It definitely seems like a lot of people think the future is bleak, though most people feeling that way have no idea what things were like 100 years ago.

My grandparents grew up on farms with 10+ siblings and left school after grade 8. They lived in tiny houses with multiple kids packed into a single room. They worked heavy manual labour on the farm and in forestry. It was very common for young children to die of the flu or measles or the common cold. My grandfather’s little brother died as a child. They had no idea whatsoever that the future was going to be as good as things are now, so it’s hard to say they had any more to look forward to than we do now.

They also had 2 world wars in their future, and for all the war we have going on right now, we’re fortunate that it isn’t even close to as bad as the world wars of the 20th century. Climate change is definitely a legitimate thing to worry about, but it’s really hard to predict how much it will affect any of us individually.