#i was like ‘maybe my time growing up on a farm gave me insight! cause god knows it didn’t give me anything else other than misery

[halfricanloveyou]

just wrote out a multi-paragraph well thought addition to a post about modern day farming that i tried to reblog and tumblr was like “posting failed try again” and deleted everything.

that shit took me an hour i hate this fucking app so much

[ofcloudsandstars]

Life Update:

I have been away for a BIT but a lot has happened since then. Aside from some crazy energy shifts (some early spooky spirit-level vibes coming from Pluto coming out of Retrograde on the 3rd) having wild vivid dreams and bizarre experiences, there's some that took the cake and also I needed some time to just be quiet and spend my little free time not chatting to anyone or being online.

Anyway a story I wanted to share is the on going saga with that rich man who spent his years saving and conserving a rain forest in Tanzania. We met on Autumn's Eve to discuss his project he was trying to raise money for. He is going through a lot right now cause it's his second Saturn return and this huge farm he owns in Tanzania that he made a shit ton of money from is falling apart due to climate change and corruption. It turns out this man has dabbled in/has interest in the occult (as all bored white rich people do) and was interested in my craft. He's an American born and raised in Louisiana that moved to NYC for a while to write for a magazine, had some wild experiences with a vodou church there and moved to England when he got married but now has been divorced for like 17 years and is still not over it. Anyway I felt comfortable opening up about my practice and that evening anyway I was going to go to a friend's house to do some autumn eve magic and had some stuff in my bag. So he asked for a tarot reading for insight in his future and we like hang out in Hyde park which is GORGEOUS in fall colors right now and I do a reading for him. This is the beginning of a very long story so if you are interested in reading another episode in my hot mess ass life, get a nice cup of tea and click the read more lol. 

Essentially we can summarize his current life as his job is going through a tower card phase due to saturn return shaking up all that foundations are weak or no longer serving him. He's supposed to resurrect the rainforest conservation project and he already knows this answer deep down inside. I am like cool that's great we connected cause I have been making a lot of friends recently that are getting involved in forest conservation or are buying land to grow forests on with native trees so its cool we created this friendship.  Nice. Now he wants a love reading which I just feel reluctant to do. I already had that feeling you know when someone wants a love reading when they really shouldn't be focusing on that? Its fine though cause Tarot is honest as hell and validates my feelings. He essentially wants someone to distract his current troubles and saturn return lessons to get whisked away in a romance and dump his issues on from the failure of the farm and his divorce of 17 years he's still not over. 

He's still unsatisfied so to placate him I do a lenormand reading of what type of lover could suit him now in his troubling time. Lenormand just shows someone that is ambitious and working in the same field but also a side kick. Cool so you want a cheerleader to support you when you are down that’s nice don't we all. He then says the reading is vague and doesn't everyone want that? And I am like no not at all like for example, I currently don't want any relationship I want to work on myself but if I were to have an ideal relationship I'd love it to be with someone who is a home maker, someone who is emotionally available, who's love language is like smothering me physically with affection, definitely not someone who fucks off for two weeks to months at a time to the other side of the hemisphere, but anyway it’s all hypothetical so it doesn't matter. Anyway with his lack of satisfaction I am like, look sir, next week is the Libra new moon, it's a great time to ask to find a partner that will be a great match in this trying time.

I completely forget that I gave him this information. We smoke a blunt he was keeping in his nifty dressy blazer inner pocket and I go off to see my good Aries witch friend and have an INSANE NIGHT where we nearly BURNT down her fucking apartment in an episode of  ✧ *:・ﾟFire Magic Gone Wrong *:・ﾟ✧. 

I was trying to make some candles for autumn's eve with carved green apples and when I melted the wax we didn't realize how powerful her oven was. Plus my stupid lazy ass left the wick in there. So when we tried to open the oven cause we were smelling the intense smoke, a fucking PLUME of dark smoke would come out BURNING THE SHIT out of our eyes and choke the shit out of us. We tried to open the windows and vents, I tried to quickly pull it out and some wax splashed out and burned the shit out of my leg and arm and I have little burn mark scars now, but with the wick in there with that heat it IGNITED there was a burst of flames coming out, My friend was NOT HAVING IT like imagine an Aries hollerin and a Fire Ablazin and the fire alarm is louder than a fucking rave EDM beat like I was trying to think as clear as possible and see if she had a fire extinguisher she was like: BITCH DO I LOOK LIKE A RESTAURANT TO YOU and so I call the emergency line to get the fire department while she fucking, just, gets a massive fucking cauldron of water and dumps it in the oven and wax is oil so you know what happens when you throw water on flaming oil it fucking EXPLODES so she's like fucking James Bond slow motion running away from a ball of Fire and fortunately the fire is out cause it gets smothered by smoke and water 

...so I am like: Oh thank you mr. police sir but the fire is gone no need to come, but as my friend is still HOLLERIN in full panic mode in the background and the police on the phone still hear her Panic and is like: Uh no we are still coming.. 

Its a bit comical and surreal at this point cause I try to calm my friend down with some water as I air out the apartment and she goes from Hollerin to   q u i e t   real quick when she hears all these LOUD ass sirens. She's like.. Alex.. What are we gonna tell the police when they arrive?? I am like damn bitch why you acting like we did something contraband like its just an oven fire we extinguished it. But she was having that Black Moment of Fear™ like we were two hot mess black witches gonna have the police up in her apartment due to some dumb ass witchcraft gone wrong like I was still trying to be calm but she was like whispering my name like Aleeexx those sirens, they are coming for us!! And I was like oh my god you are panicking they are probably just police cars for something else we are in London shit happens here all the time. 

Anyway the loud sirens just STOP in front of the building and she's like: a l e x... All of a sudden we hear a Bing! And its the fire department outside. We see the windows in the hallway outdoors and this MASSIVE ASS FIRE TRUCK THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING'S WIDTH is just parked there y'all.. The neighbor across the hallway opens her door to see what the fuck is going on and she was not pleased. Since her windows face the street her whole living room looked like a rave disco with red and blue flashing lights she was like what the fuck were you dumbasses doing and my friend is like ohh my god.. 

So next thing we knew there were 5 Fully geared firemen in the apartment and like.. Miraculously with the power of all that is good in the world there is like no sign that there was ever anything that happened?! So the firemen of course were wanting some explanations. Of course they can smell a little bit of smoke but I am like: Oh yeah sorry it was a grease fire gone wrong it was the first time we used this oven but we managed to squash it, it was just overwhelming and we wanted you guys over just in case it escalated. So one fireman is like snooping around for some further answers like: haha cooking sausages usually kicks up a lot of grease, what were you cooking? And my friend who is guilty as hell is like: its just oil but so sorry wejustletitburnintheovensosorryitwasjust and I am like taking the conversation by the horns like: We were trying a recipe to bake the apples over there (yes the ones still hollowed out on the kitchen counter,) but it went wrong. Anyway the firemen noted that there was like no damage ("don't even mention it to your land lord! Haha!" one says) and they just install two fire alarms for free and leave. So me and my friend who are Shaken from this Drama especially when after the firemen left there was no trace of like anything even happening and this all escalated and deescalated in less than an hour so we just scrap any magic we had planned that night and watch The Craft instead. Autumn’s Eve completed..

Ok so I have a blissful and amazing Mabon then a few days pass and I am back at work with the shenanigans of the weekend out of my mind and I get a text from the old rich guy again. He wants me to come over for dinner on Sunday and chat some more about the forest conservation project. I am a bit annoyed as it's Libra new moon but maybe I could balance dinner with him and go home and do some spells (balance, see what I did there? lol.) So I say yes, it's Libra new moon afterall and maybe its nice to make a new friendship revolving around helping the planet.

 He's texting me like: Do you like Oysters? And I am like.. that's so random why Oysters? And he goes on about how he's from Louisiana and he gets homesick so he likes eating them I am like ok I guess.. But he's also like: let me get some Gavi (white wine) and I am starting to get that feeling of unease but I am like: I got to work early the next day so I am not going to drink. He's like ok fine. 

