#Life cycle emissions

[just2bruce]

Bulk carriers and containerships moving at slowest speeds

Slow steaming is a good way to save on fuel costs and meet the new IMO requirements. So ships have slowed down. But I was amazed at the graph below, showing a trend for quite a while. Slowing down is an important way of cutting CO2 emissions from fuel oil. It also implies that more ships are needed to meet planned sailings on a scheduled route. It’s a deliberate reduction of individual ship…

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

Studying sustainability has taught me that the answer to things like “is it better to use paper or plastic bags?” always ends up being something like “we would need to perform an extremely in depth study on the entire life cycle of both types of bags from virgin material collection to product recollection, compare things like amount of product each type of bag can carry, material usage per bag, how frequently double-bagging is occurring, and take into account a ridiculous number of factors down to the fuel efficiency of the trucks that transport them and even after all that we would have to try to find a way to compare whether the higher carbon emissions of producing and transporting paper bags is better than the fact that the plastic bags will be plastic bags for the next thousand years. And at the end of the day all this research would ultimately not be particularly useful because our waste collection streams in the US are so fucking bad it’s depressing.”

And then someone will ask about reusable bags and you’d have to do the study again only to reveal that you need to use the reusable bag like a couple thousand times to offset the carbon emissions it takes to make the reusable bag and make it worth it over disposable bags and that’s not taking into consideration bags breaking before then or being forgotten about completely.

The answer always leads to “it’s incredibly complicated but our current practices are so terrible we would need a full scale restructuring of our economy and practices to such a degree that can literally never happen because our government is lobbied by the people who make money off of said unsustainable practices.”

So the answer to “paper bags or plastic bags?” is that we need to destroy capitalism

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A proposal to stop labelling carbon dioxide as a pollutant and instead celebrate it as a "foundational nutrient for all life on Earth" will be up for debate at the United Conservative Party's (UCP) annual general meeting(opens in a new tab) in November. The resolution, which includes abandoning Alberta’s net-zero targets, flies in the face of the scientific consensus(opens in a new tab) that carbon dioxide emissions created by humans burning fossil fuels is one of the primary drivers of global warming.  The increased temperatures, in turn, cause more frequent and extreme weather(opens in a new tab) like wildfires, floods, heat waves, storms and droughts.  A study published in Nature (opens in a new tab)found the deadly 2021 heat dome in BC that killed more than 619 people was amplified by climate change, and that other events like the fires that tore through Jasper this summer are made more likely and exacerbated by climate change.  The policy resolution put forward by the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock and Red Deer South constituency associations says the carbon cycle is a biological necessity and "The earth needs more CO2 to support life and to increase plant yields, both of which will contribute to the health and prosperity of all Albertans."

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland @abpoli

[acti-veg]

Leather vs. Pleather: 8 Myths Debunked

Since we are all beyond tired of seeing the same regurgitated leather posts every day, I've compiled and briefly debunked some of the most common myths peddled about leather and pleather… So hopefully we can all move on to talk about literally anything else.

1) Leather is not sustainable.

Approximately 85% of all leather (almost all leather you'll find in stores) is tanned using chromium. During the chrome tanning process, 40% of unused chromium salts are discharged in the final effluents, which makes it's way into waterways and poses a serious threat to wildlife and humans. There are also significant GHG emissions from the sheer amount of energy required to produce and tan leather.

Before we even get the cow's hide, you first need to get them to slaughter weight, which is a hugely resource-intensive process. Livestock accounts for 80% of all agricultural land use, and grazing land for cattle likely represents the majority of that figure. To produce 1 pound of beef (and the subsequent hide), 6-8 pounds of feed are required. An estimated 86% of the grain used to feed cattle is unfit for human consumption, but 14% alone represents enough food to feed millions of people. On top of that, one-third of the global water footprint of animal production is related to cattle alone. The leather industry uses greenwashing to promote leather as an eco-friendly material. Leather is often marketed as an eco-friendly product, for example, fashion brands often use the Leather Working Group (LWG) certificate to present their leather as sustainable. However, this certification (rather conveniently) does not include farm-level impacts, which constitute the majority of the negative environmental harm caused by leather.

2) Leather is not just a byproduct.

Some cows are raised speciifically for leather, but this a minority and usually represents the most expensive forms of leather. This does not mean that leather is just a waste product of beef and dairy, or that it is a completely incidental byproduct; it is more accurate to call leather a tertiary product of the beef and dairy industries. Hides used to fetch up to 50% of the total value of the carcass, this has dropped significantly since COVID-19 to only about 5-10%, but this is recovering, and still represents a significant profit margin. Globally, leather accounts for up to 26% of major slaughterhouses’ earnings. Leather is inextricably linked to the production of beef and dairy, and buying leather helps make the breeding, exploitation and slaughter of cows and steers a profitable enterprise.

3) Leather is not as biodegradable as you think.

Natural animal hides are biodegradable, and this is often the misleading way leather that sellers word it. "Cow hide is fully biodegradable" is absolutely true, it just purposely leaves out the fact that the tanning process means that the hide means that leather takes between 25 and 40 years to break down. Even the much-touted (despite it being a tiny portion of the market) vegetable-tanned leather is not readily biodegradable. Since leather is not recyclable either, most ends up incinerated, or at landfill. The end-of-life cycle and how it relates to sustainability is often massively overstated by leather sellers, when in fact, it is in the production process that most of the damage is done.

4) Leather is not humane.

