#Spiritual Ecosystem Building

[dark-corner-cunning]

Honoring the Spirits of Home: Creating Sacred Spaces for the Unseen

Welcome back, Seekers! Within my local coven, we are journeying through the mysteries of Spirit until Winter Solstice. Today, I introduced the art of crafting Spirit Houses, and I thought it would be fitting to share a bit of that here. I like to keep these crafty posts simple and open-ended, leaving space for the practitioner to add their own touch. The best magick often arises from just diving in and letting your intuition guide the way. May this inspire you to connect, create, and explore! 🌙✨

As witches, we work with spirits every day, whether we realize it or not. Our homes, like ourselves, are steeped in the spirit world, alive with layers of unseen inhabitants that have their own roles, wisdom, and stories to tell. For many of us, it’s a quiet understanding that a witch’s home should be haunted—not in the fearful sense, but filled with life that pulses in harmony with our craft. From ancestral guides and house spirits, to the land’s ancient beings, these entities weave themselves into the very fabric of our spaces, enriching them with energy and presence.

Regardless of whether a home is newly built or weathered by decades, each dwelling becomes imbued with spirit. There’s an existing ecosystem of energies that connect to the land itself, the history of the area, and the layers of life that once lived or passed through. These spirits, sometimes subtle, sometimes profound, thrive within the space we call home, coexisting with us and enhancing our magick. But it is up to us to nurture a balanced and harmonious relationship with them.

Why Connect with the Spirits of Your Home?

Developing a deep, reciprocal relationship with the spirits of your home doesn’t just benefit your craft; it offers blessings for everyone under your roof. When these spirits feel acknowledged and respected, they offer protection, lend strength to your magickal workings, and create an atmosphere of peace and nourishment. A home can truly feel like a sanctuary when the spirits that dwell within it are in harmony with those who reside there in the flesh. This connection turns your space into an anchor—a place of personal power, healing, and resilience.

Building Friendships with Spirit

Nurturing relationships with spirits requires time, care, and a commitment to reciprocity. Just as with human friendships, there is a cycle of giving and receiving. Spirits respond to sincere attention and intention, as well as the gifts and gestures we offer them. One meaningful way to foster this connection is by creating a spirit house or a dedicated space where spirits can feel welcomed and honored.

A spirit house is both a physical symbol and a spiritual anchor. It becomes a place where offerings can be left, and it serves as a gateway for interaction with the spirit world in a respectful and clear manner. It’s a way of saying, “You are welcome here, I honor your presence, and I seek your guidance and protection.”

Creating Your Spirit House

Designing a spirit house is a creative, personal process. It need not be elaborate; sometimes, the simplest gestures carry the deepest respect. You may choose a small altar, a shelf, or even a discreet box placed in a peaceful corner of your home. Consider using natural materials—wood, clay, or stone—as they tend to resonate well with spirits of place. Personalize it with items like stones from your land, soil, dried herbs, or even water from a local stream. Each addition builds a bridge between your energy and the spirits you invite into your home.

When crafting your spirit house, remember that offerings and gifts can strengthen this relationship over time. Spirits, like friends, appreciate time, energy, love, and tokens of appreciation. Remember, spirits are aware of intention as much as they are of the physical offering, so approach this creative expression with reverence and sincerity.

For my spirit house, I’ve chosen to weave in unsea, or “old man’s beard,” gathered lovingly from my mother tree, a sacred link to the ancient and wise energies of the land. I've placed birds within the space, their forms standing as messengers and symbols of spirit, guiding and connecting with the unseen. Mushrooms, too, find their place here, embodying my bond with the natural world—grounded yet reaching into hidden realms. They carry the magick of spiritual growth, reminding me of the mystery and connection to realms beyond. Each piece breathes life into the space, deepening my relationship with the spirits I honor… and I placed a bell at the entrance, placed with the hope of hearing it softly chime as the spirits pass through.

[tobiasdrake]

The problem with Gohan ultimately isn't that Gohan is not suited to be the protagonist of Dragon Ball. It's that the way Dragon Ball stories are told are not suited to be the story of Gohan.

At its heart, Dragon Ball is about the journey of self-improvement. It's the story of one young boy's quest to understand martial arts, himself, and his place in the world and in the heavenly system of Buddhism. Its central mantra is about seeking to improve, to better one's self, purely for the sake of improvement and no other. It's rooted in the idea that even when you think you've made it to the top of the mountain, there is always another taller mountain just over the horizon.

For Goku, martial arts are the tool through which he improves himself. They're his passion. His drive. The center of his universe. Through martial arts, Goku builds relationships to others. Through martial arts, Goku refines himself not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. Through martial arts, Goku even achieves enlightenment.

But that's not Gohan's mountain. It's not his horizon. He's very strong. But martial arts aren't what matters to him.

This is what the start of the Buu arc seemed to grasp before it got cold feet and fell back on more familiar Goku-centric fare. To tell a story about Gohan that's true to the spirit of Dragon Ball, it would need to be about Gohan's journey into academia.

Education is, for Gohan, what martial arts are to Goku. A Gohan show wouldn't be about fighting. It'd be about learning. It'd be about Gohan discovering the world and building relationships through his pursuit of academia. Studying dinosaur biology and the Namekian ecosystem and trying to identify what ki really is from a scientific perspective. Interning at Capsule Corp to learn about shrinking tech.

And learning more about himself and his own curiosity in the process.

And it would be about romance. About learning how to have a stable and healthy relationship with another human being, despite a lack of positive role models in that area to draw from. It would be about Gohan having to surpass his flawed parents - As a boyfriend, as a husband, and ultimately as a father.

Those are Gohan's horizons. That is what his show would need to be about. But that's something that Dragon Ball, set in its ways and stubborn in its direction, simply isn't equipped to give him.

Which is a shame. Because it sounds like a very interesting story to me.

[bonefall]

i remember seeing one(maybe two(?)) of your posts about gods and how humans used to have their own gods (iirc there was also something about how humans interact with nature but i forgot)

but i saved it to read later because i needed to sleep but now i cant find it and I'm starting to think it was a dream ksksjsjsj

I remember that post! I still think about it. Thinking about leeches made me get really emotional about ecology lmao.

Leeches rely on human livestock. Many trees live longer when coppiced and pollarded. Moorland is a biome that thrives through management, if the gorse is left too long, it simply scorches the land to ash.

I just... god it's so beautiful. How humans are part of nature. The connection between culture, religion, and land. We're not separate from it, humans are a keystone species and this part of the british ecosystem evolved to accommodate early hominids.

Since that post I've learned a lot more, to become more furious at the exploitation, extinctions, and botched management of the ecology of this region.. But that's exactly it. Botched.

There's nothing inherently evil about humans and the only reason why it can't go back is because that's being PREVENTED by selfish interest. The problem is unsustainable agriculture and bad building practices, by way of greed or by ignorance.

Ignorance we can fix. Greed we can beat. It'll never be the same and that's okay!! It's not too late to MAKE IT BETTER!

Initially I'd approached the spirituality of the project as making the gods "beyond" the mortals in the setting, like older things of some pristine, bygone era. I now believe that's actually a bad mindset. What are gods? What is religion? An extension of ourselves. The collective dream of human belief.

You're part of nature. Spirituality is a part of you. Nature is part of spirituality. All of these things have an affect on each other... or, they should.

And, y'know, I know it's Battle Cat Fanfiction, it's inherently a bit silly. But, funny as it may be, it's my art and my passion.

So anyway with humans and the clan cats, I really write clan cats like small hominids with a carnivorous diet. It's looking at canon and going, "Yes And," because they absolutely don't write with realistic biology in mind haha. I hope that I'm teaching people some cool things about this environment. And I hope that I can get people to think about the changing nature of culture.

In this setting, I think that humans used to have many gods of their own, and there still exist many beyond the scope of the setting. But in this region, human spirituality is being severely neglected. Various cultures of cats are keeping these sorts of beliefs alive, right under humanity's noses.

Big ramble but... *Shrugs.* Just stuff I think about sometimes.

[enchanted-wildflower]

An (anarcho-pagan) Solarpunk Phantasy

Imagine a city in some possible future. It’s a beautiful place, not so much because of the architecture or layout, but because there are growing things everywhere. It doesn’t look much like the cities of the past, but something more like a huge garden with buildings in it. Parts of it are completely forested and inhabited by wild animals. Others are given over to intensive crop cultivation. The rooftops and yards of every building are filled with vegetables and flowers. There are wells and streams of clean, clear water. In the large and open public squares, people of all types mingle freely to discuss local issues or daily events.