I mention it to some of my coworkers and they are teasing me about how this old man wants to 'play in my rainforest' and it makes me want to gag. Like I am hoping that its a case of me misjudging some man like surely this is a sensible old man that is lonely and just is happy to find a friend that cares about the earth and his project? Anyway Sunday night comes and I am on my way to his house. He lives in some gorgeous townhouse off a main street. The stairwell spirals up the 3 floors of the house with exotic trees growing in between the landings and reaching up through the center of the spiral stairs. There are pictures of artwork he's collected as well as some chameleon named after him in the rain forest in Tanzania as a thankyou to his conservation efforts. I get to the second landing before his kitchen and I hear to my DREAD some fucking jazz music. Oh hell no. I immediately am like: I need to use your toilet. So I go to his immensely large bathroom which also has little trees growing in there in between the large sink and deep teal painted clawed foot tub. I am texting my Aries witch friend cause she lives around the corner like: GURL GET ME THE FUCK!! OUT OF HERE!! and she's like: Oh no baby you's in danger, let me know if you need help. So I gather my strength like: Ok he can't be this delusional especially after the Talk and the Tarot on his lovelife and the fact that he's old enough to be my dad, so let me keep the convo friendly and hopefully this will be a big misunderstanding.

I mean by now you know my fool meter is immensely high, but anwyay I go into his kitchen and I ask him boldly what's the occasion for this dinner? So he skirts the question by saying how he designed his home after stuff in Louisiana that he misses blahblah and stuff from the rainforest I am like: Cool, whats the occasion for this dinner? And he's like: You know, celebrating friendship, you want wine? I don't want wine cause I told him I need to go home early I have to work, and he mentions the spare bedroom on the top floor. I tell him I'm uninterested in staying over even though yes it's conveniently 10 minutes walk from my job but I have house plants to take care of (yeah I use that house plants excuse I don't give a fuck! lol).  Anyway he steers the conversation to the fresh oysters he just shucked. So we are eating oysters, I try not to put any energy on the nature of him eating his oysters and I direct the conversation to how he came about conserving the rainforest, his networking skills and how he raised money to buy that much land and plant millions of trees. I end up gleaning a lot of helpful and not so much helpful info (I mean, it just helps if you are a wealthy well connected white man lmao), and we even talk about other interesting stuff like I get him to talk about how the stock market works, his daily routine at the members club I work at, William Kamkwamba who built the windmill in Malawi from some inspo from library books (his ex brother in law made a film about it which he suggested I stay over to watch with him, which I declined cause of my house plants I needed to get back to at home), his divorce he can't stop talking about cause he's not truly over it. Anyway dinner is nice, we eat some very unseasoned gumbo he made that reminds him of his childhood and throughout the dinner I am doing shielding energy exercises and channeling the power of Saturn to re-affirm my boundaries and practice the glorious power of "No". So with Saturn's channeled influence I am ready to put an end to the night and I am like: thanks for everything I think I'll go now, but before I go should I help with the dishes? He says no cause: It's a one-man show. I ask him to Elaborate, and instead he offers me to get some chocolate so I am like.. ok... 

Anyway he is standing at the other side of his kitchen so I get up to get some and he turns around to embrace me, and y'all... it's a LONG and UNCOMFORTABLE hug complete with 1. back rubbing, 2. neck sniffing, 3. aura invading, so I pull away to ask about what chocolate it is and it's dark chocolate oh god. Anyway this is actually the beginning of the climax of the tension of the night to my foolish self cause this man who is unwillingly ignoring my discomfort has the fucking audacity to ask the question: Do you like dancing? I literally answer him with the same boldness that he asked that question: I hate dancing and never danced in my life. lol. He wasn't taking No for an answer so he decided to be like: Let me show you music I like to dance to. So he puts on some old 70s-esque rock and starts dancing alone in his living room like: Dance with me! I am like No. He says something like: I love dancing it helps to open you up. We all just got to get over our embarrassment and let loose! I am like: Ok I gotta let loose in your toilet again be right back.

So I hide in his bathroom again texting my witch friend like: S.O.S. BITCH let me come over to your apartment and she's like: Oh sorry I am in a party in north London .............. 😭

So I go out to face the mess and he's now trying to get another song I could potentially relate to so he's like: Let me play this song my 13 year old picked out for me.. Great..  Next thing my Ears are hearing is: Mr. Brightside by the Killers and I am dying y'all.. I am over it.. He is taking my laughter as an invitation to get me to dance but now with the full power of Saturn I was like: No. I am going home, I don't feel well, I have been having some kidney issues ("Oh is that why you were always in the bathroom?"- "Yeah that's.. why.. definitely..") and I gotta get up early. So he looks sad. I am like it's ok, we can hang out in the day time, outside of your home next time and talk more about the rainforest conservation. He's like, ok but before you go we have to do this? I am like: Do what?

NEXT THING I KNOW TO MY HORROR I SEE HIM LEAN IN, TAKE MY SIDES AND TRY TO KISS ME AND I AM LIKE: 

NO!!

I Push him away, and FLY down his 3 flights of stairs, spiraling down his house, and he's chasing me like fucking No-Face chasing Chihiro saying: I WASN'T GOING TO PUT MY TONGUE IN YOUR MOUTH!! The fact that he said that I could feel my fucking bootyhole clench with dismay. I was mortified. I grabbed my shoes and was like.. see you around I guess (He is a regular at my job lol), and I fly down the street. 

When I get home he texts me if I have a moment for a chat so I am like ok fine why not? He fucking VIDEO CALLS ME and on top of it is eating something fucking nasty and I have misophonia so I am fucking disgusted and I turn off my video (I mean its like modern millenial tech etiquette but video calls are pretty intimate or you have to prepare for them, just springing up a video chat is a bit violating?) and he's like: Oh should I turn off my video too? I don't answer.. so he does..

So he calls to essentially apologize. He admits that I at MANY TIMES have expressed that I was not interested in any relationship other than friendship and that he just wanted a friendly kiss on the mouth and it wasn't supposed to be sexual. Ok... He also says that he doesn't understand why we can't be intimate and be friends.. With my DEAD SILENCE he then fills it like: Ok yeah that's true there is a massive age gap and different comforts with intimacy.. He then admits he has a sexual attraction to me and it would be dishonest to say otherwise but we should still be friends.. I am like: I wouldn't mind being friends but I can't trust someone who doesn't respect my boundaries like I have boundaries. We end with him saying: I understand, you have your boundaries then.. Lol.

Anyway as a blessing I haven't seen him since..

It took me like a full several days later after seeing another witchy friend who asked me about my new moon libra rituals I realized I didn't get to HAVE ANY cause he fucking Eclipsed my night with his bullshittery, that it was actually my fault as I gave him an idea to use that evening to try to find a partner when I did his tarot reading on Autumn Eve but instead he was trying to use all kinds of tricks of seduction for me to be his unwilling cheerleader. Goes to show that a man can spend years of his life planting 16.7 million trees and still be trash lol.

-------

Other than those recent drama episodes not much has happened to me other than some resurfaced trauma and closure from years ago in college that ended a chapter in my life for me once Pluto came out of retrograde. Other mildly exciting news, I also worked my Alchemist friend's bar yesterday on Sunday for a Fungi Fest in Hoxton. (Look up her work she's Mama Xanadu she does cool shit.) She made non-alcoholic cocktails potions with spirits based with roots and herbs like damiana, maca, passion flower etc that makes you feel energized but also mellow (three spirit is one of the partners that work with her their stuff is kind of nice though you do feel like you're drinking some type of brew) and her brews were made from different mushroom infusions like one was a delicious turkeytail brew made with hibiscus and douglas fir and another was with kombucha and seabuckthorn juice and one with a mushroom named amethyst deceiver and hops. She also makes her own essences and made some mushroom essences (like flower essences but with the vibrational influence of mushrooms) to add in there. I met some interesting and Strange people like you do at any alternative spiritualish wholesome event. I met a beautiful boy who is sadly in a relationship that we vibed very hard to the unfortunate dismay of his disgruntled girlfriend and I met a couple from poland who looked like a lost boys vampire couple (one was dressed in a black iridescent latex trenchcoat with one long earring with playing cards attached to it with long hair and his girlfriend had like layers of black scarves and coat like some mori grunge style with a black bowl hat on) who were trying to convince me how MDMA is the same as medicinal mushrooms and that it's its own type of spiritual ritual now. (I was like, sure Jäan..). Now that I have had a moment to like rest and reflect, and accept that I can't save some of my house plants and my life's direction still seems so uncertain and Hot Mess I am like ready to focus on my craft again and interact with my blog lol.

Anyway if you read until the end wow, thanks so much. I hope you had a great new moon.

