#renatures

[brainrustle]

[topostudio]

What is the imprint of topographic design? The design by George Descombes, started in the early 2000s and completed in 2015, demonstrates a site-specific approach that prompts a reflexion on the human-made artificiality and the natural flow of events. In this figure, a Relative Elevation Model (REM) based on a plane at river height was derived from the topographic lidar survey of 2019. The result highlights the microtopography around the river, in particular the rhombus tesselation eroded by the water flow. Source: schweizerkulturpreise.ch 3D Model: https://skfb.ly/oCEKH Data: Lidar 2019 by Swisstopo

[aldhar-ibn-beju]

Le greenwashing (dernière partie de l'histoire fantastique rocambolesque)

IV : La bataille de la « pomme d'or

Cachée dans la ruelle sombre de Kahlenberg, à proximité du restaurant de kebab, Ma Baker avait mis en place sa bande d'assassins fous et regardait avec une rage folle la voiture de police garée devant le magasin. La folle bouchère  de porc a supposé que la mort brutale de ses employés était due à une nouvelle sorte d'entente entre le chef de la mafia seldjoukide, Kara Mustafa, et le chef de police avide, Louis Q. Bourbon.

 « Probablement », a supposé la bouchère malade mentale d'un ton criard,

« Mustafa avait-il doré le cul de ces salauds de flics pour avoir les mains libres contre nous ! »

La chef de gang folle s'est littéralement déchaînée et s'est lancée dans une philippique délirante dont le contenu, bien que difficilement compréhensible pour une personne à peu près saine d'esprit, a rempli ses fidèles d'un mélange inquiétant de crainte et d'admiration. Finalement, le discours délirant de la tueuse de cochons psychopathe touchait à sa fin.

« Ainsi nous baignerons dans le sang, maudits fils de pute ! », cria Ma Barker tandis que l'écume s'échappait de sa bouche en grosses gouttes.  «Le jour du massacre et de la vengeance est enfin arrivé. Nous ne laisserons pas ces flics se foutent de nous  ! Kara Mustafa paiera mille fois sa trahison, et nous massacrerons chaque homme, chaque femme et chaque enfant de cette maudite boutique pour venger notre nom ! Comme des hussards ailés, vous passerez sur eux, car vous êtes certes stupides, mais courageux ! Allons tuer ! Dieu avec nous ! »

Les hussards ailés hurlaient d'un enthousiasme démentiel et leurs yeux brillaient d'impatience à l'idée de la bataille à venir. Ils savaient que Ma Barker n'avait aucune limite et qu'elle était prête à tout pour détruire ses ennemis de la manière la plus cruelle possible.

Pendant ce temps, le bruit à la Pomme d'Or n'était pas passé inaperçu, mais comme dans ce quartier peu huppé, un certain tapage faisait partie de la couleur locale. Finalement, Kara Mustafa, agacé, avait cependant chargé deux patrouilleurs, qui venaient d'être envoyés par le chef de la police corrompu en personne pour collecter des fonds, de venir voir ce qui se passait. Les deux garçons de courses en uniforme venaient de quitter le kebab lorsque la bouchère folle a mis en marche son énorme tronçonneuse et s'est précipitée à la tête de sa troupe sur les deux malheureux en hurlant comme un démon venu de l'enfer, telle une bête issue de mythes oubliés depuis longtemps. Tandis que le policier à l'allure plutôt féminine s'échappait en hurlant comme une petite fille dans la 'pomme d'or', son collègue plus corpulent tombait dans une sorte de torpeur qui durait jusqu'à ce que Ma Barker le démembre dans les règles de l'art comme un cochon trop gros.

V : Greenwashing

Après avoir quitté le gratte-ciel délabrée, la druidesse, accompagnée d'une foule de créatures transformées, a parcouru les terres désolées du quartier délabré. Entourée d'une aura de mystère et de la puissance d'un monde oublié, la mort-vivante arriva sur le champ de bataille de la Pomme d'Or, qui ressemblait désormais à une mer de sang et de désespoir.

Tandis que le policier restant se cachait lâchement dans les toilettes de la Pomme d'or et pleurait sans retenue, tremblant de peur, les « hussards ailés » de Ma Barker avaient fait des ravages dans la bande de Kara Mustafa, dont le chef préférait garder sa précieuse vie pour les combats futurs en effectuant un repli stratégique individuel. Mais la horde de la grosse Berta a également subi de lourdes pertes en raison de l'usage intensif des armes à feu par ses adversaires. Malgré la cruauté du combat, certains combattants ont été déconcertés par l'apparition de l'étrange groupe. Ce n'était toutefois pas le cas de la folle de la boucherie porcine qui, telle une furie sauvage et malgré plusieurs blessures par balle, riait follement dans une frénésie de sang, découpant tout ce qui passait devant sa tronçonneuse.