The idea that leather represents some sort of morally neutral alternative to the evils of plastic is frankly laughable, at least to anyone who has done even a little bit of research into this exploitative and incredibly harmful industry. Cows, when properly cared for, can live more than fifteen years. However, most cows are usually slaughtered somewhere around 2-3 years old, and the softest leather, most luxurious leather comes from the hide of cows who are less than a year old. Some cows are not even born before they become victim to the industry. Estimates vary, but according to an EFSA report, on average 3% of dairy cows and 1.5 % of beef cattle, are in their third-trimester of pregnancy when they are slaughtered.

Slaughter procedures vary slightly by country, but a captive bolt pistol shot to the head followed by having their throats slit, while still alive, is standard industry practice. This represents the “best” a slaughtered cow can hope for, but many reports and videos exist that suggest that cows still being alive and conscious while being skinned or dismembered on the production line is not uncommon, some of these reports come from slaughterhouse workers themselves.

5) Leather often involves human exploitation.

The chemicals used to tan leather, and the toxic water that is a byproduct of tanning, affect workers as well as the environment; illness and death due to toxic tanning chemicals is extremely common. Workers across the sector have significantly higher morbidity, largely due to respiratory diseases linked to the chemicals used in the tanning process. Exposure to chromium (for workers and local communities), pentachlorophenol and other toxic pollutants increase the risk of dermatitis, ulcer nasal septum perforation and lung cancer.

Open Democracies report for the Child Labour Action Research Programme shows that there is a startlingly high prevalence of the worst forms of child labour across the entire leather supply chain. Children as young as seven have been found in thousands of small businesses processing leather. This problem is endemic throughout multiple countries supplying the global leather market.

6) Pleather is not a ‘vegan thing’.

Plastic clothing is ubiquitous in fast fashion, and it certainly wasn’t invented for vegans. Plastic leather jackets have been around since before anyone even knew what the word vegan meant, marketing department have begun describing it as ‘vegan leather’ but it’s really no more a vegan thing than polyester is. Most people who wear pleather are not vegan, they just can’t afford to buy cow’s leather, which remains extremely expensive compared to comparable fabrics.

It is striking how anti-vegans consistently talk about how ‘not everyone can afford to eat plant-based’ and criticise vegans for advocating for veganism on that basis, yet none of them seem to mind criticisms directed at people for wearing a far cheaper alternative than leather. You can obviously both be vegan and reduce plastic (as we all should), but vegans wear plastic clothing for the same reason everyone else does: It is cheaper.

7) Plastic is not the only alternative.

When engaging in criticism of pleather, the favourite tactic seems to be drawing a false dilemma where we pretend the only options are plastic and leather. Of course, this is a transparent attempt to draw the debate on lines favourable to advocates of leather, by omitting the fact that you can quite easily just buy neither one.

Alternatives include denim, hemp, cork, fiber, mushroom fiber, cotton, linen, bamboo, recycled plastic, and pinatex, to name a few. Alternatives exist for everything from materials designed to ensure sub-zero temperatures and specialist motorcycle equipment. There are exceptions in professions like welding, where an alternative can be difficult to source, but nobody needs a jacket, shoes or a bag that looks like leather. For most of us, leather is a luxury item that doesn’t even need to be replaced at all.

If you'd like to see a detailed summary of the comparison between leather/wool and plastic, as well as the available alternatives, you can find that here.

8) Leather is not uniquely long-lasting.

The longevity of leather is really the only thing it has going for it, environmentally speaking. Replacing an item less often means fewer purchases, and will likely have a lower environmental impact than one you have to replace regularly. Leather is not unique in this respect, however, and the idea that it is, is mostly just effective marketing.

As your parents will tell you, a well-made denim jacket can last a lifetime. Hemp and bamboo can both last for decades, as can cork and pinatex. Even cotton and linen can last for many years when items are looked after well. While some materials are more hard wearing than others, how long an item will last is mostly the result of how well made the product is and how well it is maintained, not whether or not the item is leather.

[literallymechanical]

Breeding blankets for fusion reactors

So, barring a few ambitious projects involving helium-3, fusion reactor power plants will use hydrogen isotopes as fuel: a 50/50 mixture of deuterium (hydrogen-2) and tritium (hydrogen-3). Deuterium is very stable and relatively abundant, as far as these things go, and can be extracted from ordinary seawater.  Tritium, however, has a half life of just over 12 years, so it doesn't occur in nature.

Fortunately, you can use your fusion reactor to synthesize its own tritium fuel, via the transmutation of lithium-6. You use the powerful neutron flux from the fusion plasma to “breed” tritium in lithium, extract it, then feed it back into the reactor. The figure of merit for this process is the tritium breeding ratio (TBR), which is simply the ratio of tritium bred to tritium used. The goal is to get a TBR substantially greater than 1.

This figure shows the physics of tritium breeding, where neutrons from the deuterium-tritium fusion plasma are absorbed by lithium, which then splits into helium and tritium. [source]

Generally speaking, most concepts for tritium breeding involve wrapping a lithium “breeding blanket” around the outside of the reactor, with as few gaps as you can manage. A deuterium-tritium reactor is constantly generating fast neutrons. You want to keep as much of that emission as possible inside the breeding blanket, for both tritium and power generation.

There are a few different ideas for breeding blanket designs, several of which are going to be tested on ITER, the massive reactor being built in France. One concept is a thick sheath of lithium ceramic that surrounds the vessel, either as solid slabs or pebbles.  As tritium breeding occurs under the blanket, water or liquid helium is circulated through it, cooling the lithium and potentially extracting heat for electricity generation.