[cassiefanfic]

Stay With Me Part Two: Found

Part: 2 of 4

Fandom: Marvel/ Avengers

Character/Ship: Loki x Reader, Steve Rogers x Reader, Mr. and Mrs. Bradley (Original Characters), Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton

Warning: Fluff, Angst, Pregnancy, mentions of violence

Writer: Cassie

Words: 3954

Requested by: Anon on @thefandomimagine

Summary: After a couple of months of being in New York and living with the Bradleys, coming to terms with being powerless and a single mother-to-be, Y/N is slowly learning to adapt to Midgardian life. While working one day, Steve Rogers comes to her checkout counter, with his pearly white smile and a whole new world for Y/N to learn.

[Based off of:] http://thefandomimagine.tumblr.com/post/99044716364/submitted-by-anonymous

Author’s Note: This takes place a month after the Battle of New York.

This was beta’ed by @kittenofdoomage who is amazing and I adore her so much. Go check her out!!!

Series Masterlist

Y/N’s POV

I was not Y/N of Asgard anymore. I was Y/N Bradley of New York State. After two months, we got me new clothes, a doctor to help with my child and a job at a library in New York City. As well as a thing called a car and a piece of plastic called a drivers license. It was a different culture completely. So primitive, so loud, so bright and flashy. I adapted to their technology, getting an iPhone 5 and a laptop, both by a company called Apple.

I learned much of their culture, reading their books, wearing their clothes, watching the moving pictures they called movies or television. Because of my job, I had access to much of their history, a lot about the great battles fought, destruction brought among people mindlessly fighting over similar causes. I learned of the losses and that which we have gained. It was all so… primitive yet fascinating.

Another day I awoke, got dressed in the handmade clothes Mrs. Bradley made for me and went down for breakfast. At my spot was a bowl of blueberry banana oatmeal and a glass of milk. Strange enough, the oatmeal was one of the few things the baby enjoyed and didn’t make me throw back up.

“How do grilled cheese and tomato soup sound Y/N?” Mr. Bradley asked as he tore up his toast into easier bites.

“That would be lovely for lunch! That jelly substance as well please?”

“Jello? I’m glad you like that.” Mrs. Bradley replied gleefully. “I’ll drop it off around 11:30 okay?”

“Yes. But not downtown. We finally have the old location open again.” I reminded before taking another bite of oatmeal.

About a month ago, my fellow librarians and patrons found ourselves trapped inside the library as someone and an army of Chitauri destroyed New York City. After a couple of hours, we were finally rescued by two men, who were called Iron Man and Captain America. I told little to the emergency responders, allowing them to give me an emergency ultrasound to check on my baby, immediately taking the opportunity to see the life growing in me on a tiny black and white screen.

It was small, while I was still only a couple months along. This must’ve been the happiest I was. Having that little grape-sized image in front of me completed me, settled my fear. I couldn’t think about Loki or the Chitauri attack. I could only think of the baby.

I finished eating before getting my bag and hurrying out to my car, giving quick hugs on my way out. Settling in and buckling up, the radio gave me more insight into the New York City recovery, construction, hospitalized patients being let out after their care was completed. I quickly interrupted the monotone voices with the Top 20 popular songs that these Midguardians seemed to enjoy. That’s one thing I never seemed to quite grasp. The music of this planet. Each song on Asgard had its specific purpose, but here, they all had hidden meanings. They were about love but about being alone. They were about anger but also about lust. It was a concept that confused me every day. But it was one out of the three stations I could get on the car radio, so I made do.

The grape had grown to the size of a lime, and the lime kept making me puke and take naps in the back of the check out counter. I somehow distracted myself with the small plastic bag of saltine crackers I hid in my large sweater pocket, the absurdly large water bottle with the label Nalgene I had decorated with a few little things called stickers by my side and the book I kept close, reading it whenever I wasn’t checking out books to various patrons. It was called The Great Gatsby, and it was one of the simpler books I had read from this realm. I was slowly making my way through the whole library through not only Mr. and Mrs. Bradley’s recommendations but from the other librarians, learning the proper phrasing of words on Earth, along with learning the social behaviors of the past and present.

As I read, the world around me escaped, and I focused intensely on the glitz and glamor of the 1920s. I remembered watching a documentary on the 1920s, so I could somewhat visualize it, which was taking up at least half my brain where the words weren't flowing.

"That's a good book." A voice spoke, pulling me from my trance and my focus to the gentleman standing at the counter with four books in his hand. His kind smile radiated with his bright blue eyes. His hair was like honey, glistening in the light from the window. After I stood to help him, I noticed how tall he was as well.

"Excuse me?"

"That book. It's a really good book, didn't care for the films though." He repeated, a soft smile across his face as I bookmarked my page and set the book aside.

"I just started it today. It's going by quite fast," I responded, smiling lightly as he handed me his library card and the small stack of books. I scanned the card and began to check out books for him as he nodded.

"I must've read it 20 times. When you're done with that you should read the Wizard of Oz or maybe ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’." I nodded quickly, pulling out my small notebook and opening it to the book section, where there were many recommendations scribbled down.

"I already read Wizard of Oz but that other one I'll get to next," I whispered as I scribbled it down.

"Looks like you have quite a few people who want you to read things."

"Yeah. Yeah, I am just catching up. It's been a while since I've been able to sit down and read."

He smiled and touched his book stack. "Yeah, I'm in that same spot. Maybe we'll have to swap recommendations. Like over coffee or something?"

I know this line, or a line similar to this. He was courting me, or as the Midguardians called it, asking me out.

"You barely know me. You don't know my name-"

"Y/N. I've seen you around here and you uh- you have a name tag. Look, I don’t mean any harm. You seem like a nice girl."

"Well then..." I looked at the screen, reading his name before looking up at him, "Steve Rogers. When were you planning this coffee-or-something date?"

"Well, my friend knows this great restaurant a block or two down. Maybe we can go there tonight, or tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow would be nice. What time?" I questioned, pulling out a small piece of paper.

"How about 7? Where should I pick you up?"

"I live about 40 minutes out of Manhattan, near New Rochelle. So maybe I should meet you here-"

"It would be a pleasure to come to pick you up. I don't mind at all." He affirmed. I smiled lightly and look down.

"It's just- I live with my parents-"

"And it would be an honor to meet them. Give me your address and I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7. Alright?" He reassured, leaning forward on the counter a bit.

I blushed and quickly wrote down the farm address on a piece of paper for him, along with my phone number and my name. Handing him his receipt and the books, along with the paper, I smiled lightly and questioned, "What kind of this restaurant is this exactly?"

"Fancy-ish. Just wear a dress and bring that beautiful smile okay?" He answered, putting his books in his reusable bag and pocketing the pieces of paper in his jacket pocket. "I'll see you tomorrow night." He smiled lightly and walked out, leaving me with a smile of joy across my face.

The next day, Janice convinced my boss to let me off work three hours early as she covered my shift, joy radiating to her bones that I was finally getting my head out of the books and finding my true ways around New York.

“How long until you will tell him?” She inquired as we checked in books, making sure they weren’t damaged before putting them on the reshelving cart.

“I don’t know. I’m just beginning to show a bit but I don’t know. When should I tell him?”

“After a couple of dates. You don’t want to overwhelm him. If you feel like you can trust him, go ahead. It’s up to you.” She explained, grabbing the last book from my hand with a smile. “Now you go ahead and get ready for tonight. I don’t want you to get caught up in rush hour traffic honey.” She hugged me tightly before handing me my bag, water bottle and a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird before sending me on my way to the parking garage.

I was so excited, my hands trembling in joy as I drove home, and for the first time, I found myself singing along to the music on the radio, not minding if I was off key. After I made my way into the farmhouse, I took a nice hot shower, making sure to use the nicest smelling soap I had, and that my hair was extra clean. Before I even had the chance to grab the yellow dress I had been thinking of all day, Mrs. Bradley came into my room and gave me a light blue wrap dress.

“This is amazing. Did you-”

“I got to work on it the second you finished dinner yesterday. I already had a pattern I was going to use and you made it easy when I was wondering which color to make it. Light blue, like the sky, just like his eyes are supposed to be.” She laid it on the bed before helping me get my necklace on. The necklace I still wore to remind me of Loki, that I am bearing his child, and that I will never see him again.

I smiled sadly and dried my hair before getting into the dress. After brushing my hair and putting on some light makeup, I got on some ballet flats and got a small clutch, making sure my medication for the evening, my phone, and I.D. were inside as a heavy knock sounded from downstairs. I gasped and hurried down,

“You look cold, here,” Steve said as he took off his jacket. It took me a second to realize that in my excitement earlier, I forgot to grab a coat. Steve carefully helped me slip my arms in, wrapping it close to my trembling body with a soft smile. “There you go.”

