Autism and climate change

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This is probably far fetched. But hear me out.

For those of you who believe in climate change. How do you think it affects us moderately to higher functioning autistics? Life was already hard enough for us. This is a whole other level. Where our understanding of people and the world was not up to par so therefore it was scary and overwhelming and then… BOOM! Climate change! Yet at the same time…

We autistics are very sensitive beings. We naturally connect with nature, animals, and small children. We need a lot of alone time to process things. We simply “be” a lot because we have to calm down and because that is simply who we are. We are very used to and accustomed to many of life’s hardships. It is actually really beautiful in my mind. In some ways, we are actually better than NT’s. We are extremely flexible and adaptable despite how much we suffer in the process. We still live on.

Do you think we may, in some ways, do better than neurotypicals in climate change if it really does get out of hand? I suppose autism is a very wide spectrum just like how neurotypicals are a very wide spectrum themselves. But I just thought I would add some interesting food for thought.

I don't know how I would respond to climate change if it happened, so I'm not sure if I can properly answer your question.

However, I have a weird view on the topic and I'd like to see whether other people feel the same. Most people seem to either believe that climate change is the most important issue facing humanity or they think it's a hoax. I fall somewhere in the middle. I don't know enough about the science to say if it's real, but I don't respond well to the way that it's publicized, both by organizations and individual people. The method seems to be to mention it as frequently as possible in as many places as possible. I'm not talking about what you've posted here, which is an actual discussion of the topic from an angle that isn't usually brought up. What I'm talking about is people constantly dropping the topic into movie and TV scripts, unrelated YouTube videos, unrelated internet posts, etc., etc. This is what I refer to as the "constant nagging" method and it makes me want to avoid the topic rather than engage with it. I'm just wondering if anyone else who isn't already on-board with the "most important issue" view has ever actually been brought around by this method

The UK: We need to help tackle climate change! Maybe you can help!

The UK: *Builds millions of new houses in every piece of land they can*

What the f**k am I meant to do?

The most immediate hard hit folks are those who live on low lying islands because of sea level rise. If you live on the Seychelle islands you may be forced to become a refugee in a foreign country on some continent soon because your whole country is about to sleep with the fishes like a New York mobster.

That would be hard on everyone from that place regardless of neurology.

I tentatively vote that Autistics will do less well than others in climate change.

An often reported characteristic trait of those of us on the Spectrum is being uncomfortable with change. Some results of Climate Change will take decades and so there is time to get used to them. But those local phenomena are already happening and those sometimes count as decidedly sudden, drastic and unpleasant changes  that will even bother NTs but might be more difficult for some Auties to endure.

And, as effects of Climate Change accumulate, might some governments struggle to provide services that some Autistics rely on?

Climate change itself wont effect anyone alive at the moment, even the worst case scenario global temp rise 1-2 degrees on average by the end of the century, which is 79 years away.

Even then life will still flurish, the earth has been hotter and had more CO2 in its recent past (recent by earth standards of a 4.5 billion year old planet).

Efforts to curb climate change is likely to make life harder for poorer people especially those on welfare however, which is most autistic people. Heating, food especially meat products and travel is likely to be more expensive.

This will hit the poor hard

Climate change set startling new heat records and killed hundreds of people in western Canada this year, and even farther east it had me preoccupied with keeping my house and body cool for a whole month, instead of a few odd days. Where the Banff glacier used to flow into beautiful, aquamarine Lake Louise when I was young there is now only a field of rubble. We have been having much larger and more frequent forest fires, and now flooding has cut off Vancouver from the rest of Canada.

In 1977, I made it my vocation to provide healthier, more sustainable options to buying oil, and my aspie talents won world prizes for technical excellence, but were probably a liability when it came to getting the stuff produced.

It depends where it is hit, what kind of livelihoods are involved in the area along with it's own concept of preparedness and resources, and then each individual's concept of preparedness and personal resources.


So I'll based this on the very geography I lived on my whole life --

Somewhere where climate change is very noticeable, where disruption of routine of livelihood is itself a routine, is a bit easier in one particular way -- dealing with anything to do with the uncertainty of natural disasters, regardless of preparedness, in sheer amount of experience.


The rest is either tricky or harder in terms of preparedness itself -- a privileged enough household or neighborhood need not to move or evacuate, nor having to rely on outside sources.
While those who basically barely had a roof above their heads may lose their house every few years or so, and having to depend on support networks and aides to survive.

Not to mention individualized sensitivities. From where I came from, one cannot simply afford to fear the storm and the water.
Unless you're rich enough or can go to the highlands, one would have to know how to tolerate heat. In some regions, drought.



It also varies in lifestyles and livelihoods -- both social and non-social environment.
If one lives in an urbanized, also very stable place, with stable infrastructures and stable rules clock for years long, with little to no knowledge or experience regardless of resources, they'd be in a rude awakening.
If they're informed and with enough resources, they'd likely go overdrive.
And then .. What happens if an entire population is in the same state of overdrive and panic?

How would an autistic compete in that?
A great planner who's more than just informed will likely survive or deal with it better (i.e. being ahead before panic buying starts, etc.), but not those who don't plan and definitely those who cannot execute any plan likely won't.

But how about with someone who lives in survivalist like lifestyle somewhere in the wild? It could be just another day for them.
However, there are obvious prerequisites of having survivalism lifestyle that not everyone can attain whether growing up with it or switching to it -- those who are not simply fit enough, autism or no autism.

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I believe in climate change, and it hurts me. I studied ecology theme so much, and it's a big problem in our world. The government doesn't realize the scale of this question. While studying at the university, I learned a lot about air pollution, and that's so scary to understand that what we breathe may kill us slowly. Sometimes it's hard to find related and actual information on this theme, but I found this resource that helped me see the whole picture. I hope we all will see some moves from our authorities to save our planet.

Man Made Climate Change is a false narrative. The Earth is presently in a great ice age that began around 4 million years ago and we have another 4 to 6 million years to go before we reach an end. Within an ice age there are cold periods where much of the Earth is covered with ice. These are normally called Great Ice Ages. They last for about 100,000 years. In between these periods are warm spells that last around 10,000 years. We are presently in a warm spell that began around 13,000 years ago. It will soon come to an end. The strength of the earth's magnetic field is dropping like a brick. Much of the Earth will again be covered with ice one mile in thickness or greater in thickness and the level of water in the ocean will drop around 400 feet. There will be more severe storms on the Earth. It will be hard to survive in ice ages and as a result there will be a great die off of humans and most forms of life.

But instead of focusing on real problems, much of the world fears ghost.

Heat waves and forest fires have been common throughout our history. For example take the year 1871.

In 1871, a prolonged and widespread drought and high temperature turned the Upper Midwest of the United States into a tinderbox. And then on October 8, a furious storm with extreme gale force winds roared through the Midwest setting off a series of firestorms.

On the evening of October 8, 1871 the worst recorded forest fire in North American history raged through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, destroying millions of dollars worth of property and timberland, and taking between 1,200 and 2,400 lives. The firestorm destroying between 1.2 to 1.5 million acres of forest. This fire later became known as the Great Peshtigo Fire because of the devastation it brought to Peshtigo, Wisconsin. The damage was estimated at $169 million from this massive forest fire. [In present currency, that would be equivalent to $3 billion in damages based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rates.]

How about 1936, and the Dust Bowl?

You are confusing incidents with trends. We didn't have most glaciers in retreat until our own lifetimes. People used to wonder how U shaped valleys were formed; now they are being revealed constantly.