#ngl the hardest part of my job - and the part that i know will ultimately be unsustainable - is having to keep a straight face when ag folk

[woolandcoffee]

I have so much to say about the proposed decision to list the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act. There's the raw data which suggests that both the Eastern and Western populations of monarch are well over 50% likely to go extinct within a century if nothing changes. There's the fact that the proposal is fairly novel, legally interesting, and a perfect example of why the ESA is a deeply flawed wildlife protection statute that so clearly is not designed for insects its insane. But mostly, there's the fact that the U.S. agricultural industry is having a meltdown tantrum about it that would make even the most fussy toddler tell them to calm down and take it easy.

There is absolutely no question that the agricultural industry one of the primary reasons why the monarch butterfly is this close to extinction. The combination of habitat loss and pesticide exposure is undeniable. And yet, for the most part, the proposed listing decision goes out of its way to make sure that ag would be largely unaffected. Routine agricultural activities that result in harm to a monarch butterfly would not violate the ESA. If a farmer chooses to remove milkweed or otherwise destroy monarch habitat, that would not violate the ESA. The details about pesticide use haven't been completely hammered out yet, but I have no doubt the impacts to farmers will be minimal at best. All these carve outs, and yet these people are still running around like the sky is falling. Heck, I have an essay-length email sitting at the top of my inbox this morning from a woman who works in the ag-industry in California that is essentially a series of "well what about this" trying to poke holes in Fish and Wildlife's findings (thankfully it is well beyond my job description to answer her in any meaningful way). It's wild.

And what really gets my goat, is that American farmers bill themselves to the public as "stewards of the land." They say this constantly. "We're stewards of the land, we know what we're doing." "Don't regulate us, we're the ones who know how to steward the land." "Of course we care about the environment, we're the ones who steward it." And its such bullshit. Even setting aside the fact that American agriculture is a corner stone of colonialism and is still used as a tool to sit on large swaths of stolen land, American farmers, by and large, simply do not know shit about how the ecosystems they're in function. Last week, I was in a room of people who work in the soybeans industry in the Midwest. Most of the people in that room were farmers or had worked on farms, and I guarantee you that if you asked them, they'd give you the same song and dance about being stewards of the land. That didn't stop one man describing the monarch butterfly as "the most conveniently beautiful pest" there is, and it didn't stop the room from laughing when he said it.

These people don't even understand the vitally important role that pollinators play in our ecosystem. They walk around proclaiming themselves as the One True Steward of the Land, demanding that we thank them for their service, and don't get in the way of them doing what they know is best. But the land is dead to them. A lifeless thing to be mined for profit. A monarch butterfly is a pest to them, and its beauty is inconvenient because it catches the attention of the public.

In her latest book The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about how endless growth is never actually endless, and what comes after is always slower and more gentle. It has to be, after all, because what else is left after rapid-fire growth but a slow contraction. I hope she's right, and I hope that the time of extracting as much profit from the land as possible as quickly as possible will soon come to an end. For the sake of the monarch butterfly, for the sake of our more than human relatives, and for the sake of our souls.

[lysitheaioandeuropa]

All of the obscure asks!!!

what’s your favorite way to dress?uh, cozy/casual. I wear a lot of dresses bc I fucking hate real pants. yesterday i stepped a little out of my comfort zone and wore a fitted dress and heels, i felt super ugly and had an anxiety atttack LMAO but overall it was nice afterwards

if you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?i’d be skinny lol

what movie/game/etc. helps you calm down?kingdom hearts (any) and horror movies for fun

what does your room smell like?currently the “flannel” bath & body works scent

do you like to organize?absolutely fucking love it, but like depression 

what kind of music would you listen to if you could only choose one?shit this is hard considering i like literally EVERYTHING. but probably reggeaton lmao

what song is your aesthetic?this is also hard? i’m not sure and it definitely depends on the day/my mood

what color do you think goes best with your personality?gray pastels. does that make sense? gray versions of colors are me. I had a bf tell me i only liked dead colors lmao

do you believe in auras?i sure as fuck do i wish i could see them

what do you wish you hated, but actually like?working out and eating healthy lmao

