#Cheap Erosion Control

[talenlee]

Faces For Skins

Character customisation in videogames has gotten worse, and in so doing, become straighter and more capitalist.

There, article done. Thesis statement up front, all the justification handled, you should just nod, and sagely go ‘oh yeah, he’s right, that sucks,’ and consider setting fire to Fortnite merch, ideally someone else’s. Right?

We good here?

Oh fine.

Right now we are in a piss-coloured era for videogame player character customisation. Thanks to the prevalence of Games as A Service model media, you can buy a huge variety of different ways to express your character in a huge variety of games. Whether it’s Destiny, League of Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, Counterstrike, and oh god oh god this list of examples could go forever and still not catch everything but in basically every Live Service Game, you can buy skins. Sometimes they’re reasonably cheap – and no harm or foul if you like these things, I’m not trying to tell you that these are bad things.

Twenty years ago, City of Heroes drew immense attention from the press because of how its character creator let you make your own thing out of disconnected parts. City of Heroes looked good for the time but now it is clearly quite ropy with its big chunky mitten hands and its low-resolution textures. Before we had City of Heroes, we had Everquest and in that same period we had other games like World of Warcraft and APB and, like, there’s a whole category of games in this space where the purpose of the game was you got to create your character in that space, with a complicated creation system that let you create a character who expressed a variety of aesthetics as you wanted them.

These kinds of character creators are really important to our history, especially our queer history. There are a whole category of queers who got their start engaging with their own relationship to their bodies through anonymised, created characters they could use to engage socially in a space that may have a different gender or interest to themselves in their real lives. There was a choice of presentation, and a choice of identity.

Now, you don’t get to make your own, not really.

You get to use one of the predetermined sets that isn’t supposed to work well with other stuff. You don’t get to pick who you want, you don’t get to make Your Character, you get to Buy Your Collection Hanger.

Part of this is that character customisation options are just more expensive to make now. Games are harder to make, graphics are harder to make, you can’t have character customisation be a picrew and a colour palette picker for a 2d sprite that rotates in four directions, god bless you Furcadia of 1997. But one of those important things that changed in this time as a result of graphics becoming both harder to do and more expensive to make is that more and more control needed to be asserted over the thing. Things in the game have to be flattened out, had to be made more streamlined, had to remove the chances for things to work badly, had to become, in some cases, wholly complete sets that didn’t ever involve any individual expression beyond the choice to wear it or not.

Final Fantasy XIV took away belts because belts are hard to make look good in the way that Final Fantasy XIV made character models look in relationship to their clothes. Since one of the ways you can customise the shape of a character’s body relates directly to these clothes, these clothes further represent ways to express your character’s identity and in some cases can put your choices at war with the game’s offerings. Don’t worry, though, you can rely on the paid service outfits to be reasonably whole, when you buy them.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped paying to play in spaces where the game let us be something we made, and started being in spaces where the game attached to who it thought we were. The real time purchases, single character, single name stuff, the erosion of alting, the whole branded skin and identity designs, these things are all things that open gaming up to larger groups, because apparently the thing stopping my aunt from starting playing Fortnite was that she’d never found a videogame experience that let her be Mr Meeseks the way she wanted to be. These looks, these images, these single specific characterisations, whole sets of integrated pieces with a formal connection between each set, meant slowly but surely, we unqueered these spaces.

To queer a space is to make it so that that space presents an inclination towards and an escape from the normative. Do you know how sometimes you’ll find straight people who call their husbands and wives ‘partners’ instead of, like, yeah, husband and wives? That’s an example, of how someone who isn’t necessarily queer (as a queer guy with a wife would point out, not every guy with a wife is straight and not every wife with a husband is either), provides a form of presentation of themselves that signals a non-heteronormitive identity to a space. If I say ‘partner’ in a room when we’re introducing ourselves, then suddenly someone who wants to use ‘partner’ following after me has the leeway to do that without it necessarily seeming strange. They don’t have to be the first person to break that norm.

And where character customisation becomes skins and stops being chosen sets, when they are integrated brand images from the top down, you stop having that choice. You aren’t necessarily constructing something to identify yourself, you’re bringing your toy from the established source space and waggle it alongside other people in the equally controlled space. It makes sense from a brand perspective!

After all, the failure of the heavily customisable games kinda suggests that they can’t make money off giving you ways to create and express yourself nearly as well as they can sell you fucking funko pops.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[sethshead]

I agree with Sec. Lloyd.

“Genocide” is not a vibe or a talking point. It is not just ‘when a lot of people die’. It is the single most heinous crime against humanity that exists. The bar to declare something a genocide is very high because of the sort of response it demands. Actual genocide is rare: in the 20th Century we can count the Herero, Armenian, Holocaust, Cambodian, and Rwandan. Countless other atrocities, other crimes against humanity occurred and deserve attention; an event needn’t be a genocide to be condemned. But the weight of the word “genocide” must retain the capacity to shock. To overuse the word is to trivialize the victims and perpetrators of past genocides.

To wit, Israel’s war in Gaza isn’t a crime against humanity. There is not even evidence of systemic war crimes. Hamas itself recognizes a total confirmed death toll, including combatants, of 21,000. Adding the unidentified would probably increase that to about 27,000. Israel claims 13,000 combatants killed, Hamas admits 6,000 of its fighters slain. The number is somewhere in the middle, as the norm is to count all military-aged males as combatants. So at 10,000 combatants to 17,000 civilians, this would make the Gaza war the example of 21st Century urban combat that did the best job of protecting civilians. No other country has accomplished such a low ratio. This, despite Hamas having done everything to place civilians in harm’s way and deprive them of the necessities for life. That would be impossible were Israel committing genocide.

Genocide is the attempted eradication of an ethnic group within a given jurisdiction. Nothing Israel has done in this war remotely resembles genocide. It warns civilians of nearby strikes and gives them time to evacuate. It permits humanitarian supplies entry through all crossings it controls, despite knowing that much will find its way into the hands of Hamas. It has attempted to withdraw from populated areas to allow civilians to exit combat zones. None of this is consistent with genocide.

There have been accidental killings of civilians, some as a result of collateral damage, some on account of mistakes. This happens in war. It is not evidence of genocide. No doubt individual soldiers and units have been trigger-happy or have abused civilians. An erosion of discipline and attitude of impunity have increasingly been problems in the IDF. Soldiers responsible for such actions should be tried, and the officers who have looked the other way for too long should be drummed out of the service. Nonetheless, that is something that happens in war. Even localized war crimes do not rise to the level of genocide.

The people who abuse “genocide” in relation to Israel are playing a cheap game of Holocaust inversion. Holocaust inversion is Holocaust trivialization. There is no valid comparison between the IDF at its worst and the Nazi genocide machine. To assert otherwise is to mock and erase Jewish suffering, either to exonerate the Holocaust’s perpetrators and those who stood by and did nothing, or to deny the possibility of Jews being victims. Any who engage in such false equivalencies should be ashamed of themselves. If one wishes to campaign for Palestinian freedom and statehood, insulting and taunting Jews is not the way to do it.

[herd-reject-arts]

Are y'all even ready for the results of me autistically deciding to do research on TVA's Tellico Dam?

The History of TVA:

Without a shadow of a doubt, the Tellico Project, first proposed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1939, was the most controversial dam installment along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. TVA, having been formed three years prior to the inception of the idea to build a dam at the place where the Little Tennessee River meets the Tennessee River, was moving too quickly for it to keep up with its own progress. Born in the era of the New Deal, possibly given too much authority over itself, TVA soon found itself mired in discussion over its necessity and legitimacy.

From its inception, the Tennessee Valley Authority had the goal of producing energy for the region along the Tennessee River while also helping to control flooding along its length. The dams under TVA control were also used for the production of fertilizer (and munitions during wartime), transportation, recreational use, and urban planning. From Northeast Tennessee down to South-Central Mississippi, TVA also aided what were historically very impoverished areas in gaining access to affordable electricity. The first city to take advantage of this cheap hydroelectric energy was Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1934; in partnering with TVA to receive energy from the dams, Tupelo saw its energy costs decrease by roughly 68%, allowing for an 83% increase in the number of homes with electricity in the first 6 months of the partnership. This was a major step in modernizing much of the South. 

But how did this government agency begin? What is the history of the Tennessee Valley Authority?

As previously stated, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act was passed into being in 1933, only two months into Roosevelt’s New Deal plans. With the creation of the TVA came control over the few dams which had already been built along the Tennessee River. The first of these dams was built in 1916 at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This, along with the second dam to be constructed - Wilson Dam, named after then president, Woodrow Wilson - were built for the purpose of generating energy as well as producing nitrates and phosphates to be used as fertilizer for surrounding farms. Both of these had largely ceased production after the first World War. By 1923, the US Army Corps of Engineers had taken on the burden of building dams, with the plan to “form a navigable channel from Paducah to Knoxville” (Callahan, 1980), while also taking advantage of the power that could be generated from the construction of the dams. This was the foundation for the Tennessee Valley Authority roughly a decade later, and the mission they absorbed. 

TVA was initially awarded 50 million dollars (adjusted for inflation, this is nearly 1.2 billion today) to construct more dams. This was for the goal of helping to control flooding, soil erosion, afforestation, elimination from agriculture use, and aiding in building up industries that could benefit from riverine transportation. Being the largest river in Tennessee, all water in the area eventually ends up in the Tennessee River, causing issues with flooding in many places across, and outside of, the state. In Tennessee alone, flooding was costing an annual 1 million in damages per year - that’s around 23 million today, adjusted. But TVA wasn’t just reshaping the landscape of Tennessee; it also brought with it the promise of jobs. Though some were waiting for the projects to fail, others saw it as a way to break out of poverty, or otherwise looked forward to the changes this new government agency was promising for the area along the Tennessee River. 

The first major site the TVA chose for a dam was an area now known as Norris, Tennessee. By 1934, the area that was soon to be inundated had been cleared. Those who had been living there beforehand were bought out of their land and forced to vacate, much to the displeasure of many of the locals. In cases of eminent domain, there is not much one can do but complain, and so people were relocated, largely to the surrounding counties. When people refused to sell and leave their land, TVA had no issue with taking people to court over the disagreement; litigation was the end result in only 5% of all land purchases (about 801 tracts of land), however. Though TVA had promised to help the people impacted by the dam relocate, they did not always do this; in cases where they did, it sometimes resulted in people being lodged in areas knows as “poor farms,” where families and their livestock could stay (in tents, mind) until they were able to locate another tract of land. These tents were described by people at the time as being “not too bad.” Numerous graves also had to be moved. Though some preferred their family members be left where they’d initially been interred, over 5,000 graves were moved from the floodplain. The wishes of each family were respected, unless a grave absolutely needed to be moved for the purpose of construction. Continuing into the year, the Norris Reservoir Basin (as it was now called) was investigated for any evidence of past human occupation. Unfortunately - and this is largely a product of its time - sites were logged, but often not investigated properly. It was at this phase of construction that TVA decided the dam should be open to the public. After all, with so many people displaced due to its construction, they might as well still be able to utilize the land in some way, if for no other reason than leisure. It was argued that the dam would be an engineering marvel, something people would want to see, something that would revitalize American nationalism and inspire awe and pride in being American.

The next construction site was the General Joe Wheeler Dam, with the main purpose being to generate energy. This dam, along with Wilson Dam, were primarily used in times of heavy rains. Norris was not run until the water got low in the winter, ensuring a steady flow of electricity year round. 

TVA began construction on the Pickwick Landing Dam in 1934. This was the first dam solely constructed and overseen by the Tennessee Valley Authority. For the rest of the decade, TVA continued to build more and more dams, expanding them from being along the Tennessee River to include several of its tributaries. When World War II began, dam construction was ramped up, reaching its full potential after the tragedy at Pearl Harbor. 

