#hope for the environment

[agir1ukn0w]

I absolutely refuse to believe that you can believe in science and feel deeply about the catastrophe our environment is currently under and not STILL…still even with all of that terrible knowledge, still absolutely, adamantly REFUSE to give in, REFUSE to let the greedy genocidal fuckers running our world win, REFUSE to let our world and the lands belonging to indigenous peoples be destroyed. I’m so fucking sick and tired of people talking as if our world is already lost. How can you fucking say that shit. How can you go about your lives in a state of surrender. How can you give up all that we are blessed with, all that our descendants deserve, without a goddamn fight.

[vulture-cultist]

“It is so easy to look at everything that’s happening and think that our planet is on fire and that we are all going to die. That we have reached the point of no return and that there is nothing that can be done. [...] I need you to try to listen to what I am about to say.

When it comes to the climate crisis, there isn’t a singular point of no return. There are lots of them. We have not crossed them all. The earth has survived way, way worse than us, and it has bounced back every single time. And it can bounce back from this. But when you convince yourself that we have irrevocably damaged our planet, you are playing right into the hands of the fossil fuel industry. They want you to be trapped in hopelessness and apathy and despair, because that means they can keep getting away with what they’re doing. Don’t let them! We can still fix this, and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise!”

The Octopus Lady | Alien Ocean: These Strange Triangles Can Make You Lose Your Mind

[mroddmod]

some recent stuff i've done in magma bc im kind of addicted to using it lol

[hope-for-the-planet]

The Climate Change Superfund Act makes major fossil fuel companies financially liable for damage due to extreme weather events and other dangers related to climate change. The amount these companies are responsible for paying depends on their contributions to emissions since 1995.

Money collected from fossil fuel companies will be used to mitigate the health impacts of climate change and improve public infrastructure.

[creekfiend]

thinking about the teen who spent a LOOOOONG time at our booth yesterday just trying on bracelets and telling me all about the jewelry she used to make and her friends at school and the craft projects she volunteers to help kids with at her church and how she was conflicted over which bracelets to buy because she liked the big bright ones but said her parents didn't approve and wouldn't let her wear them if they could tell they were pride bracelets.

I talked to her for a while and finally she decided to buy two subtle ones and later I saw her walking with her mom, who gave me the stink eye. girl your poor kid wouldn't have to have heart to hearts with random adults at the craft fair if she felt safe having those conversations with you. give your mirror at home the stink eye. 👎

[solarpunkfool]

I am trying to choose to hope. 

I am choosing to imagine public transportation. 

Grocery stores with attached soup kitchens to decrease food waste. 

Neighborhood meal- and garden-sharing programs.

Green spaces connecting to other green spaces.

The rainforest ADVANCING, churning up dry soil and turning it dark and healthy. 

The sky filled with birds and the sea with fish, their populations increasing. 

The air and water clean. 

Emissions-free vehicles on roadways, with speeds governed, and safe streets for tricycles, bicycles, dogs, deer, and stray soccer balls.

Solar panels on every public building, over every parking lot. 

Beehives and wildflowers on the open berms between roadways. 

The total lack of gunshots around the world, and instead the sound of shovels, digging holes to plant fruit trees by public sidewalks. 

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

For moment, you are home.

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[cherryfennec]

Summer Times

Hi! I'm finally back from my two week abroad trip!

[pale-blue-home]

✈️♻️ An all-electric plane made its historic landing at JFK airport in New York! The 45-minute flight used only $8 worth of electricity!

[mienar]

late rainy nights

instagram | shop | commission info

[cheekinpermission]

Okay picture this:

Ace and Sebek are arguing over the answer for the homework (they're both correct somehow, engmics is weird)

Erin starts humming a disney song, sulver reconizes it as a lullaby and also starts humming

Then Erin starts singing it, then sulver joins

Both Sebek and Ace are confused, and then BAM

They are stampeded over by millions of forest critters

I just though this was funny and wanted to share it lol

Give em some milk they'll be fine

[reasonsforhope]

"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.

Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.

In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.

To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.

Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:

One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.

Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.

A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.

The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.

Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.

Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).

The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.

Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.

