#ecological efforts

[myrddin-wylt]

I’m very tired. you probably heard that Russia destroyed the Kakhovka Dam to slow Ukraine’s counter offensive. here’s something I didn’t quite realize: since this February, the Russians operated the dam in juuuuust the right way so that as much water would build up as possible when the snow melted and spring showers started. and then they blew the whole thing up.

40,000 people may need to be evacuated. I don’t really have the energy to say anything else right now.

Hospitallers Medical Battalion: actual angels can confirm. they’re combat-zone medical services - you know how humanitarian groups like MFS and Red Cross have to pause operations due to the Russians fucking shooting at humanitarian zones? yeah, these guys don’t pause for bullets, they fucking walk into them and they bring out anyone they can.

Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation: you can choose from a number of various fundraiser projects here, if you’re feeling particularly picky. for those of you who balk at the idea of supporting anything military just please remember that things like vehicles and drones aren’t just for military use, they’re also for evacuation and finding the wounded and they’re fucking vital.

KSE Foundation: similar to the above, KSE has multiple projects you can choose from to donate to. looking at it right now, one of the projects with the lowest amounts of money raised thus far - despite being started in April - is Seeds for Ukraine, which will help Ukraine recover from the ecological devastation Russia has been wreaking (and with Ukraine, the countries that rely on Ukraine’s grain exports that Russia keeps trying to steal).

Come Back Alive: do these guys even need the introduction? they’re Come Back Alive. I’m kissing all of them.

United24: Zelenskyy’s brain child, and the official fundraising platform of Ukraine. Mark Hamill recommends the fundraisers for drones in particular.

UAnimals: Nova Kakhovka’s zoo got... pretty much completely swept away. all zoo residents except the birds have drowned. UAnimals has tried throughout the occupation to keep the animals safe, and they’ve been reporting on the status of the zoo. I don’t really know what to say except that I hope they’re able to save the pets and strays in the towns along the river.

You can find NGOs specific to evacuation efforts in this post; please signal boost it as well. I’ve listed them but am leaving the links for the op post.

Ukrainian FireFighters Foundation

Helping To Leave

VOSTOK SOS

[reasonsforhope]

"When considering the great victories of America’s conservationists, we tend to think of the sights and landscapes emblematic of the West, but there’s also a rich history of acknowledging the value of the wetlands of America’s south.

These include such vibrant ecosystems as the Everglades, the Great Dismal Swamp, the floodplains of the Congaree River, and “America’s Amazon” also known as the “Land Between the Rivers”—recently preserved forever thanks to generous donors and work by the Nature Conservancy (TNC).

With what the TNC described as an “unprecedented gift,” 8,000 acres of pristine wetlands where the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers join, known as the Mobile Delta, were purchased for the purpose of conservation for $15 million. The owners chose to sell to TNC rather than to the timber industry which planned to log in the location.

“This is one of the most important conservation victories that we’ve ever been a part of,” said Mitch Reid, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Alabama.

The area is filled with oxbow lakes, creeks, and swamps alongside the rivers, and they’re home to so many species that it ranks as one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, such that Reid often jokes that while it has rightfully earned the moniker “America’s Amazon” the Amazon should seriously consider using the moniker “South America’s Mobile.”

“This tract represents the largest remaining block of land that we can protect in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. First and foremost, TNC is doing this work for our fellow Alabamians who rightly pride themselves on their relationship with the outdoors,” said Reid, who told Advance Local that it can connect with other protected lands to the north, in an area called the Red Hills.

“Conservation lands in the Delta positions it as an anchor in a corridor of protected lands stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Appalachian Mountains and has long been a priority in TNC’s ongoing efforts to establish resilient and connected landscapes across the region.”

At the moment, no management plan has been sketched out, but TNC believes it must allow the public to use it for recreation as much as possible.

The money for the purchase was provided by a government grant and a generous, anonymous donor, along with $5.2 million from the Holdfast Collective—the conservation funding body of Patagonia outfitters."

Video via Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, August 7, 2020

Article via Good News Network, February 14, 2024

[cemeterything]

i don't know why i love characters who cause mass societal and/or ecological damage so much i'm just drawn to bitter stars who poisoned a third the earth's waters when they fell

[invested-in-your-future]

The worst part about having a somewhat clear-cut outline on where everything goes is that at any point in time, whichever point of story I am working on, my brain might randomly start screaming ideas at me about something that's not relevant till ten(or twenty) chapters later.

And I just know that unless I write it all down, it will keep bugging me.

So I do.

