#Climate-induced Risks

[westvalleyfaultph]

Safeguarding Coastal Communities: MGB Conducts Vital Coastal Vulnerability Assessment in Caraga Town

Scan the QR code to get this post on the go. In a proactive move to monitor climate-induced hazards, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) recently conducted a comprehensive coastal vulnerability assessment in Caraga town, Davao Oriental. The aim was to analyze and address potential risks posed by erosion, tsunamis, storm surges, and sea level rise in these inherently susceptible coastal…

[surinderbhalla]

Blood Pressure: Impact of Heat Wave

Heat waves are becoming increasingly common occurrences in various parts of the world due to climate change. Beyond the discomfort and health risks associated with high temperatures, there is growing concern about their potential impact on cardiovascular health, particularly blood pressure. In this article, “Blood Pressure: Impact of Heat Wave”, we delve into the scientific evidence to understand…

[reasonsforhope]

The World's Forests Are Doing Much Better Than We Think

You might be surprised to discover... that many of the world’s woodlands are in a surprisingly good condition. The destruction of tropical forests gets so much (justified) attention that we’re at risk of missing how much progress we’re making in cooler climates.

That’s a mistake. The slow recovery of temperate and polar forests won’t be enough to offset global warming, without radical reductions in carbon emissions. Even so, it’s evidence that we’re capable of reversing the damage from the oldest form of human-induced climate change — and can do the same again.

Take England. Forest coverage now is greater than at any time since the Black Death nearly 700 years ago, with some 1.33 million hectares of the country covered in woodlands. The UK as a whole has nearly three times as much forest as it did at the start of the 20th century.

That’s not by a long way the most impressive performance. China’s forests have increased by about 607,000 square kilometers since 1992, a region the size of Ukraine. The European Union has added an area equivalent to Cambodia to its woodlands, while the US and India have together planted forests that would cover Bangladesh in an unbroken canopy of leaves.

Logging in the tropics means that the world as a whole is still losing trees. Brazil alone removed enough woodland since 1992 to counteract all the growth in China, the EU and US put together. Even so, the planet’s forests as a whole may no longer be contributing to the warming of the planet. On net, they probably sucked about 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year between 2011 and 2020, according to a 2021 study. The CO2 taken up by trees narrowly exceeded the amount released by deforestation. That’s a drop in the ocean next to the 53.8 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted in 2022 — but it’s a sign that not every climate indicator is pointing toward doom...

More than a quarter of Japan is covered with planted forests that in many cases are so old they’re barely recognized as such. Forest cover reached its lowest extent during World War II, when trees were felled by the million to provide fuel for a resource-poor nation’s war machine. Akita prefecture in the north of Honshu island was so denuded in the early 19th century that it needed to import firewood. These days, its lush woodlands are a major draw for tourists.

It’s a similar picture in Scandinavia and Central Europe, where the spread of forests onto unproductive agricultural land, combined with the decline of wood-based industries and better management of remaining stands, has resulted in extensive regrowth since the mid-20th century. Forests cover about 15% of Denmark, compared to 2% to 3% at the start of the 19th century.

Even tropical deforestation has slowed drastically since the 1990s, possibly because the rise of plantation timber is cutting the need to clear primary forests. Still, political incentives to turn a blind eye to logging, combined with historically high prices for products grown and mined on cleared tropical woodlands such as soybeans, palm oil and nickel, mean that recent gains are fragile.

There’s no cause for complacency in any of this. The carbon benefits from forests aren’t sufficient to offset more than a sliver of our greenhouse pollution. The idea that they’ll be sufficient to cancel out gross emissions and get the world to net zero by the middle of this century depends on extraordinarily optimistic assumptions on both sides of the equation.

Still, we should celebrate our success in slowing a pattern of human deforestation that’s been going on for nearly 100,000 years. Nothing about the damage we do to our planet is inevitable. With effort, it may even be reversible.

-via Bloomburg, January 28, 2024

[ellipsus-writes]

Ellipsus Digest: March 18

Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression.

This week: AI continues its hostile takeover of creative labor, Spain takes a stand against digital sludge, and the usual suspects in the U.S. are hard at work memory-holing reality in ways both dystopian and deeply unserious.

ChatGPT firm reveals AI model that is “good at creative writing” (The Guardian)

... Those quotes are working hard.

OpenAI (ChatGPT) announced a new AI model trained to emulate creative writing—at least, according to founder Sam Altman: “This is the first time i have been really struck by something written by AI.” But with growing concerns over unethically scraped training data and the continued dilution of human voices, writers are asking… why? 

Spoiler: the result is yet another model that mimics the aesthetics of creativity while replacing the act of creation with something that exists primarily to generate profit for OpenAI and its (many) partners—at the expense of authors whose work has been chewed up, swallowed, and regurgitated into Silicon Valley slop.

Spain to impose massive fines for not labeling AI-generated content (Reuters)

But while big tech continues to accelerate AI’s encroachment on creative industries, Spain (in stark contrast to the U.S.) has drawn a line: In an attempt to curb misinformation and protect human labor, all AI-generated content must be labeled, or companies will face massive fines. As the internet is flooded with AI-written text and AI-generated art, the bill could be the first of many attempts to curb the unchecked spread of slop.

