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If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.

Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.

We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.

The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.

Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.

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I don’t think anime vs western animation are as different as people claim due to the fact they have inspired and fed off each other for decades (they’re friends!!), however I do think our environmental messages to kids are… significantly and interestingly different

whereas, say Ghibli films express a deep Shinto-based respect and reverence for nature:

fighting for it as a means of both self-preservation and expression of heroism revolving around justice

and a matter of other groups of humans (the government often) going up against the stalwart youth

This is contrasted to western animation which tends to be like…. hey! look at this funny bat! And pollution is an evil spirit you can fight like physically 

that isn’t to say the west doesn’t depict environmentalism as heroic and even involving collective action, Captain Planet is a good example of this

but individualism is still very present, the struggle is stalwart youths versus an individual or individual corporation, hell, sometimes you even get a sympathetic backstory for the corporation and weirdly cool rock song

to be clear, antagonists like Lady Eboshi in Princess Mononoke are sympathetic too, but it is… different, Lady Eboshi is trying to survive due to circumstances but it is all of Irontown that represents a system of corruption

In comparison, there is this western idea of corruption coming from individuals rather than systems as well as the fact they aren’t trying to save nature because we are part of it, but because nature itself is a person and thus worthy of respect

In Fern Gully the fairy’s represent nature, the Lorax represents nature, Captain Planet is literally just nature, all things we can talk to and relate to, where in Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa the ultimate nature spirits are something you can’t talk to and are frankly terrifying, awe-inspiring, and mighty

Western epistemology is heavily rooted in Christianity which says that man has dominion over fish of the sea, fowl of the air, and creatures of the land, ect, which leads to a utilitarian and separate view of nature– what can it do for us as separate (higher) beings, and the only way to combat this view is to say “actually nature is a person and thus worthy of protection”

Whereas Japanese Shintoism has much more emphasis on the idea that we are all part of a whole with nature, nature is the ultimate divine with nothing more important than the other, and something worthy of protection not because we can understand it, but because we can’t

“It’s a mistake to think about nature from the idea of efficiency, that forests should be preserved because they are essential to human beings”– Hayao Miyazaki

this is not to completely bash western animation, it does have other strengths such as emphasizing children’s relationship to empathy, empathy toward others in “Toy Story” and empathy toward themselves in “Inside Out” 

However, our methods of conveying environmentalism could use some updating and steering away from “goofy” and “relatable” and maybe a little more terror and awe involved with fighting the good fight

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#SaveTheTrees

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since microplastics have now been found in plACENTAS allow me to reiterate: 

faux fur is plastic

pleather literally has plastic in the name

synthetic wool is plastic

stop implying that plastic is good for anything.

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The planet can support billions but not billionaires.

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If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.

Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.

We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.

The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.

Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.

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New comic: How To Stop Birds From Hitting Your Windows. It’s easier than you think! I made this with my friends at FLAP Canada. Their Global Bird Rescue event starts October 5.

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One would assume that as cities become more dense they must also become less green and more devoid of nature, but a new study using satellite images shows that doesn’t have to be the case.

Much to the surprise of everyone, cities in Denmark have actually become significantly greener from 1995-2015 even as they have simultaneously also become much more dense. These green spaces help clean the air, absorb CO2, and provide habitat for small lifeforms, as well as having mental and physical benefits for the people who live there.

While the preservation of wild, undeveloped places is vitally important, it’s also important to remember that cities can also contain useful pockets of nature and biodiversity.

Thanks to @weiila​ for sending this in!

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please help: save Indiana’s wetlands #opposeSB389

I have no practice writing calls to action, but no one else is coming forward and it’s almost too late, so here goes.

Indiana state senators have recently introduced a bill (sb389) that would repeal the Isolated Wetlands Program and strip protection for nearly a third of our scant remaining wetlands.

If this bill goes through (which it will in the next few days, without significant public pushback) it will be an enormous and irreparable blow to Indiana’s future, environmental stability, and natural resources. Wetland ecosystems are unparalleled in their biodiversity and home to countless rare and threatened species—and are also essential to floodwater mitigation, climate stability, and the filtration of contaminants from groundwater.

If you are an Indiana resident, please call your local representatives (find them here) and ask them to oppose SB389. If you are not an Indiana resident, please reblog and tell friends and family who might live in the state to speak up.

To learn more information before you call, visit these sites for additional context:

Indiana Native Plants

Indiana Wildlife

Hoosier Environmental Council

Indianapolis Star article on the bill

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dandelions deserve more respect than they get

you say “weeds” I say “widespread non-native edible plant and early-blooming pollinator resource that is not considered invasive because it behaves politely and does not cause deleterious ecological consequences”

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Did I post this yet? It’s a series of informative maps about enbridge line 3 pipeline. 

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Dusk at Ulster Heights Wetlands by Gerald Berliner