“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”

She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"

-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025

[directactionforhope]

"Starting this month [June 2024], thousands of young people will begin doing climate-related work around the West as part of a new service-based federal jobs program, the American Climate Corps, or ACC. The jobs they do will vary, from wildland firefighters and “lawn busters” to urban farm fellows and traditional ecological knowledge stewards. Some will work on food security or energy conservation in cities, while others will tackle invasive species and stream restoration on public land. 

The Climate Corps was modeled on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, with the goal of eventually creating tens of thousands of jobs while simultaneously addressing the impacts of climate change. 

Applications were released on Earth Day, and Maggie Thomas, President Joe Biden’s special assistant on climate, told High Country News that the program’s website has already had hundreds of thousands of views. Since its launch, nearly 250 jobs across the West have been posted, accounting for more than half of all the listed ACC positions. 

“Obviously, the West is facing tremendous impacts of climate change,” Thomas said. “It’s changing faster than many other parts of the country. If you look at wildfire, if you look at extreme heat, there are so many impacts. I think that there’s a huge role for the American Climate Corps to be tackling those crises.”  

Most of the current positions are staffed through state or nonprofit entities, such as the Montana Conservation Corps or Great Basin Institute, many of which work in partnership with federal agencies that manage public lands across the West. In New Mexico, for example, members of Conservation Legacy’s Ecological Monitoring Crew will help the Bureau of Land Management collect soil and vegetation data. In Oregon, young people will join the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working in firefighting, fuel reduction and timber management in national forests. 

New jobs are being added regularly. Deadlines for summer positions have largely passed, but new postings for hundreds more positions are due later this year or on a rolling basis, such as the Working Lands Program, which is focused on “climate-smart agriculture.”  ...

On the ACC website, applicants can sort jobs by state, work environment and focus area, such as “Indigenous knowledge reclamation” or “food waste reduction.” Job descriptions include an hourly pay equivalent — some corps jobs pay weekly or term-based stipends instead of an hourly wage — and benefits. The site is fairly user-friendly, in part owing to suggestions made by the young people who participated in the ACC listening sessions earlier this year...

The sessions helped determine other priorities as well, Thomas said, including creating good-paying jobs that could lead to long-term careers, as well as alignment with the president’s Justice40 initiative, which mandates that at least 40% of federal climate funds must go to marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and pollution. 

High Country News found that 30% of jobs listed across the West have explicit justice and equity language, from affordable housing in low-income communities to Indigenous knowledge and cultural reclamation for Native youth...

While the administration aims for all positions to pay at least $15 an hour, the lowest-paid position in the West is currently listed at $11 an hour. Benefits also vary widely, though most include an education benefit, and, in some cases, health care, child care and housing. 

All corps members will have access to pre-apprenticeship curriculum through the North America’s Building Trades Union. Matthew Mayers, director of the Green Workers Alliance, called this an important step for young people who want to pursue union jobs in renewable energy. Some members will also be eligible for the federal pathways program, which was recently expanded to increase opportunities for permanent positions in the federal government...

 “To think that there will be young people in every community across the country working on climate solutions and really being equipped with the tools they need to succeed in the workforce of the future,” Thomas said, “to me, that is going to be an incredible thing to see.”"

-via High Country News, June 6, 2024

--

Note: You can browse Climate Corps job postings here, on the Climate Corps website. There are currently 314 jobs posted at time of writing!

Also, it says the goal is to pay at least $15 an hour for all jobs (not 100% meeting that goal rn), but lots of postings pay higher than that, including some over $20/hour!!

[hope-for-the-planet]

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

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

[redjaybathood]

Chornobyl wild cows, everyone:

Photos by Serhii Zhyla

To quote The Village Ukraine:

This herd is an example of how domesticated animals can adapt to the wild without human intervention. Studying their behavior and survival helps scientists to better understand the processes of natural adaptation and the role of large herbivores in the ecosystem. The research can also provide useful clues for the conservation of endangered species around the world.

The population is still threateningly small, but under favorable conditions it can recover to the pre-war level of 20 individuals in three years. Five calves are expected this year, although their survival depends on many factors. Observations continue, and the story of feral cows in the exclusion zone continues.