#Horticultural Therapy

[artspace11275201418]

Stress Reduction Through Gardening: An Organic Way to Well-Being

A beloved hobby for many years, gardening is appreciated for its capacity to turn outside areas into flourishing havens of breathtaking natural beauty. Gardening has a profound secret that is often overlooked but goes a long way toward controlling stress and fostering mental well-being. The therapeutic advantages of gardening have gained importance in our fast-paced, contemporary lives. This essay investigates the ways in which gardening provides a healthy and efficient approach to dealing with stress.

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The Scientific Basis of Stress Reduction in Gardening

Associated with Nature:-

Gardening has an innate connection to the natural world. Connecting with plants and being in an environment full of greenery helps one feel more connected to the natural world. There is proof that this relationship improves mental health by lowering stress and anxiety. Studies have indicated that spending time in natural settings, including gardens, can reduce cortisol levels and boost serotonin production—also known as the "feel-good" hormone.

Engagement in Exercise

Exercise and a sense of purpose are combined in the physical activity of gardening. Various tasks, such as digging, planting, weeding, and watering, are necessary when tending to your garden. These activities can aid in the release of endorphins, which have been shown to reduce stress and promote happiness.

Observance and Conscientious Gardening

Growing a garden promotes mindfulness, which is the art of being totally present in the moment. Gardeners can easily shift their concentration from anxious thoughts and problems by becoming involved in the activity at hand as they tend to their plants. Calm and clarity of mind can result from practicing mindfulness.

Engaging Senses

Planting stimulates more than one sense at once. The sounds of nature, the feel of leaves on the ground, the sight of flowers in bloom, and the scent of dirt can all contribute to a multisensory therapy that eases tension and quiets the mind.

Using Gardens to Reduce Stress

Taking Care of Your Own Garden

Having a garden at home might offer a convenient retreat for relieving stress. There are lots of ways to create green areas, whether you have a large backyard or a tiny balcony. For people with little outdoor area, window boxes, vertical gardening, and container gardening are all viable solutions. Having your own flowers, veggies, or herbs may be a fulfilling and healing endeavor.

Community Gardens

Community gardens are open areas where people can grow plants together and enjoy the advantages of gardening. In addition to providing a stress-relieving pastime, these gardens help people interact with like-minded others and build a sense of community.

Gardening Therapy

A controlled kind of gardening called horticultural therapy is used to enhance mental wellness. It is frequently given by licensed therapists who assist people with stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. Guided garden activities are part of horticultural therapy, which aims to improve emotional well-being, improve cognitive performance, and encourage relaxation.

Natural Reserves and Botanical Gardens

Without having a personal garden, one can immerse themselves in the beauty of nature by visiting botanical gardens and nature reserves. These open areas provide a haven from the stresses of everyday life and a chance to re-establish a connection with the natural world.

Gardening's Psychological Benefits

Reduction of Stress

It has been demonstrated that gardening lowers the body's levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Whether it's planting, weeding, or just relaxing in the garden, gardening can dramatically reduce stress and encourage a sense of peace.

Enhanced Emotion

Growing plants and caring for them may be really enjoyable. One's mood can be lifted and daily living can be made more enjoyable by the garden's beauty and sense of accomplishment.

Increased Self-Respect

Self-worth and self-esteem can increase through gardening. People experience a sense of accomplishment when they witness their hard work pay off in the form of flourishing plants, which helps reduce stress and self-doubt.

Taking a Break from Stress

Tending a garden offers a beneficial diversion from life's pressures. Gardeners experience less anxiety because they are less inclined to ruminate on troubling ideas and concerns while they are focused on their duties.

Coping Strategy

Gardening is a helpful coping strategy for a lot of individuals. It gives one a positive way to release tension and gives them a feeling of control over their surroundings, which can be particularly powerful in trying times.

