#and it was a reasonably clean waterway

[ssaalexblake]

This isn't a new topic by any means but I think I'd ditch the Olympics if I were in an event that expected me to swim in the seine ngl

[probablyasocialecologist]

Living machines are essentially intensive, indoor artificial wetlands. Technical names for living machines include "advanced ecologically engineered systems" and "fixed-film ecology wastewater treatment systems." What they entail is mimicking natural processes of biological decomposition in a constructed aquatic environment. Simply put: dirty water goes in, passes through a series of self-contained aquatic ecosystems, and clean water comes out. The water is, in fact, so clean that it can be safely discharged into sensitive aquatic environments, like natural wetlands. And it does all of this without any of the usual chemical treatments or high-energy inputs of conventional wastewater treatment. Living machines produce such safe effluent because they achieve what is known as "tertiary treatment," meaning they successfully abate pollutants. How does a biological system do this? Simple: it uses them as inputs. Let me explain. The most common such pollutants are nitrogen and phosphorous. These happen to be the two nutrients whose out-of-whack flows have pushed us past a key planetary boundary. The biggest reason for this is industrial agriculture: it relies on synthetic nitrogen and mined phosphorous to exceed the carrying capacity of the ecosystems in which it operates. One of the big problems with industrial agriculture is that a great deal of the nitrogen and phosphorous applied isn't actually utilized by the food being produced: most of it runs off into waterways. This leads to far-reaching, ecologically catastrophic events ("eutrophication"). By constructing a complete food chain within the living machine, each step creates the food for the next step. Excess nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorous, feed microorganisms which are then consumed by larger creatures and so on up the food chain, until we are left with harmless components and a great deal of life. The living machine converts pollution into biodiversity and clean water, instead of run-off and eutrophication. It's a prime example of true "regeneration."

[headspace-hotel]

Proposed logging project in the Daniel Boone National Forest (South-Central Kentucky, USA)

I found out about this recently and Ive seen barely any discussion or attention about it in real life or on the internet, so hopefully I can attract more attention

The USA Forest Service is planning to log 10,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest near Jellico Mountain, near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The plan includes around 1,000 acres of clear cutting.

We need mature forests to remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. This is disastrous from a climate change perspective.

The excuse being given (apart from the obvious economic incentive of logging) is that the tract is mostly "mature forest" and that the forest needs to have a "diversity of age classes" for wildlife. This is total bullshit, since less than 1% of old growth forest in the Eastern USA remains, and an 80-year-old forest is still incredibly young. This type of reasoning is greenwashing.

To make matters worse, the planned logging is on mountain tops, which will cause huge amounts of erosion and possible floods and landslides that endanger the people who live in the valleys below.

Kentucky experienced a deadly flash flood in the eastern mountains that killed 40 people last year. Forests help stop flash flooding by absorbing rainfall in a dense layer of roots and soil, draining it slowly into waterways; without them, mud and rainwater goes rushing straight into narrow mountain gullies rapidly, causing dangerous floods.

Mud and sediment rushing into streams also kills fish and aquatic life that need clear, clean stream water.

Kentucky has one of the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems in the entire world, with only a couple states next to it having more freshwater species. Kentucky's forest streams have fresh water fish, crustaceans and other species found nowhere else on Earth.

The Southeastern USA has the most diverse freshwater life of any place on Earth, the most salamander diversity of any place on Earth, and the Appalachian Mountains are a global hotspot of biodiversity, considered one of the world's most biodiverse temperate deciduous forest habitats.

It is crucial that we begin building the old-growth forests of the future NOW!

Logging these forest tracts will facilitate invasive species to take over. Mature forests form buffer zones against invasive species. The forest will never grow back the way it was; it will be infected with Kudzu, Autumn Olive, Honeysuckle and other invasives that take advantage of the destruction and prevent the normal process of forest succession from happening as it should.

If you live anywhere near this area, talk to everyone around you about this, send them the links above and encourage them to do the same themselves.

Talk to your friends, your neighbors, people at your church, everyone you are in contact with or speak to in your day to day life. Tell them about the risks of flash flooding and landslides and the importance of preserving mature forest land. Any environmental clubs and organizations you know of, tell them as well.

Most people haven't even heard this is happening, and that's how they get away with it.

Public outrage protects priceless habitats all the time, so TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Tell people you don't know, even. Call and email organizations and people that might be interested, until you run into someone who has an idea of what to do. That's how change happens!

[coriphallus]

DA: The Veilguard Spoiler review pt1 - Blood Magic

alright let's do this. let's write an in-depth review of veilguard. this will be long and this will be negative and i might eventually say some good things but everything i say will be undermined with a 'BUT'.

its now been around a week since i finished the game and had some time to parse my thoughts and this is why i didnt enjoy the game; NOT why you shouldnt.

so dragon age has a very special place in my heart and i am %100 the kind that has DAO as their favourite game. i have played these games religiously, and let me prefix this by saying i was not hyped for this game, i wont lie and say i wanted bw to succeed or i hoped the game would be good etc etc. if i liked the game, it would be a surprise. alas.

so theres multiple reasons for that, but the canary in the mine for me had been the announcement on blood magic, and yeah i was not shocked after DAI but i was still disappointed. so lets start with blood magic:

Blood Magic

DA lore has changed alot over time, and just like the media it took inspiration from (ASOIAF) i was under the impression that it used unreliable narrators deliberately, just as theyve poked fun at the concept with bethanys tits. it made sense then that the people telling these stories didnt know much about blood magic therefore they couldnt explain it fully but we've known some things for certain, from the text. blood magic uses blood as its source of power instead of lyrium (blood=life force), what constitutes as blood magic is open to interpretation (i.e phylacteries), multiple groups outside of the 'civilised society' such as chasind are not so staunchly against it, knowledge on it can be passed down from a mentor and that mentor usually happens to be a spirit. it can be used to enact control over people in a literal sense and thats considered by the narrative of all DA games to be more reprehensible than burning someone alive.

now i will derail this but i swear im going somewhere with it. i grew up in a country with majority white people, some blond, most with exposed hair who lived in big cities with cobblestone roads and snowy winters and starbuckses, and who would consider themselves westerners. some religious practices i know less about than most christians know about their holidays.