In total, by the 1980s, TVA was in control of 58 dams along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. 23 of these were built by the TVA (that being Kentucky Dam, Pickwick Landing Dam, Wheeler Dam, Guntersville Dam, Nickajack Dam, Chickamauga Dam, Watts Bar Dam, Fort Loudoun Dam, Norris Dam, Hiwassee Dam, Cherokee Dam, Appalachia Dam, Nottely Dam, Ocoee Dam Number 3, Chatuge Dam, Fontana Dam, Douglas Dam, South Holston Dam, Watauga Dam, Boone Dam, Fort Patrick Henry Dam, Melton Hill Dam, and Tims Ford Dam). The Main River Wilson Dam was acquired by TVA after it took over the dam from the War Department. Three were acquired from the Tennessee Electrical Power Company (TEP): Ocoee Dam Number 1, Ocoee Dam Number 1, and Blue Ridge Dam. Calderwood Dam, Cheoah Dam, Thorpe Dam, Nantahala Dam, Santeelah Dam, Chilhowee Dam, Mission Dam, Queens Creek Dam, Tuckasegee Dam, Cedar Cliff Dam, Bear Creek Dam, Wolf Creek Dam, and East Fork Dam were previously owned by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). Wilbur and Nolichucky Dams were purchased from East Tennessee Light and Power Company (ETL&P). Great Falls Dam, Dale Hollow Dam, Center Hill Dam, Wolf Creek Dam, Old Hickory Dam, Cheetham Dam, Barkley Dam, and J. Percy Priest Dams were also major contributors, though not owned exclusively by TVA. Tellico and Raccoon Mountain Dams were still being tinkered with. 

As the Tennessee Valley Authority acquired more and more land in the area, people began to worry about the impact this might have on life in the Tennessee River Valley overall. Whereas TVA had initially been seen as a good for locals, who were mostly impoverished farm workers, people were now considering the drawbacks. Unemployment in the areas affected by the dams was at a record low, but what about all the homes being destroyed? What of the archaeological sites now trapped beneath a man-made lake? How would all of this impact local flora and fauna? Though the Tennessee Valley Authority seemed inept in certain realms (such as project planning), they did fulfill some of their promises. Flooding was down in the entire River Valley, saving taxpayers, the government, and home and business owners alike millions (not adjusted for inflation) per year. However, the downside of this was that smaller waterways were now experiencing higher water levels, leading new areas to flood. Another benefit of the dams was that malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses decreased rapidly; the movement of the water through various hydroelectric dams and the elimination of large patches of stagnant water helped limit the reproductive potential of mosquitoes. There was also the question of what would happen to newly flooded areas, and how this would be potentially detrimental to plant and animal species alike. Many worried about silt buildup along areas where fish typically spawned, and how this might limit the numbers of various fish populations; in the years since all these projects began, this has luckily been such a miniscule issue that it’s rarely something that even needs to be addressed. As well as trying its best to keep the environment mostly at balance, TVA was helping fight erosion by reforesting areas and planting native plants along previously ruined stretches of land; they also assisted in repairing soil quality by using the dams to help produce phosphides, which could be sold to local farms to help replenish the soil.

By the mid-70s, there were 400 access roads, 19 state parks, 91 local/city parks, and roughly 300 recreational areas open to the public along TVA-owned land. Having all of this available stimulated the local economy, an added benefit of the dams that had not been initially foreseen. Several tens of millions of people annually would visit these areas, making them a clear benefit for both TVA and people living near TVA lands. 

Despite a few hiccups along the way, TVA had mostly been managed properly and professionally throughout the years. A shift had been made at some point to move away from a more industrial mindset to more of a community-focused one in response to Eisenhower threatening to dismantle the Tennessee Valley Authority for being too socialist. In this, locals had more of a say in what was being done in the area, a decision no doubt also sparked by new laws and regulations being passed about how TVA could act. The decision was made to build more along tributaries off the Tennessee River, which would not only help local communities with flooding, but also provide more affordable energy, jobs, and recreation areas. Revitalizing the backing for the Tellico Dam within TVA was the major step that was taken in doing all of this. Despite knowing that Tellico Dam would have no impact on energy production, transportation, or flood control by 1959, it was still pushed by the TVA. The mindset of everyone involved in the planning was that it had to happen, no matter what. Tellico Dam had been proposed decades before, and TVA was adamant about it being finalized. By 1961, local opinions of the dam were that it should not happen.

Regardless of this, in 1963, the Tellico Project was approved by Congress.

Tellico Dam:

Having been placed on hold decades before due to the sudden involvement of the United States in World War II, Tellico Dam was scheduled to begin construction in 1965 after a movement to revive this particular project. It was asserted that, because of poor placement of the Fort Loudoun Dam, another would have to be placed in a nearby tributary to further aid in flood control. Knowing energy production and transportation would not be the purpose of this new dam, TVA scrambled to find justification for it being built; after all, they had to present some sort of reasoning behind each construction in order to get funding from the federal government. TVA ended up using “land enhancement, recreation, and general economic benefit” (Wheeler &McDonald, 1986) as their justification. They had also asserted that it would help modernize local communities, which they treated as if they were stuck decades in the past when they were, in fact, rather modernized. These all proved to be difficult to quantify, and, needing to have some idea of the long-term monetary benefits of such a monumental task as dam building, TVA believed they would fail due to their inability to crunch the numbers. But, being a government agency, this did not stop them in their pursuit to have Tellico Dam become a reality.

Since Tellico’s initial stages, TVA had been caught in controversy. Announced to the public in 1961, businesses near the proposed dam began to endorse its construction very early on. People began to notice very quickly, however, that the wording in the endorsement letters was all suspiciously similar. TVA denied any role in this, yet was also caught trying to bribe the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce into endorsing the Tellico Project; because of this, the popular theory is that TVA was paying businesses to back them. In order to keep things under control, TVA decided to: Deny the dam was even being built (something they did up until the time of its completion), lie to the public about how much land would need to be purchased in order to finish the dam, and pay for various local groups to endorse them. From this, the Little Tennessee River Valley Development Association was born. This organization was directly responsible for lobbying on behalf of the Tellico Project, helping to build a plan for developing the area, and ended up being rather useless. 

Realizing their own ineptitude, TVA found rather quickly that it would need far more land than initially projected. Some 17,000 additional acres would need to be procured in order to successfully carry out their half-baked plans. This is in addition to the 16,500 acres that were to be flooded. Understandably, this caused a lot of community backlash. Once stating that they cared about the opinions of the community, TVA was now hellbent on the completion of Tellico Dam at any cost.

In 1964, TVA held a meeting at Greenback High School in Greenback, Tennessee. They were met with around 400 people from nearby communities; almost every one of them opposed the Tellico Project, concerned that it would have a negative impact on their lands, fish populations, and archaeological sites, among other factors. They argued that TVA was not listening to what the people wanted, and they were only doing what TVA wished instead. The accusations worried TVA, for this was their largest, most vocal, opposition yet. The dissenting side went so far as to invite Supreme Court justices to East Tennessee to look into exactly what TVA was doing. This brought the controversy to national attention, and TVA began accusing any detractors of being paid opposition; in reality, they were being chastised by several small groups which had little to no connection to one another save for their dissatisfaction with how the Tennessee Valley Authority was operating in their own back yards. TVA began to suspect everyone of being against them, from local farmers to ALCOA to writers. Needless to say, none of these small groups did much more than make TVA look foolish, as a bunch of people with little to no power are often helpless in the face of a government agency. 

In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson released the federal budget for the following year. In this, 6 million was allotted for TVA to begin the Tellico Project. Construction was set to begin in 1967. From that point until the early 1970s, TVA began absorbing more and more of the surrounding land. This led to additional outrage, as they were now evicting people that they had previously told were not to be affected by the land acquisition. What’s worse, TVA had no idea how many people they would have to displace by buying up the land. No numbers had been run on what they were doing to the locals they claimed previously to have cared for. When prompted for an estimate, they gave the answer of 600 families/households affected; in reality, it was much closer to 350. There was also the issue of lack of funds to purchase all the extra land. Still, this did not deter them. 

Moving into the 1970s, environmentalists became a big problem for the Tennessee Valley Authority. So the environmentalists said, TVA had no environmental impact statement. In response to this, and under threat of a lawsuit, TVA threw one together haphazardly, resulting in another blunder.  The resulting environmental impact statement showed that TVA would break even on the cost of the Tellico Project vs the monetary value land development could bring in (1:1 ratio); in reality, it was closer to a 3:1 ratio, meaning they were spending three times more than what they could feasibly bring in. To further embarrass TVA, an economics professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville had his students run the numbers from the official TVA report to find the inconsistencies. Once again, this made everyone responsible for the Tellico Project look like buffoons. 

By 1971, almost all the land needed for the dam had been purchased. The concrete structure of the dam was in place, and any manipulation of the land surrounding the dam had already been completed. Despite running into issue after issue, TVA was pressing forward, doing what they could when they could. In December of that same year, TVA was brought to court over their incomplete environmental impact statement. As they always seemed to do, however, TVA wormed its way out of being sued, stating that any impact the dam would have on fish and plant species or archaeological sites would be nothing compared to the ecological damage left from an incomplete dam, citing erosion from them clear cutting much of the area around the river as a major ecological concern. Despite being set to flood that year, a hold was placed on this due to significant archaeological areas of interest along the floodplain. 

In 1972, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals halted any further construction of Tellico Dam. This blindsided TVA, who had, up until this point, only been given a slap on the wrist when they were engaging in activities which may or may not be illegal. The terms of this pause in construction was only limited to the dam itself; noticing this, TVA continued to work on building access roads, working on the canal area, and buying more land. It was also during this year that TVA brought in paid archaeologists to say that there’s nothing wrong with the excavations being performed on various Overhill Cherokee sites, and that things should be promptly wrapped up. 

In 1973, Chattanooga experienced a horrible flood. TVA used this to their advantage, stating that the flood would not have happened if only the Tellico Dam were built. This didn’t sway many in their direction. Later that year, a zoologist visiting the Little Tennessee River happened upon a species of fish he’d never seen before. This species, which was dubbed the snail darter, after its primary food source, would be the next tactic for halting construction of the dam. Per the Endangered Species Act, if the snail darter happened to be endangered, TVA would have to stop construction, perhaps indefinitely. While the paperwork for this was being looked through, TVA continued to cut trees and silt the water, which appears to have been an attempt to eliminate the snail darter before the federal government had a chance to deem it endangered or not. Development of the area also picked up steam, as TVA believed they would soon be made to halt everything. Thus far, 40 million (not adjusted for inflation) had been spent overall in construction and land acquisition costs, and TVA was now finding itself possibly in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

The following year, to add to the fight, people began to ask what would become of all the priceless Cherokee sites that would soon be buried beneath Tellico. A resurgence of appreciation for indigenous cultures led to more and more people being concerned about the state of these sites. Unfortunate for the (mostly white) people attempting to use Overhill Cherokee sites as the newest way to halt TVA, many Cherokee did not seem to care; this was in part to TVA hiring a white man, who did all he could to mute indigenous voices protesting the dam, as their Cherokee representative, but also likely due to the fact that it seemed as if TVA was paying off high ranking members of the Cherokee nation to act as if they didn’t care what happened to their ancestors. Ecological considerations were also made, which TVA was now notorious for failing to properly address. 

It wasn’t until 1976 that construction was officially put on hold due to the status of the snail darter. By 1977, construction was to be halted until further notice. It was also in ‘77 that archaeology in the area ceased. Despite the court-ordered hold, TVA persisted. TVA had already constructed most of the dam and its surrounding structures, as well as acquired some 22,000 acres of land surrounding the flood plain. They argued that they’d already changed the environment so much that stopping now would do more harm than good, and that the snail darter couldn’t get to its natural breeding ground because of the dam; they asserted that relocating populations to different areas in East Tennessee would make more sense. The decision to force the Tennessee Valley Authority to stop construction was upheld for several years. It wasn’t until 1979 that Congress and the House of Representatives decided (allegedly by mistake) to exempt TVA from the Endangered Species Act. This was the final decision in the dam’s construction, and a fatal blow for all in opposition to it. 