Besos, España 💋

These words are disappearing in the new Trump administration (NYT)

Project 2025 is moving right along—alongside dismantling policies and purging government employees, the stage is set for a systemic erasure of language (and reality). Reports show that officials plan to wipe government websites of references to LGBTQ+, BIPOC, women, and other communities—words like minority, gender, Black, racism, victim, sexuality, climate crisis, discrimination, and women have been flagged, alongside resources for marginalized groups and DEI initiatives, for removal.

It’s a concentrated effort at creating an infrastructure where discrimination becomes easier… because the words to fight it no longer officially exist. (Federally funded educational institutions, research grants, and historical archives will continue to be affected—a broader, more insidious continuation of book bans, but at the level of national record-keeping, reflective of reality.) Doubleplusungood, indeed.

Pete Hegseth’s banned images of “Enola Gay” plane in DEI crackdown (The Daily Beast)

Fox News pundit-turned-Secretary of Defense-slash-perpetual-drunk-uncle Pete Hegseth has a new target: banning educational materials featuring the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His reasoning: that its inclusion in DEI programs constitutes "woke revisionism." If a nuke isn’t safe from censorship, what is?

The data hoarders resisting Trump’s purge (The New Yorker)

Things are a little shit, sure. But even in the ungoodest of times, there are people unwilling to go down without a fight.

Archivists, librarians, and internet people are bracing for the widespread censorship of government records and content. With the Trump admin aiming to erase documentation of progressive policies and minority protections, a decentralized network is working to preserve at-risk information in a galvanized push against erasure, refusing to let silence win.

Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!) Until next week, - The Ellipsus Team xo

[balkanradfem]

I spent a big chunk of my life believing I should not be put into a leadership position, or be the one to make choices, because I could see what kind of choices m*n make, and I knew I couldn't do that. They were selfish, cruel, cold-hearted, destructive, inconsiderate, self-centered, sometimes rage-induced choices that served nobody but the m*n making them.

To me it was almost a shock a m*n could keep making such choices, because what about everyone else who would keep suffering because of them, what about the environment, what about the lives of his family members, what about the well-being of his children, his wife, the neighborhood, the planet? I could see negative impact of male choices on every one of those, and I knew I could never make that call. And the thing that I was led to believe was – these choices were necessary.

I was not fit to make choices like this, because I was too kind, too considerate, too gentle, too naive, too worried about everyone else to do what 'has to be done'. I was not bold enough to inconvenience my own family and the entire community, I wasn't willing to risk damage to other people and the environment, I wasn't willing to put my own family into suffering in order to get what I want, which for m*n was most often the free labour, access to women, and money. I was my unwillingness to make such choices was what made me soft, unfit to be a leader. Why m*n had to be in charge. Because they were 'rational'. They didn't linger on all those 'feelings' and could keep 'a cool head' when making choices. They didn't 'care too much', like I did. In fact, I would argue, they did not care at all.

Now as an adult, I can look back and see where those choices have led. The world is in a terrible economic state because of the cold and senseless greed of m*n who found a way to push it that far. The environment is in crisis, climate worsened by endless male greed for capital and hoarding. Millions of lives lost in wars led for the sake of m*n who can gain something from it. Half of population leading lives of servitude and fighting for basic human rights, because m*n benefit from it. Countless families struggling because the male put in the leadership position cared more about his own pleasure and whims than the lives of his family members, who he believed exist only to serve them. That is where the 'rational, cool-headed, not caring too much' thinking has brought us. We're all struggling trough devastation because choices were put into hands of people who could not have cared less what the rest of the world paid, if they could benefit.

None of those choices were necessary. None of those should have been made. None of it was done in good faith or using any kind of common sense of reason. None of this is rational, none of it is reasonable or cool headed. I would not have made any of those choices because I cared enough to not bring devastation, death, destruction, burden and suffering onto society. Because even as a child, I was able to think ahead more than just how to get to the next thing I wanted. I could see the consequences and the effect my actions had on people around me, and on the environment. I cared about all of it enough to not do anything to disrupt or destroy it. Because I had common sense, was reasonable, rational, and cool-headed enough to not sink into my own desires and wants to the point where the rest of the world was irrelevant to me.

The idea that males are capable of any impulse control, any rationality, cool headedness or making necessary choices, was a filthy, disgusting lie. It was me and other women who were doing that all along. We were told this sense and sensibility to not ruin everything around us was our fault, why we shouldn't be put in charge, but it's our greatest strenght. It's why only us should ever be in charge of anything.

[adropofhumanity]

the 10 crises the world must not look away from:

1. SUDAN

24.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a still-escalating war brings sudan to the top of the watchlist. fighting has more than doubled humanitarian needs in less than a year and displaced 6.6 million people- bringing the country to the brink of collapse. more people are internally displaced within sudan than in any other country on earth. in darfur, human rights groups have reported mass killings and forced displacement along ethnic lines.

2. PALESTINE

3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid (gaza and the west bank). gaza enters 2024 as the deadliest place for civilians in the world. i*****i airstrikes and fighting have had a direct and devastating impact on civilians that will continue to grow as hostilities persist into early 2024, at least. with more than 18,700 palestinians killed, 85% of the population displaced, and over 60% of gaza's housing units destroyed, people living in gaza will struggle to recover and rebuild their lives long after the fighting ends.