where my grandma lived was at the bottom of a high slope, and once a year when we went to visit her id see a thick trail of blood trickle down from the waterway to pool on her street, and at that dinner the family (and neighbours, sometimes) would bring a myriad of dishes and we'd feast. i would see butchers shops clean their curbs with buckets of water, mopping red tinted liquid down a drain. when i grew older and we were visiting my mothers village i watched the men subdue and kill a cow that we were going to eat that night. i watched them skin it and separate the meat from its bones, explaining what parts of an animal is used for which dishes because it was their craft and a young girl showed interest. as people we always live with the knowledge that our lives depend on death, whether it be a plant or an animal. existence is not moral and clean, and death is messy. getting blood stains out of a fabric once a month is the lived reality of more than half the human population.

i was not raised religious, nobody in my close family were, i didn't feel any sort of way when those men started to pray around the cow but i knew why they did it, even if it was performative for some, for the rest they had to show respect. the cow was meant to represent somebody you cared about, offering it in their stead symbolically. it needed to be respected, it needed to be butchered without pain. save from one serving of meat, as was tradition, were donated to the food banks.

now im sure some of you are thinking 'no matter how you slice it, its still a brutal act. made more brutal by the audience deriving some form of moral superiority' and yes, i used to think that too, because what is a religious practice for them is a show to me. but it is the norm where i grew up, and in the end a cow is dead regardless because we need to eat. and some people who needed to eat more than us got to eat too.

somewhere in germany news break out that some immigrants were practicing unethical and unsanitary butcherings, you see the footage of men in kufi and puffy pants and women covered completely in black sheets get ushered out by police. they shout some things in a foreign language, speaking the name of their foreign god. they show a censored room covered in blood and gore.

so i have to ask now, when you play veilguard and see venatori torturing and exploding a halla into a puff of red smoke which image does it bring to mind, what do you think of when you hear 'ritual sacrifice'? you may not have noticed this parallel but your brain sure did, as it has been noticing for your entire life and counting, the same reason you cringe at the barbarity of people consuming raw flesh, painting their foreheads with blood, killing animals you would pet. its alien, its gross, its wrong.

i cant play this game and take it seriously with its mask yanked off, gloating about its lack of nuance every step of the way. when you hit people red stuff comes out, red stuff bad. killing bad. murder bad. that it extends more sympathy to a fantasy deer than it ever allows for living breathing people of its universe, faceless and primitive.

in other DA games there were people over there somewhere who enslaved others, built their entire civilization on the ruins of gods they cannot comprehend, practiced bloody sacrifices and rituals that doomed the world for their own power, and even in their homeland they are nothing but canon fodder to be murdered and gawked at. their traditions, religion, entire culture is less than a set dressing, because whatever grosses you out are the bad apples, because the good ones cant be anything else and still derive sympathy from the audience.

and its true, you need to be an exceptional writer to make that work, especially if you dont have any real life experience to pull from. you need to stain your hands a little, and be prepared to be called dirty.

but i see it, i see those news reports everywhere i look in the game, i see the streets being cleaned and scrubbed so the tourists wouldnt call them backwards people, unclean, less than.

ive never played a game so repulsed by and is uninterested in its own universe than DAV, in every line of dialogue i can feel it trembling in fear. my companions tell me i dont need to watch a deer getting butchered, i can look away and proceed to electrocute hundreds of masked men some of whom are talking about comically evil things like patricide.

this has always been a point of contention in the medium of video games as the most prominent way to engage with the world has been through violence, and for me the DA franchise has always managed to tackle this by allowing its main character to be messy. yes, hawke cleaves thru countless faceless raiders but theyre also an illegal immigrant trying to get by with nothing to offer to the world than their violence. warden is deliberately recruited for that same violence, the only purpose of their existence is to fight as theyre made to shed everything else from their old life. and still, still you play these characters as they are allowed to grow, heal, carve out a little space for themselves where they can laugh and joke with their peers. it is juxtaposed to that darkness in their lives that makes those moments precious.

'what is good?' the games asked, and they answered 'doesn't matter, the world can be a better place with them in it'

veilguard asks 'what is good?' and answers 'you are.'

it doesnt matter whether blood magic is bad lore-wise (and that discussion is irrelevant to this decision made by the devs), because it needs to be narratively. like tabloid news the entire premise of the story is built on it. it needs to be inaccessible to and shunned by your party and rook because they need to be 'good' and in contrast, your enemies need to be 'bad'

and like dominoes it retroactively reframes the moral stance of every game in the franchise.

so, yes, i just laughed when i saw that announcement. i didnt know what else to do. but hang on to your knickers because it gets so much worse...

[bigassmoth]

Sesshomaru x cis woman reader r18, 3rd person pov. It must have been a trait from their father because like Inuyasha, Sesshomaru loves a woman who will fight him.

((Minor spit kink, implied kinkimess down the road, dryhumping))

"If there is nothing else, this meeting will come to a close." Sesshomaru spoke to a table of government officials who bowed their heads in respect. Quaint little meetings like this to discuss governmental affairs were a necessary part of running his father territory. A responsibility Sesshomaru shouldered with grace and-

"My lord, may I raise a concern?" One of the women present speaks, her eyes still lowered as is customary. Sesshomaru lets out a hum and then nods.

"This one permits you to speak." He sips his tea as she begins.

"The irrigation testing zone in the east citadel has shown promising results. If possible, we should move forward and expand waterways across major cities." Delicately she asks for money. Sesshomaru scoffs into his cup and settles a poisonous gaze on the woman-only being able to glare at the crown of her still bowed head.

"What for? The cities soldiers are primarily at the palace anyway."

"We should implement aquaducts in the palace as well. But the city is a more pressing concern because of civilian population density." She smoothly parried him. Sesshomaru decided he would take this moment to put a brazen scholar in their place, lest everyone starts to believe he has grown soft.

"Ah yes. The civilians. For what reason would peasants need water for anyway? Certainly not for washing." He begins his teardown of her with an insulting jab- recognizing her to be a commoner by her uniform. She freezes, Sesshomaru decides to inflict the finishing blow, "You would expect funds for your silly water project? My territory has real issues. We are under constant threat of war. Dont bring such frivolous things to me again." His tone is crisp and ladden with demonic energy. Many humans and demons alike at the meeting table tremble.

