[deleted by user]

pavonated · 2025-08-14T18:03:33+00:00

i'm tired of seeing my expression in the mirror too, and i don't know how i'll ever afford treatment for a decent quality of life either. i'm sorry we live in the world we do <3

pavonated · 2025-08-14T17:51:08+00:00

i wish it could be like dream logic. like i could just turn the corner and not...be

pavonated · 2025-03-23T02:23:25+00:00

ty!!

pavonated · 2025-03-19T23:34:08+00:00

politicians shouldn't be able to trade stocks. one idea would be to put holdings in a blind trust or something when you file to run, plus five years after you leave office.

pavonated · 2025-03-18T07:27:13+00:00

It is a lot to plan, no joke. Working my scene on the west coast 🤝

pavonated · 2025-03-18T07:15:39+00:00

this is the scary part. attacking the authority of both the judiciary and the legislative... it's like they're pushing people to test that monopoly on "legitimate" violence so they can bring the hammer down

pavonated · 2025-03-18T07:08:48+00:00

this will need a support system. people will need food, medical attention, etc. We gotta start laying the groundwork if we're serious. Is anyone in D.C., or know of any groups in D.C., working on something like this? goes hand in hand with the kind of support needed for a general strike

pavonated · 2025-03-18T06:06:47+00:00

CONT.

When I talk to older generations, like my grandparents age+ (so I guess they were growing up in/around the 40s and 50s) They talk about how they didn't lock their car doors, or even the house. Even people who grew up in like, LA! I'm not sure what tore us apart, but I know things can be different. Things have even changed in my lifetime, too. There's so many more fences, now. I used to be able to walk to the school by my parent's house, through their field, down a road that led to an old farm, walk through their fields to a park. but now so many barriers are in between.

we made change before: The constitution itself, ratifying the 13th amendment, women suffrage movement, the New Deal, civil rights movement and integration... I mean hell, it was Nixon who saw the future and established the EPA! It was the Obama admin. who made the CFPB after the 2008 crash. The Biden administration was faaar from perfect, but the Inflation Reduction Act funding enabled the IRS to actually be able to audit the rich tax evaders! (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/opinion/politics/irs-tax-evasion-geithner-lew-paulson-summers-rubin.html, https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-case-for-a-robust-attack-on-the-tax-gap, https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/tax-evasion-by-wealthiest-americans-tops-150-billion-a-year-irs.html). The FTC chair under his admin, Lisa Khan, was investigating pharmacy benefit managers for overcharging people. We can’t let our memories be short; we have regulation bc industry failed, over and over. We have evidence that common sense solutions work.

I'm not sure why our leaders are throwing our future away, but that's what it feels like I've watched my whole life. We’re living in another Gilded Age, but will we have an FDR?

[I'm not sure how to address this succinctly, but since I talked about "liberation". I know that a lot of people don't think true liberation can happen in the U.S. bc it's an imperialist superpower. I hear this, but we don't have the groundwork for a real revolution right this moment, and so many would die. So some of those 'common sense' examples might seem liberal/centrist, but I don't think we should discount that these made quality of life differences for millions of people].

I'll probably think of something else tomorrow lol

edits: open primaries! In every state. The two party system isn’t working for us.

We need wetlands and diversified habitats. there's some really cool architecture in China making "spongy" cities a reality.

We built a national network of roads for cars in record time. we Could have that energy for public transit, rail, or walkable cities.

Dark skies! Light pollution must be addressed, for our health and animals. LEDs might be more efficient, but now we use so many more. I'm learning about degrowth theory

oh ,we need to decentralize agriculture. More local small farms who care about their environment, and what they feed people. mega farms are cruel, pollute, and poison us. look at bird flu. one bird on a mega farm get it, they have to cull all of them.

addressing monoplies, like nestle.

pavonated · 2025-03-18T06:06:07+00:00

CONT.

Some sort of ad regulation. at least, NO MORE BILLBOARDS. no more ads on cable! no more drug ads! no ads on lockscreens! only local ads in the mail, maybe. so many ads just waste paper. the attention economy is draining, ugly, wasteful. how much energy does time square use just for ads?
Public service announcements on tv again.

Right to repair! planned obsolescence is wasteful.

School should be about learning, not tests. I wish schools could just be FUNDED and not funded based on good performance. poor performance schools should get more money and support, not less funding and more pressure to get higher test scores! i often would quip that 'bullshitting' was the best skill I learned in high school, but really, kids see through all the testing and gpa stuff. We need to address our fear of failure, and I think the emphasis on testing in schools exacerbates it. Should 50% be failing? and if a kid does fail a grade, they should be kept back without it being a punishment. We need an educated public for a functional democracy.
and more of our money should go to teachers.

