"Republicans’ Closing Message: We Lie to You
Fear wasn’t enough, so they are campaigning on falsehoods.
...political lies are the campaign now. Republicans no longer use lies as a defensive tool to escape political jams. Spewing falsehoods is now an offensive tactic they all learned from Trump, what Steve Bannon calls “flood[ing] the zone with shit.”
Trump isn’t likely to stop, and neither is Vance.
Prepare yourself for this ugly reality: Every Republican in elected office will be expected to go out and lie again if Trump loses on November 5. And they will do it, even if it causes violence." https://www.thebulwark.com/p/republican-closing-message-2024-we-lie-to-you
#AndrewMillison has a new video about how he made a #polyculture paradise on a small 1/3 acre lot in Western #Oregon: #permaculture #UrbanPermaculture #design #video https://youtu.be/b5Xgw_DqmEw
When lawyers get anxious, they get active? Apply more heat.
Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈
reports:
"A bipartisan American Bar Association task force is calling on lawyers across the country to do more to help protect democracy ahead of the 2024 election, warning the nation faces a serious threat in “rising authoritarianism.”"
Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch, #Michigan’s largest #egg producer, says it will lay off 400 employees in Ionia County as it deals with [the economic results of] an outbreak of #BirdFlu [in farm animals].
https://youtu.be/ZASDlUiaZ0E
#Permaculture instructor #AndrewMillison journeys with the UN World Food Programme to the Northern border of #Senegal to see an innovative land recovery project within the Great Green Wall of #Africa that is harvesting #rainwater, increasing #food security, & rehabilitating the #ecosystem. #restoration https://youtu.be/WCli0gyNwL0
Thanks @ed6b68e2 for publishing this story about Radical Oakland #Permaculture
Permaculture instructor #AndrewMillison journeys to East Oakland, #California, to visit the legendary plant nursery Planting Justice, which primarily hires formerly incarcerated people. They provide a fair wage & benefits to former #prisoners with unbelievable results: a 2% recidivism rate, compared to 60% for the State of California.
The nursery itself has an incredible #diversity of edible and useful #plant species & varieties, custom selected to grow an epic permaculture #garden.
https://youtu.be/_HtYKgXT774
We think of vegetation as stationary and remaining pretty constant. Usually that is true, but when you look closer, especially over long periods, you see how vegetation changes. This article summarizes some of the major changes we are seeing in Alaska's vegetation communities.
"A survey of the recent #ecological literature reveals that #Alaska’s vegetation is already responding in myriad ways to our changing #climate with profound consequences for resident biota. There is copious evidence for both process-related and structural changes being manifested with important and lasting implications for both humans and Alaska’s #ecosystems." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/aps-22-1-3.htm
"Warming has been shown to be a driver of shrinking surface area of wetlands Alaska is becoming a much woodier place as lakes and ponds are encroached upon or replaced by shrubs and trees.
One thing is certain, however, the vegetation changes instigated by a warming and changing climate will exert consequential and far-reaching influences on most of Alaska’s biota including invertebrates, birds, mammals, and humans, among others. This is because plants form the energetic foundations of terrestrial ecosystems (they are the primary base of all food webs) and define the primary structural elements of habitat for most animal species."
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/111/157/947/527/035/032/original/82ddcae6d028c419.png
I get it. NO ONE WANTS TO THINK IT CAN HAPPEN TO THEM. But it absolutely can. You can pick the most perfect place, where you hope you will not be impacted by X or Y #disaster & it will still happen. Because this extreme #weather is something different. And it is only going to get worse."
11. You probably live in your town for a reason - the great schools, the friendly neighbors, the cute little downtown, or the great city resources, the awesome library, the low taxes. Now, the flood comes. Half your neighbors houses were flooded, and now they have mold and long term damage. They have to move out, move away. The houses can't be sold, because no one wants the remediation problem. So now your street has six empty houses on it. Half the businesses were flooded. The first week they all say they will rebuild, but a lot won't - they'll move away. Empty storefronts. Oh, and look, the wing in the school where your kid gets speech services flooded, and now there's no speech for six months.
12. Your property values will be impacted for a decade or more. Your beautiful, dry house on a hill just lost half its value, because even though your house is dry, no one wants to buy in a disaster zone. Hopefully, now you aren't underwater...on your mortgage...