While such a blanket might be relatively “simple” (lol) to build, there are some pretty fundamental challenges. Neutrons will penetrate most materials with ease, and it might be tricky to extract tritium that's been bred deep inside of solid lithium.  Ideally, you could do the extraction without pause, even as breeding is ongoing. For some designs, though, you have to cycle out breeder units for harvesting as they get a full load of tritium.

Another concept is “liquid breeding." This concept uses a molten mixture of metallic lithium and lead, or a lithium salt compound like FLiBe (fluorine-lithium-beryllium). The liquid would be pumped through a “breeding zone” around the vessel, where the neutron flux is thickest. The tritium will then be continuously extracted from the breeding fluid as it flows back out.  As part of the process, you can run the hot liquid through a heat exchanger, heating water to power a steam turbine. 

Liquid breeding does raise some prominent engineering challenges. Hot, molten breeding fluid will be very hard to handle – not just because of the heat, but also because you're trying to pump a massive quantity of viscous fluid into a very tight breeding zone. Moreover, molten lithium-lead might react explosively with air. If your breeding system springs a leak, you’ll have a serious mess on your hands!

It’s still unclear which of these breeding strategies will bear fruit. From conception to implementation, there are still a lot of unknowns!  Both liquid and solid breeding will be conducted in France, and a number of private fusion companies have plans to breed tritium in their machines as well.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Hydrogen-powered trucks are expected to reach life-cycle cost parity with their fossil-fuel-burning peers in China by 2027 even without the aid of subsidies, a milestone which the world’s biggest producer and consumer of the zero-emission energy source, seeks to achieve eight years ahead of Europe.

This will push forward the country’s ambition to dominate the market for hydrogen fuel cells in the transport sector as Beijing’s enabling environment starts paying off, an industry executive said.[...]

“China has developed a world-leading industry in commercial vehicle applications for hydrogen fuel cell technology, with enterprises ranging from upstream raw materials to downstream products over the past decade,” said Robin Lin, chairman and president of Refire Group, a Chinese supplier of hydrogen fuel cell technologies.[...]

China has stepped up its game this year with the central and local authorities releasing a variety of hydrogen-related policies and incentives, following the release of its first national-level guidelines for the hydrogen energy industry in 2023.

Nearly a third of its end-2023 fleet of 18,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were sold last year alone, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, indicating the gathering pace. In a further sign of accelerating offtake, China targets to have at least 50,000 units on the road by 2025, according to its national plan.

According to Lin, China has seen significant reduction in the manufacturing cost of hydrogen fuel cell systems, which account for roughly half the cost of a hydrogen vehicle. The cost has dived from over 30,000 yuan per kilowatt in 2015 to less than 4,000 yuan per kilowatt now.[...]

“In transport, heavy-duty trucks could be the first to achieve successful commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cell technology,” he said.[...]

In China, high-purity hydrogen generated as a by-product from industrial processes, such as Shanxi province, is around 25 to 40 yuan per kilogram at local hydrogen refuelling stations, while high-purity hydrogen in other regions, such as Shanghai, is around 50 to 70 yuan per kilogram at local hydrogen refuelling stations, according to Refire.

13 May 24

[threestarsaboveclouds]

do you have a favourite celestial body?

TSAC: I hesitate to pick just one object of interest... my area of study finds me analyzing the sky as a whole, after all.

However, if I had to choose... one type of object I enjoy observing are supernova remnants. These nebulae are left behind by the collapse of a massive star, and they often exhibit very unique properties. One supernova remnant in the constellation of the Rain Deer is particularly intriguing.

The nebula is very young by astronomical standards- the supernova that created it is thought to have been recorded by astronomers of the early Green Hegemonic dynasty, before the Void Fluid Revolution. It was even bright enough to be seen during the day! This apparent disruption of the Celestial Spheres was considered quite exciting to scholars of the time.

In the present day, the corpse of the massive star that created this supernova remnant can be found in the center of the nebula as a pulsar. This dense, rapidly spinning stellar remnant is a very strong source of radio emissions, as well as x-rays and gamma radiation. This energizes the surrounding gas of the nebula and causes it to glow unusually brightly.

I enjoy listening to pulsars such as this. The tempo of their pulses is extremely stable, which makes any changes in their output very exciting. The pulsar at the center of this nebula occasionally exhibits "glitches" in its otherwise stable period of rotation. The source of this instability is unknown, but might be related to activity below the pulsar's surface. I believe the exotic matter existing inside of dense stellar remnants such as this may shed some light on the more enigmatic properties of Void Fluid, and the Void Sea by extension. I find this prospect quite exciting!

On a different note, another focus of my research is the discovery of other planetary systems orbiting distant stars. Studying the properties of these planets might help us understand our own planet's relationship to the Cycle.

In my research I have come across many potential exoplanet candidates, a portion of which are even within their Suns' habitable zones, where liquid water may exist.

One exoplanet system is of particular interest. Planetary transit analysis of the system's G-class host star has revealed at least eight planets; four gas giants and four terrestrial planets. Two of the terrestrial planets are potentially within the system's habitable zone, with spectral analysis showing one in particular has a substantial atmosphere with a considerable amount of water vapor.

Liquid water is considered essential for life, even on other planets. This distant planet could possibly be home to an array of complex alien life forms! If life does exist on this planet, I wonder if its inhabitants are bound to the Cycle as well. One can only speculate!

