#Alaska and California forests are notable ones here in the US — but they are not the only ones!
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obsessed with the person who left an annoyed comment (that I deleted, for being a tar pit) on the Arbor Day post from Encyclopedia Exandria bc, quote, "people are important also, you make me sick"
like, buddy, caring for our trees and forests and instituting responsible land stewardship and environmental justice for the benefit of trees IS also taking care of people
human beings benefit from well-cared for trees and forests, wild thought!
#Anyway support anti-logging efforts and legislation occurring in your area and federal government#Donate to a foundation focusing on the preservation of forest and on reforestation efforts#(especially those coordinating with indigenous landback efforts and stewardship methods to preserve an protect our forests)#Oppose expansion of mining; logging; and drilling rights into our forests.#Alaska and California forests are notable ones here in the US — but they are not the only ones!#(I know there is non-forest wilderness also in need of stewardship and defense but this is for Arbor Day which is about trees specifically)#We human beings (and other animal creatures) benefit from protected trees!
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i just wanted to say that this kinda leadership was also extremely common in precolonization americas, like, most of the time, chiefs were elected & chosen by the people, it usually wasn't hereditary tho that depends on nation to nation, bc nations like the haida in the pacific northwest coast, for example, had hereditary chiefs, while the nahua, maya, muisca & inca had empires while in one of my nations, the huron-wendat, the chieftain was a man but he was only voted for among women & they had the ability to chase him off or remove him if he wasn't doing his duties or he was a weak leader & only the clanmothers could decide when to go to war & who to go to war with. it all greatly varied from nation to nation bc none of us are a monolith.
slavery was also practiced among several - though not all - nations precolonization, notably the haida & tlingit peoples & many peoples of the pacific northwest coast, the maya & aztec (who're known as nahua) took captives to use as sacrificial victims in their temples, the iroquoian peoples waged mourning wars on their neighbors to avenge & replace their dead, the comanche of texas, the creek of georgia & fishing societies like the yurok who lived from alaska to california, the pawnee & klamath. haida & tlingit tho were notorious for it, traditionally known as fierce warriors & slavetraders from the southeastern alaskan coast who raided as far as california. native groups along the pacific northwest coast finalized elite marriages by exchanging enslaved people & so on, & slavery was hereditary after they were taken as prisoners of war & among some pacific northwest tribes a quarter of the population were slaves & some were killed during potlatches, which were basically traditional giftgiving feasts for the pnw nations, while in other nations captives were eventually adopted into the tribe. i just wanna make that clear bc i don't like whitewashing history as an indigenous person myself & i personally interpret the first men as indigenous peoples of the americas & to a lesser extent other indigenous peoples that i'm drawing comparisons between the two here as you can see but the north strictly is against slavery.
so i have no idea if there was an official law or anything like that & i certainly can't speak for every single nation in the americas ever, i Do know from what elders taught me & what i've read is that welcoming guests & treating them with respect was super important back in the old days & you Do Not treat your guests disrespectfully Ever. something like the red wedding would not be taken well at all whatsoever rippppppp.
giants & peoples similar to the children of the forest & the woods walkers as well as the others are already in many of our traditional stories, notably with stories of actual giants, little people such as the pukwudgies / mikumwess who're basically our fair folk / fae & the w/ndig/ag & their variants, a name that i'm forbidden to speak or type out due to protocol, which is why i'll be referring to them simply as ice cannibals.
giants in indigenous folklore are usually described as being ranging between twice as tall as humans to 20-30/40-60 feet tall, large enough to throw humans into a sack or burden basket the way a human hunter would do with rabbits & in a few cases giants are described as being even more immense, being the size of the tallest pine trees (which works out to 150-200 feet) and catching whales the way humans catch fish, with some traditions their bodies are covered in rock-hard scales that repel all normal weapons & protects them from fire & cold. which is uh. fucking terrifying lmao.
pukwudgies & mikumwess & other variants (same people, different names) among other magical little people of the forest were all over turtle island, they're like sprites, dwarves, gnomes or fairies, said to be about as tall as a man's waist, knee-high, if not even smaller than that, only as tall as about a three year old child, having narrow faces, but are as swift as lightning, strong & sound like birds when talking to each other, dressing light going barefoot & smoking pipes, living in the woods, writing on stone, eating meat, berries & fish, & they like to sing, dance & play, but they're strong & can take you down no matter how big you are. they're generally benevolent forest spirits but could be capricious & dangerous whenever disrespected. they have formidable magical powers but are benign creatures who do not generally harm humans, though sometimes they play mischievous lighthearted & annoying but harmless & usually not dangerous or destructive tricks on people like rearranging things, tying knots in hair & clothes or putting clothes on backwards & singing & then hiding when an inquisitive person searched for the music but may perform bad tricks around the house & barn, capsize canoes, tear fishing nets, steal shiny things, steal children, commit deadly acts of sabotage, destroy the property of disrespectful people or curse them. they're known to live in mountain caves, rocky places in the woods, sandy hills or by a rocky riverbank. when clay or silt deposits along a riverbank resemble people or animals, that's said to be sculptures made by them & bring good luck to those who find it, rocks by the side of a river with geometric markings on them are considered to mark the home of a family & best left undisturbed. they're said to own a pot which can transform a few kernels of maize into a huge quantity & when sailing, traveled in a group of 5-7 per canoe. seeing one supposedly foretells a death by drowning. they're small, sometimes said to be 2 to 3 feet tall, but do big work. in one of my nations, abenaki folklore, they're said to come from the bark of an ash tree. they live & dress like the old-time indigenous peoples of the land they're on & speak the indigenous language of that land, having small arms & legs & sometimes big bodies like bullfrogs. some are said to foretell the future. they are friendly to people & sometimes help with household chores if gifts and/or candy & sugar are left for them or kindness is shown to their children, & giving a man furs or warning them of coming evil or of a coming attack, or harm & when seen by an adult human, beg them not to say anything of their existence & would reward those who kept their word by coming to the aid of a person or people or their families in need & help them out in times of need, should they ever ask for it. it was often said that they love children & would take them away from bad or abusive parents or if the child was without parents and abandoned or left in the woods to fend for themselves to raise the child as their own. the name "pukwudgie" literally means "person of the wilderness" & in some traditions have a sweet smell & are often associated with flowers. sometimes they're known to turn invisible & appear & disappear at will, increase & decrease body size at will, shapeshift into many different animals like cougars or other dangerous animals, confuse people, make them forget things, lure people to their deaths, bring harm to people by staring directly at them, use magic, launch poison arrows & create fire. some believe that pukwudgies in particular were once friendly to humans, but then turned against them & are best left alone, & according to lore, a person who annoyed a pukwudgie, would be subject to nasty tricks by it, or subject to being followed by the pukwudgie, who would cause trouble for them; they were known to kidnap people, push them off cliffs, attack their victims with short knives & spears, & to use sand to blind their victims. they're uh. smth else.
ice cannibals, on the other hand, are usually those who either was possessed by evil spirits & corrupted by dark magic or committed a terrible sin or crime (especially selfishness, gluttony, cannibalism or withholding food from a starving person without feeling remorse, as it was considered more honorable to either starve or commit suicide rather than turning to famine cannibalism) & ended up turning into one as punishment, causing its heart to turn into ice & cursed to eat human flesh, causing them to only ever feel hunger as that's all they're able to feel & their hearts turn to ice. they grow bigger the hungrier & angrier they get, often towering over the tallest trees, possessing sharp fangs that stand out due to having chewed their own lips off & become excruciatingly emaciated forcing them to live in the snow & rarely you could find two of these creatures fighting each other, which if this happened, one should put something over their ears to avoid hearing the roars since their cries were dangerous & their scream would kill anyone who hears it. according to one of my nations, the a.benaki, legend has it they inhabited the forests & woodlands of the area in ancient times eating the souls of others for sustenance & strength because they had no souls. in one of my other nations, in m.i'kmaw legend, it's usually required that you kill them more than once & even after it's dead, people will avoid the spot where it died. they're described as huge, gigantic, tall, monstrous & made up of or coated in ice, & in some its said that looking directly at an ice cannibal will leave a person paralyzed against it but the human it once was is still frozen inside the monster where its heart should be, and must be killed to defeat the ice cannibal, (in a few legends, a human can be successfully rescued from its frozen heart either by tricking them into eating salt, chopping up their bodies into multiple pieces, or forcing them to eat so much it.. yknow.. yeah, or in one legend, a girl tricked one into believing it was her grandfather & allowed it to do things for her & her brothers, until it got into a sweatlodge & it melted & it coughed up the last bit of its icy heart & it was then chopped to bits with a hatchet & an old man came from it so the girl's kindness quite literally melted its heart, while in other stories, when a woman rejected a man's advances, this caused the man to seek revenge & turned her into one out of vengeance & scorned pride which had her force her family to fire seven arrows into her heart to end the curse) but that's very rare, so usually, once a person has been possessed by its spirit, the only escape is death & the monster can only be permanently killed if its heart made of ice is completely melted. they were malevolent, cannibalistic supernatural beings of great spiritual power, strongly associated with the winter, the north & coldness as well as the omnipresent danger of famine & starvation (& recently, a metaphor for gluttonous, aggressive or murderous individuals who threaten communal wellbeing & as well as colonization & genocide).