In November of 1979, the gates on Tellico Dam were closed. 

Archaeology:

Though now buried beneath several meters of water, many significant archaeological sites had been found along the Tellico Dam floodplain. In 1967, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville began to dig in the floodplain, having received funding from the National Parks Service. Starting in 1968, UTK was also receiving funding from TVA itself. Despite having adequate funding, the work was very rushed, as flooding was initially planned for 1969 or 1970. Both for the time and with how modern archaeology is performed, the job was executed poorly. Little to no effort was made to ascribe meaning or context to what was found; oversight and security were not even a thought, leading to looting; the archaeologists on site were reported to have left trash everywhere. After being informed as to how their ancestors’ graves were being treated, more and more Cherokee began to protest. Meetings were made with the governor of Tennessee to halt what was being done, but representatives from the Cherokee Nation were told he had no power over what TVA did. In the Eastern Band Tribal Council of 1972, the Cherokee, as well as most other indigenous tribes present, agreed to oppose TVA in their endeavors. Sites along the floodplain were registered as historic places - only to be dismissed as not being relevant or significant enough. In all, these protestations mattered about as much as any before them, and countless archaeological sites were forever destroyed. 

The data on these sites is shoddily thrown together and largely unanalyzed. Bag after bag of unprocessed artifacts and remains sit in the McClung museum (on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville), waiting to be looked at. Reports of the findings from the time are full of inconsistencies, making it hard to know what was actually found, where, and how reliable the reports truly are. Alongside tales of sites being found, collections being made, and no artifacts from the site ever turning up, it’s safe to say that 1) not much care was taken in collecting from the Overhill Cherokee sites, and 2) members of the teams conducting the digs were almost certainly stealing from the sites. 

To the advantage of those performing the digs, holdups due to the discovery of the snail darter meant there was more time than initially anticipated to conduct surveys. Beginning in 1967 and ending in 1978, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville sent out various exploratory groups to map and excavate as many archaeological sites as they could under the 16,500 acres the dam would soon be covering. Priorities were placed in areas where little to no work had been done before, such as terraces and islands along the river, slopes along the floodplain where chert had been spotted, and down tributaries off the Little Tennessee. Areas heavy with weeds or pasture, that had recently flooded, or where clear cutting hadn’t begun were to be ignored. This left around 19% of the 16,500 acres to be explored, and only 34% of that number (some 1,000 acres) was exposed enough to yield any results. As with all things, there were roadblocks. Poor preservation, fields that had to be free of crops before exploration, land owners refusing entry to archaeologists. 

Survey teams of two people at a time were sent out to areas of interest to find if there was anything significant in those areas. Teams worked on foot, presumably so as to miss as little as possible. During the seasons they were present, 129 new sites were located in the floodplain. 

The first dig season was in 1967-68. This was mostly for the purpose of identifying sites and finding how long the Cherokee had occupied the Little Tennessee River Valley. As TVA had not yet acquired all the land needed, there were many tracts of land in the area along the river that archaeologists did not have access to. As this was the case, not much was gathered during this dig season.

Teams went back out in 1969-1971, this time in the hopes of excavating the supposed Overhill Cherokee capital of Chota, and to hopefully find the location of Tuskegee in the process. 29 new sites were located during this season. Of the 29 new sites, 10 seemingly contained no artifacts, as nothing from them ever made its way to the McClung Museum.

From 1972 to 1976, and then again in 1977-1978, UTK sent out two more exploratory teams, neither bringing back much of importance, at least in terms of what was deemed important at the time. It is important, when viewing the past, to realize that methodology and focus change over time. The main goal of TVA archaeology at the time was to locate sites and collect all that could be from them before the inevitable flooding. This was almost purely salvage work, whereas today more time would be spent carefully assembling everything present and helping to paint a picture of what life would have been like for the people who occupied each site. One of the major criticisms is how differently each site within the river valley was treated. Depending upon who was in charge of the survey, bias could be seen in test methods, collection methods, what counted as significant, etc., leading to rather unscientific and unreliable data collection.

In all, 29,722 total artifacts were collected from the sites found. These included: 21,757 lithics/lithic fragments; 5,943 ceramics/ceramic sherds; 2,022 Anglo-American artifacts; and 2,258 faunal remains. By the 1980s, the last of these categories had been almost entirely untouched. Though no exact number could be found for the number of human remains found along the Little Tennessee River, an estimated 500,000 fragments of human remains had been recovered, according to a report on a 1971 survey. Of the artifacts recovered from the surveys over the years, most were fairly local. However, many of the lithics found were sourced from great distances away (New England area down to the Gulf of Mexico region, perhaps up into the Great Lakes). Of the artifacts found from beyond local trade range, it was found that those artifacts were either repaired once broken, or that they were repurposed as much as possible, indicating that they were of a much higher value than local lithics and pottery.

As a general timeline, human beings have been living in the Tennessee River Valley for roughly 10,000 years. The first signs of human occupation in the valley occur in the Early Archaic Period (8,000BC - 6,000BC). It was during this time that runoff from the Smoky Mountains began to form islands and sandbars along the Tennessee River and its offshoots. These were prime habitation zones, as they provided the natural protection water brings. These areas, as one might expect, flooded regularly, leading to quick sedimentary deposits (and thus stratigraphic layers). People at this time were semi-migratory, spending a decent amount of each year in the same area, likely moving to follow migrating prey sources or to a more season-friendly part of the valley. Homes were arranged close to one another, with a hearth at the center of each. Because of soil conditions, little biotic evidence exists at these early sites; almost all human, animal, and plant remains would have long since decomposed. It is assumed, based on recreations of what people were doing in nearby regions, that women primarily gathered foods, cooked, wove, and tanned hides, while men would have been responsible for hunting, gathering lithic materials, and making tools. The average life expectancy was around 25 years of age; this is, of course, brought down by a high infant and child mortality rate, but most people didn’t live very long regardless of that. 

The Middle Archaic (6,000BC - 3,000BC) was not very well documented, but contained some floral remains. Analyzing these, it can be seen that there was an overall increase in temperature at the time, as well as a decrease in rainfall. Because of these two factors, it is largely assumed that high temperatures and low rainfall are responsible for why there is less human activity in the region at the time. 

From 3,000BC - 900BC (the Late Archaic), hunter-gatherer strategies improved, leading to an increase in population. There is the emerging reliance on more and more riverine resources, especially fish and mussels. It is also in this time period that social stratification becomes more easy to define. Trade routes outside the local area are established, leading up into the Northeast. Domestication is slowly being introduced. The first domestic plants in the region were squash and gourds, presumably originating in Mexico (though there is no evidence that the people of the Tennessee River Valley themselves were traveling that far). Turkey were domesticated and eaten; dogs were a food source, a work animal, and/or a companion depending on a variety of circumstances. 

During the Early Woodland (900BC - AD200), there was a change in how pottery was made. Possibly due to the influence of other cultures nearby, it became popular to mix crushed quartz in with the clay one was molding. The traditional fluted point also shifts to be more triangular; the implication here is that the bow and arrow had arrived in the valley, as triangular arrowheads would have made sense in the context of that being the weapon of choice over a spear. There is also evidence of post holes, indicating homes were more permanent than before and people were perhaps leaving semi-nomadic lives behind for a sedentary one. The popular burial position at the time was to inter people in a flexed position, with their knees up to their chin and their arms wrapped around their legs; almost all burial pits were oval or circular. 

The Middle Woodland (AD200 - AD600) is marked by a shift into the Hopewell Culture. This is evident by the emergence of blades (a type of flake knapped from chert, obsidian, or similar rock) above more traditional styles of knapping. Trade networks were expanding, evidenced by materials from further and further away being found in the Tennessee River Valley. Though wild flora and fauna still dominated the economic structure of the Tennessee River Valley, cultivated plants (now expanding to include things such as corn, beans, sunflowers, maygrass, knotweed, lambsquarters, and marsh elder) became more of a dietary staple. At this point, it was almost assured that people were staying in the same residence year-round.

Nothing of note seems to have happened during the Late Woodland (AD600 -AD900).

The Mississippian Period is when activity begins picking up in the valley. Ranging from AD900 through AD1600, many changes were made to economic and social structures amongst the indigenous people of the Tennessee River Valley. First is the emergence of mounds. These functioned as burial sites, temples, residence for elites, and council buildings. In addition to this new type of structure is how villages are arranged; instead of being located near one another, now structures were located around a central plaza. Populations in these villages were also higher than they’d ever been, leading societies to both be more stable than before and more susceptible to warfare. Warring among tribes was so common that most villages of any size had a palisade built around them in an attempt to keep invading people out. Chiefdoms arose in this time period, along with further social stratification; chiefs would control the villages, with smaller settlements and farms surrounding their centers of power. Matrilineal lines become the basis for one’s social standing, meaning your status in society is determined by who your mother and her family had been. It was during this time that the first real hint of organized religion begins to show its face, mostly in the form of specific practices and ceremonies surrounding the dead. 

Mississippian Culture died out ib the Tennessee River Valley long after it had in many other places in the Southeast. It is believed that the Spanish are responsible for the shift in culture from Mississippian to what is known as the Dallas Culture. After European contact, and the subsequent deaths of countless indigenous people due to the European diseases they had no natural immunity to, dogs being sicked on people, and weapons the Spanish brought with them, the Overhill Cherokee emerge. There is no real evidence of if the Overhill are descendants of the peoples who had been living in the Tennessee River Valley for generations, or if they were migrants who moved in after the Spanish were gone, but the leading theory is that they migrated into the area after the Dallas people were driven out. 

Tellico Dam Archaeological Sites:

Many significant sites were found during the excavation years. Smaller sites deemed insignificant at the time have little recorded evidence of their existence, and thus the focus here will be on a few of the larger sites, on which literature is more readily available. All of the following is from those (mostly primary) sources, with the warning that there are inconsistencies within these forty to fifty year old documents that may lead the following to be mildly inaccurate:

Tomotley Site:

First recorded by Eurpoeans in 1894, Tomotley (40MR5) was a habitation site primarily used during the Late Mississippian Phase, but which has evidence of occupation dating back to the Archaic. There are four distinct periods of occupation at the site: Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and Historic. The later periods (Archaic and Woodland) are marked by the presence of lithics. Due to stratigraphic disturbances, pottery sherds and lithics from different time periods were mixed among one another; as this was the case, artifacts found were identified by style rather than how deep in the soil they were found. Based on post hole configurations, 14 total structures were located. These structures were constructed over a long period of time, evidenced by the depth the holes are found at. 6,268 total lithics were recovered, with evidence of occupation from all but the Middle Woodland Phase; the majority of these were identified as having been manufactured during the Mississippian Phase. 4,179 faunal remains were recovered. Evidence existed of a modern household once sitting on the site, likely having been constructed somewhere between 1750 and 1775. 84 total burials were identified. 55 of these were from the Dallas Period (AD1250 - AD1550). 8 were Overhill Cherokee. 20 were from an undetermined time period. As stratigraphy was messy, the period in which these people were interred was determined by grave goods associated with them. Those with no grave goods thus had no way of being determined, and were marked as unable to be determined. With modern techniques, it is entirely possible that these remains would be able to be analyzed today.

This site was excavated for a total of 5 days in 1967. It can be assumed that all artifacts recovered remain in the basement of the McClung museum, untouched. 

Mialoquo:

Having first been placed on a map in 1761, Site 40MR3 was not considered a proper settlement by the Overhill Cherokee because it lacked a “townhouse.” Underneath the settlement, however, was evidence of occupation dating back to the Archaic Phase. 30 total midden pits were identified; 15 of these contained the refuse of the Overhill Cherokee, 3 were from the Mississippian, and 12 were unable to be determined. 692 total post holes were found, suggesting a long period of occupation before more modern times. A total of 4,986 lithics were identified, ranging from the Archaic through the Historic Periods.Very little found was from the Archaic Period, with the majority being from the Late Woodland to Early Mississippian. 6,677 ceramic sherds were recovered, ranging from the Woodland to Historic Periods. 2,987 faunal remains were identified; of these, 186 were molluscan, with the remainder being vertebrates (mainly whitetail deer and black bears). No mention of human burials comes from the report on this site.

