sharpestrose: feminesque: cracked: He’s come a long way from The Shire (not to mention The Social Network!). 4 Ways to Hold the Douchiest Wedding of All Time [Sean] Parker got married last week in an elaborate Lord of the Rings-style enchanted forest wedding of his own design that cost more money than any of us will ever even see. The wedding ended up illegally trampling a national park in the process, proving once and for all that fairy tales only come true for the tooliest toolbags in the Tooliverse. Read More sharpestrose & novembersmith I found you a thing. I appreciate you.  You know what’s better than [12.5] million dollars? A LARP WEDDING, OBVIOUSLY Also: (The California Coastal Commission’s report) found that not only did Parker not have a single permit to build any of that fantasy bullshit for his wedding, including the artificial pond and bridge, but he took zero erosion prevention measures during construction, which caused sedimentation and runoff to spill into a nearby creek. That may sound nitpicky, but the redwood forest is an ecological china shop full of endangered plants and animals — that creek is home to a threatened species of fish. Not to mention the fact that Parker built several structures directly into the fucking redwood trees, which are protected by law. Annnd he’s still claiming that he gave the 2.5 million dollar fine as a “contribution” and was totally within his rights because what he put down were “temporary structures”. I mean, that level of slime is almost impressive. Except, trees :(
View Separately

sharpestrose:

feminesque:

cracked:

He’s come a long way from The Shire (not to mention The Social Network!).

4 Ways to Hold the Douchiest Wedding of All Time

[Sean] Parker got married last week in an elaborate Lord of the Rings-style enchanted forest wedding of his own design that cost more money than any of us will ever even see.

The wedding ended up illegally trampling a national park in the process, proving once and for all that fairy tales only come true for the tooliest toolbags in the Tooliverse.

Read More

sharpestrose & novembersmith

I found you a thing.

I appreciate you. 

You know what’s better than [12.5] million dollars?

A LARP WEDDING, OBVIOUSLY

Also:

(The California Coastal Commission’s report) found that not only did Parker not have a single permit to build any of that fantasy bullshit for his wedding, including the artificial pond and bridge, but he took zero erosion prevention measures during construction, which caused sedimentation and runoff to spill into a nearby creek. That may sound nitpicky, but the redwood forest is an ecological china shop full of endangered plants and animals — that creek is home to a threatened species of fish. Not to mention the fact that Parker built several structures directly into the fucking redwood trees, which are protected by law.

Annnd he’s still claiming that he gave the 2.5 million dollar fine as a “contribution” and was totally within his rights because what he put down were “temporary structures”. I mean, that level of slime is almost impressive. Except, trees :(

Source: cracked.com

Shit They Never Tell You

hedgepodge:

rootandrock:

Did you know that Palo Santo is an endangered species? That the collection of the wood is a regulated business, where ONLY deadfall is permitted to be collected for the trade?

This is why Palo Santo is expensive, and why it’s a really bad idea (and morally questionable as fuck) to buy the “cheap stuff”.  Because either 1: It’s not Palo Santo, or 2: It’s poached.

Did you know that White Sage is becoming scarce in the wild due to over-harvesting for the Newage market? It’s not the only one, either. Aloeswood, Sandalwood, Dragon’s Blood, Frankincense and several others are under serious, dangerous, levels of pressure.

If you have to call on these “allies” - you need to be responsible with your use of them. This is not an issue of “feel-good” ecology, this is an issue of essential conservation - so that there is not an age where Dragon’s Blood is as mythical as it’s namesake.

The great thing is that there are analogues, and there is horticulture. With enough effort you can find decent substitutes or begin growing your own plants (try Alchemy Works for seeds). Combining this with respectful, carefully-sourced, purchases will go a long way toward ensuring these species don’t go extinct because of the newage market.

Additionally? This is also a spot where it’s a really great idea to evaluate whether these things have any actual place or purpose in YOUR practice. Are these things, which are often from disparate cultures, of particular value to your specific culture and practice? Because consumption of the limited resource may prevent a person native to that culture from obtaining it - and uh… that’s something that bears a lot of intense thinking-on and probably some backing-the-hell-off-at-a-high-rate-of-speed.