#/ slavery mention#/ cannibalism mention#personals dni.#but n e wayz yeah#i dont have 2 make up hcs or w/e the fuck my nations' indigenous stories & folklore are all there#ooc.
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☆ // SUBJECT: THE EARP HOMESTEAD. LOCATION: PURGATORY, COLORADO
a collection of research exploring the idea, that if not for wynonna earp’s low budget and physical filming location, purgatory and its key landmarks should have been based in the united states, around the colorado river specifically. !important: earp roleplayers are more than welcome to also adopt this divergence if they agree with it, and may 100% feel free to REBLOG this post. please remember when interacting with my character, in all verses, that they are from purgatory, colorado, and not from canada. if after reading this, you feel bothered, please let me know and we can absolutely follow writers’ show canon in our threads!!
☆ // WARNING!!
this divergence is strongly opinionated. the writers of the show have confirmed the plot setting for the television series wynonna earp, is in fact located in alberta, canada. i am 100% aware that alberta is absolute show canon. however, as a roleplayer, creative writer, and western fanatic, i can neither ignore, nor let wyatt earp and doc holliday’s history get completely washed away for the sake of filming convenience. make no mistake. i love the show, the storyline, and i love the characters immensely; but because of both the comic book series, and nonfictional history, their story’s location does not make any sense to me or add up at all.
☆ // PART I. WYATT’S JOURNEY.
first, let’s begin with wyatt earp’s original routes and a few historical events. i’ve taken the time, and mapped wyatt and doc holliday’s trail out below in order. they were obviously riding on horseback and taking ferries or trains, so they wouldn’t have been using main roads or highways ( although busy trails later became paved highways and roads throughout america ). at only one point does wyatt travel through canada and it is during his two, long journeys to alaska. as you can see below, he really goes nowhere near alberta or calgary on his way to his next stop, seattle, washington.
it would make way more sense for purgatory to be located somewhere in the united states, in one of the towns wyatt earp lived or stayed in for a prolonged period of time. not to mention the old west is well... united states history, and all notable events regarding the old west happened in the states. the original 1993 wynonna earp comics even pay homage to places like tombstone ( and can i mention when the t.v series says they’re loosely based on the comics, they are hardly anything like them? like barely even remotely? ). it mentions white trash and trailer parks, hill billys, pabst blue ribbon, you name every southern stereotype, and they cover it. no surprise, it is based in america.
“ two u.s. marshals and a sheriff lie dead in san diablo, new mexico. when marshal wynonna earp hits the trail to bring the killers to justice, she uncovers connections to a devastating new drug...and a pack of redneck vampires! modern firepower and frontier justice --that's wynonna. “ wynonna earp, comic issue #1, summary.
but that’s totally besides the point, and another post probably worth making entirely. let’s get back to the real wyatt earp and docs holliday’s actual history. below are some maps, and i’ve linked bigger versions so they’re easier for y’all to see.
larger map images for reference: a, b, c.
exhibit one: map a. ↳ this displays his route from dodge city in 1875, up until his last ride to los angeles where he would also die in 1923. this map is all prior to docs death specifically, which is extremely important. why? because doc had obvious connections to both constance clootie and bulshar. this has become even even more so evident in season 3. wyatt earp did not travel through canada until after docs actual death. this alone raises a red flag as someone who thinks placing purgatory in canada was an easy cop-out by show writers, and as someone who often ponders plot holes in the show’s storyline.
another point i have to to stress, is that a majority of wyatt earp’s time with doc holliday throughout life was spent in the southwestern united states. their stomping grounds are where a majority of the route lines cross on the map, and they traveled between each of those cities, owning saloons, gambling, hunting outlaws, etc.. countless times. i’ll have more to add about this later under section iii, which heavily regards the revenants.
exhibit two: map b. ↳ map b is probably the most important of all three. it depicts what his ride would have looked like from wrangell, ak to nome, and then from wrangell, ak to seattle, wa. google maps actually wouldn’t let me map the whole thing through from idaho and washington to alaska, because fun fact, you have to fly and take ferries to get around from the usa to those alaskan towns. phew, can you imagine wyatt’s adventure to alaska on horseback and water?? his wife actually tried to stop him from making the journey because she was pregnant at the time, but of course, he saw an opportunity for wealth and didn’t listen.
alberta is a far stretch out of the way. he would have had to go over or around the canadian rockies, and since he was traveling to and from alaska from either washington state and/or idaho with a clear destination in mind, it would make no logical sense whatsoever. the red triangle, accurately labeled show’s location wtf?? is where the show’s canon ghost river triangle is located. i know what you’re probably thinking, they never say it straight up in the series, but writer’s confirmation aside, upon researching there is one particular episode which gave us show purgatory’s exact location right away. here is a picture of waverly in s01e03, with a map of purgatory. . . and here is another .... and now here is an actual, real map which indisputably matches waverly’s layout. note: those are not my screencaps, you can find the original post i got them from here !!
exhibit three: map c. ↳ vildal, california is where he built his home in 1911. the earps bought a small cottage in vidal, the only home they ever owned. beginning in 1911 and until Wyatt's health began to fail in 1928, Wyatt and sadie earp summered in Los Angeles and spent the rest of the year in the desert working their claims. The "happy days" mine was located in the whipple mountains a few miles north of vidal. wyatt had some modest success with the happy days gold mine, and they lived on the slim proceeds of income from that and oil wells. ( source: wikipedia. )
so, my question is likely the biggest plot hole in the whole freaking television series. how the heck did wyatt’s family homestead end up all the way near calgary, alberta, canada?? the show writers ignore this entirely and uses an insane amount of liberties. wyatt never had any children to begin with, but if one wants to paint the picture of family, love, loyalty, and closeness as they do on the show, i would think that the earps would have remained somewhere closer to wyatt’s grave. at the very least in the same country.
the other major thing to take into consideration, is that by the time map b and map c were traveled, real doc holliday was also dead and no longer amongst the living. i bet your thinking, ❝ okay so maybe vidal, california would have been an alright place for the show to take place, since that was wyatt’s actual only home. ❞ and i totally agree, but the more i thought about making this wynonna’s hometown and ground zero for the homestead, the harder i could picture the gang there. problem is, the landscape is nothing but desert. it’s hot and arrid. in vidal there are there are no prairie winds, or great plains, or chinook rocky mountain sunsets. on the show we see mountains, rivers, forests, and more importantly, large amounts of snow.
this leads the divergence trail back to none other than the myth, the man, and the legend, doc holliday. let’s dive a little more into his relationship with wyatt in the next section.
