#displacement

[zegalba]

A displaced Iraqi woman holds her cat, Lulu, while waiting for transport in the Iraqi Kurdish checkpoint village of Shaqouli after she fled her home with her children on November 10, 2016.

[reasonsforhope]

Green energy is in its heyday. 

Renewable energy sources now account for 22% of the nation’s electricity, and solar has skyrocketed eight times over in the last decade. This spring in California, wind, water, and solar power energy sources exceeded expectations, accounting for an average of 61.5 percent of the state's electricity demand across 52 days. 

But green energy has a lithium problem. Lithium batteries control more than 90% of the global grid battery storage market. 

That’s not just cell phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes, and tools. Scooters, e-bikes, hybrids, and electric vehicles all rely on rechargeable lithium batteries to get going. 

Fortunately, this past week, Natron Energy launched its first-ever commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in the U.S. 

“Sodium-ion batteries offer a unique alternative to lithium-ion, with higher power, faster recharge, longer lifecycle and a completely safe and stable chemistry,” said Colin Wessells — Natron Founder and Co-CEO — at the kick-off event in Michigan. 

The new sodium-ion batteries charge and discharge at rates 10 times faster than lithium-ion, with an estimated lifespan of 50,000 cycles.

Wessells said that using sodium as a primary mineral alternative eliminates industry-wide issues of worker negligence, geopolitical disruption, and the “questionable environmental impacts” inextricably linked to lithium mining. 

“The electrification of our economy is dependent on the development and production of new, innovative energy storage solutions,” Wessells said. 

Why are sodium batteries a better alternative to lithium?

The birth and death cycle of lithium is shadowed in environmental destruction. The process of extracting lithium pollutes the water, air, and soil, and when it’s eventually discarded, the flammable batteries are prone to bursting into flames and burning out in landfills. 

There’s also a human cost. Lithium-ion materials like cobalt and nickel are not only harder to source and procure, but their supply chains are also overwhelmingly attributed to hazardous working conditions and child labor law violations. 

Sodium, on the other hand, is estimated to be 1,000 times more abundant in the earth’s crust than lithium. 

“Unlike lithium, sodium can be produced from an abundant material: salt,” engineer Casey Crownhart wrote ​​in the MIT Technology Review. “Because the raw ingredients are cheap and widely available, there’s potential for sodium-ion batteries to be significantly less expensive than their lithium-ion counterparts if more companies start making more of them.”

What will these batteries be used for?

Right now, Natron has its focus set on AI models and data storage centers, which consume hefty amounts of energy. In 2023, the MIT Technology Review reported that one AI model can emit more than 626,00 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

“We expect our battery solutions will be used to power the explosive growth in data centers used for Artificial Intelligence,” said Wendell Brooks, co-CEO of Natron. 

“With the start of commercial-scale production here in Michigan, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for efficient, safe, and reliable battery energy storage.”

The fast-charging energy alternative also has limitless potential on a consumer level, and Natron is eying telecommunications and EV fast-charging once it begins servicing AI data storage centers in June. 

On a larger scale, sodium-ion batteries could radically change the manufacturing and production sectors — from housing energy to lower electricity costs in warehouses, to charging backup stations and powering electric vehicles, trucks, forklifts, and so on. 

“I founded Natron because we saw climate change as the defining problem of our time,” Wessells said. “We believe batteries have a role to play.”

-via GoodGoodGood, May 3, 2024

--

Note: I wanted to make sure this was legit (scientifically and in general), and I'm happy to report that it really is! x, x, x, x

[freedom-in-truth]

"Palestine never existed--"

It did, though.

Even basic Hollywood films did accurate world maps with Palestine.

From the river to the sea

Palestine will be free 🇵🇸

[odinsblog]

Only day 5 into Trump's term, and we're already at Nazi salutes at the presidential podium and ethnic cleansing. Still no word on when those lower grocery & gas prices are supposed to drop. 😒

[haykhighland]

Melanya Baghdasaryan, displaced Artsakhtsi

Via: UNICEF Armenia

[enoughbykelela]

“I am Hala, and I'm a biomedical engineer from Sudan, a country that has been engulfed in war since 15 April 2023. The conflict has not only disrupted my life but also put my dreams and most importantly put me and family's safety at great risk.

I have been displaced four times, constantly moving to escape the violence. I live in Omdurman now where militias are shelling artillery and we could die at any moment. Moreover we suffer from severe shortages of food, water and no electricity it's too bad to a point we have one meal a day.

Tragically, My dad was a prisoner for months by RSF militias and accused him of having a rank in the sudanese army, tortured him and stole all his money leaving him nothing, almost lost his life but thank god he manged to escape. What's worse I lost my dear aunt due to the lack of medical supplies and assistance tragically after her decease we intended to leave but a long siege was forced on us by the RSF. But eventually were forced to leave our home due to a mass shelling but still we couldn't manage to completely leave danger zone. I hoped of returning to a safe home but it has now been 11 months, and I still haven’t seen it, don't know if i ever will. Honestly till this moment i do not know how I survived and still alive or if I will have a life to live in the future.”

Please keep Sudan (and Congo) at the front of your mind. Donate if possible, and spread!