3. SOUTH SUDAN

9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the war across the border in sudan threatens to undermine south sudan's fragile economy and could add to political tensions in the run-up to the country's first-ever elections. meanwhile, an economic crisis and increased flooding have impacted families' ability to put food on the table. a predicted fifth year of flooding could also damage livelihoods and drive displacement.

4. BURKINA FASO

6.3 million people in need of humanitarian aid. as the burkinabè military struggles to contain armed groups, violence is rapidly growing and spreading across the country. roughly 50% of the country is now outside government control.

5. MYANMAR

18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the conflict in myanmar has spread significantly since the military retook political power in 2021. 18.6 million people in myanmar are now in need of humanitarian assistance - nearly 19 times more than before the military takeover. myanmar has seen decades of conflict, but in oct. 2023, three major armed groups resumed clashes with the government. over 335,000 people have been newly displaced since the latest escalation began.

7. MALI

6.2 million people in need of humanitarian aid. dual security and economic crises are driving up civilian harm and humanitarian needs. conflict between the military government and armed groups will likely escalate.

8. SOMALIA

6.9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. somalia faces heightened conflict and climate risks after a record drought. more recently, widespread flooding has displaced more than 700,000 people and will likely continue into early 2024.

9. NIGER

4.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a coup in july 2023 triggered massive instability that risks a rapid worsening of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.

10. ETHIOPIA

20 million people in need of humanitarian aid. communities across the country are facing the twin threats of multiple conflicts and the likelihood of el niño-induced flooding. the nov. 2022 ceasefire between the government of ethiopia and the tigray people's liberation front (TPLF) continues to hold in northern ethiopia, but other conflicts, particularly in the central oromia region and in amhara in the northwest, are fueling humanitarian needs and raising the risk of a return to large-scale fighting.

11. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

25.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid. weak state capacity has exposed many congolese to one of the world's most protracted crises, driven by conflict, economic pressures, climate shocks and persistent disease outbreaks. now, a resumed offensive by the M23 armed group is driving up conflict and humanitarian needs. the country enters 2024 with 25.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance - more than any other country on earth. the magnitude of the crisis has strained services, created high levels of food insecurity and fueled the spread of disease.

— via my.linda__ on instagram

[mariacallous]

One of the leading U.S. experts on fascism is so unsettled by the political climate under President Donald Trump that he’s packing up and leaving the country. Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale University and the author of books including How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, has accepted a position at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy that will begin in the fall.

Stanley is not the only prominent Yale professor leaving the Ivy League university amid Trump 2.0. He’ll be joined at Munk by two colleagues, historians Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore, in one of many signs that the United States is in the midst of a Trump-induced brain drain as the new administration threatens university funding, among many other unfriendly steps toward the world of academia.

In a wide-ranging interview with Foreign Policy, Stanley, who has raised alarm bells about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies for years and unequivocally calls the president a fascist, discussed his reasons for leaving the United States and Trump’s controversial Monday meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele—who styles himself the “world’s coolest dictator”—among other topics.

During the Bukele meeting, which Stanley described as a “horrifying moment,” Trump again floated sending U.S. citizens to be imprisoned in the Central American country—which legal experts warn would likely be unconstitutional. This came as the Trump administration continues to defy a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of a Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.

Though Stanley has faced some criticism over his impending exodus from the United States, he’s making no apologies as he continues to warn people against assuming they’re not at risk of being targeted in Trump’s America.

“We need to call out the naivete of people who think that this will stop at noncitizens,” Stanley said.

“I am unwillingly going because I don’t want to leave the United States. It’s my home and always will be my home,” Stanley said.

Stanley said the well-being of his children is the primary reason for his decision. “I have two Black sons,” Stanley said. “I’m scared for the safety of my sons. And the explicit anti-Blackness of the moment is more frightening to me than it would be for someone without two Black sons.”

Trump has a long history of espousing white nationalist viewpoints and conspiracy theories, and his administration’s recent aggressive effort to eradicate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from virtually every aspect of American life has been widely decried as racist.

Stanley, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, said his family history also contributed to his choice to leave the United States. There are “obvious parallels” between the climate in 1930s Nazi Germany and what we’re seeing in the United States today, Stanley said.

“Plenty of intellectuals left Germany in ’32 to ’34, when it was unclear what was going to happen,” he said, adding, “The United States might be fine. But in the case where it’s not fine, you want to leave early for better positions.”

But the Trump administration’s assault on academia also played a big role in this. Stanley said he “impulsively” accepted the job at the University of Toronto after Columbia University caved to demands from the Trump administration in order to receive $400 million in federal funding. The university agreed to major changes, including overhauling its rules for protests and new supervision over the Middle Eastern studies department.

After Columbia capitulated, Stanley said he knew that the Trump administration’s demands for academic institutions would “get excessively more crazy” and that “it would have been foolish to decline the opportunity.” Stanley pointed to Trump’s recent demands of Harvard University, which include scrapping DEI programs and establishing “viewpoint diversity” in admissions and hiring. Harvard has rejected Trump’s demands, and the administration froze roughly $2.3 billion in federal funding in response.

“Imagine if newspapers were told: ‘We’re going to monitor your journalism to make sure that you hire Trump-friendly journalists and opinion writers.’ You would know you’re not living in a democracy anymore,” Stanley said. “It’s no different with universities.”

