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> the world wasn't ending. We grew up in the 90s and early noughts, when ya, there were problems, but they all seemed containable Here are some things I rememb

> the world wasn't ending. We grew up in the 90s and early noughts, when ya, there were problems, but they all seemed containable Here are some things I remember from that time off the top of my head: We were on the brink of environmental collapse as CFCs were destroying the ozone layer Acid rain was going to destroy lakes, trees, rivers, eventually killing us all HIV was not well understood and very very scary Waco/Branch Davidians siege The Oklahoma City bombing The Unabomber Desert Storm The Bosnian War of course, 9/11 > It seemed like the adults generally knew what they were doing, and could be counted on the to the right thing. I wager that's an artifact of youth, it seems to me we all think the times when we grew up were easy to understand, everything's going great, etc.

rdiddly 7y ago
And the world was going to end at the stroke of midnight Jan 1 2000. There was a real and palpable undercurrent of apocalyptism in the zeitgeist.
- Domenic_S 7y ago
  Of course, how could I forget Y2K?
  - rdiddly 7y ago
    Cuz it was so forgettable! ka-zinnggg!
- weaksauce 7y ago
  I remember talking to my fundamentalist Christian friend in high school who literally said his last goodbyes to his friends. The next time I saw him was awkward.
  - krapp 7y ago
    Did he join the Seventh Day Adventists?
taberiand 7y ago
All of this pales in comparison to the coming devastation of climate change and the global pollution crisis, which actually should be included in that 90's list as well - and the 80's, and 70's...
redwards510 7y ago
Don't forget killer bees!
nixpulvis 7y ago
It's honestly not that there are issues, as you have mentioned, there have always been. In fact we're a lot better off on almost all fronts than hundreds of years ago. It's that we aren't making any progress, and generally are moving the wrong way. There will never be a lack of issues to tackle. It's "how" we tackle them that defines our era. And as far as I've seen, we do a lot more arguing and debating about what we're talking about than we do fixing problems in the real world, myself included.
hiram112 7y ago
> We were on the brink of environmental collapse as CFCs were destroying the ozone layer I'd probably be ridiculed by most of the younger crowd here for my views on global warming, I mean climate change, but as someone who distinctly remembers the nonstop warnings of the Ozone Layer - we're all gonna die - I just don't put much energy into worrying about the latest issues related to the environment. Part of me knows that I'm probably underestimating the actual problem, but I've been hearing warnings for years that never amounted to anything. I wonder if this is why the boomers, who were literally practicing nuclear bomb safety in school (much like school shootings now) and have had another few decades of dire warnings that never materialized, are even more unlikely to care about the environment or much else about which the younger generations are so fearful.
- refurb 7y ago
  This is a very insightful comment! When all you've heard for the past 40 years is the end of the world is around the corner, and that doesn't turn out to be true, you start to tune it out.
  - ryandrake 7y ago
    Yup, I’m over 40 and there’s definitely a “Boy who cried wolf” effect in play here. I’m tired of having to be constantly outraged about the latest environment disaster that’s sure to kill us all this time!
    - atq2119 7y ago
      Except that unlike in the story, there really were wolves, and we managed to take them down. CFCs and the ozone layer are a good example: there was a wolf, there was decisive action because people listened to the warnings, and we managed to beat the wolf. Carbon emissions are an entirely different scale of problem though because so much of our economies is built on them.
  - drjesusphd 7y ago
    Do you realize that acid rain and ozone depletion aren't problems anymore because the government fixed them?
drjesusphd 7y ago
> Acid rain was going to destroy lakes, trees, rivers, eventually killing us all At that time, we had a functioning government that (relatively) promptly intervened to implement a cap and trade policy on sulfur emissions.

rdiddly 7y ago

And the world was going to end at the stroke of midnight Jan 1 2000. There was a real and palpable undercurrent of apocalyptism in the zeitgeist.

Domenic_S 7y ago
Of course, how could I forget Y2K?
- rdiddly 7y ago
  Cuz it was so forgettable! ka-zinnggg!
weaksauce 7y ago
I remember talking to my fundamentalist Christian friend in high school who literally said his last goodbyes to his friends. The next time I saw him was awkward.
- krapp 7y ago
  Did he join the Seventh Day Adventists?

taberiand 7y ago

All of this pales in comparison to the coming devastation of climate change and the global pollution crisis, which actually should be included in that 90's list as well - and the 80's, and 70's...

redwards510 7y ago

Don't forget killer bees!

nixpulvis 7y ago

It's honestly not that there are issues, as you have mentioned, there have always been. In fact we're a lot better off on almost all fronts than hundreds of years ago. It's that we aren't making any progress, and generally are moving the wrong way. There will never be a lack of issues to tackle. It's "how" we tackle them that defines our era. And as far as I've seen, we do a lot more arguing and debating about what we're talking about than we do fixing problems in the real world, myself included.

hiram112 7y ago

> We were on the brink of environmental collapse as CFCs were destroying the ozone layer I'd probably be ridiculed by most of the younger crowd here for my views on global warming, I mean climate change, but as someone who distinctly remembers the nonstop warnings of the Ozone Layer - we're all gonna die - I just don't put much energy into worrying about the latest issues related to the environment. Part of me knows that I'm probably underestimating the actual problem, but I've been hearing warnings for years that never amounted to anything. I wonder if this is why the boomers, who were literally practicing nuclear bomb safety in school (much like school shootings now) and have had another few decades of dire warnings that never materialized, are even more unlikely to care about the environment or much else about which the younger generations are so fearful.

refurb 7y ago
This is a very insightful comment! When all you've heard for the past 40 years is the end of the world is around the corner, and that doesn't turn out to be true, you start to tune it out.
- ryandrake 7y ago
  Yup, I’m over 40 and there’s definitely a “Boy who cried wolf” effect in play here. I’m tired of having to be constantly outraged about the latest environment disaster that’s sure to kill us all this time!
  - atq2119 7y ago
    Except that unlike in the story, there really were wolves, and we managed to take them down. CFCs and the ozone layer are a good example: there was a wolf, there was decisive action because people listened to the warnings, and we managed to beat the wolf. Carbon emissions are an entirely different scale of problem though because so much of our economies is built on them.
- drjesusphd 7y ago
  Do you realize that acid rain and ozone depletion aren't problems anymore because the government fixed them?

drjesusphd 7y ago

> Acid rain was going to destroy lakes, trees, rivers, eventually killing us all At that time, we had a functioning government that (relatively) promptly intervened to implement a cap and trade policy on sulfur emissions.