“Thank you, Steve. Thank you.” I whispered as I held the edges. After dinner, he had offered to walk with me to the ice cream shop for dessert, which I immediately agreed to. I hadn’t ever seen New York at night like this. The only time I did was after the library was destroyed and I was waiting with emergency services until the Bradley’s came to get me.

Steve smiled kindly and nodded, leading me down the sidewalk. I was so caught up in the lights that I didn’t mind his arm around my waist, making sure I was alright. After three blocks I looked over at him and smiled.

“It’s nice isn’t it?” He asked, his face showing his amusement with his wide smile and focused eyes.

“I haven’t been out this late since-” I gulped and looked down. “Since the attack. This is my second time out this late.” My hand shook as I grabbed a bench and sat down. Steve joined me and smiled softly as he listened. “It was about 20 of us trapped in the library. We didn’t want to go outside because we were afraid of what would happen if we did. These two men, everyone called them Iron Man and Captain America, they saved us. They were part of the people called the Avengers. They stopped the attack…. And got us out of there.” I looked up at Steve. “The recovery team took care of me until my parents came and got me. I had to get a new car… mine was destroyed in the attack. I just… I wish I could’ve thanked them.” I looked back down before saying, “I’m not hungry for ice cream anymore.”

Steve nodded. “Okay. Let’s go to the car and I can drive you home.” He got up and held out his hand, which I gently took as I stood. I kept his hand in mine as we walked to the parking garage where he parked. As we got to the car and Steve dug through his pockets for the keys, we heard a click, one that I only heard in films. Steve and I turned around to find three guns pointed at us, two at him, one at me. I’ve seen this in movies, like in Superman from 1978 or in that movie Clueless. I immediately clutched Steve’s arm, the fear of my mortality and lack of Asgardian powers making my hands tremble.

“Give us your wallets. Now.” One of the men who had his gun pointed at Steve demanded.

“I-I don’t have one-”

“Shut it you dumb slut! Both of you! Wallets!” The one pointing his gun at me yelled, causing me to grip onto Steve’s arm tightly. I looked up at Steve to find him standing there with a very displeased look across his face.

“Son, I advise you apologize to her.”

“Steve just give them your wallet okay?” I whispered. He shook his head and stood in front of me.

“What tough guy? You trying to be scary and tough in front of the slut huh?” The other mugger asked as he clicked a bullet into place. I tried to reach for Steve to stop him, but the one that had his gun at me aimed it for my head, causing me to freeze and stare.

“I said to apologize to her. Now.” Steve demanded as his fists clenched.

“The slut doesn’t need an apology-” Steve quickly swung his fist, knocking out the man who had his gun at me immediately.

One of the others grabbed Steve and punched him as the other one grabbed me and pressed me against the car, keeping the gun pointed at my chin as he grabbed Steve’s jacket, trying to feel through his pockets for the wallet. He finally grabbed it, laughing as he threw me to the ground.

I tried to catch myself, but I felt the impact on my head, causing me to wince in pain and grip my head tightly. I slowly looked up to Steve fighting the one that just had the gun pointed at me. I looked to see the other two unconscious on the ground as Steve grabbed the man and punched him hard, knocking him out. He retrieved his wallet and hurried to my side, checking my head as I looked up at him with blurred vision.

“S-Steve- What has gotten into you?” I shakily asked as he pocketed my phone and his wallet. He sighed and picked me up, setting me in the passenger seat of the car carefully and buckling me up.

“I got a friend that can patch you up. Just calm down and I’ll explain soon.” He said before closing the door and going to the driver’s side. He began to drive through the city, gripping the steering wheel tightly in anger. I weakly reached over, not caring how much I wanted to sleep, or how much my head hurt, and touched his arm, causing him to relax a little. I gave him a soft smiled before my eyes closed, allowing the darkness to pull me away.

About two hours later, I woke up to the feeling of warmth surrounding me and an unfamiliar feeling on my head. Not pain, but it was comfortable. I slowly opened my eyes as different voices fill my ears.

“Thank you, Bruce. I didn’t know who to turn to and the hospital didn’t feel like a right choice-”

“It’s okay Steve. Are you ready for when she wakes up though? I’m sure if she wakes up here, she will have a few questions.”

“I know. I know. I’ll figure it out. When will everyone else be back?”

“Clint and Nat will be back soon, Tony probably is on his way up from his lab.”

“And Thor?”

“He’s just in his room- Look who’s awake?”

Looking up as my vision adjusted, Steve was across the room with a slightly shorter man who had brown hair, some glasses, and a suit on. Steve crossed the room quickly to be at my side.

“Steve I-”

“How are you feeling? Do you need water?”

“Steve, what happened back there? And who is this? Where am I?” I demanded as I began to sit up.

Steve placed a hand on my shoulder and pressed gently, causing me to lay back down before letting out a soft sigh. “You’re at the Avengers Tower. This is my friend Bruce. You hit your head back at the parking garage and I needed to make sure you were okay. Would you like some water?’

I nodded slowly and Bruce walked over with a nice cold cup of water, smiling softly. After drinking some I looked around before looking up at Steve. “Wait, why are we in the Avengers Tower?”

“Y/N I-”

“I heard we had a guest!” A loud voice erupted from the elevator, causing us all to look over. I knew that face, of course, I had to know it. The man walked over and I couldn’t stop my own words from falling out of my mouth.

“You’re Tony Stark.”

“Yes, I am! Capsicle, this is not what I expected but you do have good taste-”

“Capsicle? Steve, what is he talking about?” I interrupted, looking at him with shock.

Steve moved a bit closer and sighed. “Remember the library? Where those two men saved you?” I nodded slowly, allowing him to continue. “Tony is Iron Man, Bruce is the Hulk, and I’m-”

“You’re Captain America,” I whispered, sitting up a bit. This time he didn't stop me, he was too busy looking down ashamed to do that. I sighed softly and hugged him close, bringing shock to not only him, but the other two. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear. I then shakily stood and hugged Tony before sitting.

“I’ll take that as you’re not mad?” Steve asked, shock drawn across his face. I shook my head and smiled softly.

“First you saved my life, and then took me on one of the best dates I’ve had in a long time. Why would I be mad Steve?” I replied, holding his hand as I rested back. “So… Captain America?”

Steve smiled and nodded. “Yep. With the shield and everything.”

“That makes you about 100 years old.” I laughed softly. “I can say, for an old man you’re quite attractive.” I continued.

Right as Steve was about to answer, the elevator opened again and a loud voice erupted. “100 is nothing. Try 1000- Y/N?”

I sat up quickly as the figure entered the room and stared at me. I slowly began to stand as the familiarity hit me. “Thor?”

“Lady Y/N.” He replied, a wide smile forming across his face. I ran across the room quickly, hugging him as tight as I could. He picked me up and spun me around, before holding me close. He smelled of Asgard, the smells I longed, the smells I missed. “We’ve all been wondering where you’ve been! It’s been quite a while!”

Tony stepped forward, Steve not too far behind as the questions began to flow.

“How do you and Sparkles know each other?”

“Since when did you know him?”

Thor and I ignored them, completely invested in each other. He finally set me down on my own two feet, but kept a grip on my hips, as I kept a grip on his arms.

“Odin banished me. I thought I’d never see you or Loki again.”

“I know why. Heimdall told me. I deeply apologize for what has happened.”

I shrugged, looking down before asking. “How is he?”

“He was the one that attacked New York. He’s locked up now in an Asgardian prison. But most importantly, he is grieving you.”

“Grieving?”

“He knows father banished you, but not why. He longs your return.”

We were both snapped out of our discussion as Steve spoke up. “Can someone please tell us what is going on here?!”

Thor and I looked from Steve to each other, nodding before I went to sit on the couch, Steve by my side. “It’s a long story.”

After I explained everything to Steve, how I was at one point with Loki, and how I was with his child, I let him process things as I walked out to the balcony. The view was beautiful. I never got a chance to see New York from this high up before. I carefully rubbed my stomach, feeling like I was reassuring the baby, but I was actually reassuring myself. All I could think of were the bad possibilities.

What if they locked me up? What if they took me back to Asgard and locked me up? Would I never see Thor again? Or Steve? And what about Loki? Would I ever really see him again?

I was pulled from my thoughts when a figure joined my side, the redhead everyone called Nat.

“So….” She whispered, turning her gaze to me, as I kept mine to the skyline. “You dated Loki?”

I nodded slowly, looking to her. “For quite a few years before I arrived here.”

