#braziling

[111papilio]

brazil miku

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

So, in Brazilian, USAmerican, and LGBT+ politics news, transgender Brazilian congresswoman Erika Hilton has received from the USA a visa marking her gender as male.

Hilton canceled a trip she was going to make to the US this month, where she was going to participate on Saturday (12) in a panel at the Brazil Conference, and says she will take action against US President Donald Trump at the UN (United Nations) because she considers the case to be transphobic and disrespectful of her Brazilian civil records.

(x)

[ryan-sometimes]

Do non Brazilians/Filipinos know about Brazilippines…. Brazilians and Filipinos randomly decided that we were two sides of the same coin and have now become besties

[catmask]

BRAZIL MIKU!!!!!!! i love her design... im so sad i didnt get to finish her before braziltwitt had to leave.... i love you my friends i will find you in the next world

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

Elon got twitter banned in Brazil, big win for bluesky.

[cremanata]

brazilian miku ♡

twitter | ig | patreon

[adropofhumanity]

[reasonsforhope]

Pictured: Luis Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat. He's photographed at his house, which has a green roof.

Article

"Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat without overloading electrical grids or spending money on fans and air conditioners. He came across the concept over a decade ago while researching how to make his own home bearable during a particularly scorching summer in Rio.

A method that's been around for thousands of years and that was perfected in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, green roofs weren't uncommon in more affluent neighborhoods when Cassiano first heard about them. But in Rio's more than 1,000 low-income favelas, their high cost and heavy weight meant they weren't even considered a possibility.

That is, until Cassiano decided to team up with a civil engineer who was looking at green roofs as part of his doctoral thesis to figure out a way to make them both safe and affordable for favela residents. Over the next 10 years, his nonprofit was born and green roofs started popping up around the Parque Arará community, on everything from homes and day care centers, to bus stops and food trucks.

When Gomes da Silva heard the story of Teto Verde Favela, he decided then and there that he wanted his home to be the group's next project, not just to cool his own home, but to spread the word to his neighbors about how green roofs could benefit their community and others like it.

Pictured: Jessica Tapre repairs a green roof in a bus stop in Benfica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Relief for a heat island

Like many low-income urban communities, Parque Arará is considered a heat island, an area without greenery that is more likely to suffer from extreme heat. A 2015 study from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro showed a 36-degree difference in land surface temperatures between the city's warmest neighborhoods and nearby vegetated areas. It also found that land surface temperatures in Rio's heat islands had increased by 3 degrees over the previous decade.

That kind of extreme heat can weigh heavily on human health, causing increased rates of dehydration and heat stroke; exacerbating chronic health conditions, like respiratory disorders; impacting brain function; and, ultimately, leading to death.

But with green roofs, less heat is absorbed than with other low-cost roofing materials common in favelas, such as asbestos tiles and corrugated steel sheets, which conduct extreme heat. The sustainable infrastructure also allows for evapotranspiration, a process in which plant roots absorb water and release it as vapor through their leaves, cooling the air in a similar way as sweating does for humans.

The plant-covered roofs can also dampen noise pollution, improve building energy efficiency, prevent flooding by reducing storm water runoff and ease anxiety.

"Just being able to see the greenery is good for mental health," says Marcelo Kozmhinsky, an agronomic engineer in Recife who specializes in sustainable landscaping. "Green roofs have so many positive effects on overall well-being and can be built to so many different specifications. There really are endless possibilities.""

Pictured: Summer heat has been known to melt water tanks during the summer in Rio, which runs from December to March. Pictured is the water tank at Luis Cassiano's house. He covered the tank with bidim, a lightweight material conducive for plantings that will keep things cool.

A lightweight solution

But the several layers required for traditional green roofs — each with its own purpose, like insulation or drainage — can make them quite heavy.

For favelas like Parque Arará, that can be a problem.

"When the elite build, they plan," says Cassiano. "They already consider putting green roofs on new buildings, and old buildings are built to code. But not in the favela. Everything here is low-cost and goes up any way it can."

Without the oversight of engineers or architects, and made with everything from wood scraps and daub, to bricks and cinder blocks, construction in favelas can't necessarily bear the weight of all the layers of a conventional green roof.

That's where the bidim comes in. Lightweight and conducive to plant growth — the roofs are hydroponic, so no soil is needed — it was the perfect material to make green roofs possible in Parque Arará. (Cassiano reiterates that safety comes first with any green roof he helps build. An engineer or architect is always consulted before Teto Verde Favela starts a project.)

And it was cheap. Because of the bidim and the vinyl sheets used as waterproof screening (as opposed to the traditional asphalt blanket), Cassiano's green roofs cost just 5 Brazilian reais, or $1, per square foot. A conventional green roof can cost as much as 53 Brazilian reais, or $11, for the same amount of space.

"It's about making something that has such important health and social benefits possible for everyone," says Ananda Stroke, an environmental engineering student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who volunteers with Teto Verde Favela. "Everyone deserves to have access to green roofs, especially people who live in heat islands. They're the ones who need them the most." ...

It hasn't been long since Cassiano and the volunteers helped put the green roof on his house, but he can already feel the difference. It's similar, says Gomes da Silva, to the green roof-covered moto-taxi stand where he sometimes waits for a ride.

"It used to be unbearable when it was really hot out," he says. "But now it's cool enough that I can relax. Now I can breathe again."

-via NPR, January 25, 2025

[xx-invadr-ellie-xx]

I can't get over how idiotic musk's plan was for this whole Brazil situation. Like it literally went like this.

Brazil: Your rampant unfiltered hate speech and misinformation on your platform is in violation of the law, you need to do something about it.

musk: I'll just close all our offices in Brazil, now that there's no staff in the country you can't charge us.

Brazil: You need to have a representative operating in the country otherwise you can't do business here. Consult with us in 24 hours or your site will be blocked.

musk: ha look here's an ai generated image of toilet paper with the name of your supreme court judge on it (he actually did this)

Twitter is blocked in Brazil after musk failed to consult with them and appoint a representative.

[sedlex]

I'm not the biggest fan of hoops but... look at Barbara Domingos' routine. Just look at it.

[bone-free-as-the-wind]

Fossil of dragonfly larva or I don’t know.

[ryan-sometimes]

Twitter is about to be banned in Brazil, why?

Have you seen the news about Twitter (now X, but I refuse to call it that) being banned in Brazil? Have you been wondering why that is? I’m Brazilian, and here I am to explain things to you.

You’ve likely noticed that since Elon Musk took over the social media network, hate speech on the platform has skyrocketed. White supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups have been using Twitter to disseminate racist propaganda and hate speech. And although the United States might not be doing anything about this, other countries are not so indulgent. Brazil being one of them.

Racism and incitement of hate (including speech) are crimes in Brazil. So is political disinformation, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Hate speech of any kind is a CRIME in Brazil.

The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered Elon Musk to do something about the political fake news and hate speech on his platform, and Elon responded by shutting down all offices in Brazil.

The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) then ordered Elon Musk to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, as NO BUSINESS can operate in the country without a legal representative that can be held responsible to crimes and answer to them in a court of law. The STF gave Elon 24 hours to appoint this legal representative, and now that the deadline has passed and Elon has not complied, it seems that Twitter will be shut down in Brazil.

TL;DR: Elon is salty that he’s not above Brazilian law.

[sccpmccabe]

Brazil's first gold medal (at the Paris Olympic Games!!!) came from the effort and hard work of a black woman, surpassing the athlete from "Israel". Bia Souza is an example to be followed! Vai Bia & Free Palestine!

[aldertree-g]

miss miku i give to you my heart and soul