Out of her mouth comes a stilted "ah-" and she looks up. Their eyes meet. Her expression is of astonishing disgust and disappointment. Sesshomaru is briefly glad that everyone else is busy staring holes into their laps. If another saw the expression she was making then it would look like he said something-

"Stupid." She mumbles. A crow demon next to her puffs up anxiously and gives her arm a warning squeeze-begging her to shut up.

"What?" Sesshomaru doesnt mean to but he is making the air crackle.

"That is so stupid." Her face adorns a sneer and she fulls sits up so she can square her shoulders and stare brazenly at Sesshomaru.

"How dare y-"

"What do you think the water is for? Do you think people choose to be covered in shit? Are you fucking stupid? More of your soldiers die of dysentery and disease than battle wounds- which clean water helps prevent. And you dont aquaducts connecting your own palace? Do you know what it even is? You already use water transportation systems, they are just outdated and inefficient. Why are we reporting our findings to you if you dont even know what we are talking about? I should just take the money and do whatever I want with it, I doubt you would notice missing funds as long as no one reports it to you. You rich idiot nepobaby cuntfaced-"

"ENOUGH." Sesshomaru roars, his eyes fully red. He stands from the table with a throaty growl. "EVERYONE, OUT."

Everyone begins to scurry, as if knowing she wasnt included in that 'everyone', the offending woman stays seated. She stares straight ahead, cheeks flushed and hands trembling with adrenaline. After all this time of admiring Lord Sesshomaru for being more that a raging warlord, she was about to meet her end by his very teeth. She worked hard to get to where she was, its unfortunate she couldnt do more but at least she went out with a bang. Hopefully the scribes record it faithfully-

"You." Sesshomarus voice is a hiss as he stands over her. She looks up at him- or begins to. But she instead does a double take- eyes flitting from his prominent erection to his bright red eyes and then back again.

"Uh..." well this killed her heroic troublemaker spirit. Its much weirder to be killed by someone who has a hard on.

"What did you call this Sesshomaru?"

"Stupid." She answers him as evenly as she can, finally tearing her eyes away from his bulge to stare at his dangerous 'ripping bowels out of torsos' face.

He growls and abruptly lowers himself onto her. His knees place themselves on either side of her hips, she leans backwards but one of his hands grabs her face and the other braces his body on the floor.

"You...you..." he is panting, drool forming under his tongue. Her knees are bent so she could sit on her ankles-but Sesshomaru fully pushes her down onto the ground. Her legs shift, extending so they wouldnt be pinned under her and hyper extend her poor meniscus. Her wiggling makes Sesshomaru groan and he closes the gap between them in a desperate kiss. It is disgustingly sloppy, as soon as their lips connect he is using his hand to coax her mouth open so his tongue can slip inside. She lets out a noise, surprised and confused. His hips move against hers and her doubts move away for lust. Despite the constant growling from his chest and the spit-laden way he kissed her, Sesshomarus touch was careful. Like he was handling porcelain and washi paper he slid a hand into her kimono and began to trace her curves.

For her part the woman held the front of his kimono in one hand and moved her legs on either side of his so that his now insistent grinding was directly to her core. Sesshomaru purred into her mouth, pulling away with a loud slurp as he swallowed her spit.

"You are a bold woman. Too bold, death must be nipping at your heels." His words were threatening but his tone was fond as he pressed his wet lips to her throat.

"I am very confused." She panted out but still raised an arm to stroke his back.

"Your foolish words...roused this one" Sesshomaru whispered in her ear while loosening her kimono. "You have weak fangs and claws so you attacked us with your wit." He frees his penis and rests its underside in her folds and begins to rock his hips again. "It was like you had personally reached over and grabbed this Sesshomaru's cock."

She gulps, his balls hit her lower lips and taint as his hips loved. The veiny belly of his cock slid over her entrance and clit. His tip was leaking precum onto her stomach and pubic mound.

"A temptress, or perhaps a practiced witch? How else could you cloud this one with lust?" He nips at the skin of her neck, not drawing any blood but still thoroughly slobbering on her.

"Honestly?" She keens out, thighs tense as she matches his humping.

"Yes, you will divulge your methods to this one." His fingers delicately pinch her nipples.

"I think you're just a pervert." She answers plainly. Sesshomaru shudders and groans loudly, leaning forward so that his forehead rests on floor. His fingers on her nipples tighten. His hips roll hard into hers and then still. He cums on her stomach, gasping and gulping.

She holds onto him now, and experimentally rolls her hips against his member as it finishes spilling cum. Sesshomaru groans through gritted teeth, he doesnt remember the last time he orgasmed so hard. And before his bed partner, no less.

"You will perform once more for this one. You will make this ones cock hard and this one will properly resolve our desires." He growls in her ear.

"I told you my lord there is no performance, you just enjoy....unique dialog." Her diplomatic brain is returning to her although she continues to move her hips. Sesshomarus fingers begin to move again, apologetic in their now gentle caressing of her nipples and areola.

"You will not dare speak to this one as a tantrum throwing pup." Is he pouting? She thinks he is pouting. Her hands hesitantly touch his hair- beautiful and silky. If she had this kind of hair she would never let anyone touch it.

"My lord I believe you hold some perversions. That you find excitement in being treated as a degenerate among other things."

His cock twitches.

"What other things?" His voice is low and hoarse. She swallows and he presses a kiss behind her ear.

"Hm...such as, just perhaps, as some other people enjoy these things although my lord may n-"

"Speak." He urges with a husky whisper as he begins to lick inside her ear. She yelps and squirms in his hold as the sudden loud and wet intrusion. He persists while she stutters.

"Being denied service. Being stepped on-" his hand leaves her chest to go between her thighs. The pad of his thumb gently rubs circles into her clit. She moans as she continues, "Being forced to serve another. Sat on for anothers pleasure. Treated like an animal in heat-"

The head of his once again hardened cock presses against her entrance. Sesshomaru pulls himself out of her tight embrace to look at her fully. His markings are still present, although his eyes have returned to their usual gold. He has a wild, curious, competitive spark in his expression. His hands hold her hips, his mouth hangs open. He looks at her and she looks at him.

