#natural death cw

[reasonsforhope]

Since the 1960s, the world has seen a spike in the number of natural disasters, largely due to rising sea levels and an ever gradually increasing global surface temperature.

The good news? We’re getting better at helping each other when disasters strike.

According to a recent study from Our World In Data, the global toll from natural disasters has dramatically dropped in the last century.

“Low-frequency, high-impact events such as earthquakes and tsunamis are not preventable, but such high losses of human life are,” wrote lead authors Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado.

To conduct their research, Ritchie and Rosado gathered data from all geophysical, meteorological, and climate-related disasters since 1900. That includes earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, drought, wildfires, severe storms, and mass floods. 

In the early-to-mid 20th century, the average annual death toll from disasters was very high, often climbing to over a million. 

For example, the study cites that in 1931, 2.7 million people died from the Yangtze–Huai River floods. In 1943, 1.9 million died from the Bangladeshi famine of 1943. Even low-frequency events had extreme death tolls. 

“In recent decades we have seen a substantial decline in deaths,” Ritchie and Rosado observed. “Even in peak years with high-impact events, the death toll has not exceeded 500,000 since the mid-1960s.”

Why has the global death toll from disasters dropped? 

There are a number of factors at play in the improvement of disaster aid, but the leading component is that human beings are getting better at predicting and preparing for natural disasters. 

“We know from historical data that the world has seen a significant reduction in disaster deaths through earlier prediction, more resilient infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and response systems,” Ritchie and Rosado explained in their study. 

On April 6, [2024],a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the city of Hualien in Taiwan. Days later, as search and rescue continues, the death toll currently rests at 16. 

Experts have praised Taiwan for their speedy response and recovery, and attributed the low death toll to the measures that Taiwan implemented after an earthquake of similar strength hit the city 25 years earlier. Sadly, on that day in 1999, 2,400 people died and 11,000 were injured. 

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Wang Yu — assistant professor at National Taiwan University — said that event, known as the Chi-Chi earthquake, revolutionized the way Taiwan approached natural disasters. 

“There were lots of lessons we learned, including the improvement of building codes, understanding earthquake warning signs, the development and implementation of earthquake early warning (EEW) systems and earthquake education,” said Wang. 

Those same sensors and monitoring systems allowed authorities to create “shakemaps” during Hualien’s latest earthquake, which helped them direct rescue teams to the regions that were hit the hardest. 

This, in conjunction with stronger building codes, regular earthquake drills, and public education campaigns, played a huge role in reducing the number of deaths from the event. 

And Taiwan’s safeguards on April 6 are just one example of recent measures against disasters. Similar models in strengthening prediction, preparedness, and recovery time have been employed around the world when it comes to rescuing victims of floods, wildfires, tornados, and so on. 

What else can we learn from this study?

When concluding the findings from their study, Ritchie and Rosado emphasized the importance of increasing safety measures for everyone.

Currently, there is still a divide between populations with high gross national income and populations living in extreme poverty.

Even low-income countries that infrequently have natural disasters have a much higher death rate  because they are vulnerable to collapse, displacement, and disrepair. 

“Those at low incomes are often the most vulnerable to disaster events; improving living standards, infrastructure, and response systems in these regions will be key to preventing deaths from natural disasters in the coming decades,” surmised Ritchie and Rosado.

“Overall development, poverty alleviation, and knowledge-sharing of how to increase resilience to natural disasters will therefore be key to reducing the toll of disasters in the decades to come."

-via GoodGoodGood, April 11, 2024

[canisalbus]

The more I think about Machete's death the worse it sounds to me. He didn't even have time to think of anything - yk usually people talk about their life flashing before their eyes, but he didn't even get to reminisce on or remember anything, anyone. One second he was fine, an individual with memories, hopes, feelings and plans, next second his entire world narrowed down to the danger at hand, and then in another moment he was just a body. Going from a whole person to a biological ragdoll on autopilot in a matter of seconds is just a type of horror that I'll never get over

.

[tubbytarchia]

Some blood/gore trafficblr inspired animal things. uh

[desultory-novice]

I get the feeling that Adeline is the most likely to get therapy.

...She'll probably need it too... (Pausing the fun times for something dreadfully serious) -

"Pieces"

-

[Apologies AU Masterpost] [Noir's Field Trip]

[cryptonature]

Death is particularly fearful in a culture that views nature as an outsider and an adversary.

In such a context, death becomes a hateful defeat and final insult.

Except nature is neither outsider nor adversary.

It is our author, keeper, and kin.

Returning to nature is not a loss.

It’s a homecoming.

[wild-e-eep]

This is a fungus - Entomophthora sp. that attacks blue bottle flies. It's rather like the Gibellula fungus that preys on spiders.