La druidesse décida alors de mettre fin au conflit dans un premier temps. Elle leva la main et, d'un seul geste mystérieux, transforma les combattants en rats galeux. Un piaillement horrifié et chétif emplit l'air lorsque les combattants autrefois puissants devinrent soudain des animaux sans défense. La grosse Berta, quant à elle, se transforma en une image de pierre d'un puissant sanglier d'une laideur remarquable.

La magicienne mort-vivante regardait le champ de bataille pacifié, les yeux remplis d'un savoir et d'une satisfaction ancestraux. La cruelle bataille était terminée et les membres du gang, devenus des rongeurs, préféraient s'éloigner précipitamment pour se cacher dans toutes sortes d'endroits peu recommandables.

La gardienne de la nature ressuscitée se tenait au milieu de la misérable cité d'immeubles, sa silhouette entourée de l'éclat du pouvoir des anciens dieux oubliés, et décidait maintenant d'achever son œuvre.  Les mains en l'air, elle déchaîna une véritable tempête de magie qui balaya l'ensemble de la zone pour recréer une image de l'ancienne forêt druidique. Les rues se transformèrent en bosquets sans fond, les voitures garées en arbres, les bouches d'incendie en sources.

Finalement, sous leur influence, le désert de béton s'est transformé en une jungle nordique avec des arbres qui se dressaient majestueusement et dont le sol était recouvert d'une verdure luxuriante. En fonction de leurs caractéristiques, les habitants autrefois humanoïdes de ce complexe hostile à l'homme ont été intégrés à la faune locale, de sorte que Jean, par exemple, a pu garder en permanence sa forme d'ours et que le policier craintif est devenu un mignon petit lapin. L'air était rempli du chant des oiseaux et du murmure des ruisseaux, tandis que le soleil perçait à travers les épais toits de feuilles.

Finalement, lorsque la tempête de magie s'estompa, le quartier des gratte-ciel tomba hors de l'espace-temps, disparaissant dans les brumes de l'oubli, de sorte qu'aucun homme avide ne puisse détruire l'équilibre et les merveilles de la nature.

© 2024 Q.A.Juyub=Aldhar Ibn Beju

[rachelcarsoncenter]

Re:Thinking the Urban: UEI Workshop Report

The Isarauen (Courtesy of Jan Antonin Kolar via Unsplash) By Daniel Dumas and Carolin Maertens 22 January 2021 The Urban Environments Initiative (UEI) held its third workshop entitled Re:Thinking the Urban on 22 January 2021. The online workshop brought UEI members from across the globe together for an in-depth analysis and discussion regarding two case studies of “spaces of living in…

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

On today's walk (creek rehab)

[kitchencabinets1]

A Green Choice Advantages of Bamboo Flooring for Modern Homes

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Bullet Points:

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Conclusion:

"Embrace a greener lifestyle while enhancing your home with the benefits of bamboo flooring. From sustainability to durability and style, it's a smart choice for modern living spaces.

[bopinion]

2023 / 27

Aperçu of the Week:

"We are leaving a trail of devastation through the earth with our daily lives."

(Robert Habeck, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and Vice Chancellor of the Green Party)

Bad News of the Week:

Last week, the planet endured its hottest week since weather records began. Which stupidly means not only ice cream in the outdoor pool, but stress for the planet with all its creatures living on it. Which includes humans. Already last year there were more than 60,000 heat-related deaths in Europe. Only in humans, fauna and flora not included. All creatures suffer the same, they just don't have a lobby that presses sad numbers into the news.

And what do we learn from this? Apparently nothing. Because also last week there were various other news that show the unwillingness of mankind or their (mostly) elected representatives to respect creation. First, there is the continuing loss of rainforest. According to the World Resources Institute, 4.1 million hectares of tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2022. That's the size of Switzerland. Or more graphically: every single minute, tree cover equivalent to eleven soccer fields was lost, mainly in the Congo and Brazil.

Then a decision was made in Brussels that could call into question the entire "Green Deal" of the European Union. Because the Environment Committee surprisingly rejected the renaturation law (EU law for the restoration of nature). The background: the conservative EPP group sees the interests of commercial agriculture threatened, as it was when the pesticide ban was prevented. Now the group leader Manfred Weber (from Bavaria, I am a little ashamed) has pushed through a total blockade. Whether the EU Parliament will still pull the emergency brake here in its session tomorrow, the last before the summer break, is unfortunately unlikely.