I get it. NO ONE WANTS TO THINK IT CAN HAPPEN TO THEM. But it absolutely can. You can pick the most perfect place, where you hope you will not be impacted by X or Y #disaster and it will still happen. Because this extreme #weather is something different. And it is only going to get worse."
9. Do you have homeowners insurance? Because your insurance rates are going to go way, way up. Or, the insurers may refuse to insure anyone in the region at all. Does it matter that your house didn't flood? Nope.
10. Flooding picks up every contaminant from sewage to chemicals to PCBS and dumps them everywhere. Even if you didn't flood, your soil may now be contaminated, your water may not be safe for weeks, & you may be dealing with chemical aftereffects for years...
11. You probably live in your town for a reason - the great schools, the friendly neighbors, the cute little downtown, or the great city resources, the awesome library, the low taxes. Now, the flood comes. Half your neighbors houses were flooded, and now they have mold and long term damage. They have to move out, move away. The houses can't be sold, because no one wants the remediation problem. So now your street has six empty houses on it. Half the businesses were flooded. The first week they all say they will rebuild, but a lot won't - they'll move away. Empty storefronts. Oh, and look, the wing in the school where your kid gets speech services flooded, and now there's no speech for six months.
12. Your property values will be impacted for a decade or more. Your beautiful, dry house on a hill just lost half its value, because even though your house is dry, no one wants to buy in a disaster zone. Hopefully, now you aren't underwater...on your mortgage...
Sharon Astyk wrote from her home in NY:
"So yesterday I reminded people we are ALL facing regular #flooding events, & of course, a lot of people responded with why that doesn't mean them personally. I get it - I live up on a hill too, quite intentionally. The odds of my personal space flooding ARE lower than my neighbors down the hill. However, that's not really the point.
Having lived through a massive flooding event (Hurricane Irene) up above the worst areas, let's talk about what it is like EVEN for people whose houses don't flood - & why even people on hillsides can have problems.
1. First, being high above sea level does not necessarily mean water will not cause flooding. Sewer backups, can happen even on hills - the water will go where it is most convenient to flow, & it may be more convenient to back into your basement than anywhere else.
2. If the water comes down fast enough, even places that are quite elevated can still have flooding. Also places above YOU may send water in your direction....
3. Being on a hillside during a severe flooding event can be a disaster, as your home begins moving downhill with the water.
4. People on hills still need roads. Flooding can leave you isolated in your home, with no way to get out.
5. People on hills still need the grid, and running water. Those things can be undermined by severe flooding. Is all the infrastructure on hills? Do all the repair people live on hills?
6. People on hills have friends, family and loved ones who do not live on hills. Watching your neighbors drowning or standing on their roofs is not fun.
8. Most downtowns are...well, down on the flatlands of most towns (not all) which means the local businesses you rely on may not be open. Do you need groceries? Medications? Banking? Schools? Hospitals? Do you care about your local economy? The people most likely to be driven out of business are the small business owners and farmers who can't afford to lose everything...
9. Do you have homeowners insurance? Because your insurance rates are going to go way, way up. Or, the insurers may refuse to insure anyone in the region at all. Does it matter that your house didn't flood? Nope.
10. Flooding picks up every contaminant from sewage to chemicals to PCBS and dumps them everywhere. Even if you didn't flood, your soil may now be contaminated, your water may not be safe for weeks, & you may be dealing with chemical aftereffects for years...
@54ea3b55 No it won't, not for a long time. Though, if it will sprout, it needs careful management. The coppice below is ancient and many-stemmed. Trimmed to one stem, the growth can be amazing. I hope they don't remove the stump until they know for certain that it can regrow. That it has struck such a nerve may help more people to care about the fate of trees, like the burned banyan in Maui.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/111/150/706/243/852/054/original/3c4524a6ed9e06f1.jpg
@54ea3b55 No it won't, not for a long time. Though, if it will sprout, it needs careful management. The coppice below is ancient and many-stemmed. Trimmed to one stem, the growth can be amazing. I hope they don't remove the stump until they know for certain that it can regrow. That it has struck such a nerve may help more people to care about the fate of trees, like the burned banyan in Maui.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/111/150/706/243/852/054/original/3c4524a6ed9e06f1.jpg
"Kim Stanley Robinson urges us to imagine the series of actions that could save the world and achieve the future we want, rather than the future we’re bumbling toward. His latest novel, The Ministry for the Future, is a must-read for #climate activists and of real significance to the climate movement. But it’s a good read for anyone, and a riveting fictional introduction to the task of pulling back global warming, the ultimate true-life adventure of our time." https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2021/08/26/imagine-climate-solutions-book#Echobox=1695892745
@32afc0f2 I did an image search and found this source with this caption: "The energy embodied in the production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and consumption of a box of cereal. The lines colored red (oil), blue (natural gas), and electricity (yellow) conceptually illustrate the accumulation of embodied energy and are not correlated to specific values. Source: Post Carbon Institute" https://education.resilience.org/present-food-system/
@32afc0f2 I found both of these on Facebook long ago. An image search might bring up the origins.
