#global warming problems and solutions

[lyricsbest]

Essay On Global Warming In English for Students and Children

Introduction Essay on Global Warming in English for Students and Children: Global warming is a term used to describe the gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface over the time. The phenomenon is primarily caused by human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes, among others. The consequences of global warming are…

[nnnnobodyy]

Actually opposite of the sterile seeds concern, there are issues with GM crops crosspollinating nearby fields (like with promiscuous crops like corn that blow their pollen everywhere), and now a nearby farmer who was using whatever normal or heirloom corn seeds ends up growing a crop thats cross pollinated with a GM strain. To make matters worse they now cant re-seed using seeds from their own crops because their seeds now contain Evil Company's patentented corn gene. This is an issue of both the capitalistic abuse of genetic modification but also a matter of scientific concern regarding the potential ramifications of GM genes flowing into wild plant populations. Its hard to foresee what problems this could cause, but just because we cant easily foresee any, doesnt mean we shouldnt proceed cautiously with GM crops. Do not come at me about how we have been "modifying crops for generations" via selective breeding either; putting a gene that a bacteria uses to produce a toxin into a plant's DNA is NOT the same thing as interbreeding your two best-producing apple trees. I hate the "actually GM crops arent bad" reaction to the "GM crops are scary and bad" reactionaries; the people who have questions about the ecological implications of GM crops are *not all* stupid crazies. Just because there are some wackos who have concerns about GM crops causing autism or whatever dumb shit, doesnt mean *everyone* who has concerns about GM crops is a wacko.

https://ucbiotech.org/answer.php?question=52

Funny how that works

[reasonsforhope]

"On a blustery day in early March, the who’s who of methane research gathered at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California. Dozens of people crammed into a NASA mission control center. Others watched from cars pulled alongside roads just outside the sprawling facility. Many more followed a livestream. They came from across the country to witness the launch of an oven-sized satellite capable of detecting the potent planet-warming gas from space. 

The amount of methane, the primary component in natural gas, in the atmosphere has been rising steadily over the last few decades, reaching nearly three times as much as preindustrial times. About a third of methane emissions in the United States occur during the extraction of fossil fuels as the gas seeps from wellheads, pipelines, and other equipment. The rest come from agricultural operations, landfills, coal mining, and other sources. Some of these leaks are large enough to be seen from orbit. Others are miniscule, yet contribute to a growing problem.

Identifying and repairing them is a relatively straightforward climate solution. Methane has a warming potential about 80 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, so reducing its levels in the atmosphere can help curb global temperature rise. And unlike other industries where the technology to decarbonize is still relatively new, oil and gas companies have long had the tools and know-how to fix these leaks.

MethaneSAT, the gas-detecting device launched in March, is the latest in a growing armada of satellites designed to detect methane. Led by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, or EDF, and more than six years in the making, the satellite has the ability to circle the globe 15 times a day and monitor regions where 80 percent of the world’s oil and gas is produced. Along with other satellites in orbit, it is expected to dramatically change how regulators and watchdogs police the oil and gas industry...

A couple hours after the rocket blasted off, Wofsy, Hamburg, and his colleagues watched on a television at a hotel about two miles away as their creation was ejected into orbit. It was a jubilant moment for members of the team, many of whom had traveled to Vandenberg with their partners, parents, and children. “Everybody spontaneously broke into a cheer,” Wofsy said. “You [would’ve] thought that your team scored a touchdown during overtime.”

The data the satellite generates in the coming months will be publicly accessible — available for environmental advocates, oil and gas companies, and regulators alike. Each has an interest in the information MethaneSAT will beam home. Climate advocates hope to use it to push for more stringent regulations governing methane emissions and to hold negligent operators accountable. Fossil fuel companies, many of which do their own monitoring, could use the information to pinpoint and repair leaks, avoiding penalties and recouping a resource they can sell. Regulators could use the data to identify hotspots, develop targeted policies, and catch polluters. For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is taking steps to be able to use third-party data to enforce its air quality regulations, developing guidelines for using the intelligence satellites like MethaneSAT will provide. The satellite is so important to the agency’s efforts that EPA Administrator Michael Regan was in Santa Barbara for the launch as was a congressional lawmaker. Activists hailed the satellite as a much-needed tool to address climate change. 

“This is going to radically change the amount of empirically observed data that we have and vastly increase our understanding of the amount of methane emissions that are currently happening and what needs to be done to reduce them,” said Dakota Raynes, a research and policy manager at the environmental nonprofit Earthworks. “I’m hopeful that gaining that understanding is going to help continue to shift the narrative towards [the] phase down of fossil fuels.”

With the satellite safely orbiting 370 miles above the Earth’s surface, the mission enters a critical second phase. In the coming months, EDF researchers will calibrate equipment and ensure the satellite works as planned. By next year [2025], it is expected to transmit reams of information from around the world."

-via Grist, April 7, 2024

[incorrect-tmnt2012-quotes]

Leo: It’s a solution to our biggest problem! Bishop: Oh, herpes. Yeah, that’s a bitch. Donnie: No! Our other biggest problem! Bishop: Oh, uhh... Ugly people? Math? Global Warming? Nah, wait, that’s Earth’s problem.

[girl-with-bones]

This. This 100%

But also,

There is no "if" about it. People are dying. People have died.

Natural disasters are worse than they have been for centuries, every summer is a new hottest on the record, and that's not even to mention how damage to ecosystems has affected supply chains for food, water, medicine.