No two neighborhoods are the same: each has a distinctive personality and a different mix of cultures and religions. Not everyone is Pagan, but Pagan religious practices are fully accepted. Here and there throughout the city, you can see little shrines to different gods and spirits. There are sacred groves and holy trees, where people of any faith or no faith at all can go for spiritual renewal without fear of persecution.

The business of governing—if you want to call it that—is done on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis through directly democratic communes. Every person of every type has an equal voice, and an equal vote in the affairs of the commune. There are no bosses, although different people exercise leadership in different circumstances on an as-needed basis.

There is always work to do, from tending the vegetables or making clothing to keeping the streets clean or teaching the children, but there is no one forcing you to work for someone else’s profit. Everyone contributes in whatever way seems best to the individual, and everyone shares in the city’s wealth. There is no charge for food, or for a place to live, or for necessary health care. When there is a need for exchange, people treat it as an exchange of gifts.

People aren’t alienated from each other, they live and work together in close proximity. If you have something you have to do, there is never any question that someone will watch the children. People sing while they work, or tell stories or jokes. As evening falls, people dance and socialize.

The lifestyle of the city is in some ways a simple one, not reliant on the constant use of high technology, but it isn’t anti- technological. Technological knowledge is used extensively, but only in ways that will not disrupt the basic health and balance of the city’s ecosystem.

Capitalism fell—perhaps hundreds of years ago—but civilization endures.

This is a utopian vision, I know. It’s a fantasy of the imagination, but that doesn’t make it a useless daydream. By imagining what my utopia would be, I free myself from what is. I give myself the power to start working immediately for a better world. If this is what my utopia would be like, then I know what steps will bring us closer.

- Pagan Anarchism by Christopher Scott Thompson (published by Gods & Radicals)

[solarpunkbusiness]

Welcome to Herdade do Freixo do Meio, a 600-hectare community farm in Alentejo, Portugal. Run by a cooperative, the farm prides itself on agroecological food production that is local, responsible and conscious. It’s an experiment in sociocracy, and so the Letters from the Farm will be written collectively, with different members of the cooperative taking turns to pick up the pen.

This first letter is by Alfredo Sendim, who inherited the farm from his mother. Alfredo explains how the farm is building resilience through a collective approach, reconnecting with ecosystems and community. It’s a model of cooperation with nature inspired by the ancient agroforestry system of “montado”.

Cooperation with nature

For more than thirty years I’ve been asking myself, what does “being a farmer” mean to me? How should I interact with the space? Rejecting dogmas, the results of the anthropocentric attitude, pushed me a long time ago to the hypothesis that I am just one element of a macroorganism called Gaia.

Since then, I have been experimenting with deep agroecology in the Herdade do Freixo do Meio farm where I live, trying a model of true cooperation with nature, based on the ancient agroforestry system of “montado” (cork tree landscape).

More and more, the Project of Nature is my daily inspiration, which I seek to serve in co-creation with all wild and domestic beings. I want to live in a world based on peaceful, cooperative, self-resilient, communities. I’m looking for the “Allowed Fruit” as opposed to the classic “Forbidden Fruit”.

The universe of multifunctionality and biodiversity in the ancestral forest of oaks around me is a fertile field of personal and spiritual growth that showed me the evidence that you should not be a farmer alone. That’s probably only a human concept. We are, of course, all connected.

[krishnayangaurakshala]

Embracing a Holistic Approach: The Multifaceted Activities of Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala

In the heart of India, Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala stands as a beacon of compassion and sustainability, embodying a deep commitment to the well-being of cows, community, and the environment. Through a series of dedicated initiatives, the gaushala has transformed into a multifaceted hub where spiritual, agricultural, and humanitarian efforts converge to create a positive impact on society. Here’s a closer look at the diverse activities undertaken by this remarkable institution.

Cow Protection: A Sanctuary of Hope

Home to over 21,000 stray and destitute Desi Indian cows and bulls, Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala provides a sanctuary where these revered creatures receive a second chance at life. Rescued through various channels, including police, government agencies, NGOs, and farmers, these gauvansh are sheltered, nourished, and cared for with utmost dedication. The gaushala’s in-house medical facility, staffed by experienced veterinarians, ensures that each cow receives timely and comprehensive healthcare, fostering their well-being and longevity.

Shelter and Nourishment: Building a Safe Haven

The gaushala boasts expansive shelters, meticulously designed to accommodate the growing number of protected cows. These shelters provide a comfortable and dignified living environment, reflecting the institution’s commitment to creating a holy and safe space for gauvansh. Nourishment is another cornerstone of care at the gaushala, where a balanced diet of dry fodder, green fodder, grains, mustard cake, and jaggery is carefully prepared and served twice daily. This holistic approach to feeding ensures that the cows remain healthy, strong, and vibrant.

Medical Care: Ensuring Health and Well-Being

Around-the-clock medical care is a priority at Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala. With a fully equipped medical facility on-site, the gaushala is prepared to handle any health concerns that may arise. From routine check-ups to emergency care, the dedicated team of veterinarians and support staff work tirelessly to maintain the health and well-being of the gauvansh. Ample stocks of medicines and vaccinations are maintained to prevent and treat illnesses, ensuring that each cow receives the best possible care.

Breeding and Training: Promoting Indigenous Cows

The gaushala is actively involved in research and breeding programs aimed at enhancing the genetic traits of indigenous cows. By focusing on disease resistance, adaptability, and milk production, the institution seeks to create a sustainable ecosystem where farmers are encouraged to keep Desi cows. Additionally, vocational training programs are offered to farmers, educating them on the importance of organic farming and the benefits of desi cows and bulls. These initiatives aim to preserve cultural heritage and promote sustainable agricultural practices.

Renewable Energy and Organic Farming: Pioneering Sustainability

Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala is a model of sustainability, harnessing renewable energy through biogas plants and solar power systems. The gaushala’s BIO CNG plant, powered by ONGC, converts 25,000 kg of cow dung daily into CNG gas and manure, contributing to a cleaner environment and the production of organic fertilizers. The institution also promotes organic farming, encouraging pesticide-free crops and eco-friendly practices, with a mission to convert surrounding villages into organic lands.

Humanitarian Efforts: Serving Communities in Need

Beyond its work with cows, Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala extends its compassion to human communities, especially during times of calamity. From providing relief during floods in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand to distributing food during the COVID-19 pandemic, the gaushala’s humanitarian efforts have touched countless lives. The institution regularly sends truckloads of supplies to remote regions and runs food camps, ensuring that those in need receive essential nourishment and support.

Spiritual and Cultural Initiatives: Nurturing the Soul

The gaushala is also a center for spiritual and cultural enrichment. The magnificent yagya mandap, situated on the serene banks of the Ganga, hosts various sacred rituals, including Yagyas, Pujas, and Japas. These spiritual endeavors are conducted by accomplished Vedic Brahmins, creating an atmosphere of divine grace and positive energy. The institution’s yoga center, in collaboration with Jhanvi Yoga Dhyan Sevashram Trust, offers yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic treatments, promoting holistic well-being and spiritual growth.

Conclusion

Shree Krishnayan Gaurakshashala is more than just a shelter for cows; it is a sanctuary where compassion, sustainability, and spirituality intersect. Through its diverse activities, the gaushala not only protects and nurtures Desi cows but also uplifts communities, promotes environmental stewardship, and fosters spiritual growth. It is a shining example of how dedicated efforts can create a ripple effect of positive change, benefiting both the present and future generations.

[iceglade]

wuk lamat could only have ever been a trans catgirl btw

1.4k words (sorry), dawntrail level 100 spoilers:

thats like the whole point when the dawntrail final arc antagonists are examinations/deconstructions the traditional gender roles. btw.

consider where mamook is in the story. consider who gulool ja ja is to tural.

ive been workshopping an essay about how a few of dawntrail's themes are connected, i think theres an in depth conversation that can be had...

95-100 cannot be separated from the cultural context that came before it , regarding the spirituality of Living Memory, sure, but also regarding legacy and filling the legendary gulool ja ja's shoes™ with mamook being where it is as the lid on a jar that was being filled the entire time to complete a jar mini ecosystem before we crack it open 30 years later in heritage found to see whats grown inside.

dawntrail doesnt go into sexism but it does go into racism, it does go into the psyche of the people who IN REAL WORLD TERMS want rich white men to be the ruling class and the people who arent traditional men who still support that concept. its all connected

like the WHOLE FIRST HALF OF THE GAME WAS ABOUT THE SECOND HALF OF THE GAME AND VICE VERSA GO BACK AND REPLAY THE FIRST PART PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. you NEED to learn about your culture and your traditions and your history and you NEED to embrace change and growth and outsider perspectives DO NOT TOSS ONE OUT FOR THE OTHER. THEY NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO FILL THE IDEAL, REAL OR NOT, THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO FUFILL.