Chota:

Though the report on Site 40MR2 was some 600 pages long, the majority was simply describing, in excruciating detail, what all was found. There was little to no analysis of what time periods the artifacts came from, simply that they were present. As this is the case, the details on what all was found for this site are clear, but the period of time they came from is not. 

In total, 18,410 pottery sherds were located. Based on style, it is assumed that they are all from the Early Woodland through Cherokee occupation. An unstated number of lithics were recovered; though the report fails to state the total number, the breakdown is as follows: 287 were utilized flakes (broken pieces of projectiles that could be repurposed); 1,547 were chipped pieces; 5 were unworked nodules (stones chosen to be knapped into projectiles, but which never got used); 74 pipes, or pipe pieces; 1 chunkey stone; 7 anvil stones; 16 net sinkers; 2 gorget fragments; 8 hammerstones; 1 pestle; 3 slate saws; 7 bowl fragments; 10 chipped or broken hoes; 2 celts; 3 whetstones; and 93 stone fragments with evidence of human manipulation. This brings the total of lithics identified to 2,069. A plethora of Historic Era artifacts were also recovered: 19 projectile points; 14 gun parts; 1 powder horn; 23 musket balls; 1 explosive shell fragment; 9 pole axes; 16 knives; 2 straight razors; 3 pair of scissors; 2 saddle braces; 1 iron buckle; 1 strike lighter; 1 pair of eyeglasses; 1 hinge; 9 metal containers; 5 needles; 2 brass wire needles; 3 brass straight pins; 1 iron brace; 3 wood screws; 51 nails; 4 tacks; 40 buttons; 1 sleeve link; 2 broaches; 1 silver pendant; 5 ear ornaments; 32 tinklers (or, bells); 2 silver beads; 8 “c” bracelets; 1 gorget; 1 staple; 1 snuff box; 4 unidentified silver objects; 44 unidentified lead objects; 82 unidentified brass objects; 12,568 glass beads; 63 glass bottles; 14 pieces of mirror; 1 wine glass; 2 glass insets; 54 gunflints; 183 kaolin (a type of clay) pieces; 22 European ceramics; 9 European pigments. 944 total pieces of shell were identified, including 13 conch shell beads and 7 oyster shell beads. All faunal remains found were collected, but not analyzed or counted. Six total structures were able to be identified, as well as four houses. 17 human burials were found, with little detail into who they may have been, or from what time period. 

Toqua:

Site 40MR6 was first investigated by European settlers in 1884. 57 burials were found at the time. The next time a professional dig was performed at the site was in the 1930s; an additional 100-150 burials were found in this exploration, but the people conducting the excavation were not concerned about the remains, but their grave goods. This being the case, all human remains were dumped along with the dirt moved to uncover them, with no effort being made to catalog or recover them. As can possibly be inferred from the way in which the humans whose final resting place was Toqua were treated, almost no record of this dig exists, save for the assemblage from it which made its way to McClung Museum. Proper excavation was not made until 1975. TVA had to purchase the land from its previous owner in order to gain access to the mounds which marked the site, and digging continued here for another two years, making it perhaps the most thoroughly excavated site under the Little Tennessee River. Five phases of excavation were performed: The preliminary survey, test excavations (specifically to gain an idea of the stratigraphy within Mound A), excavatory tests on the grounds around Mound A as well as into Mound B, excavation of Mound A, and comparison of results to other Dallas sites in the area.

At its height, Toqua would have covered around 4.8 acres and housed some 250 to 300 people. It was ruled as a chiefdom, with a matrilineal line dictating one’s social standing. Men of higher status were allowed to take multiple wives. Mound A, which took as many as 300 years to get to its full height, was constructed some time around AD1200. Starting around the second phase of construction (of which there were 16), humans began being interred into the mound. At its full size, Mound A would have stood 25ft tall and been 154ft in diameter. Mound B was constructed some time after this, though there was no definitive date for when this would have been. At its completion, Mound B was 6ft high and 93ft in diameter, and may have been built solely for the purpose of housing Toqua’s dead. In total, 133 structures were noted, as evidenced by the 10,127 post holes associated with the structures. Over 200,000 pottery sherds were found at the site, 212 of which were complete or near-complete. A total of 511 burials were recorded. Based on some of these remains, people at Toqua were purposefully flattening their foreheads by placing boards against them for days at a time; this could have been a status symbol or simply something they deemed to have been fashionable. There is also evidence that the people of Toqua may have relied too heavily on crops such as corn and not enough on red meat, as many of the individuals uncovered showed signs of an iron deficiency. 

Conclusions:

The Tennessee Valley Authority, while bringing affordable energy and plentiful jobs to a part of the country in dire need of both, also brought with it the destruction of an unknowable amount of precious historic and prehistoric sites. One could argue the obvious tradeoff there being that sacrificing indigenous history in order to help the Tennessee River Valley in the modern day was worth it, but when the entire fiasco of the Tellico Project is taken into consideration, statements such as this simply do not hold water (pun intended). 

Firstly, the dam was not constructed to be able to generate electricity. That was not its purpose. Jobs may have been created in the decades it took for construction to be completed, but the only real benefits of Tellico Dam are that it marginally decreased flooding along the Tennessee River (though it aided in smaller tributaries getting more flooding than usual) and provided recreational space.

Second, TVA was so hellbent on getting the dam finished that nowhere near enough time was spent exploring the inundated area. If more responsible, less egotistical people had been in charge, perhaps more would be known about these sites found beyond “people lived here, once.” But, instead, they routinely broke the law (continuing construction and seeming to be trying to destroy habitat in the case of the snail darter incident) and went against court orders to cease construction for lengths of time. The lack of care for both local people in the modern era and or the past is so evident that it’s a wonder TVA was allowed to continue their behavior. 

TVA purposefully flooded an area in which this was not necessary in order to make themselves feel good. They had made a plan, and they intended upon completing it no matter what, whether that “what” be questions of its necessity or in spite of laws and regulations. It is clear that the Tellico Dam Project in its entirety was a blunder, a project pushed simply to sate someone’s ego. And, because of it, the archaeology work done in the area was rushed and haphazard, producing artifacts from which little can be derived, solely because of the pace at which they were collected. No time was afforded to do proper work, and so artifacts got tossed into bags and shipped off to McClung museum, if there was even enough oversight for them to have made it that far. 

Had the time and care been taken in these excavations, had TVA had enough sense to postpone their project in order to allow the descendants of those who lived along the Little Tennessee River to understand a little more of their history, who knows what we would be able to say about these sites. Anything more than that is pure conjecture, however; perhaps there would have been little else to find. Perhaps major sites existed, overlooked in the hurry to get the job done, lost to history. Due to negligence, we will never know. 

But there is still some hope on doing what can be to reconstruct the lives of the people who once resided in the Tennessee River Valley. Countless bags of artifacts exist in the McClung Museum, waiting for an aspiring young archaeologist to uncover their secrets. We may not be able to go back in time and do more thorough digs, but people today can still make basic assessments on what the Overhill Cherokee, and those before them, were doing, or eating, or making. The mistakes of the Tennessee Valley Authority can also be used as a lesson on what not to do in regards to someone’s ancestral lands, a talking point on how to do better in the future. Humanity makes mistakes as reliably as the sun will continue to rise and fall, but that doesn’t mean hope is lost. Wrongs can still be righted. Care can still be taken. Research can still be done. 

Works Cited:

·Callahan, North. TVA: Bridge over Troubled Waters. A.S. Barnes, 1980. 

·Chapman, Jefferson. Tellico Archaeology 12,000 Years of Native American History. Tennessee Valley Authority, 1985. 

·Gleeson, Paul, and Howard H. Earnest. Archaeological Investigations in the Tellico Reservoir: Interim Report, 1970. Dept. of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, 1971. 

·Guthe, Alfred K., and E. Marian Bistline. Excavations at Tomotley, 1973-74, and the Tuskegee Area: Two Reports. Tennessee Valley Authority, 1981. 

·Kimball, Larry R. The 1977 Archaeological Survey: An Overall Assessment of the Archaeological Resources of Tellico Reservoir. Tennessee Valley Authority, 1985. 

·Polhemus, Richard R., et al. The Toqua Site: 40MR6: A Late Mississippian, Dallas Phase Town. Tennessee Valley Authority, 1987. 

·Russ, Kurt C., and Jefferson Chapman. Archaeological Investigations at the Eighteenth Century Overhill Cherokee Town of Mialoquo (40MR3). Department of Anthropology, the University of Tennessee, 1983. 

·Wheeler, William Bruce, and Michael J. MacDonald. TVA and the Tellico Dam 1936 - 1979. Univ. of Tennessee Pr, 1986. 

[auconstructguides]

Commercial Landscape Supplies Central Coast: Supporting Large-Scale Projects with Reliable Materials

Whether it’s for a civil infrastructure job, a multi-dwelling residential project, or a council beautification program, sourcing reliable materials is at the core of successful landscape construction. Across New South Wales, demand for robust, sustainable and cost-effective solutions has grown—but especially in regions like the Central Coast, where projects are often dictated by local terrain, climate, and long-term environmental planning.

When it comes to sourcing commercial landscape supplies Central Coast professionals can trust, consistency and quality are non-negotiable. From road base to topsoil, mulches to gravels, having access to a local supplier that understands the demands of commercial-grade landscaping is essential for staying on budget, on time, and compliant with regulations.

This article explores what types of supplies are commonly used in commercial landscaping, how to select the right materials, and why trusted local providers make all the difference.

The Role of Landscape Supplies in Commercial Construction

Commercial landscaping encompasses more than planting and paving. It’s about creating functional, durable, and visually cohesive outdoor environments that align with long-term planning goals. This can include public spaces, industrial estates, schools, aged care facilities, or medium-density housing.

Projects of this scale require:

High volumes of consistent materials

Strict product quality control

Access to various blends and specifications

Bulk delivery with reliable logistics

Knowledge of council and civil construction standards

That’s why suppliers like Commercial Landscape Supplies Central Coast – Hives Sand & Soil are preferred by contractors, landscape architects, and developers who require not only supply, but expertise in sourcing the right materials for the job.

Most Common Commercial Landscape Products

While residential landscaping often focuses on aesthetics and light structural support, commercial landscapes need materials that will last under pressure—both figuratively and literally.

Here’s a look at commonly sourced materials for large-scale projects:

1. Soil and Soil Blends

Whether it’s engineered soil for raised planter boxes or certified organic topsoil for council verges, quality soil is the base of most green infrastructure. Horticultural compliance and water retention capability are key performance metrics.

2. Sand and Road Base

Used for sub-surface stabilisation in paths, driveways, and structural landscaping. Contractors often require screened, compactable material for even compaction and drainage.

3. Aggregates and Gravels

Decorative pebbles, crushed sandstone, blue metal and drainage gravels are used for everything from aesthetic pathways to erosion control and pipe bedding.

4. Mulches and Bark

Mulches not only enhance the look of garden beds but support moisture retention and soil health. Commercial-grade mulches must comply with local council specifications regarding type, depth, and longevity.

5. Retaining Wall Materials

Stone, crushed concrete or custom blends for retaining wall backfill need to provide both strength and appropriate permeability.

All of the above are available through Quality commercial landscape supplies central coast available now from a local supplier who understands commercial project scope, lead times, and delivery logistics.

