#enviromental services

[plethoraworldatlas]

Conservation groups filed objections this week to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed final management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests in western Colorado. The plan would allow commercial logging on more than 772,000 acres of public lands, including mature and old-growth trees — a 66% increase from the current forest plan.

“A sizeable area of our beloved forests could be sacrificed to commercial logging at the expense of our already dwindling wilderness areas, wildlife habitat and recreation,” said Chad Reich with High Country Conservation Advocates. “Outdoor recreation is a far larger economic driver for our communities than the local timber industry that benefits from cutting these forests. The Forest Service would’ve known that if it had conducted an economic analysis, as required by law.”

Under the proposed plan mature and old-growth forests, which store massive amounts of carbon, could be commercially logged. Forest managers would not be required to identify and protect old-growth and mature trees. Steep slopes across the forests, including Upper Taylor Canyon and Slate River Valley, could also be logged despite the high risk of severe erosion and threats to water quality.

“The proposed plan directly violates federal policy on protecting mature and old-growth trees as a cornerstone of U.S. climate action,” said Alison Gallensky, conservation geographer with Rocky Mountain Wild. “The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests boast the highest carbon sequestration capacity of any national forest in the Rocky Mountain region. Despite this the Forest Service has failed to ensure these vital carbon sinks aren’t logged and sold.”

Objections also challenged the Forest Service’s failure to take urgently needed climate action by prohibiting new coal leasing in the plan.

...

The Forest Service recommended adding only 46,200 acres of new wilderness area in the final plan. The community’s conservation proposal had called for more than 324,000 acres of new wilderness lands. In addition, the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative offered a broadly supported proposal for new wilderness and special management areas in Gunnison County that was mostly excluded.

...

“Community members proposed special management area designations to protect pristine forestlands in the North Fork Valley from logging and oil and gas drilling,” said Peter Hart, legal director at Wilderness Workshop. “The Forest Service ignored those proposals and chose not to protect those areas in the new plan.”

The groups also raised concerns about the plan’s failure to address the myriad needs of plants and animals that depend on the forests.

“Over 20 years ago Colorado Parks and Wildlife reintroduced Canada lynx to the San Juan Mountains,” said Rocky Smith, a long-time forest management analyst. “This is a great source of pride for wildlife lovers in this state. Lynx are federally threatened and depend on mature forests with large trees. This plan allows for logging that could easily degrade or destroy much of the best habitat for lynx and their main prey, snowshoe hares, and undermine Colorado’s hard work to reestablish and maintain a viable lynx population.”

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests also provide habitat for the iconic bighorn sheep and lesser-known species like the Grand Junction milkvetch and the Tundra buttercup. These species, among others, need special designation the Forest Service grants to plants and animals when there is concern about their ability to survive in the area. Many struggling plants and animals were left off the list in the proposed final plan.

“Without the species of conservation concern designation the Forest Service has no obligation to make sure the plants and animals continue to exist locally,” said Chris Krupp, public lands attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “In many cases, the agency decided not to designate wildlife, plants or fish merely because it had no data on their population trends. Without species of conservation concern designation, the number of bighorn sheep in GMUG could dwindle down to almost nothing and the agency wouldn’t have to do anything about it.”

[poojagblog-blog]

The global Climate Adaption Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $23.2 billion in 2024 and is poised to reach $40.4 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.7% from 2024 to 2030 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. The climate adaptation market is experiencing robust growth due to several new drivers. Firstly, advancements in climate modeling and data analytics are enabling more precise predictions of climate impacts, encouraging investment in adaptation technologies. Secondly, the increasing integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in climate monitoring systems enhances real-time data collection and response capabilities. Thirdly, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are pushing companies to adopt sustainable practices, including climate adaptation strategies, to improve their public image and meet stakeholder expectations. Additionally, there is a growing recognition of the economic benefits of proactive adaptation measures, such as reduced damage costs and enhanced operational efficiency, which is spurring further investment.

[swagunknownbear]

When hiring a demolition company, asking the right questions is essential for a successful project. At JM Environmental, we pride ourselves on our experience, expertise, and commitment to safety and customer satisfaction. As a trusted demolition company in Vacaville, we handle projects professionally and efficiently, meeting all regulatory requirements and delivering results you can rely on. Contact us today for all your demolition needs in Vacaville.

[bean-galleria]

Everyone, I’m begging you. If you cut the crusts off of your sandwiches, PLEASE make them into croutons/breadcrumbs instead of throwing them away. Each year, about 170 MILLION METRIC TONS of carbon emissions are from good waste in the United States ALONE. So if you want to help reduce that number even a little bit, just throw some olive oil/melted butter (I recommend miyoko’s plant butter) on those suckers, add the seasonings of your choice, and bake them until crispy. It’s an easy and delicious fix.

[pioneerblogs]

Environmental Clearance for Cement Plant

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[torrentlaboratory]

Services for Environmental Testing against contaminants that harm the environment, people, or wildlife must be handled by an environmental laboratory.

[elbiotipo]

I think I wrote several times about this, but when socialists in the third world think about what their ideal future society would be, they think about improving the lives of people: housing, education, health, industrializing their countries so that they don't have to depend from foreign economies, and yes, among all this, enviromental protection, because trust me, it's not the local oligarchs who care about that. Not only materially improving the lives of people either, but also more; science, arts, sports, culture. It's putting the economic forces in the service of the people rather than generating profits for local oligarchs and foreign investors. When I think of a better society, of a socialist society, I think that.