[ OOC: If you want to see the un-obstructed projections you can find them here! ]

[probablyasocialecologist]

A new study highlights growing public support in the United States for eco-social policies designed to address the interconnected ecological and social crises of our time. The research, led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the London School of Economics (LSE), evaluated public support for four key innovative eco-social proposals: reducing working hours (as low as 28 hours per week), downscaling fossil fuel production, providing universal basic services, and limiting advertising for high-emission goods. The study, published in the journal Ecological Economics, also examined how individual consumption-reduction or "sufficiency" behaviors—such as adopting plant-based diets, avoiding flights, walking, or prioritizing sustainable transport like cycling—influence support for these policies. Additionally, it explored the impact of framing these proposals within a broader agenda of societal transformation (e.g., degrowth, although without using the term). Among the most notable findings, the study reveals that, on average, participants preferred these eco-social policies over existing ones. Annual caps on fossil fuel extraction and the provision of universal health care were particularly well-received. Furthermore, individuals who were more engaged in sufficiency behaviors were more likely to support ecological policies, showing stronger support for fossil fuel restrictions, while support for socially oriented measures, such as reduced working hours and universal health care, was less pervasive and depended on other factors.

[...]

Policymakers continue to ignore increasing calls for dismantling the fossil fuel industry from scientists and civil society organizations, and instead are in favor of supporting "green growth." These findings suggest that the U.S. electorate is open to policy agendas that reduce dependence on fossil fuels (e.g., through limits) while improving citizens' quality of life. Notable examples include universal health care as a human right, accessible to everyone, regardless of employment or socioeconomic status, and reduced working hours as a tool for promoting well-being. These agendas move beyond growth-based objectives to achieve eco-social goals. The study's authors suggest that transition plans for polluting industries could hold broad appeal. "Eco-social policy agendas can protect workers and support them in seeking new jobs that benefit society without harming the planet," says Dallas O'Dell, a researcher at ICTA-UAB and first author of the study. However, the study cautions that when promoting individual sufficiency behaviors, it is essential to consider citizens' privilege levels, as these could influence support for broader social policies. "Encouraging reduced individual consumption among those with less privilege could lead to rejection of broader policies, particularly those of a social nature," O'Dell adds.

10 January 2025

[talonabraxas]

“It seems to me that information is the thing which uses matter, uses light, uses spirit, uses whatever it can put its hands on to organize itself into higher and higher levels of self-reflection.” — Terence McKenna

DNA Galactic Spiral Talon Abraxas “The Super Galactic Centre draws us into a higher cosmic relationship with the eternal force of creation. An interweaving, a soul-mate connection as the Feminine & Masculine fully unite as ONE, entwining together in a cosmic DNA spiral of life.

Interestingly the Super Galactic Centre lies at a right angle to the Galactic Centre. Just like sunlight refracts of water droplets at a right angle to create a rainbow, Super Galactic Centre Cosmic Radiation Wave emissions refract through the Galactic Centre amplifying the GC Wave of LOVE streams and awakening humanity into the next cycle of Evolution. On an individual level, these right angle emissions stimulate our Light Activation Points, ultimately resonating our pineal gland/primordial cells pathway and activating our DNA.” -Star Nectar Astrology

[marvelshifter111]

Phoenix abilities

The phoenix is a legendary bird known for its cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Often associated with fire and the sun, the phoenix is believed to have powerful healing abilities, with its tears capable of curing wounds. It is a symbol of hope, strength, and new beginnings, representing the idea that even after great challenges, one can rise again stronger than before.

Rebirth - The user has the power to be reborn from their ashes after dying, symbolizing immortality and renewal.

Healing tears - The tears of a phoenix have powerful healing properties, capable of curing wounds, illnesses, and even reversing death in.

Immortality - Though they die and are reborn, phoenixes are considered immortal, living through multiple lifecycles.

Flight - With their massive wings, phoenixes can fly gracefully and at great speeds, often leaving trails of fire in their wake.

Light and heat emission - users radiate light and heat, sometimes glowing brightly or becoming engulfed in flames that do not harm them.

Regeneration - the user can quickly heal from injuries.

Purification - Phoenix flames are often described as pure and cleansing, able to purify areas or burn away corruption and darkness.

Prophecy - The power to receive prophecies through visions and information from higher powers.

Enchanted strength and endurance

Fire manipulation

[justalittlesolarpunk]

I've been feeling climate anxiety lately. I think it's really necessary to change everything and progress towards a postcapitalist future that doesn't endanger our planet, our Pachamama. But I don't see how that will be possible. What do you think about this?

Hiya, thanks for getting in touch and sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. I get a lot of asks like this so I think I might make this another masterpost. Here’s climate anxiety solutions according to me:

1) Accept your feelings. Recognise that fear, grief, rage and despair are all normal, healthy, human reactions to paying actual attention to what is being done to our planet right now. You aren’t wrong or sick or overreacting by feeling them. Sit with the emotions, allow them to wash over you, cry, smash plates, punch a pillow, journal, write poetry, yell at the news, scream in the woods! Trying to repress these feelings will just make them harder to deal with.

2) Recognise that the paralysis of climate anxiety is not a good place from which to make a difference. Try to let horror, guilt and self-blame go, and lean into the love for people and planet that motivates all eco-anxiety. Start consuming good news stories and keying into activist spaces so that you can learn how others are claiming agency to fight this problem, and how you can emulate that. Remember that despair absolves you of responsibility and that true solidarity with the most affected means letting your emotions drive you towards action.

4) Educate yourself through reading, listening to podcasts, attending talks, seeking advice from elders, and more - whatever works for your particular life and circumstances. The more informed you are about these issues the more you’ll feel able to address them.