The Benefits of Gardening for Physical Health

Work out

Gardening is a natural type of exercise because it requires physical exertion. Participating in gardening activities on a regular basis can result in better physical health, including increased flexibility and fitness.

Generation of Vitamin D

People who garden outside are exposed to sunlight, which helps the body make vitamin D. It is well known that this vital vitamin supports mental health as well as general well-being.

Clean Air

Exposure to fresh air, which can enhance lung health and give one a sense of renewal, is typically experienced when gardening.

Benefits of Gardening for the Environment

Beneficial Effects on the Environment

Growing food in a garden, especially with sustainable methods, makes the environment healthier. Reducing pollution and promoting biodiversity can be achieved through planting trees, raising native plants, and maintaining organic gardens.

A Wellspring of Motivation

Both an inspiration source and an instructional tool can be found in gardens. They inspire people to value and recognize the beauty of nature, as well as to become more ecologically conscious.

The Social Advantages of Gardening

Social Communication

Growing a garden may be a social activity that brings people together who share similar interests. Gardening encourages social connection, whether through garden clubs, community gardens, or just sharing advice and experiences with friends and neighbors.

Minimizing Social Disturbances

Gardening provides a means of social interaction and loneliness relief for persons who may be socially isolated. Neighbors can get together in the garden to socialize and exchange tales and life experiences.

In summary

A haven of peace and well-being in a society where stress and fast-paced living are the norm, gardening provides. It is an amazing and approachable tool for living a healthy and meaningful life because of its capacity to lower stress, enhance mental health, and offer a plethora of physical, psychological, environmental, and social benefits. Growing more people aware of gardening's healing properties will only increase the activity's capacity to enhance wellbeing by offering a time-tested, organic route to stress reduction and a happier, healthier life. Thus, whether you are an experienced gardener or have never touched soil, think about beginning your gardening adventure right now to discover the amazing ability of nature to calm your spirit.

[nourishflourishuk]

Wild About Gardening

There seems to be a bit of debate sparked by the comments made by Monty Don & Alan Titchmarsh in an article in The Telegraph. According to Craig Simpson the TV stalwarts agree that: “Wild gardens are ‘puritanical nonsense.” We introduced British native plants alongside non-native plants that enjoy the conditions by the pond. We let them run wild & tidy them up a little by removing old growth in…

[falseandrealultravival]

Garshin and "Red Flower" ~ Is he also a savior?（Essay）

Garshin (Гаршин)

Russian short story writer Garshin (Гаршин: 1855-1888) is a novelist who made a name for himself by turning his experiences during the Russo-Turkish War into novels. (Retired from the military due to an injury he suffered while serving in the military.) However, he was genetically ill with a mental illness, and before gaining permanent fame as a novelist, he committed suicide by jumping off himself. He was 33 years old.

There aren't many works he left behind, but there are many that shine. Among them, "Red Flower" is his masterpiece. Garshin's experience of being admitted to a psychiatric hospital is strongly reflected in this novel, and it is possible to understand the state of the psychiatric hospital at that time.

The main character (called G), who has been deranged and sent to the hospital, burns with hatred for the crimson poppy flowers that grow in a garden of beautiful flowers. This "flower" is the root of all evil. So he decided that it was his duty to somehow eradicate these flowers (there were three of them in all) and save the world, and he did so.

Especially at the end, G escaped from the hospital room from the state of being tied up in a straitjacket and fought the "final (final) battle". was sent to the funeral with the "booty" poppy in hand.

It seems like a meaningless death, but for G, this act was a noble and unavoidable act "to save all mankind from evil." Good intentions! However, the setting of the action was completely wrong. A harsh fate for too pure G. It's painful.

However, it seems that G knew that he could harvest opium seeds from the seeds of the poppy, and it was purposeful that he tried to harvest the poppy. Ironically, G had been prescribed morphine from poppy to relieve his sleep deprivation.