"Shall this one begin?" He asks, his still leaking head pressed at her opening.

"What? Im surprised you are asking, my lord. Thank you, I thought you would just..." her implication is that he would be so lost in the throes of pleasure that like a beast he wouldnt be able to control his own impulses. Understanding this unspoken message, Sesshomaru feels his balls tighten.

"But I cannot. I need further prep or else it will hurt." She is achingly horny but also very aware of her responsibilities tomorrow. She didnt work her ass off just to take a raincheck because she got railed too hard by an inu warlord.

Sesshomaru blinks and then frowns. "You deny the gifts of this ones embrace?"

"Not at all my lord. But tomorrow I must survey the Kinoshi district."

"You would rather perform menial labor than bed with this lord?" He is growing more and more agitated. She groans. Clearly sex-addled Sesshomaru is even more of a hardhead than regular Sesshomaru.

"No. What I am saying, my lord, is that I wont be able to go about my business tomorrow because an evening in your bed would put me out of commission."

His ears perk up at that. His false-placid frown becomes a self-satisfied smirk.

"Ah. This Sesshomaru understands. It is a valid concern, once this one finds you in our bed, we will act without abandon." Talking like this makes him even more excited. Open coupling had been business, he aimed to relieve himself with grace and poise. But with her, he felt free to mutter all manner of filth he had kept to himself.

"Then we are in agreement. Would I be able to help you get presentable, my lord?"

He considers it and moves off of her, standing up with his cock still shamelessly erect and exposed.

"Hm yes, it has been some time. This one permits you to fix our clothing. And..." he is looking at her body with opaque lust. "Denial of service, you said? Hm, yes. This one will experience it now."

She has also stood up and quickly fixed her kimono to hide her perked chest and the now cool cum on her stomach. Sesshomaru lets out a shaky sigh and licks the corner of his mouth. She presses her sleeve to his chin and begins wiping the spit off of his own face.

"Funding will be granted, and in gratitude you are permitted to relieve this one."

Sesshomaru breaths out as she tucks his still hard cock into his kimono- her hands careful to avoid touching his hot and wet skin.

"This one shall be kept aching for you. As an unsated beast, this Sesshomaru will have no choice but to rut our bedroll." He whispers to her and she looks up at him- cheeks flushed and eyes holding the same challenging glint that started this whole affair. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"It sounds like you will be in dire need of my assistance, my lord. I will aid you soon."

He cant bring himself to speak back to her, so he instead nods solemnly and stands still while she pretties him up. Back to his usual stoic self, Sesshomaru leaves first- suddenly eager to occupy himself with work.

When he is asked about you later he gives small single word responses, his demeanor icy and snappish. Although his mokomoko wags whenever he hears your name.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

wrote up a whole thing on salmon for my friend @wherethatoldtraingoes2 so figured i would share. keep in mind there might be inaccuracies this is all straight from my evil twisted mind

so before we get into the history of salmon farming, we gotta look at 18th century and talk about a man named robert bakewell so bakewell was an english farmer who changed the way people bred livestock by introducing selective breeding with sheep before bakewell, most farmers just let animals breed however they wanted but bakewell realized that if he picked the best animals to breed, he could create sheep that were bigger, had more meat, and better wool his methods completely changed farming and became the basis for modern animal breeding eventually, these ideas found their way to fish farming, particularly in norway, where salmon farmers took bakewell’s selective breeding techniques and applied them to salmon by controlling which fish were allowed to breed and in what conditions, norwegian farmers were able to produce salmon that grew faster and were more suited to farming environments than wild salmon it was all about efficiency—creating more fish in less time with fewer resources and in many ways they pulled it off, just like bakewell did with his sheep righr

salmon farming as we know it really started to take off in the 1970s, though the practice itself stretches back centuries, if not millennia, to indigenous peoples in the pacific northwest who had been managing salmon runs long before the arrival of european settlers!!!!  but the industrial scale farming that now dominates the industry was born in norway, where the cold, clean waters and deep fjords provided the ideal environment for salmon aquaculture (yayyy) 

norwegian scientists and entrepreneurs began experimenting with breeding salmon in captivity after the collapse of wild fisheries due to overfishing and pollution . the reason it worked better than the sheep is simply bc salmon reproduce so fast and have so many babies compared to like sheep or cows so the advances in efficiency happened way faster and with way more strains of salmon to choose from. rught so during the 20th century they developed methods to breed and raise salmon in ocean pens, which allowed them to mass-produce fish to meet growing demand by the 1980s, salmon farming had spread to scotland, canada, and chile (current second biggest producer i think) creating a global industry that produced millions of tons of fish every year by the 1990s, the boom had begun, and salmon farming was celebrated as a solution to the world's hunger for fish without further depleting already strained wild populations

but the expansion of salmon farms has come with a slew of environmental and social consequences the dense concentration of fish in the pens creates an ideal breeding ground for DIESEASESSSSS, parasites, and pollution …. sea lice infestations are one of the most notorious problems cause they often spread to wild salmon passing near the farms, weakening the wild fish populations that are already vulnerable due to habitat loss and climate change etc etc etc we’re overdeveloping our waterways that salmon have relied on for FOREVER. salmon farms also release vast amounts of waste into the surrounding waters like uneaten food, feces, and chemicals used to treat diseases so this can lead to eutrophication which js a process where excess nutrients in the water create algal blooms that deplete oxygen levels, harming local ecosystems and killing off marine life :(( oh and the  feed used for farmed salmon often relies on wild-caught fish like anchovies and sardines, which means that farming salmon doesn't actually reduce pressure on wild fish stocks—it just shifts the burden to other species!! crazy!!!