That shit has consequences. Terrible consequences.

It's not "if", it's not "when", it's real. And it's right here, right now.

[nelkcats]

Cyrus & Boreas

Spirits of the elements

The earth has been in a very delicate balance for a couple of years now, despite constant reminders of extinction, only magic users know what is really going on with temperatures, sometimes too hot or too cold.

It had been years since Amity Park ceased to exist, years since the land where the old town was located was inhabited, now it was just a wasteland, the city practically moved into the Infinite Realms, it turns out that its inhabitants were so exposed to ectoplasm that when they died almost everyone became a ghost.

For years Vlad and Danny had come to an agreement, just watching the earth, seeing new heroes come and go, but they were both getting bored of it, missing their old rivalry, the thrill of chasing each other, they also missed visiting their dimension. It was, after all, half of their home.

Seeing the problem of global warming and how damaged the earth was, Clockwork presented them a solution. It turns out that when you were properly connected to your core you could take an animal form, and expand your element where you stepped, or around you. Frostbite and the yetis taught Danny more about it, Pandora and the greeks ended up teaching Vlad.

It was the beginning of their competition, apparently Acropolis of Athens and Far Frozen had an old rivalry too, so they were more than happy to teach them how to deal in a friendly way (still a dangerous fighting but apparently that was the most friendly possible without killing each other)

This power wasn't something ghosts would practice very often, because it would expend too much energy and ectoplasm, it wasn't like Dora's amulet or Amorpho special talent at all, ¿the good part? The halfas were characterized by having energy to spare.

With that resolved, Clockwork tasked them with taking care of the earth's temperatures, so a few times a year (mostly on winter and summer solstice days), Vlad and Danny would choose a specific animal and run across the earth, the places where Vlad stepped warmed up in an instant, the places Danny walked were filled with snowflakes and cold.

The animal forms they liked to take the most were extinct or mythological creatures, sometimes they changed to be opposite species, at other times they were the same.

The magic users named it "The Cyrus & Boreas Phenomenon", when Danny heard about it he was excited by his name being so similar to the Northern Lights, while Vlad sulked for having a Persian name while being trained by Greeks.

This continued without being a problem, until Danny found the Wachtower station in space, immediately he changed his path and ran towards it; Vlad, knowing this could become a problem, followed him from afar.

The Justice League and Justice League Dark were having a meeting when the temperature dropped, Constantine cursed as the rest of the league tensed "Bats, what day is it?"

"December 21" upon hearing his response, Constantine cursed again as he ranted about the winter solstice.

"Damn it, damn it ¿why did he deviate from his route? He doesn't go of his way, especially not in this time of the year, ¡this is a disaster!" Constantine paced back and forth "Look, I know you guys like to poke your nose into everything that happens, but this is strictly magical, so no matter what's about to come, keep quiet, do absolutely nothing ¿Do you understand?" The hellbazer's hands trembled as he speaked.

"You can't just say that, ¡we have a right to know! This is nonsense" Diana frowned, she didn't much like the wizard's attitude right now.

"Sorry Wonder Woman, but this is strictly tied to the Justice League Dark, trust us for now, it's for your safety" Fate spoke, he knew nothing bad would happen if the league just kept quiet.

As soon as the lord of order stopped speaking, the entire room began to freeze, pieces of ice hanging on the walls as a Giant wolf ran through the wall.

In the first instance, the wolf looked dangerous, the places where its paws were placed had frozen, pure pieces of ice, the wolf turned its attention to the League, approaching curiously.

"Boreas" Zatanna exhaled in amazement, the entire magical community knew how the animal's presence felt no matter how much it changed its shape, it was the closest thing to a myth that existed, leveling the planet's temperatures, staying a few days and disappearing, impossible to find, record or locate no matter how hard you tried.

"However, where is Cyrus?" Constantine murmured to his partner, if Boreas was near his counterpart shouldn't be far away.

Danny looked at the wizards, interested in the names they had given him, he was about to ask about it when a ball of fire hit him in the shoulder.

He growled in complete frustration as he turned to look at his assailant, behind him the League tensed at the sound as Fate signaled for them to keep quiet.

Behind the animal appeared a Tasmanian tiger the same size as the Giant wolf, Barry was about to question if they weren't supposed to be extinct when the wolf snarled and lunged at the tiger, who ran back to earth.

The entire league watched as the ice brought by the wolf was extinguished by the appearance of the tiger, returning to normal as both creatures moved away.

"Constantine, situation report" Batman was clearly the first to snap out of the trance he had been left in.

"Look Bats, I know how much you want your precious information but this is out of your league, ¿those guys? Cyrus & Boreas, they are as close to benign Gods as you can find, they keep the earth's temperature stable with their games" Constantine lit his cigarette, trying to ignore the surreal situation.

"¿Games?" Superman was next to speak, a concerned note in his voice.

"Games" Fate confirmed "We theorize they are opposing elements, maybe spirits, we think they pursue each other as some kind of challenge, and the balance on earth is just a lucky accident, we don't know where they live or where they come from, but they're not someone you want to play with." Fate commented, remembering the fact that most of the time the creatures try to hurt each other but never give the final hit, always waiting for the other to heal.

"Are you telling me that if these beings decide to stop coming here, will we simply ¿disappear? ¿Because they just decided to stop playing?"

