#earth optimism

[mindblowingscience]

The world’s tiniest rabbit is roughly the size of a softball—a very, very soft softball. An adult weighs less than a pound.

These little bunnies abound in the scrublands of the American West, but one population, known as the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, long ago colonized what is now central Washington, happily munching away at a smallish patch of fragrant sagebrush steppe for thousands of years.

Every last inch of a pygmy rabbit is built for sagebrush. The enzymes in its gut evolved to neutralize the plant’s toxins and maximize digestion, and it tunnels elaborately beneath the sagebrush’s roots. It even forfeited its archetypal cotton tail, and thus blends in with the gray-green bushes.

But in the last century or so, about 80 percent of the wild “sagebrush sea” of the Columbia Basin was converted into farms and ranchland. By the early 2000s, the genetically distinct Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit population had dwindled to just a few animals. Scientists crossbred survivors with pygmy rabbits from Idaho; reared in protected paddocks, the offspring retained at least three-quarters of their unique Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit DNA. Today only a few hundred of the rabbits remain, living in semi-captivity and in the wild.

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[thedisablednaturalist]

I listen to NPRs environmental articles in the morning for my alarm, and today's about key deer in Florida really brought up a very good point.

Humans have done so much to negatively impact our environment. That means we also have the power to change it in a positive way as well.

[reasonsforhope]

No paywall version here.

"Two and a half years ago, when I was asked to help write the most authoritative report on climate change in the United States, I hesitated...

In the end, I said yes, but reluctantly. Frankly, I was sick of admonishing people about how bad things could get. Scientists have raised the alarm over and over again, and still the temperature rises. Extreme events like heat waves, floods and droughts are becoming more severe and frequent, exactly as we predicted they would. We were proved right. It didn’t seem to matter.

Our report, which was released on Tuesday, contains more dire warnings. There are plenty of new reasons for despair. Thanks to recent scientific advances, we can now link climate change to specific extreme weather disasters, and we have a better understanding of how the feedback loops in the climate system can make warming even worse. We can also now more confidently forecast catastrophic outcomes if global emissions continue on their current trajectory.

But to me, the most surprising new finding in the Fifth National Climate Assessment is this: There has been genuine progress, too.

I’m used to mind-boggling numbers, and there are many of them in this report. Human beings have put about 1.6 trillion tons of carbon in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution — more than the weight of every living thing on Earth combined. But as we wrote the report, I learned other, even more mind-boggling numbers. In the last decade, the cost of wind energy has declined by 70 percent and solar has declined 90 percent. Renewables now make up 80 percent of new electricity generation capacity. Our country’s greenhouse gas emissions are falling, even as our G.D.P. and population grow.

In the report, we were tasked with projecting future climate change. We showed what the United States would look like if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius. It wasn’t a pretty picture: more heat waves, more uncomfortably hot nights, more downpours, more droughts. If greenhouse emissions continue to rise, we could reach that point in the next couple of decades. If they fall a little, maybe we can stave it off until the middle of the century. But our findings also offered a glimmer of hope: If emissions fall dramatically, as the report suggested they could, we may never reach 2 degrees Celsius at all.

For the first time in my career, I felt something strange: optimism.

And that simple realization was enough to convince me that releasing yet another climate report was worthwhile.

Something has changed in the United States, and not just the climate. State, local and tribal governments all around the country have begun to take action. Some politicians now actually campaign on climate change, instead of ignoring or lying about it. Congress passed federal climate legislation — something I’d long regarded as impossible — in 2022 as we turned in the first draft.

[Note: She's talking about the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act, which despite the names were the two biggest climate packages passed in US history. And their passage in mid 2022 was a big turning point: that's when, for the first time in decades, a lot of scientists started looking at the numbers - esp the ones that would come from the IRA's funding - and said "Wait, holy shit, we have an actual chance."]