☆ // PART II. DOC AND WYATT.
how wyatt and doc met in history & the show. ↳ earp had run two cowboys out of wichita earlier in 1878. during the summer, the two cowboys—accompanied by another two dozen men—rode into dodge and shot up the town while galloping down front street. they entered the long branch saloon, vandalized the room, and harassed the customers. hearing the commotion, earp burst through the front door, and before he could react, a large number of cowboys were pointing their guns at him.
in another version, there were only three to five cowboys. in both stories, holliday was playing cards in the back of the room and upon seeing the commotion, drew his weapon and put his pistol at morrison's head, forcing him and his men to disarm, rescuing earp from a bad situation. no account of any such confrontation was reported by any of the dodge city newspapers at the time. whatever actually happened, earp credited holliday with saving his life that day, and the two men became friends.
how wyatt and doc actually parted ways in history. ↳ according to a letter written by former new mexico territory governor miguel otero, wyatt and holliday were eating at fat charlie's the retreat restaurant in albuquerque, "when holliday said something about earp becoming 'a damn jew-boy.' earp became angry and left…." holliday and dan tipton arrived in pueblo, colorado in late april 1882. ( source: wikipedia. )
doc’s death in real history. ↳ in 1887, prematurely gray and badly ailing, holliday made his way to the hotel glenwood, near the hot springs of glenwood springs, colorado. he hoped to take advantage of the reputed curative power of the waters, but the sulfurous fumes from the spring may have done his lungs more harm than good. as he lay dying, holliday is reported to have asked the nurse attending him for a shot of whiskey. when she told him no, he looked at his bootless feet, amused. the nurses said that his last words were, "this is funny.” holliday died at 10am on november 8, 1887. he was 36.
wyatt visited sick doc before he died. ↳ wyatt heard of doc’s death shortly after he had died. he was close by in aspen, colorado at the time, and it’s thought that he may have visited doc before his death. josephine earp told a story about sitting beside doc’s deathbed, but it’s thought that she may have confused this with another occasion ( because of old age ). she additionally gave an account of doc and wyatt’s last meeting in the lobby of a denver hotel. both men were quite upset and josie said that wyatt cried afterwards. there’s also a story that doc’s gun was also sent to wyatt although again not a lot of evidence to prove whether or not it’s true.
wynonna earp flashbacks. ↳ in s01e03, wyatt visited his bedside, where doc is very ill and lying down in a tent. it’s implied doc was resting, wyatt packed up his things for him, and dispite his sickness, earp keeps urging him to ride with him to purgatory. doc rejects knowing he can’t and says goodbye. this is likely right before he seeks out constance clootie for immortality, in whatever town they were in. there is no viable way his transformation could have happened in purgatory, because the church in wynonna’s vision quest later on was somewhere on the outskirts of town.
on the series, doc holliday had already come across constance clootie, and gained his immortality before the best friends had their argument and wyatt disowned him for becoming something of the devil’s work. wyatt also finally admits to his family being cursed. doc was also as equally heartbroken about wyatt’s opinion of his choice, and throughout the series, we see how deeply he considers and takes an earp’s opinion to heart. despite being set in modern years, and appended romantic aspects aside, his relationship with wynonna mirrors that of his and wyatts.
consider that wyatt already killed constance clootie’s sons, and bulshar clootie is the man he was fixed on punishing for cursing him. it’s entirely plausible doc followed closely behind wyatt’s tail after being shunned, and that wherever wyatt was going was only a few days ride from doc’s staying place. the witch clootie admitted she turned doc ageless to hurt wyatt and succeeded, but we also know that where blushar goes, clootie is looking for vengeance. it’s conceivable to theorize certain suspicions such as, but not limited to; doc wanting take back his immortality due to wyatt’s rejection, and in turn while meeting clootie, got tossed with the final seal into the well.
the “earp well” lol. ↳ we know doc winds up in a well , but it’s location seems to appear elsewhere from it’s original place on the earp property in season one’s pilot episode, to somewhere in a random forest, in s02ep08. the earp property is said by wynonna to be only 10 acres ( 0.125 sq miles ). for a farm where you have to drive to get from point a to point b, this is not very large or inaccurate. all shots of the property are also mainly rolling farmland with no large forest vegetation resembling that of the well’s site. i’m going to chalk this discrepancy up to this scene having been in the pilot, having a low budget and limited choices for pilot filming location.
doc’s well was never on the actual earp property like some probably assume at first glance, but instead, somewhere else entirely. just go on ahead and re-watch. after retrieving peacemaker and talking to dolls, wynonna drives up to the purgatory town line, truck facing towards the town. it makes for a clear ( or not so clear ) clue hinting the well’s whereabouts. in s2ep08, juan carlo takes wynonna outside of purgatory to the outskirts for her vision quest. the well is clearly located in that area and tied heavily to the flashback in the church. from a teen wynonna was a drifter. she could have stashed the gun in an abandoned well anywhere, somewhere safe, and no where too close to the homestead. but here is another thought, doc and wynonna’s fates were entwined, so who knows? maybe she felt specifically drawn to that area and frequented there to clear her head when she was younger. merely a concept.
finally, bobos imprisonment in the well further proves it’s located elsewhere, since revenants can't step foot on earp land without being burned. this gives us some room to play for setting up wynonna earp’s story in colorado.
tying history and flashbacks together. ↳ this is where it gets complicated, where it’s hard to put things into words, and where my divergence really starts, because the show canon entirely ignores actual history when it comes to the true separation and deaths of both of these men. we have no clue as to the location in either of these flashbacks on the show, but we do see wyatt is wearing a jacket and scarf. it’s apparently cold outside so there’s at least that to work with. the state of colorado has cold winters, which also works in this divergence’s favor.
if the real doc holliday died in glenn springs, colorado, and the real wyatt earp was in aspen, colorado around the time of his death, we could place purgatory somewhere in that area. doc faked his death on the series, between the time he decided he would became immortal, and the time he was thrown in the well shortly after. sewing these realities together puts purgatory in colorado. doc’s death would make the location default. in regards to the comic taking place in the deserts of the united states, this divergence will also have that covered later on.
the canadian show takes an extreme with creative freedoms and gives no resolution whatsoever as to how wyatt earp somehow settled down in alberta, candada ( did they even do their fact checking?? ) or how every family member has lived there ever since. the actual wyatt earp had no children, and his home was and will always historically be in vidal, california.
so, let’s make this more believable. what if in another universe that isn’t real history, but makes a hell of a lot more sense when unified with the show’s, wyatt earp made a home in colorado after bulshar was buried? not only close to where is thought to be his best friends grave, but where he can keep an eye on, and protect, bulshar’s remains until he dies? bobo moved him, but where were they prior? on the show wyatt is also said to have been partially involved in entombing bulshar’s body. therefore, this explanation would make 100% total sense as to why wyatt and his wife never made it to vidal, california. his life’s journey would have been stopped dead in its tracks, so he could keep the demon who cursed his family from the widows, and make sure bulshar never returned. one could claim, in a historically based, fictional western series, that wyatt earp built a ranch because of this, and settled down with his wife in a town called purgatory, colorado.
☆ // PART III. WYATT’S CURSE, THE REVS, & THE GHOST RIVER TRIANGLE.
wyatt earp’s curse. ↳ the earp curse makes all people that wyatt earp had killed in his lifetime resurrect over and over again. those revenants can only be killed by the peacemaker which only the current heir can use. wait a minute. wynonna voice: say whaaaat?? wyatt never killed multiple people in canada. at any point in history. how would the 77 people he killed even get to canada if revenants can’t leave the ghost river triangle in the first place?? can you say, major woops? this is personally my favorite fudge up.
the ghost river triangle. ↳ the ghost river triangle is an area of cursed land, partially framed by the splitting of the ghost river into two, that imprisons the resurrected outlaws killed by wyatt earp. should a revenant cross the boundary line, they experience hell on earth. to quote waverly, in leavin' on your mind: '...everything from the mountains to where the north and south ghost rivers meet, forms the ghost river triangle. it cuts through the big city, contains thousands of square miles of forest, foothills, prairie, the badlands. and all of it...cursed.'
forest, foothills, prairie, and badlands? yeah, if we want to place divergent purgatory somewhere in the united states to make the show a little more historically accurate, the ghost river triangle definitely parallels to none other than the colorado river. the colorado river runs through colorado, utah, arizona, nevada, california, and all the way down to mexico. at least three of those states were in fact, wyatt’s stomping grounds before and after his historically recorded vendetta ride.
not to go with some total, mythical, movie cliche here, but in an alternative wynonna world set in the united states, the ghost river triangle could have also been named by the native americans who inhabited the land along the colorado river. factually, many parts of the colorado river are actually suspected to be haunted. let’s not get too carried away, though. alberta canada is in fact home of a real place called the ghost river valley, and there’s totally no disputing that.