"Something similar, but far more complicated than that" Zatanna entered the conversation "they keep the consequences of global warming stable, if they stop coming, well...the earth will definitely go extinct quickly, I'd give it a couple of years" is not like humanity was taking proper care of earth, these "gods" were basically a miracle for humans to correct their own errors.

"¿Why were we not informed?" Batman was at a crossroad, these beings were definitely dangerous, but if they faced them it could cause catastrophic consequences.

"The same reason you are struggling Bats" Constantine snorted "You want to solve all the problems, but you don't understand that magic is not meant to be solved or a problem, some things are better left as they are, without interfering, or it could happen something worse" and they are far older than all of us he didn't mention out loud.

"Then ¿what do you suggest? ¿We stand here doing nothing while two would-be Gods use our planet as a playground?" Oliver frowned, disgusted.

"Yes" for the first time Shazam spoke in the conversation "because if we don't let them we will become extinct" Billy knew much more than the magicians, books on the rock of eternity that detailed human spirits, about the infinite Realms and the deities that inhabited them. The delicate balance existing in life and death, but he was not allowed to divulge it.

-----------------------

Back on earth, in Paris, Vlad and Danny were enjoying a cup of coffee and hot chocolate respectively.

"So, ¿did you want to meet the heroes or see their cool station in space?" Vlad questioned in amusement as Danny choked on his chocolate "The station ¿huh?" Vlad spoke again while Danny looked at him with a frown "It's okay Daniel, I know you can't help it"

"Yeah, I know, it was a bit stupid to change the route, and reveal myself to sorcerers, but the heroes, the aliens, the space, I needed to see it" the boy grimaced, feeling guilty "thanks for getting me out of there, I was about to do something stupid"

"¿Something stupid like speak?" Vlad questioned knowingly, he was aware that humanity now considered them myths or even gods, they shouldn't be revealing themselves freely, their games were mostly harmless but they had a purpose.

"Yeah, sorry" Danny sighed "although I love the new name, Boreas commands a lot more respect than Danny, ¿right? I do miss when they called me Phantom though..."

Seeing that the boy was lost in his memories again, Vlad sighed, he also missed the old times, their battles, Phantom and Plasmius fighting to the death, but their grudges were resolved long ago, they had no reason to fight, Boreas & Cyrus was an escape from boredom and a reunion with the old days more than anything else.

"It's okay little badger, we can stop by their space station next year, I don't think the fledgling heroes will care" Vlad took a sip from his mug, considering, obviously they would care, but he really didn't care about their feelings, let them freak out a little more.

[world-of-wales]

NEWS -

ABOUT EARTHSHOT 2024 IN SOUTH AFRICA -

Africa was chosen as the fourth continent to host the star-studded event in acknowledgement of its enormous contribution to enhancing climate action and tackling the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces. Despite contributing the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of a changing climate.

The number of African-based nominations has doubled between 2023 and 2024, with over 400 nominations from African-led solutions and another 350 with operations and impact in Africa.

Throughout Earthshot Week – which will run between Monday 4th and Thursday 7th November – these African innovators and all those contributing to efforts to protect our planet will be celebrated.

Some things to expect from this year's awards -

The show will open with an exclusive performance by Lebo M. of Circle of Life from The Lion King, pre-recorded at the top of Table Mountain.

For the first time, over 1000 members of the public have been invited to the Awards Ceremony in Cape Town. Attendees have been invited in recognition of their long-serving commitment to their local communities.

The Earthshot Prize will host its first ever Green Carpet Event, which will be broadcast live globally via the Earthshot Prize’s YouTube channel, with hosts Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and Moozlie. Guests have been asked to ‘rewear’ their wardrobe or spotlight African designers in order to highlight the importance of sustainable fashion and local creatives.

The City of Cape Town is supplying Renewable Energy Certificates from Darling Wind Farm, meaning that for every kWh of electricity used during the event, a kWh of locally produced renewable energy is allocated.

To celebrate Earthshot Week taking place in South Africa, Table Mountain and other Cape Town landmarks will be lit green from 4th-7th November.

Those visiting Cape Town over the coming days will also see The Earthshot Prize at several of the city’s famous yellow frames which encourage visitors and locals to enjoy the beauty of Table Mountain. Visitors can explore a public exhibition at the Sea Point celebrating African climate heroes who are using their creativity, time and talent to fix the world’s problems, one ingenious solution at a time.

[artbyblastweave]

Which superhero/cape, from any media, would be the most likely to be a force for genuine and lasting good if they were real?

So the cheating bastard answer to this question would be to go digging for one of the various deconstructive cape things where the setting very pointedly includes a superguy who does Solve Everything Forever, as a poke at the unrealized potential of all the big-two superscientists and reality warpers who're prevented from effecting lasting change by editorial fiat and nothing else. For example, the setting of Rising Stars contains a guy with the power of superintelligence who was smart enough to read the writing on the wall and go to ground throughout the bulk of the events of the comic while the more conventional capes were beating the shit out of each other, before finally popping up decades later with the solution to global warming and like twenty other things. See also Miracleman for the ol' "Utopia-at-the-barrel-of-a-gun" approach. Invincible also touches on this; with very light spoilers, by the end of the comic's run the setting is nearly unrecognizable as a superhero setting because a certain character just turbo-optimizes society for preventing and responding to both capeshit outbreaks and more mundane problems.