From a slightly different point of view, gardening work itself is known to have a therapeutic effect in a mental hospital where many flowers are grown like G, the main character of this "red flower". It's called "horticultural therapy". For G, it had the opposite effect.

[richs-pics]

Glow, Royal Horticultural Society, Bridgewater

[briicarson]

💦💧

[asclepias-lavendula-nyctanthes]

Gardening is cheaper than therapy – and you get tomatoes 🍅

~anonymous

[nellickalnursery]

   Nellickal Nursery®️, established on December 1, 1999, is located in Ponnani, Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It offers a wide range of services including Fruit Garden Design and Implementation, Fruit Garden Consultancy, Fruit Garden Development, Butterfly Garden Creation, Tree Rejuvenation (Tree Rejuvenation Technology), Pruning, Tree Transplantation (Tree Relocation/Tree Burlapping services/Tree Shifting Technology/Tree Moving method/Trees Translocation), Miyawaki Forest (Crowd Foresting) Restoration, Ecological Restoration, Man-made Foresting, Horticulture Therapy, Aromatic Gardening, Sensory Gardening, Landscaping Gardening, Lawn Grass setting and Lawn Mowing Maintenance Service, Indoor Gardening, Medicinal Gardening, Bonsai Art and Training, Vertical Gardening, Kokedama Gardening, Birth Star Plant Implementation, Zodiac Tree Implementation, Vegetative Plant propagation training, Plant Consultancy, Plant Nursery operations, and Nursery Management. Services are available throughout Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Alappuzha, Idukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad, Kasaragod) and in other parts of India.

Nellickal Nursery® 

Anish Nellickal®: 9946709899

Whatsapp No: 9946881099

 www.nellickalnursery.com

[confessions-of-a-misanthrope]

I Gotta Get Out of the Suburbs

[themissing-linc]

With a newfound knowledge of aphids, Linc dropped to his knees in the plant bed, quickly identifying a couple other flowers teeming with the little green things. "D'you mind?" he asked over his shoulder, pulling up a chewed-through stem. "It's kind of therapeutic," Linc said, though he was sure he didn't need to explain that to the man. The feeling of the earth under his fingers was... grounding. Ironic. He sympathized with the man's predicament, though, and wanted to help. Plus, it took his mind off of everything else which was... convenient. "Is there such thing as a freelance gardener?" Linc asked, glancing up again. "I think it looks great. Better than this time last year, for sure," Linc assured him, remembering the dull, mostly-concrete courtyard he'd spent hours in when dad was first diagnosed. "Used to be a lot... greyer. As if this place wasn't depressing enough."

Clusters of small green insects populated the stem of a sad, chewed upon plant in Jack's hands as he raised it aloft for the other man to see. Even to the untrained eye it was obvious that they were the cause of the flowers' demise. Several of the surviving plants in the bed were similarly affected, a plague of little green bodies munching through their leaves gluttonously. Glowering, he tossed it into a bucket by his feet. "Fuckin' aphids," he repeated, shaking his head in annoyance. "They eat everything-" A tirade was building inside, but he clamped down on it, grinding his teeth. While it was certainly easier focus his thoughts on the bugs than the actual reason for his poor mood, he didn't need to inflict that on some unfortunate bystander... at least, not some unfortunate bystander at the hospital. Had they been in a bar it would've been different, but the dude was probably having a bad enough day as it was all things considered. He definitely looked like was. Jack nodded, squinting in the sunlight as he surveyed his work. "Sorta. They hired me to do this, anyway. Might stop paying me if all the plants get chewed up though. It's supposed to look nice out here."

➥ tagging @themissing-linc

[yandere-paramour]

Hey how does the yanderes react or respond to there darlings that are very suicidal or just want to harm themselves but can’t talk about it so they just put notes in places in hope that maybe there yans could comfort or just be there for them

(Have a bit of a hard time right now)

Let me just say, I know EXACTLY the thoughts and feelings you're having; I have been there several times myself. I know this might sound stupid but the only advice I can give you is to lie down, read yandere blogs, and hold on. It will pass and you will be okay. You've still got lots and lots of stories to read :) I wish you well.