This is why I’m going to plant white sage in my garden this year and only use what I’ve grown. 

I had someone tell me that it was bad luck to grow your own sage but it’s worse luck to decimate an entire species. I think I’ll take my chances.

Reblogging because this makes a great point, and is something I had no idea about, as well. (I sort of wonder how taxing the oil and incense markets are on this - many people may not be using these to ANY religious purpose, just burning or applying them because they smell nice. I know I bought a lot of Dragon’s Blood-based stuff when I was in high school and college was like a cornucopia of Sandalwood-y dorms.

And that makes me sad, that places like BPAL or just your pagan-y hippie jewelry store down the street are contributing to the death of species by people who don’t even CARE really which one they’re using or like it because they think they should.

On that note - and disclaimer: I’m not actually practicing ANYTHING right now, I just take an interest and have identified as pagan in the past as well as having lots of friends who I keep up with - I’ve always been of the opinion that while herbs and herbology may have intrinsic meaning or cultural significance to people (especially given how many people come from multiple spiritual and ethnic traditions) and there’s nothing wrong with that, we are in a time that is EXCITING and RIFE with people making their own meanings, and that should be able to apply to herbs just as much as anything else. What natively grows in the places you are from? What do you see when you see a plot of land no one has touched*? What properties do you associate with them?

Source: rootandrock

discoverynews: This is a disturbing graphic… everlane: An alarming visualization of when the Earth’s non-renewable resources will run out from the BBC.  EIGHT. That’s how long we have left for antimony - batteries,medicine, and other things). TWELVE years left for touchscreens and solar panels. THIRTY TWO years left for copper (wiring, communications, piping, brass).  FORTY TWO years left until we exhaust every widely used natural fuel. Please full screen this. For those who can’t read the fine print this is what it says: Sources: UN TEEB, US Geological Survey, BP, Worm et al, London Metal Exchange. Figures are worldwide. Living natural resources dates are worst-cased based on published estimates. Minerals and fossil fuel data based on known reserves currently economical to extract, assuming fixed % increase in usage per year. No provision made for changes in demand caused by new technologies, discoveries of new reserves or market forces. Agricultural land means land suitable for rainfed cultivation net of other land usage. Thirty year historic agricultural expansion rates are applied. So yes, this is worst case, but it’s also best case in that it doesn’t assume more than a steady increase in demand, and no other market forces. The population is going up. If there’s a war and oil fields are burned or arable land is destroyed; if we develop something new and cool that everyone needs (and we will); if more schools decide the only way to learn is with a tablet or laptop for each student - and I’m not saying any of these are BAD things, by themselves - if we merely increase our obsolescence rate and more people stop using things until they break and instead get the newest technology to keep up — we are screwed. How many of us replaced our cell phones while they were still working? How many of us replaced them before they were free? (Did you recycle the old one? Good for you if you did, I’m not saying no one does. But most people don’t. And we also just have inefficient recycling processes.) But I say this as someone who sells these things and whose job relies on them selling well: our current hedonism is not going to get better on its own. Our current policies are not going to change if we don’t make them change, if we don’t stand up and say “we want our tax dollars to go toward these initiatives,”. If we don’t inspire our kids not to be astronauts, not to be soldiers but to save the goddamn planet — and I know that sounds facetious and perhaps a little 80s Planeteers, but I am being serious. I watched apocalypse movies when I was younger. Deep Impact was one of my favorites. I always liked the timeline. The way the whole nation got together in the interest of building a safe haven for those who might survive, a plan for the animals and ecosystems needed to farm, somewhere to live after the world was unlivable. The way it was implied that countries all over the world were doing this. But the truth is, we are not that advanced. We can’t see something coming eight years off, much less two, and make it an initiative. If we do not turn our technologies toward survival, away from war and drones and bombs, away from landing on goddamn Mars while destroying our own planet, recreating Michael Jackson in holograph, telling households they can’t survive without four laptops and three TVs, away from developing every square inch of land while thousands are homeless — if we don’t figure out how to reuse these components in a better way, if we don’t figure out how to use power in a better way, if we don’t as a world, not even as a nation but as a species start working together, —the kids born in our lifetime will experience a world without carbon based fuel. Without fuel. Heat. Light. Cooking. Air conditioning. Refrigeration. They will know a world without tigers, without pandas, without lemurs or whales, without hundreds of toads and frogs, tortoises; without rosewood or bamboo, mahogany, without palm trees, fir, cypress, ferns.  Hell, we can’t even depend on advances just in solar power because we’re running out of the stuff to make panels. We need hydroelectric, wind. A focus on recycled materials, a refocus on sustainability. WE NEED TO FIX THIS. And the amazing part is that we can. We have the ingenuity, the brains, the technology to start doing this. If we can get to fucking Mars, we can work together to keep ourselves alive. But we have to want that more than profit for two seconds. And even so, it would create so many jobs. For engineers, specialists, construction, sales people, retention callers keeping people on their hydroelectric and not some one else’s. We just have to do it.
Pop-upView Separately

