#Optimism and Hope

[samw3000]

Replay

We start by discarding small belongingsTiny childhood dreamsFlying imaginary friends to the moonOn a wooden spaceship spoonTowel and sheet capesSuperhero and villain gamesLife as a circus and a stageAll the time in the worldTo find your placeThen Pressured into practicalityAs we continue to growTrading dragons to make endsSwapping stories for trendsPutting away action figuresAnd fairy tales to…

[star-girlfriend]

Did u get my vibes man?

[hope-for-the-planet]

Amazon deforestation fell over 50% in 2023 and as of August 2024 it was 46% lower than this time last year.

The Brazilian government has pledged to end Amazon deforestation entirely by 2030 and their current efforts have deforestation approaching the lowest it has been in the last six years.

[reasonsforhope]

No paywall version here.

"Two and a half years ago, when I was asked to help write the most authoritative report on climate change in the United States, I hesitated...

In the end, I said yes, but reluctantly. Frankly, I was sick of admonishing people about how bad things could get. Scientists have raised the alarm over and over again, and still the temperature rises. Extreme events like heat waves, floods and droughts are becoming more severe and frequent, exactly as we predicted they would. We were proved right. It didn’t seem to matter.

Our report, which was released on Tuesday, contains more dire warnings. There are plenty of new reasons for despair. Thanks to recent scientific advances, we can now link climate change to specific extreme weather disasters, and we have a better understanding of how the feedback loops in the climate system can make warming even worse. We can also now more confidently forecast catastrophic outcomes if global emissions continue on their current trajectory.

But to me, the most surprising new finding in the Fifth National Climate Assessment is this: There has been genuine progress, too.

I’m used to mind-boggling numbers, and there are many of them in this report. Human beings have put about 1.6 trillion tons of carbon in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution — more than the weight of every living thing on Earth combined. But as we wrote the report, I learned other, even more mind-boggling numbers. In the last decade, the cost of wind energy has declined by 70 percent and solar has declined 90 percent. Renewables now make up 80 percent of new electricity generation capacity. Our country’s greenhouse gas emissions are falling, even as our G.D.P. and population grow.

In the report, we were tasked with projecting future climate change. We showed what the United States would look like if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius. It wasn’t a pretty picture: more heat waves, more uncomfortably hot nights, more downpours, more droughts. If greenhouse emissions continue to rise, we could reach that point in the next couple of decades. If they fall a little, maybe we can stave it off until the middle of the century. But our findings also offered a glimmer of hope: If emissions fall dramatically, as the report suggested they could, we may never reach 2 degrees Celsius at all.

For the first time in my career, I felt something strange: optimism.

And that simple realization was enough to convince me that releasing yet another climate report was worthwhile.

Something has changed in the United States, and not just the climate. State, local and tribal governments all around the country have begun to take action. Some politicians now actually campaign on climate change, instead of ignoring or lying about it. Congress passed federal climate legislation — something I’d long regarded as impossible — in 2022 as we turned in the first draft.

[Note: She's talking about the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act, which despite the names were the two biggest climate packages passed in US history. And their passage in mid 2022 was a big turning point: that's when, for the first time in decades, a lot of scientists started looking at the numbers - esp the ones that would come from the IRA's funding - and said "Wait, holy shit, we have an actual chance."]

And while the report stresses the urgency of limiting warming to prevent terrible risks, it has a new message, too: We can do this. We now know how to make the dramatic emissions cuts we’d need to limit warming, and it’s very possible to do this in a way that’s sustainable, healthy and fair.

The conversation has moved on, and the role of scientists has changed. We’re not just warning of danger anymore. We’re showing the way to safety.

I was wrong about those previous reports: They did matter, after all. While climate scientists were warning the world of disaster, a small army of scientists, engineers, policymakers and others were getting to work. These first responders have helped move us toward our climate goals. Our warnings did their job.

To limit global warming, we need many more people to get on board... We need to reach those who haven’t yet been moved by our warnings. I’m not talking about the fossil fuel industry here; nor do I particularly care about winning over the small but noisy group of committed climate deniers. But I believe we can reach the many people whose eyes glaze over when they hear yet another dire warning or see another report like the one we just published.

The reason is that now, we have a better story to tell. The evidence is clear: Responding to climate change will not only create a better world for our children and grandchildren, but it will also make the world better for us right now.

Eliminating the sources of greenhouse gas emissions will make our air and water cleaner, our economy stronger and our quality of life better. It could save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives across the country through air quality benefits alone. Using land more wisely can both limit climate change and protect biodiversity. Climate change most strongly affects communities that get a raw deal in our society: people with low incomes, people of color, children and the elderly. And climate action can be an opportunity to redress legacies of racism, neglect and injustice.

I could still tell you scary stories about a future ravaged by climate change, and they’d be true, at least on the trajectory we’re currently on. But it’s also true that we have a once-in-human-history chance not only to prevent the worst effects but also to make the world better right now. It would be a shame to squander this opportunity. So I don’t just want to talk about the problems anymore. I want to talk about the solutions. Consider this your last warning from me."

-via New York Times. Opinion essay by leading climate scientist Kate Marvel. November 18, 2023.