Atalanta is ALARMED. She has never dealt with this in her life and her immediate reaction is to call her mother and ask for advice. Asteria has dealt with this a bit with Jamie, so she gives Ata the name of a really nice mental health spa. You will be taken care of and protected while Ata is working, and then you can come home and she'll take care of you. They will give you talk therapy and group therapy and art, music, horticulture therapy, anything that might help you. Atalanta will spare no expense to get you to feel better. Your health and safety is priceless.

Noelle will not let you out of her sight. She won't even go to work; you're more important to her than even her beloved job and Ata will understand. You both will spend all day in your soothing room. She will lavish you with her loving attention, patting your back and gently rubbing your stomach to soothe you while you lay on the bed in your depressive state. Noelle just lets you vegetate like you need to, and she will simply take over and care for you as you need. Feel free to be as catatonic as you want; she will bathe you, feed you, and coax you through gentle activities. Her steady calmness is honestly soothing; it makes you feel like whatever happens, you will be okay because Noelle will not let you fall.

Vivien has been there himself and he knows how horrible it feels. He knows that you need help and you need care. If you don't already have a therapist/psychiatrist, he will help you find one. Until you can get to an appointment, he will try his best to distract you from the pain. He drags you along to do things like biking or kicking a ball around outside or tending to the community garden; as sucky as you feel, the fresh air and green space makes you feel a little bit better. At home, he cooks you as much comfort food as you want, making you help by stirring the pot or kneading the bread. He's going to keep you as busy as you need to distract yourself.

[transmutationisms]

Have you come across any books or papers that explore or have interesting things to say on topics like aromatherapy, music therapy, or art therapy.. and whatever new something therapy there is?

I just thought you might know.. and thanks either way :D

yes a few :3 on historical origins and case studies. also hi sorry this has just been marinating in my inbox for like a week lol. just putting these in no particular order, there's stuff here on horticultural, occupational, music, gymnastic, light, and hydro-therapies. there is a really large body of literature on this type of topic in history and sociology of medicine though, these are just scratching the surface & mostly tilted toward british context because of the class i read them for lol

All the Aids that Nature Can Afford: Horticulture, Healing, and Moral Reform in a Gilded Age Hospital (2023). Linnea Kuglitsch. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 1.27 183–200, DOI 10.1007/s10761-021-00648-x

Shūzō Kure’s essay on psychotherapy including music in twentieth-century Japan (1916) (2022). Mitsuhira, Yuki. History of Psychiatry 33.3 364–373. DOI 10.1177/0957154X221098517

Showers: from a violent treatment to an agent of cleansing (2019). Cox, Stephanie C.; Hocking, Clare; Payne, Deborah. History of Psychiatry 30.1 58–76, DOI 10.1177/0957154X18801766

Work, Psychiatry and Society, c. 1750-2015 (2016). Ernst, Waltraud (ed.). ISBN 9781526109255

Perkins’s Patent Metallic “Tractors”: Development, Adoption, and Early Dissemination of an Eighteenth-Century Therapeutic Fad (2019). Lanska, Douglas J. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 28.2 122–146, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2019.1589830 (2-part article, 2nd part follows in same issue)

Soaking up the rays: Light therapy and visual culture in Britain, c. 1890-1940 (2017). Woloshyn, Tania Anne. ISBN 9781784995126

The Science of Automatic Precision: The Rise and Fall of Spectro-Chrome Therapy (2014). Lavine, Matthew. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 44, 140–177

Exercises in Therapy---Neurological Gymnastics between Kurort and Hospital Medicine, 1880--1945 (2014). Guenther, Katja. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 88.1 102–131, DOI 10.1353/bhm.2014.0022