discoverynews:

This is a disturbing graphic…

everlane:

An alarming visualization of when the Earth’s non-renewable resources will run out from the BBC. 

EIGHT. That’s how long we have left for antimony - batteries,medicine, and other things). TWELVE years left for touchscreens and solar panels. THIRTY TWO years left for copper (wiring, communications, piping, brass). 

FORTY TWO years left until we exhaust every widely used natural fuel.

Please full screen this.

For those who can’t read the fine print this is what it says:

Sources: UN TEEB, US Geological Survey, BP, Worm et al, London Metal Exchange. Figures are worldwide. Living natural resources dates are worst-cased based on published estimates. Minerals and fossil fuel data based on known reserves currently economical to extract, assuming fixed % increase in usage per year. No provision made for changes in demand caused by new technologies, discoveries of new reserves or market forces. Agricultural land means land suitable for rainfed cultivation net of other land usage. Thirty year historic agricultural expansion rates are applied.

So yes, this is worst case, but it’s also best case in that it doesn’t assume more than a steady increase in demand, and no other market forces. The population is going up. If there’s a war and oil fields are burned or arable land is destroyed; if we develop something new and cool that everyone needs (and we will); if more schools decide the only way to learn is with a tablet or laptop for each student - and I’m not saying any of these are BAD things, by themselves - if we merely increase our obsolescence rate and more people stop using things until they break and instead get the newest technology to keep up — we are screwed.

How many of us replaced our cell phones while they were still working? How many of us replaced them before they were free? (Did you recycle the old one? Good for you if you did, I’m not saying no one does. But most people don’t. And we also just have inefficient recycling processes.)

But I say this as someone who sells these things and whose job relies on them selling well: our current hedonism is not going to get better on its own. Our current policies are not going to change if we don’t make them change, if we don’t stand up and say “we want our tax dollars to go toward these initiatives,”. If we don’t inspire our kids not to be astronauts, not to be soldiers but to save the goddamn planet — and I know that sounds facetious and perhaps a little 80s Planeteers, but I am being serious.

I watched apocalypse movies when I was younger. Deep Impact was one of my favorites. I always liked the timeline. The way the whole nation got together in the interest of building a safe haven for those who might survive, a plan for the animals and ecosystems needed to farm, somewhere to live after the world was unlivable. The way it was implied that countries all over the world were doing this. But the truth is, we are not that advanced. We can’t see something coming eight years off, much less two, and make it an initiative.

If we do not turn our technologies toward survival, away from war and drones and bombs, away from landing on goddamn Mars while destroying our own planet, recreating Michael Jackson in holograph, telling households they can’t survive without four laptops and three TVs, away from developing every square inch of land while thousands are homeless — if we don’t figure out how to reuse these components in a better way, if we don’t figure out how to use power in a better way, if we don’t as a world, not even as a nation but as a species start working together,

—the kids born in our lifetime will experience a world without carbon based fuel. Without fuel. Heat. Light. Cooking. Air conditioning. Refrigeration. They will know a world without tigers, without pandas, without lemurs or whales, without hundreds of toads and frogs, tortoises; without rosewood or bamboo, mahogany, without palm trees, fir, cypress, ferns. 