And while the report stresses the urgency of limiting warming to prevent terrible risks, it has a new message, too: We can do this. We now know how to make the dramatic emissions cuts we’d need to limit warming, and it’s very possible to do this in a way that’s sustainable, healthy and fair.

The conversation has moved on, and the role of scientists has changed. We’re not just warning of danger anymore. We’re showing the way to safety.

I was wrong about those previous reports: They did matter, after all. While climate scientists were warning the world of disaster, a small army of scientists, engineers, policymakers and others were getting to work. These first responders have helped move us toward our climate goals. Our warnings did their job.

To limit global warming, we need many more people to get on board... We need to reach those who haven’t yet been moved by our warnings. I’m not talking about the fossil fuel industry here; nor do I particularly care about winning over the small but noisy group of committed climate deniers. But I believe we can reach the many people whose eyes glaze over when they hear yet another dire warning or see another report like the one we just published.

The reason is that now, we have a better story to tell. The evidence is clear: Responding to climate change will not only create a better world for our children and grandchildren, but it will also make the world better for us right now.

Eliminating the sources of greenhouse gas emissions will make our air and water cleaner, our economy stronger and our quality of life better. It could save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives across the country through air quality benefits alone. Using land more wisely can both limit climate change and protect biodiversity. Climate change most strongly affects communities that get a raw deal in our society: people with low incomes, people of color, children and the elderly. And climate action can be an opportunity to redress legacies of racism, neglect and injustice.

I could still tell you scary stories about a future ravaged by climate change, and they’d be true, at least on the trajectory we’re currently on. But it’s also true that we have a once-in-human-history chance not only to prevent the worst effects but also to make the world better right now. It would be a shame to squander this opportunity. So I don’t just want to talk about the problems anymore. I want to talk about the solutions. Consider this your last warning from me."

-via New York Times. Opinion essay by leading climate scientist Kate Marvel. November 18, 2023.

[peak-dumbass]

she Robots on my In til i Disguise

[varilien]

since when did the stars stop shining so brightly?

Palestine: Funds | Action | eSims | Info Sudan Resources | Congo Resource | Lebanese Red Cross

[justablix]

JD Payne: "the innocence and optimism of elrond"

The Elrond whose parents were attacked presumed dead when he was small, who was kidnapped, who grew up loved and loving but in a warzone, who watched his foster father(s) likewise be lost to violence and despair and sorrow, who was forced to choose to be forever parted from his twin brother, the only constant in his life? Who watched his twin die, and his nephews and nieces, and their kin slowly be corrupted? Who had to watch Beleriand sink, the only homes he ever knew destroyed twice over? Who lost more mortal friends than he could count, to war and to old age? That Elrond? That's the Elrond you are talking about? His innocence? He loses his innocence during season 2 of rings of power? His what?

[spiritualseeker777]

[mishtachio]

From the very first handprints in a cave by a forgotten ancestor thousands of years ago to the finger painting my nephew did on an a4 yesterday, from the earliest signs of literature to that last paragraph you wrote in your notes app, from that very first shot of a horse galloping to that home video you shot with your cousins, and every other piece of art that is to come, they have all – and will continue to be – been made because the people behind them cared ; about their beliefs and truths, about the people they loved, about the world they called home, about being remembered, about themselves, and above all else, about making art. 

THIS IS WHAT HUMAN ART WILL ALWAYS HAVE OVER A.I MADE ART.

[weepingalaxy]

legally i cant make smth without making the whole trio. so here you go. The Whole Party Turned Low Poly. no one can have these models theyre so poorly optimized but like.. look at them.... theyre sauuuurrrr cute

ft, of course, @strifesolution's scarlet and @irished-lads' xaiden <3

[sphnyspinspin]

Okay so… I’m definitely a couple years late to the “party”, but what exactly is the deal with the Decepticons who crashed on Earth being animal related?

