#global Fashion Agenda's

[techstylemedia]

Climate Week Raised More Questions Than It Could Answer

Hello y'all,

Business of Fashion recently published an article titled “Can Fashion Get Past the Climate Blah Blah Blah?”, which discusses the fashion industry’s challenges in addressing climate change during Climate Week in New York City. 

While the event saw the presence of leading brands like Patagonia and Gap, the industry still struggles to meet its climate goals. Federica Marchionni, from the Global Fashion Agenda, emphasized the need for tangible projects that reduce emissions, and a report from Textile Exchange revealed a troubling increase in reliance on virgin synthetic fibers.

BoF’s article showed a worrying tension between brands’ growth ambitions and their sustainability commitments, particularly in light of rising global emissions. We see fashion executives being distracted by market uncertainties and new technologies, which causes sustainability to take a backseat. This issue was further aggravated by a Bank of America note that suggested brands prioritize volume and newness over sustainability efforts.

While Climate Week did see some resolutions, such as the Fashion Pact’s program to decarbonize cotton production, it more often than not highlights the industry’s slow progress rather than making genuine advancement.

The BoF article concluded with a warning of significant cost due to inaction, and predicted that extreme weather events could severely impact garment sector earnings by 2030.

Ultimately, Climate Week raised more questions than it could answer about the environmental impact of fashion, especially about its growing dependence on fossil-fuel-based materials, which directly contradicts sustainability goals.

As the industry navigates this complicated landscape, I, and the planet, feel the need for authentic action over superficial commitments if it is to battle this already serious crisis.

What does everyone think about 'climate' conferences like Climate Week and COP? Do they really affect change? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Until next time,

Cheers!

http://newhouse.syr.edu

[ateez-himari]

250220; NEW FACE - DIESEL

[NEW ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DIESEL]

♫ Himari • Addict (Concert Version)

Liked by xxxibgdrgn and 3,201,910 others

diesel The Angel of K-Pop; Himari's incredible artistic impression takes many shapes, from stage presence many have come to describe as 'demonic' to tracks that touch the hearts of millions. The idol's magnetic personality, duality filled charm and talent that has earned her many nicknames, amongst which stands 'God's Touch' embody Diesel's brand image and we are proud to welcome her into our house as a Global Brand Ambassador. Please look forward to the synergy we hope to create with her

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ugomozie It seems that everyone in the industry truly is after this talented young woman 🫠 Maybe one day I'll see her posing in my pieces as well 👏

xoalsox My tiny little precious baby is coming to take over the fashion industry 🥹(my daughter, ask anybody, my niece even)

ho5hi_kwon Ahh welcome, our baby tiger🐯They now have the only two tigers of Korea as ambassadors ㅋㅋㅋ So excited to work with you!

↳ sound_of_coups i already have a hard enough time dealing with the two of you at the same time with your crazy tiger agendas...please show her a good example

hynjinnnn so just like that you're going to find another ambassador bestie 😒 will he take pictures for your social media accounts ? will he be as awesome as me ?

↳ givenchybeauty You won't need to be jealous much longer 😉We're sure she'll be joining you under another brand very soon

dovecameron Well hello there pretty kitty 🎀 Truly one of the most gorgeous beings I've ever met, can't wait to see you in magazines soon!

min9yu_k since when did they make baseball players this cute ?

↳ sansatori Kim Mingyu?! i thought that people were suspecting they were in a situationship for shits and giggles- what is going on?!

21 February 2025 • See Original

[probablyasocialecologist]

One simple way to look at it is to take the rate of emissions reductions achieved in countries that have successfully decoupled, and see how long it would take for them to fully decarbonize. That’s essentially what Jefim Vogel and Jason Hickel — researchers at the University of Leeds and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, respectively — did in the Lancet Planetary Health study. They found that, if 11 high-income countries continued their achieved rates of emissions reduction, it would take them more than 220 years to cut emissions by 95 percent — far longer than the net-zero-by-2050 timeline called for by climate experts. “The decoupling rates achieved in high-income countries are inadequate for meeting the climate and equity commitments of the Paris Agreement and cannot legitimately be considered green,” the authors wrote. In an interview with Grist, Vogel likened optimism around gradual decoupling to saying, “Don’t worry, we’re slowing down,” while the Titanic races toward an iceberg.

[...]