‘He shall have care of the garden, its cultivation and produce’: Workhouse Gardens and Gardening, c.1780-1835 (2021). Collinge, Peter. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 44.1 21–39, DOI 10.1111/1754-0208.12717

Murky waters: British spas in eighteenth-century medicine and literature (2022). Vasset, Sophie. ISBN 9781526159717

Work and Occupation in French and English Mental Hospitals, c.1918-1939 (2023). Jane Freebody. ISBN 9783031131073

[embyrinitalics]

Captain’s log, stardate 082324.8

I started therapy 8 weeks ago and it’s awesome. The immediate fallout has been uncovering and confronting a bunch of repressed garbage that was making me miserable, reconnecting with my book, publishing a chapter of fic, applying for a 9 month horticultural program at the university extension office, and beating Outer Wilds/Echoes of the Eye. That last one isn’t so much a result of therapy as it was unintentional additional therapy. But seriously everyone should play it. 👍

[nourishflourishuk]

Spuds Spuds Wonderful Spuds!

We��ve all done it, discovered a forgotten about potato or three in the back of the cupboard. Don’t throw any future finds out though, if they’ve started producing shoots, you can plant them! With time & care they should produce more potatoes for you! Not enough room for a vegetable patch? Well, you don’t need much – you can do this on a balcony as well as in a garden – watch the video to find…

[sourcreammachine]

GREEN PARTY MANIFESTO 2024 SUMMARY

tldr: there's a feeling of tension in this manifesto, between youthful zennial climatic ecosocialism and old-guard hippy-liberal environmentalism. this year the greens may well go from 1 MP to the dizzying heights of 2 (there's whispers on the wind that they may even get 3...), and the green council delegation is at 800-odd now, so this could easily be a changing-of-the-guard moment

with the great Berry and the ok Denyer in parliament the party could have more momentum in battling the starmerite government, and with that, it has the ability, the possibility to pick up more momentum. this is a big opportunity in the party's history - over the next five years it can and could be pushed into a holistic ecosocialist movement by the centrally influential mass party membership, and remove the last dregs of its tunnel vision to provide a lefty movement for everyone, green and pink, a Newfoundland coalition. with votes at 16 on the cards and this potential evolution of the party, 2029 could be a big moment for this country's left. whether or not the greens play the role of keystone is up to them

it is also the only manifesto to use the term 'neurodivergent'

💷ECONOMY

wealth tax of 1% on individuals with assets over §10m and 2% for assets over §1b (an extremely humble proposal), reform capital gains and investment dividend taxation to be at the same rates as income taxation, remove the income-based bands on national insurance contributions, ie raising total income taxation by 8% at §50k/a, – altogether raising government revenues by upwards of §70b/a

stratify VAT to reduce it for consumer stuff and hike it for stuff like financial services

permanent windfall tax on banks for whenever they get windfalls

perform a holistic land survey to get the data needed for a new, effective Land Tax

abolish the tax relief on existing freeports and SEZs

heavy carbon tax to raise a boatload of billions, rising progressively over a decade to allow industrial adaptation, for a ~§80b state windfall for five years that'll be for green investment as this windfall starts to recede

renationalise water and energy

§15 minimum wage, 10:1 pay ratio for all organisations public and private (ie §150 sort-of maximum wage, ~§300k/a), mandatory equal pay audits, 'support' lower hours and four-day weeks [clarification needed]

unambiguously define gig workers as workers with contract rights from day one, repeat offenders of gig-slavery will be banned from operating in the country

every City bank required to produce a strategy with a clear pathway to divestment of all fossil fuels "as soon as possible and at least by 2030", every City non-banking organisation simply to be banned from having fossil fuel in their portfolios, credit to be banned for repeat City climate offenders, mandate the BoE to fulfil the funding of the climate transition and climate leadership of the City, FCA to develop measures to ban fossil fuel share trading in the City and immediately prohibit all new shares in fossil fuels