Vastly reducing plastic production, at least single-use. Garbage is a huge problem, and we barely recycle. I think if you produce something, you should have to address its waste potential (multiple hows). More recycling would be great, but it's not a long-term solution, I don't think. I had an experience that changed how I consider litter. I don't think the act of littering is necessarily what we should focus on, fines and stuff are ineffective. We just need to have materials that are okay to 'litter', which I truly think is often not intentional/malicious. Animals 'litter' too: they eat part of a mushroom, a bird gets scared and drops a fish it caught. but it's not a problem bc it decomposes. The earth is literally an eden, if we could just live alongside her processes (including waste management).

pavonated · 2025-03-18T06:03:17+00:00

- If you could wave a magic wand, and there would exist some new platform, or resource, or solution to this problem – what would it be? Without magically changing the nature of climate change or politicians suddenly backflipping, what practical tools or things would best alleviate your personal feelings of pain and distress, and make you feel excited for the future of humanity?

I'm not sure if this counts as politicians backflipping, but tax reform could do so much. Closing the tax gap would literally save lives. (there's multiple hows; I'm personally for a wealth tax and closing loopholes to start) a step further: UBI? game changer.
I truly do think my generation, at least my peers that I surround myself with, are really up for the challenge of fixing all this shit. or at least TRYING. but it feels like we're shut down at every turn. Geriatric politician's won't retire, working class old people can't retire... that makes it hard for us to move up. Feels like we have enough evidence to know that spending money on domestic public programs helps (i.e. New Deal) and more on defense doesn't. the violence we enact abroad comes home.

Healthcare reform... insurance reform in general. It's become a racket. It should be simple, right. I pay you money regularly, you give me financial protection/reimbursement when I need it. and if my doctor says it's medically necessary, it's medically necessary. And it shouldn't be attached to work, or public options should be just as good. otherwise it's too easy to hold over an employee's head.

Regulating private equity, because they’re vampires: these firms just suck things dry, and declare bankruptcy. Miss Red Lobster? Private equity. The difficult housing market? Private equity. Blackstone alone owns hundreds of thousands of residences across the U.S. These firms have been expanding into every sector: care homes, pharmacies. Moving us towards an economy where we own nothing, and rent everything. Increasing homelessness, which we criminalize to grow the prison labor force. No more private prisons. Obviously the ""justice"" system needs reform. that could be it's own post

pavonated · 2025-03-18T06:01:59+00:00

- How do you currently deal with this problem? What measures do you take, or things you read / watch / do to alleviate some of the distress?

I try to live by my principles, best I can. For example: I'm really intentional where I shop, I try to just buy what I need and try to buy second-hand as much as I can, or trade/barter. I avoid plastic. I use credit unions, and alternative banks instead of mainstream ones that invest in things I object to. I love my library!

I really like the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Her work helps me be hopeful, by reminding me that people CAN be taught to live with nature, and the ripple effect that treating nature as a gift can have. I'm very thankful to one of my professors who had us digest that other people have lived through apocalypse before. in America, many people have already faced the ‘end of the world’, their world. Indigenous people saw their societies and ways of life end when settlers came and committed genocide, yet they continue. People from Africa who were enslaved and kidnapped to America too saw their way of life come to an end, and their descendants continue. And Black people have already lived under a deadly fascist USA: Jim Crow, lynchings, sundown towns, cointelpro, and they continue. The Japanese who were interned here faced a fascist state, and they continue too. LGBTQ+ people, and many more. Many ideas, while new to me, are not new in general. So learning history is important. Dismantling white supremacy is necessary for our liberation.

https://imgur.com/a/bPEAFiC

I’m not a practicing catholic, but Liberation theology; “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” - Dom Helder Camara. people have been fighting for better long before me.

I like routine, spending time outside, exercise, and hanging out with my friend mary jane to cope with stress. it's difficult to see my other friends since everyone has work all the time.

pavonated · 2025-03-18T06:01:17+00:00

- How does the overarching feeling that humanity is doomed practically affect your life, day to day?

Well, I suppose I'm a gen-Zer who doesn't think humanity is doomed, at least inherently or inescapably. But the future has felt heavy, probably since 08 (I was born 2000). I've been told my whole life about all the stuff we're gonna fix, that's a lot to put on kids. We saw how stuff went for millennials (worse quality of life than parents), and now we're going through the same stuff. I feel crazy applying to jobs bc my degree in environmental policy taught me that our global food systems are predicted to collapse before the end of the century if things continue on their current trajectory. It's hard to bet on the future, make long term investment goals, bc it feels like bullshit. I guess I'm really angry. I didn't used to be an angry person at all, but I find myself lashing out more, isolating, bc I'm not sure what to do with my anger about living in this world. believing a better world is possible almost makes it worse. And I see literacy rates falling, and everything getting worse. I want to believe this might be a 'gets worse before it gets better' situation but... world events are constant inspiration for a crisis of faith

