Is the world a complete dumpster fire or are we just so inundated by media that we’re all being paranoid?

Well, maybe it’s a little bit of both…

Whatever the case, there are a lot of concerning things going on these days that most folks out there don’t know about…UNTIL NOW.

Check out what these folks had to say on AskReddit.

Keep an eye on it.

“Habitat loss and the destruction of wetlands.

Caring about these things aren’t just tree huggers doing tree hugger ****, it’s extremely terrifying and it affects us in so many ways in the long term.

Destroying peatlands alone releases 1.3 gigatonnes of CO2 annually and contributes to over 5% of global CO2 emissions. It also destroys the ability to absorb carbon (86 to 216 metric tonnes per acre) and destroys local water tables and their ability to filter water.

That stuff can’t be restored (well, it’s beyond extremely hard to do so) once it’s gone, it’s gone. “

Yikes.

“AI video is taking off, to the point where in many cases AI generated or edited film looks almost completely indistinguishable from real videos.

Not just that, but it can be stitched together with real videos in a way that subtly but dramatically changes the narrative.

The idea that the average person will have access to this tech will be incredibly disruptive across the entertainment industry, politics, law enforcement, really every aspect of society in which video plays an important role .”

FYI.

“Loss of plankton.

People always talk about losing forests and our oxygen supply but, plankton makes the vast majority of the oxygen on the planet.

And that’s not even touching base on the ecological effects since plankton is the base of the food chain in the oceans.

Gonna be total chaos if the plankton go away.”

A scary thought.

“Nothing is being done to secure and harden our power grid as the infrastructure ages and demand continues to rise.

Attacks on substations continue to rise every year causing major blackouts in some cases.

Try to imagine the chaos that could result from a cascading series of substation failures that leads to weeks or months long nationwide power outage.”

Divided.

“In the US today there are two different realities.

We don’t agree on what is real and true, versus what was invented by someone and spread around masquerading as truth. It’s very puzzling to me, and I don’t see how we’re going to work our way out of it.

Each reality has its views of the future, and they are very different. I’ve known political parties to disagree enthusiastically over differences in policy decisions, but this isn’t that.

It’s a whole different reality complete with its own history, with different heroes and villains, different facts, and it just keeps on unfolding, with each side ‘knowing’ wildly different facts on the same subject. It’s crazy and frightening.”

Not good.

“Mergers and acquisitions.

Over the past 40 years, thousands of independent companies have been bought out and absorbed by large, monopolistic corporations.

I’d guess that at least 80% of the products the average person purchases are owned by half a dozen companies.

This is very bad for quality and competition.”

Hopeless.

“Believing there’s no hope for the future.

People are letting themselves be programmed to believe the world is ending and we just have to wait for it because it’s too late.

And I’ll just get downvoted because it’s so sunk in at this point that people genuinely believe we have to accept the literal end of mankind rather than try any alternative whatsoever.”

Pay attention!

“Literally everything about pollution and global warming.

While it could be an anomaly, this february was the hottest february in my region in recorded history, up to 20 C.

If that wasnt a sign that the climate is going to absolute ****, then i dont know what will be.”

The choice.

“Many states are moving toward school choice programs, which on paper is fine.

Some states, like Indiana for example, are planning on offering a no-questions asked $7,000 a year check to people who want to home school their kids. Just tell the state you are homeschooling and cash your check.

I am not opposed to school choice. I just think that if public schools are accountable for academic performance due to receiving government money, then homeschools, charter schools, and private schools should be held to the same standards.”

Waterways.

“Where I live in Missouri, the hog farms dump into the largest creek system making it unusable.

We aren’t supposed to fish or swim in the rivers or creeks now. I know many people who depend on the rivers and creeks for their livelihood, either by hosting float trips or from guiding fishing.

It is because of e.coli poisoning in the water. I don’t know much about water contamination but I assume it means our drinking water isn’t safe either.”

Sure seems like it.

“We are forgetting how to fight, hunt, farm, navigate, build, even how to pay attention.

All because we stopped looking at the world around us cause we can’t look up from our phone.”

Those all sound very concerning…

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.