Choosing the Right Supplier: More Than Just Price

When sourcing for a large-scale job, it might be tempting to focus solely on price. But a cheap supplier that delivers substandard product, the wrong volume, or delayed shipments can result in:

Project delays and lost contract value

Failed quality inspections or reworks

Wasted materials and budget overruns

Frustrated subcontractors and scheduling chaos

A high-performing supplier offers more than just raw product. They provide:

Knowledge of soil specs, material certifications, and council standards

On-time delivery in bulk, often to multiple drop locations

Custom blending or screening when required

Ongoing project support as volumes or scopes shift

Environmental compliance for recycled or sustainable materials

Hives Sand & Soil for trusted commercial landscape supplies central coast works closely with landscape architects, civil contractors, and government entities to deliver this level of partnership, not just transactions.

How Commercial Landscaping Differs from Residential Work

While both aim for practical, visually pleasing outdoor spaces, commercial landscaping has more stringent criteria around durability, consistency, and regulation. For example:

Traffic Load: Parks, schools, or industrial estates see high foot or vehicle traffic, requiring more robust surface treatments and substrates.

Compliance: Local councils and government authorities often require materials that meet Australian Standards or have specific environmental credentials.

Drainage Engineering: Commercial sites typically have stormwater management requirements that affect aggregate, soil type, and base layers.

Scale: Where residential projects may use one or two tonnes of material, commercial projects may require hundreds or thousands.

If you’re managing a commercial project and unsure how to scale your material volumes, this Tumblr landscape material calculator can help you estimate bulk quantities based on area and depth.

Delivery and Logistics for the Central Coast

The Central Coast is a diverse region—ranging from semi-urban commercial precincts in Gosford to rural or coastal builds in areas like Wamberal, Erina, and Tuggerah. Access to a supplier that knows the regional topography, road access, and weather constraints can be invaluable.

Bulk deliveries often involve:

Tippers or truck and dog combinations for larger loads

Multiple site drops coordinated with construction schedules

Early morning or weekend deliveries to reduce downtime

Crane or bobcat hire for tight access delivery

With dedicated fleet and local drivers, Commercial Landscape Supplies Central Coast – Hives Sand & Soil handles these challenges daily—offering fast turnaround without sacrificing product quality.

Supporting Sustainable Development Goals

Many Central Coast projects now include sustainability goals within planning approvals. That means a growing demand for:

Recycled aggregates and crushed concrete

Organically certified compost and soil blends

Mulches sourced from reclaimed green waste

Suppliers that offset emissions or reduce plastic packaging

By sourcing locally and working with providers that prioritise environmental responsibility, your landscaping work can align with broader ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals.

This Tumblr post on green infrastructure explores how commercial landscaping is playing a growing role in environmental policy execution at the local level.

Final Thoughts

For civil contractors, developers, and councils seeking reliable, compliant materials, commercial landscape supplies Central Coast sourcing isn’t something to leave to chance. Every bag of mulch, cubic metre of road base, or tonne of gravel directly impacts your project outcomes.

By working with knowledgeable, reliable local suppliers like Commercial Landscape Supplies Central Coast – Hives Sand & Soil, your project gets the benefit of expertise, logistics support, consistent product supply—and peace of mind.

Whether you're building a multi-lot subdivision or managing a council open space upgrade, the materials you choose matter. And the team behind them matters even more.

[grassrootscolumbus]

The Grass is Always Greener in Pine Mountain: Expert Lawn Care and Weed Control

Why a Green, Healthy Lawn is a Homeowner’s Pride in Pine Mountain

In Pine Mountain, your lawn is more than just grass—it’s a reflection of Southern hospitality and pride. A well-maintained yard boosts curb appeal, creates space for family memories, and even supports local ecosystems by reducing soil erosion. But let’s be honest: Between Georgia’s clay soil, scorching summers, and weeds that thrive like uninvited guests, achieving that picture-perfect lawn can feel like a uphill battle. That’s where professional lawn care services step in to turn frustration into satisfaction.

Understanding Pine Mountain’s Lawn Challenges

Common Weeds in Pine Mountain: What You’re Up Against

Crabgrass, chickweed, and dollarweed don’t just invade your lawn—they declare war. These pests love Georgia’s humidity and can choke out even the healthiest grass. GrassRoots Turf’s lawn care weed control programs use pre-emergent treatments to stop weeds before they sprout and targeted solutions to eliminate existing invaders—all while keeping your family and pets safe.

The Impact of Soil Health on Lawn Appearance

Pine Mountain’s signature red clay soil might be great for pottery, but it’s tough on grass. Compacted clay prevents water, air, and nutrients from reaching roots, leading to thin, patchy lawns. Our lawn care program starts with soil testing to diagnose pH imbalances and nutrient deficiencies, followed by core aeration to loosen soil and organic amendments to boost fertility.

Navigating Pine Mountain’s Unique Climate

With hot, humid summers and occasional frosty winters, your lawn faces a rollercoaster of stress. Our local lawn care team tailors every service to the season:

Spring: Aeration, seeding, and pre-emergent weed control.

Summer: Deep-root fertilization and drought management.

Fall: Leaf removal and winter-prep nutrition.

Winter: Soil conditioning and pest prevention.

Expert Lawn Care Services That Ensure Results

Comprehensive Weed Control: Prevention and Elimination

We don’t just treat weeds—we outsmart them. Our two-step approach combines pre-emergent barriers to block weeds at the seed stage and spot treatments to zap stubborn growth. For invasive foes like nutsedge, we use specialized herbicides that target weeds without harming your grass.

Fertilization Programs Customized for Pine Mountain Lawns

Not all grass is created equal. Whether you have Bermuda, Zoysia, or Fescue, our full-service lawn care includes customized fertilization schedules. Slow-release nutrients feed your lawn gradually, avoiding the “green today, brown tomorrow” effect of cheap fertilizers.

Aeration and Overseeding for Thick, Lush Grass

Compacted soil? Bare patches? No problem. Our core aeration punches tiny holes to relieve soil pressure, while overseeding fills gaps with premium grass varieties suited to Pine Mountain’s climate. The result? A lawn so thick, it feels like walking on a carpet.

Seasonal Maintenance Plans for Year-Round Health

Your lawn’s needs change with the seasons—and so do our services. From spring green-up to winter dormancy, our lawn maintenance service ensures your yard stays resilient, hydrated, and weed-free 365 days a year.

The Benefits of Professional Lawn Care in Pine Mountain

Why DIY Often Falls Short: The Value of Expertise

Sure, you could spend weekends wrestling with a spreader and praying for rain—or you could let GrassRoots Turf handle the heavy lifting. DIY mistakes like over-fertilizing, scalping grass, or misidentifying weeds can cost time and money. Our licensed technicians bring years of training and local know-how to every job.

Saving Time and Effort with Local Lawn Care Services

Why waste hours researching “lawn care in my area” when you could be hiking Pine Mountain Trail or grilling with friends? We handle mowing, edging, weed control, and more, freeing you up to enjoy the things that matter.

Advanced Tools and Eco-Friendly Methods

We invest in pro-grade equipment like GPS-guided spreaders and soil moisture sensors to ensure precision. Plus, our eco-friendly treatments protect pollinators and waterways, so your lawn stays green and green-conscious.

Make Your Lawn the Greenest in Pine Mountain! 

GrassRoots of Pine Mountain

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[why5x5]

"Trends working at least marginally towards the implantation of a very narrow range of attitudes, memories, and opinions include control off major television networks and newspapers by a small number of similarly motivated powerful corporations and individuals, the disappearance of competitive daily newspapers in many cities, the replacement of substantive debate by sleaze in political campaigns, and episodic erosion of the principle of the separation of powers. It is estimated (by the American media expert Ben Bagdikian) that fewer than two dozen corporations control more than half 'of the global business in daily newspapers, magazines, televisions, books and movies.' The proliferation of cable television channels, cheap long-distance telephone calls, fax machines, computer bulletin boards and networks, inexpensive computer self-publishing, and surviving instances of the traditional liberal arts university curriculum are trends that might work in the opposite direction."

--Carl Sagan

[motriders]

Shop High-Quality Brake Levers for Enhanced Motorbike Control in the UK Today

Riding a motorbike is about opportunity and fervor, yet can we just be looking at things objectively for a minute — it's likewise about remaining in charge? Assuming you're cruising through the UK, you know how rapidly the weather conditions can change, and that having dependable brakes is significant. Whether you're dashing through occupied London roads or unwinding some national paths, top-notch brake switches are a distinct advantage. They give you the smooth, responsive halting power you want to remain safe and ride with certainty. Assuming that you're in the UK and hoping to get your hands on some first-class brake switches, this is the opportunity to look for the best gear to assist you with controlling your ride. Why You Need Quality Brake Levers for Your Motorbike in the UK

While you're riding in the UK, having a decent brake switch isn't just a charming to-have — it's a certain need. The atmospheric conditions can be unusual, the roads can be smooth, and things can get involved fast, especially in metropolitan networks like London or Manchester. That is where an excellent brake switch comes in. A very much-made switch ensures your motorbike stops without a hitch and dependably like clockwork, regardless of what the UK tosses in your direction. Whether it's a heavy storm or dry and dusty, having that strong, responsive brake feel will significantly affect you when you want to rapidly stop.

What Makes Brake Levers So Important?

Your brake switches are one of the main pieces of your motorbike. They're the instruments you depend on each time you need to dial back, stop, or keep away from a deterrent. In the UK, where street conditions can change in a moment — particularly with the erratic climate — having brake switches that you can depend on is fundamental. A strong brake switch gives you better input, more exact control, and at last, more well-being while you're riding. Whether you're grinding to a halt at a bustling crossing point or dialing back to stay away from a puddle in the street, you must realize your brake switch is up for the undertaking.

Why High-Quality Brake Levers Are Worth It

Built to Last: In the UK, your motorbike faces a great deal — wet streets, wind, and even snow. That is the reason putting resources into great brake switches produced using strong materials like hardened steel or aluminum is critical. These materials are tough, lightweight, and resistant to rust, so they’re built to handle whatever you throw at them. Plus, a quality brake lever can last much longer than cheap ones, saving you money in the long run.

Comfort and Control: Let’s face it—riding isn’t always easy on your hands, especially on long trips. A good brake lever is designed to be comfortable and easy to grip, making sure you don’t get sore after hours on the road. Many top levers in the UK are also adjustable, so you can find the perfect fit for your hand size and riding style. The better the fit, the more control you’ll have, making every ride feel smoother and more enjoyable.

Weather-Proof: You’ve probably been caught in a downpour while riding in the UK (who hasn’t?). With the unpredictable weather, you need brake levers that will work in any condition. Quality switches are frequently treated to oppose erosion and wear, which is significant while managing precipitation, mud, or pungent streets in winter.

Where to Find the Best Brake Levers in the UK

Whether you're visiting a nearby shop or perusing the web, finding the ideal switches for your motorbike is simple. If you love giving things a shot face to face, make a beeline for a nearby motorbike store, where specialists can assist you with tracking down an ideal choice for your motorcycle. On the other hand, assuming you favor the comfort of shopping on the web, there are a lot of UK-based retailers offering nitty gritty item portrayals and surveys to direct your choice. Anything that you pick, you'll track down a lot of extraordinary choices to suit your necessities.

Top Brands for Brake Levers in the UK

Assuming you're searching for the most elite, a few brands are notable for their great brake switches. Associations like Brembo, ASV, and Pazzo have acquired a reputation for making extraordinary, strong changes that hold around under any condition. These brands center around performance, sturdiness, and comfort, so you should rest assured you're getting an item that fills in as hard as you do out and about.

[gutterempirevancover]

Better Gutter Drain 5 Downspout Drainage Ideas

Proper drainage of downspout is essential to protect a home from water damage. It is an essential part of guttering & drainage in Vancouver. When heavy rainwater from your rooftop is not directed away far enough from your foundation, it may lead to soil erosion, basement flooding, mold growth, or even structural problems in the long run. A well-designed drainage system for downspout channels water safely away from your home, thus safeguarding your foundation and surrounding landscape. It even prevents fascia boards from getting damaged and if needed, a proper replacement of fascia board can be done.

