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horsescary · 8 hours ago

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Here is a guide to helmets, reposted from Black Powder Press's instagram.

the militant demonstrator's guide to helmets

• helmets are risk mitigation, not risk nullification! there is no such thing as a concussion-proof helmet. but any helmet is better than no helmet! the best helmet is the one you wear.

• if no one else is wearing helmets, and you don’t want to be singled out, consider a concealable or inconspicuous helmet, like: a “bump cap” baseball cap; a bike helmet; or a skate or motorcycle helmet concealed under your hood

• if lots of people are wearing helmets, wear the best helmet you can get your hands on

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THE BUMP CAP

(low key)

A baseball cap with some hard plastic and padding inside. The ultimate in better than nothing. Inconspicuous. It protects you, a little bit. Way better than nothing. Way less than a dedicated helmet.

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HARD HATS

(not the best)

Most hard hats are designed to absorb impact only from above. They also lack any kind of chin strap and fall off easily.

Better than nothing!

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BIKE HELMETS

(also not the best)

Use crushable foam to protect from impact, meaning they are destroyed by impact. They usually have very thin shells that barely protect from projectiles and can themselves shatter and hurt people!

They’re nonthreatening and inconspicuous and way better than nothing! Also cheap as hell: because of certification systems, cheap bike helmets are as good as expensive ones at impact protection.

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SKATE and SNOW HELMETS

(now we’re getting somewhere)

Skate helmets ALSO use crushable foam, which still isn’t the best for repeated impact! But skate helmets that meet certifications (unlike bike helmets, not all do!) are rated to resist multiple impacts. They tend to have a thicker plastic shell than bike helmets. They also protect more of your head, and are low profile enough that they can (awkwardly) be concealed under a hood.

Snowboard helmets are basically the same thing but without ventilation.

This might be the best dirt cheap option.

MOTORCYCLE HELMETS

(mixed bag!)

Motorcycle helmets are rated even tougher still! But they still use crushable foam, making them less suitable for repeated impact (like a baton on your head). They’re also more expensive. A full-face helmet (with a chin bar) limits visibility and mobility without any real advantage and limits the ability to wear goggles and respirators.

Half-helmets and 3/4 helmets are useful if you have one lying around! 1/2 helmets are cheaper than 3/4 or full.

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SPORTS HELMETS

(is good)

Unlike other helmets, sports helmets are designed assuming the wearer will be hit. Instead of crushable foam, most use multilayered padding: one layer for impact absorption and one layer to fit better.

Lacrosse helmets without a chin bar and with the mask removed, and hockey helmets without the mask, are the most traditional for protesters. Football helmets can work without the mask (makes wearing respirators harder, gives opponents something to grab). Batting helmets lack a chin strap but are rated against pretty serious impacts. Whitewater helmets are built this way too!

Many sports helmets might be hard to pair with respirators because of their cut but this is conjecture.

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TACTICAL/BALLISTIC HELMETS

(the best probably)

If you want to attach cameras or comms units or noise-gated headphones, you need a tactical helmet. If you want to have a chance of surviving handgun fire to your head, you need a ballistic version.

Airsoft/paintball helmets are cheap clones ($40+), not certified at all, probably terrible. If you go this route, replace the padding with real ballistic padding (another $40+).

Bump helmets ($150+) are certified against impact but not bullets. Make sure the padding is good.

Ballistic helmets are certified against handgun (not rifle) bullets. Very expensive ($350+). Some can be found on the surplus market. Again, make sure the padding is good. Not all come with side rails or the mount on the front.

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OTHER HELMETS

Equestrian helmets are designed like skate helmets, with crushable foam, but are also rated to protect against a sharp blow from a hoof, so that’s cool. Only wear if you own one already.

Rock climbing helmets come in all types! All are probably pretty good. Many use suspension systems like hard hats but also a lot of foam or padding.

If medieval helms can survive impact weapons without serious deformation (unknown), and they are paired with appropriate padding (not just a suspension harness) they would be perfectly good! But we’re not sure yet what a baton round does to a various gauges of steel hat so we cannot yet recommend. Try 14ga or thicker.