Hell, we can’t even depend on advances just in solar power because we’re running out of the stuff to make panels. We need hydroelectric, wind. A focus on recycled materials, a refocus on sustainability. WE NEED TO FIX THIS. And the amazing part is that we can. We have the ingenuity, the brains, the technology to start doing this. If we can get to fucking Mars, we can work together to keep ourselves alive. But we have to want that more than profit for two seconds.

And even so, it would create so many jobs. For engineers, specialists, construction, sales people, retention callers keeping people on their hydroelectric and not some one else’s.

We just have to do it.

(via ohwhatatragiccost)

Source: everlane

Stop the NRA's Lead-poisoning Legislation

Lead is an extremely toxic substance that we’ve removed from paint, water pipes, and many other things accessible to humans. However, thousands of birds, fish and other wildlife suffer and die from lead poisoning every year because it enters the food chain through fishing tackle and lead ammunition left in fish and discarded in the ecosystem. Bald eagles, endangered California condors, golden eagles, ravens, as well as hawks, loons, cranes, ducks, herons and other birds are severely threatened by ingesting spent shot and sinkers every year. These birds and other animals can die an extremely painful death. This lead also works its way into the food chain in other ways, and threatens our water ways, posing a threat to humans as well.

In March 2012, the Center for Biological Diversity organized groups including veterinarians, ecologists, representatives from American Indian nations, birders, conservations, and public employees to campaign to take the lead out of hunting ammunition. Their request was denied by the EPA — but in June they filed suit against them for refusing to address the issue.

Now, the NRA and its huge gun lobby are arguing that removing toxic materials from the sporting marketplace is “too extreme” and anti-hunting/fishing, introducing legislation that not only make it impossible to do so but guts the Toxic Substances Control act.

Please write to your congresspeople and oppose the Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012 and its riders, and share with your friends and family.

tw: dead animal photo

dead owl entangled with chinese lantern

funnywildlife:

Morning! We were hoping we could ask a favour of you today…would you mind sharing our message with your friends about the dangers that Chinese or ‘sky’ lanterns pose to animals please? We’re worried about the growing popularity of these products, particularly as the Olympics are fast-approaching.

From livestock to marine life, these lanterns can cause horrific injuries and even death through swallowing parts or through entanglement or collision, such as the owl in this picture. We’re issuing a plea to ask people to think of animal-friendly ways to celebrate instead.

Our Chinese (sky) lantern web page has a downloadable information sheet with more information on the dangers of lanterns for animals. Please feel free to download and share this.

(Photograph (c) Simon Pain, Billow Farm)

This! This one’s talking about the ones that are released with open flames to float up into the air, but it’s also dangerous to leave them without lights unattended. It’s also just SO EASY to take them down after dark/once there’s no supervision and reuse them indoors! We took the ones from our wedding home and hung them in our bedroom for a year.

Tangentially, I also hate when people release balloons en masse or let them just fly away. Holy shit is that terrible. Birds and marine life die every year from choking on them, and then the latex just sits there not decomposing.

(via ohwhatatragiccost)

Source: funnywildlife

Goodbye, Urban Decay.

So, like M.A.C Cosmetics earlier this year, Urban Decay has entered the Chinese market, and with it, ended its years-long history of accessible, quality cruelty-free makeup, due to Chinese legislation that requires animal testing for cosmetics to be sold in the country.

Fans were, of course, immediately concerned - a petition has already been started to stop this move, or at least refuse animal testing.

The company attempts to explain on their Facebook page:

No, Urban Decay will not test on animals in China. However, the Chinese government may conduct a test using our products before they can be sold there. We absolutely realize that for many of you, it makes no difference who is doing the testing. But, animal rights are still very much important to Urban Decay, and our decision was a thoughtful one.

They also add in a now-deleted statement on their website:

Do we like China’s policies? No…and that is really the point. Going into China was a huge decision for Urban Decay. But, we believe that change cannot and will not happen by outside pressure alone in a closed market. Change can only happen from within. When we enter the Chinese market, we will do our part to help make those changes.

So what we’re supposed to take away from this is that they care very much about the dogs, cats, rabbits and mice who are being tortured (let’s not dance around this issue - cosmetic testing is some of the most vile stuff on earth) to test the ALREADY OBVIOUSLY SAFE products they would be selling in China and because they care so much, THEY aren’t the one torturing them?