The images are both stories about energy. If they are anti-anything they are anti-overconsumption. Also pro-living within the planet's solar budget.
@32afc0f2 I did an image search and found this source with this caption: "The energy embodied in the production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and consumption of a box of cereal. The lines colored red (oil), blue (natural gas), and electricity (yellow) conceptually illustrate the accumulation of embodied energy and are not correlated to specific values. Source: Post Carbon Institute" https://education.resilience.org/present-food-system/
Meme:
"1 A four-hour private flight emits as much CO2 as the average European does in a year. (probably only takes two hours for average USAnians.
2 Private jets are used mostly by the ultra-rich (less than 1% of us)
3 The UN has stated that the richest 1% of the world must reduce their emissions by 97%.
4 Yet the ultra-rich, with their power and influence, continue to fry the planet at our expense."
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/111/139/121/252/171/256/original/fa66d877cee7e923.png
@f4107a68 #Permaculture Magazine, UK. I just found out my UK colleagues joined Mastodon about the same time I did. They're not very active here, so give them a follow to encourage further engagement. (Hi Maddy, or whomever opened this account.)
@ed5703a4@096e66c5 Another good source for info on these kinds of systems. Our #permaculture friend and colleague, Jerome Osentowski at Colorado Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, uses these kinds of greenhouses at 7000 ft. in Basalt CO and also offers design consultation. https://crmpi.org/
@d8e83438 I'm a native 'Yooper'. It IS a beautiful place. I've resettled in the Lower Peninsula, a few miles from Lk MI, and the ecotone is very similar.
Excerpt from the historical novel, The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell, about the #union labor movement in the ore mines of #Michigan's #UpperPeninsula. Gripping & educational
"...money changes everything, Mrs. [Ella] Bloor says firmly. "It changes how you think of yourself, & it changes how people treat you. That's why the rich hold on to every damned penny, long past the point where they know what to do with all their money. They buy bigger & bigger houses stuffed with more & more things. They hire a little army of servants to take care of it all and to say 'yes, ma'am' & 'yes sir.' Every Sunday they go to church, & when Jesus tells them to give all their money to the poor, they drop a few coins on the collection plate. On Monday they go back to their offices to make more money & complain about the cost of labor. You're allowed to ask them for charity, but if you say 'Take less', they'll call you an anarchist."
https://marydoriarussell.net/novels/the-women-of-the-copper-country/https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/111/133/891/287/322/890/original/89cd633ac6ca6eac.png
Kim Stanley Robinson - What I’ve Learned since The Ministry for the Future Came Out in 2020
"His more than 20 award-winning books over 4 decades, translated into some 26 languages, have included many highly influential, international bestselling tomes that brilliantly explore in a wide range of ways the great eco, economic and socio-political crises facing our species, yet nothing had prepared him for the global explosion of interest in his visionary 2020 novel, Ministry for the Future, which projects how a possible #climate-disrupted future might unfold and how the world might respond meaningfully. It’s also chock full of brilliant science and wildly imaginative ways humanity steps up. Stan offers us his overview of where we currently stand in relation to the climate crisis."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POs0APzpkSU&t=622s
2/ ""Forests harbor some 80% of the world’s terrestrial #biodiversity; they support more than a billion people with food, shelter, income, & #energy. And they provide ¾ of the world’s accessible freshwater. Containing over half of the global #carbon stock in #soils & vegetation, forests also support us in combating #climate change." https://www.cbd.int/article/world-forest-day-2024
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