then there's the issue of escapees in rough weather or when nets tear, so farmed salmon can escape from their pens and mingle with wild populations in places like norway and canada, these farmed fish can interbreed with wild salmon, diluting the genetic pool and making the wild fish less fit for survival cause the farmed salmon are bred to grow quickly and resist diseases, but in the wild, they can disrupt the delicate balance of local ecosystems bc they compete with native species for food and spawning grounds in some places, like chile i think. farmed salmon are an entirely non-native species, and their escape has led to the establishment of feral populations that are altering local food chains because farmed salmon are literally like a whole speetare thing at this point compared to wild salmon

then there there are human costs too cause rise of industrial salmon farming has displaced small-scale fishers and indigenous people who relied on wild salmon runs for their livelihoods in places like alaska and scotland, fishing communities that once thrived on the seasonal rhythm of wild salmon harvests now find themselves sidelined by multinational corporations that control the aquaculture industry the sheer scale of salmon farming has made it difficult for wild-caught fish to compete in the marketplace cause  farmed salmon are cheaper to produce and can be sold year-round, while wild salmon are seasonal and much more expensive to catch for obvious reasons. this shift transformed the global salmon market and altered the cultural significance of the fish in many regions where salmon fishing was once a way of life,,, leaving places feeling. placeless 

so rn salmon farming produces more than two-thirds of the world's salmon consumption im pretty sure BUT it remains a highly controversial industry while some see it as a necessary response to the growing global demand for protein, others view it as an unsustainable practice that is wreaking havoc on both the environment and traditional fishing communities as well as like there was some stuff about health problemss . is that good . yayy. slaamon 

[kamabokobun]

What are the girls' springs like under their care? For whatever reason I imagine Dinraal being the most active when it comes to decorating and landscape sculpting based on the location in-game. Lots of carved waterways and stone pillars.

I imagine that they were similar to how the springs are in the present day… but less broken

And more… zonai-y? Most (if not all) of the old zonai stuff would be most likely removed/replaced over time. But I think the general structure would probably be similar

Except the spring of courage. That one would probably have more significant changes, as I don’t think the big dragon statue was around during the girls’ time. I think that was probably built a long while after they ate the stones, like around when rauru and mineru were alive.

While Dinraal would most likely not make any big decisions on the landscaping or decoration (all that stuff was put there way before her time), you are correct that she would be the most active, but more in terms upkeep and such. Keeping things clean, watering plants, making small repairs when needed, etc. If she were to make any changes, she would probably just plant some flowers.

[acti-veg]

Hello acti! So I'm kind of stuck with this, sorry it's quite long and I know you can't easily check it yourself because of the language barrier but I still would like to hear your thoughts. There is this german "self-critical vegan" club/union (also on Insta, Youtube) and I'm kind of like, very irritated by their content. They argue for veganism and want to "help" vegans but with the stance that animal ethics and (human ethics) are the only valid argument for veganism and that a vegan lifestyle can't be substantiated by environment or health. Because "the arguments are far removed from ethics and factually untenable" and therefore vegans who use them "degrade animals to second-class victims". They basically invalidate any argument aside from animal ethics based on them being incomplete or "ethically flawed" and even indirectly refer to them as conspiracy theories... But also say in passing that vegans can use arguments based on health or environment if they're worded correctly. Mixed signals lol

Like, one of their examples is that meat-eaters can be on the same CO2 level as vegans because of eg road kill, chicken pets or local private fishing, so calling plant-based diets more environmentally friendly is invalid. This sounds so obscure to me, it's not completely wrong, I guess, since it does depend on an individual level. But on the wider scale it's not a rebuttal, obviously most meat-eaters don't just eat road kill and don't own chicken. Another example was that vegans (supposedly) argue with sentences like "If humans cut out animal products from their diet, they reduce the general risk to get cancer and die" which is the same argumentative structure as "If you don't rape, you minimize your risk of STDs by x %" and therefore it's bad because "we would consider the way this argument is presented in another context as inappropiate". Their words, not mine. Like WHAT the fuck is that comparison. That example sentence is so deliberately adorned with generalisations.

I also didn't see them directly debunk any numbers or statistics or such, they just give these "explanations". It's good to be critical of our own arguments and how we word them and sure, animal ethics are the main point of veganism and enough reason. But the way they're presenting their reasons feels off to me, I'm kind of seeing what they mean but it comes off as unnecessarily strict, inconsistent and removed from lived reality, like some theoretical ethical ideal. Granted, I'm not very familiar with human and animal ethic theories and philosophy beyond basic vegan knowledge and school ethics classes, is this some High Level Veganism I just don't get?

I agree that fundamentally, veganism must be about animal rights. There are many good environmental arguments for adopting a plant-based diet, but there is very little environmental reason to avoid zoos, or animal-tested cosmetics, as examples. What we want to avoid is just convincing people that they need to make animal agriculture more sustainable, because even if this were possible, it would still mean animals would not have their rights.

That said, I don't think that we should be discouraging people from adopting and promoting environmental arguments for veganism. Land preservation, wildlife conservation, reducing emissions, cleaning our waterways, reducing deforestation, keeping our marine ecosystems healthy - these are goals that are fundamentally aligned to animal rights. Animals cannot have meaningful rights without functional ecosystems for them to live in. Conserving the planet is conserving animals.

There is a general "I am more vegan than you" competition I see all too often in AR spaces, but it is generally a minority. It may be that this is what is happening here to some extent, or it may just be borne out of a genuine perceived need to re-focus the conversation on animals and their rights, rather than any of the other causes that naturally intersect with veganism. It is hard for me to say without seeing their content for myself.

[plethoraworldatlas]

When one small town saw its livelihood drying up, it had a choice: find new ways to make money, or overcome its fears and enlist an unlikely ally.

Crocodiles.

About a decade ago, the small fishing community of Topón in southern Mexico noticed that the shrimp on which its economy depended were dying off.

The community suspected that climate change, increased deforestation and overfishing had pushed the ecosystem too far — a suspicion since confirmed by scientists.

In the past, the community saw crocodiles as pests at best — threats, at worst. But a years-long project from Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility and the Mexican government has helped change that mindset — and show that conservation works best when it considers the entire ecosystem.

“Ecosystems are a complex and interconnected whole,” said Gustavo Garduño, project specialist at Conservation International-Mexico. “When one part gets out of balance, it can have a domino effect. Such is the case with crocodiles and shrimp.” 

For Topón, that ecosystem starts high in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountain range, where water flows steadily through the Pijijiapan River before spilling into the Pacific Ocean. But just before that, in the brackish waters of the estuary, is where the shrimp that sustain Topón live alongside an abundance of life.