“Absolute decoupling is not sufficient to avoid consuming the remaining CO2 emission budget under the global warming limit of 1.5 degrees C or 2 degrees C and to avoid climate breakdown,” concluded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its most recent assessment. Instead of making growth greener, some economists call for a whole new economic paradigm to address converging social and ecological crises. They call it “post-growth,” referring to a reorientation away from GDP growth and toward other metrics, like human well-being and ecological sustainability. Essentially, they want to prioritize people and the planet and not care so much what the stock market is doing. This would more or less free countries from the decoupling dilemma, since it eliminates the growth imperative altogether. Raworth, the professor at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, calls her version of the post-growth agenda “doughnut economics.” In this visual model, the inner ring of the doughnut represents the minimum amount of economic activity needed to satisfy  basic needs like access to food, water, and shelter. The outer ring signifies the upper limits of natural resource use that the Earth can sustain. The goal, she argues, is for economies to exist between the inner and outer rings of the doughnut, maintaining adequate living standards without surpassing planetary limits.  “Our economies need to bring us into the doughnut,” Raworth told Grist. “Whether GDP grows needs to be a secondary concern.”  Vogel and Hickel go a little further. They call for a planned, deliberate reduction of carbon- or energy-intensive production and consumption in high-income countries, a concept known as “degrowth.” The rationale is that much of the energy and resources used in high-income countries goes toward carbon-intensive products that don’t contribute to human welfare, like industrial meat and dairy, fast fashion, weapons, and private jets. Tamping down this “less necessary” consumption could slash greenhouse gas emissions, while lower energy demand could make it more feasible to build and maintain enough energy infrastructure. Some research suggests that reducing energy demand could limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C without relying on unproven technologies to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Robbie Gramer, Nahal Toosi and Daniel Lippman at Politico:

President Donald Trump has hobbled the U.S. Agency for International Development with some of his recent moves, and he may be on the way to further marginalizing the agency or effectively closing it down. Two incoming Trump administration officials familiar with the matter said the president’s team is exploring subsuming the agency into the State Department. Five others close to the administration said they weren’t aware of specific plans but that USAID’s independence is definitely not guaranteed. All were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about the issue. Already, Trump has frozen billions in foreign aid funding — hitting a vast number of USAID programs; put some 60 senior career USAID officials on leave and fired or furloughed hundreds of contractors; and failed to name an administrator for USAID while allowing a State Department-based official to effectively oversee the agency, which is increasingly in turmoil.

[...] Such a change at USAID could undermine humanitarian work globally, as well as America’s reputation as it faces competition from places such as China, officials and analysts warn. USAID delivers life-saving aid to conflict zones and helps developing countries on a range of fronts, from providing medicines to agricultural training. Its work is carried about by people who often have specialized expertise far beyond typical State Department diplomats and who try to operate outside of political agendas. [...] There are additional signs of potential change: One current and one former USAID official said the agency is deliberating on whether to fully transfer its financial management system for all its awards, known as the Phoenix program, under the State Department to better streamline the two agencies’ parallel work on foreign aid. The USAID spokesperson denied this was underway.

[...] USAID describes itself as an independent agency that takes policy guidance from the secretary of State. It has more than 9,000 people in its workforce, and they serve in more than 100 countries. The secretary technically has authority over USAID’s funding, and the two institutions are lumped together in congressional appropriations. But generally, USAID operates without much micro-managing from the State Department, which has some 75,000 employees around the world, a number that includes local staffers in other countries. Over the years, both Democratic and Republican administrations have toyed with the idea of making USAID a part of the State Department. Those plans never came to fruition, as champions of USAID in Congress argued that USAID has a wholly distinct mission from State: tackling development problems while State covers diplomacy. But there have always been tensions between State and USAID over which agency controls what parts of the multibillion-dollar foreign aid apparatus, regardless of which party is in power. The first Trump administration drafted plans to merge USAID under the State Department in 2017, but those plans were eventually scrapped because of bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill. Some USAID officials theorize that the Trump administration is keeping things vague this time on purpose: Any serious attempt to formally merge two agencies or reorganize the executive branch may require congressional approval, or at least a series of notices to lawmakers. But laying the groundwork without any formal announcement bypasses that political hurdle — at least for now. Or Trump, whom critics allege has already shown a willingness to disregard the written letter of the law on a number of fronts — may just allow the merger to happen in an unofficial fashion.

[...] There are multiple ways to let the State Department exert greater control over USAID without necessarily formally dismantling the latter. One option the administration could pursue is having the USAID administrator also serve as the State Department’s director of foreign assistance. The person who holds the latter role has traditionally worked closely with USAID, and the idea of merging or dual-hatting the positions is suggested in Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation vision authored by many who now work for Trump. Given that the administration already looks determined to downsize USAID, as well as other government branches, it could reorient the Office of Foreign Assistance, known as the “F bureau,” to basically run USAID.

Tyrant 47’s plans to close down USAID via executive fiat are illegal.

See Also:

The Guardian: USAid website offline as Trump moves to put agency under state department

AP, via HuffPost: USAID Website Goes Offline In Trump Administration's 2-Week-Old Freeze On Foreign Aid Worldwide

Vox: Inside Trump’s purge at the agency that saves millions of lives

[1genofficial]

The Ultimate Guide to Zero Waste: Simple Steps to a Cleaner Planet

Why Zero Waste Matters More Than Ever

Let’s be real—our planet is drowning in trash. Landfills are overflowing, plastic is choking our oceans, and fast fashion? It’s an environmental nightmare. But here’s the good news: we can do something about it.

March 30th is International Zero Waste Day, a global wake-up call to rethink the way we consume and dispose of things. So, are you ready to make a real difference? Let’s dive into what zero waste is all about and how you can join the movement!

The Waste Crisis: The Hard Truth (And Why It’s Time to Act)

Every year, we dump billions of tons of waste into the environment. And guess what? It’s getting worse.