wyatt’s vendetta ride ↳ in history the vendetta ride was a deadly search, where wyatt lead a federal posse for outlaw cowboys they believed had ambushed, and maimed virgil earp and killed morgan earp. the earp brothers had been attacked in retaliation for the deaths of three cowboys in the gunfight at the o.k. corral on october 26, 1881. from march 20 to april 15, 1882, the federal posse searched southeast cochise county, arizona territory for suspects in both virgil's and morgan's attacks. several suspects had been freed by the court, owing in some cases to legal technicalities and in others to the strength of alibis provided by cowboy confederates. up to this point, wyatt had relied on the legal system to bring the cowboys to justice. now he felt he had to take matters into his own hands.
i could be wrong, but i have a feeling the chase for bulshar is loosely based on this part of wyatt earp’s history. the parallel of his two own brothers dying, and two of clootie’s sons dying, is a little thought provoking, no? coincidental even? an eye for an eye, perhaps? there is a lot of wyatt’s history left to be uncovered and explored, and that’s if the show writers even decide to reveal anything else at all. on the show, wyatt got innocent people killed, there was one hell of a lot of collateral damage surrounding him.
i feel 100% comfortable standing firmly by the headcanon that after wyatt was cursed and his brothers were killed, that he went on a tear after bulshar and destroyed anyone who got in his way. this is important, because these events could be tied to his life in tombstone, arizona, and the events which took place in and after the shootout at the OK corral. if he was cursed in tombstone, then there is no way around it, one of the ghost river triangle’s points would have to begin there.
the revmap, i mean . . . revamp. ↳ below is a map which bases a divergent ghost river triangle heavily off of history. it takes into consideration doc holliday and wyatt earp’s routes, where doc’s last known whereabouts were, where wyatt would have killed the most men, and finally, his vendetta ride. in total the divergent river triangle’s perimeter is about 2,500 miles and takes 36 hours nonstop to drive. in contrast, the show’s ghost river triangle is 617 miles and takes about only an easy 12 hours to drive from point to point. purgatory is west of denver, and the homestead is about where the house icon is. ( larger image version is here. )
yeah okay, so the size may be of some issue, but vastness aside, there are three things this triangle does have, that the other doesn’t. firstly, historical accuracy. it includes nearly all of the areas where a number of wyatt’s targets made their peace. if we tie back to wyatt’s vendetta ride and the whole paralleling idea for a moment, many of the revenants who rode with bulshar would've died in various areas of colorado and the purgatory area. secondly, the terrain might aid with narrowing revenant whereabouts down. deserts and mountains surround a majority of these iconic towns. and lastly another argument can be made that because some revenants do want to end the earp line, few might've simply migrated to colorado and placed themselves somewhere closer within wynonna’s line of fire.
i could continue ridiculously blabbering on and on about why i chose this location divergence for my character. everything from climate, to terrain, and how there are salt flats in utah nearby, or my really strong distaste for how the show writers erased wyatt earp and doc holliday’s real history, but in honesty i think everything i’ve covered above nicely sums up my research and premise. anywhooo, that’s all for now folks, hope you enjoyed the read!
#- ̗̀ ♤ // — V: MAIN. » ̖́-#- ̗̀ ♤ // — V: CANON. » ̖́-#- ̗̀ ♤ // — DIVERGENCES. » ̖́-#- ̗̀ ♤ // — HEADCANONS. » ̖́-#phEW IT'S FINALLY FINISHED#if you have questions#don't be shy !!
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Who Governs Climate Intervention and Geoengineering on the High Seas?
[By Olive Heffernan]
In late March, as most of the world was adjusting to lockdown, oceanographer Daniel Harrison was setting sail for the Great Barrier Reef. Though Harrison, a native Australian, had sailed these waters many times before, this particular expedition was different.
On reaching Broadhurst Reef, 100km off the Australian coast, Harrison and his skeleton crew of local scientists – just a few with permission to travel – noticed white corals stretching out in every direction, a sign that the reef was bleaching, and dying, from heat stress. This would be the third mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in just five years, an event that is becoming more likely as the global ocean warms.
Harrison and his team were there to test a radical intervention that, if successful, could spare the world’s largest coral reef from total loss. Known as marine cloud brightening, their approach involves spraying seawater into the air to help form bright clouds that reflect sunlight and cool the waters below. “This is like putting the reef on life support while we deal with the underlying cause. It buys us some time” says Harrison. “Obviously bringing emissions down is the critical thing.”
Climate intervention
While Harrison’s project is small in scale, and in its infancy, marine cloud brightening is just one of numerous practices – collectively known as geoengineering or climate intervention – that could cool the planet, offsetting some of the harm caused by greenhouse gas pollution. With global emissions rising, there’s a growing awareness that we’ll likely need such radical measures to avoid dangerous climate change. “Emissions reductions alone are not going to cut it,” says Phillip Boyd, a marine biogeochemist at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. “We’ve got an increasingly fast-moving problem, and so we may need increasingly fast-moving countermeasures,” says Kelly Wanser, founder of US non-profit Silver Lining, which advocates for research into climate intervention.
A trial of prototype cloud-brightening equipment on the Great Barrier Reef (Image: Brendan Kelaher / Southern Cross University)
Using technology to control the climate is undeniably controversial, seen by some as a quick fix with unknown consequences that diverts attention from the harder task of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy. As such, there’s been little funding for research, and few real-world trials. Harrison’s project – focused on curbing a national ecological disaster – is a notable exception. “It’s essential to know whether these things work or not,” says Harrison. “If we find out that they don’t work, it just strengthens the argument for reducing emissions harder and quicker and not delaying”.
Geoengineering – or deliberate climate control – is not new. During the Cold War, both the US and the Soviet Union funded research into cloud seeding, an approach the US eventually used during the Vietnam war to extend the monsoon season and disrupt enemy troops. Since then, the field has expanded into a wide array of schemes mostly intended to mitigate climate change, though some have co-benefits such as boosting fisheries.
Broadly speaking, there are two approaches. The first, Solar Radiation Management (SRM), aims to limit the amount of heat absorbed by the Earth and could be used to quickly cool the surface. This could be achieved, for instance, by sending reflective sulphates into the stratosphere via giant balloons, or by scattering silica beads over Arctic sea ice to make it more reflective.
The alternative, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), focuses on physically extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it, in ecosystems such as mangroves or forests, underground or in the deep ocean. Possibilities here include fertilising the sea surface with iron to promote the growth of plankton – which absorb CO2 from the air – or burning biomass as a source of energy, capturing the CO2 and storing it.
In general, SRM is seen as the more extreme approach that could be deployed with quick results in the case of a regional or global climate emergency.
So far, no single scheme has been proven to work at scale. Most research has focused on land-based solutions, but competing needs, such as ensuring food security, makes these impractical as global solutions. Scientists are now looking to the open ocean as a more pragmatic choice for geoengineering. “This is where it makes most sense, because there’s no conflict of interest with any other issues. These areas are largely unused at the moment and they also make up 50% of the planet’s surface” says Ulf Riebesell, a biological oceanographer at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany.
So far, 27 different marine geoengineering schemes have been proposed. There has been roughly a dozen field tests, mostly focused on ocean iron fertilisation. When a commercial company, Planktos Inc, proposed to test the technology off the Galapagos Islands in 2007, it sparked fears of unregulated interference with the planet’s climate by entrepreneurs looking to turn a quick profit by selling sequestered CO2 as carbon credits.
In response, two intergovernmental bodies sought to outlaw geoengineering. In 2010, the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity recommended that member states ban the deployment of all large-scale climate intervention technologies, a stance that it reaffirmed in 2016. Meanwhile, in 2013, the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) – which regulates shipping – added ocean iron fertilisation to its list of banned practices. Though the IMO measure is voluntary and yet to be enforced, it symbolises the taboo long associated with climate intervention.
Growing expectations for unproven technologies
With global emissions still growing despite the commitments made in Paris in December 2015, the mood has started to shift. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made it clear that we have little chance of avoiding dangerous levels of warming, generally regarded as 1.5C or 2C above pre-industrial temperatures, without geoengineering technologies. Meanwhile, high level organisations such as the UN Environment Programme and the US National Academies of Sciences have started to seriously evaluate options for climate intervention.