In some first world discourse I've seen socialism be characterized sometimes as some kind of... medievalism but better. Like "after the collapse I will recycle clothes from tatters" (real thing I read). It's something very extremist about Usamericans in particular "oh our civilization is causing global warming? better tear it all down". Why are you WANTING a collapse? What kind of society are you wanting where we have to return to medieval levels of living, or even worse judging by the fact we'll have to recycle clothes, what kind of Fallout shit?

This is mostly pointless internet discourse but if your ideal society cannot even clear the low bar of "making new clothes" that even medieval villages could manage, I'm not interested in your ideology or anything you have to say.

[pinkanonwrites]

ohmigod does streamer au mean that Knives is like. Vash's twin that visits his apartment to ensure Vash is okay (as a disabled person myself who lives alone, i get weekly visits from my mom and brother lmao) and comes in with groceries, leaves with trash, comes over to drive Vash to his doctor appointments, and tells Vash to get a real job??

does the chat see Knives as like. a cryptid. and the chat spams with acknowledgement as Knives moves about in the background and Vash goes "Chat says hi! ...Knives?! Did you hear mE?! CHAT SAYS HI!!" and he shouts back "I heard you both times, but I'm not acknowledging your no-life-having enablers!" or some shit

Knives feels like he has a trenchcoat and briefcase and has some high-up position like, idk, i feel like hed be an enviromental lawyer but also a corporate lawyer yet he also feels like he could be a radio/podcast celebrity with Bad Takes (i might just be describing Andrew Tate or somebody whoops) and a reputation for being shitty to his fans. like i could Knives being either objective scum with a cult following. or being like a eco-friendly protestor who put a politician's house on fire but hasnt been caught bc he wore one of those face-masks that distorts pictures and made sure not to leave any finger-prints. maybe he's something in-between, like he supports PETA, i dunno. or maybe he and Vash are actually estranged

im really curious how you would characterize Knives in this au, theres definitely a lot to go with considering the vast differences in his 1998, 2023, and manga variations (im partial to 2023 myself, but manga is a close second and 1998 is in the dust for me personally) since his genocide nonsense doesn't have a 1-for-1 translation in a modern world. the only act of Knives that i can think of that would track is 2023!Knives blaming himself for Vash's amputation (as opposed to other variations, if i remember right, where Knives did it to punish Vash, i liked that they went with a "Knives did it bc he loves Vash and didnt see another way to save his brother" direction instead) bc maybe the amputation happened in an accident that Knives blames himself for Vash being a victim in. but yeah, so many variations

also Rem. but Rem is a bit easier because there's always the "Well, Rem is still dead" option mixed with "She was our foster mom" (oh, maybe Knives works in the Social Services) whereas Knives, again, has all these variations

(anyways, i have a Part 2 to this that's not related to me asking questions about your streamer au, but rather me just saying a hc i have for Vash+Knives Modern AU that is very biased to my own personal history and therefore is irrelevant to your streamer au, so do hold up briefly, i do wanna ramble about that bc rambling about Trigun Modern AUs is fun)

I think I can tell you guys some about the ideas I had in mind without spoiling too much!

So I've bounced it around a bit in my head, and I think I've come up with something that works for this AU in particular. Rem was in fact their foster mom, she adopted them both as babies. While Nai was a pretty normal kid growing up, a bit cynical and intelligent for his age but nothing concerning, Vash was the type of kid who got sick really often. Like, immunodeficient, multiple hospitalizations sick. I was thinking something like CVID, which makes it so you're way more susceptible to getting respiratory and lung infections. He was a happy kid, but in and out of the hospital a lot.

In late middle school he had a really bad reaction, and while rushing him to the hospital Rem got in a car accident that cost her her life and Vash his left arm. Vash feels like he's the whole reason the accident even happened in the first place, while Nai blames himself for Vash being even worse off because maybe if he'd just been able to keep calm Rem wouldn't have been so distracted. There's also a fair bit of survivor's guilt in him, being the only one who got out of the wreck generally unscathed.

So he's kind of taken himself up as his brother's keeper, balancing his own post-graduate work life with checking in on Vash, bringing him to appointments, and just generally making sure he doesn't do anything stupid. He's a conservation biology major and a huge ecology nut, who often says (in a deadpan tone that Vash thinks is a joke) that the planet would probably be better off if all the humans on itwere wiped out.

Nai has complicated feelings about Vash's streamer lifestyle. On one hand he's not as deeply, deeply depressed as he was in early high school, most days it being a chore for Nai to even get him to eat or drink. On the other hand, he thinks that a job like this isn't stable enough for Vash, that he could be doing more with his fantastic intelligence, and that Vash cares way too much about what random strangers on the internet think about him. It's the sparking point for many arguments, because as much as they love and care about each other, they just don't see the world from each other's viewpoints.

(He'd also never say it, but Nai is actually very grateful that Vash has Nicholas as a roommate. As much as he despises the guy, at least there's someone around to make sure Vash is eating real food and actually going outside when Nai isn't there to check on him.)