3) Make as many changes as you can in your personal life. Are you eating a high-carbon diet? Try to reduce that. Are you consuming a lot of water or energy resources? Look for green and low-intensity alternatives. Examine your transport habits and prioritise walking, cycling, trains, low or zero emission buses, sailing, and replacing longer-haul journeys with remote options. If you live in a throwaway culture, try to prioritise reuse and repair over consumption. Consider how your livelihood impacts the planet, and if it’s negatively and making change is possible for you, start the process of moving towards an occupation that lets you make a more positive difference.

4) Fight! Join a campaign group, write to your elected officials, attend a protest, donate money to causes if you can, commit civil disobedience if you feel willing and able. Put pressure on governments, businesses and the public to change their ways.

5) Prioritise joy and connection. Spend time in nature, watching animals or foraging for plants or swimming or walking or just letting it all wash over you. Link up with other people to talk through your worries, go hiking, lobby for climate justice, safeguard ecosystems and pass down your local heritage. Sometimes, take a day or two to check out of all these issues and problems and just spend time drawing, cooking, playing games with loved ones, or whatever it is that relaxes you. There are enough of us that you can take the time to avoid burnout.

I hope some of this was helpful, and do please get back in touch if you have any other questions or queries. You’re part of a huge global community of people who love and revere the earth and want to build a better future for all life upon her. Hold onto that.

[totally-california]

You’re president of the United States for a single 4-year term. You have full majority in the House and Senate. What are you (planning on) doing?

For me:

Immediately cutting weapon supplies to Israel and redirecting them to Ukraine so they can fight Russia (likely by declaring martial law)

Pass a federal law that states that you cannot prevent someone from getting an abortion before sixteen weeks of pregnancy as well as you cannot ban someone from using contraceptives

Add gay marriage as a constitutionally protected right (worded along the lines of ‘two people of consenting age are allowed to be together no matter their gender unless circumstances, such as abuse or large age gap including an inappropriate age for one party, occur)

Make school lunches free for as many states as possible

Improve the border situation by adding additional entry points along the border for people seeking asylum

Tax large corporations and rich billionaires higher than the average citizen, lower taxes for lower middle class and lower class citizens, and prevent housing companies from buying/owning more than 1000 houses on the market at any given time. (This will help stop inflation on house prices and potentially even bring it down)

Raise the age of consent to 18 in all states.

Prevent curfews being lawfully in place for people of a specific gender, sexuality, or race (probably by making it unconstitutional)

Decrease funding for the whole military (and put it mostly towards the Coast Guard), continue the disassemble of nuclear weapons (we do not need 500,000 nukes. It’s not useful. And there are better, deadlier, more effective weapons the US has at its disposal that don’t cause radiation and kill the environment for decades)

Improve funding for the study of ADHD and other neurological conditions to reduce false diagnosis while increasing access to the proper medical care and/or treatment needed to identify them

Address climate change by providing extra tax breaks to people with solar panels and/or ZEV’s. (Short for Zero Emission Vehicles) this would include electric cars, and also hybrid cars.

Add term limits for senators and house representatives (2 terms for the Senate, 4 for the House) and make it so the Supreme Court no longer serves for life, but for 3 major election cycles (12 years).

A federal law that if, after 7 years, a debt that has interest is not paid off but the original cost of the debt was, the debt is canceled.

That’s all I could think of, but what are you guys considering? Under the cut are people I follow on my main account or are friends with (I’m not telling you what my main account is though, just know I follow you)

@mrvolition @the-official-goose-god @wikipedia-the-official @maryland-officially @houston-official

@just-ray @walmart-the-official @bingle-official @tameable50

@wannabelaika @ohio-thestate @definitely-mihoyo

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The impoverished imagination of neoliberal climate “solutions

This morning (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There is only one planet in the known universe capable of sustaining human life, and it is rapidly becoming uninhabitable by humans. Clearly, this warrants bold action – but which bold action should we take?

After half a century of denial and disinformation, the business lobby has seemingly found climate religion and has joined the choir, but they have their own unique hymn: this crisis is so dire, they say, that we don't have the luxury of choosing between different ways of addressing the emergency. We have to do "all of the above" – every possible solution must be tried.

In his new book Dark PR, Grant Ennis explains that this "all of the above" strategy doesn't represent a change of heart by big business. Rather, it's part of the denial playbook that's been used to sell tobacco-cancer doubt and climate disinformation:

https://darajapress.com/publication/dark-pr-how-corporate-disinformation-harms-our-health-and-the-environment

The point of "all of the above" isn't muscular, immediate action – rather, it's a delaying tactic that creates space for "solutions" that won't work, but will generate profits. Think of how the tobacco industry used "all of the above" to sell "light" cigarettes, snuff, snus, and vaping – and delay tobacco bans, sin taxes, and business-euthanizing litigation. Today, the same playbook is used to sell EVs as an answer to the destructive legacy of the personal automobile – to the exclusion of mass transit, bikes, and 15-minute cities:

https://thewaroncars.org/2023/10/24/113-dark-pr-with-grant-ennis/

As the tobacco and car examples show, "all of the above" is never really all of the above. Pursuing "light" cigarettes to reduce cancer is incompatible with simply banning tobacco; giving everyone a personal EV is incompatible with remaking our cities for transit, cycling and walking.

When it comes to the climate emergency, "all of the above" means trying "market-based" solutions to the exclusion of directly regulating emissions, despite the poor performance of these "solutions."