Vibrant roseate spoonbills wade through the shallows to find fish. Reclusive crocodiles and caimans bask in the sun. And towering mangroves — the largest in North America — provide refuge for migratory birds, spider monkeys, jaguars and more.

Yet deforestation upstream has transformed the estuary. With the trees no longer there to act as a buffer, sediment flows freely, clogging waterways and causing the estuary's oxygen levels to plummet.

The shrimp were effectively being choked out, Garduño said.

“It’s a vicious circle,” he added. “While deforestation hurts shrimp populations, it is driven by falling incomes for fishermen who are catching fewer shrimp and instead turning to environmentally damaging, but more profitable, activities like cattle ranching and palm oil production.” 

Chiapas — where Topón is located — is the poorest state in Mexico, and with little control over deforestation upstream, the community needed to take a different approach to cleaning up the estuary’s water and making shrimping profitable again.

That's where the crocodiles come in.

Crocodiles are wetlands engineers, said Ramón Flores, coastal manager at Conservation International-Mexico.

When they swim through the water, their movements stir up sediment that has settled at the bottom. This action aerates the water, improving oxygen levels, and keeping minerals and nutrients from settling and clogging the system.

“Without the crocodile, the wetland ceases to exist,” Flores said. “If you want good fishing, crocodiles must be present — their decline is one of the main reasons that shrimp numbers have plummeted. Everything is connected.” 

But crocodiles’ role in the ecosystem was misunderstood — and fishermen would hunt the endangered species.

“We were very afraid of them and fear made us act against the animal,” said Mario Becerra, a founder of the Topón fishing collective. “There was hunger and there was need. Some killed it, and they’d say, 'We’re doing something good because we’re killing the crocodile, and we get to eat it too.'”

To change this perception, the project hosted workshops that showed the critical role crocodiles play in keeping the ecosystem healthy — and ensuring there is an abundance of shrimp to fish. They also organized monitoring brigades to keep an eye on the species and measure progress — an eye-opening experience for the community, Flores said.

“When the community joined in monitoring the crocodiles, they realized there weren’t many left,” he said. “Before, the community typically only encountered them in threatening situations. But witnessing the crocodile’s life cycle — from eggs to hatchlings to adults — play out in front of them had a profound and moving effect. Knowledge is power.”

While it is too early to know how the project has impacted crocodile populations in the estuary, Becerra said it has already transformed the community's relationship with the animal and helped them learn to coexist with it.

As for shrimp, the fishermen’s catch has increased tenfold since the project began more than five years ago — though hasn’t yet returned to the yields seen a decade ago. The local economy is also showing signs of improvement, notably for women and youth. With a new shrimp processing plant, the fishermen hope to connect directly to higher-value markets that support sustainable production. 

“None of this would have been possible without taking this holistic and community-driven approach,” Flores said. “These are essential pieces to long-term sustainability.”

One of the most underrepresented groups within a community is children, he added, and Topón was no different: Many of the children there had never seen where their parents fished. So the project organized an environmental festival where each child received a pair of binoculars and bird guides to see the wildlife firsthand, and participate in lessons and activities about the local ecology.

“It was an amazing experience for the children and a powerful lesson,” Flores said. “If you want to achieve lasting conservation, you must involve people from an early age and establish that link between a community and the nature surrounding it.”

[lostsbooks]

Cannon Thief (Wattpad|Ao3)

A gift for @weirdestarrow and @grandmaash98

━━━━━━━━ ✠ ━━━━━━━━

This was dumb, This was so incredibly stupid of an idea, and it was all my sister's fault. I never should've taken that bet. I really hated Indiana right now, I hoped she'd at least have the courtesy to purchase a nice headstone for me after I was gone. It was the least she could do for having doomed me in this way. I could see it laid out in front of me: "Michigan, June 1805-May 2003. He died because his siblings were mean. He hates them all." Yeah. That would do nicely. A stupid gravestone for a stupid death. "Take one of Delaware's Cannons." she'd said, like that was at all a reasonable request. At least I'd spent Indy's money for the trip, that was the one bright side to all of this. Heaving a sigh I stretched a little, getting out the last bit of stiffness from the day of travel, looking through the winding forests I now had to navigate. I'd had plenty of time to research and find targets beforehand. I wasn't completely dumb, anything too heavy or noticeable would be an easy and fast no, something small and easy to hide was what I needed.  Which is how after what felt like hours of looking through random and (In my opinion) extremely boring pages of My brother's history led me to this spot. Hagley Museum & Library. Home to the smallest two cannons I could quickly find. and at the moment, other than the fact that I'd probably be flayed by my big brother when he heard what happened- one of them seemed to be the perfect target for this. "Well- Better to get this over with." I grumbled to nobody in particular. Small, lightweight, and in one general area. This couldn't take too long. ━━━━━━━━ ✠ ━━━━━━━━ I breathed a sigh of relief when I found it. At the moment, it was sitting in the shade of a tree, near a large old looking building and some waterways. It was a lot smaller than I expected, damn. I'd seen it before, when Delaware had brought them to dad's house for cleaning- or just to show off- but it hadn't really processed just how little they actually were. Cute, almost. Unfortunately its small size made it the perfect victim. 