[ariel-seagull-wings]

THE CLASSIC GHOSTBUSTERS MOVIES, NARRATIVE PACING AND CHARACTER WRITING

@thealmightyemprex @the-blue-fairie @angelixgutz @themousefromfantasyland @goodanswerfoxmonster @amalthea9

So i revisited the first Ghostbusters movie last night and watched the second one this afternoon.

I started to think, with the help of a nap, what made the first movie particularly satisfying and enduring, whereas the second movie, while still having enjoyable individual moments, is unfortunally not as strong in terms of cohesion.

The conclusion that I camed to me is that, the first movie had been made to tell an individual story with beggining middle, and end, not as the start of a series of movies, so every detail had to be carefully tought to tell an unique, simple and easy to follow story.

There is a sense of cause and consequence in each scene, with some moments where the characters stop to breath and discuss what is happening, but the discussions never drag and we are taken to the next scene in a satisfactory way, never feeling that we missed something important with a rush.

And is not only the main characters that are written to be in the right, but even small characters have a role in shapening the world and the narrative, and while they still can be antagonistic to the main characters, they still are presented as human and with important points to present.

The library lady is the point of view character we follow in the opening when we first are introduced to the concept of invisible ghosts, and she will be the first person who will need the service provided by the Ghostbusters.

After that introduction, we are taken to the setting of the university, and we see the psychic experiments voluntaries react in different ways to Peter Venkman's ruse of "guest the right card or be eletrocuted": the young man who is constantly receiving shocks even while guessing some cards right rightfully gets angered and calls Venkman out on this, while the young blonde woman who receives favoritism from Venkman, naively flattered, almost falls for the man's seduction.

As a consequence for this unetical practices and lack of proof that the supernatural exists, the Dean of the University, while portrayed with a snob facial expression, still has reason to send Venkman and his colleagues away from the University, wich becomes their oportunity to risk their economies and start their business.

When the business of hunting ghosts becomes sucessfull during the montage, this calls the attention of Winston, who decides to join the team as a way to win some money.

The success also calls the attention of Walter Peck, the representative of the Enviromental Protection Agency, who gets concerned that the Ghostbusters may have dangerous unlincensed nuclear machines in their office.

When introduced, he tries to present his case reasonably and ask to see the machines, but is received by Venkman who lacks filter and doesn't take the situation seriously, wich provokes Peck's temper.

Meanwhile Louis is trying to get the atention of Dana, who not only has not romantic interest in him but is also starting a relationship with Venkman. It seems at first that this love triangle has no importance to the plot, until Dana and Louis are posessed by the minions of Ghozer, giving extra motivation for Venkman and his colleagues to be concerned with the appearance of the destructive God and that culminates with the two minions having sexual relations using Louis and Dana's body's to conjure the main villain.

And this encounter happens after the minions receive a sign in the form of the firehouse exploding and the ghosts running trough New York, after Peck orders the machines to be shut down in retaliation for Venkman provoking him.

There is the fight that follows afterward, but is cut short, because New York is about to be destroyed, and the Mayor needs the Ghostbusters to save the day.

A dynamic is started between characters, the characters act on it, wich takes us to the consequences that will demand the characters take the next course of action.

They all have flaws and qualities, and no matter how small their appearance, every character, joke and special effect is here in service of telling a complete, engaging story.

But five years passed, and with it comes popularity. There is a downside to a movie's popularity: is that often we focus so much in fragmented scenes, that we often forget the whole context that made the scene work.

We can call this memefication.

And thanks to memefication, we focused so much on the fragment of the "This Man Has No Dick" joke, or the spetacle of appearance of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, that we ignore that these scenes were made to tell a story.

Not only the audience forgets, but sometimes even the original creators...

And so we got Ghostbusters 2, a sequel that feels like an enjoyable anthology of comic scenes, but doesn't manage to tell a cohesive, compeling narrative.

It tries to mesh a lot of ideas as possible: recicling the idea of the Ghostbusters loosing credibility and having to recover it again, Dana rekindling her relationship with Venkman while being a single mother and dealing with the sexual harassment of her boss, a ghost that desires to posess a human body to take over the world, an ectoplasm river that feeds on the negative feelings of the people of New York, Louis Tully getting in a romance with Janine and discovering the courage to become a fifth ghostbuster.

All ideas that could work as either different movies, or episodes of a TV show, or just be cutted out for recicling too much superficial elements from the first movie, merged together that results in a movie where a lot of things happen at the same time without a sense of cause and consequence.

The result is that it starts with a good pacing and suspense, but then the rest of the movie starts to drag.

The main cause of this dragging is the insertion of arbitrary skepticism in the side characters: for no reason than make the protagonists lifes more dificult (if the job of catching ghosts wasn't conflict enough), the civilians, the judicial autorities and the mayor start to act like the Ghostbusters are mad, even tough five years is still enough time to remember ghosts rampaging trough the city and a Giant Marshmallow Monster walking and smashing the city.

The Mayor's change of personality between movies is the most jaring: In the first movie he was a reasonable autority figure who would listen with attention when a problem was coming. In the second, he chooses to ignore the problem until its too late, even when this is a movie that can harm his election to Governour.

For some reason, he listens to an assistant who lacks the justification that Peck had to be distrustfull of the Ghostbusters.

It would be understandable if it was a new Mayor character, but when its the same character played by the same actor, it just becomes jaring.