The big one here is carbon offsets, which allows companies to make money by promising not to emit carbon that they would otherwise emit. The idea here is that creating a new asset class will unleash the incredible creativity of markets by harnessing the greed of elite sociopaths to the project of decarbonization, rather of the prudence of democratically accountable lawmakers.

Carbon offsets have not worked: they have been plagued by absolutely foreseeable problems that have not lessened, despite repeated attempts to mitigate them.

For starters, carbon offsets are a classic market for lemons. The cheapest way to make a carbon offset is to promise not to emit carbon you were never going to emit anyway, as when fake charities like the Nature Conservancy make millions by promising not to log forests that can't be logged because they are wildlife preserves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/18/greshams-carbon-law/#papal-indulgences

Then there's the problem of monitoring carbon offsetting activity. Like, what happens when the forest you promise not to log burns down? If you're a carbon trader, the answer is "nothing." That burned-down forest can still be sold as if it were sequestering carbon, rather than venting it to the atmosphere in an out-of-control blaze:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/26/aggregate-demand/#murder-offsets

When you bought a plane ticket and ticked the "offset the carbon on my flight" box and paid an extra $10, I bet you thought that you were contributing to a market that incentivized a reduction in discretionary, socially useless carbon-intensive activity. But without those carbon offsets, SUVs would have all but disappeared from American roads. Carbon offsets for Tesla cars generated billions in carbon offsets for Elon Musk, and allowed SUVs to escape regulations that would otherwise have seen them pulled from the market:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

What's more, Tesla figured out how to get double the offsets they were entitled to by pretending that they had a working battery-swap technology. This directly translated to even more SUVs on the road:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Tesla,_Inc.#Misuse_of_government_subsidies

Harnessing the profit motive to the planet's survivability might sound like a good idea, but it assumes that corporations can self-regulate their way to a better climate future. They cannot. Think of how Canada's logging industry was allowed to clearcut old-growth forests and replace them with "pines in lines" – evenly spaced, highly flammable, commercially useful tree-farms that now turn into raging forest fires every year:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/16/murder-offsets/#pulped-and-papered

The idea of "market-based" climate solutions is that certain harmful conduct should be disincentivized through taxes, rather than banned. This makes carbon offsets into a kind of modern Papal indulgence, which let you continue to sin, for a price. As the outstanding short video Murder Offsets so ably demonstrates, this is an inadequate, unserious and immoral response to the urgency of the issue:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

Offsets and other market-based climate measures aren't "all of the above" – they exclude other measures that have better track-records and lower costs, because those measures cut against the interests of the business lobby. Writing for the Law and Political Economy Project, Yale Law's Douglas Kysar gives some pointed examples:

https://lpeproject.org/blog/climate-change-and-the-neoliberal-imagination/

For example: carbon offsets rely on a notion called "contrafactual carbon," this being the imaginary carbon that might be omitted by a company if it wasn't participating in offsets. The number of credits a company gets is determined by the difference between its contrafactual emissions and its actual emissions.

But the "contrafactual" here comes from a business-as-usual world, one where the only limit on carbon emissions comes from corporate executives' voluntary actions – and not from regulation, direct action, or other limits on corporate conduct.

Kysar asks us to imagine a contrafactual that depends on "carbon upsets," rather than offsets – one where the limits on carbon come from "lawsuits, referenda, protests, boycotts, civil disobedience":

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/29/carbon-upsets-offsets-cap-and-trade

If we're really committed to "all of the above" as baseline for calculating offsets, why not imagine a carbon world grounded in foreseeable, evidence-based reality, like the situation in Louisiana, where a planned petrochemical plant was canceled after a lawsuit over its 13.6m tons of annual carbon emissions?

https://earthjustice.org/press/2022/louisiana-court-vacates-air-permits-for-formosas-massive-petrochemical-complex-in-cancer-alley

Rather than a tradeable market in carbon offsets, we could harness the market to reward upsets. If your group wins a lawsuit that prevents 13.6m tons of carbon emissions every year, it will get 13.6 million credits for every year that plant would have run. That would certainly drive the commercial imaginations of many otherwise disinterested parties to find carbon-reduction measures. If we're going to revive dubious medieval practices like indulgences, why not champerty, too?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champerty_and_maintenance

That is, if every path to a survivable planet must run through Goldman-Sachs, why not turn their devious minds to figuring out ways to make billions in tradeable credits by suing the pants off oil companies?

There are any number of measures that rise to the flimsy standards of evidence in support of offsets. Like, we're giving away $85/ton in free public money for carbon capture technologies, despite the lack of any credible path to these making a serious dent in the climate situation:

https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/072523-ira-turbocharged-carbon-capture-tax-credit-but-challenges-persist-experts

If we're willing to fund untested longshots like carbon capture, why not measures that have far better track-records? For example, there's a pretty solid correlation between the presence of women in legislatures and on corporate boards and overall reductions in carbon. I'm the last person to suggest that the problems of capitalism can be replaced by replacing half of the old white men who run the world with women, PoCs and queers – but if we're willing to hand billions to ferkakte scheme like carbon capture, why not subsidize companies that pack their boards with women, or provide campaign subsidies to women running for office? It's quite a longshot (putting Liz Truss or Marjorie Taylor-Greene on your board or in your legislature is no way to save the planet), but it's got a better evidentiary basis than carbon capture.