“It’s okay guys. We wash our hands of this whole messy business. Therefore, we’re going to turn a blind eye to what the government ‘may or may not do’.”

Animal testing? Every ingredient in Urban Decay has been approved for sale in the US; many of them are likely the same used by other companies that DO test their products on animals and DO have a presence in the Chinese market. Their product has been “tested” on thousands of consumers in this country with no major recalls. It’s been tested. On a lot of ‘animals’. Rendering more testing totally gratuitous.

If Urban Decay actually cared about changing China’s policies, what they would be doing would be funneling money into animal rights agencies, which there are, in the country. They could deny Chinese distributors their product, because supporting the economy of a government that requires cruelty does not change that government — and let passionate UD fans in China get their products through third party shopping services, online, or overseas. But what they’re doing is MASSIVELY increasing their own sales by moving into a very, very large country. When you stand to make as much profit as Urban Decay does, saying ‘we thought about this long and hard…and we decided to do it anyway’ doesn’t hold much water.

UD’s effect on the cosmetics industry in the US has been by REFUSING to test even while other companies do - by making it easy to find vegetarian and vegan products and thus, making it clear that animal testing is not necessary to make a quality (in fact, often higher quality) product. And though it is much more popular now to offer products that are cruelty-free, most companies in the US still test on animals — in a country that does NOT legally require it for licensure. How they intend to duplicate this success from within a country that does is unclear. Advertising falsely that their products are not tested on animals? Hypocritically handing out brochures on the evils of animal testing? Urban Decay doesn’t even have brick and mortar stores, so their website is the only place they can address the issue, and I strongly doubt that the Chinese UD website is going to be able to offer much copy criticizing Chinese government policy.

And as of right now, they have given no sign of what their plans are to support activism from within. Yes, change comes from within a system, but largely change comes from ACTIVISTS within a system, not a company helping that system and being helped by it. Giving lip service to how much you love your puppy and care about animals, while making billions of dollars off not only their suffering - but their entirely unnecessary suffering - insults the intelligence of the consumer and is a waste of breath.

So that’s the end of my advocacy of Urban Decay, Hard Candy and MAC. Add them to the list: it’s not hard to not buy things.

Ocean Conservation Progress ‘Pitiful’ Over Past 20 Years

ablorg:



We should all rightly congratulate Australia for creating the largest network of marine reserves in the world. However taken as a whole we’re falling pathetically short of what needs to be done to protect oceans.

The Zoological Society of London calls the progress “pitiful.”

BBC News quotes the director of conservation at the Zoological Society of London:

Our analysis shows that almost every commitment made by governments to protect the oceans has not been achieved. If these international processes are to be taken seriously, governments must be held accountable and any future commitments must come with clear plans for implementation and a process to evaluation success or failure.

The commitments referred to are those made at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and in subsequent years.

At that time it was pledged “to establish an ecologically sound network of marine reserves by 2012, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal fishing, protect critical habitat, look after the needs of local fishermen, and restore depleted stocks to healthy levels by 2015.”

Our lack of progress: 1% of seas protected, subsidies contributing to illegal fishing still exist in many places, illegal fishing itself is rampant for many species (including critically endangered ones such as Atlantic bluefin tuna), in many places local fishermen displaced by industrial fishing.

ZSL does cite some areas that have improved:

The recent creation of very large marine reserves around remote islands such as the Chagos Archipelago, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and South Orkney Islands is encouraging, and there have been improvements to the fishing gear used in some areas to reduce their impact on seabird populations. In general, however, the situation remains critical, and there is little or no protection for vulnerable marine habitats which continue to be fished in destructive ways.

And yet when individuals and organizations such as Sea Shepherd step in to stop illegal fishing and illegal whaling, when government won’t, they are the ones who are just as often vilified as they are praised.

We are indeed topsy turvy.

marshmallowmegamama:

Detroit Future Youth: Road to the Allied Media Conference — Indiegogo

besttumblr:

marshmallowmegamama:

Only five days left to support youth media makers in Detroit! THey need to hit $5,000—they’ve already raised $1,485!