But if we stick to the more obvious targets of the aforementioned Big-two do-nothings, I'd put good money on Iron Man. In 2014 I'm pretty sure I remember him releasing airborne nanites over San Francisco that eliminated all human infirmities; however, this was after the Red Skull had blasted him with a psychic moral-alignment-changing ray, so he put the effects of the nanites behind a subscription paywall. I don't remember how they weaseled out of acknowledging that he'd created a no-strings cure for all infirmities once they wrapped that arc up. Maybe they pulled out the ol' "FDA concerns" fig leaf. But you get the point I'm gesturing at here. Swap in Reed Richards or Hank Pym as appropriate- basically anyone who really ought to just put their nose to the grindstone and start pumping out miracle fixes instead of getting hauled into the latest globe-shattering debacle or militarized supertech-backed corporate war or divorce hearing or what have you.

[theonlinevegan]

Feed humanity, not global warming.

Veganism is the only healthy and sustainable solution for world hunger. Yet we keep paying farmers to continue the extortion of animals for their flesh to result a large quantity of nutritional food into a small amount of wasteful steak.

Taste is no longer an argument, as humans have already achieved the taste of meat through plantbased alternatives.

If you’re truly concerned for human rights, world hunger and want to contribute to the solution instead of adding to the problem subconsciously.. go choose veganism today.

🌱 x 🌍 x 🫀

[alastor-the-demon]

*He fades into his radio station*

Salutations! Today we are going to be reading a transcript of everything that was said between Charlie and Adam's first conversation!

Adam: 'Sup!

Charlie: Holy, shit!

[Charlie immediately fell down after getting surprised by the sudden appearance of two angels in the room. She gets back up and readjusts herself to introduce herself properly.]

Charlie: Hi, I'm Charlie. My dad asked me if I could meet you.

Adam: Yeah, I know.

Charlie: Okay, well.

[Adam eats his rib like a buzzsaw]

Charlie: It's nice to meet you.

Adam: Totally. It's nice to meet you, too.

[Adam reaches over to give Charlie a handshake, and as she was about to shake his hand, her hand slips right through, revealing him to be a hologram, fizzing on and off after being touched, which freaks Charlie out.]

Adam: Ha! I fucking got you. *turns to Lute* Did you see that?

[Lute nods once.]

Adam: Ha. Good shit.

[Charlie was trying to get something straight with Adam being a hologram.]

Charlie: Uh...so, wait. You aren't here?

Adam: No, you think I'd come down there? *laughs* No, I mean, I love the vibe, totally, I love your tunes. Pretty fucking hardcore, don't get me wrong. But! it's such a bummer! man. Everything down there's just so "eugh", ya know? *chuckles* Ew.

Charlie: Right. So, I'm happy we've got this opportunity to meet. There's a project that I've been working on that I really want to talk to you about-

[Adam puts his finger on Charlie's lips to quiet her down for a moment.]

Adam: Hey, hey, hey, hey, slow down. We've got time. How about we get to know each other a little. Mmm. How about lunch? You hungry? I got you.

[Adam takes a plate of ribs he's been eating toward Charlie.]

Adam: Here's my personal favorite. You'll love it.

Charlie: Uh...thanks.

[Charlie went to take a piece of a rib, but her hand past right through them, also revealing to be a hologram, as they fizz on and off from the touch, and Adam laughs.]

Adam: I got you again, bitch! *laughs* Fuckin' hilarious!

[Charlie makes a small unamused chuckle alongside Adam's hyper laughter.]

Adam: So, I was playin’ this gig, and for some fuckin’ reason, this virtue chick was diggin’ on the drummer, and it's like, “do you know who I am? I’m fuckin’ Adam. I’m the original dick!” (pointing to his penis down the table) All dicks descend from me. You think you want drummer dick? (Lute shaking her head) No way! I’m the Dick-fuckin’ master! (eats a mouthful of ribs sloppily) So, anyway, then we fucked, and it was awesome. What’d you do this weekend?

Charlie: Wait, your name is Adam? Like the first man Adam, that means you…Oh….

(Charlie puts the pieces together, realizing this is the reason why her mother left him, making her wince.)

Charlie: (low voice) That explains so much.

Adam: I know. I fucking rock. (Held a rock pose)

(Charlie brushes off the awkwardness from Adam and gets to her subject of matter in hand.)

Charlie: Well, Adam, sir. Mr. Adam, sir.

Adam: Call me, Dickmaster.

Charlie: Adam. You seem like a smart (paused) well, stand up guy.

Adam: (picking his teeth) Uh-huh.

Charlie: And I know you are the leader of the angels. And you are a big thinker, a revolutionary. A— A genius!

Adam: I mean, your words, babe.

Charlie: Who would really love to put his name on something.

Adam: Fucking love putting my name on shit! Shit's the best!

Charlie: It’s a solution to our biggest problem!

Adam: Oh, Herpes. Yeah, that’s a bitch.

Charlie: No! Our... other biggest problem.

Adam: Oh…uh..ugly people? Math? Global Warming? Nah, wait, that’s Earth’s problem.

(Charlie stares at Adam with deadpan annoyance at how ignorant he is.)

Adam: Ummm...

Adam: When you take her out for the fifth time and she still expects you to pay the check but you're like, (high pitched-voice) "Hey, I thought you wanted equality."

Charlie: NO! our shared problem of overpopulation in Hell!

Adam: Ohh, well that's not a problem! We got that covered! (turning to Lute) Lute, how many demons did you kill this year?

