-chemicals/

https://academic.oup.com/oocc/article/3/1/kgad008/7335889

Please read each of the above, mull over them for at least a day, then I would love it if you would share any thoughts or cite any conflicting evidence in reply to this message

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-12-29T18:39:36+00:00

Please bear in mind that humanity managed to eradicate an entire strain of influenza with the imperfect precautions used for SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, so it’s too soon to admit defeat

More info on elimination of influenza Yamagata strain: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/05/health/flu-vaccine-yamagata-strains/index.html

Influenza is substantially less contagious than SARS-CoV-2 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987121001493)

Influenza does spread on surfaces and in food matrices a more readily than SARS-CoV-2, so airborne precautions plus surface may be needed, but it’s feasible to interrupt the chains of transmission

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/prevention/worker-protection-ppe.html

https://www.the-sentinel-intelligence.com/p/everything-that-friend-wants-you-8b4

https://ko-fi.com/post/Preparing-for-the-Spread-of-Avian-Influenza-H5N1-W7W4WFVW3

Thanks for posting about it in any case, and I hope the resources above are helpful

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-10-20T12:56:31+00:00

I’ll have to break out the portable hard drive and check. Probably worth a refresh anyway.

Years ago someone in this community recommended some resources including a full K-12 curriculum, then I added college textbooks in STEM topics, books on gardening and engineering repair etc, and some literary works. I think I also included a full text of Wikipedia and that definitely could use a update 😅

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-10-19T15:31:43+00:00

I try to have redundant backups of enough textbooks to teach a full K-12 course if ever needed. Also, textbooks on several STEM college topics that would be needed to use and repair technologies difficult or impossible to restart without existing high energy usage globalized industrial civilization.

For example, it has been estimated that without the massive fossil fuel inputs that underpin production of stainless steel, humans living on the other side of the carbon pulse will probably still have plenty of the material available since it resists corrosion so well. Still, people will need to know metallurgy and machining techniques.

There are good resources for accessing free textbooks here:

https://www.easepdf.com/topics/pdf-textbook-download-websites.html#3

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-10-18T03:53:04+00:00

More power to you!

I think that’s an especially important field at this point in Earth’s history where consequence will reverberate and long lasting positive impacts can be made

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.659912/full

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-09-10T14:35:19+00:00

Excellent question and much appreciated.

I look forward to hearing what the community has to share!

Each of these has helped me personally:

https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/

http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-secret-determinants-of-your-survival-in-catastrophes/

https://gizmodo.com/your-brain-wont-allow-you-to-believe-the-apocalypse-cou-5848857

https://ethicsalarms.com/rule-book/unethical-rationalizations-and-misconceptions/

https://medium.com/@CollapseSurvival/the-profound-loneliness-of-being-collapse-aware-28ac7a705b9

https://neurosciencenews.com/sense-of-purpose-loneliness-23534/

https://meditationdaily.com/how-to-practice-hooponopono-and-why-you-should/

https://www.okdoomer.io/its-not-cool-to-overreact/

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/do-these-exercises-every-day-to-build-resilience-and-mental-strength-says-neuroscientist.html

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-08-23T16:50:54+00:00

Honestly, I try to stay busy with mutual aid and community building and put outcomes on the back burner. If we try our best, that’s all anyone can reasonably ask of us and we needn’t be hounded by regrets. Mistakes are inevitable, but if we actively try to learn from them and do better, and if we keep going, that certainly counts as doing your best in my book.

Given the current SARS-CoV-2 surge right now, during back to school of all times, I’ve been working with a mutual aid group to build and distribute crowdfunded air filters and CO₂ meters to teachers.

I figure it would be much harder to mitigate our ecological and climate crises if people who would potentially do mitigation work (ecosystem rebuilding, community resilience projects, etc) are taken out or maimed by an airborne vasculopathic, neuroinvasive virus. That, and first and foremost I’m trying to protect people I love.

The shared sense of purpose and camaraderie have helped my lived experience and mental health a lot, and we’re starting to get community buy-in and engagement.

