Hi and welcome

The internet is rife with conspiracy theorists who go on about the economy collapsing any day. You can pretty much find stuff online that supports ANY idea.. I mean there are people who deny the Holocaust It's easy to fall down the rabbit hole if you spend too much time on there.

That said, I do think things are getting bad and the way we are living is completely unsustainable. It won't happen overnight but the environment is in big trouble. Ironically the conspiracy theorists deny climate change as well.. Apparently the government can control the weather lol. I saw Henry Rollins a few months ago and he spent time in Antarctica. He asked the scientists there what they would tell the general population and they replied that climate change is way worse than people realise.

So I think it's quite understandable that young people feel anxious and depressed about the future. But instead of worrying, which as you say is unproductive, you can try and help change things. I don't think there's going to be some big apocalypse where we all die overnight - more of a gradual decline.

You can still have a meaningful life, but the definition of "success" needs to change significantly. I was watching some stuff on YouTube the other night by Russ Harris who wrote The Happiness Trap which is about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and he was talking about the difference between goals and values. Basically we're taught to constantly strive for things and achieving them is the definition of success. But he proposed that we can live a fulfilling life based more on values eg integrity and authenticity in the here and now. I thought that was really interesting. The goal of ACT is not to be "happy" but to be "fulfilled". So instead of spending your life chasing happiness, which is always fleeting, you learn to deal with negative feelings and be "real". Then there are things like compassion which add to fulfilment in life.

Ok, I digressed a bit there but hopefully you get the gist of what I'm on about

Cheers,
Gypsy x