Lute: Got a good 275 this year, sir.

Adam: 275? Woah! Badass! Awesome job, danger tits! Pound it.

[Adam raises a fist for Lute to make a fist-bump, which she did.]

Charlie: Uh no, not awesome. Those are my people, you know that right?

Adam: Oh yeah. That must suck for you! *bursts into laughter*

Charlie: But these are souls...Humans souls just the same as the ones you have up in heaven.

Lute: (coldly)  They're not the same. They had their chance and they earned damnation.

Charlie: You're wrong. Sinners made mistakes, sure, but everyone makes mistakes.

Lute: Angels don't make mistakes.

Charlie: You really think that.

Lute: I know that.

Adam: Yeah, I've never made a mistake in my fuckin’ life.

[As Lute comes around the table, the scene turns slightly darker with ominous red.]

Lute: The only reason you're still here is because daddy gave you and your hellborn kind a pardon from an exorcist blade. How does that feel, to know how little you matter?

Adam: Oops, almost out of time. Guess we should get into it.

Charlie: Oh fuck!

[Charlie rushes to present her plan as fast as she could.]

Charlie: Okay I've got a lot to get through and not a lot of time and I feel like you weren't hearing me before so here it goes.

[Charlie coughs as she starts making a fast-talk, which is close to singing as she gets all ofer stuff out in the table to show them what she means.]

Charlie: ♫ I know Hell's population is out of control. ♫

♫ It's a bad situation. ♫

♫ It's taking a toll. ♫

♫ If we rehab these Sinners. ♫

♫ And cleanse all their souls. ♫

♫ At my Hazbin Hotel—♫

[Charlie rambles through the stacks of paper to get something.]

Charlie: Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself!

♫ Right! Extermination! ♫

♫ I know you guys fly down. ♫

♫ Just to kill once a year. ♫

♫ And it must be annoying. ♫

♫ To schlep all the way here. ♫

♫ If they join you in Heaven. ♫

♫ That trip disappears! ♫

♫ You can wave that chore farewell. ♫

♫ (deep breath) It'll be a happy day—♫

Adam: ♫ Let me stop you right there. ♫

Charlie: Oh

Adam: ♫ Save us all precious time. ♫

Charlie: Okay...

Adam: ♫ If what you're suggesting. ♫

♫ Is letting them climb. ♫

♫ Up the ladder. ♫

♫Oh, they'd rather cross the Pearly Gates? ♫

Charlie: Well, uh—

Adam: ♫ Sorry, sweetie. But there's no defyin' their fates! ♫

♫ 'Cause Hell is forever. ♫

♫ Whether you like it or not. ♫

♫ Had their chance to behave better. ♫

♫ Now they boil in the pot. ♫

♫ 'Cause the rules are black and white. ♫

♫ There's no use in tryin' to fight it. ♫

♫ They're burnin' for their lives. ♫

♫ Until we kill 'em again! ♫

Charlie: Okay, but—

Adam: ♫ Just try to chillax, babe. ♫

♫You're wasting your breath. ♫

Charlie: Hehe...

Adam: ♫ Did I hear you imply. ♫

♫ That they don't deserve death?

♫ Are they Winners? ♫

♫ Are they Sinners? ♫

♫ 'Cause it's cut and dry. ♫

Charlie: Well, actually, if you take a look—

Adam: ♫ Fair is fair, an eye for an eye! ♫

♫ And when all's said and done (Said and done) ♫

♫ There's the question of fun (Fun) ♫

♫ And for those of us with Divine Ordainment. ♫

♫ Extermination is entertainment! ♫

♫ Bow-now-now-nownow ♫

Adam: Guitar solo, fuck yeah!

♫ Oh, da-ah-ah now-now-n-now-n-now-n-now-n-nownownow. ♫

[After Adam throws Charlie’s papers at her, she gets so angry that she turns into her demon form, making growling noise]

Charlie: Ugh...

Adam: ♫ Hell is forever. ♫

♫ Whether you like it or not. ♫

♫ Had their chance to behave better. ♫

[Four golden mirages of Exorcists appears, surrounding Charlie from all sides.]

(Charlie: Where the Hell did you people come from?!)

♫ Now they boil in the pot. ♫

♫ 'Cause the rules are black and white. ♫

♫ There's no use in tryin' to fight it. ♫

♫ They're burnin' for their lives. ♫

♫ Until we kill 'em again! ♫

♫ Fuckin' Hell's forever. ♫

♫ And it's meant to suck a lot. ♫

♫ So give up your dumb endeavor. ♫

♫ 'Cause you don't have a shot! ♫

♫ Long as I've got your attention. ♫

♫ I guess I should probably mention. ♫

♫ That we made the determination. ♫

♫ To move up the next Extermination! ♫

Charlie: What?!

Adam: ♫ Can't wait a whole year. ♫

♫ To slaughter those little cunts. ♫

♫ I know it's just been a week. ♫

♫ But we'll be back in six months! ♫

[Despite being a hologram, Adam grabs Charlie and throws her right out of the door.]

Charlie: Um, wait, you-you— Ugh, SHIT!

[Before Charlie tries to get to Adam, the door closes while he continues to do a guitar solo shredding. Defeated, Charlie slams a fist on the door before the scene cuts to black.]

[Copy paste my beloved]

[supreme-leader-stoat]

Question: was that post about global warming you rebloged with a starfish gif ironic or are you a global warming denier?

