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sigh I've lived with family members who have hand-wavy opinions like this. I also have the unique-ish experience of having been part of a charismatic Christian cult in my earlier life that was constantly hand wringing about the end of the world. There were weekly "prophecies" about Armageddon due to gay rights, peak oil, financial system collapse, abortion, anything-we-don't-like-understand-or-are-uncomfortable-with, etc.

One thing that was burned into my mind from this experience is that human beings' ability to divine the future is significantly limited as the time horizon moves to the right. You might be able to predict what is going to happen tomorrow, next week or even next year with some accuracy, but as soon as the timeline extends beyond that, there are simply too many variables to predict what will happen with too much accuracy.

My father has been predicting/prophesying global collapse of the financial system "next year" for 20 years now. It may happen due to climate change or nuclear war or pandemic or asteroid impact or or or or....but it sure as hell won't be because he prophesied it. Climate change is a serious risk and it needs to be addressed but being fatalistic about it is a completely self-destructive and incorrect approach.

In the meantime, because my father has refused to save for retirement, take care of his physical health, or pay off his mortgage due to "the world collapsing next year", he is now living in near destitution with a life-threatening illness, and no retirement money. This is a man who used to make a million dollars a year as an HP consultant in the 90s/00s. It can happen to anyone.

Mindset matters. Don't ignore risk but fatalism helps no one, least of all, yourself.