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Final Notes!

This information has been gathered through extensive research and from talking with frontlines demonstrators, but it has not been rigorously tested and should not be taken as the last word on the subject.

Very, very few helmet certifications take “shot in the head with a tear gas canister by a cop drunk on power” into account in their testing systems.

A helmet has two purposes: to prevent penetration and to absorb impact. The shell prevents penetration, the padding (or suspension) absorbs impact. You need both.

Be water. No bad protesters, no good cops.

We keep us safe.

Black lives matter.

(brought to you by some anarchists)

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horsescary · 14 hours ago

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Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

I'm not going to tell you to recycle more or take shorter showers. I'll be honest, that stuff is a drop in the bucket. What does matter on the individual level is restoring and protecting habitat, reducing threats to at-risk species, reducing pesticide use, improving agricultural practices, and pushing for policy changes. Restoring CONNECTIVITY to our landscape - corridors of contiguous habitat - will make all the difference for wildlife to be able to survive a changing climate and continued human population expansion.

**Caveat that I work in the northeast with pollinators and birds so I cannot provide specific organizations for some topics, including climate change focused NGOs. Scientists on tumblr who specialize in other fields, please add your own recommended resources. **

We need two things: FUNDING and MANPOWER.

You may surprised to find that an insane amount of conservation work is carried out by volunteers. We don't ever have the funds to pay most of the people who want to help. If you really really care, consider going into a conservation-related field as a career. It's rewarding, passionate work.

At the national level, please support:

The Nature Conservancy

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (including eBird)

National Audubon Society

Federal Duck Stamps (you don't need to be a hunter to buy one!)

These first four work to acquire and restore critical habitat, change environmental policy, and educate the public. There is almost certainly a Nature Conservancy-owned property within driving distance of you. Xerces plays a very large role in pollinator conservation, including sustainable agriculture, native bee monitoring programs, and the Bee City/Bee Campus USA programs. The Lab of O is one of the world's leaders in bird research and conservation. Audubon focuses on bird conservation. You can get annual memberships to these organizations and receive cool swag and/or a subscription to their publications which are well worth it. You can also volunteer your time; we need thousands of volunteers to do everything from conducting wildlife surveys, invasive species removal, providing outreach programming, managing habitat/clearing trails, planting trees, you name it. Federal Duck Stamps are the major revenue for wetland conservation; hunters need to buy them to hunt waterfowl but anyone can get them to collect!

THERE ARE DEFINITELY MORE, but these are a start.

Additionally, any federal or local organizations that seek to provide support and relief to those affected by hurricanes, sea level rise, any form of coastal climate change...

At the regional level:

These are a list of topics that affect major regions of the United States. Since I do not work in most of these areas I don't feel confident recommending specific organizations, but please seek resources relating to these as they are likely major conservation issues near you.

PRAIRIE CONSERVATION & PRAIRIE POTHOLE WETLANDS

DRYING OF THE COLORADO RIVER (good overview video linked)

PROTECTION OF ESTUARIES AND SALTMARSH, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELAWARE BAY AND LONG ISLAND (and mangroves further south, everglades etc; this includes restoring LIVING SHORELINES instead of concrete storm walls; also check out the likely-soon extinction of saltmarsh sparrows)

UNDAMMING MAJOR RIVERS (not just the Colorado; restoring salmon runs, restoring historic floodplains)

NATIVE POLLINATOR DECLINES (NOT honeybees. for fuck's sake. honeybees are non-native domesticated animals. don't you DARE get honeybee hives to 'save the bees')

WILDLIFE ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER (support the Mission Butterfly Center!)