Unlike spiders, flies are gregarious and the fungus could maximise its chances of infecting others by arranging for its host to die in a gathering spot. I found four of these within a meter of each other.

Previously I had only ever seen this fungus in close proximity with stink horns, leading me to google things like "do stink horns kill flies?" with no success.

[nat-space-obsessed]

Day 6: Immortal AU

I guess the Everlasting Trio ain't so everlasting lmao

Danny's hair is a little funky but I tried!!

I had fun drawing bones!

[victorianvampyr]

Finally got the last of the fawn remains put together. Time for other projects! Cause I am sure burned out!

This fawn was a challenge from the start. @bigolbuzzard was the one to find it, her intentions are to taxidermy them and she very kindly gifted me the skeleton to articulate. The poor thing was hit by a car, it’s head was ruined. But fortunately, or unfortunately, I had found my own deceased fawn months prior, and I had kept its head.

In taxidermy, it’s common you keep the feet bones- so I also had to find a replacement for the feet(which are mummified). Luckily a kind soul on Reddit sent me the feet of a roadkill fawn they ran into and were pelting.

Once I had managed to clean the bones- I had to spend hours just gluing the skull/destroyed bones/and caps on the bones back together. When an animal is younger, the bones aren’t fused- so they fall apart when cleaned.

Anyway. I am going to call this skeleton “Frank” due to the fact I had to “Frankenstein” all the fawn pieces together. I know it’s not perfect, but I am proud with the end result! Off to the Nature Center they go for display!

[charlietheepicwriter7]

"I'm telling you, she's the best bloody runes expert this side of the Mississippi," John Constantine told the other members of the Justice League as he raised his hand to knock on the old screen door. He hadn't expected his ex-wife to stay here, in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, but Spittoon, Arkansas, was the hill-billy hole it was when he last left. "If anyone can decipher the ritual to summon the ghost king, it's her--"

The door disappeared before he could knock, and a shotgun was shoved in his face. John smiled the best he could. "Hey, sweetheart."

Alicia Walker glared back at him. "Constantine."

*******************************************

This is the "John Constantine used to be married to Danny Fenton's Aunt Alicia" AU. Some idea's I've had:

Maddie introduced them. Maddie had dragged Alicia into studying ghosts, but Alicia ended up fascinated by the occultism of ghosts, more metaphysical than scientific. Maddie, wanting to support the sister that was supporting her, found Constantine, introduced the two, and they got along enough to bang.

it was a shotgun wedding. Alicia got pregnant and damn if she was going to let her baby be born without a father, so John ends up marrying her. He doesn't really mind since Alicia's nice enough and the sex is good, but he isn't exactly an attentive husband.

The baby is actually twins! a boy and a girl.

The babies are born without complications, but the baby boy, the first born... goes missing.

In addition to selling his soul to multiple parties, John had also sold the soul of his first born... probably to multiple parties. And he'd forgotten all about it until Alicia calls him, sobbing, saying their son has gone missing.

Needless to say, once she knows, John is divorced within the week.

the newborn daughter is given to Maddie to take care of; Alicia can even look at her without remembering her dead son, she knows she wouldn't be able to take care of a baby the way it needs. she can barely take care of herself.

(Jazz finds out that her aunt is her biomom when Danny is born. She never hates her aunt for giving her up; in fact, it's Alicia's depression and grief that makes Jazz want to study psychology in the first place)

Alicia moves to Spittoon to isolate herself, but the close knit community won't let her self-destruct. They help her rebuild herself in the middle of nowhere and she discovers a love for farming rhubarb.

John only shows up once before for Alicia's help, but the town chases away that nasty ex-husband of hers before she sees him, with his yuppie-accent and dirty clothes. They don't want him around her.

Alicia grows content with her life. She keeps all her occult books locked in the attic, out of sight and out of mind, and while she might regret not having been able to raise her daughter, she loves her niece and nephew and spoils them when they come to visit.

All's right in the world.

Until one day, Jazz and Danny come to her door in the middle of the night, desperate and injured.

Not too long after that, her yuppie ex-husband come around, asking her to look over some nonsense summoning circle. What's Constantine trying to summon anyway, the demon of astrology!?

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This, by the way, is the opposite of the situation I posted about yesterday, which was a case of misidentification by accident. I don't like the idea of anyone suffering through a serious envenomation (although this seems to be a case of someone who is not an especially nice person), even if they did basically bring it on themselves. But it does highlight a really nasty streak of arrogance toward parts of nature that really deserve extra respect because of the dangers they pose. I am already not enamored of the practice of breeding and selling herps with all the carelessness of a carnival goldfish stand, but the "hey, look what I got!!!" braggadocio shown by some venomous reptile keepers is the end result of an attitude that these animals are just living, breathing collectibles to be traded and shown off.