Stanley underscored that the Trump administration’s war on universities is straight out of an authoritarian playbook. Throughout history, the rise of authoritarian regimes has coincided with attacks on intellectuals—and efforts to discredit the institutions they’re associated with—in concert with the scapegoating of marginalized groups.

Authoritarians view universities—vital centers of critical thought and free expression—as an innate threat to their desire for complete subservience, Stanley explained. In 1931, for example, Italy’s Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, forced university professors to take loyalty oaths. In a more recent example, Central European University in 2018 was forced out of Budapest by the increasingly authoritarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, ultimately relocating to Vienna.

“Looking worldwide, authoritarians attacked the universities first,” said Stanley, who discusses this trend at length in his book Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. Authoritarians look to erase “critical history” and “replace it with patriotic education,” Stanley said.

Stanley said authoritarian regimes often malign and deliberately misrepresent student protest movements while moving to delegitimize universities—and major media outlets have a habit of aiding in the process.

“India is a central case. In 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act passed, which made Muslims into second-class citizens. And there were protests at elite universities in India,” Stanley said. “The media misrepresented these protests as violent anti-national protests on behalf of Muslims. And they were crushed violently.”

Stanley said the U.S. media’s coverage of protests over the war in Gaza on college campuses last year followed a similar trajectory. “The media misrepresented the anti-war protests. It took the media months to acknowledge that there was substantial Jewish participation,” Stanley said.

“The media still doesn’t understand. They’re like: ‘Why is the Trump administration so focused on universities?’” Stanley said. “The universities, not because of ideological indoctrination but because they contain a lot of young smart people called students, have always been the source of resistance against authoritarianism and unjust war.”

Stanley also criticized Trump for invoking antisemitism amid his crackdown on academic institutions and effort to deport foreign-born students in relation to pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. He warned that by framing this around the issue of antisemitism, Trump is perpetuating a dangerous stereotype that Jews control powerful institutions.

The Trump administration has repeatedly portrayed campus protests over the war in Gaza as pro-Hamas and antisemitic and has moved to revoke student visas across the country while strong-arming universities into enacting reforms in exchange for continued funding. Stanley is concerned that by claiming to take these actions on behalf of the Jewish community, Trump will actually worsen antisemitism by fueling toxic tropes.

Referring to the Trump administration as “Christian nationalists,” Stanley said Jews and antisemitism are being exploited by the White House for the sake of controlling universities. He’s worried that Jews, in turn, will ultimately be blamed for Trump’s fascism.

Stanley added that any discussion on this “must start and end with the fact that it’s masking the suffering of Palestinians facing a genocide.”

“The true victims in all of this are the people of Gaza, whose extraordinary plight is being covered up by this fake pretense of protecting American Jews. And Jewish people stand against tyranny, that’s our historical role. We stand for liberalism. And they’re entirely trying to change what we stand for,” Stanley said.

[niinnyu]

what fear entity do you think every red valley character would be aligned with?

Oooh let's see

Gordon- The Lonely, The Buried: he's canonically afraid of being 'buried under a thousand tonnes of rock' and considering what happens it's not so much a throwaway fear. The Lonely considering how he's got proper social anxiety and doesn't seem to have any friends or family. No one who'd notice if he just disappeared. (Until! Warren. Even tho i find it very interesting that he consciously never opened up about himself outside of the more fun stuff like his band and interests. An added barrier in his relationships, i have more to say about this but i digress). Maybe The Flesh? He did get a kick out of seeing and thinking of the gorey shit happening at red valley, tho was immediately upset when it became too real and personal so hmm might still count but in the opposite way.

Warren- The Lonely, The Stranger, The flesh+spiral: *pats his back gently* this bad boy can theoretically fit so many fears.

Flesh and Spiral as a combination since they're both aftereffects of him being experimented on with the physical toll and how bryony treated him to exacerbate his ptsd.

The Stranger, again, thanks to Bryony and their fake marriage. While speaking to Aubrey in the MBF Warren mentioned how he's not sure if Gordon also isn't a plant, and the general distrust of Aubrey ('s existance lmao) and sure that's also because he's not completely lucid but it also makes sense for him to be doubtful.

Depending on the circumstance of the murder he committed, i think The Slaughter could also be a fear?

BUT ALSO possibly The Web since according to Bryony, Warren cried from relief at his sentencing because he no longer had to be at the helm of his life, didn't risk making decisions he'd regret.

And all these culminate into a some level of The Lonely. Gordon already called him that even.

Aubrey: The Web, The Flesh- she seems to regret a lot for the decisions she's made which inform her decisions now and worries if those decisions are the right ones. The Flesh since seeing the effects of what she did firsthand during the Teddybear's picnic is what snapped her out of everything she was doing. Maybe even The End although it's more like a psychopomp ig lol (though in her current form the fear isn't as potent).

Bryony- The Flesh, The Web: She experiments on people for bodily oreservation and doesnt mind ripping them apart, pretty self explanatory for the flesh (as an avatar where she induces the fear). The web with how manipulative she can be if thinks it will get what she wants or is observing. Technically the stranger but I don't think she got anything personally out of it in terms of her fear or Warren's (since he was aware only later, and once he was, she used it more to manipulate him anyway)

Clive- The Lonely, the Extinction/Slaughter: one of the most anger inducing moments for me was when I *did* feel bad when Clive realised his daughter and family would be going into cryosleep (to wake up one day in a faraway future) and he wouldn't get to join them. That he's currently deserted. Extinction more as a possible thing he might have to experience with the current climate (natural) and Slaughter because of the current climate (socio-political).