Fortunately, there are many effective solutions to enhance downspout drainage. These solutions come under guttering & drainage in Vancouver and range from different layouts, soil types, and climates of properties. Easy installations, like gravel-filled trench or an eco-friendly rain barrel, can be installed next to a modern, low-profile pop-up emitter. Here is a guide for five downspout drainage ideas to help you make informed decisions about keeping the property safe and dry. Ensure that these techniques are performed by professionals.

1. Gravel-filled trench

A gravel-filled trench is a simple yet very effective means of directing water away from your home when it comes to downspout ideas. It is especially useful where erosion occurs close to the foundation because it slowly absorbs water, which prevents sudden runoff and supports the overall guttering & drainage in Vancouver.

Purpose

It absorbs and conducts water into the soil without risking its damage to your foundation.

Installation

Dig a shallow trench about 8–10 inches across.

Then drill a perforated pipe in that trench and backfill it with gravel to maintain that flow.

Advantage

Cheap and easy to maintain.

It blends well into landscapes, especially with decorative stones on top.

You can even cover the openings of the drainage system with gutter guards.

Maintenance

Check periodically for blockage and clean the gravel to ensure a smooth run.

It can also beautify your yard and together with increasing your yard's aesthetics, help in handling water effectively.

2. Rain Barrel System

It is environment-friendly and low in cost compared to other techniques in guttering & drainage in Vancouver , as it captures runoff from rain gutter downspouts and may become a free, natural supply source for outdoor uses. Therefore, it's ideal in locations with droughts and periodic water restrictions.

Purpose

This system collects rainwater for gardening, washing cars, and other outdoor tasks.

Installation

Use a barrel at the end of the gutter spout to collect the rainwater.

A hose attached to the overflow valve must drain excess water away from the foundation.

Benefits

Reduce water expenses and conserve water supply.

Available in various styles to suit different aesthetics.

Maintenance

Clean regularly to prevent debris accumulation.

Add a screen or lid to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in standing water.

It's also customizable to suit any type of home. They're available in many designs for utility and aesthetics under guttering & drainage in Vancouver.

3. Dry well construction

In places where the water collects or the groundwater is not draining, dry wells can be. They basically collect the rainwater underground and then slowly let it seep into the soil that mitigates surface waters and prevents flooding.

Purpose

Retain and release water slowly to the soil; hence reduce surface run-off.

Installation

Dig a hole 3–4 feet deep and fill it with gravel or a prefabricated dry well unit.

Underground piping from the gutter downspout to the dry well.

Benefits

Works well in areas prone to standing water.

Prevents foundation damage by controlling heavy runoff.

Purpose

Regularly inspect to ensure no clogging happens in that dry well.

Install a filter at the gutter spout to allow for debris prevention.

Maintenance

Regularly inspect to ensure no clogging happens in that dry well.

Install a filter at the gutter spout to allow for debris prevention.

Dry wells are especially helpful in rainy regions where there is water accumulation, and they can be considered a long-term and sustainable solution for water management in terms of guttering & drainage in Vancouver.

4. French Drain

French drain technique is excellent and suits sloping property. This technique will guide the water away from your foundation through perforated pipes filled within the gravel trench that guides it to move naturally downhill. A professional gutter service will always come in handy for these tasks.

Purpose

This prevents the coming of water into the house through the foundation, thus helping the guttering & drainage in Vancouver.

Installation

Dig a trench along the path that the water will take and place a perforated pipe.

Cover the pipe with gravel, and cover it first with landscape fabric to avoid soil clogging.

Add topsoil or decorative stones at the very top for a finishing touch.

Advantages

Ideal for long-term drainage on sloping or clay-heavy soils.

Reduces risk of basement flooding by directing water away from the foundation.

Maintenance

Check annually for any blockages or debris accumulation.

Rinse the pipe thoroughly in order to remove any unwanted particles.

These are French drains that serve both functionality and durability hence strong selections for constant, long-term drainage solutions making them a sustainable choice amongst many downspout ideas.

5. Pop-Up Emitter

Modern options for the homeowner who wants proper drainage are pop-up emitters. At a point remote from the foundation, the water is released, and when water pressure eases, it closes over neatly to the landscape.

Purpose

Water from the gutter downspout is released secretly without visible pipes or paths of drainage.

Installation

Installation of drainage systems must be done professionally as the specialists allotted are trained and well equipped.

Run an underground drainage pipe from the rain gutter downspout over to the release area and attach it.

Install a pop-up emitter which opens with water pressure but closes afterwards.

Advantages

It maintains a clean look in the yard and keeps the drainage system hidden.

It prevents near the foundation pooling and fades with landscaping.

Maintenance

Check regularly to ensure that debris or clog do not block the emitter.

Use a drainage filter to keep leaves and dirt from entering the pipe.

Pop-up emitters are low-profile and effective, ideal for the home as it incorporates both aesthetics and practicality.

Where paint peels, it indicates that moisture has somehow entered the fascia board for gutters. This is usually a warning sign of potential wood rot, which can lead to more extensive damage if left untreated. For quality replacements and protection, consider checking out fascia board for gutters services to keep your home in top shape.

Conclusion

Each drainage solution for guttering & drainage in Vancouver has specific benefits based on your property type and needs.

Gravel-Filled Trench: It is cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing, especially in flatter areas. 

Rain Barrels: The environmentally friendly water drum for outdoor uses. 

Dry Well: Suitable for those dwellings with soil draining badly or easily accumulating water. 

French Drain: Suitable property with sloping-a strong solution about drainage. 

Pop-Up Emitters: Low-profile and practical, they don’t really show in landscaping.

If you are interested to find out more about gutters, our blog page might come in handy. Protect your home from water damage and keep it in the best condition possible by choosing the right option for your property and maintaining that regularly. We offer all the services mentioned above and many more, you can know more about us or contact us immediately!

[decking944]

7 Reasons Why Landscaping In Bronte Is Important

Landscaping is when trees and other plants are brought in to create an area of ​​beauty, whether in a quiet neighborhood or a bustling city. Today, you can find impressive landscaping in Bronte projects in the form of rooftop gardens, urban pocket parks, and backyard oases. Landscaping isn't cheap, so why is it worth investing in? 

Here are a few motives why landscaping is important:

1.Landscaping saves the environment

Sprawling cities harm the environment. We know the negative consequences of deforestation and shrinking green space. Landscaping presents a chance to maintain and defend the environment. Planting native plants, avoiding chemicals, and addressing environmental issues keep green spaces healthy and thriving.

2.Landscaping helps clean the air

Plants easily the air as nicely as the soil. Trees are particularly effective in this purification. Tree leaves absorb and filter pollutants such as smog, ozone, and nitrogen oxides from the air. Cities can clean polluted air by adding more landscaping, Bronte. Landscapers need good planning in place. No plant will operate. The best plants will have large leaves. Planners also need to consider factors such as water availability, spacing, and wind patterns.

3.Landscaping helps with water management

Water may be a sustainable resource, but it is not limitless. It needs to be handled with care. Landscaping can help. By prioritizing drainage solutions, landscapers protect natural waterways, create rain gardens and revitalize wetlands. Wetland-friendly landscaping in Bronte is important because wetlands are endangered. These areas promote biodiversity, treat stormwater, and control flooding.

4.Landscaping stops erosion

Corrosion is a serious problem. This leads to pollution and siltation in rivers and streams. Waterways become clogged, which kills fish and other species. Erosion additionally destroys fertile land and leads to extra flooding. Landscaping, especially grasses and shrubs, holds the soil with its roots. Landscaping Bronte prioritizes erosion issues and mitigates water management issues.

5.Landscaping improves people's mental health

Studies constantly exhibit that being in nature is true for a person's intellectual health. It can improve their memory, reduce stress and increase feelings of happiness. Nature is so powerful that something as small as a tree or a houseplant can improve mental health. In our world today, there is a mental health crisis. Landscaping can play a vital position in healing.

6.Landscaping adds value to an area

Landscaping is no longer solely top for the surroundings and people's intellectual health. It adds value to an area. It's no secret that when someone sells their home, their landscaping Bronte affects the asking price. In cities, lovely parks and inexperienced areas entice vacationers and visitors. Good landscaping encourages surrounding homes and neighbourhoods to step up their game.

7.Landscaping plays a big role in sustainability

Good landscapers prioritize the health of the environment. They are at the forefront of innovation and strategies for energy efficiency, clean water, clean air, and more. In the journey to a healthier, more sustainable world, landscapers matter.

Landscaping in Bronte is a thriving industry that offers many benefits to people and the environment. No marvel it is one of the fastest-growing industries. It can make your domestic or nearby more healthy for all of us who live there.

[travelingfevah]

The Great Wall Of China - Deeper dive into its history

https://TravelingFevah.com - The Great Wall of China is a monumental feat of engineering and one of the most iconic symbols of China's ancient civilization. 

Here's a deeper dive into its history, significance, and construction: Origins and Construction: 

The Great Wall's construction began as early as the 7th century BC during the Warring States period. Initially, separate walls were built by various states to defend against invasions from nomadic tribes to the north. It wasn't until the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) that these walls were connected and expanded into a unified defensive barrier by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. 

Purpose and Significance: The primary purpose of the Great Wall was defensive, serving to protect China's northern border from nomadic incursions. Beyond its military function, the wall also facilitated border control, trade regulation, and the imposition of tariffs on goods passing through various checkpoints. It symbolized China's determination to defend its sovereignty and preserve its civilization. Length and Structure: 

The Great Wall stretches over approximately 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers), making it one of the most extensive construction projects in human history. Contrary to popular belief, the wall is not a single continuous structure but rather a series of walls, fortifications, and natural barriers built and rebuilt over centuries by successive dynasties. It incorporates various materials, including stone, brick, tamped earth, and wood. Historical Significance: Throughout its history, the Great Wall witnessed numerous military conflicts, cultural exchanges, and dynastic shifts. It served as a symbol of China's resilience and determination in the face of external threats. Despite its formidable defenses, the wall was breached multiple times by invading forces, including the Mongols under Genghis Khan and the Manchus during the Qing Dynasty. Modern 

Preservation and Tourism: Today, the Great Wall of China is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's most visited tourist attractions. Many sections of the wall have been restored and opened to the public, allowing visitors to walk along its ancient ramparts and experience its breathtaking vistas. 

However, conservation efforts face challenges such as erosion, vandalism, and urban development encroaching on the wall's original footprint. In summary, the Great Wall of China stands as a testament to human ingenuity, perseverance, and the enduring legacy of one of the world's oldest civilizations. Its rich history and cultural significance continue to captivate the imagination of people worldwide. 

Thanks for watching, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to stay updated when we're putting out new content for you. You can download your FREE Guide: "The Budget Traveler's Handbook" and get cheap flights, cheap hotels, cheap destinations, cheap car rentals, cheap traveler insurance at: https://TravelingFevah.com

 #GreatWallOfChina #GreatWall #China #AncientWonders #HistoricalLandmarks #UNESCO #TravelBucketList #CulturalHeritage #WorldHeritageSite #IconicLandmarks #TouristAttractions

[mariacallous]

Protests by farmers are in full swing across CEE ahead of next week’s EU agriculture ministers' meeting. Populists in the region are looking to exploit the issue ahead of the European elections, to varying degrees of success.

Large demonstrations, many involving tractors blockading city roads and border points, took place across Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia over the past week, as farmers protested a variety of issues, from rising production costs and higher taxes, to excessive environmental rules and bureaucracy, to cheap imports coming from Ukraine.

Yet what unites them is their anger at the EU and member state governments for not listening to their concerns, in what is fast becoming a politically charged affair ahead of crucial elections in June for the European Parliament.

In Poland, where nationwide protests kicked off on February 9, it is the dumping of Ukrainian food produce on the Polish market that is the source of much of the anger.

At Dorohusk, on Poland’s eastern border with Ukraine, hundreds of trucks waiting to leave Poland are stuck in a line longer than 10 kilometres as Polish farmers are blocking the border crossing to force the government to meet their demands.