There's also good evidence that correlates inequality with carbon emissions, though the causal relationship is unclear. Maybe inequality lets the wealthy control policy outcomes and tilt them towards permitting high-emission/high-profit activities. Maybe inequality reduces the social cohesion needed to make decarbonization work. Maybe inequality makes it harder for green tech to find customers. Maybe inequality leads to rich people chasing status-enhancing goods (think: private jet rides) that are extremely carbon-intensive.

Whatever the reason, there's a pretty good case that radical wealth redistribution would speed up decarbonization – any "all of the above" strategy should certainly consider this one.

Kysar's written a paper on this, entitled "Ways Not to Think About Climate Change":

https://political-theory.org/resources/Documents/Kysar.Ways%20Not%20to%20Think%20About%20Climate%20Change.pdf

It's been accepted for the upcoming American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy conference on climate change:

https://political-theory.org/13257256

It's quite a bracing read! The next time someone tells you we should hand Elon Musk billions to in exchange for making it possible to legally manufacture vast fleets of SUVs because we need to try "all of the above," send them a copy of this paper.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/31/carbon-upsets/#big-tradeoff

[acti-veg]

The company is using proprietary technology and upcycled seeds and fruits to create a sustainable chocolate product marketed recently released a life cycle assessment which showed the ways that its cocoa-free chocolate product is more sustainable than conventional chocolate. Its processes use 99% less blue water consumption, 84% less greenhouse gas emissions and fewer land usage — cocoa-bean chocolate production has been a major cause of deforestation. 

“The chocolate industry is centered in a very thin band around the equator, which makes it pretty susceptible to change due to climate change because it is so sensitive to changes in the environment,’ said Kelsey Tenney, vice president of research and development and founding team member at Voyage in an interview with Food Dive. “Cocoa is a very popular flavor, and it only continues to increase in demand, and with that comes an increase in supply which is making a difference in how much cacao costs to the consumer.

[videocollectorking]

Turning Stink into Sustainability: The Power of Organic Waste Recycling

🌿 The Smell of Change: Embracing Organic Waste 🌿

Let's face it - organic waste can be a bit... fragrant. But behind that pungent aroma lies a hidden potential: a powerful tool in our fight against climate change and food insecurity.

🌍 Reducing Greenhouse Gases: More Than Just Air Freshening 🌍

When organic waste ends up in landfills, it doesn't just sit there. It decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen), releasing methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. By diverting our organic waste - think food scraps, yard trimmings, and more - to recycling initiatives like composting or anaerobic digestion facilities, we can significantly cut down these emissions. This isn't just about making the air smell sweeter; it's about making our planet healthier.

💼 Economic Growth: Jobs That Don't Stink 💼

Recycling organic waste isn't just good for the planet - it's great for the economy too. Composting and anaerobic digestion facilities are not just environmental projects; they're job creators. They stimulate local economies and provide employment opportunities, turning waste management into a win-win situation.

🌱 From Landfills to Local Farms: A Sustainable Cycle 🌱

By recycling organic waste, we also reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and shrink our carbon footprint. Compost returned to the earth enriches soil, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, and promoting sustainable agriculture. It's a cycle of life that benefits everyone: from the earthworms in the soil to the farmers tilling the land, all the way to our dinner tables.

🍲 Combating Hunger: Less Waste, More Food 🍲

Finally, let's talk about food security. Globally, a staggering amount of food is wasted. By reducing food waste, we're not just saving scraps; we're fighting hunger. Every morsel saved from the trash is a step towards ensuring that everyone has enough to eat. In a world where so many go hungry, can we really afford to throw away perfectly good food?

In conclusion, while organic waste might not smell like roses, its potential benefits are undeniably sweet. From combating climate change to feeding the hungry, the sustainable disposal of organic waste is a crucial step towards a greener, more prosperous future. So the next time you wrinkle your nose at the smell of organic waste, remember: that's the scent of change.

What are your thoughts on organic waste recycling? Share your experiences or ideas in the comments below! 💬✨

# # #ClimateChange #FoodSecurity #EcoFriendly

Remember to like and reblog if you believe in a greener future! 🌱💚

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - LDPDL & Nosferatu 2024 (Pt10b: Bloody Appetites)

IMO the IWTV/TVC fandom underestimates how dang BLOODY vampire sex can be. In Anne Rice's books, drinking blood is the most intensely intimate & erotic act vampires can perform. But there's a real disparity between TVC/IWTV show-onlies, and fans expecting more gothic horror themes & tropes in the show and/or fics--inc. the inherently erotic nature of a vampire's bite both in AND out of sexual acts. And watching Nosferatu 2024 only confirmed for me that AMC's IWTV & its fandom really sanitizes vampire biology.

(I've already discussed my thoughts on Claudeleine's convo about blood.)

Bloody Bodily Fluids

Anne Rice's vampires are like ticks, bloated with blood--they cry, spit, sweat blood, and if AR's vamps could've had sex in the books, yes their nightly emissions would be bloody too. But AMC dances around it, and the show-only fans have no idea cuz the show's too PG about gay sex.

Like, people laugh at Lestat earning his red wings by drinking period blood in Memnoch (as if that's something a vampire wouldn't do--let alone the wildest thing Lestat has done, which, chile....)