[evenmorebasicpotathoe]

I just reread the maximum ride series for the first time since they came out 20 years ago and holy shit wtf that series is like a fever dream. I remember being in middle school devouring those books, thinking they were the greatest things on earth. Spoiler, they aren’t. Here’s a spoilery review no one asked for:

the first 3 books are pretty okay (minus some negative language around mental health that was very common in those early 2000’s books). Everything is written to be fast and leave you hanging on every end of the chapter. There is some vague overarching plot. Then it gets worse lol.

Book 4 is insanely bad and most of the next few books (4-8) have the same plug and chug formula with absolutely no plot or consistency. It’s insane how there can be so many plot holes in a book with no plot. Not only that, but the amount of retconning is mind boggling. So much so I thought at one point the actual ending was going to be max waking up from a white coat induced dream where all her adventures never happened and it was a simulation. And somehow that would have made more sense than book 8’s ending. I won’t even mention the climate change soap box these books adopted here. Like it wasn’t out of place but it did get old as every villain/evil group wanted to save the world by killing more and more humans. oh yeah and the less evolved enhanced people (max and her flock) which makes absolutely no sense. I will say max addressing the us congress was insane and she made some good points.

Marketed as the “last maximum ride” novel I know I was pissed when I read that ending of max failing to save the world lol. Which leads us to the insane shift in tone in the actual last novel where everyone is fake murdered one by one and it’s very detailed about how it happens. But then everyone is ok except fang who is actually dead. But he’s not because Dylan kills himself to revive fang. So dark and insane. The whole series max is told that she’ll save the world and I guess she does it by being pregnant with fang and his immortal dna? I’m still unclear. Let’s just say I was hoping for something more uhhh cool? and less teen pregnancy saving the world lol. At least the epilogue was nice.

Just a fun fact about me if you made it this far, I’m pretty sure max and fang (fax) were the first fictional characters I shipped lol and they were the only reason I was reading the later books both in the past and now tbh. low key it is watered down twilight for teens but I was/am here for it. who needs actual character development when fang leaves all the time just to come back, make up with max, and leave again? not me, I was there for the drama. I do feel really bad about Dylan and his imprinting and lack of free will situation now that I have a fully developed brain. I really thought he’d end up with max’s clone but no happy endings for them I guess

there’s a ton more I could say about angel, the voice, jeb etc, but I’m already rambling as is, feel free to ask specifics.

These books are terrible, and I love them. Read at your own risk lol

[the-most-humble-blog]

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<script>

TRANSMISSION_CODE="DNA_RESURRECTION_VIRUS_RISK_PROTOCOL_V2"

TRIGGER_WARNING="technological hubris, ancient virology, genetic horror"

EFFECT="scroll-induced scientific dread, evolutionary humility, extinction realism"

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🦠 “SOME SCIENTISTS WANT TO BRING BACK EXTINCT ANIMALS”

COOL. YOU PACKING A BIOHAZARD SUIT, SPOCK?

Let’s break this down.

You’ve got a lab full of caffeinated postgrads,

a half-thawed mammoth femur,

some DNA that’s been stewing in death for 20,000 years,

and a budget funded by dudes who still think climate change is a vibe.

And you’re gonna what?

Resurrect it.

Clone it.

Bring it back.

Because you miss it?

You miss an animal that died before pottery existed?

That’s not science.

That’s species-level narcissism.

🧠 YOU’RE NOT A GOD. YOU’RE A MONKEY WITH SYRINGES.

And worse—

You’re a monkey who thinks ancient DNA is like a Spotify playlist.

Downloadable. Editable.

Risk-free.

But let me tell you something that will wipe that smug synthetic enlightenment off your pie hole:

Viruses hide in DNA.

They’ve been doing it longer than your lineage has had language.

They sleep inside code.

And they don’t give a shit about your "ethical resurrection framework."

🧬 LET’S GET BIOLOGICALLY REAL FOR A SECOND:

Up to 8% of your own genome is viral garbage.

Old infections.

Retroviruses.

Unstable code from long-forgotten plagues

that hardwired themselves into your great-great-grand-monkey’s baby batter.

We carry these things around like ticking biological landmines.

They’re mostly harmless—

until something pokes them in the wrong order.

Now imagine pulling code from a woolly mammoth that hasn’t seen sunlight in 30,000 years.

Code that evolved before the human immune system knew what an antibody was.

📉 AND THAT CODE?

It’s not clean.

It’s not empty.

It’s a zipped folder full of viral corpses and dormant nightmares.

You unzip it—

and some of those corpses twitch.

📡 THIS ISN’T A SCI-FI WARNING. IT’S DOCUMENTED REALITY.

Example #1:

In 2022, French scientists revived a 48,500-year-old virus

trapped in Siberian permafrost.

Yes, it still worked.

No, they didn’t fully understand how.

Example #2:

In 1995, researchers revived bacteria from the stomach of a 25-million-year-old bee

preserved in amber.

It grew. It replicated.

It smelled like the Paleocene.

And it didn’t ask your permission.

Example #3:

In human organ transplantation, porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs)

have been shown to cross species lines.

Even with filtering.

Even with CRISPR.

So now imagine doing this with a dead species

that existed before your genome had brakes.