Janine and Louis have a fun chemistry together, but you can't avoid asking how is her original relationship with Egon.

Venkman starts to present a television program, but there is no way to properly explore a conflict in career choices between celebrity and ghostbuster.

Winston still is treated as an audience surrogate newcomer even tough he has been on the team for five years to have knowledge of his own.

There is no proper way to understand what makes the people of New York so negative in 1989 compared to the previous five years when the city was having just the same problems.

So you get fun scenes of spetacular new special effects and some fun dialogue like the one where Ray and Egon discuss ordering food, but now the movie is written in the favour of the spetacular special effects and funny dialogue, instead of those being ellements in service of telling a good, simple story, exploring the humanity not only of the main characters, but of the people they found who ended up needing their help.

And that lack of purpose and cohesion is the reason why the second movie is weak compared to the first one: it was something made to capitalize in its predecessours popularity, but didn't really had a new story to tell.

[gattmammon]

A thing i often think about as it relates to disability, accessibility, homelessness etc is how much of the talk is focused on building anew which is very counter-productive IMO, especially in the way those problems integrate with enviromental problems.

Like. Where i live building anew implies destroying historical buildings. It might be possible to build anew in other places but is it even recommendable? Wouldn't it be better to sanitize and redistribute what's already there first?

I know it's tempting to re-imagine something completely new, but historically "new cities" tend to turn into either bourgeoisie gated communities or ghettos. Also the survival of historically significant city centers is tied to the amount of people living there year round. The best example i have of this is Venice - the almost complete failure to adapt to rising sea levels when Venice should and could be a lab city for climate change resilience is due to how most of the decisions about the city are taken thinking not of the few year-round inhabitants left but of tourists. In that sense it doesnt matter if entire areas of the city is sometimes uninhabitable for weeks on end - most people live somewhere else anyway. But houses that are not inhabited year round are houses that are not maintained and cared for, which turns into streets and canals whose maintenance goes unchecked for months, which turns into entire areas of the city having no decent services because all of the attention is focused on tourist heavy areas. The process can be slowed down by good administration, but ultimately, if the city center is unappealing to newer generations of citizens (because of prices, lack of services, bad maintenance of the buildings) the city dies.

This is a process that can be stopped and reversed, but the way is almost never to build anew.

[customhydrauliccylinders]

How to Choose the Perfect Hydraulic Fluid for your Cylinders

Choosing the right hydraulic fluid keeps your well-suited for long time use of Hydraulic Cylinders. No matter if its tie-rod hydraulic cylinders, welded hydraulic cylinders or telescopic hydaulic cylinder the correct Fluid is essential for smooth operation, less wear and prevents costly downtime. The guide reviews various hydraulic fluids and their characteristics so you can make a final purchasing decision for your hydraulics systems.

The Basics of Hydraulic Fluids

One new app that hydraulic fluid is thrown to play are in custom hydraulic cylinders. It not only transmits force in the device but also acts as lubrication, heat reduction and seal medium. Using the right type of hydraulic fluid is important when you want to get optimal performance from your hydraulic system and also protect it damage. Synthetic, mineral-based, multi-grade and water based hydraulic fluids are some of the most common kinds.

Synthetic Hydraulic Fluids

They are designed to have better performance compared to conventional hydraulic fluids. The fluids are chemically engineered and include additives that increase their lubricity, temperature stability, and resistance to oxidation. For instance, custom hydraulic cylinder design for heavy-duty equipment works especially well with synthetic fluids. These devices provide long service life and are suitable for uses where high fire resistance or significant biodegradability is needed. They can be more toxic than some of the alternatives, but using care when handling them is fine.

Key Benefits:

Excellent temperature stability and Lubricity

Superior oxidation resistance

Fire-resistant, biodegradable choices

Mineral-Based Hydraulic Oils

Mineral-based hydraulic oils which are petroleum based have been widely used in different industrial applications. They are budget-friendly, easily available and they can be customised with additives such fo increase viscosity or decrease it for rust prevention as well to improve heat resistance. They perform decently in terms of welded hydraulic cylinders and other form, but due to their flammability they make them not suitable for high-temperature applications.

Key Benefits:

Affordable and accessible

Ideal for consistent industrial use

Modify using additives for more performance.

Multi-Grade Hydraulic Oils

Multi-grade hydraulic oils are formulated to provide consistent performance over a broad range of temperatures and pressures. These oils have a stable viscosity over wide temperature variations, so they are well suited for hydraulic systems that operate in temperate weather environments. They are especially useful for the telescopic hydraulic cylinders which work in an outdoor or seasonal environment Which is one of the reasons that somemultigrade oils are dyed- in order to help determine where oil leaks and thus which needs replacingfaster!

Key Benefits:

Performance across temperature ranges is repeatable

Great for applications that are subjected to different weather conditions

Specialized dye for leak detection

Water-Based Hydraulic Oils

Water-glycol blends and oil-in-water emulsions (o/w) are the most common hydraulic fluids used in these applications of operation where fire resistance is important. Water-Based oils — the water and these kinds of oils are so high in Percentages (80–90% Water) they will be not easily Flammable, but useful on some industrial applications like Mining or Metal works. But their lacking lubricity and temperature sensitivity limit them in frigid condions. Nonetheless, water-based oils are among the best suited for hydraulic cylinder manufacturers that concentrate on fire safety and enviromental considerations.