I know tumblr can help with this. $5000 IS NOT A THING ON TUMBLR Y’ALL!!!!!

Hey tumblr, check this out! 4k in five days should be easy for the internet.

I’m pushing this fundraiser by youth media makers in Detroit so hard for multiple reasons. Probably the biggest reason is because it is entirely youth led, youth run, youth organized. And those youth are creating media from multiple perspectives. Food justice, environmental justice, digital justice, transportation justice all dominate the perspectives that they’re creating, along with just good old fashioned fun.

And this is important. *Extremely* important. Not just because of the justice perspective—but I need you to ask yourself something. What do you think about when you think about Detroit?

Having done workshops and known a lot of people who’ve done workshops that start off asking this question—and hell, just reading the Detroit tag on tumblr—the majority of responses sound something along the lines of:

destruction

apocolypse

burned out houses

tragic

poor

dead

dying

violent

murder capital

pollution

tragically beautiful

and on and on and on. Every once in a while, some people will mention the gardens and a few people will mention music. but 90% of the responses fall into the “dead dying” category.

What does this mean for Detroiters in general and Detroit youth specifically? It means that already marginalized communities (not the hipsters in midtown or corktown, but the generational detroiters in SW or 48217) are further marginalized. Why? because when something is dead or dying—do you give it resources?

or, as current mayor bing has decided—if the only parts of the city that are “viable” (i.e. “alive”) are the places where hipsters and young professionals are settling, do you give “dead” parts of the city resources? or do you redirect all the resources into the “viable” areas are?

this are not questions you’re meant to think through. you’re meant to see what is happening in Detroit. you’re meant to see that because of the ruin porn that gets reblogged endlessly on tumblr, people really DO stop and think through these questions. they assume that any neighborhood that looks like what they see on tumblr *needs* to be shut down. it only makes *sense*. why would you put resources into burned out destroyed dead communities?

or—more specifically, why do you put resources into a *black* city?

these youth—they aren’t focusing on showing that Detroit really is a good place (that’s the realm of the hipsters)—they’re instead working to build a new world. And the media they create *documents* that process. and through their documentation, they’re creating new narratives about Detroit. Detroit is where liberation isn’t just dreamed—it’s where liberation *happens*.

it says something to me that ruin porn of Detroit can get thousands and thousands and thousands of likes on tumblr, but youth that are doing such amazing work need to be contextualized so that people understand exactly how significant their work really is.

but i’m not really even bitter about that. it’s just a part of the work i need to do as an adult ally.

and now you can do it too. support this campaign in anyway you can. reblogs, donations—even just shifting how you understand detroit will help. asking your friend to pause and really think through what he’s saying when he says something like “detroit is such a [insert bad thing].” Do it so that eventually there comes a time when Detroit youth need help with their work and there are no explanations at all needed.

Everybody just helps however they can, no questions asked. because they know to do so means to be creating justice. 

(via stfuconservatives)

Source: iinventedeverything

reinventingthekarmicwheel: godbrain: chairolyn: letslook4treasure:motherjones: Remember the BP oil spill? The Corexit that BP used to “disperse” the oil can make it tougher for microbes to digest the oil. And, added bonus, it can get sucked up by human skin. COREXIT was used even though EPA-approved alternatives showed to be far less toxic and, in some cases, nearly twice as effective. COREXIT 9527 was replaced  by COREXIT 9500 after the former was deemed unacceptably toxic but only after extensive use. According to BP 1,800,000 gallons of COREXIT went into the Gulf of Mexico but the validity of those numbers is in question. Propylene glycol, one of its ingredients, increases the body’s chemical absorption through the skin. Which is probably the cause of the effect that you see in the pictures. The safety data sheets for Corexit also warn of possible kidney, nervous system, and intestinal problems. Here you can find the Medical Safety Data Sheets for both versions. This dirty mess is far from being over.
Zoom Info
reinventingthekarmicwheel: godbrain: chairolyn: letslook4treasure:motherjones: Remember the BP oil spill? The Corexit that BP used to “disperse” the oil can make it tougher for microbes to digest the oil. And, added bonus, it can get sucked up by human skin. COREXIT was used even though EPA-approved alternatives showed to be far less toxic and, in some cases, nearly twice as effective. COREXIT 9527 was replaced  by COREXIT 9500 after the former was deemed unacceptably toxic but only after extensive use. According to BP 1,800,000 gallons of COREXIT went into the Gulf of Mexico but the validity of those numbers is in question. Propylene glycol, one of its ingredients, increases the body’s chemical absorption through the skin. Which is probably the cause of the effect that you see in the pictures. The safety data sheets for Corexit also warn of possible kidney, nervous system, and intestinal problems. Here you can find the Medical Safety Data Sheets for both versions. This dirty mess is far from being over.
Zoom Info