By 2050, municipal solid waste could hit a whopping 3.8 billion tons if we don’t change course.

2.7 billion people still don’t have proper waste collection. Imagine all that trash just sitting there.

The fashion industry alone is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yikes.

Every single second, a garbage truck’s worth of clothes gets burned or buried in landfills.

The textile industry gulps down 215 trillion liters of water every year. That’s a lot of wasted H2O.

We can’t afford to keep living like this. So, what can we do? Let’s start by tackling one of the biggest culprits: fashion.

Fashion’s Dirty Little Secret: Your Clothes Might Be Polluting the Planet

Yep, that cute $10 t-shirt you bought last week? It has a hidden cost. The fast fashion industry is a major contributor to pollution, and we’re all part of the problem. But the good news? We can also be part of the solution.

Here’s how to make your wardrobe more sustainable:

Buy Less, Choose Better – Invest in quality pieces that last instead of cheap, throwaway fashion.

Repair & Repurpose – Got a tear? Fix it. Outgrown a piece? Upcycle it into something new.

Shop Second-Hand – Thrift stores and clothing swaps are gold mines for unique finds.

Support Ethical Brands – Look for companies that use sustainable materials and fair labor practices.

Fun fact: If you double the life of your clothes, you can cut their carbon footprint by 44%. That’s huge!

Zero Waste Living: Small Changes, Big Impact

The idea of going “zero waste” might sound extreme, but it’s really about making simple swaps that add up over time. Here are some easy ways to cut down on waste:

Ditch Single-Use Plastics – Reusable water bottles, coffee cups, and shopping bags are your new best friends.

Compost Your Food Scraps – Less waste in landfills, more nutrients for the soil. Win-win.

Choose Better Packaging – Look for products with biodegradable or recyclable packaging.

Refill, Don’t Repurchase – Many stores now have refill stations for shampoo, detergent, and even snacks.

Swap Disposable for Reusable – Stainless steel straws, cloth napkins, and silicone food bags are game-changers.

These little shifts might not seem like much, but trust me—they make a massive difference.

The Big Picture: How Businesses & Governments Can Step Up

Let’s be honest—consumers can only do so much. Big businesses and governments need to step up too. Here’s how they can help:

Businesses Should:

Design products that last (instead of ones that break in a year).

Switch to circular business models, where items get reused, repaired, or recycled.

Invest in sustainable materials and reduce waste from production.

Governments Must:

Hold companies accountable with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws.

Regulate toxic chemicals in manufacturing.

Invest in better recycling infrastructure.

If businesses and policymakers do their part, we’ll have a much better shot at tackling this crisis.

International Zero Waste Day: A Global Call to Action

Every year on March 30th, the world comes together to shine a spotlight on zero waste. This initiative, led by the United Nations, supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly these two key goals:

SDG 11: Making cities and communities sustainable.

SDG 12: Ensuring responsible consumption and production.

Governments, businesses, and everyday people (like you!) are encouraged to take action against waste. And guess what? It starts with small, everyday choices.

Ready to Join the Zero Waste Movement? Here’s How You Can Start

You don’t need to be perfect. Just start somewhere. Here are a few easy ways to reduce waste in your daily life:

✅ Say no to single-use plastics ✅ Compost your food scraps ✅ Support brands that prioritize sustainability ✅ Spread awareness—talk to friends and family about zero waste ✅ Take the Zero Waste Pledge and commit to small but meaningful changes

🌍 Together, we can create a world where waste is minimized, resources are valued, and our planet thrives. 🌍

Ready to take action? Pledge to reduce waste today!

Final Thoughts: Let’s Be Part of the Solution

We can’t ignore the waste crisis any longer. But instead of feeling overwhelmed, let’s take action—one step at a time. Whether it’s swapping out plastic bags for reusable ones, repairing your clothes, or encouraging businesses to be more sustainable, every effort counts.

Let’s stand together for zero waste and a healthier planet.

🔗 Share this article and spread the word!

[darkmaga-returns]

Tomorrow’s the day when Trump’s administration tackles the massive trade imbalances that the world has with the US.

On the face of it, it makes good sense.

The EU is imposing its own warped logic on global supply chains in pursuit of its lunatic and destructive “net zero” agenda:

EU rewrites every trade deal it has with the entire world via its new compliance directive

“The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, approved this year, requires larger companies operating in the European Union to check whether their supply chains use forced labor or cause environmental damage and to take action if they do. Penalties include fines of up to 5 percent of global turnover.”

China competes on volume, with price a secondary consideration - in the usual Marxist fashion.

Other countries, such as BRIC s are “price takers” and supply at the world price.

The US should not suffer the tariffs of others without reciprocation.

The WTO has been silent throughout these trade disputes. All the trade agreements have been shredded - like the MCA that replaced NAFTA.

[charlotteswebbbbb]

What's the vibe? #83

such good photos by Alex Huanfa Cheng

Hi hi hi, back again with more stuff.

News:

Elon Musk Tesla restaurant? Maybe big problem?