They never mentioned being Predacons (cause I assume those are still a future thing) and Maximals are the Autobot adjacent animal-Cybertronian fused bots. I just assumed they were some kind of version of Beastformers, but I never recalled them mentioning anything. Because I feel like that could be at least mentioned in the TFWiki. So am I just left to assume that some Cybertronians are forged with animal attributes and some aren’t, and that the Alchemor was made specifically for the Decepticons who fit into that category?

I know that I might be reading too much into this but come on. Am I just not remembering when Fixit would say “Beastformer” —out loud specifically? Or do they just not say it so we’re left to assume that they’re directly coming from Cybertron? Because there is a planet in Transformers Lore (maybe not specifically Aligned lore but I wouldn’t know) called Jungle Planet, which had many different aliases, that had Transformers that took on animal attributes over time.

Maybe the writers wanted to keep on pushing the Decepticons=bad and Autobots=good agenda a bit further by just making the Cons’ Beastformers to label them as “animals instead of people”. And it’s already bad enough if you look at RiD15 as just Transformer copaganda in general.

I dunno. Five minutes into making this post I literally just went to TfWiki and read about IDW’s Jungle Planet, aka Eukaris, and lightly skimmed its lore and it made some sense. Not complete sense—some sense.

But that still doesn’t excuse why the Alchemor ONLY carried Beatsformers. Or was at least 90% Beastformers, I did see a few Vehicons—BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS! >:[

I honestly have a really good theory imo, but that’s for a separate post, and this one’s getting too long.

[yesokayiknow]

[verdemoth]

Perseverance! Rookie member of the EEG’s field research team. She’s a nerd-jock newbie who wants her idols to like her sooooooooooo bad.

-> Biology major with a particular interest in ecology! And bugs she likes bugs. And really all sorts of fun crawly invertebrates.

-> Perse is no stranger to the EEG headquarters, she’d been coming here for years before her official admission to the team! With two older relatives to shadow, she got to know a lot of the older members during her frequent visits. She greatly admires all of them.

-> She maintains some terrariums to raise and study copepods and amphipods. As well as several potted plants.

-> Perse has the same level of passion discussing a new and as of yet undocumented species as she does showing off the cute little house moth that almost gave Maven a heart attack.

-> She’s a hobbyist photographer with a Leica 1(A) 35mm. She’s into wildlife photography, and though her work isn’t very technically impressive, you don’t need to be an ace at something to have fun with it!

-> Perseverance maintains that she is NOT a nerd like her cousin, Maven, is a nerd.

-> She’s very athletic and energetic. She enjoys a daily jog, and plenty of exercise both indoors and outdoors. She loves going on hiking or full on camping trips with her uncle Phoenix.

-> She and Phoenix are very close. They’ve got a really easygoing and playful dynamic, with plenty of in-jokes built up between them. Phoenix was a constant in her early life, almost a third parent. He’d often visit to play with her and to babysit so her dads could enjoy a free evening every so often. He still dotes on her as much as Perse will let him get away with, but he respects that she values having a more adult relationship now. Still with plenty of fun, of course!

-> Perse and Maven weren’t really around each other as young kids, but became friends as they got a little older. Maven’s scientific leanings led to Perse finding and developing her own passion for study and exploration. Maven and the rest of her family have been nothing but supportive and nurturing, and she’s grateful for it. But she wants to make sure they know she’s not just a little girl anymore, and she’s ready to be the one offering support when needed.

-> She’s more than willing to get her hands dirty and to do ‘boring’, menial work. Especially if it means the people she looks up to see how diligent and cooperative she is :)

-> Perse is very needlessly competitive, though in a lighthearted sort of way. She doesn’t mind taking a loss, because it’s more about the challenge than the winning. It’s about the thrill. But don’t expect her to go easy on a challenger, because she still plays to win. Game night is a disaster

[phantomtrax]

for 100gb that program better be able to suck my dick

[lolliepopper]

walk gently on the

earth for she

is your

medicine