“And you are pregnant with his kid?”

“That is why I was banished. Is there a point?”

“Are you… upset? Over what happened a couple of months ago?”

“I wasn’t aware of who it was until….quite recently. All I was told was that the Chitauri attacked. During the attack, I was trapped in the library, so I only saw the aftermath. I don’t know of Loki’s motives besides his grief of my leaving. I have lost everything, Loki, my home. I’ve had to start anew in an unfamiliar place, with nobody I knew. I have to raise this child alone. Of course, I am upset-”

“You’re not alone.” Steve’s voice spoke up, causing both Nat and I to turn to him. He stood in the doorway with his head down, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Wh-What?”

“You have your “parents”. And you have me. And all of the Avengers. But please, let me help you, Y/N. Let me help you raise this baby. I know I’m not the father and I am no good at understanding kids but-”

“Yes,” I whispered, walking up to him slowly.

“What?” He asked quickly, lifting his head to make eye contact.

“Yes. You can help.” I whispered before hugging his waist, resting my head on his chest. I felt him slowly pull his hands out of his pocket and wrap his arms around me, keeping me close as he rested his chin on the top of my head. “Just… promise you’ll stay Steve. Promise me you’ll stay with me.”

All he gave was a nod and hold me. Nat slipped away to join the others inside, leaving us to hug as the city lights shined bright behind us. Just us. And for the first time in what seemed like forever,

I was home.

[lord-tathamet]

Flowers - A short D&D Interlude

This is a short interlude originally written for my main D&D Group, centering around a bunch of NPCs the Party managed to save and recruit as retainers to their new Castle. Why am I Posting it here?

Fuck if I know.

“Ye got any flowers ye fancy much?”

Ssethos raised his eyes from the weathered pages of his book and levelled them at the bush of stringy, chestnut locks  that had squeezed through the crack of the door.

“What is the purpose of the question?“ he asked, watching as the teal eyes of the wood elf darted through the corners of his small chamber, scrutinizing its every inch.

“Ye room's so gloomy, A thought ye could need something t'cheer it up a wee bit. Do ye like jasmines?”

“It is the dead of winter. Life withers, fades. It would be impractical to go search for any,” the yuan-ti said matter-of-factly, and turned a page in his book.

“They're coloured bright and yellow like ye peepers. Oh! Or mibbe camellias!” Thesra opened the door further to better lean in the room. “Tho' they need sunlight. Not much off that in'ere. Don't yer eyes hurt readin' in the dark like this?”  She began to teeter back and forth on her toes.

Ssethos blinked, but his face remained otherwise motionless. “No.” And then he asked: “Why is my room important to you?”

“Isnae to me! But ye've barely been leaving ye room an I got wee worried,” the wood elf said quickly and stopped bobbing up and down on her spot. “Yer not sick, are ye?”

“I do not get sick,” was the terse answer.

“Oh, that's good then. So, jasmines? I think jasmines.” Thesra grinned. “Wanna help me search fo'em?”

“No, thank you. It is not necessary for you to do this.”

“Ye, but I wanna.” Thesra sighed and gave a wide shrug. “Where's Kreekar?”

“Resting, still. I saw to her half an hour ago. Her state of malnourishment has diminished significantly.”

“Smashin'!” Thesra was already halfway out the room when she suddenly pedalled back. “Ye sure y'dinnae wanna come?”

“The cold and I do not agree with each other,” Ssethos deadpanned, and with that the conversation was over for him. He turned back to his book. A few moments passed. Then a rustle of leafs and feathers and not even a second later, the oracle could feel Thesra's pointy chin stabbing into his shoulder.

“What'cha readin'?”

“Alchemical formulas,” he lied, without the twitch of an eye. “Were you not going to look for Kreekar?”

“Buh,” the elf made, and pulled away reluctantly, then she scurried back to the door. In the frame, she turned around one final tme.  “I'll be back wit'em Jasmines then! Dinnae run!”

A gust of wind picked up from within the cold chamber and the door snapped shut in front of her nose. Thesra scrunched up her nose, then sighed, pulled her tongue at the yuan-ti's door and went on to search for Owain.

The size of the castle was still something she had to get used to. Back home, in the wet forest swamp of the Wretchgroves she had made do with a small hovel of twigs, mud and fur. It wasn't a bad hovel. It was in fact a very nice hovel, with a small fireplace, and dried flowers that she strung up and hung from her ceiling, and round polished stones and empty snail houses and discarded feathers from the large crows, owls and hawks that inhabited the treetops of the groves. And the bird nests she had placed near, for the smaller ones to raise their fledglings in, and the small chest she had found in the woods one day and had never managed to open, no matter what sylvan incantations or druidic spells she'd try.  

Not to say the castle was bad. It had so much space, so many rooms, so many corridors, all lined with old statues and ancient armours, and dragons and knights and monsters etched into the walls flowing down the halls spewing flame and swinging blades. And the people living here were very nice as well, if so formal. They'd bow and stutter even though Thesra didn't wear a crown on her head nor was she one of the brave people that rescued Ssethos, Kreekar, Kiesel and her. Orwain was the only one who seemed to treat her like normal though. He didn't mind her running around barefoot in the castle either, or bringing pressed and dried flowers from outside and hang about the rooms. It must be because he was so old, she had decided. He was like one of the old oaks back in her forest – old and bark-y and not surprised with any of the young animals that scurried over its roots and just accepting. And just as silent when walking.

Finding him was a real trial, at least until Thesra had noticed that Orwain used a rather heavy smellwater that had pungent note to it that could linger for hours in certain parts of the castle. So, she let her nose lead through the corridors and down sets of stairs, past the dining chamber...

“You were looking for me, Miss Thesra?”

The druid yelled out in surprise and jumped around, facing the ever-sneaky chamberlain with a grin on her face. “How'd ye do tha'? Yer sneakier than a fox and blind as a mole without yer glasses, how'd ye keep doin' it?”

“Four and a half centuries of service in these halls grants you insight into every nook and corner, every crank and every creaking floorboard.” His eyes glinted behind the tinted glasses. “What need do you have of me?”

“Three things, if ye dinnae mind.”

“Not at all, my dear.”

“Have ye seen Kiesel anywhere? I've been lookin' fer him all day, I had a thing o'two t'discuss with'em. Also, how's Kreekrar doin', ah got some herbs ah found th'other day innae creek in the woods 'n ah think they'll help'er grow'er feathers back wee faster, and do ye know where ah could find any Jasmines?”

“Last time I saw the young man, I believe Mister Fairless caught him up to the elbow in the jar of fresh biscuits he had prepared at the young Lady Maurina's request and then chased him around the kitchen with a frying pan in the one and fresh a bouquet of burdock in the other. I wisely chose to abscond when the frying pan was switched out for a fire iron.”

“Och, thassa shame. Ah hoped t'speak with'em about a bit regardin' the Fairwoods.”

“On the matter of Miss Kreekrar, I thought it best to allow her some fresh air and some moving the legs outside at the wall of the Outer Courtyard. She's been trapped in her room for so long, I thought it would do her some good. On the matter of jasmines...,” He furrowed his brow in thought. “I can't be certain but I believe I remember them growing in larger clusters near the road to Corth, just down south of the Castle and near the outreaches of the Fairwoods. May I inquire what their purpose is?”

“Fo' Ssethos. Cause he's all gloomy 'n dark 'n I thought it mae cheer'em up a wee bit,” Thesra muttered and twiddled her thumbs and caught a sudden interest at the polished window-boards.

“...I see. Then I wish you good luck in your endeavour,” Owain smiled. A loud jumbling noise of stomping footsteps, angry yells and iron hitting iron and chortled childish chuckling from upstairs caused both to look up in unison, and Owain to sigh. “I believe Mister Fairless has found Kiesel. If you'll excuse me, I will try to administer some quickly needed damage reduction.” Said and turned around and hurried down the hallway, still somehow managing to keep an upright, ever-posh posture with his arms folded behind his back and the head held upright.

“Good luck!” Thesra yelled after him, then opened a window, jumped up the window board and slipped outside into the cold winter noon.

Kreekrar was looking a lot better than the last time Thesra visited her in her room – grey feather fuzz had begun to grow back in patches across the vulture-like neck and her eyes had lost the grey film that had plagued the aarakocra ever since her imprisonment and torture by the dragon cult . She greeted the wood elf with a series of happy, if still a bit raspy chirps and gladly and curiously accepted the small bundle of dried herbs Thesra had gathered for her.

