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For folks in more "liberal" areas who haven't previously encountered bigoted graffiti, let's talk about what to do when that happens. (Because you can't assume that "someone" will do something. "Someone" has to be you.)

First, be prepared. Keep some large stickers and a wide tip sharpie in your bag / jacket / car.

If you encounter hate graffiti (most likely a swastika or short slogan) that has been markered onto a surface like a bathroom stall, for example a swastika or slogan, use the sharpie to render it illegible. Don't get fancy, get it done quick and move on.

You may also encounter hate flyers or stickers on the backs of signs. This is where the stickers come in handy. Again the goal is to cover the bigotry quickly and move on. (This is a "fly casual" situation, so make sure you keep your cool. )

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE HATE FLYERS OR STICKERS WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.

Sometimes, razor blades may be hidden behind to injure anyone trying to remove the sticker/ flyer. Not often, but often enough that you shouldn't fuck around, lest you find out.

I also do not recommend using a credit card to try to scrape the sticker off. Not because it's unsafe, but because it's very easy to snap your card in half that way.

Take action, but stay safe.

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in the spirit of diy or die I'd like to remind yall that there's people, usually small local businesses whose is literally fix clothing

I had a pair of boots that i wore religiously almost every day for five years; had the soles fixed twice by a shoesmaker for less than half of what a new pair would've cost

almost alm of my zippers have broken at least once, local seamstress fixes them for like 10 bucks

yes, making your clothes yourself is good - both in spirit and economically speaking - but you can still pay people for fixes you can't do yourself. it's still punk af to support small traders

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Finally - some good news!

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Stephanie Foo, What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

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Forest Homes. Written by Vitali Bianki. Drawings by Maĭ Miturich. 1979.

Internet Archive

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Super tiny Mycena Roseoflava.

Photographed by cyanesense

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"More than three-quarters of UK universities have pledged to exclude fossil fuel companies from their investment portfolios, according to campaigners.

The move, which is part of a wider drive to limit investment in fossil fuels, follows years of campaigning by staff and students across the higher education sector.

The student campaign group People & Planet announced on Friday that 115 out of 149 UK universities had publicly committed to divest from fossil fuels – meaning £17.7bn-worth of endowments are now out of reach of the fossil fuel industry.

Laura Clayson, from People & Planet, said it would have been unthinkable a decade ago that so many institutions had formally refused to invest in fossil fuels.

“That we can celebrate this today is down to the generations of students and staff that have fought for justice in solidarity with impacted communities. The days of UK universities profiteering from investments in this neo-colonial industry are over.”

People & Planet set up the Fossil Free universities campaign in 2013. As part of its efforts the group has highlighted the “struggles and voices” of communities on the frontline of the climate crisis in an attempt to bring home the real-world impact of investment decisions made by UK universities.

Clayson said: “The demand for fossil-free came from frontline communities themselves and it is an act of solidarity from global north organisers campaigning on this … We have a responsibility to speak the lived experiences of the communities resisting these inequalities into megaphones at protests and in negotiations within university boardrooms, to highlight their stories of struggle in spaces so often detached from the reality of everyday life on the frontlines.”

One of the projects highlighted by the campaign is the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) – a mega project that would stretch almost 900 miles from the Lake Albert region of Uganda to the coast in Tanzania, and release vast amounts of planet-heating carbon.

The pipeline is being built in spite of local opposition, and there are reports that protesters and critics have been met with state violence. Hundreds of student organisers have been involved in the struggle.

Ntambazi Imuran Java, the lead coordinator at the Stop EACOP Uganda campaign, said its members appreciated the efforts of UK students to bring an end to universities’ fossil fuel investments.

“[This] supports those who have worked tirelessly to stop deadly extraction projects like EACOP … Regardless of the arrests and violations on the activists, students’ activists and communities, we continue to demand for the Uganda authorities to stop the project and instead invest in renewables.”

People & Planet said four UK institutions – Birmingham City University, Glasgow School of Art, Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Bradford – had recently incorporated fossil fuel exclusions into their ethical investment policies, meaning 115 out of 149 UK universities have publicly committed to divest from fossil fuels.

Later this month, the group will group will unveil its latest university league table that ranks institutions by their ethical and environmental performance. Campaigners say they will then increase pressure on the remaining 34 UK universities yet to go fossil-free."

-via The Guardian, December 2, 2024

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"Trans Joy is Resistance"

Graffiti & poster spotted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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When I say I am not waiting for revolution, I mean Im planting things secretly at bus stops, and shoveling snow out of the way of crosswalks. I mean it in a way where neighbors are stocking community fridges and harvesting in community gardens. Little libraries and strangers giving you shoes bc they couldnt return them. I mean ppl swapping stuff or loaning it out to neighbors theyve just met. I mean it in a way where a friend who can sew asks me to mend something and a week late brings me cookies as thanks. I mean it in the way a friend makes a playlist for you and it truly brighten your day. These tiny acts of defiance against cruelty and profit are their own  revolutions. And they catch like kindling, small going at first you might not even know that flames there. Than suddenly all at once catching, burning in the darkness of the night.

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You might think switching to an electric vehicle is the natural step. In fact, for short trips, an electric bike or moped might be better for you – and for the planet. That’s because these forms of transport – collectively known as electric micromobility – are cheaper to buy and run.

But it’s more than that – they are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their staggering uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport.

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“I forgive people but that doesn’t mean I accept their behavior or trust them again. I forgive them for me, so I can let go and move on with my life.”

— Unknown

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Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (2018), dir. Arwen Curry

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A least Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) sings at Taylor Yard on March 22. California placed this songbird on its endangered species list in 1980, but this rare vireo has recently returned to central L.A. thanks to habitat restoration and the return of the natural riparian ecosystem along a section of the Los Angeles River. Alecia Smith / Audubon California

Excerpt from this story from the Smithsonian Magazine:

Along a gentle bend of the Los Angeles River, in a stretch of land called Taylor Yard, a sound like a high-pitched record scratch can just be heard above the cacophony of city life. This is the call of the least Bell’s vireo, an olive-gray songbird that is only five inches from tip to tail. The riparian species native to Southern California has lived an endangered existence for more than 40 years. Now, the small bird’s return here symbolizes a new future for one of the country’s most maligned waterways.

Before the concrete tide of urbanization washed over the Los Angeles River Basin, the river-fed wetland that was here represented the perfect habitat for this rare species. But for the past century, this area was one of the largest rail yards in the region, and as an expanding city grew right up to the river’s now concrete-laden banks, the vireo all but disappeared.

Until, suddenly, it returned. The 2007 creation of Rio de Los Angeles State Park, which is itself part of the sprawling rail yard, set the stage. In the early 2010s someone reported hearing the vireo’s memorable call. A few years later, a photo captured a vireo mid-song, and in 2022 a nesting pair took refuge in a tree. This year, the news was even better.

“We actually saw fledglings,” says Evelyn Serrano, the director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park in Los Angeles. “We saw the nest and we saw the babies, so we were very excited. It’s tough to survive in an urban environment when you’re a little bird like that, but it’s definitely possible.”

The return of the least Bell’s vireo shows what’s possible along a more natural Los Angeles River, and Taylor Yard represents the city’s largest opportunity to create vital habitat for many of its vulnerable endemic species. For years, a partnership of government groups and nonprofits has pushed to make the remaining 100 acres of the abandoned rail yard the “crown jewel” of L.A.’s river restoration project. The resulting collective, known as the 100 Acre Partnership, hopes to complete the restoration by 2028, which is just in time for the L.A. Olympic Games. The project is just the latest effort to create a new vision of Los Angeles that’s been in the works for nearly a century.