Thank you, Lauren, for this thoughtful assessment. I quite agree that guilt-tripping is counterproductive: no one enjoys having the finger of blame being pointed right at them. (This resentment ironically was the basis of popular appeal that toxic denialists from Rush Limbaugh to Donald Trump have tapped into, in order to build their cult of greed, ignorance, hatred, and denial.)

However, coming up with utopian visions of what we all "should" do is equally useless, since none of us has the power to change the systems that are destroying our planet--our dependence on fossil fuels for easily available net energy; our dependence on money, which, as a zero-su m game on a finite planet, ensures that wealth will steadily accrue into fewer and fewer hands, as in a monopoly game; and the culture of mass consumerism ("To be is to buy") that arose due to both of the above. So collectively, we are doomed--we have doomed ourselves.

So what CAN we do? Grow gardens, grow community, and grow awareness. Invite your neighbors to form garden guilds, learning and teaching one another how to grow food in our own backyards and how to collaborate. Shift our emphasis from what we all SHOULD do (but won't) to what you and your friends and neighbors CAN do starting today, in our own backyards and communities. This may not--probably will not--save the planet or make your future any less terrifying, but at least you'll have new friends and fresh vegetables, and be part of the solution!