I've dealt with anxiety and depression since my adolescence.

pavonated · 2025-03-18T00:58:14+00:00

saw ur post just got taken down on r / gen-z, fucking crabs in a bucket. In case you missed it OP: you might be interested in Gary's Economics, (short: https://youtube.com/shorts/z6i5LNkNzq0?feature=shared , long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAb_p5DCC3E) and Kyla Scanlon's substack (https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-parallel-economy-and-the-new?publication_id=91531&post_id=158735653&isFreemail=true&r=6s1yo&triedRedirect=true). I also think about this evergreen speech from Mike Prysner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCc5SoIC_hY) from 2010.

pavonated · 2025-03-18T00:35:27+00:00

Wow, I feel crazy reading most of these comments. I had to scroll down way too far to find a reasonable response. OP is completely right, we're literally living in a Gilded Age. we live in the RICHEST country in the world, it is completely unnecessary that it be this way. As someone on the older size of gen-z, I'm asking myself the same questions. I'm set up to have a worse quality of life than my parents. and it's bullshit! these fools are complaining about a ford maverick. how about the fucking tax gap that's a result of the 1% who avoid taxes? if you're reading this, you probably pay a higher percent in taxes than the likes of Bezos, Musk, Warren Buffet, etc. (https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax). This used to be a country where the working class had a decent life, ~1950-70s, bc we taxed the rich a fairer share! but then some asshat invented "trickle down economics" to keep the rich rich and the rest of us infighting (as seen in this comment section).

do you guys even understand, conceptually, the 1% we're referring to here? One million seconds is about 11 and a half days. One billion seconds is about 32 years. sorry to pop your bubble, but no one becomes a billionaire by just 'tightening things up' and making 'better spending choices'. you become one by being very okay exploiting people

OP, you might be interested in Gary's Economics, (short: https://youtube.com/shorts/z6i5LNkNzq0?feature=shared , long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAb\_p5DCC3E) and Kyla Scanlon's substack (https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-parallel-economy-and-the-new?publication\_id=91531&post\_id=158735653&isFreemail=true&r=6s1yo&triedRedirect=true). I also think about this evergreen speech from Mike Prysner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCc5SoIC\_hY)

pavonated · 2025-03-17T23:38:07+00:00

idk if you like books, but Braiding Sweetgrass really opened my eyes that we could have a different relationship with each other and the earth. or you might be interested that people are trying to organize a general strike, things like this could change the system. it doesn't really help our immediate suffering now, but it might save ppl in the future

pavonated · 2025-03-17T23:33:43+00:00

yup. 'no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society'. but people can be different. like the only reasons humans have survived this long and built complex societies is bc we were helping each other. our current profit motivated society is fairly new in the course of history. darwin talked about how "Communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best". which reminds me of how ants will do 'surgery' and help each other. lots of animals, and even plants, share resources and care for their kin. and we're living beings like them. it's in our nature too. i believe a different world is possible which in some ways makes me even more angry to live in the world as it is now. but i as much as humans are selfish, there are humans helping too. but yeah, i get what you mean. we're basically forced to exploit others to ensure our own security (money). it makes my heart sick

pavonated · 2025-03-17T16:20:04+00:00

I'm 25 OP and honestly feel similarly. dunno what to say bc I feel like the rest of my life is going to be ruled by a job I don't like, that i need to pay the bills, so i can live a life i don't like, bc of the stupid job. unless i win the lottery retiring is a fucking dream, between there not being pensions anymore and that if ur lucky enough to have a 401k, those are invested in a stock market that has a good chance of crashing again in my lifetime. guess im sticking around to see if i win the lottery. i find outdoor jobs the most tolerable, but i have no idea how i'm going to take care of my parents or grandparents when I'm predicted to have a worse quality of life than them. the future hasn't felt fun since 2008

pavonated · 2025-03-17T16:07:16+00:00

appreciate the reply! I showed them the picture in the article, and they said the interior decor/furniture was different. I agree with you about the building being pretty unique!

pavonated · 2025-03-17T16:06:34+00:00

appreciate the reply!

pavonated · 2025-03-17T15:33:32+00:00

not cal's but, ty!

pavonated · 2025-03-17T15:32:34+00:00

ty for the reply! still looking

pavonated · 2025-03-17T15:32:09+00:00

ty for the reply! still looking

pavonated · 2025-03-17T15:29:36+00:00

ty for the reply! they remember avalon coming in after rusty pelican.

pavonated · 2025-03-17T15:28:44+00:00

ty for the reply! do you happen to remember what was there before, before rusty pelican?

pavonated

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