“We’re now in a situation where we’re implicitly assuming that we’ll need large-scale CO2 removal, but we really haven’t put the time and money into actually finding out whether we can do it or not”, says Jeffrey McGee, director of the Australian Forum for Climate Intervention Governance at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. “The gap between expectations and knowledge, I think, is getting wider and wider by the day.”
There’s not much time to decide which of these options is useful. We shouldn’t wait another year. The science needs to start now.
Globally, just a few marine geoengineering projects are ready for field trials. Ocean artUp, being led by Ulf Riebesell, is testing the idea that artificial ocean upwelling – using vertical pumps – can enrich the ocean’s nutrient-poor subtropical gyres, boosting fish production and CO2 uptake. Riebesell’s team is currently testing various pump designs in waters off the north Atlantic island of Gran Canaria.
Ice911, an initiative started by Leslie Ann-Field, a lecturer at Stanford University in California, aims to prove that it’s possible to use technology to restore Arctic ice. Field’s method involves scattering tiny glass silica beads on the surface of thin, young Arctic sea ice as a way of boosting its reflectivity by 50%. Field’s team was due to test the method on a small scale at Utqiagvik, Alaska this summer but plans have been scaled back owing to Covid. Follow-on plans to test the method in the Arctic at a larger scale will need additional funding.
Meanwhile, the Marine Cloud Brightening Research Program, a collaboration between the University of Washington, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and a team of retired engineers in Silicon Valley, has emerged as the sole significant US effort in marine geoengineering. With limited funding, the team has designed a bespoke nozzle that can generate three trillion particles of tiny salt particles per second from filtered sea water. The next step, developing this into a system of 400-500 nozzles that can be tested in the field, will need roughly $4-5 million, which the research team is currently raising.
Prototype cloud brightening equipment (Image: Alejandro Tagliafico / SIMS and Southern Cross University)
The consequences of deploying any of these technologies at scale is unknown. Already, the ocean has soaked up one third of the roughly 40 billion tonnes of CO2 that we emit annually, as well as 93% of the extra heat from climate change. While this has tempered climate change on land, it has caused the ocean to warm rapidly and become more acidic. Conservationists worry that marine geoengineering could harm marine life, or the health of the ocean.
“Geoengineering is not only complex and unknown, but it has huge potential impact,” says Torsten Thiele, founder of the Global Ocean Trust, a non-profit that focuses on marine conservation, technology and governance. “I’m very sceptical on letting people try things out until we’ve sorted out the other steps and processes. Let’s first figure out the framework, let’s figure out the ethics standards, let’s figure out what happens in the lab. We could create a long list of things that would allow natural scientists to improve knowledge without actually trying these things out in nature.”
Governance gap
With field trials inching forward, attention is turning to how geoengineering research – and deployment, if it ever happens – should be governed. Right now, different laws could be applied to geoengineering on land and in the ocean, but none are comprehensive. The IMO amendment on ocean iron fertilisation, for instance, just applies to a single method and then only if the iron is “dumped” at sea, rather than piped or injected, for instance. “What we have right now is a patchwork of rules,” says Kerryn Brent, who researches international environmental law at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
One possibility for governing marine geoengineering is through a new law to protect marine life on the high seas, those waters that are beyond national governance. The law, which is currently being negotiated by the UN, will likely require any activity that takes place on the open ocean to first undertake an environmental impact assessment, a formal process to gauge potential damage to marine life.
While this would limit the possibility of harmful experimentation in the open ocean, some feel there is a need for more structured, high level governance of geoengineering. The problem right now, says Brent, is that no single organisation or body has a mandate to gauge the risk of harm caused by geoengineering against the risk of inaction. “One of the big gaps in governance are rules that will enable decision-makers, countries and scientists to weigh up the risks of a specific research activity or deployment versus the risk of not doing it. We just don’t have those kind of rules available," she says.
“Part of the point of all the testing and modelling that we do is to establish the safety, the efficacy and the risks” says Leslie-Ann Field, founder of Ice911. “Our first principle is to do no harm, right? But there’s also just this vast risk of doing nothing,” she says.
According to non-profit Silver Lining, the UNFCCC, which oversees international climate policy talks, could have a role in evaluating both the merits and risks of geoengineering research. The question still remains as to whether one entity, and which, would have the authority to sanction or prevent the deployment of climate intervention. The UN Security Council is one possibility, though with 15 member states, only five of which are permanent, gaining global consensus could be difficult. Meanwhile, scientists say they need regulations urgently for field research to forge ahead. “We need to phase in these technologies in ten years from now. We already know that,” says Riebesell. "That’s not much time to decide which of these options is useful. We shouldn’t wait another year. The science needs to start now.”
Olive Heffernan is a freelance science journalist who covers oceans and climate change. You can tweet her at @O_Heffernan and read her latest stories at www.oliveheffernan.com.
from Storage Containers https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/who-governs-climate-intervention-and-geoengineering-on-the-high-seas via http://www.rssmix.com/
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Memorable Cemeteries in Every State
Going to cemeteries suck. It’s never for a joyous occasion. They are one of the few places that humans face their mortality, which tends to make a lot of people uncomfortable. Pop culture has done a wonderful job of making cemeteries the focal point of horror films. From ghosts, to zombies, to vampires, odds are something bad is going down if there’s a cemetery scene in a movie. It’s about time we highlight cemeteries for something other than being the setting of a zombie apocalypse.
We decided to scour the internet to find the most memorable cemetery in every state. Every cemetery is unique, but these 50 stood out from the rest. Whether it be the architecture, the people buried there, or the history around the plot of land, each of these cemeteries has a cool story. Check out the list to see if you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting any of these cemeteries.
Alabama
The biggest cemetery in Alabama is also the oldest cemetery in the state. Covering close to 100 acres, Maple Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 80,000 people. Many U.S. congressmen and military figures are buried here. Maple Hill Cemetery is located in Huntsville, Alabama.
Alaska
In Eklutna, Alaska, there is a cemetery outside of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church. Here, Russian and native Alaskan traditions merged, and out of the blend came what is called “spirit houses.” Families lay their loved ones to rest, then build a spirit house on top of the grave. It’s believed that the house brings comfort to the spirit.
Arizona
Tombstone, Arizona is considered, by some, to be the most haunted place in the state. In the mid 1800s, the town mined more than $80 million in silver bullion. Many residents suffered gruesome deaths and they were all buried in the Boothill Graveyard of Tombstone. Tombstone has been featured on Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” and the Syfy series “Ghost Hunters.”
Arkansas
Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville is one of the largest historical cemeteries in Arkansas. Evergreen was originally a family cemetery on the Thomas family farm. It has now grown to cover over ten acres and holds more than 3,000 bodies. One exceptionally interesting story of this Arkansas cemetery is that of Adeline Blakeley. Blakeley was a former slave who chose to stay with the family that enslaved her even after the Civil War ended. She continued to work for the family, but was considered to be a family member. When Blakeley died at 95, the family wanted her to be buried at the family plot in Evergreen, but at the time it was a white-only cemetery. There are two stories about how she was accepted as the first African American to be buried in the cemetery. One is that Blakeley was so well-liked by the entire community that they allowed her to be laid to rest with her family. The other is that the family kept the casket closed and told everyone it was their aunt they were burying. Either way, this is a phenomenal story.
California
So many celebrities are buried in Hollywood. Forest Lawn Memorial in Glendale particularly sticks out because it’s the oldest cemetery in Tinseltown. Celebrities including Nat King Cole, Jimmy Stewart, Gracie Allen, Sam Cooke, Theodore Dreiser, Clark Gable and Michael Jackson are all buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Colorado
Riverside Cemetery opened in 1876 in Denver. It was designed to be such a beautiful cemetery that families would spend the day enjoying the scenery while visiting their loved ones. Unfortunately, Denver took a different turn and industrialized much of the surrounding area, turning the countryside into highways. Many people exhumed the bodies of their family members and took them to a more peaceful location.