INVASIVE PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES (this is everywhere but the specifics will differ regionally, dear lord please help Hawaii)

LOSS OF WETLANDS NATIONWIDE (some states have lost over 90% of their wetlands, I'm looking at you California, Ohio, Illinois)

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, esp in the CORN BELT and CALIFORNIA - this is an issue much bigger than each of us, but we can work incrementally to promote sustainable practices and create habitat in farmland-dominated areas. Support small, local farms, especially those that use soil regenerative practices, no-till agriculture, no pesticides/Integrated Pest Management/no neonicotinoids/at least non-persistent pesticides. We need more farmers enrolling in NRCS programs to put farmland in temporary or permanent wetland easements, or to rent the land for a 30-year solar farm cycle. We've lost over 99% of our prairies to corn and soybeans. Let's not make it 100%.

INDIGENOUS LAND-BACK EFFORTS/INDIGENOUS LAND MANAGEMENT/TEK (adding this because there have been increasing efforts not just for reparations but to also allow indigenous communities to steward and manage lands either fully independently or alongside western science, and it would have great benefits for both people and the land; I know others on here could speak much more on this. Please platform indigenous voices)

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (get your neighbors to stop dumping fertilizers on their lawn next to lakes, reduce agricultural runoff)

OCEAN PLASTIC (it's not straws, it's mostly commercial fishing line/trawling equipment and microplastics)

A lot of these are interconnected. And of course not a complete list.

At the state and local level:

You probably have the most power to make change at the local level!

Support or volunteer at your local nature centers, local/state land conservancy non-profits (find out who owns&manages the preserves you like to hike at!), state fish & game dept/non-game program, local Audubon chapters (they do a LOT). Participate in a Christmas Bird Count!

Join local garden clubs, which install and maintain town plantings - encourage them to use NATIVE plants. Join a community garden!

Get your college campus or city/town certified in the Bee Campus USA/Bee City USA programs from the Xerces Society

Check out your state's official plant nursery, forest society, natural heritage program, anything that you could become a member of, get plants from, or volunteer at.

Volunteer to be part of your town's conservation commission, which makes decisions about land management and funding

Attend classes or volunteer with your land grant university's cooperative extension (including master gardener programs)

Literally any volunteer effort aimed at improving the local environment, whether that's picking up litter, pulling invasive plants, installing a local garden, planting trees in a city park, ANYTHING. make a positive change in your own sphere. learn the local issues affecting your nearby ecosystems. I guarantee some lake or river nearby is polluted

MAKE HABITAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Biggest thing you can do. Use plants native to your area in your yard or garden. Ditch your lawn. Don't use pesticides (including mosquito spraying, tick spraying, Roundup, etc). Don't use fertilizers that will run off into drinking water. Leave the leaves in your yard. Get your school/college to plant native gardens. Plant native trees (most trees planted in yards are not native). Remove invasive plants in your yard.

On this last point, HERE ARE EASY ONLINE RESOURCES TO FIND NATIVE PLANTS and LEARN ABOUT NATIVE GARDENING:

Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Resource Center

Pollinator Pathway

Audubon Native Plant Finder

Homegrown National Park (and Doug Tallamy's other books)

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder (clunky but somewhat helpful)

Heather Holm (for prairie/midwest/northeast)

MonarchGard w/ Benjamin Vogt (for prairie/midwest)

Native Plant Trust (northeast & mid-atlantic)

Grow Native Massachusetts (northeast)

Habitat Gardening in Central New York (northeast)

There are many more - I'm not familiar with resources for western states. Print books are your biggest friend. Happy to provide a list of those.

Lastly, you can help scientists monitor species using citizen science. Contribute to iNaturalist, eBird, Bumblebee Watch, or any number of more geographically or taxonomically targeted programs (for instance, our state has a butterfly census carried out by citizen volunteers).

In short? Get curious, get educated, get involved. Notice your local nature, find out how it's threatened, and find out who's working to protect it that you can help with. The health of the planet, including our resilience to climate change, is determined by small local efforts to maintain and restore habitat. That is how we survive this. When government funding won't come, when we're beat back at every turn trying to get policy changed, it comes down to each individual person creating a safe refuge for nature.

Thanks for reading this far. Please feel free to add your own credible resources and organizations.

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