When we approach the rest of nature with respect instead of commodification, it completely changes the bedrock upon which our interactions with other beings and our shared environment occurs. The good news is that we can change our approach for the better any time--and hopefully before we find ourselves in such dire straits as this guy.

[xxdemonicheartxx]

Most common funerary burials by flight:

Putting this one below the cut due to death mentions and burial descriptions I understand this can be a topic of discomfort no matter how vague one is when speaking on it <3

Arcane: opalization, the body is taken and layed in the shallows of intensely magic rich pools in a resting position, where it will rapidly opalize in a matter of weeks or months due to the volitile arcane energy of the land, sometimes individual scales are opalized instead and the rest of the body is cremated to be scattered amid their favorite place of study

Earth: mummification, the body is taken and embalmed, richly doused in spices, oils, and linen wraps, the organs removed are in canopic jars that resemble the dragon's own visage. Some earth mages practice petrification of the body as well upon request. Another practice is glass blowing cremated remains into colorful works of art, often colorful globes of glittering glass or glass sculptures of the deceased's visage

Shadow: the body is often cremated and the ashes greatly compressed into logs or bricks, before being soaked in spores and water to allow the mushrooms the the tangled wood to reclaim them and take them home. Other practices include burials or creating wrought iron burial markers. Celebrations of life are held around these burial sites

Light: due to the.... emperor problem.... graveyards have rapidly been destroyed and the fear of merging with Luminax sits like a stone in the heart of every imperial. Cremation is the most common practice as of now but celestial burials used to be common practice where the sun would always be able to touch you even in death (also known as sky burials) a new practice adopted from the earth flight includes taking these cremated remains and turning them into glass suncatchers

Plague: plague dragons believe that returning to the land you've survived is a must, dying of old age is a great achievement!! Often the body is returned to the land, buried or laid to be reclaimed by the ecosystem. Some more sentimental dragons or close loved ones will save scales or tan parts of wing membrane to carry close to their heart

Nature: burials are the most common practice, continuing to feed the shrieking wilds, some pathways have small markers or idols where loved ones frequent so that they can continue to pay homage in the labyrinthian jungle

Ice: ice dragons actually do not freeze their deceased, instead they take parts of membranes and tan them before tattooing a depiction of their loved one into their own hide, complete with a name, date of birth and date of death, its too cold to dig in this land so they cremate the remains and scatter them amid the tundra so in spring they can help the flowers return. The tanned memento is kept with a clan's priest, shaman, or spiritual leader with the rest of them, under expert care

Fire: forge pyres, often when fire dragons die their own heat resistance can make cremation a difficult process. So their remains are given to forge masters who are capable of reaching intense heat, working bellows and feeding the flames until the body is reclaimed by the flames. Other practices include caldera funerals, where the body is taken to be sunk in the lava of volcanoes or lava floes. Sometimes blackened skeletons can be reclaimed by loved ones in doing this

Wind: sky burials. The body is taken high up and laid under open sky for the sun and the wind to reclaim, it is believed that in doing this their spirit may continue to soar. Also refered to as celestial burials

Water: sinking of the body in designated graveyards is a common practice, often referred to as a burial at sea. Tiny tiny fragments of the dragon are often kept to be artificially put into oysters so that a pearl can be formed from their loved one's remains. Another practice is water cremation or Alkaline hydrolysis is another practice that is starting to gain traction

Lightning: the desert sand is not suitable for proper burials and grave markers aren't reliable in the shifting expanse, often the body is dehydrated first before undergoing electrical cremation, with no fluid the body will burn rapidly, the ashes then mixed with sand are placed amid one of hundreds of electrical storms with a tall metal rod in the center of the remains. To be struck by lightning turning them into "fulgurites" or "fossilized lightning" these unique and intimate structures are then returned to loved ones to be kept similarly to an urn

There are always exceptions to funeral practices. Dragons like obelisks and imperials often require additional care in the event the obelisk returns to stone or cremation is not an option for the imperial but these are the common or most popular practices in each region (non cannon)

As always I'd love to hear your own headcannons and takes too!!

[chknbzkt]

Cw: Animal death, blood and gore

Day 18 of DCA Promptober: Beast

He probably got out while he was in a stupor, he gets stupid hangry fresh after a shift and the local game are always sure to suffer for it

One of Sun’s worst fears is that one day the carcass he comes-to half-devoured is a person. Moon, Monty, and the rest of the glams have been diligent in watching over him on moon weeks for years, but things like this do happen and it haunts his nightmares how easy it is for him to potentially maul someone he cares about

Or worse: share his “predicament” with them

[bonefall]

When Thunder stays with Clear Sky for a while, does Clear ever insist on referring to him as Thunder Sky?