Connecticut
Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut is known for its incredible sculptures and monuments throughout the grounds. There’s an 18-foot pink-granite pyramid and a lifesize statue of an angel erected in memory of Mark and Angelina Howard. A monument commemorating Cynthia Talcott, who passed away at age two, has her face beautifully engraved in stone. One notable burial at Cedar Hill is Horace Wells, the discoverer of anesthesia.
Delaware
Coffee Run Cemetery not only has a pretty unique name, but it also stands out because it is the burial ground of the first Catholic church in Delaware. This is a very small cemetery with only 50 graves, 12 of them being unmarked. The cemetery has been plagued with arson that destroyed the keeper’s house and barn.
Florida
The first Key West Cemetery in Florida was destroyed by hurricane in 1846. Bodies resurfaced and high winds and water scattered the bodies throughout the area. The new cemetery was established one year later. To keep this tragedy from happening again, many bodies are buried in above ground vaults and there is a high water table.
Georgia
Savannah is an awesome city, so it’s only fitting that there are incredible cemeteries. Bonaventure Cemetery, just east of Savannah, became famous when it was featured in Clint Eastwood’s film “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” John Muir, “The Father of Natural Parks”, stayed in Bonaventure for six days and nights during his travels to Florida.
Hawaii
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl Cemetery, is located in Honolulu. It was created to honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Before the cemetery opened, the remains of veterans from Guam, Wake Island and Japanese Internment Camps were transported to Punchbowl to serve as their final resting place.
Idaho
Morris Hill Cemetery is in Boise, Idaho. The burial ground was purchased by the city’s mayor in 1882. The causes of death among those first buried at Morris are quite different than what’s common today. It’s noted that some of these people died from falling rocks and trees, snow slides, softening of the brain, and constipation. One lady buried here particularly sticks out: Annie “Peg Leg” Monroe. During the time of the Gold Rush, Monroe was a brothel owner. Apparently, she got stuck in a snowstorm, caught frostbite, and had to have both of her legs amputated. The park is open for self-guided walking tours.
Illinois
Woodlawn Cemetery is located in Forest Park, Illinois. One section of the cemetery is called Showmen’s Rest. On June 22, 1918 a train traveling from Detroit to Chicago plowed into the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train. The train’s engineer, the only passenger, allegedly fell asleep. Around 60 circus members were killed and were all buried in Showmen’s Rest because it was purchased specifically for members of the The Showmen’s League of America. Many of those that were killed were never identified. A majority of the markers read “unidentified male” and “unidentified female.” Apparently, members of circuses still choose to be buried there to this day.
Indiana
Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis is the third largest non-governmental cemetery in the nation. The burial grounds covers 555 acres and there are over 200,000 people buried there. In the 1800s it became a popular location for recreational activities including picnics and walks through the park. Visitors enjoy beautiful views of the city from the grounds.
Iowa
Vegors Cemetery in Lehigh, Iowa was originally used by Native Americans as a burial ground. When white settlers came into the area, many battles ensued. The settlers eventually won and took control of the sacred burial ground. They removed the Native American remains, destroyed the burial mounds, and began to use it as their own cemetery. Years later, Native American remains were returned to the cemetery and a monument was dedicated in their honor.
Kansas
Stull Cemetery, located in Lecompton, Kansas, was listed on CBS News’ list of most haunted places in America. The University of Kansas student newspaper wrote an article about Stull Cemetery claiming that the devil visits the cemetery twice a year, on Halloween and the Spring Equinox. Four years after the article was published, on March 20, 1978 over 150 people came to the cemetery to wait for the devil’s arrival. There were no reports of any sightings that night.
Kentucky
Pikeville Cemetery in Pikeville, Kentucky is known for a chilling story. In 1891, Octavia and James Hatcher welcomed their first child. Unfortunately, the baby soon passed away and Octavia grew ill and fell into a coma. Shortly thereafter, doctors pronounced her dead. Since it was a hot day, James buried her immediately. Other community members began falling into comas, but they survived. James realized that maybe Octavia was still alive when she was buried. They exhumed her body and saw scratch marks on the roof of the casket and Octavia had bloody fingers. Yikes.
Louisiana
Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of the famous cemeteries in New Orleans. Marie Laveau, the notorious voodoo practitioner, is buried in her husband’s family tomb in this cemetery. Legend says that Marie Laveau will grant you a wish if you mark three x’s on the tomb, turn around three times and yell out your wish. If it comes true, you must come back and mark a circle around the x’s. To prevent vandalism, the public is no longer allowed to visit the cemetery without a tour guide.
Maine
Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine is one of the locations Stephen King used to shoot the horror film “Pet Sematary.” Mount Hope is 184 years old and was America’s second garden cemetery.
Maryland
Green Mount Cemetery is located in Baltimore. The cemetery was dedicated in 1839 and is the final resting place of important historical figures, like John Wilkes Booth. Visitors ironically leave pennies on his grave, because it has Abraham Lincoln’s face on it. There are intricate statues and monuments throughout the cemetery. Tourists can schedule a walking tour of the grounds.
Massachusetts
Charter Street Cemetery in Salem, founded in 1637, is the oldest cemetery in the town. Important members of the early community are buried in this cemetery. Directly behind the cemetery is the Salem Witch Trial Memorial. Both are open to the public from dawn to dusk.
Michigan
Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit has been awarded a wide array of certifications. It’s the oldest continuously running, non-denominational cemetery in the state. Since there are so many abolitionists buried in Elmwood, the cemetery’s foundation decided to fulfill the requirements to become a significant site for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior.
Minnesota
Oakland Cemetery in St. Pauls is the oldest public cemetery in Minnesota. It was founded five years before Minnesota became a state, in 1853. The first plots sold for just $3.15. In 1870, survivors of the Civil War organized Decoration Day, what is now known as Memorial Day, at Oakland Cemetery. More than 1,500 veterans are buried at this cemetery.
Mississippi
There are many interesting tombstones and monuments in Natchez City Cemetery in Natchez, Mississippi, but one tomb stands out from the rest. Florence Ford was only ten when she died from yellow fever in 1871. Apparently, Florence was always scared of storms. In order to comfort her in the afterlife, her mother had Florence’s casket built with clear glass at the head and steps that went down to the level of the casket. Overhead, the doors closed to protect her mother from the storm. The contraption is still visible today, but the glass was covered with cement to prevent vandalism.
Missouri
Mineral Creek Cemetery in St. Louis Prairie has an interesting origin story. A couple was traveling West with their young children. Unfortunately, one of the children passed away while they were passing through this small town. Much of the area is covered with tall prairie grass, but the town was constructing a new church, so that area was clear. The couple gained permission from the church to bury their child on the property. From there on, people began to bury their loved ones at the church and the congregation took take of the cemetery until it grew too large for them to continue to do so.
Montana
On June 8, 1917, 168 men were killed in the Spectacular Mine disaster in Butte, Montana. A fire was ignited by a carbide lamp. Most of the men died of asphyxiation, but some survived for a couple days in the tunnels. A few lucky men were rescued after being stuck underground for 55 hours. The remains of the men were buried in Mountain View Cemetery where there is a memorial to the victims of the disaster.
Nebraska
Ball Cemetery in Springfield, Nebraska is said to be guarded by William “Rattlesnake Pete” Liddiard. One small catch: Rattlesnake Pete is dead. He was a United States Marshal who left his hometown to join the famous “Buffalo Bill” on the road. Although he died along the West Coast, his body was returned to Springfield. According to local legend, he now he patrols the perimeter of the cemetery and appears to unwanted visitors as a dark shadow.
Nevada
Goldfield Historic Cemetery in Goldfield, Nevada is one of the many ghost town cemeteries located in the state. Although visitors would never guess it today, Goldfield was one of the largest mining towns in the country. It’s known as “The Last Great Gold Camp.” Many of the headstones describe how the person died: “Gunshot By Deputy Sheriff”, “Man Died Eating Library Paste.”
New Hampshire
The two victims of the Smuttynose Island murders are buried in South Cemetery of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Three immigrant women were left alone on the island off the coast of New Hampshire. One woman got away from the attacker and she was able to identify him and the man was later hanged for his crimes.