I don't deny it, I reject the culture of fearmongering and sensationalization surrounding it, which that tweet in particular and Greta Thunberg's whole shtick in general are part of. Managing human impacts on the environment is a worthy goal. The public discourse about it has also been almost entirely hijacked by people who inflate the risks and constantly push "solutions" that would have limited effects on the problems in question but would do wonders to further concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the upper class.

[queersatanic]

Ok, regarding voting/not voting in the US presidential election because neither candidate is a good option: What other choice is there?

I want to understand because I've seen so many people say that voting for the lesser of two evils is pointless and that I must not actually care about marginalized/oppressed people if I choose to do so, but voting in the presidential election is one of the vanishingly few scraps of influence I feel we have in this country.

Does it amount to much? No. Am I happy about it? No. Are we actually living in a democracy? Not even a little bit. Am I under the impression that Kamala Harris would solve every problem ever had around the world? No, absolutely not. The way I see it, voting for Kamala definitely isn't solving problems. It's just preventing Trump from arriving on the scene to create more problems for us because the last thing any of us need on top of the colossal shit-storm we're all currently dealing with is more bullshit, and of the two viable options that we've been given, Kamala is the one that would give us less of that type of bullshit. Again, I'm not happy about it. I'm fully aware that this is a band-aid solution at best, but this is the most influential thing I can do as a US citizen. There is nothing else I could possibly do as a single individual to meaningfully sway who's in power here.

I'm lucky enough to live in a state that allows us to mail our ballots. Voting only takes me like, five minutes, and it seems worth doing if it prevents us from having Trump back in office, even if Kamala is only better by a miniscule fraction of an amount.

So, if voting is truly pointless, if there's truly zero difference between Kamala and Trump, what should we do instead? I really can't imagine an alternative that would result in swift, positive changes for anyone. (Again, not that voting would create swift, positive change either, but it at least seems like it would give us a better chance at positive change eventually.) Anarchy and protesting and raging against the machine are all well and good, but those are also things that will endanger and cause the deaths of vulnerable people, just as much as voting. Not that they aren't also worth doing, because they are, but it seems like it would be just as lengthy of a process and as impactful as it would be to vote in the election. And it's entirely possible to do those things on top of voting in an election. So I want to know what it is that I should be doing instead. Please help me understand. This is a genuine question, I'm not looking to argue, I want to know what other avenues there are and what I'm not seeing about the situation.

So, here is the simplest way to understand this: replace everything you are saying and thinking about "voting" with "signing a petition". It only takes a few minutes, it amounts to more than nothing, etc., etc.

Do you think that signing a petition — any petition — deserves to be given so much money, attention, conversation, and so on that it forms the boundary of political imagination and is used as a synecdoche for political action?

Sign a petition or don't; vote or don't vote. But it's not the most important thing you do, it shouldn't be the thing you devote hardly any of your life to, and it should not be how you neatly reduce other people around you.

This includes voting third party for president.

This includes writing in "Free Palestine" on your ballot.

This includes not voting at all.

The anarchist critique of electoralism is usually not even that you shouldn't do it but to recognize it for what it is: a mostly meaningless gesture over who you want to run the orphan-crushing machine. You can say that it's important to you to select someone who will read a land acknowledgment while operating the machine or that it's critical with global warming to have an orphan-crushing machine operator who will commit to installing solar panels by 2035 or that it's a moral imperative not to cooperate with the machine at all and express no opinion on who the operator ought to be. But none of that has anything to do with stopping the machine from crushing orphans, and the purpose of a system is what it does.

By the way, this is not new or something that privileged keyboard warriors invented in 2013. A hundred years before that, the Japanese anarchist Ōsugi Sakae wrote a short allegory called "The Chain Factory" about people wrapped in chains, making even more chains they add to it, and the only the factory boss has the key to free all of them.

The narrator wants to free himself, but he needs the help of others, and other people have different ideas about how to go about this.

There are so many who do not realize that they are bound by chains. There are many more still who, were they to realize it, would only be grateful for their chains. There are also many who, while not grateful, have resigned themselves to working industriously to forge their chains. And there are the many who, seeing the chain-making as ridiculous, frequently find openings in the watch of the guards to rest their bodies while harbouring selfish delusions in their heads and passionately spouting nonsense about actually being free and not bound by chains at all. It is more foolish than I can bear to watch. I then suddenly cast my gaze about. I found others around me that seemed to be aligned with me. They are few, and they are scattered all around. But they all desire the key to their bellies in the clutches of the master. And like me, they seem to be aware of being unable to take back their keys alone, so they whisper frequently to their neighbours to forge alliances. “They are few; we are many. They are outnumbered. If we act together, we can take back our keys in one fell swoop.” “However, since we make pronouncements about justice and peace, we must not permit violence. We must proceed through peaceful means. There is a simple way to do this.” “Once a year, we send a representative to the master to decide every aspect of our lives. All of those chaps in that meeting are representatives of the master, and if we muster up our own true representatives now, we can be the majority in the meeting, and that's how we can pass the resolutions that we want.” “All we need to do is shut up and forge the chains. Just continue to wrap the chains around ourselves. Then, when the day comes every few years that we choose our representative, we simply vote for our own representative.” Our representative will gradually loosen our chains, and will, ultimately, take back the key to our bellies from the master. We will then find ourselves in a factory under a new organization and a new system of our own ideals, with our chains in the hands of our representative.”