"The restaurant’s head chef will be Eric Greenspan, Merritt reports. Greenspan is an LA-based chef who’s appeared on Iron Chef Americaand multiple shows from chef/TV host Guy Fieri, whose comments in relation to President Donald Trump are not as supportively full-throated as Musk’s, but are definitely not resistant to his agenda. Perhaps that’s why the Instagram account Merritt claims is for the business has “Diner, drive-in movie and big chargers” as its profile description, arguably a take on Fieri’s series Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." - sounds....tasteless.

New Spike Jonze Apple ad, ok.

Cross cultural collaboration:

These three countries are working together to

"The three countries called for their negotiations for a comprehensive trilateral free-trade agreement to be speeded up, and agreed to create "a predictable trade and investment environment", a statement said."

"The three countries account for 20 percent of the world's population, 24 percent of the global economy, and 19 percent of global merchandise trade, he said." - Chinese official Wang Liping 

In soft power news...

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Man Repelling in gen:

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(Early Noughties/Nineties) Earnestness

So a few weeks ago Haim released the track "relationships". All lower case btw. Their music video was directed by Camille Summers Valli and featured Drew Starkey.

The single art was a parody of Nicole Kidman's walking divorce photo. You know the one she did post-Tom? The other promo photos feel hyper real almost like...

Prada's work with photographer Norbert Schoerner (1998?)

Why do I mention all of these details today? Because I feel like this hyper real style of early noughts/90s style is coming back. Fashion wise but also in the most kind of "let's be honest" kind of way.

Next example being Wet Leg who just released their new track 'catch these fists' - all lower case, you catch my drift?

And these promo photos, by Iris Luz wearing Ashley Williams socks and giving of sly slouch vibes.

And I don't know... maybe John Malkovich for The Face? Also reminds me of the seminal text: Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze...in which they wear Prada lol

I think I would even drag this hypothesis to outside of this to art with the artist Martine Sims whose exhibition at Lafayettes Anticipations in Paris finished months ago. It has this chaotic real vibe to it. It's life.

I would even extend it into this upward trend of longform videos coming back. People say YouTube isn't coming back but maybe people are watching longer videos on the platform countering the super short TikTok experience. But also this yearning to learn, to connect, to peer into other people's journeys and lives.

According to Digiday, "The number of 20-plus minute-long videos creators around the world are uploading to YouTube each month has increased from 1.3 million in July 2022 to 8.5 million in June 2024, according to data from Tubular Labs."

I mean... in China 60 second dramas are popular...

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How unique are you?

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What it means to have weird little hobbies during a chaotic time?

How to find weird little hobbies? (This is sold out but it's a series of events by Trippin')

[dailyanarchistposts]

Towards a conclusion: May Day in context

May Day was imagined and planned in a similar way to hundreds of other anti-capitalist events around the world, and this links DGN to a global movement for radical change. But what does that mean in an Irish context? Anti-capitalism as a set of hopes, values, ideas and practices has been successful in creating a space for anarchism but nonetheless, as I have said, at the moment Irish anti-capitalism remains marginal; a movement in embryo that has only the shallowest of roots in workplace and community struggles. May Day 2004 was bigger than we expected but it was not the expression of a mass movement of any sort. For instance it was noticeable that over the weekend that we failed to attract significant numbers of Irish workers threatened by neo-liberal policies. They may well have been there at the march but they were not there in an organised fashion.

In contrast, in Genoa part of the Irish contingent was a group of bus drivers against privatisation with their own banner. It is a small and telling detail that these workers or others in a similar situation didn’t do the same in Dublin. Similarly, the weekend didn’t include any action in support of the non-payment of waste charges introduced as part of the neo-liberal agenda of privatising public services. This was discussed and several attempts were made to see this happen but because libertarians were a minority within a campaign dominated at a central committee level by Trotskyists these attempts came to nought.

Finally, our No Borders weekend was not backed or attended by any organised immigrant groups. Clearly, we are currently far from being a ‘movement of movements’. To change this and create broader networks will need patient, assiduous campaigning and increased levels of organisation on the libertarian left. It will, I believe, also demand greater ambition and much more sophisticated strategic thinking on our part. May Day was a whispered threat, a promise to the future, a party for the sake of a party, an example of direct democracy in action but in the end only a very small beginning.

[1] International gatherings hosted by the Mexican Zapatista rebels.

[2] For a discussion of the ‘black bloc’ tactic see Red & Black Revolution numbers 6 and 7, www.struggle.ws/wsm/rbr.html

[3] The WEF is a pro-privatisation body which ‘represents the world’s 1,000 leading com- panies’. A think tank and lobby group for the super-rich.

[4] The ISF describes itself as ‘a gather-ng for everyone opposed to war, racism and the implications of corporate-led globalisation or neo-liberalism’. www.irishsocialforum.org

[5] Reclaim The Streets want fewer cars and more public transport in cities. Have blocked off streets and held parties many times, both in Ireland and abroad. To confuse the cops they begin with a march which suddenly stops, a sound system comes out and the party kicks off

[indepwom101]

🇩🇰 Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

The green shift in the fashion and textile industry was at the top of the agenda when the international summit ”Global Fashion Summit 2023” opened today in DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen. HRH The Crown Princess delivered keynote speech at the summit, which brings together more than 1,000 key stakeholders from the global fashion industry, politicians, experts and NGOs to discuss sustainable solutions and forge cross-industrial alliances within the industry. The Crown Princess is the protector of the organization behind the summit, Global Fashion Agenda, which among other things works for the fashion and textile industry to be climate neutral by 2050.