Key Benefits:

High fire resistance

High Temperature Applications

Eco-friendly, Non-toxic

Crucial Features Of A Hydraulic Fluid

Choosing the right hydraulic fluid depends on factors like viscosity, lubrication and flammability. And these factors are closely related to your hydraulic system´s performance and safety.

Here are two important things to know: Viscosity & Lubrication The ability of a hydraulic fluid to be able to flow efficiently is what makes these systems possible, and that characteristic relates directly too its viscosity. Proper viscosity of the fluids ensures that hydraulic cylinders perform well, and lessens friction-related wear on parts.

Flammability & Safety—All hydraulic fluids require standard safety precautions, however some formulas are more flammable than others. High-temperature or hazardous applications require appropriate flashpoint fire resistance properties of the fluid selected.

Selecting Proper Hydraulic System Fluid

Choosing a hydraulic fluid: Specific requirements of custom hydraulic cylinders and operating environment Your choice will depend on varied parameters including temperature range, system pressure and the presence of possible contaminants. You can also take help from hydraulic cylinders manufacturer, who have great experience in these fields and they might suggest you the best fluid for your application.

At XSLHydraulics.com As a quality hydraulic solution we provide our products around the world We can be reached 24/7 at: Info@xslhydraulics.com With our knowledge and experience in the area of custom hydraulic cylinder manufacturing, we provide you with what we believe to be top-quality items along with advice on maintaining your systems or how they can perform at their best. We are happy to assist in finding the correct hydraulic fluid or a high performance cylinder, whatever your situation.

Conclusion

Choosing the right hydraulic fluid is critical to make sure that your hydraulic cylinders perform really well. This way, you can choose the fluid they require based on its properties and guarantee that your hydraulic systems work as best as it is possible. Regardless of if you use tie-rod hydraulic cylinders, welded hydraulic cylinders or telescopic hydraulic cylinders — selecting the correct fluid will ensure your equipment performs longer and more reliably.

If you need professional advice and reliable hydraulics, please get in touch with XSLHydraulic.com today. As your partner, we strive to ensure that you receive the greatest performance from hydraulic systems and the most durable operational success.

[plethoraworldatlas]

As U.S. conservationists continue to fight for federal protections that would cover gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, research released Wednesday highlights just how important the apex predators are to the western United States.

The study was published in the journal BioScience and led by William Ripple, a scientist at Oregon State University (OSU) and the Conservation Biology Institute known for his work on trophic cascades and carnivores as well as his demands for climate action.

The paper uses gray wolves to show the trouble with "shifting baselines," which, "in ecology encapsulate the gradual and often unnoticed alterations in ecosystems over time, leading to a redefinition of what is considered normal or baseline conditions."

As the study details:

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) in North America have experienced a substantial contraction of their historical range, at one point almost disappearing from the contiguous 48 United States. However, their conservation is important in part because of the potential cascading effects wolves can have on lower trophic levels. Namely, the proliferation and changes to behavior and density of large herbivores following the extirpation or displacement of wolves can have major effects on various aspects of vegetation structure, succession, productivity, species composition, and diversity, which, in turn, can have implications for overall biodiversity and the quality of habitat for other wildlife.

"By the 1930s, wolves were largely absent from the American West, including its national parks," Ripple said in a statement. "Most published ecological research from this region occurred after the extirpation of wolves."

"This situation underscores the potential impact of shifting baselines on our understanding of plant community succession, animal community dynamics, and ecosystem functions," he continued.

The researchers examined journal articles, master's theses, and Ph.D. dissertations from 1955 to 2021 that involved field work in national parks in the northwestern United States for whether they included information on the removal of gray wolves.

They found that "in total, approximately 41% (39 of 96) of the publications mentioned or discussed the historical presence of wolves or large carnivores, but most (approximately 59%) did not. The results for the theses and journal articles were similar."

While the researchers focused on wolves, Robert Beschta, co-author and emeritus professor at OSU, noted that "in addition to the loss or displacement of large predators, there may be other potential anthropogenic legacies within national parks that should be considered, including fire suppression, invasion by exotic plants and animals, and overgrazing by livestock."

Ripple stressed that "studying altered ecosystems without recognizing how or why the system has changed over time since the absence of a large predator could have serious implications for wildlife management, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem restoration."

"We hope our study will be of use to both conservation organizations and government agencies in identifying ecosystem management goals," he added.

Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), welcomed the study, tellingInside Climate News that "I think this is a really important paper, because sometimes science advances at a certain rate without a self-introspection."

"Nature is a really complex tapestry," she said. "It's woven together by threads that hold it together and keep it strong. When you start to pull threads out like you remove apex predators, the whole thing begins to unravel."

The paper comes amid a wolf conservation battle that involves Weiss' group. In February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that Endangered Species Act protections for the wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains were "not warranted."

Two coalitions of conservation organizations, including CBD, swiftly filed notices of their intent to sue over the decision if FWS didn't change course. After the legally required 60-day notice period passed, they filed the lawsuits in April.

Earlier this week, "the cases were voluntarily dismissed and immediately refiled to avoid any potential arguments from the defendants that the plaintiffs failed to give the secretary of the interior proper 60-days' notice under the Endangered Species Act," Collette Adkins, an attorney who leads CBD's Carnivore Conservation program, told Common Dreams in an email Thursday.