So, how does this relate your question of what you should be doing? Vote or don't vote in the five minutes it takes you. Find whatever slate recommendation you trust most and follow that, then turn it in or throw it away. But live your life.

Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your coworkers. Bring food to each other. Lend tools to one another. Be available to take people to the airport and pick them up from the hospital. Talk about rent. Talk about wages. Talk about working conditions. Exchange contact info so you don't have to call down the drone strike that is cops showing up in your neighborhood over people yelling. Take people into your home when you can so they can escape domestic violence. Shun rapists so they actually face consequences even if it comes at social cost you yourself. Yes, get trained on first aid and shooting, too.

If all that sounds small, you could argue that. It's certainly more personal. But it's the stuff you do every day to build relationships with another another outside of capitalism and hierarchy, or maybe it's just the cigarette burns you put into those things, hollowing them out.

You creating trust with your coworkers so that you can perform a work stoppage together on any day is much more significant that who you vote for on some day because no matter who you vote for president, they will side with "small business owners" and "main street" over your boss shorting you on your paycheck. You talking to fellow tenants about your living conditions matters much more than your vote for city council because even in the most overwhelming Democratic city, county, and state, your electeds will side with landlords over renters. When there is a hurricane or a heat wave or a pogrom, you will know each other and be there for each other.

Vote or don't vote. When you see a petition coming to put abortion rights on your state's ballot, feel free to sign it. But you'd better have other plans when the courts throw it out. You'd better have plans for when political coalitions who don't recognize you as legitimate regardless of what you and people like you do, because that antagonist coalition will ignore the courts and do what they want anyway.

Anti-electoralism is not about voting. It is about opposing the magical thinking that voting is efficacious or will save us from fascism. The special counsel Robert Muller will not save us from fascism, or the courts, or the media, or the Democrats, or the police. There is no "someone else will solve this for us" that you can rely on, so you should engage in a sort of realistic doomsday prepping that isn't just about bugging out and running off but about creating networks of mutual reliance that build up and exercise the muscles now you will need even more in the future.

[tanadrin]

You're not wrong about anything wrt cost of flying, but man is it bracing to wake up to a reminder that I can never ethically see most of my loved ones in-person again.

hmm. i think this is also the wrong way to think about it. flying is not a sin. being in some indirect way responsible for a certain amount of carbon emissions does not Taint Your Soul. and absolutist frameworks for this kind of thing are not helpful to anybody, least of all the people who actually might already be contributing to fixing problems like this through positive behaviors, like voting or political organizing.

the problem with carbon emissions is that they're a difficult to solve collective action problem, where a lot of the incentives point in a harmful direction, not that they are Fundamentally Immoral, and i think that's an important distinction to make, because i think a handful of semi-scrupulous individuals flagellating themselves and depriving themselves of things that would make them happy in the long run has no real effect on big problems like this. you not seeing your family is not going to fix global warming! and there are not enough people who are willing or able to act on guilt alone to refrain from flying that it's going to meaningfully dent emissions from the air transport sector.

what we need are policies that shape collective decisionmaking. this is why a fat carbon tax (especially when coupled with a rebate for lower-income people) can be a useful policy: it might make it harder to fly to visit family, but it won't make it categorically impossible, and it will reduce air travel in general, or encourage finding lower-carbon alternatives that allow people to travel just as much, like high-speed trains or, i don't know, some kind of fancy jet fuel that emits less CO2.

honestly, if you vote consistently for pro-environmental policies and parties, if you donate a bit of spare cash from time to time to the same, and/or if you are minimally politically active in other ways, and you're not, like, the CEO of BP in your professional life, you are fine. go, free from sin. if everyone did that, the problem of carbon emissions could be solved in a few years. now, you might go, "but not everyone is doing that!" well, not everyone is sitting at home miserable because they missed seeing grandma on her deathbed; that won't solve global warming either. in fact, it will do even less to solve global warming, because it is (and i say this with compassion) an anxious, guilt-ridden, useless gesture meant to salve your own spirit, not actually a contribution to solving the problem.

in general, i am really opposed to letting a vast and nebulous sense of guilt on big, systemic problems shape your personal behaviors. none of the behaviors that these feelings of guilt ban ever contribute to significant or systemic improvements in the problem--guilt is not building nuclear plants or preventing oil from being drilled. and in my experience, the kind of people who feel this guilt are prone to anxiety, maybe as kids were made overly responsible for the emotional state of people around them, and thus feel an outsized sense of responsibility in other areas of their life, and they mistakenly think that 1) this is a healthy way to go through life, 2) if they don't go through life this way they're a Bad Person, and 3) most people (or most people they think of as Good People) feel this way.

i wish to free people from this burden. there are no individual solutions to big collective action problems! and if reading about global warming, or racism, or poverty, or any other big social problem fills you with an enormous sense of guilt and has you wracking your brain for ways you can help by cutting/reducing/abstaining from things in your life, congratulations, you are one of many people in this world who can be at least 300% more selfish and still be a certified Good Person. so, uh, chill.

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Alison: It's the solution to our biggest problem!

Julian: Oh, herpes! Yeah, that's a bitch.

Alison: No! The other biggest problem!

Julian: Uhm....poor people? No, ugly people! No, global warming? No, wait, that's a myth. Uhmm...