[hopeonmyphone]

World Music Awards Twitter

Happy 30th Birthday to the gorgeous, super talented record-breaking, history-making Million-seller rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, record producer, choreographer & Global Icon, the One & Only #jhope who rings in his birthday, trending at #1 WORLDWIDE on X! 👏🎂🎉🌟🐐👑💜

jhope rose to fame as the main Rapper of #BTS, the Biggest Boy band in the world! He is a hugely successful Solo Artist in his own right and one of the Best K-Pop performers, always paving the way! He was the first K-Pop soloist to enter the “Top 100 Most Followed Artists” on Spotify, the first K-Pop Soloist to surpass 16 Million followers and the most followed on Spotify for many years (now 2nd)! He's the 1st K-soloist to debut an album (Jack in the box) with over 60Million streams and the 1st Kpop Soloist to have 3 albums surpassing 500 Million streams on Spotify! j-hope is also the 1st South Korean Artist in history to headline a major US music festival "Lollapalooza" and the highest ticket- selling artist in Lollapalooza’s history! With his song "on the street" J-Hope is the 1st Asian Act to enter the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales Year End Chart and the 1st member of BTS to earn a top-40 entry on the UK Singles Chart following its debut at #37, setting a new record as the highest-charting Korean soloist in the history of the chart at the time! j-hope ties PSY as the 4th K-Pop Act with the most #1 hits in World Digital Song Sales chart history after BTS, Blackpink & Big Bang! #jhope's solo discography including his songs under BTS has achieved 1,500 #1's on iTunes! He ties Suga as the Rapper with the most songs with over 100 x #1s on iTunes! His first solo mixtape, 'Hope World', in 2018 peaked at #38 on the US Billboard 200, breaking the record for the highest-charting album by a K- soloist at the time. He became the 1st member of BTS to enter the Billboard Hot 100 as a soloist in 2019, with his single "Chicken Noodle Soup", fr-t. #BeckyG, which debuted at #81. In 2022, J-Hope's chart-topping debut studio album 'Jack in the Box', scored the 5th biggest Album debut among K-Pop soloists in history! J-hope is also the 1st K-POP Act to headline Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2022!

j-hope has received 30 nominations and has won numerous awards including a Golden Disc Award in 2023, a Korean Hip Hop Award in 2023 for Best R& B track for "Rush Hour" with Crush and 2 MAMA Awards in 2022 including Most Popular Male Artist! In 2018, he was awarded the fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit by the President of South Korea and in 2021, he was appointed Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture by President Moon Jae-in to help "lead the global agenda for future generations, such as sustainable growth" and "expand South Korea's diplomatic efforts and global standing" in the international community!

He is also a leading Fashion Icon, being the global ambassador for the French luxury brand #LouisVuitton!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOBI

[whattheydonttellyouytc]

"What They Dont Want You To Know"Series

1. Corporate Influence on Legislation

Large corporations wield significant power in shaping laws and regulations through lobbying efforts. This influence often prioritizes profit over public interest, resulting in legislation that favors corporate agendas, such as tax breaks, deregulation, or loopholes that allow environmental harm. For example, the oil and gas industry has been known to lobby against stricter environmental protections, impacting climate policy and public health.

2. Food Industry Secrets

The food industry often obscures the truth about what goes into our food. Many products contain additives and preservatives that can affect health, yet these ingredients are not always clearly labeled. Additionally, practices such as factory farming raise concerns about animal welfare and antibiotic use, which can lead to antibiotic resistance. Understanding these secrets can empower consumers to make informed choices about their diets.

3. Environmental Degradation

While the impacts of climate change are widely discussed, the specific practices contributing to environmental degradation often receive less attention. Industries like mining and logging can devastate ecosystems, leading to biodiversity loss and habitat destruction. Moreover, the pollution from industrial activities can have dire consequences for local communities, particularly in marginalized areas, where regulations may be less stringent.

4. Data Privacy and Surveillance

As technology advances, the collection and use of personal data have become ubiquitous. Many people are unaware of how much information they share through social media, apps, and online transactions. This data can be sold or misused, leading to targeted advertising, identity theft, and breaches of privacy. Understanding these practices is crucial for protecting personal information in an increasingly digital world.

5. Mental Health Stigmas

Despite growing awareness of mental health issues, significant stigma remains, often fueled by societal norms and media portrayals. Many individuals suffer in silence due to fear of judgment or discrimination, which can prevent them from seeking help. Additionally, access to mental health services is often limited, particularly in low-income communities, highlighting the need for greater support and understanding.