reinventingthekarmicwheel:

godbrain:

chairolyn:

letslook4treasure:motherjones:

Remember the BP oil spill? The Corexit that BP used to “disperse” the oil can make it tougher for microbes to digest the oil. And, added bonus, it can get sucked up by human skin.

COREXIT was used even though EPA-approved alternatives showed to be far less toxic and, in some cases, nearly twice as effective. COREXIT 9527 was replaced  by COREXIT 9500 after the former was deemed unacceptably toxic but only after extensive use. According to BP 1,800,000 gallons of COREXIT went into the Gulf of Mexico but the validity of those numbers is in question.

Propylene glycol, one of its ingredients, increases the body’s chemical absorption through the skin. Which is probably the cause of the effect that you see in the pictures.

The safety data sheets for Corexit also warn of possible kidney, nervous system, and intestinal problems. Here you can find the Medical Safety Data Sheets for both versions.

This dirty mess is far from being over.

(via discoverynews)

Source: Mother Jones

Indian Man Single-Handedly Plants a 1,360 Acre Forest

ablorg:


A little over 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav “Molai” Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India’s Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

The Times of India recently caught up with Payeng in his remote forest lodge to learn more about how he came to leave such an indelible mark on the landscape:

It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.

“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage . I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” says Payeng, now 47.

While it’s taken years for Payeng’s remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn’t take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deers, rhinos, tigers, and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss elsewhere.

Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng’s project, Forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they’ve come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough.

“We’re amazed at Payeng,” says Assistant Conservator of Forests, Gunin Saikia. “He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero.”

This is beautiful.

captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info
captainfabfro: coldbloodedenforcers: embertatnum: Rick Santorum, everybody. I think he said it best himself: “I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.” WHAT THE FUCK????? In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.
Zoom Info

captainfabfro:

coldbloodedenforcers:

embertatnum:

Rick Santorum, everybody.

I think he said it best himself:

“I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, now we are going to decide who are people, and who are not people.”

WHAT

THE

FUCK?????

In comparison Sarah Palin is looking pretty good

I don’t even understand how people vote for this dude.

(via fuckyeahgirlcrush)

Source: adolescentlupine

faerie-floss: NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years. This is so viscerally upsetting to me, I can’t actually put words to it. And it’s also so stupid, I mean - we wonder why weather is affecting us so much more badly. Trees help aid against erosion, flooding, act as wind breaks…they’re ESSENTIAL. I don’t care if you “believe” in global warming — the fact is, humans are destroying the balanced ecosystem of every place that they live and we are going to kill ourselves through overpopulation and stupidity.
Pop-upView Separately

faerie-floss:

NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years.

This is so viscerally upsetting to me, I can’t actually put words to it.

And it’s also so stupid, I mean - we wonder why weather is affecting us so much more badly. Trees help aid against erosion, flooding, act as wind breaks…they’re ESSENTIAL. I don’t care if you “believe” in global warming — the fact is, humans are destroying the balanced ecosystem of every place that they live and we are going to kill ourselves through overpopulation and stupidity.

(via full-of-video-tape)

Source: travelerschecks

Declare ‘Human’ Rights For Dolphins & Whales, Scientists Urge

ablorg:

Declare Human Rights For Dolpins & Whales, Scientists Urge

A session this week at the world’s largest annual science conference presented the case for considering whales and dolphins as non-human persons, with basic rights to life, liberty and well-being. The session at the American Associaton for the Advancement of Science considered the ethical and policy implications of recent advances in scientific understanding of the intelligence and behavior of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises.) and urged support for the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans, originally proposed in 2010.