Alison:

[reasonsforhope]

Do you have a tag specifically for stuff about the climate crisis/what is being done/can be done to help stop or reverse its effects?

Basically just read a post that was "I'm not trying to be alarmist but- *spends seven paragraphs about how climate change is inevitable, we will never possibly recover from it, it's not global warming anymore its global "boiling", none of the damage can ever be undone and we're all going to be dead in the next five generations*" and I'm trying.. very hard not to spiral from it.

Sorry for bothering you 🙏

The "climate crisis" "climate change" and "climate hope" tags should do the trick.

Of those, "climate change" is the one that has the most content by far, just because the others are more narrow and "climate hope" is a much more recent term, so to speak, because I keep forgetting about it lol

I don't post anything that's not good news, so you can go through the general "climate change" tag without fear

Also, while I'm at it, that person is wrong. For a lot of reasons, including that we're actively fixing a lot of damage to ecosystems literally right now. And also also, GLOBAL WARMING WILL BE AT LEAST SOMEWHAT REVERSIBLE

Why? Well, the rise in average global temperatures is caused by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As we keep fixing the planet, restoring ecosystems, and stop burning fossil fuels, nature will siphon more and more of the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

And if there's less carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gasses) in the atmosphere, then more heat can once again escape the planet and radiate out into space

Will this be easy? Probably not! This planet's natural systems are incomprehensibly complicated - but that also means there are solutions out there that we haven't even discovered. There are some additional problems to overcome, like the fact that the oceans will be surfacing excess heat for a few decades after we stop CO2 emissions, and also "natural gas" and "carbon capture" are fake solutions/oil company traps.

But we can do it. I so, so, so sincerely believe that.

One term that I think we'll be seeing more and more of in the coming years is "Drawdown": "Climate drawdown refers to the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.[1] Drawdown is a milestone in reversing climate change and eventually reducing global average temperatures." (from wikipedia)

We can achieve drawdown. Will life in the future look very different? Yes, in both good and bad ways.

Climate change is the earth's "feedback" to humanity: "Fix your shit or die."

People are, in general, really, really, really committed to finding ways not to die.

I genuinely believe the rest of us can overcome the few dozen billionaires trying to screw the rest of us over. Money is powerful, but the remaining 7 billion plus people on this planet are more so. And the fortunes of billlionaires are made off the backs of the rest of us - which means we can make those fortunes run dry.

Sources for this answer (warning, these talk about the negative side of things a lot too, they're not the uplifting reads themselves. that's next): x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Other sources to read for hope: FutureCrunch, Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration good news websites in general such as Positive News and Goodgoodgood, which I think are the best content fits for what you're looking for. Make sure to check out Goodgoodgood's roundups specifically. And know that there are way, way more good news stories - and way bigger ones, too - than I've had time to post about lately, because work has been really hectic

[titleknown]

...You know, while I still kinda hate degrowth as a movement, I kinda realized that as one economic technique amongst many, it's not only kinda good but necessary.

Like, comrade @marsworms helped turn me around on this, but like, thinking about it in the way that; say; a gardener prunes trees or rosebushes so they can grow makes sense.

And, like, the fact that we have approximately zero economic tools to do this without everything breaking is kind of a fucking problem, especially when we need to do that to sectors like; say; finance; advertising; or fossil fuel production in favor of the World War-level effort we need on the fucking climate problem.

It gets you to scenarios like the one this is making fun of where, when everyone would be kinda okay with maintaining a holding pattern; nobody can actually do that:

But the market has a solution! The solution is, unfortunately, trying to extract everything they can before it crashes and burns so capital can escape on golden parachutes while labor fucking dies in the impact.

Which, in addition to the obvious of being extremely cruel, is also enormously wasteful and destructive. And it would be nice if we had a better option than that, especially when the the thing that would be left to crash and burn is a livable ecosystem with a functioning global society...

...Now, the reason I hate degrowth as a movement is because I trust the fuckers most aggressively advocating for it approximately zero percent to administer such things in a way that isn't miserable.

This is both because of their monofocus on it as a total societal paradigm shift (remember that old aphorism about how fire is a good tool but a terrible master), and also their garbage hippie-aesthetic anprim/neo-Amish tendencies.

You can see this in their general broad contempt for the internet and personal computing despite how, I would argue, it is a massive good for humanity that should be expanded universally.

Or how they hypocritically talk about how much time people will have to do art, despite also aggressively advocating for the sorts of resource-bottlenecks that every artist in our current system can observe currently fucking them over, probably rooted in how they don't really seem to respect any artforms more materially-intensive than folk art (See also: How they think of digital forms of art)

Or the also two-faced way that they insist that they aren't advocating for austerity despite how much they talk about how much enforcement of their hippie aeceticism as paradigm shift would be based on a local panopticon.

Like, part of my initial broad-spectrum antipathy towards even the techique probably came from the people I first heard it from, like this site dedicated to news about transition towns, this one site that was heavy on what I'd later realize was a lefty version of the "great reset" theory, garbage like Peter Gelderloos' "An Anarchist Solution To Global Warming" or Giorgios Kallis' awful book "Limits" (Ask me about the fucking boat sometime, I have Words about that bit) or the sorts of people who unironically say "the concept of emerging technologies is a capitalist grift"

And, while I have added nuance, I still can't get over the sneaking suspicion that a lot of people who advocate for degrowth most actively are; in their hearts; still mostly kinda Like That...