#...not THE amazon I AM NOT ADVOCATING FOR BURNING DOWN RAINFORESTS

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

screw sponsored content, I'm doing anti-sponsored content. just gonna talk about brands that SUCK

[midnight-train-of-thought]

Sometimes I get…depressed. Maybe that’s not quite the right word - distressed, maybe? Helpless? I don’t know. The things I see in the news, though…

 I hear that climate change is going to destroy the world in less than 30 years, and we might be too late to stop it. I hear that billionaires are spending millions of dollars trying to escape this planet, when their companies are the ones ruining it, and they could END world hunger, END human trafficking, END poverty, and STILL have money left over. But they don’t. 

I hear that corporations like Amazon and Disney will end all other businesses. They will have a monopoly. We all can see it, yet we love them. They’re so convenient. I read that China owns more than we realize. More countries now trade with China than the US, and my parents tell me it would be useful to learn Chinese, since they will soon rule the business world.

I see violence on the news. I see Trump 2024 and Blue Lives matter flags everywhere. I know not to bring up politics. I am told to scoot around these topics, not to do anything that might anger these people. I see how Trump, alcohol, and Rush Limbaugh stir something dark and dangerous inside them. Thank God he is not president anymore.  America is split in half. It’s a miracle we didn’t have another civil war or start WW3. But I don’t want to jinx it. There is so much violence and hatred towards minorities. Why? Why are we going backwards in time instead of forwards? There is still blatant racism. Still sexism. Still homophobia. Still everything. And it seems it’s only getting worse.

I hear my parents, my friends’ parents, those who claim to be liberal. They say, “he’s a man that identifies as a woman.” I wince. They say, “they is not a proper pronoun, it’s plural.” I shudder. They say, “I don’t support feminism.” I scream. I correct them. We argue. They say they don’t care what others do unless it affects them. But they judge people. They expect me to agree. They complain about their parents being too stubborn to change their ways of thinking, but they are stubborn, too.  And so all of this pressure is on me. On my generation. We will be the ones to make change. We will be the ones who change the world. We will be the ones who fix what our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents broke and ignored. But the world around us is burning NOW. We are still in school. We are being taught to enter the workforce, to have the skills needed to get a 9-5 job and live a fairly carefree life like our parents and our grandparents. But we can’t just sit around while the rainforest is cut down and small businesses are dying. So we go on social media. We spread awareness. We write blog posts and make TikToks and make surveys and share news articles. We share our stories and educate about mental illness and the LGBTQ+ community and misogyny and how to pay taxes and advocate for the rights of refugees and support our fellow humans. Because no one else will. We are just trying to survive. But the difference between our generation and the ones before us is that we aren’t just trying to save ourselves. We are trying to save all humans, all animals, and all the world.

[itafushikugism]

If you guys follow me you know that I’m a HUGE advocate for the Earth. I love preserving nature. I love the Earth and am not afraid of using my voice when it needs help.

Ever since January, the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest had slowly been happening. The deforestation has left multiple animals out of home and has killed millions of oxygen-providing trees. And it’s not just animals: people are suffering from the fires too.

(Photo Credit: Twitter)

The Amazon Rainforest is one of the biggest in the world. Once a vibrant life is becoming a burning wasteland. When people say the “Amazon is the Earth’s lungs” they weren’t kidding - of the vast amounts of Carbon Dioxide disposed of in the air every year, it absorbs more than 60% of the toxic waste. 

In fact, they provide more for the world than any of us. The Amazon rainforest covers 40% of the world’s rainforests, 20% of freshwater supply, and 20% of the air that we breathe.

(Photo Credit: science.com)

Picture Credit: WorldAtlas.com

Photo Credit: EPFL News

But the beautiful rainforest is no longer. The deforestation of the trees has doubled since last year and is becoming a carbon wasteland. Scientists estimate that even if 20-25% more trees were cut down, the carbon sinks (ie absorbers of carbon) can be severely compromised. As mentioned before, it’s one of the most critical players in stabilizing our global climate. 

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

All of this beautiful, exotic life is put away. And for what? cattle, soy farming and gold mining. The fire that caused this isn’t natural: it was man-made, and ruined the life around the precious forest. The once water-rich trees are as dry as they can ever be and are causing more fires to happen. More than 1 MILLION HECTARES OF LAND has been burnt to the ground.

But this is all just a start. Hopefully, with more awareness, people can help be aware of the situation and can help make a change. We all need your help. The Amazon needs you. Keep the animals and people in your prayers and whatever you do, please help the lungs of our Earth! 