🧟‍♂️ THIS IS GENETIC NECROMANCY, NOT INNOVATION.

You’re not reviving animals.

You’re booting up entire forgotten ecosystems—

complete with the microbial parasites, symbiotic viruses,

and metabolic co-adaptations

no one accounted for

because they were never written down.

There were no medical journals during the Ice Age, Spock.

Only extinction.

🔬 AND THEN THERE’S HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER:

This one’s spicy.

Some viruses and bacteria don’t just infect.

They share genes.

They trade code like baseball cards.

Which means your lab-created thylacine

might suddenly start expressing unknown proteins

from an ancient bacterial colony

it doesn’t even remember ever meeting.

And you won’t catch it until your test subject

starts bleeding from three new orifices

and refusing to respond to sedatives.

But hey—at least it made the news.

🧪 “BUT WE HAVE PROTOCOLS!”

Shut up.

You also had protocols for gain-of-function research.

You had protocols at Wuhan.

You had protocols for the Challenger launch.

You had protocols for Facebook's algorithm.

How’d all that go?

💥 SCIENCE ISN’T OBJECTIVE.

IT’S POLITICAL.

Who funds these projects?

Billionaire bio-nerds with messiah complexes

Private defense contractors salivating over genetic bioweapon testing

Pharmaceutical giants looking for a patentable product

They don’t want to “bring back” extinct species.

They want IP ownership of genetic novelty.

If the resurrected animal dies after 72 hours?

Who cares.

It’s a write-off.

If it escapes containment?

They’ll just deny it existed.

If you die cleaning the containment breach?

You’ll be labeled "a passionate volunteer."

☢️ AND HERE’S THE PART THEY NEVER TELL YOU:

Even if the animal doesn’t carry anything dangerous—

its cellular machinery might.

You see, ancient species adapted to planetary conditions

you’ve never lived through.

Higher radiation.

Lower oxygen.

Strange magnetism.

Undocumented chemical balances.

Which means their biological “normal”

might be your toxic overload.

🧬 THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE UNLEASHING

because the code they’re using

was written by nature

before your species existed.

They are trying to reboot an alien operating system

on a meat computer

running TikTok and depression

and wondering why it’s glitching.

📜 CONCLUSION:

De-extinction is not noble.

It’s not eco-friendly.

It’s not visionary.

It’s an unlicensed summoning ritual

carried out in a lab full of hubris

by people who want their name on a white paper

before their lungs collapse.

You are not bringing back a species.

You are pressing play

on a forgotten pandemic

and calling it “hope.”

🧠 TL;DR:

Viruses live in DNA

Ancient DNA = ancient viruses

You don’t know what’s dormant

You don’t know what reacts with modern biology

You don’t know what the immune response will be

You don’t even know what else is in the ice

You know what that means?

Don’t unzip ancient shit unless you’re ready to get unzipped in return.

🧠 Read more evolutionary dread, viral code dissection, and species-level satire at:

👉 https://linktr.ee/ObeyMyCadence

🛡️ Blacksite cadence. Biohazard cadence. Scientific humility installed via scrolltrap.

</div>

<!-- END TRANSMISSION [THE ICE DIDN’T MELT. IT OPENED.] -->

<!-- [AUTO-WIPE IN: 00:00:00 — UNCLASSIFIED VIRAL PAYLOAD BREACHED] -->

[probablyasocialecologist]

Agroecology emphasises the use of natural processes and resources to create sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. It is a response to modern intensive agricultural systems that focus on maximising production, sometimes at the expense of ecological and environmental health. A number of common agricultural practices are aligned with agroecology. For example, planting legumes alongside other crops – a centuries-old practice that is still widely used today – can improve soil fertility and water infiltration into the soil, thereby enhancing the health of the soil ecosystem and ultimately leading to increased crop yields.  Critics question the ability of agroecology to meet food security needs in a world that is increasingly at risk of climate change-induced threats that place pressure on natural systems, humans and economies. However, scientific support does exist for agroecological practices in enhancing resilience through energy efficiency, ecosystem services, food security and economic outcomes. Through assessing more than 30 meta-analyses, seven second-order meta-analyses, and several reviews and field trials, this article summarises some of the ways by which agroecology-aligned practices can contribute to climate change resilience.

12 July 2024

[ride-sgt-rodeo]

MEDICAL RECORD.

PATIENT: JAMES V. O’MALLEY

DOB: 08/05/90

STATUS: ACTIVE DUTY, 14 YOS

ROLE: USMC EOD / Breacher (frontline OPs)

CONDITIONS:

- Severe PTSD

- Consistent nightmares (2/4 nights a week

- Chronic Insomnia

- ~3/5hrs a night

- Tinnitus (persistent), R>L ear

- Hand tremors (stress induced)

- Chronic pain

- Lumbar spine, knees and right shoulder

- Early onset osteoarthritis (knees)

- Mild hearing loss (right ear)

- Muscle stiffness in cold climates

MEDICATIONS:

- Sertraline — 100MG. (AM)

- PTSD, anxiety, tinnitus

- Trazadone — 50MG (Bedtime)

- Insomnia

- Prazosin — 2MG (Bedtime +1HR)

- Nightmares, lowers BP

- Primidone — 50MG (AM + PM, 2x/day)

- Tremor control

- Tramadol — 50MG (3x/day)

- General pain relief

RISKS:

- Zoloft + Tramadol = Serotonin syndrome (Monitor)

- Trazodone + Prazosin = Possible BP crash

- Primidone + Tramadol = Low seizure risk

- Low sedation risk from mixture of Trazodone + Primidone

- Tremor spikes + loss of sleep from ignoring medications

NOTES:

- Zones out often during group conversation

- Refused group therapy (3x)

- States he’s “fine” and has “felt worse”, pushes through pain

- Claims his meds “slow him down”, and he wants fewer.