“Ah used to give'em to the little ravens and owls back in me hut in the Wretchgroves when they wouldn't mould right

'n had problems growin' their feathers, so ah think it mebbe works with ye to!” Thesra chattered happily, and pranced through the snow side-by-side with the Kreekrar, wiggling her bare toes in the snow and kicking up flakes and watching them fall through the air. Kreekrar chirped softly, then tilted her head to the side and looked worried down at the reddening skin of the wood elf's feet. Thesra noticed her look and laughed. “'tis fine, see, ahm used t'the cold 'n junk!”

And as if to prove her point, she dug her left foot up to her ankle beneath the snow, “Yeet!” then yanked it upward and sending a clump the size of a fist flying in a high arc over the wall and down the slope of the Trollhead Hill.

Kreekrar's shoulders twitched up in a shrug.

The two sat down on a clean patch of the wall and watched over the landscape opening up below them: the freshly reaped crop fields and the small farm houses adjacent to them, the sheep herds herded up the hills by freezing shepherds and their barking dogs, a procession of carts filled with chopped down tree logs and branches exiting the eastern patch of the Fairwoods and carting them to Taubach by the Sylvantear Creek.

“This place is nice. Quiet, comely, 'n many fey and spirits and the like live in the forest, “Thesra said after a while and pulled up her knees up under her chin, until only her toes wiggled out from under the many layers of her various pelts and skirts. “Though I do miss me home, 'n the bird nests, 'n the quiet. Do you miss ye home?”

Kreekrar chirped sadly and nodded. Then she raised her arms helplessly, and let them fall again. No idea how to get back.

“Someday,” she croaked, still struggling with forming complex sentences in the common tongue. “I maybe return. When a way found. But now, I am here. We are here. The people are good here. No large loss.”

“'s true. They're very good, 'n very nice, even if the hat-bard's a bit grouchy and Mister Tozavur a bit stiff'n such. They're very nice.” Thesra eyed Kreekrar. “Do ye got someone home waitin' for ye?”

Kreekrar shook her head. Stopped to think, then wiggled her head from one side to the other. “Complicated. Two sisters. Never got along.”

“Och, sisters, never knew what's that like. Whatsit like?”

“Very annoying often,” Kreekrar snarked and the ruff of feathers around her neck shook and poofed up. “But we stuck. Worked together. Not good, but we worked.”

“Ye wanna see'em again?”

“No rush.”

“Aye,” Thesra stood up on the wall and raised a hand over her eyes and squinted at the road south, squiggling through the snowfields far below. “Welp, ahmma go'n pluck some flowers. Be back inna jiffy!”

The aaracokra chirped a good-bye behind her, then Thesra had already slid down the wall and tumbled down the slope of the hill and to the road below.

About four hours later, the sun already halfway vanished behind the treetops, Thesra was back in front of Ssethos' door, shaking and shivering and bits of frostbite forming on her cheeks and her fingers and her toes, but with a whole armful of bright yellow and orange-centred, jasmine trumpets gathered in her cloak, the inch-long flowers strung up with their vines and broad green leaves in long garlands and twisted into circles. Thesra's palms and lower arms still itched from where the plant's weak toxin had irritated her skin.

“Ey, Ssethos, ah'm back! Ah brought ye some flowers! Sorry it took so long, but there were some sprites 'n they bit with their tiny spears and 'twas annoyin' as shite. Ah made some nice garlands though!” She knocked on the door, and waited patiently. No answer. Her shoulders dropped, and disappointment pooled in her stomach. But she still forced a smile back on her face. “'s okay!Ah'll just drop'em in front of yer door, 'n ye can take'em in when yer back! Or whatever!”

She dropped down and arranged the wild assortment of yellow flowers next to the door, so that they'd be easily seen but not immediately stepped upon by someone exiting the room. Gave a satisfied nod, then she turned around and skipped down the hallway. “Ah'll see ye at dinner! Mister Fairless is makin' ragout!”

The echoe of her footsteps lingered on for a while after the wood elf had vanished around the corner before fleeting entirely. The hallway was silent and empty again. Then the door creaked open slowly. Moments later, the flower bed arranged before the door was gone, and the door closed again.

[ma-lemons]

Moments Together, Part 1

Note: Part of me feels wrong for shipping RoseGarden because Ruby doesn’t seem like the one to portray romantic feelings (that doesn’t mean she’s not capable of those feelings just what I’ve seen so far, she’s a kid who has more important things to do, LIKE SAVING THE WORLD and protecting her friends than to fall in love) but luckily my brain doesn’t give a crap and pretends that it’s all fine.

All in all, I expect Oscar to have a crush on Ruby, whether those feelings are reciprocated, well, that’s not up to me. Besides, I’m more interested in the plot of the show than ships, so this is all harmless fun.

Also I thought Ruby and Oscar were two years apart? So why is it that Ruby is now age 17, and Oscar is 14? I mean maybe his birthday hasn’t happened yet... but whatever.

Anyway just a warning, this has slight RoseGarden, but it’s not really a RoseGarden fic, I just want an excuse to write it. Also, I might be taking another break from tumblr again. :/

And, some of these things will clearly not correlate with the show, as I’m writing this as the episodes are being released.

Summary: While in Atlas, the heroes must face the tension and awkwardness that came as a result of them splitting apart. Secrets are revealed and everyone learns a thing or two about trusting those around them, and most importantly, themselves.

———————

Nora Valkyrie thought she was pretty insightful. Like it was clear Pyrrha (rest her soul) had feelings for Jaune, or that when she met her, Ilia was totally soft for Blake.

So it occurred to her quite early that someone possessed affections for her silver-eyed friend. A certain farm boy. Ever since she had watched Oscar land a punch in Ruby’s face in Mistral, she felt there was something there.

As they moved along in their journey, her suspicions only grew more. Oscar would occasionally glance at Ruby, smile shyly whenever she was around, and was overall, gravitated towards her whenever possible.

After she and Jaune has piloted a stolen airship from Argus, they had landed somewhat safely in Atlas, in a forest secluded from the main city. As soon as they had made it, Weiss became awfully silent, and she would barely speak a word to anyone.

“Hey, Weiss,” Ruby murmured, coming over to her partner, placing her hand on her shoulder. Weiss looked up, her face worried.

“Weiss... I know you’re feeling a bit... overhelmed. But I promise you, none of us are gonna let your dad take you away. You’re not going back. You’re staying with us.”

Weiss gave her team leader a small smile, to which Ruby returned with a large grin. There wasn’t a lot of people like Ruby Rose these daya. Someone who was optimistic and believed in the best of people. At that moment, Weiss shrugged off the dark feeling that something bad was going to happen, took a deep breath, and followed Ruby off the ship. Weiss has wondered how they could just leave a stolen airship in the middle of the woods, but according to Klein and Ironwood, someone would be up to pick it soon after and return it back to Argus, claiming that the thieves who stole it were being “promptly dealt with”.

Weiss has contacted Klein earlier in the flight. Her butler, was of course, happy to hear from her, but worried for her safety. She had assured Klein that she was well and safe and asked about him. Her blood turned to ice when she heard that her mother was around more, and Whitley was becoming more and more like her father each day. Weiss’ heart broke, but she told her friends all was well when they had asked her.

Klein had a safe house for them, somewhere near the city. He reassured them that there would be no danger and they could call him for help if needed. Weiss received the location on her scroll, and downloaded it into Bumblebee, so Yang could drive them all there. Klein was sworn to secrecy of his brief knowledge of the issue at hand. He knew that they had stolen a ship and needed a place to stay so they could break into Atlas Academy.

Atlas was colder than Argus, and everyone was shivering, since none of them had packed winter clothing. Weiss was the only one slightly prepared, yet she was the one who was the most used to the weather.

“Atlas is too cold, isn’t it?” Ren quipped, noting a shivering Nora. His girlfriend wrapped her arms around him for warmth. “I’ll say. When we get to the safe house, it’s time for a change of wardrobe.”

Maria laughed lightly. At first, she seemed annoyed by Nora’s constant laughter and excitement. Now, she was used to it. In fact, she enjoyed it.

Yang turned her head back at the passengers. “Now that Ozpin’s come out to play, Oscar, what’s the game plan?”

The young boy looked down shyly, as everyone’s gazes landed on him. He was getting used to everyone’s wariness of him, but he didn’t really like it. Even Ruby, who believed in him the most, seemed to be keeping her distance from him.