6. Wealth Inequality

The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, fueled by systemic issues such as tax policies that favor the wealthy, inadequate wages for essential workers, and unequal access to education and healthcare. This growing inequality can lead to social unrest and economic instability. Understanding the underlying factors can motivate individuals to advocate for more equitable policies.

7. Pharmaceutical Industry Practices

The pharmaceutical industry is often criticized for its pricing strategies and marketing tactics, which can prioritize profit over patient care. Many essential medications are prohibitively expensive, leading to preventable health crises. Additionally, alternative treatments or generics may be overlooked in favor of branded drugs due to marketing influence, raising questions about healthcare accessibility.

8. Climate Change Denial

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, climate change denial persists, often driven by financial interests in fossil fuels. This denial can hinder global efforts to combat climate change, as policy changes are delayed or blocked. Understanding the motivations behind this denial can help individuals advocate for more proactive climate policies and support sustainable practices.

9. Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation refers to the adoption of elements of one culture by another, often without understanding or respecting their significance. This practice can exploit marginalized cultures while commodifying their traditions. For example, fashion brands may use indigenous designs without crediting the original creators, highlighting the need for awareness and sensitivity in cultural exchanges.

10. Energy Solutions

While renewable energy sources like solar and wind power have the potential to transform our energy landscape, they are often overshadowed by the fossil fuel industry. Many innovative technologies, such as energy storage and smart grids, could disrupt traditional energy markets. Raising awareness of these alternatives is essential for promoting sustainable energy policies and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

[tepehkwi]

yes it's true that a not insignificant number of white vegans can be way too comfortable referring to indigenous people as "barbaric" or "evil" for eating meat, like the iñupiat who get a disproportionate amount of anti-indigenous racist hate (mostly from non-vegan pearl-clutchers btw) for literally no other reason than their necessity-contingent bowhead whale slaughter, which feeds villages for months (and if you've never lived in alaska or northern canada then you have no idea just how much the groceries cost up there) since growing most plant-based foods can be difficult without special equipment, and won't sustain you very well at all during cold months when your body is burning calories just to stay warm. so yeah, sure, the insistence from some vocal-minority white vegans and white conservationist fearmongers becomes not only grating but also fucking racist when all they do is complain about how "meat-eating is barbaric" just by virtue of it being food you have to kill and slaughter, completely ignoring the inherent violence of indigenous lands being taken away from our tribes and used as farmland for monoculture cash crops and beef and hog cafos, or the fishing resources being taken from us, or our waters being poisoned by nitrates from fertilizer and livestock waste runoff.

the way too many anti-vegans cling to the "uh, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism~!" idea of meat eating and lose sight of, like, actual facts deeply annoys me. industrial meat and dairy farming, industrial fishing operations, beef-and-pork-centric agriculture, and corporate agriculture in general have been decimating indigenous lands and waters and anti-vegans don't care.

yes, you absolutely need to keep bashing PETA. yes plastic-based leather and wool alternatives are contributing to material waste and pollution. but that's not... a "vegan" thing? it's a marketing tactic to make people feel favorably about their products. like, do you honestly think fast fashion companies selling plastic leather are all run by vegans, trying to fulfill a vegan agenda, or trying to appease vegans as if vegans are the people they specifically design clothes for when vegans make up such a small percentage of the global consumer population? no. obviously not. they're trying to make a quick buck at the expense of our health as inhabitants of this planet.

"there are some racist white vegans with fucked up ecofascist beliefs" and "yeah actually it seems like we need to do something about our consumption" are two things which are both true, please remember that.

[chim-chim1310]

Have you seen the new jk ck ad and to which jkkrs are using the rhetoric that he is gay and doing this as a rebellion to scooter braun's made up persona of het global star in seven and I'm here be seeing these same ppl say that tae wearing these type of queer in his first solo release is not a big deal bc he's proven straight and dates jn ( I don't doubt but he's not even given the benefit of bi/pan ) but just bc jk acts like this in a contractual ad that has no personal thoughts or ideas (and as a queer person, I see what they're trying to do bc they've done this type of thing for other make stars like HS) and for his first release he still went with the het agenda just for his global superstar male and deleted his thirst trap for his boyfriend just last week for this same agenda (again the theory of these jkkrs) but this week his back to his rebellion era which make me think if he has some type personality splits but whatever..

What really makes me angry is jm is seen as some panicked/ashamed gay by these shippers just bc he stopped giving moments to their ship and this guy as some rebel just because of his pandering to these shippers but when you see that jm released art work that can be seen by many with many sexual and gender queer references without involving other ppl is what a rebellion queer is but I have yet to see other members especially jk in this case to do something mild to even allude that they're in the queer side like all these ppl have are magazine/ads and jm with them to mostly make them gay but jm is seen queer even without mentioning these ppl, which makes me think of why I never see jkkrs discuss jm's solo queer moments to argue he's queer but always insisting jk's gay (& don't get me wrong bc he can be gay/bi/pan or even get but these ppl's dumb reasons are just really stupid) once every two weeks that it now seems like they're just manifesting it to happen but yeah and I'm sorry this ask is all over the place like I just don't understand this panicked gay jm when that barked for usher in a live for millions of fans..