MAMOOK LEFT AN IMPRESSION ON ME and the solution presented was learn about one another. understand one another. know their problems. offer and accept help from outside perspectives and grow. which while neither perfect nor fully realized is a lot more than ive ever seen a video game do ever lol. history of war, lack of sunlight, difficulty with getting food, self inflicted self perpetuating community trauma, shunning outsiders, clinging to a status quo so toxic that its actively killing both adults and children - all of these are deeply, undeniably connected.

so.

i grew up in the south.. y'all know how it is!! in some places its BAD down here!!

BUILDING FROM THAT,

IMAGINE YOU LEARNED ALL THOSE LESSONS.

heritage found says okay, we did that. we listened to each other, we learned. we improved. and we did not force this growth upon anyone who didnt want it. we DIDNT abandon our culture or tradition. and STILL our problems persist!! people still die and to keep them alive we have to remember them but it hurts. it still hurts to mourn them. we are still haunted by our past and the burdens we inherited

THIS PLOT IS SOOOO STEEPED IN REAL WORLD CULTURAL PHENOMENON. BTW. THE SENSITIVITY READERS ARE OWED A CUT OUT OF EVERY DOLLAR SQUENIX GETS OFF OF THIS FOR THE REST OF TIME. AAGHH

CAUSE THIS COULDVE BEEN SO BAAADDDD , AND INSTEAD, I LOVVEEEED IT

idk...!!!!! i love living memory as an escalation of the idea that if they're remembered they never really die, but it hurts to remember. (GO BACK AND HANG OUT WITH THE YOK HUY RIGHT NOWWW) this is something real world people live by. was talking abt this with some friends and one of them mentioned living memory's color scheme "being the same orange being associated with ofrendas" in the same conversation where we were just. absorbing how deeply horrifying uploading your loved ones' memory to the cloud os (the wording used was, "the excision of memories of the dead"). one youtube comment said its like playing records of the dead and imagining they're alive again. i am haunted by erenville and graha - "i dont wish they were here again, i just wish they never died"

living memory is "if they're remembered they never really die" twisted to its illogical extreme.

the weight of that spirituality is no mistake. and shutting it down because is SUCH an ethically devastating thing to have to do even on top of your friends' parents passing on and you thinking the place was idk pretty or something (cause it rlly was) what the fuck what the fuuck

theres so much in this expansion about learning about and respecting other cultures and offering aid when its hurting others and themselves

which like makes me nervous for the patch quests btw because we need to talk about, that, vs , this is how we honor our dead

we had to shut it down because it was an active threat and was going to go nuclear but that was how they honored their dead

but i do trust this story. so i look forward to it.

all this to say i think it would be a misstep to have us go "hey dont do the soul thing do this instead". just as much as it would have been a HUGE misstep to have us be the protagonist of this expansion instead of lamat'yi.

AND FOR THE RECORD WUK HAD TO BE THE PROTAGONIST OF DAWNTRAIL FOR THIS REASON. I STAND BY THAT.

fuuuck, flaws and all, i love this game.

i have more to say about sphene and zoraal ja hold on this is all relevant to the original premise trust me.

SO YEAH.

but yeah its no surprise that

1. sphene, a traditionally feminine uwu perfect angel princess queen of REASON

2. (erenville voice) Zoraal Ja, The Warmongerer, Mine Is The Power Mine Is The Path, I Must Surpass My Man-The-Textbooks-Teach-About Father burnt out gifted oldest child king of RESOLVE

are DIRECTLY IN OPPOSITION to

1. wuk lamat, catgirl naruto young and dumb shonen protagonist with a big heart and an open mind warrior princess vow of RESOLVE

2. and koana, emotionally reserved well-studied STEM club vp advanced placement poly catboy vow of REASON

there are people who do not fit the stereotype who are suffering trying to achieve it who want it to end, and then there are people who Double Down.

regarding everyone who lives in tuliyollal and the extremely diverse area of tural, it cannot be stressed enough how Gulool Ja Ja is the guy they write the textbooks about. he is the perfect adventurer who traveled the world and united the people. in the context of the story he is the man on the cover of the fantasy novel ripped shirt rippling abs two swords and all. imagine being his gifted full of potential son ON TOP OF how insane being an oldest child makes you PLUS The War thats why zoraal ja is like that.

i love love love sphene. sphene is using zoraal ja. shes based off of the ideal of the sweet beloved disney princess/queen. she was using his agency like a weapon and her lack of agency as a shield and when he turned against her own people , which he said very clearly that he would do, wuk tells her that she needs to actually help the people she loves and do what she can do, and she interprets that from there - it just so happens that "true to herself" puts her in direct opposition to the person who was encouraging her to be that way.

for the homestuck fans shes a muse and hes a lord IM BEGGING YOU DONT CLICK OUT PLEASE LET ME FINISH MY SENTA

WUK AND KOANA WILL NOT FILL THE SHOES OF THE IDEAL MAN LEADER IN THE EYES OF THOSE WHO WANT A MORE TRADITIONAL LEADER UNTIL THEY MARCH UPON THEIR CASTLE AND STRIKE THEM DOWN WITH THE SAME HATRED THAT THEY STRUCK THE PAST GENERATION DOWN, zoraal ja says, in no uncertain terms

and zoraal ja is wrong.

they repel the second attack on tuliyollal because they ask for help. wuk DOES get a good hit on zoraal ja in heritage found. and zoraal ja throws away the ultimatum he himself delivered by throwing away his army, kidnapping his son, overdosing on aether, and leaving the moment its clear that brute force is not going to take wuk lamat's community away from her.

and sphene cant use him as an excuse anymore.

sphene was programmed to do ANYTHING to accomplish an infinitely increasingly difficult goal. she who cursed me with this soft and powerless nature. my desire to protect my people transcends all others. is there no way to make peace with tuliyollal? if it were you, could you have found a better way? i cant bear to lose them - not again!

there will only ever be more dead, forever.

i rlly want to go into that but its a completely separate topic for another time i just.. love these characters. i love what theyve done with this place.

but no parts 1 and 2 are the same part. dont discard tradition, dont reject innovation. wuk lamat put it best

@ bakool ja ja

@ sphene

what do YOU want? beyond the stereotype your community wanted you to fill?

[sparksinthenight]

Why we need Land Back

We should talk about current issues Indigenous people face.

In Canada at least there are many problems still happening.

Indigenous children are being ripped away from their loving families and put into foster care simply because the families are poor or the parents struggle with mental illness or something like that.

Women are being forcibly sterilized against their will.

Girls, women, and 2 spirit people are being kidnapped and sold into sex slavery and are also getting murdered and raped and their bodies are being thrown into the landfills.

The land that Indigenous communities need for their cultures and livelihoods is being destroyed by resource extraction companies that cut through the landscape and leave open wounds, that pollute the land, air, and water, and destroy the biodiversity and health of the ecosystems.

There is police brutality against Indigenous people, and people are killed by the police every day. There are hate crimes against Indigenous people.

Social services on reserves, including education, healthcare, utilities, housing, etc, are horrifically underfunded, and are funded much less well than the same social services off of reserves.

There’s discrimination in employment, in healthcare, in pretty much everything. And Indigenous people are kept in poverty and homelessness by the discriminatory society.

We need Land Back.

Land Back will allow Indigenous people to stop their land from being destroyed. Their cultures and livelihoods and mental health and spiritual health and well-being is so deeply tied to the land/nature. And actually, having them be able to effectively protect the land helps all of us because all humans are dependant upon the land even if we don’t realize it.

It will also allow Indigenous communities to force the government to stop discriminating against them by giving them worse social services. It will allow them to force the government to give them the same social services everyone else gets.

It will also allow them to force the government to stop taking their children. All children deserve to be with the families who love them and they should not be ripped away from their families, because this causes deep and devastating lifelong trauma.

It would allow Indigenous communities to stop rapists and traffickers and murderers from entering their communities. It will allow them to force rapists and traffickers and murderers out of their communities. And it will allow them to make sure every case of people getting raped or kidnapped or trafficked or killed is properly investigated and the victims are saved and the perpetrators get justice. Same with other hate crimes.

It will allow Indigenous people to have the power necessary to push back on police brutality and build better models of law enforcement, including community-ventured models.