[phoenixfeatherquillwriting]

It’s Moodboard Monday again over @homesteadhorner and I have two moodboards this week, whew! This week’s theme is fire, so I knew I had to get my pyrokinetic in here! A few disclaimers and things before we get to the fun stuff:
 Tumblr did horrible things to the quality of some of the images in this board no matter what I did. If you’re having trouble reading the buttons on the top right, they read: “Ask me about my pronouns,” “Male? No. Female? No,” “Too rad for your binary,” and “gender rebel.” The quote in the book also got a little distorted and is meant to read “If it doesn’t burn a little, then what’s the point of playing with fire?” 
 Ash identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them/theirs. (The flag on some of the pins is actually the genderfluid flag rather than the nonbinary one, but I couldn’t pass up the witty word buttons.) They prefer the term “datemate” when talking about their relationships.
 Ash is my first nonbinary character. I have done my very best to do all the research I can to portray them respectfully and authentically, but I am cis and cannot fully understand everything about what being nonbinary is like. If you have questions or concerns, or just a gentle reminder or suggestion, please RESPECTFULLY bring that to my askbox or PMs. 
 This is not actually the best face ref for Ash, I’m trying to find a better one. 
 Ash is my newest OC, so some information may be added or changed as I get to know them more. 
 OKAY NOW THE FUN PART!
Name: Ash Gutierrez (Aliases: Pyro) 
Roles: Protagonist, love interest 
Traits: Adventurous, witty, determined, self-assured, sharp-tongued, warm, inventive, stubborn 
Quotes: “Playing with fire is in my nature. No matter what you do, you can’t stop that.” “Good news Ari, the play says ‘No man of woman borne,’ so I can defeat MacBeth.” 
 About
Ash had a relatively uneventful early life, all things considered, until they met Aris. Actually, a lot of things in their life can be described with “until Aris.” The two met in their undergraduate college years, not long after Ash fully began to present as who they truly were. Aris was, by all accounts, intrigued. Ash was very science-minded, and had drive to change the world, through their science, through their magic, through just…themselves. She’d never made friends easily, but the pyrokinetic didn’t shy away from her, inept as her Normal social skills were at that time, and they slowly began to learn about each other. it was a long, slow process, but Aris began to let Ash know she saw them as a little more than a friend. Ash was allowed into her lab, to tinker with her inventions, input on the columns Ari wrote for the paper, to take pictures of Aris in stolen moments when the latter usually refused to be anything resembling photogenic. And she refused to hear a bad word spoken of them from anyone who wasn’t accepting. “I don’t need defending” Ash said. “And I don’t need to put up with their stupidity” Aris shot back. After inviting Aris to both of their first formal dance, seeing her all dressed up, Ash knew. They hadn’t meant to fall for Aris…and yet here they were. 
 They never said “I love you,” at least, not yet, but they fell into something between friends and a couple, and then just “a couple who’s oblivious to the fact that they are one.” Just before Aris moved on to grad school and Ash set out for a traveling career in environmental science (geology and volcanic specialty, how appropriate,) she helped Ash finalize their legal name change and made them a framed work of Constellan calligraphy with “Ash” in the center. On the back, she left her address. 
 From then, they kept up as pen pals, Ash traveling to all the remote corners of nature for study, advocating better sustainability practices, picking up an interest in the Illios and a vendetta against corrupt fossil fuels companies. Aris scanned and studied and tinkered and wrote her thesis, and slowly, as she and her science began to fall into the wrong hands, began using Ash’s letters as a life raft. There was a normal world, somewhere out there where she didn’t have to spy, experiment, and kill, hoping the price of admission to a better future for Constella at large was worth it. Her own replies grew more withholding and cryptic, afraid to get Ash in the crossfire, and hoping to escape to them someday all the same. They were reunited once the apocalypse broke out, but in some ways, it was years too late. Too late to save the Aris that Ash had known, but they could at least keep this hardened and abused version from self-destructing. The apprentice Aris had picked up, Katri, helped to show Ash that Ari hadn’t changed all for the bad. She was now inadvertently between aunt and mother for Katri and her brother Espen, and the caretaker of two feisty kittens. 
 Ash themselves is a do-er, never content to stay on the sidelines of anything. They once threw themselves into a ten month trip to the South American rainforest for the good of the Amazon ecosystem, almost entirely forgetting their aversion to rain until Aris’ questioning letter arrived. A mover, too, with hobbies including biking, hiking, parasailing, welding, and nature photography. They love reptiles of all kinds, and Katri recently gifted them with a pet salamander. His name is Hotrod. Never one to turn down a good party or a good time, Ash is quick with a laugh and a sharp joke, much more sociable than their datemate. Their natural warmth comes through in more ways than one. They play with fire just for the shocked reactions of the crowd, make sparks when they’re feeling playful, and an extra-warm snuggle never hurt when convincing a sick Aris to get some rest. -Dove
 Special thanks to @inkdropsonroses for eternal support, @lady-redshield-writes for encouraging me that I could handle two moodboards in one week, and my new friend @toboldlywrite for being enthusiastic about Ash despite knowing me for such a short time.