“This is an act of despair,” Tomasz Warchalawski, a 49-year-old farmer from the Lubelskie region, told BIRN on February 14 as he helped maintain the blockade at Dorohusk. “Prices for our produce have dropped so low since the war started that we are barely making ends meet. Right now, there are times I have to borrow to stay afloat.”

By February 21, Polish farmers were stopping traffic at all border crossings with Ukraine; the rule of the blockades is that only one truck is allowed to pass per hour both ways, with the exception of humanitarian aid, military equipment and fuel. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the blockade indicated “an erosion of solidarity with Ukraine” and that the protest actions in Poland were “more about politics than about grain”, as only 5 per cent of Ukrainian agricultural exports pass through Poland.

Elsewhere in Poland, farmers organised a major action in the centre of the south-western city of Wroclaw on February 15, which included using tractors to block traffic and the burning of tires in front of various offices of national and European authorities. On February 20, a major nationwide action was organised, with many highways and city centres blocked.

All the Polish farmers BIRN spoke to on the border complained that they are now being forced to sell their products at between half and two-thirds of the price they used to get before the war in Ukraine started, because supermarkets and intermediaries can now buy much cheaper Ukrainian products after the EU dropped import duties to support the Ukrainian economy.

For example, farmers used to get about 1,500 zloty (about 350 euros) per tonne of wheat two years ago, compared with just 700-800 zloty now. For corn, the drop has been from 900 zloty per tonne to around 400 zloty, the protesters said.

43-year-old Michal, the owner of a 120-hectare family farm and one of the protesters at Dorohusk, estimated his losses in the past year at 100,000 zloty (about 23,000 euros), while subsidies paid by the government from EU funds made up for only about a tenth of that.

“We don’t have a problem with supporting Ukraine,” he explained. “The problem is that the beneficiaries of this situation are Ukrainian oligarchs, the big businesses controlling the exports. And it’s us, regular family farms over here, who bear the costs.”

Polish farmers have actually been protesting since early 2023 over the Ukrainian import issue. Their actions forced the then-government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) to introduce a unilateral ban on cereal imports from Ukraine after a short-term European ban had expired. But farmers complain that the national ban – which is supposed to still be in place – is not being enforced in practice.

When BIRN visited, there were no Polish authorities in sight to do any checking and the farmers were themselves informally controlling the incoming Ukrainian trucks. The day before, Polish farmers had forced open some trucks, spilling grain out onto the road – proof, they said, that formally banned products were still coming in.

“The pigs change but the trough stays the same,” Michal said in response to a question about whether the actions of the previous PiS government or the current new one, made up of three centrist democratic parties, are in any way helping to meet farmers’ demands.

“We are forced to block the border because nobody listens to us in Warsaw, neither the former nor the present government. They are all happy to turn a blind eye while the cereals still get dumped in Poland,” he added.

Polish farmers have been cheered by the gathering support from farmers across Europe. “We’ve been protesting in Poland since January last year, but nobody paid any attention to us,” 66-year-old Krszysztof, another farmer at the Dorohusk crossing, told BIRN. “We understood faster what was happening because we are right here, close to Ukraine, but now they are all starting to get it. I think if farmers all over Europe rise up, they’ll be forced to listen to us.”

Message received

That call has now been taken up elsewhere in the region, with protests in Czechia and Slovakia starting on Monday and culminating on Thursday. Although complaints about cheaper produce from Ukraine is an issue, it is the huge amount of bureaucracy the EU imposes on farmers and food producers that is at the root of most of their complaints, as well as the European Green Deal, a policy intended to make the EU carbon-neutral by 2050.

“We want to raise animals, grow crops and produce food, not sit at a computer and decipher the sometimes even meaningless requirements of the European Commission, which are constantly changing and hindering the development of the countryside,” Andrej Gajdos, executive vice-president of the Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food Industry, said. “We are in favour of hearing our demands and a real discussion – this is the only way to restore the trust of European farmers and food producers in EU institutions.”

In the early hours of Monday morning, hundreds of tractors converged on Prague’s main thoroughfare from half a dozen directions, only temporarily disrupting traffic despite initial fears of urban chaos, and gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, on the banks of the Vltava river.

Czech farmers are urging their government to defend their interests in the upcoming EU negotiations, crucially to reduce bureaucratic red-tape and reform the bloc’s subsidy policy to better support small and medium-sized farms.

A few hundred Hungarian farmers protested on February 16 at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border carrying banners like “No farmers, no food, no future” and several anti-EU ones like “Brussels betrayed us” and, alongside a coffin, “This is what Brussels wants for us”. Hardly surprising, given the protest was organised by the Hungarian Agriculture Chamber and the National Association of Farmers’ Circles (MAGOSZ), both closely associated with the eurosceptic Fidesz government.

“Why do they [the EU] think that contaminated food is good for us?” asked Balazs Gyorffy, chairman of the Agriculture Chamber rhetorically, alluding to the widespread belief that Ukrainian products are inferior or dangerous.

Populist advances

The farmers’ protests represent an opportunity for Europe’s populists, especially in the run-up to the elections for the European Parliament on June 6-9. But, at the same time, if the experience in the Czech Republic is anything to go by, it’s not one that all farmers are willing to concede to them.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a seasoned politician, immediately spied the political potential in the farmers’ protests and has been trying to capitalise on them before the EU elections, which polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations suggests will likely see anti-European populists top the polls in nine member states (including Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), and come second or third in a further nine countries.

On the eve of the last European Council summit on February 1, Orban met outside with protesting farmers on the streets of Brussels, telling them that “European leaders do not take people’s interests seriously, so new leaders must be elected”. And this week, he released a video accusing Brussels of trying to ruin the livelihoods of European farmers and calling for Ukrainian products to be banned from the European market.

The Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture told BIRN that, “The unrestricted access of Ukrainian products to the EU market has created unfair conditions and distorted the market for Hungarian and European agriculture, due to the huge differences in production standards.” It argued that maize, which is the worst affected by Ukrainian imports, costs around 146 euros/tonne in Hungary, while it is sold at over 200 euros/tonne in the EU.

The ministry also said it disagrees with the European Commission’s latest proposal to remove poultry, eggs and sugar from the banned list, but leave CEE countries to deal with the problem of cereals. “Until an international solution is found to restrict imports of Ukrainian grain, the Hungarian government is forced to maintain its unilateral import restriction”, the ministry wrote.

In Poland, the politics around the protests is more confused. While rural voters in general tended to lean towards the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, support for the former ruling party has dropped over the past year, polls indicate. At the same time, farmers do not have an obvious single alternative to PiS.

According to Ruta Spiewak, a researcher from the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development at the Polish Academy of Sciences, there are many different kinds of farmers and rural inhabitants in Poland, each with their own political preferences: some may still stick with PiS out of a lack of better options; some support the agrarian PSL party, which is now in the new governing coalition; some have been drawn to the far-right; and some are even backing Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform, which managed to attract farming protest leader Michal Kolodziejczak to its ranks in the run-up to the October general election.

Kolodziejczak, who is now a vice-minister in the Agriculture Ministry, visited Dorohusk on February 13, even attempting to conduct a parliamentary control on wagons bringing Ukrainian produce by rail into Poland via a crossing point near the blockade. He was refused access.

“He spent the whole day here with us in the cold, I’ll grant him that,” 53-year-old Piotr, another protester, said. “He’s trying to do things, but no one listens to him.”

However, the attempt by populists to hijack the Czech farmers’ protests this week largely backfired. Organised by the outspoken Bohumir Dufek, chairman of the Trade Union of Agriculture and Food Workers, and the no-less flamboyant former head of the Czech Agrarian Chamber and agro-baron Zdenek Jandejsek, the impressive display of strength and unity at Monday’s protest quickly faded, exposing the rift between some participating farmers and more radical elements riding the popular wave of anger against the unpopular five-party governing coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

By early Monday afternoon, Czech police announced on social media that most of the tractors were already heading home. Talking to local media, some demonstrators said they felt as if the event had been “stolen” from them and they were unable to communicate their actual grievances to authorities.

“This is not what we wanted,” one protester, Milos Novy, complained to Czech TV. “We wanted a peaceful protest, but we are a minority here today. We were not able to ensure that only farmers and people who have something to say about this protest were present.”

“There is no clear, unified political orientation among all the protesting farmers in the Czech Republic,” explains Michaela Kozminova, an analyst at the Prague-based Association of International Affairs (AMO), but “several of the protest’s speakers and organisers have previously been linked to far-right and disinformation groups.”

Part of the industry’s lack of unity on full display this week is also partly explained by the discrepancy between small and large farms, which Kozminova describes as “one of the leading issues of agricultural policy in the Czech Republic”.

Later that day, the rowdier elements gathered for a second protest in Prague’s historic centre, joined by notorious figures around Czechia’s disinformation and far-right scene, including PRO head Jindrich Rajchl and Trikolora president Zuzana Majerova.

Prime Minister Fiala, Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny and other government figures soon accused the organisers of blatant pro-Russian tendencies and of pursuing “other goals than the interests of the farmers”.

In exchanges reminiscent of mass protests held at the end of last year in Prague, Fiala and his cabinet were in turn accused of “arrogance” by the populist opposition ANO and SPD parties, who lambasted the government for ignoring the all-too-real woes of Czechia’s agricultural sector since taking office, and bowing to the EU’s “catastrophic” green policies.

Both in Czechia and the rest of the EU, “the Green Deal is seen as a threat mainly by those who benefit from the status quo in agriculture and fear a transition to a more sustainable model,” Kozminova explains, especially large agribusinesses and the agrochemical industry.

While condemning the anti-democratic forces seeking to add fuel to the fire, the Czech government was keen to show it isn’t downplaying the difficulties faced by domestic farmers as a result of high energy prices, overbearing bureaucracy and the cheaper competition from non-EU countries, including Ukraine.

Agriculture Minister Vyborny insisted Prague was highly active at the European level to reduce the level of red tape – a promise he is bound to be closely scrutinised on when he attends the EU Agriculture Council meeting on February 26.

“The Czech Minister of Agriculture promised to advocate in Brussels for a reduction of the necessary bureaucracy in agriculture, and suggested several other measures, including non-taxation of agricultural subsidies or social security support,” AMO’s Kozminova says.

Vyborny also pledged to continue negotiations with the Czech Agrarian Chamber, the Agricultural Association and the Association of Private Agriculture – the country’s largest agricultural associations with whom the government has been holding close talks in recent weeks, and who had all distanced themselves from Monday’s protest in advance.

But should the government fail to deliver, they, too, stand ready to take to the streets, roads and borders.

On Thursday, the Czech Agrarian Chamber and other domestic organisations will join a pan-European movement – with delegations also expected from Slovakia, Hungary and Poland – to protest at selected border crossings across the region, just a few days before next week’s EU agriculture ministers’ meeting.

Asked by BIRN what outcome they expect from the meeting, the Agrarian Chamber said that Czech and CEE representatives “should request the reintroduction of the customs regime for Ukraine, support for the export of agricultural commodities, and the temporary increased use of agricultural commodities in the energy mix”.

If Czech Agriculture Minister Vyborny fails to present a proposal by March 1 “to help stop the further collapse of Czech agriculture”, the Agrarian Chamber will call on farmers to take part in protest drives and other demonstrations at the domestic level, its spokeswoman Barbora Pankova told BIRN.

[pacificmaritimegroup]

Rip Rap Stone

Rip-rap is a method typically used along stream banks or sea banks to protect soil from runoff erosion or wave erosion. It consists of stones with well-graded weights and shapes interlocked together to form a layer or protective mound. Stones used for rip-rap have an angular shape, are hard, durable, and are usually dumped on a gravel bedding layer and/or a woven or nonwoven geotextile fabric  Rip-rap structure has two functions: the stones absorb and deflect the energy of water waves, whereas the gaps between the rocks slow the flow of water by reducing its ability in eroding soil - rip-rap.