Indigenous communities will also likely get a flow of money that they can use to lift their people out of poverty. They’ll have the power to stop healthcare discrimination and forcible sterilization. And they’ll have the power to force us to give justice to unethical healthcare professionals and to force systemic change in the healthcare system so that medical mistreatment doesn’t happen.

Indigenous people would also have the opportunity to do more outreach to settler communities and teach them about Indigenous culture and values and stuff, so that people learn to be less racist and discriminatory.

Land Back will help pretty much every marginalized community because stopping racism and discrimination for one race usually leads to there being decreased racism and discrimination for other races too.

Ultimately Land Back is about giving Indigenous people and communities the power to keep themselves and each other safe in a society that is actively against them. It is also about keeping the ecosystems that we all rely upon safe, and about stopping discrimination and racism.

Giving Indigenous people power to protect themselves and their communities isn’t going to prevent any other community from protecting themselves. It will create more equality and social justice for everyone in Canada.

I support Land Back. I’m a settler girl and I support Land Back, and you should too.

[phywreks]

the end of rain world

written on 10/1/24, lightly edited 10/23

(vague spoilers for the end of the video game rain world)

the ending of rain world has been fucking with me. it’s deconstructed the patch of stability i spent a big chunk of my summer building for myself.

the night i finished rain world, i walked a friend home. she hadn't been doing great- her usual routines for emotional regulation weren't working, her creative work often more frustrating than fulfilling, stuck at a point of being unable to match her skillset to her aesthetic tastes. she talked, i listened, i tried to ask helpful questions, i stumbled over my own words, i lost cohesion. i felt like i'd maybe managed to distract her from a spiral, if only through confusion. we lingered for a while outside her building. we hugged good night.

i felt like i'd failed her. this chance i had to be there for someone important to me, to help them, to offer a lifeline, and all i could think to do was cry and say i’m sorry i can’t give you better advice but i care about you. 

so i quietly sobbed my way home. i stumbled into playing rain world at 3am because i was grasping for more of the kind of meaning and joy and love for its design, grasping for the emotional state playing rain world had come to embody- escaping and spending time with this friend i felt like i'd failed. i finished it. i spent half an hour climbing through tunnels and temples and threw myself into the golden void. the culmination of a journey only possible through acts of random generosity from pebbles, the void worm, this friend. all of this generosity, and the thing it was leading towards was what? suicide? ending the cycle? becoming a big worm and swimming in the void with the other big worms? seeing myself and dozens of my other selves who have all died eventually make it to the end, escape the mortal plane, and leave behind a world destroyed, ravaged, full of suffering?

art reflects us. it shows us, without us realizing, who we are. what we believe. the feelings we stuff away. i get from rain world an indictment of the concept of afterlives. they are a technology, a concept we invented in pursuit of how it might enhance our ability to live in this world here and now. this is all there is. despite this goal of creating a philosophically airtight seal on motivation, a framework that tells us that at all times, the best thing we can do is to continue living and giving everything we have to the world because otherwise there will be nothing that remains of us when we die. 

this framework is not enough. in rain world (this is my understanding of the world of the game after a single playthrough, i’ve certainly got substantial parts of this wrong and am thus filling in the gaps), the ancients live deep spiritual lives which connect themselves to the world and create a desire to protect it, to live in harmony with it. their desire to escape the cycle of death and rebirth which traps all living creatures trumps their desire to make life worth living for those creatures, though. they construct artificial intelligences who require a resource load so intense that it completely transforms all ecosystems on the planet. the surface of the world is now pelted by rainstorms so intense they kill anything not able to find shelter. they move above the clouds, away from the danger, and ramp up their consumption even more.

rain world says that no matter what we say, believe, how we cloak our beliefs, how we justify our actions, we’re still acting without a plan for long term sustainability for those who live here. now.

i woke up after going to sleep with all of this rolling around in my head, sobbing silently so as to not wake up my two roommates, and spent three hours in bed staring at the atrocities of the world. algorithms designed to rewire your behaviour so they’re the first thing you see in the morning dominate most of us. they curate what you see to maximize the amount of attention you give them. i went to sleep emotionally raw, scared, unsure of my ability to maintain faith that humanity will survive the hell we’re constructing for ourselves out of our home. i woke up confronted with damning evidence that hell must be what we’re searching for. why else would we ruin the climate? escalate the frequency of environmental disaster to the point that towns flood monthly? to the point that millions lose their homes every year? 

reckoning with reality inevitably drives us insane. the only way to remain productive, to climb up in society and gain power, is to conform, in the depths of your soul, to the metrics established by those in power before you. 

massive societal shifts happen not as a reaction to injustice, but as a power move from those just under the top, to put themselves on top.

i don’t want to kill myself. i don’t want to live. i want all of us to be free from the threat of death if we aren’t able to work. i want us to be able to live good lives for the simple fact of our humanity. i want all creatures to be able to live good lives for the simple fact of their existence. i want beauty to flourish. 

wealth accumulation, rent seeking, capitalism, techno-feudalism, whatever you want to call it. it preys on our fulfillment at seeing lines go up. it conveys power to those of us most capable at making lines go up.

a metric can never capture goodness, or beauty. there is no metric which, on its own, is sufficient to allow universal morality to hinge upon its continual increasing. the world, the universe as we live in it and know it, is a constant flux, it breathes: expanding, contracting, always. since i was young, i’ve never believed in a god, but the idea of the expanding and contracting of the universe as analogous to the breathing lungs of a god as being the reality we live has been inescapable.

i have nothing else but this angst, currently. 

everything is insufficient, so far. no process, no belief, all eventually run up against a situation where they prove insufficient at providing an answer, or worse, provide an answer which causes pain. 

from this, do we maintain the path, forever carrying the weight that at any point it may cause us to hurt ourselves or others, or do we jump to a new path? do we trudge through as many disparate paths as possible, hoping that if we’ve devoted ourselves to the construction of wide webs of heuristic knowledge, we’ll be able to find connecting patterns across them all which we can give to others. that we can increase the possibility space of human thought, action, possibility, and reach something better than this?

do we continue to love, despite the fact that sharing our most intimate fears, desires, embarrassments, leaves us necessarily vulnerable to having those secrets break containment in a moment of carelessness on the part of our beloved? 

of course we do. my instinct is to try and justify the act of loving from first principles. i do not want to do that today, so instead i'll just say that we should love to understand each other. we should give ourselves not just to the euphoria of knowing and being known, but also to the inevitability of crushing pains and betrayals, so we may know and comfort others. experience everything, so you may empathize with everyone.

living is not conscious-reminiscence is. i believe this, now. i may not believe this tomorrow. belief is a shaky thing right now. 

i’ve often dreamed of living forever. free from the restrictions of time, i escape into the fantasy of being able to study to my heart’s content. i want to spend my days reading, thinking, writing, and being good to the people in my life. nothing else really matters to me, at this point. even making “good” art is something i’ve sort of given up on. i’ll keep making stuff until i die, but i can’t care if it’s good. i don’t control whether or not it’s good. the process of creation necessitates that my relationship to my own work isolates me from those who experience it. i can never experience it how they can.

i won't live forever. i'll live imperfectly, die imperfectly, and hopefully contribute something to this world in a way which honors the grace i have been given, while doing my best to give that same grace to others.

anyhow, play rain world if you get the chance. it gave me this, it'll give you something Else.

[molagboop]

You've shown a lot about Mawkin culture and how important and sacred they view battle. While we know the Thoha to be less peaceful, Gray Voice shows us that the Thoha were not exempt from a warrior's past. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on differences between how Thoha, be it modern or of a time long past, might view battle compared to the Mawkin

I'll cover this first with a brief prelude discussing the Thoha in a general sense and comparing them to the Mawkin, then getting into the meat of the warrior stuff. This is a good opportunity for me to explore the general differences, which would further highlight the contrast between their warrior cultures.

Quick Overview of Tribal Specialties

The warriors and their technology are what we know the Chozo for best, but they were by no means a monolith: there are many tribes, all with their own values and way of living.

The Thoha were always a tribe that valued ingenuity and bright thinkers above all else. They invented some things simply because they could, but they also put great emphasis on considering where the resources to make their weapons came from, how best to extract them without harming the environment, etc. Very much a thoughtful people who value using knowledge to solve problems, wielding the skills amassed over the course of their long lives to plan ahead and consider the consequences of their actions, especially when harvesting resources from planets that are not their own (on SR388, they attempted to extract aeion in a manner that would least harm the local ecosystem).