- Adamant about Tramadol.

- CANNOT SKIP PRIMIDONE DURING OPS.

- Check BP post-bedtime.

NOTES FROM CARE TEAM:

- Declined Physical Therapy

- Ongoing pain management

- Trusts one doctor while remaining civil to others

- Monitor alcohol/caffeine intake ALWAYS.

[rjzimmerman]

Lessons From a Burning Forest. (New York Times)

As a reporter, I’ve experienced the aftermath of several disasters, including dam bursts, landslides and floods. But nothing quite prepared me to witness the extent of the destruction in Canada’s boreal forests that I saw in June, one year after the record-breaking wildfires of 2023.

At one point, my colleague Bryan Denton and I drove for an entire hour and saw almost no living trees in the forests we could see from the road. Much of the landscape was covered with blackened stumps of trees that burned last year. Residents told us the burned trees revealed hills, rivers and towns that they had never seen before.

I’ll be open with you: It was alarming.

We were there reporting how parts of North America’s boreal forests are failing to regrow because of the more frequent, bigger wildfires that have become a hallmark of our changing climate. One of the strongest pieces of evidence of this shift is the gradual decline of the black spruce, a humble species that has dominated these landscapes for thousands of years.

In short, my article shows how the dwindling number of black spruce trees is deeply transforming this vast ecosystem, which is one of the planet’s biggest storage systems for planet-warming carbon dioxide. What’s troubling is that black spruce evolved to exist with fire — just not fire that happens this often.

Losing any part of the black spruce forests will make the global struggle to keep temperatures below catastrophic levels harder, and it may mean our climate models are too optimistic.

But I also want to share what researchers and local Indigenous leaders told me: There is a lot we can do to adapt, particularly borrowing from traditional fire-management practices. These won’t save the immense boreal forests from global warming, but they could help communities adapt.

Indigenous people are some of the most directly affected by this new age of wildfires. According to government figures from April, 80 percent of First Nations communities in Canada are in wildfire-prone areas.

Many First Nations elders say they have been forced to change their traditional fire-management practices.

For centuries, Indigenous Canadians burned their lands during the spring, when the grass was dry and the forest was wet, in what are known as cultural burns. Elders looked for cues that can’t exactly be marked on a calendar, like signs the local snow was almost ready to melt, or when the ducks started to nest, as elders in Alberta explained in a 1979 documentary.

These burns protected their homes from insects, induced lush sprouting that attracted animals they hunted, and, perhaps most crucially, fireproofed their communities. The flames weren’t hot enough to kill the trees, just burn branches and leaves that, if left unattended, could fuel bigger fires during summer.

But near the end of the 19th century, Canada started banning cultural burns and fining anyone who practiced them. Slowly, what were meadows became flammable forests, and blazes grew harder to control, Cardinal Christianson said. “This idea of fire suppression or fire exclusion has got us in this problem,” she told me.

In 2020, a paper published in the journal Nature found that fire suppression increased the risk of wildfires for many communities in the Canadian boreal forest.

[bsenvs3000w25]

Blog #5- Understanding and Addressing Climate Change

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my week 5 blog post!

This week, I will explore the significant impacts of climate change on our planet and its effects on ecosystems, biodiversity, and the future of life on Earth.

What is climate change?

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These changes can be natural, such as those caused by volcanic eruptions or they can be human-driven, primarily due to burning fossil fuels. According to the United Nations, since the 1800s, human activity has been the main driver behind the effects of climate change. You may wonder why burning fossil fuels has such a significant impact on our Earth. Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions, which trap the sun's heat and lead to rising global temperatures. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas emitted by human activity. Sources of these emissions include energy production (such as burning oil, coal, and gas), agriculture, and transportation.

Fun Fact: Did you know that CO2 emissions are the highest they have ever been in the past 2 million years, reaching 420 parts per million (ppm)?

Climate Change and Its Impact on the Earth

Climate change is an ongoing issue that affects our planet in numerous ways. The increased levels of greenhouse gases lead to more frequent and intense weather events, such as storms, floods, extreme heat, droughts, severe cold, and heavy snowfall. Additionally, we are witnessing the effects of ocean acidification as the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in a drop in pH and putting marine life at risk. You may have noticed these changes in your area. I remember when I was younger, we used to experience much more snow than we do now in the winter!

Climate Change's Impact on Wildlife

Climate change has a significant impact on wildlife threatening many species around the world. Rising temperatures alter vegetation and food sources, forcing animals to migrate beyond their native habitats in search of more suitable conditions. This increases the risk of extinction for many species. Additionally, the growing intensity of extreme weather events has led to significant habitat destruction and loss of life among wildlife populations.

One species that is severely affected by climate change is the polar bear. These animals depend on sea ice for mating, resting and hunting for seals, their primary food source. However, as arctic temperatures rise and ice continues to melt, polar bears must travel greater distances to find food, leading to malnutrition and low reproduction rates. 

