#carbon zero

[jamiemclellan]

M0.0NSHOT (Very proud of this one)

[nowthatswhaticallawkward]

The Best Air Purifying Plants That Are Safe For Pets

Even if you switch to 100% natural products throughout your entire house, there is still going to be bullshit in the air. An easy way to help is with air purifying plants. They do the hard work for you and look good doing it. Plus, your house will be brag-worthy when someone walks in and sees green leaves and colorful flowers instead of useless abstract statues and side tables with no other…

[poojagblog-blog]

The global Direct Air Capture Market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 62 million in 2023 to USD 1,727 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 60.9% during the 2023–2030 period according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. Direct Air Capture provides a pathway to offset emissions that cannot be entirely eliminated. Direct air capture technology is known for its unique technology which directly captures CO2 from the ambient air, which is poised to play a pivotal role in the carbon removal process. Countries across the globe are putting efforts to reduce their carbon emission to meet the net-zero emission goals. Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems exhibit adaptability in their deployment, capable of being implemented across diverse scales and geographical locations. This inherent flexibility contributes to the versatility of DAC technology, allowing for customization to suit the specific magnitude of emissions and regional needs.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

“Carbon neutral” Bitcoin operation founded by coal plant operator wasn’t actually carbon neutral

I'm at DEFCON! TODAY (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). TOMORROW (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

Water is wet, and a Bitcoin thing turned out to be a scam. Why am I writing about a Bitcoin scam? Two reasons:

I. It's also a climate scam; and

II. The journalists who uncovered it have a unique business-model.

Here's the scam. Terawulf is a publicly traded company that purports to do "green" Bitcoin mining. Now, cryptocurrency mining is one of the most gratuitously climate-wrecking activities we have. Mining Bitcoin is an environmental crime on par with opening a brunch place that only serves Spotted Owl omelets.

Despite Terawulf's claim to be carbon-neutral, it is not. It plugs into the NY power grid and sucks up farcical quantities of energy produced from fossil fuel sources. The company doesn't buy even buy carbon credits (carbon credits are a scam, but buying carbon credits would at least make its crimes nonfraudulent):

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

Terawulf is a scam from top to bottom. Its NY state permit application promises not to pursue cryptocurrency mining, a thing it was actively trumpeting its plan to do even as it filed that application.

The company has its roots in the very dirtiest kinds of Bitcoin mining. Its top execs (including CEO Paul Prager) were involved with Beowulf Energy LLC, a company that convinced struggling coal plant operators to keep operating in order to fuel Bitcoin mining rigs. There's evidence that top execs at Terawulf, the "carbon neutral" Bitcoin mining op, are also running Beowulf, the coal Bitcoin mining op.

This is a very profitable scam. Prager owns a "small village" in Maryland, with more that 20 structures, including a private gas station for his Ferrari collection (he also has a five bedroom place on Fifth Ave). More than a third of Terawulf's earnings were funneled to Beowulf. Terawulf also leases its facilities from a company that Prager owns 99.9% of, and Terawulf has *showered * that company in its stock.

So here we are, a typical Bitcoin story: scammers lying like hell, wrecking the planet, and getting indecently rich. The guy's even spending his money like an asshole. So far, so normal.

But what's interesting about this story is where it came from: Hunterbrook Media, an investigative news outlet that's funded by a short seller – an investment firm that makes bets that companies' share prices are likely to decline. They stand to make a ton of money if the journalists they hire find fraud in the companies they investigate:

https://hntrbrk.com/terawulf/

It's an amazing source of class disunity among the investment class:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/money-talks/#bullshit-walks

As the icing on the cake, Prager and Terawulf are pivoting to AI training. Because of course they are.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/09/terawulf/#hunterbrook

[reasonandempathy]

Keeping Track of what Biden has done

dated 7.16.2024

At this point I think everyone, or at least every follower of mine, has seen this infographic from/about Politifact findings comparing Biden's campaign promises to what he's achieved. (link)

Putting together the Compromise (since compromise is expected in national politics), In The Works, and Kept categories we get to 64%. I

Let's run through a lot of what he has done or is in the process of doing, shall we?