And then some asks are like "you think about Ruby's characterization too much" and like, no I think about literally everything too much, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't or I'd have finished writing it all already.

[bitnestloop]

BitNest

BitNest: The Leader of the Digital Finance Revolution

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The core functions of BitNest ecosystem include:

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[pokeparkservices]

so you might be wondering, what the heck is a water conservation district and what does it have to do with Castelia??

well strap in because I'm gonna tell you exactly what a water conservation district is AND what it has to do with Castelia AND why you YES YOU should care about it

SO. first of all. if you've ever looked at a map of Unova or been anywhere vaguely in the vicinity of Castelia City any time in the last, uhh, few centuries or so

you might have noticed the GIANT HECKING DESERT between it and the entire rest of the landmass. you know, the one that takes up like a full quarter of the peninsula?

yeah that one.

has it ever struck you as KINDA WEIRD that there's a big fuckoff desert right at the tip of an otherwise VERY GREEN peninsula? smack in between two rivers?

because it KINDA IS. and it's also kinda a problem!

because that desert is very very difficult to be in. or to get across. yeah, they managed to get some construction up along that route, and that definitely makes it easier... for humans

but what about pokemon?

now, don't get me wrong, the desert has been there for hundreds if not THOUSANDS of years and has become an important Pokemon habitat in its own right. nobody's gonna be summoning Kyogre about it or anything (and if anyone tries I will hit you with my rake do not fucking test me). but Castelia has grown dramatically in modern times, and eaten up a lot of what was historically lush seaside habitat for Pokemon that don't like living in deserts. so where did those Pokemon go?

unfortunately, a lot of them just... didn't. the descendants of those pokemon, at least the ones that couldn't make it upriver or across, are just making do with the fringes we've left them, their populations drastically decreased from historical levels. and it's getting worse: big modern cities like Castelia, with lots of pavement and tall buildings made of metal and glass, reflect a LOT of heat, and also take up a LOT of water and resources. if we're not careful, a city like Castelia can make everything around it - those last green fringes - into barren desert.

hey Lennox that's sad and all but what about the water conservation thing

I am SO GLAD YOU ASKED, inquisitive hypothetical reader

bare basics: a conservation district is a local government unit that carries out and oversees resource conservation activities in its jurisdiction. so, the Castelia Water Conservation District is basically the governing body that does stuff to conserve water in Castelia. simple.

as I've said, I work as a groundskeeper for the district. and my specific workplace is actually Extremely Cool and is a place I think everyone in or around Castelia should visit!

the official name is something like Castelia Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch or something like that, but we mostly just call it Castelia Riparian or the Preserve. and what it is, is a water treatment and groundwater recharge facility that doubles as manmade pokemon habitat!

basically, there's a series of lakes that we fill up periodically with reclaimed water. which, well, you wouldn't want to drink the stuff, but the tiny fish and aquatic bugs and plants? they can live in it just fine! and the plants purify it over time! and in turn those tiny plants and things serve as food for wild Pokemon, who also do just fine on this water. and the lakes make it possible for bigger plants, bushes and trees, to grow around them - and THAT makes homes for lots and lots of wild non-desert pokemon, baybeeee! and eventually the water in the lakes rejoins the water cycle by either evaporating into the air or percolating down into the groundwater, and either way that makes for a happier, healthier ecosystem - and once the lakes are empty, well, we've got plenty more to pump right back in!

since this park was established, population numbers for non-desert-adapted Pokemon in the Castelia area have been consistently rising. and it's not just the locals, either - since it gives migratory pokemon passing through the region an extra place to stop off and rest, we've been seeing those numbers rise as well. even better, we've seen a decrease in extreme high temperatures near the preserve, thanks to the natural cooling effect of the lakes and tree cover - even the desert areas immediately nearby the park have been starting to support more greenery and healthy Pokemon populations! if we keep this up, then over enough time, we might be able to significantly reduce the size of the Unovan desert, make the remaining desert area significantly more hospitable both for the Pokemon that live there and other species that have historically lived on the peninsula, and almost totally offset Castelia's adverse impact on the climate!

damn, that DOES sound cool, Lennox!

IT SURE DOES, DOESN'T IT

and you can even come visit and spend the day here! there's walking trails built right into the park and everything! and it's free! you can't beat free!

however, if you do come to visit, be warned: you are NOT allowed to capture or battle pokemon here. no, we don't care if they jumped out at you in the tall grass, you shouldn't have been in the tall grass in the first place. there are trails. you stay on them. enjoy the trees, enjoy the pokemon from afar, and everyone will have a nice chill time.