Scientists predict that by 2050, two-thirds of the world's polar bear population could disappear.

Graph of changes in arctic sea ice over time

What Can We Do to Help?

There are many ways to reduce your carbon footprint and protect our future and our planet's future:

- Use public transit - Carpool - Bike or walk for shorter trips - Recycle and compost - Choose sustainable brands - Planting trees - Use renewable energy

In some cases, it can be difficult to reduce our carbon footprint. Some people may be unable to make specific changes, so it's important to recognize that. For example, if you work far from home, you might need to drive your car to work every day. Switching to solar, wind, or hydropower can be costly and unrealistic for some families. However, small actions, such as recycling, composting, minimizing waste, and choosing more eco-friendly brands, can also be just as effective in reducing our carbon footprint.

Questions for further discussion:

What was the most interesting thing you learned from my post?

What actions would you take to mitigate climate change?

Thanks for reading!

Biona🦋🌸🐻‍❄️

References: Ayesha Tandon, R. P. (2022, December 8). Polar bears and climate change: What does the science say?. Carbon Brief. https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-climate-change-what-does-science-say/index.html 

United Nations. What is climate change?. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change 

Ocean acidification | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2020, April 1). https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification 

[acti-veg]

Meat and dairy companies are under increasing pressure over their large greenhouse gas footprints. The dairy industry is responsible for 3.4% of global human-induced emissions, a higher share than aviation.

Trade groups also give some indication in the documents of how they hope to shape conversations in Dubai. One said it will “push” the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to host “positive livestock content” at Cop28. The Guardian recently revealed that pressure from the industry led to censorship of FAO reports on the role of cattle in increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Animal agriculture is the largest emitter of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide when measured over a 20-year period. Scientists said that unless swift action is taken, methane from agriculture alone will push the world beyond a 1.5C (2.7F) rise in temperature above preindustrial levels that risks tipping the world into irreversible climate breakdown.

[liminalweirdo]

over 20,000 people in the United States died of Covid-19 since the beginning of 2024. Millions who avoided death are nonetheless still living with Long Covid, and this number grows each month. We are still in crisis.

Most importantly, though, implementing accessibility measures during an active pandemic is the right thing to do, as it makes events safer for everyone. Black communities, people of color, the disability community at large, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and low-income communities continue to be especially hard-hit by the pandemic and the abandonment of Covid-19 precautions. The pandemic reproduces the very forms of ableism, classism, and racism that existed before 2020. There are millions of already systemically marginalized people who are being further pushed out of public life. This is unjust, and we must do better. 

[However,] a blueprint for radical inclusion and living a full, safer life within the context of Covid-19 exists.

source

Install HEPA filters in your space. Installing a plug-in air purifier in your space is a great place to begin. Because almost all public spaces currently fall short of the ventilation needed for Covid-19 safety, it’s safe to assume that your space would also benefit from this efficient first step. Make sure it’s appropriately sized for your space and continuously running. If funds allow, upgrade your HVAC system to include HEPA filtration.

Practice mask requirements. Consider requiring and providing high-quality masks for everyone who will be in your space and attending your events. Contrary to popular belief, mask requirements do not deter guests in any meaningful numbers. Clean Air Club has been hosting Covid-safer events in Chicago for over a year, and a majority of the mask-required events sell out every time. If obtaining masks for your event is cost-prohibitive, check in with your local mask bloc for assistance.

Collect and share data on the safety of your space and region. Collect data on the ventilation in your space using a carbon dioxide (CO2) monitor. The higher the number, the more attention you need to pay to improving the ventilation and air purification in the space. Open windows and doors, crank up the HVAC, and plug in another purifier. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when the CO2 levels in your space are close to the levels expected outdoors in fresh air (around 400 ppm). As a bonus, this improved ventilation and purification will remediate poor air quality due to climate-change induced wildfires, improve concentration, and aid in accommodating disabling conditions such as asthma and allergies. Data collection should also include monitoring wastewater data, now our most accurate picture of the true prevalence of Covid-19 and other wastewater-monitored viruses in our population at any given time. We can use this data to increase the number of mitigation strategies adopted when wastewater levels are high. Consider creating an internal chart at your organization that lists protocols associated with different wastewater levels, reducing the burden of communication and oversight during higher periods.

Consider additional mitigation layers. Some of the other layers of protection from the swiss cheese model include: pre-event testing, far-UVC lights, providing options for virtual participation, and asking guests to stay home if they’re showing any symptoms of contagious or novel illness. Consider promoting individualized mitigation approaches within your organizations, such as the usage of nasal spray and CPC mouthwash. The key is to remain creative, flexible, and open to adding layers of protection in response to changing risk levels in the environment.

Open up lines of communication. As you implement mitigation layers, communicate them to your community. Ask them how they’ve been impacted by Covid-19 and give people space to share their access needs and ideas. This will provide a crucial why behind your actions and investments. Using the accessibility principle of designing for the highest possible need, your virus safety plan should accommodate the most vulnerable and impacted community members rather than those who have high risk thresholds or behave as though the pandemic is over. Part of effective pandemic communication includes providing accessibility and virus safety information in an Access Note or in an Accessibility Guide. This information should be repeated often in marketing and outreach materials.

Resources