“Uh, well. Oz says we’ll rest up for a few days. He says Qrow will contact Ironwood and set our plans in motion. Our main goal... he says our main goal is to find the Winter Maiden so we can unlock the relic. After that, we’ll be attending a party for Whitley Schnee, in which a some of us will be providing distractions, while the rest of us will be retrieving the relic.”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Find the Winter Maiden... cause that’ll be easy. Has it occurred to any of you that we’ve never found any of the maidens? Cinder is evil, and dead, and we only found Vernal because of Yang’s mom. And Vernal is also dead.”

Ruby noticed Yang tensing up. Weiss was right. The Huntsmen never had to look for the Maidens... they just kind of appeared when necessary.

Oscar piped up. “Well, Oz says that since the Maidens are some of the few individuals that possess magic, he can feel their auras. So he’ll know when she’s close.”

“So you’re telling me we’re gonna have to basically just wander around until Ozpin’s senses go off?” Qrow questioned. He hadn’t entirely forgiven Ozpin yet. It had taken much convincing for him to even look at Oscar.

Ruby looked over to her uncle, trying to reassure him with her eyes. “Hey Qrow, it’ll be fine. I promise.”

Ruby seemed to be making a lot of promises these days.

As the moved along through the thick snow, the travelers discussed their plans for their days they would spend in the safe house. Qrow quickly called Ironwood to update him on the situation, now that they were closer to an area where there was a signal. Maria planned to train Ruby to use her silver eye power correctly, and Ruby and Oscar made plans to do hand-to-hand combat more. Jaune, Nora and Ren would probably spar occasionally, and maybe check out Atlas’ scene. Weiss wanted to contact her sister, but decided she would go out to buy everyone winter clothing. Blake hastily agreed to join her, in hopes of avoiding Yang’s anger for a while. Yang was silent throughout the ride, though no one could blame her. Blake wanted so badly to talk to her, but realized that would have to wait for another day.

What seemed to be like hours passed. Jaune, Ren and Nora had managed to fall asleep. Weiss was listening intently to Maria read. Blake stared off into space, seemingly disinterested in everything around her. Qrow, surprisingly didn’t have a flask in hand, and was staring at his scroll. That left Ruby talking to Oscar.

“Oscar, you look like a little prince in your new outfit!” Ruby giggled. She still hadn’t gotten over Oscar’s change in wardrobe.

The young boy scowled at the word “little”. “I’m not small, Ruby.”

“Considering I’m one of the shortest people here, ranking about 5’4, and you’re shorter than that, I’d say yeah, you’re pretty little.”

Oscar pouted. “Let’s see who gets the last laugh when I grow taller.”

Ruby’s eyes widened, and she pretended to look intimidated. “Ooh, when Oscar gets taller! I forgot you haven’t gone through puberty yet!”

Oscar was shocked. “I—what? When did you become such a bully?” He leaned over and poked the Huntress in the shoulder. Ruby, amused, waggled her fingers at Oscar. “I wouldn’t try anything, farm boy. I’ll tickle you till you die laughing.”

“And how do you know I’m ticklish?” he asked defensively.

“Oh, please. Everyone’s ticklish. You look like the ticklish type.”

“What... what does that even mean?”

“Hey, keep it down, some of us are trying to read!” said Weiss, from her little corner near Maria.

“I was about to say the same thing, Miss Weiss! Great minds think alike!” the elderly lady beamed. Weiss smiled back.

“Hey,” came Yang’s voice from the front. “Wake everyone up. We’ve made it to the safe house.”

In front of them loomed a large cabin, shrouded by trees. It looked safe enough. Yang made out a deer in the greenery. Seemed peaceful.

Weiss proceeded to wake up Nora and Ren. Jaune was a different story, he was snoring loudly and refused to wake up until Maria thunked her book on his head.

The teams and adults made their way to the house. Atlas. They were finally here.

Ruby looked at Weiss, who looked better than she did on the aircraft. She would be sure to stay close to her, to make sure she wouldn’t panic or get hurt. There was no way any people would be left behind on her watch.

That included Oscar. No matter what, she would protect him. It was rather strange; despite Ozpin being sketchy and mysterious, Ruby couldn’t bring herself to hate him. And she definitely couldn’t hate Oscar. He was growing on her. She didn’t mind, she appreciated his company. He was a young boy, and what he needed now more than ever was a friend, not people coming after him and attacking him for things he didn’t do.

Sighing, Ruby settled down, underneath one of the fleece blankets Klein had left for them. He had stocked food and supplies throughout the house. Ren and Jaune got dinner cooking, while everyone else rested.

It was a long journey, and no one was quite sure what the end result would be, but as for now, they were satisfied that they could be together. Safe.

——————————————————————

So I know this is probably riddled with grammar issues and plot holes (I haven’t watched the past 3 episodes, I have a faint idea of what’s going on). but do you think if I clean this up a bit, should I post this on AO3?

[courtorderedcake]

Riptide 1/13

An Enchanted Forest AU where the dark one was never released into the world in a vessel, thus causing a massive shift in timelines. The ogre wars have ravaged kingdoms, untold destruction spanning continents, rulers displaced. Even as the wars sputter to ash, the safest place to be is at sea, and that's not very safe at all - as Emma and Killian find out, fates intertwined against all odds.

Rated: E/X - heavy content : warnings of assault, rape, noncon, just everything, I feel like the rating says enough. It's something.

@captxinswans did the beautiful artwork accompanying this story. I can't thank her enough!

@ultraluckycatnd you don't know how much of a pleasure it was to work with you. Your kindness, insight, talent for editing, and parsing out my brief scribbled notes has been my anchor in many dark times where I thought I was done for. You are a cheerleader, and the best beta I could have ever asked for.

@distant-rose your pirate doc was completely invaluable, even if I said to hell with 67% of it for story purposes. Forgive me one day.

@shireness-says and @wingedlioness for reading the original snippets and believing that it could be more. @artistic-writer, @hollyethecurious, @doodlelolly0910, and @resident-of-storybrooke for getting me through a really rough emotional patch. Thanks y’all. It’s not better, but it ain’t worse. 

Read on Ao3 HERE .

Chapter I : Driftwood Like a plank of driftwood Tossed on the watery main, Another plank encountered, Meets, touches, parts again; So tossed, and drifting ever, On life's unresting sea, Men meet, and greet, and sever, Parting eternally. -Edwin Arnold

Emma cried quietly into her brother’s coat as he carried her at a fast pace down the hill. She could see the flames from the forest rising, flames that had already claimed their mother and father. The air was thick, the taste of the smoke and the acrid burning making her feel nauseous. The pine wood had burnt easily; the farm they had been lovingly raised on now nothing more than ash.

James spoke quietly but harshly. “Tell her to shut up, or we’ll leave her.”

Emma whimpered into David’s neck, trying to suck up her tears.

“James, you’re just scaring her,” he said as he stroked Emma’s hair. “It’s alright. We’re going to be okay.” Emma nodded under his coat. She snuggled into his neck and stayed quiet. “See? No need to frighten her.”

James grunted. “We need to find a place to stay for the night. A tavern is too risky, too many slavers. We’ll have to try our luck on the street tonight.”

Emma felt them start moving again, her brothers’ feet quiet on the cobbled streets. David set her down on a pile of hay laid out near a closed off alley. He gathered some rags they’d taken, mostly coats, and laid her small frame down in the pile.

“Sleep well, Emma. We’ll watch over you. We’re going to be just fine,” he whispered. David had always been like a second father to her, someone she trusted more than anything. He protected her from James’s constant tormenting, and kept things from their mother like when she snuck off to play in the frog pond, or when she beat a boy twice her size bloody for tormenting a barn cat with a stick. Emma was a terror at five summers old, and David was her grounding force.

She tried to fall asleep on the hard ground, but James was talking in hushed tones to David. Keeping still, she angled her head to hear the conversation better.

“We should leave her. We can get jobs, but she’s just a mouth to feed and a crybaby that can’t do hard labor. She acts like a spoiled princess; she’ll slow us down and we’ll get caught.” Emma felt her chest constrict. She’d been the brunt of James’s rage before, but now his tone was cold and calculated. Emma wondered, not for the first time, how he could possibly be her flesh and blood.

“I’m not leaving our sister,” David growled. “We have to protect her. We’re all she has now.”

“We could sell her to the man Father sold eggs too. The slaver.” Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She tried to stay quiet and not audibly cry. “We could get away from here and get jobs on a ship with him or as blacksmith apprentices, maybe even as a page for a knight-”

“We are not selling our flesh and blood. What is wrong with you?” David sounded appalled. “You would give her over to a life of possible torture just to fill your purse with coin? Would Mother be proud of that? Or Father?”