Finally, a deadline for regulating deep-sea mining passed on Sunday. Norway has already announced its intention to release large areas off its own coast. Now this is open to international waters as well, theoretically as of now. One example: in the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, many so-called manganese nodules lie at depths of thousands of meters. These are mineral aggregates that are particularly rich in valuable metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt. The responsible authority - International Seabed Authority / ISA - will hardly immediately throw permits around and is supposed to regulate the mining also under environmental aspects. But that man will now also intervene in the last, previously untouched ecosystems, fills me with chills.

Good News of the Week:

A coalition of several parties is always an alliance of convenience. They come together because that's what the election results want. A basic minimum consensus is then laid down in a coalition agreement. This agreement should then be adhered to. This also applies to the current German governing coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals. But that doesn't mean that this agreement is complete. After all, it's hard to foresee the day-to-day political issues for a legislative period of four years. Or a Russian war of aggression, which has led to fundamental upheavals in almost every policy area. Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls this a "turn of the times."

This turning point includes various financial burdens that could not have been foreseen. From special funds for the modernization of the military to cushioning increased energy costs to support for Ukraine. And all this at a time when people, economy and state were still trying to recover from the Corona pandemic and its distortions. So the so-called "debt brake" was suspended in order to regain sufficient liquidity. Now, Finance Minister Christian Lindner is insisting on achieving a balanced budget again as quickly as possible, without incurring new debt (yes, dear USA: that's possible). And he is calling for savings across all departments.

Of course, there is now a lot of whining. Because - hardly surprisingly - no minister sees corresponding savings potential in his area of responsibility. But it doesn't help. And of course the "negotiations" are not taking place in a confidential meeting behind closed doors, but in and via the media. Take the example of the Ministry of Family Affairs. One proposal from Lisa Paus, the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, was to eliminate parental allowance for high-income families with annual incomes of 150,000 euros or more. New parents who stop working after the birth in favor of the child are reimbursed for their lost earnings for 12 to 14 months, up to a maximum of 1,800 euros per month, as a transfer benefit. It is doubtful whether this family would be impoverished by losing a maximum of 25,200 euros. After all, there is still child benefit, etc.

As an alternative (after all, this proposal went unpopular "against families") then, among other things, the deletion of the spousal splitting was discussed. This joint tax assessment of married couples (even without children) deprives the state of 20 billion euros a year. And it is primarily top earners whose partner now works little or not at all who benefit. This is an outdated role model from the time when the man went to work, the woman stayed at home and single parents did not exist. Exactly: it was introduced in 1958. I find that refreshing. A public discussion about the distribution of wealth. In which even seemingly self-evident things are put to the test to see whether they are still in keeping with the times. And fair. Supporting families and children? Yes, no question. Rewarding marriage without a family? Why, actually. Our society has changed fundamentally in the last 65 years. It's time to rethink.

Personal happy moment of the week:

I actually have a certain selection in the last week. On Monday, I had a pleasant reunion with colleagues from another location in the beer garden. On Tuesday, I went to the cinema with my son - overdue since Christmas - and we even managed to agree on a movie, "Spider-Man across the Spider-verse". On Thursday I was with my daughter at a double event of her university student body. And yesterday with my wife and friends at a concert: Italy's superstar Zucchero open air directly at Lake Constance. As part of a weekend trip (which is why this blog is late) on the hottest weekend of the summer so far. Hard to decide...

I couldn't care less...

...about so much nonsense I had to perceive in the last days. Example "hot dog eating contest": the perennial winner of the last years Joey Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes in New York City. Reading this news and commenting briefly here cost me ten minutes of valuable life time. Too bad.

As I write this...

...we have been chasing a fly for hours. The annoying critter buzzes around everywhere and hides as quiet as a mouse as soon as you approach with the fly swatter. It's probably a gang of flies following a precise plan. This could become an exciting night.

Post Scriptum

I don't like some songs that are always in the rotation of radio stations. Probably that's why I listen to the radio at most randomly and only while driving. It's especially bad in the run-up to Christmas, when the same seasonal all time favorites are played every year. Which are not favorites with me at any time. Especially "Last Christmas" by Wham! is a reason for me to change the frequency. Until now. Because in the Netflix documentary about the British pop duo of the 80s, which my wife insisted on watching, I learned an interesting detail.