New Jersey
The Old Tennent Cemetery in Manalapan, New Jersey was established in 1731. It’s said that a Revolutionary War battle occurred in 1778 on the cemetery grounds, and the church was used as a makeshift hospital. The battle was called the Battle of Monmouth after the county Manalapan is in.
New Mexico
Fairview Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico has become overrun by a prairie dog colony. These rodents sought refuge in the cemetery after construction drove them out of their original habitat. The prairie dogs have created a series of tunnels, which has resulted in the resurfacing of remains of the people buried there. The groundskeeper has taken matters into his own hands by using poisonous gas and a pellet gun to kill off the rodents.
New York
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow is the cemetery and town that inspired Washington Irving’s “Sleepy Hollow.” The town was originally known as North Tarrytown, but was changed in 1996 to honor Irving. Along with Elizabeth Arden, the makeup entrepreneur, and Walter Chrysler, the founder of the car company, Irving is also buried here.
North Carolina
Salem Moravian Graveyard, located in Salem, North Carolina is also known as God’s Acre. Every Moravian cemetery takes on this nickname. What sets this cemetery apart from others is that, following Moravian tradition, every headstone is exactly the same: a flat white plaque. This is because this Protestant sect believes that everyone has the same level of importance in God’s eyes; in death, all are equal. Over its course of 250 years in existence, over 7,000 people have been buried in God’s Acre of Salem.
North Dakota
Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, North Dakota is the oldest in the area. The first burial took place in 1878 and the cemetery was established in 1879. The original owners of the hallowed ground were respected members of the Fargo community.
Ohio
The Athens Lunatic Asylum, now known as The Ridges in Athens, Ohio, has three on-site cemeteries. When patients would die while admitted to the hospital, families were able to make their own arrangements, but if the family could not be contacted or if they refused to come, the patient would be buried on hospital grounds. The headstones given to the deceased have no names or dates, only the patient’s hospital number. There are 1,930 men and women buried at The Ridges.
Oklahoma
Violet Springs Cemetery in Konawa, Oklahoma is the final resting place of a woman named Katherine Cross. According to her headstone, she was 18 when she died and she was “murdered by human wolves.” That’s a pretty cryptic message, but historians say that Cross actually died from a botched abortion, not werewolves.
Oregon
Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon is the city’s oldest and largest cemetery. The land was originally owned by James and Elizabeth Stephens; James’ father was buried on the property. The Stephens sold their farm to Colburn Barrel, who owned a steamboat. Years after, Barrel’s steamboat exploded, killing his business partner and many others. Barrel buried the victims alongside James’ father and thus began the Lone Fir Cemetery. It has grown to span over 30 acres and there are over 250,000 people buried in this Portland cemetery.
Pennsylvania
Hankey Church Cemetery in Murrysville, Pennsylvania is supposedly where a pastor of the Hankey Church was hanged for adultery in the 19th century.
Rhode Island
Mercy Brown is a pivotal figure in the New England Vampire Panic. In the 19th century, tuberculosis was spreading like wildfire. The people of New England began to believe that when a family member died from tuberculosis, they drained the rest of their family with the sickness in order to hang on to life, thus being a vampire. The only way to prevent the rest of the family from suffering the disease was to exhume the “vampire’s” body. If they still had blood in their organs or they were still in the early stages of decomposition, although they had been dead for a while, they were considered to be a vampire. From there, the body’s organs were removed and burned, and occasionally decapitated. In Brown’s case, her body was burnt, her remains were mixed with water, and given to her brother to drink to keep the sickness from attacking his body. It obviously didn’t work.
South Carolina
The St. Philip’s Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina was created for the first congregation in the state, the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. One interesting story about the property is that in the 18th century, the church suffered a fire. A slave extinguished the fire before the entire church was engulfed. For this heroic act, the slave was awarded his freedom.
South Dakota
Mount Moriah Cemetery is found in Deadwood, South Dakota. It was created to suit the growing population during the Gold Rush. There are many divisions of the cemetery that is built into the side of a mountain. There’s a section specifically for the Jewish community, a mass grave site for victims of a mining fire, veterans, and unfortunately a portion just for children.
Tennessee
Old Gray Cemetery in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee was designed to last for centuries. Founded in 1850, the cemetery reflects the history of Knoxville. The cemetery is the final resting place to people of all walks of life, which can be seen in the diverse monuments, mausoleums and unmarked graves.
Texas
Baby Head Cemetery is located in what is now known as Llano, Texas. The cemetery and town, that was also formerly known as Baby Head, were named after Baby Head Mountain. According to local legend, Native Americans abducted a small child from the town and left her remains at the base of the mountain, thus Baby Head Mountain. The first person to be buried in Baby Head Cemetery was, yet another, young girl named Jodie McKneely in 1884.
Utah
Ogden City Cemetery in Ogden, Utah stands out because of its breathtaking scenery. This is a place anyone could rest eternally for the beautiful views alone. The cemetery was established in 1851.
Vermont
Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, Vermont is a pretty standard cemetery, aside from Dr. Timothy Clark’s tomb. Dr. Clark lived in fear of being buried alive. To prevent his worst nightmare from coming true, he installed an underground staircase that leads to the surface of his grave. He was buried with a breathing tube and a bell. At the surface level of his grave, he had a clear window installed so he could be checked in on. He died in 1893 and apparently he really was dead because he didn’t use his escape route.
Virginia
The Alexandria National Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia was one of the country’s first national cemeteries. It mainly serves as burial grounds for Union soldiers. It’s lack of vacancy during, and after, the Civil War is what led to the opening of the Arlington National Cemetery.
Washington
Black Diamond Cemetery was established in Black Diamond, Washington in 1886. That’s three years before Washington even became a state. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The cemetery is made up of coal miners and their families.
West Virginia
Soule Chapel Methodist Cemetery in Meadow Bluff, West Virginia is the final resting place of a woman named Zona Heaster Shue. According to local legend, shortly after her mysterious death, Zona’s ghost appeared to her mother and recounted that she had been brutally murdered by her husband. Zona’s mother went to the police and they exhumed her body. Due to the details Zona’s told her mother, the police were able to convict Zona’s husband of murdering her.
Wisconsin
Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee was established in 1847. It was later discovered that this land was also a Paleo Indian burial ground. The cemetery has over 60 earthworks, or mounds that hold the bodies of early Native Americans. This cemetery is so rich in history, holding the bodies of famous politicians and mayors as well as Jacob Best, the founder of Pabst Brewing Company.
Wyoming
Sacajawea’s Cemetery on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Fort Washakie is the final resting place of one of the most famous women in American history: Sacajawea. This Native American woman guided famous explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition across America. Six years after their journey, Sacagawea died after giving birth to her daughter. One little known fact is that eight years after Sacagawea died, Lewis adopted both of her children.
Every cemetery deserves recognition, but what is the most memorable cemetery you have been in and what made it so unforgettable? Let us know in the comments below!
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Who Governs Climate Intervention and Geoengineering on the High Seas?
[By Olive Heffernan]
In late March, as most of the world was adjusting to lockdown, oceanographer Daniel Harrison was setting sail for the Great Barrier Reef. Though Harrison, a native Australian, had sailed these waters many times before, this particular expedition was different.
On reaching Broadhurst Reef, 100km off the Australian coast, Harrison and his skeleton crew of local scientists – just a few with permission to travel – noticed white corals stretching out in every direction, a sign that the reef was bleaching, and dying, from heat stress. This would be the third mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in just five years, an event that is becoming more likely as the global ocean warms.
Harrison and his team were there to test a radical intervention that, if successful, could spare the world’s largest coral reef from total loss. Known as marine cloud brightening, their approach involves spraying seawater into the air to help form bright clouds that reflect sunlight and cool the waters below. “This is like putting the reef on life support while we deal with the underlying cause. It buys us some time” says Harrison. “Obviously bringing emissions down is the critical thing.”
Climate intervention
While Harrison’s project is small in scale, and in its infancy, marine cloud brightening is just one of numerous practices – collectively known as geoengineering or climate intervention – that could cool the planet, offsetting some of the harm caused by greenhouse gas pollution. With global emissions rising, there’s a growing awareness that we’ll likely need such radical measures to avoid dangerous climate change. “Emissions reductions alone are not going to cut it,” says Phillip Boyd, a marine biogeochemist at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. “We’ve got an increasingly fast-moving problem, and so we may need increasingly fast-moving countermeasures,” says Kelly Wanser, founder of US non-profit Silver Lining, which advocates for research into climate intervention.
