Declining baselines (a.k.a. shifting baselines) is a concept describing how each generation accepts the degraded state of the environment—or any system—as the new normal, forgetting or never knowing how much better things once were.
Occurs when people’s perception of what is “normal” or “healthy” steadily erodes over time because the standard they use for comparison keeps shifting downward.
“Shifting baselines lull societies into accepting diminishment as progress. When each generation forgets what was, collapse can look like continuity.” – Jeremy Lent