Green-notebooks - Untitled

Vegans of tumblr, listen up. Harvesting agave in the quantities required so you dont have to eat honey is killing mexican long-nosed bats. They feed off the nectar and pollinate the plants. They need the agave. You want to help the environment? Go back to honey. Your liver and thyroid will thank you, as well. Agave is 90% fructose, which can cause a host of issues. Bye.

15 September 2020: Largest remaining Arctic ice shelf falling apart.

August 2020: Last intact ice shelf within Canadian borders falls apart.

Between July 30 and August 4, the Milne Ice Shelf collapsed into the Arctic Ocean. As Canada’s last fully intact ice shelf, it was estimated to have shrunk the remaining mass by 43 percent, losing more than 30 square miles of land area, which is bigger than the size of Manhattan. […] Located in Canada’s largest and northernmost territory, Nunavut, the shelf is thought to have collapsed mostly because of above-normal temperatures for the region during July 2020, 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the established 30-year average. [Text from NOAA press release. “Canada’s Milne Ice Shelf Collapses.” 12 August 2020.]

'Deep Democracy' — A Cure For Climate Change And Economic Inequality?

October 21, 2017, Marin Country, CA.—Why has society not been able to solve the climate crisis? How can the crisis be an opportunity to reduce econ...

McGhee attributed the nation’s failure to solve climate change to those who have been in power for the past 40 years and used a culture of racism to foster national divisions along racial, religious, economic, and gender lines.

That fact that a full-blown climate crisis has been allowed to develop, she said, “in full view for over a generation, is as clear a sign as any that we do not have a functioning democracy where the public interest can prevail.”

“Only in a broken democracy,” McGhee declared, “can big fossil fuel companies be allowed to put their next quarter’s profits ahead of the next generation’s existence.”

“Capitalism is writing the rules for democracy,” she stated, “and not the other way around.” According to McGhee, “Climate change is the result of social, economic, and political inequality.”

You know what line gets me every time I watch MAD MAX FURY ROAD? 

“Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence.”

Think about that. “Addicted to water.” It makes it sound like water is an extra luxury that people don’t need but are greedy for, something they should be able to go without, and if they are desperate for it, it’s their own fault, and not the fault of the man who has all of it, and withholds it.

Think about how the people in power tell us not to be greedy for the things we need, like healthcare, like a living wage, like the right to be free of fear and violence in our own communities. The people in power tell us not to be greedy for these things, when they themselves already enjoy them freely, and withhold them from us.

Don’t trust the narrative that tells us we’re being greedy by asking for things that we need.

Don’t trust the asshole sitting on a grassy hilltop with his hand on the spigot telling us not to be greedy for water.

You know of any examples of wintry Solarpunk?

I’m not sure how all of the logistics would work (I’m more of a sociology guy than a STEM guy), but I don’t see why a colder climate wouldn’t be able to take advantage of renewable energy sources – geothermal and perfected solar technology and such.

Aesthetically, you’d probably end up with something very similar to the “Northern Lights glass igloos” in Finland:

Maybe connect all the igloos with a tunnel/tube system and have them all link up to a big hub at the center. Maybe the hub has advanced solar panels and sits on a geothermal hot spot, and the energy accumulated there could power the surrounding homes and buildings. 

People can and should add to this, because my winter solarpunk imagination is a tad limited. 

But seriously, when we got our property, it was all just…grass. A sterile grass moonscape, like a billion other yards. With two big old maple trees. Just grass and maples, that was it. 

But then I got my grubby little paws on it, and I immediately stopped fertilizing, spraying, and bagging up grass clippings and leaves. I ripped up sod and put in flowers and vegetables. I put down nice thick blankets of mulch around the flowers and vegetables. 

When I first was sweating my way through stripping sod, I saw a grand total of 1 worm and 0 ladybugs. The ground was compacted into something that would bend shovel blades. 

Now, six years later, I can’t dig a planting hole without turning up fourteen earthworms, and there are so many ladybugs here. Not the invasive asian lady beetles; native ladybugs. They winter over in the mulch and in the brush pile. I see thousands of them. 

The soil is soft and rich. There are birds that come to eat, and bees of many sorts.

Like this is something that you, yourself, can absolutely change. This is something that you, personally, can make a difference in.

What if, instead of tropical fish tanks, you had a live video stream of a section of coral reef? Every time you “fed” the fish, it would be a button you clicked to donate to the reef’s protection. As more you “feed” the fish, you’re granted more access to other reefs. And nightvision cameras are included so you can see your wild pets at night too without disturbing them with harsh lighting.

Perfect for folks like me who love fish, but do not love cleaning tanks.

USA TODAY

Scientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning.

The world's whitest paint has been created in a lab at Purdue, a paint so white that it could eventually reduce the need for air conditionin

Wake up kids, new extreme paint dropped