"Plaintiffs believe that their case was properly noticed," she said, "but we refiled to avoid any further disruption of the proceedings."

[poojagblog-blog]

/PRNewswire/ -- District Cooling Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 2024 and is poised to reach $1.3 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2024 to 2029 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. Commercial, Industrial, and Residential are the major applications of district cooling. The District Cooling Market is majorly concentrated in Middle East & Africa. Energy efficiency improvement is a key driver for the district cooling market, due to its potential for substantial energy savings and environmental benefits. District cooling systems are designed to optimize the use of energy by centralizing cooling production, which reduces the overall energy consumption compared to individual cooling units. This centralization allows for the use of advanced, energy-efficient technologies that are not feasible on a smaller scale. As energy costs rise and environmental concerns grow, businesses and municipalities are increasingly seeking solutions that lower their energy usage and carbon footprint. Additionally, many governments offer incentives and support for adopting energy-efficient systems, further driving the demand for district cooling. This focus on energy efficiency helps organizations achieve sustainability goals while also improving their bottom line, making it a crucial factor in the market's growth.

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

reading sekien no inganock and losing it

a little description of the game, diary, and review post!! this is an 18+ game. i am not showing or talking about anything explicit but heads up.

this post contains text and cgs from the game and talk about general themes in it but not really about any concrete plot points. there are very vague spoilers for the end of the game so whether you read this is up to you!

Inganock

sekien no inganock - what a beautiful people- is a visual novel first released in 2007. its part of a whole "what a beautiful" saga by the same author, hikaru sakurai. it has a linear plot, with in a steampunk setting that features Mysterious Critters. there are furries. everyone is super duper disabled. sometimes there are breasts on screen.

and is it not beautiful?

inganock is often called "fantastical". not in the positive sense. in the "how is this thing real and running" sense. it is a large city made up of layers - something like a structure composed of large plates stacked on top of each other. like hell in dantes inferno, which speaks volumes of its living standards.

about 10 years ago, a big science experiment cut the city off from the outside. it is surrounded by a non-traversable thick fog and water.

but do not worry!!!! inganock has been designed to be self-sufficient <3 at least as far as the production of food and daily commodities goes. so thats.... good?

i say this is a steampunk novel. and it is. but that might make you expect something else. regardless of that, inganock is what i would consider an ideal appealing form of steampunk: an industrial polluted hellscape.

it has been running on its own for 10 years in a self-made cage of smog.

and this is important to establish, i think. inganock is sort of a post-apocalyptic setting. (it gets worse, too! <3) no one calls it that because everyone is accustomed to their workdays and everyday life. this system is running. though, visibly, it cant run like this indefinitely. though most of the city lives in poverty, resources are not necessarily an issue. they are just unobtainable. the structure of the city itself combined with the high population density makes management of the lower tiers very difficult.

most importantly, not only the city was affected, but the people themselves. for the past 10 years, rapid mutations have twisted bodies in inhuman and/or bizarre ways. this mostly means it is a society of people with animal-like attributes but the process, speed, severity, and results depend on the individual. most people are becoming or have been left severly disabled and/or disfigured.

again, the story does not directly Tell you youre looking at a healthcare crisis, but you are. there are very few doctors around who are actually equipped to handle more than your standard general practitioner and their services are expensive. there is no insurance. it is commonplace for people to require entirely new body parts, and such technological wonders exist, but barely anyone can afford them.

this health emergency has gotten so bad that, apparently, it is perfectly legal to kill anyone who has mutated "too far". a clear explanation is never given, but in the case someone comes to resemble, say, an insect more than a person, they will be considered "too far gone". and at some point their absence will be seen as a blessing.

unrelated image of haro from gundam

no one remembers how any of this happened btw. yeah, everyone has trauma-induced amnesia in relation to where things went wrong.

denial and grief are core points of the narrative. the whole story might be about society avoiding its problems. (and who can blame them, the common inganockians life is hard enough as is)

its a sovereign principality that has been left to rot, both enviromentally and by the absence of its prince... which..... effectively means its more or less a very chaotic sort of aristocracy. any little sense of "law" is generally enforced by leftover indestructable robocops (which enforce uncontrolled violence based on past coding), privately hired muscle, bribery, or simply the physical means of private people. so thats an issue. apparently the few people in the two top layers reign over the city and control the economy and the prices of food entirely. idek.

tl;dr dude it SUCKS.... inganock has a really intriguing setting. i adore it deeply. but well....

Disclaimer

i have read maybe a handful visual novels in my whole life. my extremely limited japanese knowledge is not worth mentioning and i am working off a fan translation. so all that influences how i talk about the story. and there are probably countless details that escape me or stuff i just did not get due to a language barrier.

OFTEN there are parts of inganock that reference another game in the -what a beautiful- series. if you dont know what happens in there and how things connect.... well some stuff will never make sense. i have just accepted this to be honest. maybe ill understand in the future.

there are short stories set after the games story! i have no read them yet. apparently they explain a lot about the games very wild and confusing ending and i hope to get to them some time. hopefully, i can make another post about it.

disability is a huge focus for me. it might not be as important to you. but claiming it isnt a defining feature of the games setting is ignorance.

inganock is, in my opinion, fundamentally a story about the enviroment and about disabled peoples struggles. so i talk about that. on a more emotional level, as mentioned before, it is about avoiding ones trauma and thereby being unable to move on/getting stuck in ones own mind prison forever. its also about how you should eat breakfast with your daughter for mental health.