I've seen polls ask whether or not all a vampire's bodily fluids are bloody, and what kinds of blood they drink, and the results are always fascinating (x x x x x x x x x x x)

And let's not forget the TikTok meme

I've read 1000+ IWTV/TVC fics, but can barely list on 2 hands the fics that made a point to emphasize bloody bodily fluids (sweat/saliva/ejaculate/etc)

There's even tags for Blood Kink and Blood as Lube in Rated M-E fics, as if BLOOD is a warning the VAMPIRE fandom needs, and is not something natural to The Nature of being a bloodsucking vampire having sex (which tends to involve a copious exchange of bodily fluids)

And it's not just sex this show/fandom's oddly squeamish about. AMC!IWTV frustratingly censored/obfuscated/ignored/outright effed up important parts of AR's vamp biology. Setting aside the ridiculous amount of alcohol & cigarettes & whatnot we see them with, I've said before how I don't like Louis' bodily death in 1x2, cuz AMC ignored how AR's vamps expel ALL their bodily fluids & waste--poop & pee included. It's a literal MESS, and the scene made no frikkin sense; they just skipped right over it; Lou pukes a bit and he's fine??? As if.

Cuz for AR, the birth of a vampire resembles the birth of a child. Ask anyone who's given birth before: if you didn't handle your business beforehand, you'll piss & crap the delivery bed with all that pushing; it's NOT always clean & pristine like they show on tv. 😅

But wtvr. It just really bothers me how vampires are physically humanized/sanitized way too much in this show/fandom.

Blood is Life: "You Made Your Maker"

In Nos2024, appetite & love & psycho-sexual obsession & hate & life & death are all rolled into one; where Ellen's never been happier holding hands with Death--Orllen literally f**k e/o to death. Their marriage bed is a slaughter--the sheets are SOAKED in a puddle.

Sure, we can assume that's all Ellen's blood Orlok cried & puked up as he died--he's shriveled & empty without her blood. BUT! It also looks like Ellen had a fatal hemorrhage--like childbirth/miscarriage/stillbirth. Even the way Ellen cradles Orlok reminds me of a mother cradling a child--esp. with how much Orlok kept nursing from her boobs (& Thomas' pecs), like a breastfeeding child.

Instead of blood-drinking & bodily fluid swapping being a cyclical exchange that creates new "life" for the undead (Ellen becoming a vamp), Orllen both die--the mother and the child together; breaking the vampiric cycle.

With Loustat, the vampiric cycle plays out fully, with Lestat as the "father or further of a new order of beings," and Louis as Lestat's completely reborn vampire child/fledgling (also in Nosferatu 1979, with Jonathan Harker/Thomas Hutter--the 1992 Dracula has vamp Mina Harker, too; and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen goes the distance & keeps Mina a vamp).

And during sex, which is a bloody friggin mess where Louis' laying in a puddle of blood, covered in oozing love bites & bloody ejaculates, Lestat emerging from Louis' body would look like the blood-covered child LOUIS birthed. And that reminds me of a Loustat fic by @vulcanvampyr that uses kinda similar imagery:

another year (or: this, here, a reason) (6427 words) by vulcanvampyr

"You made your Maker;" with Louis drawing Lestat's blood, as Lestat creates pleasure in Louis' stomach/core/womb/etc--the place where Les' blood sits in Lou's body (his arterial Lou drinks, & his bloody ejaculate when Les climaxes). The vampiric cycle keeps cycling, where through sex & blood Loustat makes e/o again & again.

Love Bites - Little Death, Little Drink

Speaking of oozing love bites, that brings me to my final point. There's the Actual Death vampires experience when they're Turned, and then there's the Little Death (petite mort), the swooning fit of a sexual climax paralleled with the Little Drink of a vampire bite.

Blood is Life--and from the POV of Lestat/Orlock/Dracula, it's the blood of Louis/Ellen/Mina that is life. The best crack, the finest wine, the tastiest meat. Louis can deny himself all he wants--LESTAT clearly doesn't. Horndog AMC!Loustat isn't Bed Death book!film!Loustat; AR No Homo'd as much as possible cuz of censorship. Even in AR's drafts Loustat never used the Little Drink on e/o, which is WILD. book!Les STARVED for Lou's blood for 200 years.

Clearly, AMC!Loustat feeds off e/o, esp. during sex. They're bloody. BUT! Other than Loustat's Little Drink in 1x1, and Loumand's in 1x5, we only see vamps bite e/o during fights (the 1x5 fight & 1x6 hate sex). 😔 It was a cute nod to have Loustat banging on blood red sheets in 1x6, but IMO Lou shoulda been covered in love bites. 😩

As Louis' depression worsened, & he disassociated & distanced himself even more, you think Lestat WOULDN'T bite him to get that connection back? 🤨 Even Claudia bit Lou to get his attention in 1x7.

So I prefer how Nos24 portrayed vampiric sex. Orlok BITES, right over the heart. Sloppy & slovenly, slobbering like an animal (a wolf), he is Appetite--raw hunger, thirst, etc. Blood is a drug for him, esp. Ellen's blood, which turns him on to the point of distraction and the obliteration of all reason--he doesn't even care that the sun's coming and is about to roast him alive. He just keeps drinking Ellen's blood. Her BLOOD is his greatest weakness, not even the sun.

Even Ellen's scent (lilacs) has Orloc reeling like a dope fiend strung out on that black tar heroin.

I've always had doubts about Loumand's blood-drinking scene in 1x5, but IF Louis really was drinking Armand's blood (and not just faking it), they were literally banging in front of Daniel's salad. 🍆

TL;DR: MORE BLOOD, PLEASE 🙏

So yeah, for vampires, Blood IS their whole Life. And I'm just sad that we've lost so much of that in AMC's sanitized vampire fandom--the most we see of blood is when vamps are being violent & killing; rarely when when they're being loving, and it's a real shame, IMO.