Jungkook is literally doing his job. Like what's so hard to understand for these people. The ad requires a certain kind of look and he's going for it. He's not the one who plans it. And he had the chance to express his sexuality in his art and he portrayed himself as straight. So there's no point in arguing.

Even if anyone else was gay in the group they wouldn't have enough guts to do what jimin did.

What jimin has been doing in his art need some solid guts. People don't talk enough about how brave jimin is to express himself in a homophobic country especially when his career is on line.

I don't know about jk. But I'm sure other members are straight. And i believe yoongi is queer. But still he didn't have enough guts to express himself. I'm not saying they have to. They don't have to because it's a homophobic country and it can jeopardize their career. But we should acknowledge and praise how brave jimin is for doing something like this.

Jikookers love to make jimin some damsel in distress who needs jungkook to help him(I swear it makes me so mad) and they think jungkook is some rebel. But what's exactly his rebellion? Coming live at ass o clock at night. You call this rebellion? Oh he came live without company's permission. How brave. He's rebelling against the company to protect jimin when there's literally zero connection to jimin.

And for clothes. It always makes me laugh. How can wearing a certain type of clothes make you gay? That's just stereotypical. Men can't always wear boring suits. What's the point of fashion if it's not changing?

They were even calling taehyung gay because of his clothes in the mv. Dumb people.

But what can we do? They're always gonna think what they wanna think. No matter how dumb and stereotypical they sound. They don't care.

[8ightisfate]

Aviso sobre el horario de Stray Kids

Hola, este es JYPE. Mientras volvían al dormitorio tras la agenda, día 20 de septiembre (miércoles), el vehículo que llevaba a los miembros Lee Know, Hyunjin y Seungmin estuvo involucrado en una pequeña colisión. Después de la colisión, Lee Know, Hyunjin y Seungmin visitaron inmediatamente un hospital y recibieron un examen médico exhaustivo. Ninguno de los miembros ni del personal que los acompañaba en el vehículo resultó gravemente herido, pero como han sufrido dolores musculares leves y contusiones, los médicos han aconsejado que reciban tratamiento preventivo por ahora. Por ello, informamos que la agenda ha sido cancelada o modificada. [Cancelado] Milan Fashion Week (Lee Know, Hyunjin) Youtube Live del cumpleaños de Seungmin (Seungmin) [Modificado] 3RACHA de Stray Kids (Bangchan, Changbin, Han) harán performance en el Global Citizen Festival. Nos disculpamos por preocupar a los fans con noticias tan repentinas. JYPE dará la máxima prioridad a la salud de los artistas y proporcionará todo lo posible para apoyarlos en su recuperación. Gracias

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Zack Beauchamp at Vox:

Throughout the entire Republican National Convention, I struggled with one big question: What is the Republican Party for? That it was for former President Donald Trump went almost without saying. Look at the way that solidarity ear bandages became the RNC’s must-have fashion accessory, or how long the audience managed to put up big cheers during his historically long and rambling acceptance speech on Thursday night. Beyond Trump worship, the RNC has been billed as proof that the populist takeover of the Republican Party is complete. On issues like trade, immigration, and foreign alliances, this analysis is surely correct; the Trumpian insurgency has gone head-to-head with the party old guard and defeated them. Yet elements of the old Republican Party remain thoroughly in place.

Unlike Europe’s far-right populist parties, the GOP remains unyieldingly opposed to the welfare state and progressive taxation. It remains committed to banning abortion, an issue where its actions at the state level speak for themselves. It remains deeply hostile to unions; vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance, allegedly the avatar of the party’s pro-worker populism, has a 0 percent score from the AFL-CIO. On foreign policy, it is by no means strictly isolationist: it seeks to ramp up military spending and aggressively confront China even as it tears down both military alliances and the American-led global trade regime. Ideologically, the GOP is a mess, a political party constructed less out of one cogent worldview than an assemblage of different parts, a zombie given life by the lightning of Donald John Trump. It is Frankenstein’s party. And while Trump and his loyalists are clearly our Shelleyian monster’s head, they do not (yet) have full control over all its limbs.

The Trump coalition is so new that it has yet to produce an equilibrium, a stable set of policy commitments that will endure as long as it aligns. It basically works by Trump getting his way on issues he really cares about — like democracy, trade, and immigration — while others claim what they can when they can claim it. The monied class is still calling the shots on taxes and regulation; the social conservatives are still in the driver’s seat when it comes to issues like abortion and LGBT rights.

You can see this at work in documents like the RNC platform and Project 2025, which together help us understand the GOP’s ambitions going forward. Some of the most notable policies in them, like Project 2025’s proposal to end the Justice Department’s independence or the platform’s call for “the largest Deportation Program in history,” is pure Trump (right down to the random capitalization). But in issue areas where other elements of the right prevail, things sound a bit more old Republican. Project 2025’s chapter on the EPA is about as old-school business friendly as it gets; the GOP platform promises to “slash Regulations” and “pursue additional Tax Cuts.” Project 2025 calls on the next president to “rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics.” When there’s tension between Trump’s instincts and the old Republican agenda, the result is not always clear.