Towards the end yes, as the final detail to Thunder Storm that Clear Sky doesn't love him. He wants to ERASE him.

If Clear Sky recognizes he's made a mistake in casting Bright Storm away with their child, he's incapable of seeing it was wrong because it was cruel. He wants what he realizes he threw away, because he now sees it has value. He wants to own his oldest son the way he wants to own the entire forest-- as a reflection of his greatness.

Anything that makes Clear Sky uncomfortable about Thunder Storm has to be sanded down. The assertiveness was the first thing, he feels insecure when he's challenged, the child must learn to follow before he may learn to lead.

The second is that leg, presenting a prosthetic as a gift (that he isnt allowed to refuse), because he can't have been wrong about the choice that killed his younger brother-- here is a SOLUTION that simply didn't exist before! Behold how resourceful and wealthy his cats are, compared to your old group. We've fixed you.

(This prosthetic is a clunky piece of shit that is annoying to strap on every day, gets in the way and makes a ton of noise, and itches like hell, but the change in Clear's demeanor is immediate if Thunder doesn't wear it.)

But somehow, Thunder Storm was willing to take all of that. In hindsight, it bothers him that the tipping point wasn't the other two things.

Bright Storm gave her son her own last name. When Clear Sky sent them away and the Mountain Cats permanently split, it was pointed. "My only survivor is named for myself." SHE would raise him, alone.

Bright Storm herself slowly seemed to lose sight of the meaning, encouraging him to understand his father's good aspects, but in the meanwhile it took on a new meaning to Thunder. His mother raised him. He found a father in Shaded Flower. He grew up next to Lightning Cry and Acorn Swoop. Thunder Storm means this. It's the person he made himself, and the love they've all put into him.

Thunder SKY is just another monument to Clear Sky, stripping away the life he lived without him. And WHY? For ego? For comfort?

"What am I letting him DO to me?!"

It wasn't the final STRAW, but it was the tipping point. Once Thunder Storm had this realization, the minute he was not going to budge on something, that confrontation was inevitable. The blowout fight was making reservations.

Sunlit Frost is still the breaking point, the injury from his burn going sour, but I'm going to emphasize the way that Clear Sky only called that meeting in the first place as an abuse game. Thunder Storm knew it was coming-- but it still sickens him that it was something THIS monstrous.

[redcomet-stims]

request // could you do a stimboard of lawrence oleander from boyfriend to death with themes of angels, poppies, drug use/opioid usage? teas, especially dark green teas with swirly smoke.. or swirls in general. leaves and rain, dark storm clouds, things like that

Surely, thank you ^^ I've already done one of this character/nm, but I'm down to do him again, especially with the different theming!

Content warning: flashing, drugs, NSFW source

🍵🌿🪽 Lawrence Oleander (Boyfriend to Death) stimboard with angels, poppies, drug use, teas, and nature theming for @c0rpseh0und ^_^

Thank you for the request ^^ I hope this is good, I know it's not exactly what you were talking about but I tried to include everything I could! This also ended up looking a little weirdly-formatted in my eyes? But whatever, at least I did it ^_^ I tried my best! And I think it ended up at least alright. Also, I really liked the idea you had going on for this :3 And I think that this character is pretty interesting, actually! ;3c

Sources:

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x | x | x

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[swamp-milkweed]

mary oliver, from "at the river clarion"

[markscherz]

The specimens in your video, are they killed to be preserved or do they die of natural causes before preservation?

As with all natural history collections, the vast majority of specimens in the Natural History Museum of Denmark (where I am the Curator of Herpetology) were euthanised to be preserved and kept in these libraries of biological knowledge, where they are curated and maintained for research purposes for centuries to come. We have one of the oldest collections in the world; some of our specimens are over 300 years old.

With amphibians in particular, we almost never find them dead in the wild, unless they've been run over by vehicles or have died of some disease in large masses, because their soft bodies decay extremely quickly. Even in captivity, a vertebrate that dies of 'natural' causes usually is almost always in a pretty grim condition either leading up to the death, or by the time it is found. These make for very bad specimens. With reptiles, you can do a little better, but not much. So, even though we have lots of animals from Copenhagen Zoo that died in captivity and put in the freezer soon afterwards, these are mostly in poor condition. Also, because they are not representative of wild animals (dietary and environmental differences), and lack information on their locality of origin, they are poor animals for research purposes, and mostly are avoided by researchers wanting to study e.g. natural variation in a species. However, they are still very valuable specimens, especially when they are the only specimens of a species that we have.