(okay, yes - we will make an exception if you were in fact minding your own business and a Swanna decided it didn't like your face or something. we can't hold you accountable for some pokemon just being assholes.)

[delicatelysublimeforester]

The Urgency of National Wildlife Week: A Call to Action for Biodiversity Preservation

[nerdierholler]

At work we're doing these little 10 minute presentations on a topic that you think is interesting and could some way relate to our work. Basically, pick a vaguely relevant topic, research and info dump.

I've finally figured out what I want to talk about and I'm ridiculously excited to tell people about my hometown aquifer. Technically they said to keep it broadly about aquifers and I could put some focus on that one but I think it's going to be 2 minutes about aquifers in general and 8 minutes of me gushing about all of the cool stuff and conservation efforts for the aquifer I grew up with.

[trans-mink]

I find it weird when non brits are like "your ancestors all killed your apex predators and other wildlife" like we all did not do that. Rich folk who can afford guns and have too much time on their hands did that shit. My white ancestors were miners and bricklayers and bakers, I highly doubt they were out fox hunting lol.

[dipnots]

The Hidden Beauty of Desert Wildflowers: A Rare and Ephemeral Delight

One of the most striking is the annual display of wildflowers in desert regions. These flowers, although small and delicate, are able to survive and thrive in one of the harshest environments on Earth. They provide an explosion of color and life in a seemingly barren landscape and are a rare and ephemeral delight. Desert wildflowers have adapted to survive in the arid environment by developing…

[reasonsforhope]

"Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo has a lot to celebrate.

The park, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 31 of 2023, also shared an exciting conservation milestone: 2023 was the first year without any elephant poaching detected.

“We didn’t detect any elephants killed in the Park this year, a first for the Park since [we] began collecting data. This success comes after nearly a decade of concerted efforts to protect forest elephants from armed poaching in the Park,” Ben Evans, the Park’s management unit director, said in a press release.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park was developed by the government of Congo in 1993 to maintain biodiversity conservation in the region, and since 2014, has been cared for through a public-private partnership between Congo’s Ministry of Forest Economy and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Pictured: Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Photo courtesy of Scott Ramsay/Wildlife Conservation Society

Evans credits the ongoing collaboration with this milestone, as the MEF and WCS have helped address escalating threats to wildlife in the region. 

This specifically includes investments in the ranger force, which has increased training and self-defense capabilities, making the force more effective in upholding the law — and the rights of humans and animals.

“Thanks to the strengthening of our anti-poaching teams and new communication technologies, we have been able to reduce poaching considerably,” Max Mviri, a park warden for the Congolese government, said in a video for the Park’s anniversary. 

“Today, we have more than 90 eco-guards, all of whom have received extensive training and undergo refresher courses,” Mviri continued. “What makes a difference is that 90% of our eco-guards come from villages close to the Park. This gives them extra motivation, as they are protecting their forest.”

As other threats such as logging and road infrastructure development impact the area’s wildlife, the Park’s partnerships with local communities and Indigenous populations in the neighboring villages of Bomassa and Makao are increasingly vital.

“We’ve seen great changes, great progress. We’ve seen the abundance of elephants, large mammals in the village,” Gabriel Mobolambi, chief of Bomassa village, said in the same video. “And also on our side, we benefit from conservation.”

Coinciding with the Park’s anniversary is the roll-out of a tourism-focused website, aiming to generate 15% of its revenue from visitors, which contributes significantly to the local economy...

Nouabalé-Ndoki also recently became the world’s first certified Gorilla Friendly National Park, ensuring best practices are in place for all gorilla-related operations, from tourism to research.

But gorillas and elephants — of which there are over 2,000 and 3,000, respectively — aren’t the only species visitors can admire in the 4,334-square-kilometer protected area.

The Park is also home to large populations of mammals such as chimpanzees and bongos, as well as a diverse range of reptiles, birds, and insects. For the flora fans, Nouabalé-Ndoki also boasts a century-old mahogany tree, and a massive forest of large-diameter trees.

Beyond the beauty of the Park, these tourism opportunities pave the way for major developments for local communities.

“The Park has created long-term jobs, which are rare in the region, and has brought substantial benefits to neighboring communities. Tourism is also emerging as a promising avenue for economic growth,” Mobolambi, the chief of Bomassa village, said in a press release.

The Park and its partners also work to provide education, health centers, agricultural opportunities, and access to clean water, as well, helping to create a safe environment for the people who share the land with these protected animals. 

In fact, the Makao and Bomassa health centers receive up to 250 patients a month, and Nouabalé-Ndoki provides continuous access to primary education for nearly 300 students in neighboring villages. 