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸 🚨

MATERNITY CARE GIVEN IN TENTS OUT OF NECESSITY IN THE GAZA STRIP AS MORE THAN A MILLION PACK INTO CITY OF RAFAH

📹 With over one million displaced Palestinians now stuffed into the Rafah area, the vast majority of civilians in Gaza now live in temporary housing: in tents, schools, hospitals, and refugee camps, all of which remain under regular air, missile, drone, and sniper-fire by the Israeli occupation ground, naval and air forces.

As result, public services and healthcare, such as the maternity clinic above, have been set up in a makeshift, jury-rigged way, inside a tent in the above case.

The doctor, interviewed in the video above, discusses why he's erected this maternity clinic tent, and responds by telling the story of his wife, who had problems during her pregnancy due to being unable to receive healthcare during a previous Israeli war on Gaza. He tells how his daughter developed a respiratory illness soon after birth as a result.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[ideasfromanotherapocalypse]

As of about two days ago (so around the 5th of March) the Artsakh Freedom Fighters Union and National Assembly buildings in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh, have both been demolished.

It really is depressing to see the destruction of Armenian monuments happening again, to say nothing of the 100,000 or so Armenians displaced by Azerbaijan moving in back in September (over 80% of the regions population).

[pezhead]

For chapter 21~

[neodymiumcuilz]

DONATE TO CONGO (DRC) 🇨🇩

In short - Congo is a country with heavy conflict going back years - mostly centered around Congo's natural resources. Congo is very dangerous due to armed militas and many, many massacred resulting in the deaths of 6 million people since 1996.

Many men, women and children are forced to work 12+ hours a day, in life threatening conditions. Only for a minuscule salary to barely get by.

HERE is a more in depth post I made, with more info/sources. Please read.

Below are some charities supporting Congo 🇨🇩

☆ - Donate to Friends of the Congo

"The Friends of the Congo (FOTC) is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. The FOTC was established in 2004 to work in partnership with Congolese to bring about peaceful and lasting change in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire."

☆ - Donate to Action Against Hunger

"Our mission is to save the lives of children and their families. We are there for them before and after disaster strikes. We enable people to provide for themselves, see their children grow up strong, and for whole communities to prosper. We constantly search for more effective solutions, while sharing our knowledge and expertise with the world. We push for long-term change."

☆ - Donate to Embrace Relief

"Embrace Relief is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization which collaborates with volunteers to deliver humanitarian aid and disaster relief to vulnerable communities around the world. In accordance with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, our teams offer relief in the form of financial, emotional and physical support, in order to meet the needs of people ravaged by disaster and other misfortune. The foundation collects and distributes supplies to families, individuals and institutions."

"Delivering research-based, sustainable solutions to achieve immediate and lasting improvements in situations of humanitarian emergency and improving the quality of life of individuals and communities enduring chronic hardships."

Before you donate, I do encourage you to do your own research - if you find that any of these charities don't support Congo or have anything else wrong please let me know. Thank you and free Congo 🇨🇩 <33

[mrbeaver]

نزوح الان في بيت لاهيا وقـ،صف عنـ،يف 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[odinsblog]

We are some 4 months and 30,000 murders into this “war” on Palestine. At this point if your hot take is still just repeating over and over how everyone is maligning poor old Israel while almost never mentioning that Israel is routinely murdering thousands of noncombatant civilians, then please STFU

I see you. I see right through you

You couldn’t care less about all of the innocents being murdered in Gaza 🇵🇸

[crippled-peeper]

Also like. It fr seems like they only think refugees can be from wars and not like. Genuinely a million different things. You’ve never claimed to be anything but a refugee from Katrina either so it’s not like “stolen valor” (although there’s no valor there just trauma)

CORRECT

There are people who are refugees of Japan’s 2011 earthquake & tsunami

There are people who are refugees of Katrina - something like 60% of New Orleans left and NEVER returned following the storm. Most currently reside in Houston to this day

There are refugees of California’s repeated wildfires in the last decade. People who lost their house, trailer, animals, family members, etc

The nature of being a refugee is that you are , against your will, uprooted from your homes and communities and cities and forced to relocate somewhere else. It can be caused by wars and famines and by natural disasters, sometimes all 3 happen to a people and sometimes only 1.

I happen to be a pretty privileged person that can still call himself a refugee. It’s been nearly 20 years since the event that made my family refugees. I have objectively had an easy life aside from my disabilities since then. I am extremely lucky, but still traumatized for life by these events.

[alwaysbewoke]

Sudan’s struggle is obscured by political upheavals, displacements, and hunger after the fall of President Omar al-Bashir and the 2021 coup, but why has the world turned a blind eye to the ‘forgotten war’?

[thenuclearmallard]

One thing that is very challenging for adoptees especially who are Indigenous is the process of reconnection. There are some, like myself, who were fortunate to reconnect with family and community, but others who will never understand who they are and are layered with displacement. Growing up, I was told I do not look Russian and it went as far as my friends doubting me to the point my mom brought in documentation to show them. This was elementary school. Throughout my reconnecting process, I have had misunderstandings and made errors. It was hard with language barriers and words that are missing in Russian but used in English. Finally gaining clarity and answers with my cousin has been meaningful but it is still a challenge especially if your family became severed from culture through death and displacement and you're trying to reconnect. For adoptees trying out there, I see you and I am here for you. I understand how hard it is to be taken from your land and be forced elsewhere. For me, it was across the world and I was encouraged to push away anything of my past. I chose to reconnect. I have my voice and I will not stay silent.