Frontloading My Biggest Criticism / Content Warnings

sekien no inganock has a huge problem with sexualizing one of its main characters, kia, a teenage girl. how old she is exactly does not matter because she looks like this

this is my biggest issue with the game. it felt incredibly gross and invasive to play at a handful of points. there are two cg's that show her chest. characters keep implying she is somehow in a romantic physical relationship with the adult man protagonist. even if it happens on the side and relatively rarely, its really damn disgusting.

the game clearly delivers lolibait but keeps up a front of plausible deniability. she is not a "love interest". she is not in any written out and detailed "hentai scene", like they exist in the game (though there is arguably a scene like that with her. just to warn you.). she is not exactly "underaged" because there simply is no canon age.

this is really serious and i needed to get that out of the way instantly.

and, just like i had to write in previous posts about other games, there is a needlessly detailed rape scene here too. and while there is a narrative purpose and a great critical evaluation of it in inganock, it still functionally serves as a sexualized porn scene.

as always, im not against difficult or brutal topics like these coming up in media, i am against exploiting and fetishizing trauma. this really is by far my biggest gripe and greatly influenced my experience as a reader. i will discuss neither further in this post but its necessary to mention, should anyone want to have a look at this game.

how i approach the storytelling

the enviromental descriptions in this game can be both overwhelming and confusingly vage at the same time. and there is one mini game that serves as an infodump in every chapter.

if you are curious and want to give it a try, here is what I recommend: it could be really useful to take some notes. it is a fairly long game with a lot of repetition, both through chapters that are built up in similar ways, and repeating bouts of text. don't bother taking detailed notes on the lore or specific terms, you are fighting a losing battle. the story loves to namedrop concepts on you, only to explain them to you much later on. thrice. it will make sure you dont stay confused, you just have to trust it to explain itself.

what you SHOULD keep an eye on are the timeline and connections between characters. pay attention to everyones health and overall feelings. a lot of the games strongest writing points are centered around depicting everyone's struggle with the world they live in and the bad health this results in. this goes for the enviroment (which truly is its own sort of organism) too!

a lot of text repeats itself but each time a tiny difference in the wording will manifest. imo, there is an appealing sense of horror to the monotony of it and how it mirrors the protagonists life, as it gets disturbed step by step.

inganock has a weird habit of spoiling parts of the near future and characters that are just about to appear. this is kind of a neutral quality, its just a bit strange and funny. it never spoiled my fun but it didnt necessarily help me comprehend the story better or made me more curious. HOWEVER it gave off the idea that, as a reader, i am not really following the protagonist gii, i am instead following a story in which he plays a role.

the game has a linear story and while every chapter provides the reader with a choice at its plots climax, there is only one "correct" answer that will continue the story, the rest results in a very short but interesting game over. these game overs are similar across the board but worth checking out every time.

what i personally love is, there is never a choice that feels good or correct. the game only provides the ability to give up or to carry on and face the consequences. this results in a very sad but satisfying direction!!! "game over" isnt tied to "doing the wrong thing" or dying necessarily, its tied to giving up on ones ideals and drive.

The Actual Story

in the hellhole that inganock is, gii is a practicing doctor. like everyone else, he mutated too, but only his brain changed. outwardly he is human and sticks out like a sore thumb. he has been able to do healing math magic, at the cost of his own sustenance. (and oh boy is he willing to sustain.)

while his profession leaves him with stable income and the ability to survive, his life is unremarkable and he mostly just works and sleeps. his only social contacts are patients, a bunch of orphans he tends to out of altruism, and a catgirl called ati. ati and him are sort of a thing. (convoluted simplification)

ati, ngl, your not-boyfriend situation sucks and your bird coworker cant help with that

one day he walks into a large mutated giant carrying off a little girl, so he steps in and......... now he got a roommate.

kia is adorable, she is a joy, she is childish in the best most positive way, and maybe the last person around who chooses to be kind to absolutely everyone. a total contrast to giis depressed and apathetic nature. inganock hasnt seen the sun in years but kia is the next best thing.

she is also weirdly competent for the age she looks to be. and has no visible mutations. and very clean high quality clothing. ... odd.

kia packed a suitcase with onigiri AUGH she is so cute

every chapter they encounter a patient or get involved in A Situation (tm) otherwise. the game can get a bit stale here but imo every single side character has a unique appeal and captivating fate. and theres monsters. and manifestations of peoples dreams and hopes, which look and work exactly like jjba stands. gii fights the monsters with his stand. just take this at face value okay, it looks really epic every time.

also every chapter we catch a glimpse how the games main antagonist (again, convoluted simplification) progresses in the background. eventually, they will meet and interact, and with every chapter they get one step closer to it.

the antagonists actual motives go unexplored for a large portion of the story. the city they live in itself is so difficult to deal with that it provides enough conflict and adventures.

the main plot centers around what becomes of doomed inganock. but it just as much centers around everyone collectively overcoming the paralysis trauma put them in.