Their tendency to cultivate shrewd academics and clever inventors is by no means an indicator that they were poor warriors: the Mawkin also have a powerful academic body. The educated soldier is offered more opportunities, both in leadership roles (military and general community) and a general sense (where are you going to be stationed, are you going to get the chance to study ancient marine lifeforms during your post in Burenia, etc).

The Mawkin also foster a sense of curiosity in their tribesmen from the egg to the grave. Raven Beak has like eight bird PhDs, and he never stopped learning new skills and engaging in different fields of study until the moment he died. The difference here is that the Thoha are known best by their peers for their ingenuity and academic splendor, (particularly in the field of bioengineering), while the Mawkin's reputation hinges primarily on the quality and sheer volume of warriors they produced.

Both tribes have a degree of reverence for the ways of the Warrior, and both encourage engagement in academic study. But when the Hotu need warriors, they would ask the Mawkin first, and when the Ishtal desire outside guidance on how best to engineer their favored dray-beasts for hard labor off-world, they seek the assistance of Thoha scientists before all else.

On to the warrior stuff!

Principles

The Way of the Warrior is a set of principles to guide Chozo warriors on the path of martial greatness and spiritual enlightenment. Adherence to this philosophy is a means to strengthen the body and spirit. Physical aptitude is maintained to defend kith and kin, but also to grant the warrior endurance. Endurance allows one to weather the hardships of life. The ability to overcome great challenges contributes to one's overall moral character, gives the individual the confidence to contribute to solutions, fosters a drive to help others, so on and so forth.

I'll spare you the lecture on the full breadth of Chozo spirituality, but the important part is that the Way of the Warrior espouses moral and practical virtues.

The Thoha saw the ways of the Warrior through the lens of philosophy: by building character through diligent honing of the mind and body, their enlightened warriors will have the strength to lead their people, the swiftness to avoid unnecessary conflict, and a hardened emotional shell.

That last one is important: warriors aren't just guardians, they're also mediators. Not in a sense that they're cops; the warrior's purpose is not to enforce law and order. No, the warrior has potential to serve as an unbiased third party in conflict resolution. This is just one example of why emotional balance and the ability to weigh one's personal feelings against the needs of the community is a core feature of Thoha warrior philosophy.

They believe warriors make good project leaders for the same reasons. Even if the warrior isn't a scientist, having one around to supply their unique perspective and trained practical sense is seen as a good idea. Gray Voice isn't just a warrior, he's also a philosopher and a neurostylus. He's proficient in the science behind programming organic AI-forms, the construction of vessels for artificial consciousness, and integrating these structures with manufactured (non-organic) computers. He's capable of making difficult decisions surrounding the fate of his people without falling prey to his own fears or losing sight of their needs.

Battle: What's it Worth?

A very long time ago, the Thoha army saw frequent use. The tribes weren't always at peace, and everyone had enemies somewhere, Chozo or otherwise. Warrior-scholars were prevalent throughout the folds of their society: sharp minds and sharper blades were highly valued.

To the Thoha warrior, attaining physical and mental equilibrium through the honing of the mind and body in tandem is sublime. Skilled warriors are great, wise scholars are greater, and one who can be both in equal measure has worth that surpasses all else.

Proving this worth on the field of battle while maintaining that balance was a goal for every warrior-scholar to strive for. Fighting strongly is one thing, but a clever warrior is highly valuable: physical prowess means little without tactics and clever thinking. Reacting to opponents on the fly and choosing one's next move wisely was key: that's the greatest show of the mind and body moving in sync.

Thoha warriors excel at paying attention despite the overwhelming stimuli present on the battlefield, predicting their opponents' next move through a variety of factors, including body language, and for some, mathematical probability. There's nothing worse than the feeling of being knocked down during a sparring session by a warrior who tells you that you behaved exactly as they calculated you would. Hearing some nerd rattle off about a percentage chance while you're dusting yourself off is bewildering and a little annoying, ngl, but the warrior math-nerds are hardly wrong, and when they are, they account for it.

Anyways, battle had value in that it provided a chance for warrior-scholars to prove their mettle and hone the mind-body balance in a real conflict. Sparring and ndividual practice are one thing, but lived-in experience is a whole nother animal.

Despite the philosophical benefits of a real fight to the Warrior, bloodshed itself wasn't seen as a wholly positive thing in Thoha warrior philosophy. The Thoha viewed battle as an unavoidable result of heightened tension during conflict. They tried to avoid war if possible, but sometimes that's just how things are gonna go, and their warriors were prepared for it. Bloodshed is inevitable: whether it arrives in two years or two-thousand, it's going to rear its ugly head somehow. Even the most docile zoomer will bite when provoked.

That's why warriors have value to the Thoha: they're necessary.

The Thoha felt they had less of a need for a standing army as a means to protect the people as civilization advanced and inter-tribal conflict became less of a prominent issue. Despite this, they still valued warriors for the lessons their philosophy instilled within them and the strengths such practices afforded an individual. There was also still a need to defend their planet from external forces, so they continued encouraging young warriors to pursue the ghosts of their ancestors.

In the years leading up to the Galactic Federation's founding, the Thoha gravitated increasingly towards the idea of pacifism. A great deal of their number were old and slowing down by that point, and they figured they should invest in a sort of insurance policy for galactic peace: hence the Federation. The Thoha were one of several tribes that were too busy sciencing it up to be bothered with fortifying their numbers, and now there aren't very many younger folk around to help the elders. A good chunk of those younger scientists were stationed on SR388 to work on the Metroid project, and some have taken on projects elsewhere in the galaxy.

Have I talked about fertility issues in the various tribes before? I feel like I've posted about that here before, but I can't remember. Let me know if I still need to post about that or not!

Anyways, the Mawkin approach battle with more of a religious fervor, and always have. Don't get me wrong: warriors from both tribes enjoyed battle, but Thoha warriors don't view their own deaths as an event to look forward to.

When a Thoha warrior falls in battle, the news of their passing is a sting that wounds all. When a Mawkin warrior dies, their sacrifice is an honor to the people, and the breath that was cut so early from their throats is to be repaid thricefold. Thoha warrior funerals are a solemn, mournful event, whereas Mawkin warrior funerals are a celebration of the individual. I covered the Mawkin view of death more in-depth in Volume 2 of Life on ZDR, easily accessible by searching the headcanons tag on my blog. Those interested can click the tag on the bottom of this post and probably won't have to do much scrolling to find it.

Regarding Mawkin fervor: their training and cultural mindset lends a certain savagery to the force of their strikes. Keep in mind that when I say "savage", I'm not at all implying "lesser worth or intelligence", but rather a particular show of brute strength.

The Mawkin are relentless in battle, and do not stop fighting until either they or the opposition lies dead. Cut them, and they only grow fiercer. Knock one down, and five more will descend on you like a flock of petrels.

Chozo Combat Arts

Welcome to off topic! Your question made me think a Lot.

Mawkin combat theory consists of a variety of different schools of thought. Military basic training goes over three of these schools to start: Crashing Wake, Black Claw Lattice, and Falling Star Impact. Theory combining the first two is part of what makes even the lowest Mawkin soldier hit like a goddamned truck.

Crashing Wake is a school of thought encompassing forceful weapon thrusts and swift, gravity-led strikes. The goal is to slam your opponent hard and fast, and perhaps take them unawares, like a sudden slap from the cold, cruel arm of the sea. Techniques with origins in Black Claw Lattice favor talon-blade weapons, but many branches of the school can be applied to a variety of bladed weapons with longer handles. Students of the Lattice strike quickly and often, and subscribe to the theory that if you cut something enough, it'll bleed faster.

There are myths among the other tribes about Mawkin "blood-rage": stories about warriors who are empowered by the mere scent of blood, capable of shearing whole legions on their lonesome. Soldiers whose strikes grow swifter and more lethal with every wound they sustain. Many of these stories are ancient, and most of them are, like I said, shrouded in myth. But there's a reason the Mawkin are feared. There's a reason the other tribes try to maintain a somewhat solid friendship with them, and it's not just that they've never (formally***) lost a war.

It's not that their warriors are incompetent by comparison, the Mawkin are just exceedingly formidable foes. Other warrior tribes regularly invite the Mawkin to week or month-long events where both armies jointly convene for military exercises. The Thoha did this every five years until a good few decades before the events of Zero Mission! Gray Voice and Raven Beak have quite the history with each other, and these events were a large part of that.

In ancient times, other tribes had to come up with ways to stay level with the Mawkin: that's how fierce they've always been! One such method is inhaling the aroma of herbs and seeds.