Proponents of the Declaration point to the advanced intelligence of cetaceans. The session description reads: “A variety of scientific studies have found that whales and dolphins are capable of advanced cognitive abilities (such as problem-solving, artificial “language” comprehension, and complex social behavior), indicating that these cetaceans are far more intellectually and emotionally sophisticated than previously thought.” The participants presented multiple examples of cetaceans acting with empathy, cooperation, and self awareness.

One of the presenters, Dr. Lori Marino, outlined the ramification of recognizing cetacean “personhood” as it relates to whaling: “Once you shift from seeing a being as a property, a commodity, a resource, to a person, an autonomous entity that has a right to life on his or her own terms, the whole framework shifts.. this is not about harvesting resources, this is about murder.”

The Declaration has a long road to any kind of passage or world recognition, and faces stiff opposition from the whaling industry, from marine parks or facilities that keep whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity, and from some religious groups who object to equating animal species with humans.

Caveats and Precedents
A case might be made that there are pressing concerns to preserve and expand human rights in the world. Canada’s National Post quotes a spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, when asked about the declaration: “I sometimes wonder whether we’ve got our priorities mixed up when we treat animals and the environment with more respect than human beings. There are billions of people around the world who deserve our attention.” Opponents seem to assume that compassion is a zero sum game, as if extending rights to one group means there’s less to go around for everyone else.

However, extending the concept of personhood beyond human individuals is a fraught action, as we have seen in the U.S. case, Citizens United. By declaring that corporations are persons, the Supreme Court unleashed a torrent of corporate funding into an already cash-engorged political system. If the concept of personhood can be extended to corporations, surely the case could be made that dolphins are at least as human as Exxon Mobil or Monsanto.

Bolding mine. I don’t think cetaceans are (at all) the only species that deserve this — in fact I think most animals are certainly worthy of being treated with much more concern, given humanity’s trend toward looting and plundering the entire planet — but I like that it’s at least being discussed, since that’s a good step in the right direction.

It IS mildly problematic to discuss personhood in terms of sentience or intelligence. While many animals - dolphins, apes, dogs, octopuses, even crows - can be tested via human tests of intelligence, there are undoubtedly many more whose intelligence is not quantifiable by doing tests designed for humans, because they simply don’t function inside our parameters or society. IQ tests, for instance, are culturally biased - people with very different cultural norms and mores have trouble with them - so how can we be unbiased toward animals?

It’s extreme arrogance for us to claim we - an animal ourselves - know which animals are intelligent. ALL of them are intelligent and capable of complex social interaction, or they wouldn’t be alive on the planet. Some are probably much more intelligent than we are.

The First 70 by Heath Hen Films — Kickstarter

Last May California announced plans to close one quarter of their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere $22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the state’s historic parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural parks. The media has done little to disclose the ongoing closures or emphasize their impact.  

Not wanting to miss the chance to see these places before they were gone forever, we decided to make our way across California in a converted airport shuttle bus, shooting as many parks and people as possible. Individuals we met along the way were concerned about the closing of their local parks, but no one had a collective firsthand experience of the overall picture. As we connected dots on a map, a pattern emerged. No one knew exactly what the conditions of closure would be, nor could they see how the state would ultimately benefit.  

The First 70 is a short film about Californians banding together to enact change and develop solutions in the face of a glaring bureaucratic oversight. Volunteers have been forced to lend even more of their time and effort to support the already grossly underfunded state park system. Independent organizations and nonprofits have become obligated to step up to the challenge of keeping parks open, supporting them financially while working within the state’s guidelines.

This is an amazing, brave project to take on and I hope people support it. Plus, they have cool little presents for people at every level of donation. Please help out!

If you’re interested in giving to crowdsourced projects in the future OR starting one, I found this through 10 Smart Kickstarter Projects for your Holiday Cash - though not all of them are Kickstarter, some are IndieGoGo or Emphas.is - and those sites are also good places to look (emphas.is is particularly for photojournalism).