A trial of prototype cloud-brightening equipment on the Great Barrier Reef (Image: Brendan Kelaher / Southern Cross University)
Using technology to control the climate is undeniably controversial, seen by some as a quick fix with unknown consequences that diverts attention from the harder task of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy. As such, there’s been little funding for research, and few real-world trials. Harrison’s project – focused on curbing a national ecological disaster – is a notable exception. “It’s essential to know whether these things work or not,” says Harrison. “If we find out that they don’t work, it just strengthens the argument for reducing emissions harder and quicker and not delaying”.
Geoengineering – or deliberate climate control – is not new. During the Cold War, both the US and the Soviet Union funded research into cloud seeding, an approach the US eventually used during the Vietnam war to extend the monsoon season and disrupt enemy troops. Since then, the field has expanded into a wide array of schemes mostly intended to mitigate climate change, though some have co-benefits such as boosting fisheries.
Broadly speaking, there are two approaches. The first, Solar Radiation Management (SRM), aims to limit the amount of heat absorbed by the Earth and could be used to quickly cool the surface. This could be achieved, for instance, by sending reflective sulphates into the stratosphere via giant balloons, or by scattering silica beads over Arctic sea ice to make it more reflective.
The alternative, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), focuses on physically extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it, in ecosystems such as mangroves or forests, underground or in the deep ocean. Possibilities here include fertilising the sea surface with iron to promote the growth of plankton – which absorb CO2 from the air – or burning biomass as a source of energy, capturing the CO2 and storing it.
In general, SRM is seen as the more extreme approach that could be deployed with quick results in the case of a regional or global climate emergency.
So far, no single scheme has been proven to work at scale. Most research has focused on land-based solutions, but competing needs, such as ensuring food security, makes these impractical as global solutions. Scientists are now looking to the open ocean as a more pragmatic choice for geoengineering. “This is where it makes most sense, because there’s no conflict of interest with any other issues. These areas are largely unused at the moment and they also make up 50% of the planet’s surface” says Ulf Riebesell, a biological oceanographer at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany.
So far, 27 different marine geoengineering schemes have been proposed. There has been roughly a dozen field tests, mostly focused on ocean iron fertilisation. When a commercial company, Planktos Inc, proposed to test the technology off the Galapagos Islands in 2007, it sparked fears of unregulated interference with the planet’s climate by entrepreneurs looking to turn a quick profit by selling sequestered CO2 as carbon credits.
In response, two intergovernmental bodies sought to outlaw geoengineering. In 2010, the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity recommended that member states ban the deployment of all large-scale climate intervention technologies, a stance that it reaffirmed in 2016. Meanwhile, in 2013, the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) – which regulates shipping – added ocean iron fertilisation to its list of banned practices. Though the IMO measure is voluntary and yet to be enforced, it symbolises the taboo long associated with climate intervention.
Growing expectations for unproven technologies
With global emissions still growing despite the commitments made in Paris in December 2015, the mood has started to shift. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made it clear that we have little chance of avoiding dangerous levels of warming, generally regarded as 1.5C or 2C above pre-industrial temperatures, without geoengineering technologies. Meanwhile, high level organisations such as the UN Environment Programme and the US National Academies of Sciences have started to seriously evaluate options for climate intervention.
“We’re now in a situation where we’re implicitly assuming that we’ll need large-scale CO2 removal, but we really haven’t put the time and money into actually finding out whether we can do it or not”, says Jeffrey McGee, director of the Australian Forum for Climate Intervention Governance at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. “The gap between expectations and knowledge, I think, is getting wider and wider by the day.”
There’s not much time to decide which of these options is useful. We shouldn’t wait another year. The science needs to start now.
Globally, just a few marine geoengineering projects are ready for field trials. Ocean artUp, being led by Ulf Riebesell, is testing the idea that artificial ocean upwelling – using vertical pumps – can enrich the ocean’s nutrient-poor subtropical gyres, boosting fish production and CO2 uptake. Riebesell’s team is currently testing various pump designs in waters off the north Atlantic island of Gran Canaria.
Ice911, an initiative started by Leslie Ann-Field, a lecturer at Stanford University in California, aims to prove that it’s possible to use technology to restore Arctic ice. Field’s method involves scattering tiny glass silica beads on the surface of thin, young Arctic sea ice as a way of boosting its reflectivity by 50%. Field’s team was due to test the method on a small scale at Utqiagvik, Alaska this summer but plans have been scaled back owing to Covid. Follow-on plans to test the method in the Arctic at a larger scale will need additional funding.
Meanwhile, the Marine Cloud Brightening Research Program, a collaboration between the University of Washington, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and a team of retired engineers in Silicon Valley, has emerged as the sole significant US effort in marine geoengineering. With limited funding, the team has designed a bespoke nozzle that can generate three trillion particles of tiny salt particles per second from filtered sea water. The next step, developing this into a system of 400-500 nozzles that can be tested in the field, will need roughly $4-5 million, which the research team is currently raising.
Prototype cloud brightening equipment (Image: Alejandro Tagliafico / SIMS and Southern Cross University)
The consequences of deploying any of these technologies at scale is unknown. Already, the ocean has soaked up one third of the roughly 40 billion tonnes of CO2 that we emit annually, as well as 93% of the extra heat from climate change. While this has tempered climate change on land, it has caused the ocean to warm rapidly and become more acidic. Conservationists worry that marine geoengineering could harm marine life, or the health of the ocean.
“Geoengineering is not only complex and unknown, but it has huge potential impact,” says Torsten Thiele, founder of the Global Ocean Trust, a non-profit that focuses on marine conservation, technology and governance. “I’m very sceptical on letting people try things out until we’ve sorted out the other steps and processes. Let’s first figure out the framework, let’s figure out the ethics standards, let’s figure out what happens in the lab. We could create a long list of things that would allow natural scientists to improve knowledge without actually trying these things out in nature.”
Governance gap
With field trials inching forward, attention is turning to how geoengineering research – and deployment, if it ever happens – should be governed. Right now, different laws could be applied to geoengineering on land and in the ocean, but none are comprehensive. The IMO amendment on ocean iron fertilisation, for instance, just applies to a single method and then only if the iron is “dumped” at sea, rather than piped or injected, for instance. “What we have right now is a patchwork of rules,” says Kerryn Brent, who researches international environmental law at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
One possibility for governing marine geoengineering is through a new law to protect marine life on the high seas, those waters that are beyond national governance. The law, which is currently being negotiated by the UN, will likely require any activity that takes place on the open ocean to first undertake an environmental impact assessment, a formal process to gauge potential damage to marine life.
While this would limit the possibility of harmful experimentation in the open ocean, some feel there is a need for more structured, high level governance of geoengineering. The problem right now, says Brent, is that no single organisation or body has a mandate to gauge the risk of harm caused by geoengineering against the risk of inaction. “One of the big gaps in governance are rules that will enable decision-makers, countries and scientists to weigh up the risks of a specific research activity or deployment versus the risk of not doing it. We just don’t have those kind of rules available," she says.
“Part of the point of all the testing and modelling that we do is to establish the safety, the efficacy and the risks” says Leslie-Ann Field, founder of Ice911. “Our first principle is to do no harm, right? But there’s also just this vast risk of doing nothing,” she says.
According to non-profit Silver Lining, the UNFCCC, which oversees international climate policy talks, could have a role in evaluating both the merits and risks of geoengineering research. The question still remains as to whether one entity, and which, would have the authority to sanction or prevent the deployment of climate intervention. The UN Security Council is one possibility, though with 15 member states, only five of which are permanent, gaining global consensus could be difficult. Meanwhile, scientists say they need regulations urgently for field research to forge ahead. “We need to phase in these technologies in ten years from now. We already know that,” says Riebesell. "That’s not much time to decide which of these options is useful. We shouldn’t wait another year. The science needs to start now.”
Olive Heffernan is a freelance science journalist who covers oceans and climate change. You can tweet her at @O_Heffernan and read her latest stories at www.oliveheffernan.com.
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