That's right: Zero Mission concept art, baby!

Anyways, those little tubes and the herb pouch they're connected to are not exclusively a Thoha innovation, but they were the first to come up with the idea. Always one step ahead in the realm of blood, the Mawkin were aware of the combat-enhancing capabilities of certain compounds, and the priests would anoint some of their finest warriors just before battle to send them into a righteous fury... but they'd never thought to send warriors into battle with a pouch full of inhalants strapped to their backs.

Nowadays, the most advanced power suits can administer doses of compounds synthesized from these spicy fighting herbs to give a warrior some extra oomph in battle without a cumbersome bit and sack. Only helmeted suits can get the scent experience without a bit, but warriors without a closed-face helm can have the compound absorbed through their skin via the powersuit

Thoha martial theory also covers deadly blows, but they also favor a greater number of schools that deal with disarming or incapacitating the opponent.

I'll go into specific Thoha warrior festivals and the like at a later date: that should paint a more intricate picture of their relationship with war, combat and violence.

I really should end it here because i kind of went off on a tangent. This ask really made me think, and I almost went off about Bird Magic. I hope this flowed somewhat coherently, and if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything or wants me to continue going off about something they want more on or that I didn't cover at all, I will absolutely wall of text you with that information.

[adacatlovelace]

My personal interpretations of Cruelty Squad

Firstly: The Triagons gave birth to each other, hence why "X triagon was born of Y" where Y is usually what the previous one represented. I mention this specifically becuase I've seen a lot of people assume the trigons represent what they are born from, which A. The wording seems to say otherwise and B. I have reason to believe otherwise.

Like the whole idea of peeling an onion at the end of the game, the key to understanding them is to start from the outside and work inward, going backwards.

The Third triagon was born of Death. With life now being finite, the energy being given to the earth (Organism) was suddenly more than was needed to sustain life, thus creating wealth. With the creation of wealth, conflict was born.

It takes the form of Abraxas in the Archon Grid (Or rather a part of them that was planted as a "seed" hence his flower like form). He is Capitalism and the spirit of the free market. The idea of wealth as a very concept. He is also your boss, both philosophically and physically.

To explain this, I first have to explain my theory about how the world of Cruelty Squad works. You see, CONTROL, the building you raid in Office, is the parent company of every other company. Each company fights, thrives, lives and dies in competition with each other, but in reality they are little more than the various tendrils of CONTROL, who manages this whole ecosystem to make Abraxas continually grow in power (Again he's literally a flower).

Elsa Holmes "The Archdemoness" and the 4 subarchons essentially act as gatekeepers to Archon grid, and once they are dead, the grid opens up and you kill Abraxas.

By doing so, you eliminate all wealth, and by extension conflict from the world. You live among friends and spend the rest of your life in idle contentment. Everyone is equal, represented by an infinite flat plane. But without conflict, you are now trapped and unable to change anything. Change cannot be brought about without conflict and youre now stuck in a world of emptiness, the tower you're walking to is infinitely far away, much like how you will now never reach a better understanding of the universe.

The Third Triagon's color is Red. Worn by the wealthy people in Idiot Party and the CTO in Office.

The second Triagon was born of Life. Its death, nice and straight forward. An end to the previously infinite expanse of life. This leads nicely into my theory about "Divine Link"

Now a lot of games that have respawn tend to invoke the philosophical question "are you really still you?" Cruelty Squad does not. Once you die and have your divine link severed, thats it. You are now nothing but a flesh automoton driven by neurotransmitters. A flesh golem implanted with the previous memories of you. Your literal soul is gone. This is why trying to enter divine link doors say "something feels missing"

The Divine sphere heals you spiritually and physically. It undoes the experimental power in misery modifications and restores you as you.

But what if, instead of a soul, you supplemented it with... something else? What if you turned away from the light entirely and embraced the fact that you're nothing more than an instrument of death? What if your soul was made of negative energy? What if every breath you took was only a means to spread as much death as physically possible.

So yes, I am saying that Hope Eradicated is basically you becoming the Lich from Adventure Time and filling the spot where a soul should be with something thats not a soul.

The "Life" ending is interesting to me. The big face with LIFE written on it says you're meeting the Triagon of life, but everything else says otherwise. To meet him, you must first KILL THE FEW FRIENDS YOU HAVE (This is 100% canon too. Once you enter Cruelty Squad HQ on Hope Eradicated, all the NPCS who were nice to you suddenly die and will not respawn and the face will even say "Your friends are in Hell, yet you smile), pass the hallway toxic to all life and then kill the CEO to take his place, either by the ZKZ transactional rifle (Which is powered up by your CEO mindset) or with the Bolt ACR, a weapon that no longer affects you.

My theory is that this is actually the Triagon of Death, the LIFE sign simply being irony. Life is a joke to are . You spread death and suffering all in the name of your own desires. Nothing is more important.

The second Triagon's color is Blue. Worn by the security at idiot party, and the CSO in Office, as well as the color of the Hope Eradicated border.

Confronting Death, they are in awe of you. You become the new CEO and now have the final piece of the puzzle to face the First and Final Triagon.

The Third Triagon was born out of Malice, but is life itself. This is horrendous to think about considering the implication is that life in and of itself is evil. By entering the trauma loop, you make your way over to the Cradle of Life, where life itself came from. In doing so, you've basically launched yourself into the very inner workings of universe. You fuck everything up so bad that the value of life becomes negative, but you, as a being of DEATH instead grow to be so much more. A "being of pure grace"

You look upon the vast cosmos that are now your kingdom and you begin to peel an onion. As you go layer by layer, the laws of the universe begin to break down and it becomes an infinitely dense spec once again.

Remember that life was born of Malice. The universe itself is an organism of Malice. It hates you. It hates itself. It does not want to exist. So you grant it mercy. By doing so you've deleted existance itself. What was once the universe is now empty but content with itself. A "Golden Age" The color of first triagon is Green, worn by the high priest in Idiot Party, Human Resources in Office, your landlord and several other people who are uniquely tied to the "greater meaning" of the game.

[rabbitcruiser]

International Polar Bear Day

Polar bears are furry and majestic beasts that roam across the cold Arctic ice. However, in the past few decades, sea ice in the Arctic has been melting at an alarmingly fast rate, leading the polar ice cap to shrink over time. Because of this, polar bears have been losing their habitats, their sources of food and, ultimately, dying from starvation and exhaustion.

International Polar Bear Day aims to raise awareness of the issues threatening these creatures and encourage change.

Why polar bears are the perfect Arctic animal

Polar bears are the apex predators of the Arctic, perfectly adapted to the icy landscape and ocean. It’s thought that they diverged from the brown bear as far back as 6 million years ago – as they moved north, they gradually evolved to brave the formidable polar conditions.

With their thick fur and ample body fat providing plenty of insulation, along with their small ears and tails minimizing heat loss, these ice bears are often more at risk of overheating than they are of freezing! Pair this with their large, padded paws, which turn them into powerful swimmers as well as proficient Arctic explorers, able to spread their weight on thin ice and grip onto the slippery surface, and it’s no wonder these marine mammals dominate the food chain.

Polar bears are spread across the Arctic Ocean, from Alaska in the west to Russia in the east and with around two thirds found in Canada. They mainly eat seals, which they catch either by creeping up on them while they rest on the ice or more commonly through a method known as ‘still-hunting’, in which they lie in wait besides seals’ breathing holes, poised for their dinner to appear.

The Inuit and other Arctic peoples have a close relationship with these magnificent bears, showing them great respect in both their culture and their hunting techniques. Legends and folk tales depict the nanuq (the Inuit term for polar bear) as a wise and spiritual being with an affinity to humans. And when it comes to hunting, they make use of almost all parts of the bear for food, clothes, fuel and medicine, meaning nothing goes to waste.

History of International Polar Bear Day

Organized by Polar Bears International, International Polar Bear Day aims to raise awareness of the plight of polar bears and the threats they face, including disruption to denning and the effects of climate change.

Commercial activities such as oil and gas exploration, shipping, mining and tourism have been affecting the polar bear’s habitat and ability to survive, in particular by encroaching on the terrain that mother bears use to build dens and raise their cubs.

Alongside these industries competing for precious space in the Arctic, the polar ice cap on which the bears depend is also melting due to climate change. They live off of the sea ice, relying on it for hunting, traveling, breeding and denning. And it’s vital that they maintain sufficient fat reserves to protect against the cold. Depleted sea ice affects both their food source and their habitat, increasing the risk of starvation and making it harder to raise cubs.