It is this intersectional approach that maintains a mutual respect between humans and wildlife and encourages the investment in conservation programs, which lead to successes like 2023’s poaching-free milestone...

Evans, of the Park’s management, added in the anniversary video: “Thanks to the trust that has been built up between all those involved in conservation, we know that Nouabalé-Ndoki will remain a crucial refuge for wildlife for the generations to come.”"

-via Good Good Good, February 15, 2024

[databent]

tucson used to have water flowing through it, real, actual water, there was a river full of fish and frogs and providing a habitat for so many native plants and animals… i need to stop thinking about this cos its fucking me up that that will never quite be the case again because of the water being needed to sustain the city and agriculture and everything else

[grilledkatniss]

Lmao this has been fun y'all seriously, what a gas. Can we uncancel Taylor Swift now? It's the next celebrity down the line's turn to get some hate, don't you think? Do you reckon maybe Jay Z or how about Floyd Mayweather, uh? I think Oprah should be next, she almost never gets a ride on the hate train jet.

[thebibliosphere]

I feel like Bruce Wayne projects the kind of amiable playboy 'fun' vibe that he'd be the type of celebrity that certain interviewers feel comfortable surprising with puppies.

You know the kind of shows I mean.

The late-night talk show situations where they're making benign small talk with their smiling guest, and there's a segment where animals get brought out, usually to talk about some sort of ecological relief effort.

So you're watching your trash TV talk show late at night, and you get to watch billionaire pretty boy Bruce Wayne be begrudgingly talked into holding a (relatively) harmless creature which inevitably gets a lot of delighted shrieks from the audience as it starts being a lot more active than the handler promised. And to his credit, Bruce doesn't flinch, he doesn't freak out. But his eyes are a little wide, and his voice a little tight as the smile on his face takes on a slight rictus quality before he's inevitably rescued by an apologetic handler who is also laughing because they all know there was no real danger, it was just funny to put Bruce, who is an undeniable good sport and already laughing along, out of his comfort zone for the sake of charity.

Meanwhile, up in the Justice League headquarters, several founding members of the League are wondering how fast they can get a fake Oscar award shipped to the space station because fuck off. Absolutely fuck off, Bruce. Where the fuck did he study? Juilliard? (Probably.)

(Clark ends up going to a novelty store during the commercial break. It's faster than trying to get anything shipped, even with the infrastructure Bats built for them. He finds it several days later taped to his console in a conspicuously empty briefing room. It's gaudy and awful, the words "Best Actor" engraved on the plaque. No one's around to see him smile. No one comments when it vanishes. Everyone thinks it's been yeeted out an airlock. Dick absolutely comments when it shows up in the manor, stashed in one of the trophy cases that sprung up for all the bat kids' school awards. Bruce has no idea how it got there. Must have been Alfred. (It was not.))

Anyway, consider, for your amusement, Bruce Wayne getting highjacked on The Gotham Toight Show with a handful of wriggling puppies and, for a split second, not having to pretend he's delighted to be there.

[thrivingisthegoal]

Golf Courses ARE Being Converted

The Solarpunk "fantasy" that so many of us tout as a dream vision, converting golf courses into ecological wonderlands, is being implemented across the USA according to this NYT article!

The article covers courses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and New York that are being bought and turned into habitat and hiking trails.

The article goes more into detail about how sand traps are being turned into sand boxes for kids, endangered local species are being planted, rocks for owl habitat are being installed, and that as these courses become wilder, they are creating more areas for biodiversity to thrive.

Most of the courses in transition are being bought by Local Land Trusts. Apparently the supply of golf courses in the USA is way over the demand, and many have been shut down since the early 2000s. While many are bought up and paved over, land Trusts have been able to buy several and turn them into what the communities want: public areas for people and wildlife. It does make a point to say that not every hold course location lends itself well to habitat for animals (but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make great housing!)

So lets be excited by the fact that people we don't even know about are working on the solutions we love to see! Turning a private space that needs thousands of gallons of water and fertilizer into an ecologically oriented public space is the future I want to see! I can say when I used to work in water conservation, we were getting a lot of clients that were golf courses that were interested in cutting their resource input, and they ended up planting a lot of natives! So even the golf courses that still operate could be making an effort.

So what I'd encourage you to do is see if there's any land or community trusts in your area, and see if you can get involved! Maybe even look into how to start one in your community! Through land trusts it's not always golf course conversions, but community gardens, solar fields, disaster adaptation, or low cost housing! (Here's a link to the first locator I found, but that doesn't mean if something isn't on here it doesn't exist in your area, do some digging!)