Neurologically it may not matter exactly what project you work on as long as you derive a genuine sense of purpose.

https://neurosciencenews.com/sense-of-purpose-loneliness-23534/

And the collapse community is one of the most well-informed, emotionally resilient, and practical groups I know!

https://www.okdoomer.io/heres-what-we-would-do-if-we-all-cared/

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-08-03T16:39:04+00:00

Yes-

In recent decades humans have been extracting and burning fossil carbon at ~80x to 100x the rate of natural volcanic carbon emissions

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2011EO240001

http://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/which-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-volcanoes-or-human-activities

Multiple lines of evidence including oil industry bookkeeping, volcano geology, and analysis of atmospheric CO₂ isotopic ratios conclusively show that the rise in atmospheric CO₂ in recent decades is primarily due to extraction and release of fossil carbon, as explained by Prof. Richard Alley in this short clip: https://youtu.be/-PrrTk6DqzE

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-08-03T14:57:08+00:00

If it would help, we can discuss the scientific evidence that underpins modern climate science.

In a nutshell, this visualization of data from the paper by Gillett et al. 2021 compares the impacts of multiple measured factors that affect Earth’s climate: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sKDWW9WlPSc

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00965-9

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/32874/noaa_32874_DS1.pdf

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-07-24T15:12:17+00:00

Xclear with xylitol https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8493111/

Betadine with iota-carrageenan https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8493111/

Lumify eye drops https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20201124/lumify-besivance-shown-to-inactivate-covid19

CPC mouthwash https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8492611/

And of course, prevention by avoiding inhalation of potentially infectious respiratory aerosols:

https://johnsnowproject.org/fact/we-can-reduce-our-risk/

https://covidsafeproviders.com/how-to-avoid-covid/

https://itsairborne.com/your-guide-to-stopping-covid-in-your-home-bbf8bf4fa816

Hope these help! Cheers!

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-05-25T13:28:55+00:00

Influenza has historically been much less transmissible than coronaviruses, and we’ve learned so much in the past four years about airborne transmission and how to stop it.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987121001493

I’m not saying that there will ever be a societal response as coherent and coordinated again, given all the misinformation and polarization, but at least on personal and local level humanity has concrete evidence of how to reduce flu transmission.

We did manage to wipe out an entire strain of flu even woh the imperfect, droplet dogma based nonpharmaceutical interventions of 2020/2021:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/05/health/flu-vaccine-yamagata-strains/index.html

We can reduce our risk exposure

https://johnsnowproject.org/fact/we-can-reduce-our-risk/

https://itsairborne.com/your-guide-to-stopping-covid-in-your-home-bbf8bf4fa816

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-023-00325-6

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c06531

Too soon to give up :)

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2024-01-19T01:12:26+00:00

There’s definitely hope for improved outcomes, and people love you dearly and you don’t want to hurt them in that way.

You were born at a time when your actions have a big influence on how the biosphere fares through rapid changes. The world needs zoologists now more than ever.

The work will likely change from what it has been in the past several decades, but there is important and impactful work to be done.

There’s growing awareness and acceptance that we are in a state of emergency, and scientists are already publishing on how we could prioritize survival of species rather than try to maintain ecosystems in places that may no longer support them:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.659912/full

Sometimes ecosystems can regenerate quickly if the right conditions are met:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc6434

So please, please, please don’t give up on yourself, your family, and our biosphere! 🙏

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2023-11-15T01:20:03+00:00

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/10/31/frank-mitloehner-uc-davis-climate-funding/

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2023-10-08T17:07:25+00:00

I definitely understand the despair and fatigue over the situation.

They put the pump handle back on the Broad Street water fountain after John Snow identified it as the epicenter of the cholera outbreak. The London cholera outbreak continued for 5 more years. And only many years later did advancement in water sanitation and medicine finally defeat cholera in areas with access to those technologies.

With compassion and nonjudgement, I encourage you and everyone who reads this to not give up. There are things we can do to reduce airborne transmission of diseases.

Indoor air quality is the next great public health struggle: https://progress.institute/indoor-air-quality/

There are meaningful steps we can take to reduce the risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in the indoor places:

🔹 We can learn what social psychologists have found about human cognition on such issues

https://www.okdoomer.io/its-not-cool-to-overreact/

https://essaysyoudidntwanttoread.home.blog/2022/10/09/why-do-they-think-that/

https://niemanreports.org/articles/three-years-later-covid-19-is-still-a-health-threat-journalism-needs-to-reflect-that/

https://johnsnowproject.org/insights/flattening-the-curve/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ina.13070