Pulling out my phone I opened to my texts, quickly sending Indiana a picture for proof, and typing a new message, informing her of my arrival. I sighed and slipped it back into a pocket of the bag I'd brought, setting it down on the ground. I didn't want to risk damaging it while trying to move this thing. After circling it a couple of times, and scanning the area for a place to put it. My mind was made up, the grassy slope was exposed, and I didn't like the thought of taking it out of state, too risky. But maybe I could try move it to the forest? There had to be a decent hiding spot somewhere in there. Probably just best to try push it, carrying it wouldn't work with how far it needed to go. Even if it didn't look terribly heavy I wanted to avoid the harder option. I really should've taken the landscape into account more,  that was my main mistake. I realized that quickly a few minutes later, having assumed the weight would keep it fairly steady as it rolled along, and angled away from the hill, thinking I would be able to keep control of it without any trouble. I was wrong. after getting the cannon decently far from where i'd found it, I was making good progress to an area I thought would be hidden enough to cause confusion, but not get me into too much trouble for if I was discovered. a slightly too powerful push was all it needed, and I was able to watch in horror as the cannon's weight tipped it off the nearby hill and started gaining speed, reaching the bottom before I could do anything to stop it. ...falling right into the canal below. I was gone before I could hear the splash. Heart still pounding from a mix of fear and adrenaline, but relaxed a little on recognizing my surroundings. Safe and sound, I'd brought myself all the way over to my camp, A little pale blue house on the shore of the Big Lake. Miles and miles away from Wilmington, Delaware, and any of the shit I had just gotten myself into. Right, that. I cringed. I still have to deal with it don't I, I wonder if Ontario would take me as a refugee- No that's not far enough- He'd still find me. Mexico? That's farther- Maybe South America somewhere? Europe?????? By now the tiny wheeled thing would probably be resting in the shallows of the water. Hopefully not too uncomfortably. I felt kinda bad for putting the little thing through so much. my mood was at least slightly improved when I heard a sharp happy bark and a fuzzy medium sized dog almost bowled me over. "Hey Pepper!" I said, laughing a little, glad that, at the very least, I got to see my dog before I died. "How you doing girl? Did you get out again?" She jumped a little, shaking from excitement and nearly spinning in circles, but I pushed her back down. I'd have to fix her kennel later, as I had other things to worry about.

Settling at a nearby tree, hoping i'd think of a solution to all of this, Pepper happily followed behind me, trying to lick my exposed hands. I decided it would be best to message Indiana on what to do now. I wouldn't be able to go back to where I'd just been nearly as easily as I'd just brought myself here. Not unless I wanted to travel another dozen hours straight, which I didn't. Only- My heart dropped to the ground and I nearly choked when I realized- My phone was gone. "Shit." I said for the millionth time that day, and let out a string of curses in any language I could think of. I must've left it with my bag, I didn't have time to grab it before I left. This was bad- very bad- I didn't know what was worse, The idea of someone finding, stealing, and getting into my phone, Which would probably end up revealing a ton about me and numerous members of my family to the world. or the idea of *Delaware* finding it, And knowing I'd been the one who messed with his stuff. Yeah the second thought was way more scary. I don't know why I contested it. And being miles and miles away,  I had zero chance of managing to return in any reasonable amount of time before Delly discovered what happened and eventually found the proof that clearly pointed to me. I was dead, beyond dead. Might as well dig a grave for myself right now. after everything I'd lived through, this would be it. After panicking a little more, and giving pepper a final pat on the head, I took a breath and steeled myself to a decision. It would be better to just get this over with and confess early than just waiting here in suspense. There would be no avoiding it now, I'd only get worse the more I delayed confronting this. Maybe If I was lucky I might be able to hit Indiana before I died. ━━━━━━━━ ✠ ━━━━━━━━ :Epilogue: "You can't make me do this." I told Delaware, staring at the enormous weapon in front of me, "I have my rights." "Yes but I need my revenge." he looked over to me, evil humor sparkling in his eyes, "Besides, I think it's a fair trade for you to just do a little manual labor in exchange for not spending a few nights locked up in jail, or worse." Grimacing, I knew he was right, this was still better than the other choices. "Del that thing is bigger than my house. How do you expect me to clean it." "You should've thought that problem through before you stole my cannon. You asked for this buddy." he laughed smugly, I hated how much he was enjoying this. I sighed, and rolled up my sleeves. "Fine, Just tell me what I need."

[reasonsforhope]

"The UK is looking to ban plastic wet wipes that clog up the country’s sewers.

Under a plan to tackle water pollution, the government is launching a public consultation on whether to get rid of plastic wipes. Some retailers like supermarket Tesco and health and beauty company Boots have already stopped selling them in favour of biodegradable alternatives.

Although these alternatives are available, most products still contain plastic which doesn’t break down, sticks together and can create something known as a fatberg. These rock-like masses of waste matter form in the sewer systems from non-biodegradable solids, oil, grease and fat.

Environment Minister Therese Coffey told the BBC that the proposal was to “ban plastic from wet wipes”. She added that the consultation was a “legal requirement” to make sure that they can go ahead with the ban.

The ban should come into force next year following the consultation.

The consultation on whether to ban wet wipes is part of the UK government’s Plan for Water which was published on Monday (3 April).

It is intended to improve water quality in the country and also includes measures like restrictions on some kinds of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - also known as ‘forever chemicals’ - in textiles, cleaning products and other items.

The government also announced earlier this week that water companies could face unlimited fines for releasing untreated sewage into waterways without good reason."

-via EuroNews.Green, 4/4/23

Note: If you're in the UK, you should be able to send in a comment as part of the public consultation on this!

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chapter 3. Economy

Who will take out the trash?

If everyone is free to work as they choose, who will take out the trash or perform other undesirable jobs? Fortunately, in a localized, anti-capitalist economy, we could not externalize, or hide, the costs of our lifestyle by paying someone else to clean up after us. We would have to pay for the consequences of all our own actions — rather than paying China to take our toxic waste, for example. If a necessary service like garbage disposal were being neglected, the community would quickly notice and have to decide how to handle the problem. People could agree to reward such work with small perks — nothing that translates into power or authority, but something like getting to be first in line when exotic goods come into town, receiving a massage or a cake or simply the recognition and gratitude for being a stand-up member of the community. Ultimately, in a cooperative society, having a good reputation and being seen by your peers as responsible are more compelling than any material incentives.

Or the community could decide that everyone should involve themselves in these tasks on a rotating basis. An activity like garbage collection does not have to define anyone’s “career” in an anti-capitalist economy. Necessary tasks no one wants to perform should be shared by everyone. So instead of a few people having to sort through garbage their entire lives, everyone who was physically able would have to do it for just a couple hours each month.

The Christiania “free state” is a quarter in Copenhagen, Denmark, that has been squatted since 1971. Its 850 inhabitants are autonomous within their 85 acres. They have been taking out their own trash for over thirty years. The fact that they receive about one million visitors a year makes their achievement all the more impressive. The streets, buildings, restaurants, public toilets, and public showers are all reasonably clean — especially for hippies! The body of water that runs through Christiania is not the cleanest, but considering that Christiania is tree-covered and automobile free one suspects most of the pollution comes from the surrounding city that shares the waterway.