As a result of these developments, polar bears have been classed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which means this beautiful species could decline by over a third within three generations and is potentially at risk of extinction if temperatures continue to increase.

International Polar Bear Day is therefore all about conservation. To celebrate, people take the time to learn about polar bears, their ecosystem and how our actions have been harming their existence. They also pledge to reduce their carbon footprint and to speak with others about the effects that climate change has on polar bears.

International Polar Bear Day Timeline

1774 Polar Bears are first documented

The first to describe the existence of a Polar Bear, Constantine John Phipps makes a report about his trip to the North Pole the previous year.

2004 Oldest Polar Bear fossil is found

Considered to be more than 100,000 years old, the jawbone fossil of a Polar Bear is found on Prince Charles Foreland, which is an island in Norway.

2008 Polar Bears are listed as threatened

As their habitat on the icy seas continues to melt, Polar Bears are considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

2011 First International Polar Bear Day is Observed

In an effort to encourage raising awareness of the plight of these threatened animals, International Polar Bear Day is created.

2014 University of Saskatchewan commits to helping Polar Bears

In honor of International Polar Bear Day, the University of Saskatchewan commits to turning their thermostats up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to do their part to limit global warming and save the Polar Bears.

How to celebrate International Polar Bear Day

We can all do our bit to help protect these vulnerable creatures and ensure that they thrive. To celebrate this special day, why not donate some money to the Polar Bears International organization to help fund its research into polar bears and their conservation? You can also choose to adopt a polar bear, either for yourself or a loved one, through organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

If you’re lucky enough to live near one, visit a local zoo or polar bear sanctuary to get up close and personal with these amazing animals. These kinds of organizations also contribute to conservation and research, for example by caring for orphaned cubs, so it’s great to support them and their efforts. And any intrepid explorers out there can even encounter polar bears in the wild through careful and considerate ecotourism opportunities.

Polar Bears International hosts various live events in the run-up to and on International Polar Bear Day, so check out their website to see what’s on offer. You can also make use of their polar bear tracker, which allows you to follow real-life bears as they make their way across the Arctic landscape.

With climate change posing one of the biggest threats to wildlife and people everywhere, International Polar Bear Day is also a great time to commit to lifestyle changes that will benefit the planet and all its inhabitants. Talk with your friends, family and colleagues about what climate change is and share some facts you’ve learned about how it affects polar bears. Help reduce your carbon footprint by recycling more, using less water, bicycling to work or buying items from environmentally friendly companies.

Together, we can all work to create a brighter future for polar bears.

International Polar Bear Day FAQs

What is International Polar Bear Day?

Created to raise awareness about the plight of polar bears and their conservation status. The day encourages individuals to consider their impact on the planet to minimize the effect of global warming on these beautiful polar bears.

Are Polar Bears endangered?

Polar Bears were categorized as “threatened” on the endangered species list in May 2008, due to the fact that global warming is causing their frozen habitat to be limited in size and seasons.

When is International Polar Bear Day?

February 27 is celebrated as International Polar Bear Day each year.

Are Polar Bears dangerous?

While they are not inherently vicious, Polar Bears are large enough to see humans as a threat or as an option for food. Plus, as their frozen habitat is diminishing, they may spend more time on land and be attracted to places where humans reside.

How can I help Polar Bears?

With the knowledge the Polar Bears are at risk, many people wonder how to help. Feel free to join an event, help raise awareness, sign a petition and help reduce climate change.

Source

[itsadragonaesthetic]

Forgive me for my rambling incoherent nature for I am very tired and scatterbrained. (Post about finding community and connection as a dummy little white American below the cut)

But like, sometimes... I don't know how I feel about things as an American. In general... honestly. I'm mostly white, raised in a white family. I have zero connection to my genetic ancestry, and I don't know most of it anyway. My mom's side is just, mostly white Americans that go back maybe hundreds of unrecorded years. My dad's side is Italian and Irish Catholics. I could not be more far removed from that culture. I grew up in an ecological community that no one in my family has ever known or cared about until I was born.

I just feel like this creature, abandoned to freedom. I feel like this is a very white American thing to say, but I have no... inherent culture at all. None that was given to me by generations of family, considering they all cut ties with me and my parents a long time ago. Me and my immediate family have just been adrift in the ebbs and flows of American life.

But I meet groups of people who have never been to the place I grew up and they have... a lot of reactions. They tell me they hate it here, mostly. They comment on the light stone architecture. They ask me about the old stone buildings in the middle of nowhere. They think the plant life is ugly. They hate how dry and "dead" everything is. They mispronounce words that I kinda forgot were native or Spanish words. People comment on how much I know about the plants.

I think about it sometimes and I feel really connected to this place. We have special holidays unique to only this city. Its nearly the birding capital of the lower 48. This place is literally covered in art. Every empty building face has a mural. The mountains stand like comforting friends to me. I really do feel like this place is a huge part of who I am.

Sometimes I go by Sentinel Peak. The hill the city was named after (an O'odham word that means "at the base of the black hill"). It was used as a sort of landmark to get to a spring where there were ancient settlements. Some of the houses and grinding bowls still stand and are still maintained by the O'odham. There is actually still a garden there dedicated to giving nursery jobs to the disabled.

Like you can guess, some Christian people built a church and began to kick natives out. The Black Hill became Sentinel Peak; a sentinel lookout for Apache invaders. The mountain is now mostly famous for the giant white 'A' that was built by university students around 100 years ago (giving it its somewhat more common name, "A Mountain"). It is also home to an annual firework display every 4th of July that can be seen from every corner of the city. The biggest problem is that the black hill is covered in invasive cattle grasses that combust easily. Every year, the black hill persists in maintaining its name.

I love that hill to bits. It hurts to think of its past, and I feel guilty for even looking at it from my paved sidewalk just under a giant, somewhat ugly highway that has pretty much destroyed any chance for archeological digs or cultural restoration. But I frequently remind myself that negativity gets me nowhere. I begin to feel humbled for this mountain letting me make not only a physical home, but a spiritual home here too. It's like an infinitely forgiving grandmother who welcomes me with open arms despite any wrongdoing people who look like me have done. It's because of the resilience of this mountain, it's people, and it's ecosystem that I have somewhere that my heart can call home.

Then I pull out my calendar and plan another invasive grass pull at the Base of the Black Hill.

[dots3a]

I keep thinking that it's so funny that we have spent so much time asking the question "why do bad things happen to good people?" Because it seems so obvious to me now that the answer to that has always been "why wouldn't they?"

I think about Job and how this is a story that has been translated so many times that the original language is no longer spoken or written by any native speaker, there's no longer such thing as a native speaker of the original language of the book of Job.

And here's this guy who has a beautiful life filled with beautiful people and he is providing for his loved ones comfort and safety and love. And he is grateful to his spiritual compass. Bad things start happening in his life, not to him directly for the most part but to the people whom he loves and cares for (and he loses his home), and so he .. carries on with his life. He keeps providing the people he cares for with comfort and safety and love until they die. Once they have passed, he rebuilds his life.

I don't know why the expectation would be for Job to be angry at god for life happening. I don't know why anyone would expect someone like Job to react in a way contrary to his values just because life became hard and the people he loved suffered. When there was suffering, he provided comfort. When there was fertile soil to tend, he tended it.

"Job why aren't you cursing god???"

"because I have graves to dig and a home to rebuild, fields to replant"

How would cursing god be helpful? Why would, in a world where pestilence and fire and death exists, would it not happen to Job? It could happen to anyone. That's why humans have the gift of sharing knowledge and building on one another's ideas collectively. We can solve these problems and we should, there is no problem that affects one human that does not affect us all.

What are you expecting god to provide for you? A gentle life? That's why we have one another, to help care for the bounty that is this earth and to help facilitate an understanding of what that bounty is. We are part of our ecosystem.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Because bad things happen. Why do bad things happen? Because we are a series of overlapping systems seeking homeostasis for a myriad of complex incomprehensibly infinite ever-changing elements both external and internal to our personal bodies, environment, planet, universe.

We have each other to help navigate this inevitably sometimes painful, by definition finite experience. That's a gift. I literally don't know what yelling at or being angry at god for .. existence? Could possibly achieve that human cooperation couldn't get us to a lot faster.