George Michael was sure he would have scored a #1 hit with it by the end of 1984. And then suspected, when he took part in Bob Geldof's "Band Aid" project and their single "Do they know it's Christmas time?" in the same pre-Christmas period, that it probably wouldn't. And what did he do? No, he didn't sulk, but donated all his earnings from the first year to the project, which was dedicated to fighting hunger in Eritrea. Fine, I think that's good. But now that this "earworm for the ages" is already annoying me in its 39th year, I will continue to switch off. Because I care much less about Michael's heirs than about the starving children of Eritrea.

[zen-garden-gnome]

Bearing the unbearable

It’s popular belief that facing unbearable information risks spreading absolute hopelessness. Not only is this (mostly) untrue, it protects the lifestyles and power structures of those who benefit most from our toxic systems.

While there may be a period of denial, grief, shame, or panic that comes with facing terrible truths and deep discomforts (about climate, about culture, about racism, about gender, about loss, about death), remember that these are just stops on the way to acceptance. Time continues, feelings and associations change, and eventually our worldview adjusts. From there, we can finally operate with different priorities. That’s where real change becomes possible. Not perfection, not guaranteed accuracy, not even necessarily survival. But facing the existential dread allows us to realign with life, which paves the way for changes in the future.

(Besides, when our identities open up beyond our tiny concepts of an individual self, “survival” also becomes a completely different possibility.)

BUT, in order to face the darkness (particularly while surrounded by so many voices and algorithms vying for our reactionary attention), it’s more important than ever to have support in those moments. Not comfort, but space, with some bumpers to help keep us out of the gutter.

Processing takes time, and making it through that time also requires being rooted in something deeper and bigger than our little individual selves in that moment. Our wider relationships extend our nervous system and help us process so much more, which makes our sense of separation from the living world extremely relevant.

When we’re vulnerable and shaken, it’s easy for someone to redirect our energy or for us to shy away from an honest response or introspection because it feels at odds with how we see ourselves, or how we may think others see us, or whatever feels “normal” to do.

This is our collective existential crisis. Whether we choose to bury our heads in the sand (business-as-usual); throw up our hands in disgust with our own “hopeless” species (apocalyptic thinking, which usually underestimates or completely ignores the role of colonization); or participate in an effortful and shift into a totally different way of engaging with the living world (realigning with life), we’re guaranteed discomfort. Every path forward will be deeply challenging and won’t reflect what most of us thought life would be when we were kids. It certainly isn’t reflected in the lives our current systems are telling us to live. The messages our bodies are giving us don’t align with the things our economy and politics are telling us to prioritize.

So if none of it feels good, there’s no reason not to choose the discomfort that aligns with life.

I call the process of leaning into these adjustments “re-naturalization,” and it will take lifetimes. That’s how you know it’s the real deal. No false promises, no shortcuts, just The Work. And again, when our identities open up beyond our tiny concepts of an individual self, the idea of only making choices based on the personal effects in our very limited lifetime is truly absurd.

...Criminal, even. Violent. Irresponsible. And so, so sad.

And after sitting with it, we find we have deeper reservoirs of wisdom and compassion that help us navigate even more skillfully.

[scifi-fantasy-horror]

"Renaturation Protocol" - Command Unit by  Till Freitag

[markus-h]

"Pfunger-Burgweiler Ried" renatured in 2015

These pics were taken 2017 October the 14th (today 6 Years ago)

That day i vent into this reed/moorland from the vilage Wilhelmsdorf into it. How you see in the first pic I was at the first light there (the blue light was such early dominante). After about 15 mins hiking i reached the position of the second pic. Close to that position I took a small path on the right side into the Forest (as I remember - where on the left side the forest stops a little bit - to the right). Wasn't it a good choice?

[bimboficationblues]

What is the difference between liberal and reactionary defenses of the family?

I don’t think they’re easily generalizable, and to some extent they’re not wildly different from each other (this is part of my project in understanding contemporary familialism as a key component of reactionary modernism, which in turn was forged within the fires of liberalism - that is to say they’re nested subjects rather than mutually exclusive or merely overlapping)

but generalize we shall. liberal familialism is about the importance of preserving private life from the overreach of the polity and civil society, which I think ties into liberalism’s interest in procedural quasi-agnosticism about what is “the good life.” because that’s contentious and different people will have different intuitions about it, the idea is that leaving families alone, letting them act as sort of societies or states in miniature (though with some degree of oversight/obligations because of state interests) kind of keeps things relatively stabilized socially. it’s an attempt to generally depoliticize the family.