What I Love About The Story+World

inganock loves to linger on individual fates and tragedies. most chapters are tied to one character and most of these are women with incredibly sad lives and lovingly crafted problems

^ within this concept, there is a fair amount of explorations in regards to identity, ones own body and the horrors it brings, family relationships, and gender

monsters (or "critters" as they are called in the game) are manifestations of societal fears (child mortality, an aging population, uncontrollable health epidemics, natural disaster and the destructions of the enviroment, ..... and... THE INTERNET???? and internet additiction? this is a topic?)

because of the repetition on the storytelling, fighting those monsters always goes the same but it is soooo badass and sooooooo cool every time

imo, it is incredibly fun to keep track of repeating scenes because they slightly change every time. it can be hard to fully realize something has changed even. with the core themes inganock provides, this seems to purposefully mirror stale routines in life

there is a character with some sort of transgender and sex worker story in it and the first time i read her part i really wasnt sure if it is weirdly transphobic or the most empathetically written description of someone experiencing the horror of their own body. i still dont know. kinda really loved it though

the end is bizarre as fuckkkkkk but i guess i... liked it? it is very much a "the world and nature around you is a larger organism and will always be stronger than you, a human" kind of deal

it really seems to me sometimes that the city itself is the protagonist and a character who acts on its own

in general, inganock is often likened to a baby that never got to develope.... a common fate within its smog dome as well as the cruel wasted potential of the "perfect city"

about the protagonist

i ADORE gii. right from the start, he vaguely drops hints that he lives with immeasurable regret. while he is one of the incredibly rare cases of people whose mutation arguably leaves him in a better spot than he was in before, he is deeply chronically sick. it is a mix of grief and depression that leaves him almost entirely apathetic and unable to care about himself.

however he is deeply driven on and on by his nurturing nature, guilt, and the feeling like he owes his services as a doctor to every single person in inganock. like many other people, he cannot remember what happened 10 years ago and what exactly made him feel guilty to begin with. this is a powerful metaphor, of course. his mental issues have become an independent force, they are entirely seperated of what made him feel inadequate in the first place. feeling this way is all he knows and so he cannot get better.

he is deeply stuck, deeply unchanging, but fundamentally a very good person whose altruistic aspirations almost kill him physically. he is very "pure", carries the world on his shoulders, but remains helpless by himself. he can only exist for and by the grace of others.

oh, you.... (kicks legs)

what eventually inspires change in him is kia repeatedly forcing him to eat, to sleep, she provides him with company, and gives him very very few chances to help her and thereby define his worth through services.

though kia is a very responsible skilled person, the only care she needs is emotional companionship. they form a very clumsy father/child sort of bond!

(it takes him like 2/3s of the visual novel to realize this)

though the games disgusting lolibait STUPIDLY destroys what it carefully built up later in the game, for the most part, those two are an unending source of comfort as well as a good example of a troubled father who genuinely tries and a daughter who has to grow up too quickly. its sweet and real and a bit ugly and i adore them.

multiple times during the game gii drops this line. and youre forced to wonder WHAT DOES HE MEANNNN.

i genuinely dont want to actually tell you the end of the story and what becomes of inganock. because its really kind of a "what the fuck" moment. its so weird that i was wondering whether the last chapter of inganock has a pro-life sentiment (it doesnt. but if you really wanted to, you could read it that way. not important, i just thought its oddly funny.)

BUT!!!! gii is and remains what he seems to be at first glance - a burdened and sick but ultimately helpful person. he has to make tough decision as a doctor. many times he finds himself at the lever of his own personal trolley problems and has to kill one guy to save five. this isnt his fault. he really is just a guy. and i love him deeply for this.

like with many people that struggle with feelings of guilt - the guilt was never even rightfully his to hang on to.

the fucking clown

you know, problems clown

there is a clown in inganock. the clown is omnipresent. you never actually see it and it doesnt do any clown things, to be honest.

in a wayyyy the clown is sort of a commentator on giis mental health? but not reallyyyy.... the game has its own weird version of a greek chorus in the form of clock crack chrome. so that is not what the clown does.

just imagine the entire story happens while there is a clown standing juuuust within eyesight. and every time gii eats shit, the clown taunts him for it. its kind of its own mental illness. i think it is a metaphor for ones own thoughts working against oneself. but there are many things the clown could be and thats beautiful.

no point in talking about this, i just think the clown REALLY adds something.

i dont want to actually spoil you for important cgs but this is 100% what the clown looks like

closing thoughts

SHOULD you read inganock? probably not. honestly. the horrible kia parts are too bad to really recommend this to anyone.

DID I ENJOY inganock? yeah, a lot! personally! i love the focus on disability and the enviroment and i LOVE clowns. i love clowns so much. so it was very whimsical and touching to me.

i dont share much of the criticism other people have for the game, about it being repetitive or losing focus. personally, to me, inganock is very much trying to be artsy, a fairytale, and a book at the same time. its less of a coherent logical sequence of events and more of a mental health diary, really. "whose mental health diary?" the... citys? in the grand scheme of things, the weirdness of its storytelling and vagueness quite possibly adds to its charm.

i dont love inganock for its story, i love it for its clear external observation of avoidant traumatized life. and the fact it provides the reader with the chance to reflect on their own actions because of it.

(very vague hesitant thumbs up)

thats all that is!

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