[...] Post-World War II American conservatism was a “three-legged stool” formed of three groups: free market libertarians, social conservatives, and foreign policy hawks. These groups often disagreed with each other on matters of both principle and policy. Hence an ideology contradiction: a “small government” conservatism that aimed to build the world’s largest army and police consenting adults in their homes. There was nothing natural about this alliance, no reflecting of an enduring and transhistorical American tradition. “Movement conservatism,” as it was called, was a movement — one built, like any other political faction, by people molded by a specific time and place (Cold War America) in response to its particular challenges.

Vox takes a look at how the GOP has changed to a Trumpian right-wing populist party in several key policy areas such as trade, foreign policy to some extent, the role of democracy, and immigration. There are still areas in policy, however, in where the pre-Trump GOP positions still remain: taxation, regulatory powers, unions, Israel, and abortion.

Read the full story at Vox.

[mightyflamethrower]

Since early 2021 we have witnessed somewhere between 7 and 8 million illegal entries across the now nonexistent U.S. southern border.

The more the border vanished, the more federal immigration law was rendered inert, and the more Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas spun fantasies that the “border is secure.” He is now written off as a veritable “Baghdad Bob” propagandist.

But how and why did the Biden administration destroy immigration law as we knew it?

The Trump administration’s initial efforts to close the border had been continually obstructed in the Congress, sabotaged by the administrative state, and stymied in the courts. Nonetheless, it had finally secured the border by early 2020.

Yet almost all its successful initiatives were immediately overturned in 2021.

The wall was abruptly stopped, its projected trajectory cancelled. The Obama-era disastrous “catch-and release” policy of immigration non-enforcement was resurrected.

Prior successful pressure on Mexico’s President Andrés Obrador to stop the deliberate export of his own citizens northward ceased.

Federal border patrol officers were forced to stand down.

New federal subsidies were granted to entice and then support illegal arrivals.

No one in the Democratic Party objected to the destruction of the border or the subversion of immigration law.

However, things changed somewhat once swamped southern border states began to bus or fly a few thousand of their illegal immigrants northward to sanctuary city jurisdictions—especially to New York, Chicago, and even Martha’s Vineyard.

The sanctuary-city “humanists” there who had greenlighted illegal immigration into the southern states suddenly shrieked. They were irate after experiencing the concrete consequences of their own prior abstract border agendas. After all, their nihilism was always supposed to fall upon distant and ridiculed others.

New York mayor Eric Adams went from celebrating a few dozen illegal immigrants bused into Manhattan, to blasting his own party by allowing tens of thousands to swamp his now bankrupt city.

But why did the Biden administration deliberately unleash the largest influx across the southern border in U.S. history?

The ethnic chauvinists and Democratic Party elites needed new constituents, given their increasingly unpopular agendas.

They feared that the more legal Latino immigrants assimilated and integrated into American society, the less happy they became with leftwing radical abortion, racial, transgender, crime, and green fixations.

Democratic grandees had always bragged that illegal immigration would create what they called “The New Democratic Majority” in “Demography is Destiny” fashion. Now they slander critics as “racists” who object to leftwing efforts to use illegal immigration to turn southwestern red states blue.

Mexico now cannot survive as a modern state without some $60 billion in annual remittances sent by its expatriates in America. But many illegal immigrants rely on American state and federal entitlements to free up cash to send home.

Mexico also encourages its own abject poor and often indigenous people from southern Mexico to head north as a safety-valve of sorts. The government sees these mass exoduses northward as preferable to the oppressed marching on Mexico City to address grievances of poverty and racism.

The criminal cartels now de facto run Mexico. An open border allows them to ship fentanyl northward, earn billions in profits—and kill nearly 100,000 Americans a year. Illegal immigrants pay cartels additional billions to facilitate their border crossings.

Do not forget American corporate employers. Record labor nonparticipation followed the Covid lockdown. In reaction to the dearth of American workers, the hospitality, meat packing, social service, health-care, and farming industries were desperate to hire new—and far cheaper—labor.

Human rights activists insist that the borders themselves are nineteenth-century relics. And the global poor and oppressed thus have a human right to enter the affluent West by any means necessary.

Many in the tony suburbs and in universities do not live anywhere near the border. So they pontificate on the assurance that thousands of unaudited illegal immigrants will never enter their own enclaves or campuses.

The result is elite bottled piety—but not firsthand experience with the natural consequences of millions chaotically fleeing one of the poorest countries in the world to pour into the wealthiest. Without background checks, vaccinations and health audits, legality, high-school diplomas, English-facility, skill sets, or capital, the result is an abject catastrophe.

Polls continue to show that the American people support measured, diverse, legal, and meritocratic immigration as much as they oppose mass illegal immigration into their country and the subsequent loss of American sovereignty on the border.

They understand what the Biden administration does not: no nation is history has survived once its borders were destroyed, once its citizenship was rendered no different from mere residence, and once its neighbors with impunity undermined its sovereignty.

Ending illegal immigration now depends solely on the American people overriding the corrupt special interests and leaders who profit from the current chaos and human misery.