vague about your crush(es)i fucking love her voice

is there someone you have mixed feelings towards?lmfao yeah plenty

talk about an au or story you came up withIN MY AU, DRACO MALFOY DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER OKAY. HE RUNS AWAY TO LIVE WITH HIS MOTHER, THEY LEAVE LUCIUS BEHIND. DRACO IS FUCKING TRAUMATIZED AFTER EVERYTHING LUCIUS PUT HIM THROUGH AND MADE HIM DO, ITS EATS AWAY AT HIM, BUT HE HAS TO WORK THROUGH THE PTSD AND EVERYTHING HE DID WRONG. draco has the worlds greatest redemption arc after zuko. also someone made an au comic where he and harry end up together and it didnt even seem like fanfic it felt so natural. after reading that i feel like my AU needs to have draco reaching out to harry during his redemption arc. like he needs to talk to him he needs someone to turn to. harry at first talks to him in secret bc ron and hermione are assholes still. then he starts inviting him over and making him part of the group and everyone is reluctant at first but they warm up to him. harry and ron are still best friends, but hes so busy dating hermione that draco and harry end up connecting (as friends). ginny probably has issues with it bc she takes it personally (re: chamber of secrets), and maybe that is a driving wedge between them helping lead to their divorce on top of her quidditch playing schedule and harry’s auror job. draco and his wife werent really that great together to begin with anyway. so harry and draco bond over that as well, and well thats we get from my au to the other fanfic i read. i took this and ran lmfao i would love to actually have time to write this out well though. im lowkey talented but havent really had the chance to expand on that. i dont practice my writing or anything enough unfortunately. being an adult be like

do you like makeup?im not good at it, but yes

do you prefer space or the ocean?i doont fuck with either of them bitches. but i am a slut for learning about both. just dont send me there.

if you could pick any planet besides earth, where would you live?jupiter and venus both seem cool, but i would wanna travel to another galaxy

what form of government do you like the most? (capitalism, socialism, etc.)i’m not as informed as i would like to be to make a fully informed decision, but socialism and communism both seem so fucking GREAT in theory but not in practice lmao. fuck capitalism though

what animal would you keep as a pet, if you could?my dog!!!!!!!!! I LOVE SANDRA. also though a fox, or an elephant, AN OTTER. idk i like a lot of animals

what do you think our purpose is in the universe?BITCH!!! I DONT FUCKING KNOW!!! i dont think i have a purpose ultimately and im not sure whats keeping me alive tbh

do you believe in god(s)?i believe in a sort of higher universal power kind of. just not sure

is there a song you can’t handle listening to, even though you like it?anything by russ or j cole lmfao. i hate country. i skip a lot of songs that i cant tolerate tbh so cant give just one lol

what ex do you miss the most, if you have one?im not gonna answer this lmfao. the last two were pretty cool during, not so much after

do you like soft, fluffy blankets or rough/smooth blankets?soft fluffy, but i also love my feather down comforter

what is your favorite thing to learn about?anything! i love learning shit, i end up reading about shit for fun and always “fun facts” up my sleeve 

what country’s history do you find the most interesting?dude anything but ours. american history is really not that great ngl, unless we’re talking native american. 

what do you think about genderbent ____ (insert someone here)i know this was meant to be asked as an individual question but my thoughts on genderbent anything isnt wild tbh. genderbent twilight is fucking stupid though

what breakup was the hardest, if you had one?WOW LMFAO. all of them felt like i was going to die, and no im not being dramatic. i remember each one feeling like i was literally being torn apart, staying in bed for days and weeks on end and just sinking and sinking so low, emotional, mentally, so on and so forth. i dont deal with breakups well

do you have someone where you can’t decide if you like them romantically or just as a friend?not at all, im pretty sure about who i like and how, most of the time. i do try to keep an open mind though

what do you think about tumblr discourse?i dont lmao

what instrument do you wish you could master?I WANT TO LEARN TO PLAY THE FUCKING HARP

how easy is it for you to be honest?entirely way too easy which is why a lot of people hate me lmao

do you have any strange interests?just about all of them lmao. but i think books, anime, and video games are the main ones 

do you have any strange fears?i used to be really scared of the dark but i got over it (recently, lmao). when i was living alone i was irrationally afraid of home invasion lol. im now just scared of like losing my job and shit lol

what food do you binge on when you’re lazy?i dont really have a lot of “binge” food. if im lazy i just snack around, i try to cook and stuff but just depends. im more conscious about binging bc i dont want to feel guilty so if im lazy i might get fast food but something small if that makes sense

when you get angry, how do you show it?OKAY i have actually gotten a lot better at this!!!! i take a few breathes and honestly really sit there and think about it. i try not to lash out or act immediately bc if i do i’ll pop off. so i try to talk through it rationally and assess how i feel before i do anything crazy

do you have any impulsive movements? (twitches, ticks, flapping, etc.)muscle spamsms when i sleep sometimes

what do you listen to music on?everything tbh but mostly my phone

are you left brained or right brained?I would want to say left brained bc im super logical and whatnot, but right brained bc artistic or whatever. maybe i actually use more than 10% unlike everyone else or whatever 

earbuds or headphones?earbuds

do you like light blankets or heavy blankets? light