As mentioned above, rip rap is mostly used to prevent water erosion and scouring. This type of rock is commonly used as coastal defence as well as inland waterways and lining rivers. This type of rock should be used near bodies of water to prevent erosion and scouring. This includes oceans, ponds and lakes. Due to the concentrated surface runoff, rip rap protects soil from erosion. This makes riprap especially suitable to stabilise shoreline slopes that are unstable due to seepage - Santa Cruz Island Barge Service.

So, whether you are searching for riprap for sale or riprap for erosion control, you can purchase rip rap and other aggregates. We also stock other aggregates, including quarried aggregates, recycled aggregates and decorative aggregate. Riprap describes a range of rocky material placed along shorelines, bridge foundations, steep slopes, and other shoreline structures to protect from scour and erosion. Rocks used range from 4 inches to over 2 feet. The size of the rock needed on a project depends on the steepness of the slope and how fast water is moving. Riprap is a very durable, natural-looking treatment. One drawback is the potential for the rocky material to not be easily traversable by animals; filling the open spaces between the rocks with soil or smaller rocks helps to address this issue.

Erosion can compromise bridges, wash out adjacent roadways, or cause loss of property; preventing erosion helps to keep the public safe. At first glance, riprap may seem like a simple science for mitigating the power of water, but it requires a lot of evaluation from engineers. Cost comes into the conversation early because rock can’t always be found locally, and transporting a large quantity of rock isn’t cheap, and neither is the rock itself. Determining the effective size and amount of rock can limit the cost associated with the solution. For more information please visit our site https://www.Pacificmaritimegroup.com/

[sundarbantourpackagesfromkolkata]

The Mangroves Provide A Safe Haven for Animals in the Sundarban

The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, is a place of unparalleled beauty and ecological significance. Nestled between the coasts of Bangladesh and India, this unique ecosystem plays a crucial role in preserving the rich biodiversity of the region. One of the key reasons for its importance is the role it plays as a safe haven for animals.

Which Animals Are Found in the Mangrove Forest of the Sundarbans?

Bengal Tiger: The Bengal tiger of the Sundarbans is the most famous resident of this mangrove forest. These tigers are known for their adaptation to a saline environment, unique among tiger subspecies. The Sundarbans is home to a significant population of these majestic creatures. These tigers are excellent swimmers and are known for their hunting prowess in the waterlogged mangrove terrain.

Saltwater Crocodile: Another formidable predator found in the Sundarbans is the saltwater crocodile. These reptiles are known for their immense size and power. The mangrove creeks and estuaries provide them with an ideal habitat for hunting and breeding.

Indian Python: The Sundarbans mangroves are also home to the Indian python, a large constrictor snake. These pythons are often found near water bodies. Their presence indicates a healthy ecosystem, as they help control the population of prey species such as rodents and birds.

Spotted Deer: Sundarban Tour and Travel shows Spotted deer are one of the most common vegans in the Sundarbans. Their unique adaptation to brackish water and the ability to browse on mangrove leaves make them a vital component of the food web. Tigers and other predators rely on these deer for sustenance.

Various bird species: The Sundarban mangroves are a haven for numerous bird species, both resident and migratory. Some notable bird species found here include the masked finfoot, kingfishers, herons, and various species of eagles. Migratory birds use the Sundarbans as a stopover during their long journeys.

What Is Special About Mangroves?

Salt Tolerance: Mangroves are uniquely adapted to thrive in saline and brackish water conditions. They possess specialized root systems, known as prop roots or pneumatophores, which help them breathe and anchor themselves in the waterlogged soil. This adaptation allows mangroves to grow in areas where most other plants cannot survive.

Protection from Erosion: Mangroves serve as natural barriers to coastal erosion and storm surges. Their dense root systems stabilize shorelines and protect coastal communities from the devastating effects of tropical storms and rising sea levels.

Nursery for Marine Life: Mangrove forests serve as vital nurseries for marine species. The intricate root systems provide shelter and protection for juvenile fish, crabs, and shrimp. These nursery areas play a critical role in maintaining healthy fish populations. From Bengal tigers to saltwater crocodiles and countless other species, these mangroves offer a sanctuary for both terrestrial and aquatic life. Moreover, their ecological significance extends beyond protection, as they contribute to the overall health of the planet by separating carbon and safeguarding coastlines from erosion. The cheap Sundarban tour package mangroves are a true natural wonder and a testament to the delicate balance of life on Earth.

[multidecorindia]

How do PEB Structures protect the Environment?

The traditional method of construction has been accepted norm for a long time. The word traditional means conventional, customary, and established by its very definition. In traditional construction foundations are laid, walls are built, roofs are added and then the interior of the building begins to be created. Finally, before being handed over to the customer, the snag-list is drawn up and tackled – all those minor issues and tasks that need addressing. Then, and only then, is the building officially complete. Modular construction, on the other hand, revolutionizes everything, from cutting time to changing attitudes. 

Here we are discussing how Traditional Construction methods degrade our environment?

A mandatory aspect of any construction project is to ensure the preservation of the surrounding environment. In India, it is tough to maintain soil erosion and degradation. The reason is mainly floods, droughts, soil alkalinity, aridity, and salinity. Besides air and water pollution levels are still not within controllable limits in the country. Urbanization in major cities has decreased the soil quality, impacting the environment. Building construction contributes 23% to pollution of the air, 40% to drinking water pollution, and 50% to landfill waste. For a deeper understanding of this topic, let’s dig deeper into the details.  

1. Atmosphere

When it comes to air pollution, every action matters as the production of dioxide gases is one of the main factors causing global warming. The construction sector is responsible for 39% of energy and process-related carbon dioxide emissions. 

2. Biodiversity

Think about how construction impacts animals. The first few things that probably came to your mind are loud machines or working on construction sites at night. Noise and light pollution heavily impact wildlife, especially bats, badgers, and birds, by disturbing their natural day cycle.

3. Waste

Traditional construction methods require extra materials because it relies on fast, cheap solutions that need to be replaced every year or even every few months which leads to increased waste.

Different construction processes generate a great deal of this waste. It’s our responsibility to adopt the right tools and technologies to reduce this waste.

Luckily, prefabricated buildings can reduce this pollution percentage and waste.

We believe that the future of construction is sustainable, which is why now is a perfect time to change our approach and take responsibility for our actions. You might not know that these buildings are constructed from factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on site.They take very little construction time and reduce waste by up to 52%, which helps us protect the environment. Additionally, they often use recycled building materials for their internal walls, insulation, and roofs, making them very eco-friendly. We are MultiDecor India Pvt. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of modular buildings in India, produces all sorts of prefabricated structures, such as prefabricated labour accommodation, prefabricated site offices, portacabins, modular homes, and farmhouses.

Multi Decor India Pvt. Ltd is a top leading pre-engineered buildings manufacturer in India established in the year 1992. We manufacture, design, and deliver a wide range of customized PEB structures constructed specifically per the customer’s requirements. We provide every commercial requirement and being a leading PEB structure manufacturer, guarantee a high-quality construction with quick installation.

Our concept is designed to provide a complete building envelope system that is airtight, energy efficient, optimum in weight, and above all, designed to fit user requirements like a well-fitted glove. PEB (Pre Engineered Buildings ) means that all the components are manufactured at the factory site and shipped to the location site to be assembled and erected at the site with the nuts bolts and anchor bolts. These types of buildings are also known as Pre Engineered Steel Buildings.

Check more at:  

[talenlee]

Tricks Month 2023!

Ahah, it’s August and that means there’s nothing up my sleeve – nothing up my other sleeve – but here, on the table, under this hat that is hiding an enormous melon is the theme of tricks month. Tricks! Tricks, fun, chicanery, fooling and duping and the ways of the witty and wagering who ambiguated and disorientate with gesture and guile.

I love magic nonsense. I love magic philosophically and I love magic structurally, I love the way that magic can inform your mind and change the way you treat the world and I love it as a story element, as in, the way that a story can trick you into thinking the things the story wants you to think.

It’s not the same thing as lying.

It might not even involve any lying.

Tricks can be fun like that.

Tricks to me covers three basic like, vibes. One is heists, another is mysteries, and another is stage magic, and in all three cases, they can go fractal. Most often, I refer to magic, the thing that underpins tricks, as the art of controlling attention, which is bold to say since I have only ever really performed magic tricks for the most unimpressed teenage audience you can imagine. But the point is, tricks are generally wound around a pin of ensuring that the people who are paying attention aren’t paying attention to the right thing.

Now, particularly astute people might notice that this could be used to describe almost all storytelling and media, where you keep people looking at the image of the thing rather than the thing, and are we not all in Plato’s cave watching Touhou’s shadows leap on the wall or something like that. While that is a stretch one could take, it seems part of my brain has also latched onto August as a month where I will bring up some truly shocking stories about weirdoes in World War 2, which was kind of a peak season for weirdoes trying weird stuff. I don’t know why, exactly, that was such a hotbed of activity for immense weirdoes who would then move on to lifestyles of lying about what was in their hats.

I like tricks, though! I like tricks because just the idea of a trick – well, I mean these days people call them ‘hacks’ when often what they really mean is ‘idea’ because nobody who lives by ‘hacks’ is doing so in a way that actually improves their life or makes anything more convenient. But when it comes to tricks, for the most part, when you know how it works, things are very different to beforehand. It’s transformative.

(It’s one of those reasons I like that there Locked Tomb stories, what with how often these stories have a trick in them that once you understand it makes you go back and reread things ‘cos now you know something you didn’t even if it was told right to your faaaace)

It’s such a thing, such an idea in all my experiences and spheres of interest, that it’s now almost as universally eroded a term as thing. There’s the trick, here’s the thing, what’s the trick to this, oh, the thing here is- and that language erosion is natural, but when I sit back from it I can still appreciate – often immensely, the different things that tricks can do.

There’s so many ways that media tricks you. Illusions trick you, they fool your senses. Stimuli effects like moire and auditory illusions, they’re tricks. There are historical stories of hoaxes and other forms of duplicity, and gosh, I loved reading about those as a kid. Books full of scams and hoaxes, both ways that they could be done and the ways they were successfully pulled off! These were older books too, books with cheap paper and sometimes, invented scams, as they tried to make sure they could tell when other books were copying them, in the tradition of paper towns. Which was another kind of trick.

Of course, the history and story of tricks tends to be messy, because almost always you’re talking about the secrets and ambiguities of people who are dedicated towards keeping you from understanding them, for one reason or another. In magic, there’s a story or two told about some greats who refused to teach the entire technique of a trick to even their own proteges but instead shared bits of it with them, figuring that they’d work out the rest on their own. This also shows how much people who teach magic assume their students will refuse to work together. Like assholes.

Hell, think of trick taking games. This is an entire game system where describing it feels like something is missing because it’s just so simple. Players contribute cards to a group and one of them is considered the winner of that group. It’s a mechanism so simple that games like Bridge almost flow out of them as an actual math procedure. Most of the rules of an esoteric game of bridge are layered onto that engine, a sort of ‘well, what’s to stop X’ where you’re trying to keep the focus of that game on very specific ways the game can be enjoyed. Is Bridge there to be about divining roughly half the strength of a hand upon one inspection? Maybe. Best to add enough rules that nobody will try and find some other way to win at it, or we’ll lose our narrow focus.

What you can expect, this month, is media that fits within this broad swathe, whether it’s related to heists or horror or haberdashery, and I don’t really think I could put it much better than that. You either know the vibe i’m aiming for, or you’ll pick it up as we go. Again, tricks are about controlling attention, which is a whole discipline for the world at large now. Right now there are a lot of people who want to control your attention and I want to talk to you about ways they’re, you know, kiiiiinda assholes. That maybe I want you to understand things better, but maybe I’m just trying to be interesting because I like attention and right now you’re giving it to me.

Hard to say.

That’s the trick~

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[americancustomconcrete]

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Please define "retaining walls."

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Cheap retaining walls are a wise investment for several reasons when designing a beautiful outdoor space. These range from enhancing the aesthetic appeal to enhancing security and usefulness.

Retaining Walls and the Types of Each

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