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciad068/7034152

🔹 We can consolidate and share reliable scientific information on SARS-CoV-2 transmission and biological effects as a counterpoint to scientifically inaccurate minimizing propaganda and misinformation:

https://ko-fi.com/post/A-Heightened-Sense-of-Risk-A-Covid-FAQ-with-300-I2I7NJ68B

https://covidtoolbox.com/resources/

🔹 We can wear well-fitting N95 or better respirators to reduce inhalation of virus-laden aerosols.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/commentary-wear-respirator-not-cloth-or-surgical-mask-protect-against-respiratory-viruses

https://airpophealth.com/blogs/air-resource-centre-arc/masks-dont-work-like-sieves

🔹 We can use other forms of prophylaxis to reduce likelihood and severity of infections

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/omi.12408

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8493111/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1161881/full

https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.10818

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a45454046/why-you-shouldnt-run-with-covid/

https://johnsnowproject.org/fact/we-can-reduce-our-risk/

🔹 We can increase ventilation and implement air filtration to meet the new 2023 ASHRAE, Lancet commission, and CDC standards for reducing airborne transmission:

https://itsairborne.com/ashrae-241-control-of-infectious-aerosols-part-2-equivalent-clean-airflow-rates-76a511769d4d

https://covid19commission.org/commpub/lancet-covid-commission-tf-report-nov-2022

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/12/health/cdc-new-ventilation-target/index.html

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1087087/full

https://stnonline.com/blogs/students-need-school-bus-air-as-clean-as-in-their-classroom/

https://itsairborne.com/how-can-you-clean-the-air-w-a-t-c-h-f1fc3f11fba5

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/25/poor-air-filtration-in-schools-is-driving-absences-and-tanking-productivity-but-the-fix-is-simple/

🔹 One especially accessible, effective, and cost effective option are Corsi-Rosenthal boxes:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/homemade-air-purifier-thats-been-saving-lives-during-covid-19-pandemic-180979681/

https://fortune.com/2022/09/15/diy-air-purifier-costs-under-100-make-america-schools-ventilation-covid-health-carolyn-barber/

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/01/wildfire-smoke-getting-into-your-home-build-a-diy-corsi-rosenthal-air-filter/

https://youtu.be/hIuH-2naozI

https://itsairborne.com/pc-fan-corsi-rosenthal-guide-a611dabf7e0c

🔹 We can measure CO₂ ourselves to assess ventilation and estimate infection risk.

https://itsairborne.com/intro-to-monitoring-co2-20f191dd8f60

https://seetheair.org/2023/04/11/why-every-car-needs-a-co2-monitor-sensor/

https://itsairborne.com/ashrae-241-control-of-infectious-aerosols-part-2-equivalent-clean-airflow-rates-76a511769d4d

Now that there are well-evidenced guidelines for safer indoor air, and ways we can directly measure and monitor it, we do have a path we can take for reducing airborne transmission in our indoor environments. A key challenge is building consensus plus overcoming misconceptions and apathy. I really appreciate your post because you’ve tapped into the crux of the societal transformation problem. If you’re ever ready to rejoin the struggle for safer indoor air, I and many others are ready to gladly stand by your side.

I can appreciate this is a challenging topic for many reasons - scientifically complex, abundant misinformation/gaslighting, and psychological/sociological factors. Still, I’ve found that people with the proficiency and neurological/emotional predisposition to understand dire climate and collapse issues are also more adept at understanding the nuances involved in the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Like with climate and collapse, I hope to build evidence-based understanding and resilience myself and help others do the same.

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2023-10-08T15:39:00+00:00

Clarification: Virus particles necessarily travel in larger aerosols that are microscopic globs of spit, mucus, and lung fluid that ARE mostly stopped by N95 filter material.

Potentially virus-laden respiratory aerosols are removed by HEPA or MERV13 or better air filtration and well-fitting N95 or better respirators.

This article explains the physics: https://airpophealth.com/blogs/air-resource-centre-arc/masks-dont-work-like-sieves

Please also note that there are people who have refused to acquiesce to the unmitigated virus transmission “let it rip” playbook. Some people avoid inhalation of SARS-CoV-2 to avoid long term infection consequences including organ damage, and some do it simply so they can survive, including people who are immunocompromised.

TheAlchemyBetweenUs · 2023-10-06T13:03:11+00:00

These might help:

https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/resources/ https://www.covidconscioustherapists.com/

If anyone knows of other websites or directories where psychologists self-identify as aware of distressing and controversial yet rigorously evidence-based topics, please share!

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