"we will explore legal ways for companies to be transformed into mutual organisations"😈

develop regional cooperative banks to invest in regional SMEs, coops and community enterprises

diversify crop growth, promote local agricultural cooperatives and peripheral urban horticultural farms, give farmers a sort of collective bargain against grocers

aim towards a circular economy: require ten-year warranties on white goods, rollout of right-to-repair

tighten monopoly laws on media with a hard cap preventing >20% of a media market being owned by one individual or company and implement Leveson 2

🏥PUBLIC SERVICES

abolish tuition fees and cancel standing debt

surge nhs funding by §30B, triple labour's spending plans for everything, the entire budget, the entire state, everything

free personal care, with occupational therapy being part of this

35h/w free child care (eg seven hours over five days, or seven days of five hours)

renationalise many academies under local authorities, abolish the "charity" status of private schools and charge VAT

surge funding for smoking-cessation, addiction support and sexual health service

surge funding for public dentistry with free care for children and low-earners

free school breakfasts in primary school and free school lunches for all schools

one-month guarantee of access to mental health therapies

online access to PrEP

let school playing fields be used in the evenings by local sports clubs

greater funding for civic sports facilities and pools

🏠HOUSING

unambiguously-under-the-law nationalise the crown estate for an absolute fuckton of land and assets for housing and for green energy and rewilding for FREE

rent control for local authorities, ban no-fault evictions and introduce long-term leases, create private tenancy boards of tenants

local authorities to have right of first refusal on the purchase of certain properties at aggressive rates, such as unoccupied or uninsulated buildings

all new homes to be Passivhaus standard with mandatory solar panels and heat pumps

§30B across five years to insulate homes, §12B of which is for social homes, and §9B more for heat pumps, and §7B more for summer cooling

planning law reform: council planning mechanisms to priorities little developments all over the place rather than sprawling blobs, demolitions to require as thorough a planning application as erections, new developments required to not be car dependent

planning laws to require large-scale developments feature access to key community infrastructures such as transport, health and education, often mandating the construction of new key infrastructures, support nightlife and local culture in planning regulations

exempt pubs and local cultural events from VAT

building materials to be reusable, builders' waste rates to be surged to encourage use of reuse

750k new social homes in five years

🚄TRANSPORT

'a bus service to every village', restore local authority control and/or ownership of their busses

renationalise rail via franchise-concession lapsing, slowly assume ownership of the rolling stock (currently leased, and would continue to be so under labour's implementation of renationalisation) by buying a new train when the stock needs to be replaced

electrification agenda across the rail network, strategic approach to rail line and station reopenings

bring forward (sorta, the tories suspended it but labour says they'll reinstate it) the new petrol car ban from 2030 to 2027, existing petrol cars targeted to be off the road by 2034, investigate road-price charges as a replacement for petrol tax, hike road tax proportionally to vehicle weight, drop urban speed limits from 50kph to 30kph (or from 30mph to 20mph if you only speak Wrong), mass funding for freightrail and support logistics firms transitioning away from lorries

§2.5b/a for footpaths and cycleways, target of 50% of urban journeys to be extravehicular by 2030

frequent-flyer levy, ban on domestic flights within three-hour rail distance, remove the exemption of airline fuel from fuel tax, prioritise training of airline workers into other transportational jobs

👮FORCE

abolish the home office, transfer its police/security portfolio to the justice ministry and its citizenship/migration portfolio to a new migration ministry separate from the criminal justice system

abolish the kill the bill bill and restore the right to protest

recognise palestine, push for immediate ceasefire and prosecution of war crimes, back the south africa case, "[support] an urgent international effort to end the illegal occupation of palestinian land"

grant asylum-seekers the right to work before their application is granted

end the hostile environment

abolish Prevent

end routine stop-and-search and facial recognition

commission to reform 'counterproductive' drug regime, decriminalise personal possession