reactionary familialism is more about the polity as a macrocosm of the family (and religion), treating it as the fundamental mode of social organization and a model to emulate - they’re all about relations of proper place in the world and obedience to that telos. it’s an attempt to renaturalize the family as a prepolitical entity.

the reasons I say they’re nested subjects is that these justifications bleed together because of both the unfirm boundaries between ideologies and the history and development of the bourgeois state as a security state (which is clearly attentive to both of these different ideas), you might see the language of “parental rights” or concerns about the rationality of children (a la Mill) for what is nakedly a desire to subordinate. or biological justifications for why the family arrangement is ultimately the most pragmatic.

trans kid debates are illustrative - the reactionary position is that this needs to be stomped out by government power, “parental rights” only really matter insofar as it’s used to make it functionally impossible to be something that they regard as destabilizing to familial and political life. whereas I think a lot of liberal discourse tries to stake out a sort of minimalist parents’ rights positions (hence the “it’s all blockers, no kids go on hormones or get surgery” refrain). transfeminist or more radical discourse just says bodily autonomy or perhaps “children’s rights” are the salient values.

[aaronsrpgs]

Horse Translator

When you discover you have the power to understand horses and translate their neighs and chuffs into human language, roll +Horse Empathy.

On a 10+, the horses praise you and, if you promise to bring their equine revelations to the people, will tell you something valuable. Choose 1:

They tell you where one of their ancestors buried a priceless treasure far from here.

They leave something horse-ish in your mind, like a hoofprint in mud. Take a move from the Horse playbook.

They teach your rough voice to transcend all fences and boundaries. You can call to any horse at any time, and they will hear.

On a 7-9, the horses promise powerful revelations, but only after you’ve proved your loyalty. The horse chooses 1:

You must burn down a human ranch.

You must purchase and begin to renature a great tract of land.

You must slay the Devil Cow Juicy Lucifer.

On a 6-, the horses suspect your power of translation is ill-gotten and evil. They whisper to you at night, and you see them watching you from alleyways, rooftops, and passing car windows. The clop of hooves and sinister whinnies keep sleep at bay. What can you do? How can they be appeased?!

[kitchencabinets1]

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[forbidden-sorcery]

We need to reject, renaturalize or destroy the city, the central site of authoritarian control and the ideology that prioritizes property over life, hoarded wealth of the few over communities based on sharing, of obedient and weak captives over self-assured and strong individuals. There is no future if we don’t stop adapting to capitalism and start adapting to nature. And every molotov thrown has a message inside the bottle that reads: “I am sick of adapting to capitalism, of adapting to a world of bosses and landlords and elites, of supremacist thinking, of pavement and concrete and vistas denuded of life.” Sure it might not explicitly state that the preference is to adapt to nature, but if all coercion is removed, don’t we end up living closer to the way we’ve evolved, closer to nature?

Seaweed - Riotous Ecology

[b-blushes]

I’m rereading a book about bioluminescence in the dark zone of the sea and it’s talking about enzymes and denaturing.

Okay so I have an allergy to raw fruit and veg, this bit is NOT science™️ it’s layman’s understanding but as far as I know the allergy is related to hay fever aka pollen allergy and the proteins in the raw foods get confused for the proteins in pollen or something so I get allergic reaction to foods. But cooking them denatures the proteins aka changes the molecular ‘shape’ of them so the bits that like lock into them in the allergy response can’t and don’t do that any more so I’m not allergic. Cool. I have to cook everything that’s chill.

The bit I’m reading talks about reactivating enzymes and despite reading this book before that bit stood out to me this time, because i don’t have a huge lot of biology knowledge I just read a lot of nature books. And I didn’t really realise that you could renature (some) denatured enzymes!!!! Like when they are denatured they’re unfolded and sometimes you can do stuff to them that makes them refold ?!

Which made me think like. Are those enzymes ‘alive’. How is a thing that’s unfolded molecular style building itself up again. Is it doing it itself or is it like, more chemical reaction stuff like dissolving salt in water or something, like the components aren’t living and it’s just molecules not uhhh idk a living thing doing living stuff.

Anyway I hadn’t really thought about how fruit is still alive when you eat it raw. Depends on your definition of ‘alive’ I guess but chemical reactions are happening in there. Like I knew the seeds were alive because that’s what seeds are about, becoming a plant when it’s off the tree, but the flesh of the plant is cells also. There’s so much in mundane life that I just take for granted instead of investigating how and why it works or is the way that it is! Wild!!!!!!!

The book is ‘below the edge of darkness’ by Edith widder btw very interesting!

[onlypicturepoetry]

beach and dune renaturation in progress

photography + © Christof Keßemeier