Residents have built dozens of the houses now standing in Christiania using innovative eco-designs. They also use:

solar power, wind power, composting and a whole host of other eco-friendly innovations. A method of filtering sewage through reed beds, which means water coming out of Christiania is as clean as that coming out from the rest of Copenhagen’s treatment plants, has helped the commune be shortlisted for a pan-Scandinavian award for ecological living.[38]

Different people interviewed had different conceptions of how Christiania was kept clean, suggesting a sort of dual system. A newcomer said that you cleaned up after yourself, and when you felt like doing some extra picking up, you did. An old-time resident who was more involved in decision-making explained there was a garbage committee, answerable to the “Common Meeting,” responsible for the bottom-line of keeping Christiania clean, though clearly voluntary assistance and cleanliness by all the residents was the first line of defense.

[distortedkilling]

@swordduels - from this post.

Mahito watched at they processed his appearance, confirming they could see him. How funny! A human not only wandered in here but could also see him. And they believed the mangled corpse he hadn't yet cleaned up was beautiful? What a freak. Were they one of those dark sorcerers? They didn't particularly feel potent with their cursed energy so no... something else, besides weak.

He'd humor them.

Their comment on the body being a sacrificed earned them an abrupt and loud laugh from the cursed spirit.

"Sacrifice?" He parroted to make sure he head them correctly. Without a single care for whoever this person once was, he kicked the pieces of the body into the waterway to be taken with the lax current. "It's not a sacrifice, nothing so noble. It's just death, murder. You know, you're human." Mahito rolled his wrist as his finger pointed into their direction nonchalantly.

After-all, humans killed without reason even more than curses! At least a cursed spirit had a purpose, a nature that gave reason for it. Humans... really were disgusting.

[the-mike-est-of-michaels]

I want to talk about activism for a sec. when i started being more active politically i felt like that doing the activism that I was good at was not good activism. and well there is probably a deeper conversation that could be held about this pressure I just want to talk about my opinions on "good activism" and activism in general.

while I do agree that there are activism types that are more effective than others but I also think it is okay to do simpler forms of activism like volunteering especially when you are starting to develop your political understanding. building confidence in yourself and what you can do is important - stuff like organising protests is important but not something that you could do when you start out.

when I started I felt guilty that I was not radical enough but in retrospect, doing something is better than nothing and actually getting out there is how you develop your confidence. you meet people you talk you get to know more things that are going on in your area and you can specialise. not being radical enough is not a thing to feel guilty about, if you care you care, you can learn theory at the same time as helping out in a soup kitchen.

also everybody has their own skills and abilities, forcing yourself into whatever stereotype of an activist you have in your mind won't help. if your a good chef you can help out with soup kitchens, if you are interested in conservation you can help conserve local nature of your area, if you like hikes you could bring a bag and some gloves and clean up trash along the way, if you can dive you could help clean up ghost gear in local waterways.

you will feel more confident if you play to your strengths. even if you only have the time/energy for 1 hour a month. even if you can't do as much as you wish. you will still be doing good. if you are currently helping out and doing activism in your local area - fuck yeah good for you! small efforts still mean a lot. you can help with local issues whilst still maintaining space for the bigger picture. sure it can seem like something small, but it still matters.

honestly the people are the main reason that I do the conservation work, you can meet so many cool people in these spaces and that is one of my favourite things about activism and volunteering. it has enriched my life, I am so much more confident because of the people I have met. being in these spaces makes the world seem less bleak and the worlds problems easier to solve. i think good activism is activism you can maintain, some can give their entire lives to a fight but that is draining as hell for me at least, if activism can be a space of relaxation, a social space and a place for political change I think that's a good thing.

[cidnangarlond]

forgot to mention a dream I had the other night where I was playing bg3 and it was act 3, jaheira was also there as a chaperone because she did not trust me/gale/astarion/karlach with what we were doing. we were in the sewers but it was oddly polished and nice. very clean. and she was going out of her mind because we were chasing after raphael and cornered him to this waterway, and prior to this he had been shapeshifting and we caught him because he failed a question pertaining to for some reason cheese and he morphed back like "haha that was clever!" and he gets away. meanwhile jaheira is on the opposite side of this area and she's pacing back and forth going THINK woman THINK. HOW can we beat him. but then she realizes something. we walk past this opening that goes to another part of a sewer system and as we do karlach goes "gods, I'm starting to get hungry." I roll a passive history check and succeed. I grab karlach and go "KARLACH. YOU MAY BE ONTO SOMETHING." and she's like I am? I mean- AHEM. I AM! I get jaheira. she goes "WE MUST RELEASE. THE KRAKEN." we go to the adjoining area. we find a kraken that lurked in the baldur's gate sewers for decades, perhaps longer. we release it. we watch as gets out and it eats raphael and then I woke up

[srrpnj]

They are now logging Merrill Creek!

Hey there, fellow outdoors lovers! One of our SRRP team members discovered this week that commercial logging is occurring at Merrill Creek Reservoir in Warren County, NJ. It stinks when you go hiking to enjoy green pastures and try to get away from it all, only to find yourself confronted by heavy machinery cutting down trees and scarring hiking trails. Isn't that escape the reason you go hiking in the first place?

The logging at Merrill Creek is similar to what we faced at Roaring Rock Park in 2021. Logging is about more than losing trees. It leads to soil erosion, which can mess up the land and our waterways, which we depend on for recreation (fishing) and clean drinking water.

Now, you might be thinking, "But Merrill Creek is private land. The landowners can do what they want with it, right?" Well, it's not that simple. These are our natural spaces, and we all have a stake in them. Plus, some of these logging activities are being kept hush-hush, which is a red flag.

So, what can we do? First off, we need to spread the word about this issue. Then, we must push our lawmakers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to enforce and strengthen laws protecting our forests.

Our forests are more than just timber. They're home to wildlife, they give us clean air, they help ensure our clean water supply, and they're our escape to nature. Let's stand up for them and ensure they're here for our kids and grandkids to enjoy.