[thoughtportal]

DR ADAM LEVY ClimateAdam ROSEMARY MOSCO

[justalittlesolarpunk]

PEOPLE THIS IS NOT A DRILL BEAVERS ARE GOING TO BE FREELY RELEASED INTO THE WILD IN THE UK THIS IS HUGE!!!

It is such, such a big deal. The difference this will make for biodiversity, for carbon sequestration, for protecting us from flooding, for nature connection. People have been fighting so hard for so long to bring our beaver neighbours home and free them from the fences they’ve been kept behind. Not ashamed to admit I’ve cried a bit today after hearing this news. This is a wonderful step to make us just a bit wilder, a bit more ecologically intact, a bit more free. Moments like this remind me that progres seems unthinkable until it happens, and then it feels inevitable. I can’t wait for the first release - and shoutout to the illegal beaver bombers who got them a foothold when red tape was holding people back.

Lynx next!!!!

[in-tenebris-et-in-solitudine]

Master Your Emotions..

[flowering-smile]

I'm constantly thinking about this post. Like both approaches are so detrimental to the way they endure and eventually perish...

Fingon and Maedhros and Optimism.

I often see Fingon written, especially in contrast to Maedhros, as a very bubbly ray of sunshine type character. Which fits pretty well with his characterisation in the Silm honestly, better than a lot of fanon takes tend to. But.. it also tends to veer into making him seem naive.

Again i think that tends to work in pre darkening settings but i find it very hard to believe he survived the ice as happy go lucky and optimistic as he's frequently portrayed. The mission to angband has always read to me as a very elaborate suicide attempt, get his friend back or die trying in a case where getting him back is thought to be impossible. I don't think he would have survived that trip if he hadn't heard Maedhros' response.

Then again i also tend to write Maedhros as a lot more hopeful, or rather determined to see things through, than many and i tend to mellow out Fingon a bit to balance that out. I find in reality that an unerring optimist and staunch pessimist rarely actually get along long term (its exhausting to constantly defend your opinions) and so i try to put them on more even ground. So Fingon is in my opinion less optimistic and more hopeful. He doesn't always truly believe that things will be better but he always hopes so. He tries very VERY hard to not fall into despair especially after his father's death but is not always successful.

I think this need to force himself to see the brighter side of things is actually a detriment to him. It makes him reckless sometimes because when faced with bad odds he'll force himself to ignore them in the name of hope. He's less naturally a ray of sunshine than he is.. wearing rose coloured glasses that always make it look sunny. In modern AUs i tend to write him with undiagnosed depression and like.. coping badly. You know, that person in college that was constantly at parties and bars, sleeping with beautiful people, getting great grades and then one day you find them huddled in a corner sobbing and they cant even tell you whats wrong.

This is in contrast to Maedhros who tends to view things in a very pragmatic way. He strives to literally never think with his gut or his heart especially after angband and as a result comes across as a total pessimist (he does and he is but he doesn't think he is). But his drive to finish what he started gives him an oddly hopeful mien that genuinely inspires people. If the world is burning down around you despair feels like the correct response. The guy telling you its fine really you'll get through it no problem just seems like an idiot in that moment. But someone looking at the rubble and going Ok here's what we're going to do and then DOING it makes the future seem a lot more possible.

In this way they're both incredibly charismatic leaders. Fingon can and will face impossible odds with a smile and literal song, Maedhros can look at any nightmare scenario and give you an actual plan to beat those odds. But neither of them are actually optimists in the definitive sense. They just don't see any other way than running full tilt straight through history. If there's a problem, no there isn't. If they fucked up then that's in the past, they'll work around it. If there's smoke on the horizon they'll figure it out.

They'll burn that bridge when they get to it.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

doing great chat

[spiritualseeker777]

[eternal-gardens]

And perhaps whatever you hope for will come true.

[star-girlfriend]

your survival is beautiful

cabindemos tumblr // miraclesandcrosses tiktok // unknown // sanegreen tumblr // wuntrum tumblr // bulldyke-rider tumblr // unknown // iamstillgentle tiktok

[hope-for-the-planet]

Endangered Species Sightings from This Year

This is thought to be the first time in over 20 years that a blue whale was spotted off the Coast of Massachusetts.

I highly recommend watching the video and listening to the reaction of the people on the whale watching boat--the cheers and emotion in some of their voices, especially the woman saying "I'm trying not to" when someone jokingly tells her not to cry.

This is the first time ever that a mother clouded leopard with two cubs has been spotted on a game cam!

"After being considered regionally extinct for over a century, giant anteaters have been spotted roaming once again in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state. Scientists have concluded these returned natives ventured over from Argentina's Ibera Park, where conservationists have released around 110 rescued and captive-bred anteaters since 2007."

Over 100 years and the anteaters are finally coming home!

[bi-hop]

find yourself a man who knows you well enough after only a few encounters to guess that you were not in fact involved in a hostile takeover because the monsters aren't ecologically practical

[joyousjoyfuljoyness]

Stay in the rainbow...

Been struggling to maintain my happiness, optimism and peace by doing all my coping mechanisms: avoiding the news, focusing on my sphere of influence and creating happy art.

This one is a reminder to myself to find and stay in the rainbows despite all the storm raging around me.

"Capybara and the Storm" just had to come out.

Hope it sparks some happiness in you, even it's just a little!

Love you all!

[vielesundnichts]

there shall be no day without strays of sunlight shining through the seemingly never ending void of clouds