[nebulouscoffee]

Hey! I'm really sorry that life has been so rough lately, I'm keeping you in my thoughts 🙏 here are some things I'd love to hear your thoughts about, & feel free to make it as long & detailed as you want! 1/your favourite piece of Bajoran worldbuilding (from the show or from a fic you've read or from your own headcanons - you decide!); 2/your favourite type of alien clothing on any star trek (or single favourite alien outfit) & why you like it; 3/what your concept for Ben & Kasidy's child is: who they are, who they grow up to be, etc.; & finally, 4/your opinions about the clock Ben builds in "Dramatis personae". Here you go! Take care <3

... this is so incredibly sweet, thank you😭😭 I really truly appreciate it, as well as all of these Very interesting questions❤️❤️

Ahhh it's hard to pick, I love so much about Bajoran worldbuilding! First of all the non-linearity of their religion is SO COOL & mind-blowing to think about, & I really love the way it- by its very nature- allows you to re-contextualise so much of the show's lore. Like- is Joseph Sisko written into ancient Bajoran prophecies thanks to his non-linear affair with a Prophet?? Do those prophecies inform or influence traditional archetypes of love in Bajoran culture?? Did Kira grow up learning about an archetype of corporeal love based entirely on Joseph Sisko, the father of an alien man who would decades later become her boss??? I don't know!! But I can write fic about it!!! (And then not post it!!!🙈😂) I do headcanon that dominant Bajoran cultures all have strong archetypical figures, it just makes sense to me given their caste system & that "three brothers" story Kira tells Ben & just how much emphasis they as people place on roles and duty and their place in the world (and on their world). I also love the recurring theme that they greatly value (and like, listen to) their planet. They talk about Bajor like it's a living organism, one big ecosystem they are all a part of, and whenever there are floods, famines, earthquakes, etc, they pay attention, as if its a bug in the immune system- such an interesting contrast to Cardassia, where they plundered their own resources & then came for others. There's this whole collective spiritual (rather than strictly political or social) connectivity that I find very fascinating- something about Kira thinking of herself as simply an empty "vessel" to the powers that safeguard her planet & connect her to her fellow Bajorans. It makes me wonder about their large diaspora, & the sort of pain Bajorans like Ro may carry around over that forced separation. Oh, and that they have Fire Caves. Like those Fire Caves were really just hanging around the whole time huh. Also that Proper hasperat is apparently supposed to be made with a brine so strong your eyes water. So that's five things!

2. Garak's Watermelon Suit.

3.

Lol jk. Garak does have some fire 'fits tho (that red and black tunic with the embroidery? A Look🙌) Anyway,

2. I also think Lenara's purple formal dress was really pretty! And most of Quark's outfits are killer tbh. The detail!

Kira's dress from 'Fascination' was fun- and I like both Winn Adami costumes a lot, the vedek robes with the opera house hat & also the golden kai robes. Again, there's a lot of cool details (esp with that elliptical Bajoran symbol & patterned fabric which the 90s quality completely nukes.) Oh, and speaking of hats- all of Guinan's hats are iconic, and Jadzia's Klingon wedding dress was pretty cool too. Basically I am terrible at choosing things; I just now remembered Spock's Goth Chic robe from TMP and that reminded me SNW has been doing some really cool things with T'Pring's wardrobe-

3. The siskasidy baby!!! I have named this baby so many different things in post-canon fics lol, everything from Jennifer to Sarah to Jadzia ("Jazzy", or "Jazz" for short- I think this is my favourite, given how Avery Brooks seems to be irl about jazz.) I don't think I have any real headcanons about who they grow up to be (I'd love to hear any ideas you may have!) but I did come to terms with Ben missing out on their first year(s?) by imagining he sort of spiritually shares consciousness with several Bajorans over that time period (very much consensually, like this is an experience that allows these Bajorans to walk with the Prophets for a time & also enriches Ben's- and the Prophets'- understanding of Bajoran life) and these Bajorans befriend Kasidy & look out for her and the baby <3

4. Lmaooo I have SO many feelings about this clock. Like WHY did he build a CLOCK. *frantic strings across conspiracy board* I know, I know, the writers were probably just going for something random at the time, it was, at heart, a goofysilly s1 episode that easily could've been on TNG or VOY- but it really does become sort of mind-blowing when you consider it in the grander scheme of Ben's arc. Plus- they kept it in his office throughout the series!! They put it in JAKE'S HOME in the alternate 'Visitor' timeline!! I do think that episode implies their weird behaviours also came from somewhere within them (that's how I like to explain Kira Your-taste-in-men-frightens-me Nerys flirting with Weird Aliens Odo & Dax anyway😂), so I like to think Ben just has this deep ponderance of time & temporality just like. Sitting within him somewhere. The clock was actually from an ancient Gamma Quadrant civilisation whose memories possessed them all, but I still feel like that last shot where Ben sets off the timepiece he (for some reason) built from scratch and lets it tick was Symbolic somehow. Like- this man is part-Prophet!! He was conceived non-linearly his birth was arranged he was always meant to discover the Celestial Temple aka the path to- you guessed it- the Gamma Quadrant!! Something something Events Set In Motion

[akenvs3000w24]

Blog 10

Welcome back to my final blog post!

As I journey through the world of nature interpretation, my personal ethic has become a compass guiding my interactions with the natural world and those who seek to connect with it. Over this semester I have found myself reflecting more on my connection with nature throughout my adventures. For me, nature interpretation is not just about sharing facts and stories, it's about creating meaningful connections and reigniting my interest in a deeper appreciation and stewardship of our environment. In this reflection, I’d like to share my beliefs, responsibilities, and approaches as well as some personal experiences that have helped shape my path.

I would like to begin by sharing some of my core beliefs that have developed over time. My approach to nature interpretation is rooted in my interest in wildlife from a young age which developed into my fascination with the web of life. I firmly believe that every living being, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance and diversity of our ecosystems. This belief surrounded me on every outdoor adventure, I specifically remember admiring the web of life on a camping trip this past summer where I witnessed the connection of plants, animals, and humans in a remote wilderness setting, reminding me of our shared responsibility to protect and preserve our natural world.

I am passionate about making nature interpretation inclusive and accessible to all. I've seen firsthand the transformative power of connecting diverse audiences with nature, breaking down barriers, and fostering a sense of community and shared responsibility for our planet's well-being. I have enjoyed sharing my passion with friends and family and getting to watch them create their connections with nature. Watching them interpret nature in their own way has given me a different perception.

In my role as a nature interpreter, I hold myself accountable to several key responsibilities:

1. Accuracy: I strive to ensure that the information I share is accurate, up-to-date, and presented transparently. I believe that honesty and integrity are essential for building trust and credibility with my audience. During a nature hike, I came across some plants that I assumed were a type of moss which I misidentified when I checked online. Rather than glossing over my mistake, I used it as a learning opportunity, acknowledging the error and emphasizing the importance of learning in nature interpretation.

2. Cultural Sensitivity: I recognize the importance of incorporating diverse cultural perspectives and indigenous knowledge into my interpretations. This enriches the storytelling and fosters a deeper understanding and respect for the interconnectedness of human-nature relationships. I have recently read the novel “Unsettling Canada” by Arthur Manuel, Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson. This novel opened my eyes to the importance of recognizing the history of the land that I had been exploring. I gained invaluable insights into their deep spiritual connection to the land and sustainable practices.

3. Environmental Advocacy: Beyond educating and inspiring individuals, I see myself as an advocate for environmental conservation. I aim to empower others to take meaningful action and make sustainable choices in their daily lives. I have signed up for some tree-planting initiatives this summer and like to think of this as one of many ways for me to translate advocacy into action.

4. Education: The field of environmental science and nature interpretation connected. I am committed to continuing to learn through hands-on experiences as well as extra schooling.

Throughout my journey as a nature interpreter, my approach has shifted from just being immersed in nature to expanding my learning and collaborating with other nature enthusiasts. I plan to build on my connection by gaining some hands-on experience so I can continue learning.

I am also reaching out to more environmental organizations to learn while making an active effort in environmental conservation. By working together with larger initiatives we may amplify the impact of nature interpretation initiatives and foster a culture of environmental stewardship and sustainability in our communities. 

In conclusion, my personal ethic as a nature interpreter is found in respect, inclusivity, integrity, advocacy, and collaboration. By upholding these principles I am committed to environmental education and interpretation, I aspire to foster a deeper appreciation, connection, and stewardship. As I continue to grow, learn, and evolve in environmental stewardship, I am excited to connect with like-minded individuals, share my experiences, learn from others, and collaborate on creating a more sustainable relationship between humanity and nature.

As part of my commitment to fostering a supportive, inclusive, and collaborative community of nature interpreters and environmental educators I look forward to reading and relating to my peers and opening a conversation on how we can better support the planet and each other.