I skipped a lot, and sure, there's a lot of room to move forward and be better on a lot of these. And I'm not a technocrat in all of these areas, so I'll even open each one up to "not being fully what it seems".

But Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement is a huge fucking thing. Including being on track to be net-zero by 2050. There are parts of indian reservations that have never had electricity that are getting both electricity and 5g now. Allowing Medicare to negotiate some drug prices is a start, and it needs to negotiate more, but it's still very solid progress that will help millions of Americans.

Increasing Pell Grants and expanding healthcare access among black communities is very good. Decreasing maternal mortality and increasing domestic autoworker jobs are both awesome. Empowering Unions and the NLRB? Fuck yeah.

I don't think anyone was expecting Joe fucking Biden to be a Progressive/Socialist firebrand. I don't know anyone who fully believed he'd get a $15 federal minimum wage (awesome and meaningful as that would be). But this?

This is still good.

This is both good and miles better than Trump's policies.

[tendie-defender]

Does the HumVEE qualify for the tax credit?

Nope it absolutely does not.

“Great American road trip is going to be electric”

It’s gunna be a long trip, and it costs about 70-90 bucks worth of electricity to fully charge its battery.

Can an average income individual afford the cost of an electric vehicle?

God. No.

[mattzerella-sticks]

Wait but how am I only now just connecting the dots that the way Buck acted about Tommy in season 7 episode 4 is exactly how Buck acted about Eddie back in season 2 episode 1 like OF COURSE he had a crush on Eddie and he just NEVER realized it.

[masterdizzi]

the new episodes were fire

[lightdusk96]

So... I have had the supreme honor and pleasure to commission the immaculate @carbonatedjem for this masterpiece, right here! Featuring my two favourite villains fighting against each other, Kefka from Final Fantasy VI and Dr. Weil from Megaman Zero! These two monsters are the pinnacle of villainy, caring for little else other than themselves and the destruction they wish to cause on others, just because death and misery is what they enjoy the most. Kefka is a straw nihillist who views life as meaningless before the passages of time, with destruction and death as the only constants and therefore the only things that actually matter, all to justify his sadism. Weil is a cruel despot, who wishes to oppress and torture as many people as possible, planning to doom all into eternal subservience in a wasteland world, a living death, where no hope can escape, all because he chose to indulge his prejudices and couldn't get a hold of his petty pride. Please, follow https://carbonatedjem.tumblr.com/ here on Tumblr, as well as on DA and Twitter! As well as her Patreon! You'll find more quality art like this there!

[arundolyn]

ohhhh my fucking god nobody needs to like know any of this medical tmi but it is literally 11 pm and if im kept up one minute longer when i just laid down trying to go to sleep by my mother YELLING REPEATEDLY that she needs to pee. im going to actually go insane. she got a catheter in. Yesterday. it is working. she won't listen to anyone when they tell her that this is the case. help me jesus. im sure if a nurse comes to check on her tomorrow they'll probably get the same response. my brain will simply explode

[nowthatswhaticallawkward]

I hate New Years’ Resolutions.

I hate New Years’ Resolutions.

They’re always unrealistic and just forgotten a few months later. If you have a whole year to do something, you’re not going to do it. New Years’ Resolutions are this huge deal, yet people say the same thing every year. There’s that mindset where you have so much more time and then you end up rushing at the end of the year if you even remember at all. But going by seasons? So much…

[poojagblog-blog]

The global Carbon Offset/Carbon Credit Market is expected to grow from USD 414.8 billion in 2023 to USD 1,602.7 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 31.0% according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. The voluntary carbon market continues to play a critical role in that transition by helping to channel funding into projects that reduce carbon emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere. Since, the need to curb global warming has significantly increased, the carbon offsetting has become fundamental to achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions. Increasing investments in carbon capture technologies and solutions along with the rise in projects that are helping communities and creating social impact, is expected to drive the market.

[scourgebff]

every time someone mentions the possibility of a scourge comeback in the next arc i start crashing out. writhing yelling growling gnashing teeth tearing at my flesh like pieces of pomegranate innards cause based on the only scourge appearance by the new writing team via leopardstar’s honor being just a tiny bit Fucking Atrocious we really dont need any more. seriously never show his face anywhere around here again. Please. let me be at peace