amend the Online Safety Act to "[protect] political debate from being manipulated by falsehoods, fakes and half-truths", ie actually protecting 'fReE sPeEcH' and not everything that rightists imply by that phrase

decriminalise sex work

reform laws to give artists IP protections against ai

cancel trident and disarm

push for nato reforms (in its and our interest, they're not russophiles, they're not galloway, it's ok): get it to adopt a no-first-use nuclear policy, get it to prioritise diplomatic action first rather than military reaction, get it to adopt a stronger line on only acting for the defence of its member states

right to roam🚶‍♂️

🌱CLIMATE

zero-carbon by 2040, rather than the ephemeral ostensible government target of 2050

stop all new oil/gas licenses, end all subsidy for oil/gas industries, regulate biofuels to end greenwashing, end subsidies for biomass

decarbonise energy by 2030, minimum threshold of energy infrastructures to be community owned, "end the de facto ban on onshore wind" with planning reform

massively expand the connections between the insular grid and the UCTE continental grid to increase electricity import and export and prevent the need for energy autarky

more targeted bans on single-use plastics

"give nature a legal personhood" ok grandma let’s get you to bed

§2b/a to local authorities for local small-business decarbonisation

"cease development of new nuclear power stations, as nuclear energy is much more expensive and slower to develop than renewables. we are clear that nuclear is a distraction from developing renewable energy and the risk to nuclear power stations from extreme climate events is rising fast. nuclear power stations carry an unacceptable risk for the communities living close to facilities and create unmanageable quantities of radioactive waste. they are also inextricably linked with the production of nuclear weapons. green MPs will campaign to phase out existing nuclear power stations." because some people just can't let go of the seventies. nuclear is good. nuclear is our friend

invest in r&d to find solutions to decarbonise 'residual' carbon in the economy, such as HGVs or mobile machinery

increase unharvested woodland by 50% (no time frame given), grants to farmers for scrub rewilding, rewet Pete Boggs, make 30% of the EEZ protected waters and ban bottom trawling

§4b/a in skills training to stop gas communities getting Thatchered, prioritising shifting these workers into offshore wind

a.. licensing scheme for all pet animals? you guys sure about that one

regulate animal farming with a goal of banning factory farms, ban mass routine antibiotics, ban cages/close confinement and animal mutilation

ban all hunting including coursing and "game", ban snaring, ban hunt-landscaping such as grouse moors, end the badger cull, mandate licensing of all animal workers with lifetime striking off for cruelty convictions, compulsory hedgehog holes in new fencing, 'push' for 'ending' horse and dog racing [clarification needed], new criminal offences for stealing and harming pets, 'work towards' banning animal testing

🗳️DEMOCRACY

proportional representation for parliament and all councils

abolish voter ID

votes at sixteen

votes for all visa'd migrants

restore the electoral commission's prosecutory powers and remove the cap on fines it can impose on parties

increase Short Money, especially for smaller parties

create a manifest legal category of organisation for think tanks, to allow better enforcement of lobbying and funding restrictions

consider fun new measures for political accessibility such as MP jobsharing and allowing public provision of offices for all parliamentary candidates

🎲OTHER STUFF

Self-ID including nonbinary recognition, including with an X passport marker

"work towards rejoining the eu as soon as the domestic political situation is favourable", join the eea now (with restored free movement)

let local authorities invest shares in sports teams, including professional ones, dividends ringfenced for public sports facilities and coaching

right to die

[richs-pics]

Illuminated trees

[37q]

finally got my job description today: ill be running the healing garden(s)! im at a wellness center, and they have horticulture therapy programs on site and at a few schools arnd the area :) if you know even a single thing about my life then youll understand how hilariously serendipitous this is! i think this means ill be tending the gardens ^_^ ill also be supplementing the latinx youth wellness group!! some programming happens on saturday maybe like every third but otherwise itll be normal office hours, since id wanna be outside in the morning and id work through after-school programs. im so excited!