“Mother and Father are dead, burnt to a crisp by a war that is now in our realm. They’re ash in the dirt; they don’t give a fuck about you, our stupid little bitch of a sister, or -” A crack rang out.

Emma opened one eye to see James on the ground holding a bloody nose as David stood above him, fists balled, nostrils flaring.

“Don’t ever speak of them like that,” he said lowly. “They gave us everything; they wanted us to have a better life, to grow into-”

“Grow into WHAT?” James hissed, wiping blood from his face. He chuckled darkly. “A lord? A king? You know as well as I do we would rot with them there on that farm forever in pig shit,” he spat. “We would waste away at the farm while Princess over there was shook in front of a lord until he gave her a title so she’d spread her legs. Then we’d all go live with Lord Rich and Lady Fuck Trophy Emma until they screwed enough to make some heir. I want more, and I’m not going to sit here while you baby our meal ticket.”

David grunted. “Then get moving. We don’t need you here to try and -” Emma couldn’t hear what he said, his voice lowering in pitch for a moment, spitting out something that made James eyes gleam with malice. David’s voice rose again. “Don’t think I don’t know why Mother asked me to keep an eye on her. I know why you were stuck on the farm more often than not.”

James laughed again darkly. “Fuck you. Remember this when you’re rotting somewhere. You chose her over your twin.” Emma heard his footfalls retreating.

“And I’d do it again.” David sat down, continuing his watch as Emma finally drifted to sleep.

Over the next few days, David and Emma tried to keep away from slavers and do some begging to keep their bellies full. They managed to find a decent piece of stale bread in the rubbish on the first day, and David charmed a tavern wench for some water and a hot pie to split on the second night. They didn’t talk about James.

On the third day, James came back, humbled. He had found a small safe spot to sleep down by the docks and begged David for forgiveness. Emma felt something pull in her stomach and pulled on David’s hand, shaking her head no. Something felt wrong. It pulled at the pit of her stomach like a rope pulling water from a well, something deep in her gut responding to his words.

“Let her stay here then, if she likes,” James snorted. “I’m just asking forgiveness.”

David looked at her pleadingly.

They went.

Every step closer, Emma felt her stomach tightening into knots. The docks were covered in fog and she felt eyes peering out that she couldn’t see. Rats scuttled across wood planks making strange scratching noises, and the sea waves made wet sounds against the creaking ships. She pulled tighter on David’s coat, hiding almost completely behind his form.

“James, are we almost there? I-” She felt David tense through the coat.

“Is this them?” a low, gravelly voice said. It sounded like someone who had chewed too much devil weed, their throat permanently changed from the chew.

“Yes. Ten summers, and five summers,” James said.

“Emma, Emma run!” David yelled, pushing her back. She tried to run through the fog, but huge hands lifted her easily as she kicked. She heard David’s knees hit the dock hard.

“Ah, now brother,” James dangled a purse of coins in front of his face as a huge man covered in tattoos held him by his hair. “You and Emma have me started on my journey into knighthood. Two hundred pieces for you two, although you were worth more than her. If only she was older, then I could have bought my own house!”

He kicked David roughly in the side, laughing as David fell over holding his abdomen.

“I told you you’d regret it.” He cast a glance at Emma. “Pity you didn’t listen.” He leveled one more hard kick to David’s ribs and spat. “Goodbye.”

Emma cried in the darkness as the men carried David and her onto a boat, throwing them into an awful smelling cell filled with other small bodies. Emma cried harder, crawling over to David, checking if he was ok. She sobbed into him when he tried to hug her.

“Shhhh!” said a voice next to her. She looked over and saw a boy with tangled black hair looking down at his feet. Even in the dim light, when he looked up, his eyes were unmistakable, a brilliant bright blue. “If you’re too loud, they’ll whip you.”

Emma tried to bite back another sob, but it ripped out before she could help it. Eyes around her began to stare, looking in fear toward the door where a shadow began to appear. Emma tried to stop, panicked and hiccuping.

She heard a low voice from a different cell hiss out. “Killian, don’t you dare-”

The man had descended the stairs and had a large whip in his hands, one with several heads coming out of the handle. Emma was going to throw up and be sick; she couldn’t stop the hiccups.

“Who’s it now, makin’ all ‘tat ruckus?” said the man, opening the cell door. “Ah, it be the pretty ‘lil missus cryin’. Well now, let’s givya somethin’ to wail about, shall we missy?” He raised his hand with the savage looking whip and Emma tensed, her body going rigid, hearing its crack but feeling nothing.

The boy had rushed in front, taking the lashes, and the man laughed. He pushed the boy aside, who was now bleeding from his back and shoulders. Grabbing her by her hair, he took a small pocket knife and ran it under her ear. She could smell his rancid breath, filled with onions and something bitter.

“Lucky yer ‘lil friend thar saved yer pretty skin. One day when yer sold fer whorin’, ye’ll not want ‘dem scars, missy.” He pressed the knife under her ear and she whimpered when she felt blood run down her neck. It bit into her skin and she shrieked, feeling the sharp burn as it peeled away skin. “Now, ma dear, best ‘member who gave ye yer first scar. Bradshaw the slaver.” He dropped her, and she crawled back to David, who grabbed her close.

Bradshaw laughed, his huge gut shaking, and closed the door. He stumbled back up the stairs and Emma looked at the boy. Hands were reaching through the cell, an older boy with the same blue eyes examining the bleeding lashes. Ripping off part of her well worn and burned skirt into a strip, she crawled over to them, pressing it into the older boy’s hand.

Touching gently on the younger boy’s uninjured shoulder, she hugged him carefully, much to his shock.

”Thank you. I’m sorry,” she whispered, and scampered back to David.

She fell asleep for what felt like only seconds, when she felt hands cutting her hair. David was shearing her hair short. When he finished, she heard him slide the knife away from them.

“What are you doing?” she mumbled sleepily.

“You’re now Eric. And will only answer to that, do you understand?” David said through gritted teeth. Emma nodded, afraid. He handed her a pair of dirty men’s breeches. “Put these on. One of the boys died last night. We’re going to say it was you.” Emma’s eyes widened in shock. She looked quickly over to where the blue eyed boy was. He was sleeping, but through the cell bars, another pair of eyes the same color acknowledged her with a nod. She put the pants on without hesitation.

David nodded at the older boy in the other cell, and he nodded back. They spread her skirts over the frail body, and waited in silence for their fates, David’s hands gripping Emma’s tightly.

“No matter what happens now, until I say so, we’re brothers. David and Eric. They’ll sell us together.” Emma looked up at him and nodded again. “Good. We’ll be okay Eric. We’ll be alright.”

She looked over to the blue eyed boy, who was awake now, as who she assumed to be his brother whispered in his ear. She wondered if he was saying the same things David had. He held her ripped skirt like a talisman, as if it was the only thing that could protect him. Closing her eyes and wishing with everything she had, she hoped it would.

It felt like they had waited years in the bottom of the ship, heat and the stench of rot, shit, and piss all around them. She didn’t see Bradshaw again until he took the bodies of the lost out of the cells a few days after giving Emma her scar. He gave the skirted body a kick, muttering to himself about “girlies never making it.” Emma kept her head down. The blue eyed boy coughed slightly, and when she looked up he kicked something towards her. Picking it up, she recognized it as a knotted piece of leather. Emma smiled at him as he shyly looked down at the floor. She placed it in her pocket as she fell asleep.

They docked and were pulled out roughly, tied together by feet and hands in strange, looping knots. The auction was led by two people: the auctioneer, a loud monstrous man called Hyde, and his timid companion that collected monies, Jekyll. She and David watched as in the sun, the dark haired boy and his brother were sold to a private vessel as hands. She caught his blue eyes once more, blinking a goodbye she hoped he could see as Jekyll let the coins jangle into his purse with a lopsided grin.

A stern gray haired woman appraised them, and checked David’s teeth before haggling down the price from Jekyll. They were roped together on a leash for eighty gold pieces as the gray haired woman led them to a long ship and a new future.

Granny ran a tight kitchen galley, and Emma was the perfect size to stay compactly out of her way while washing pots and pans or peeling potatoes. David, at ten, was quick footed and small enough to climb the rigging into the crow’s nest of the ship and call down. They fell into their roles quietly and the captain of The Lion’s Heart let them know everyday that their place was beneath free men.

The Lion’s Heart was a merchant longship, stocked with silks, furs, and jewels. They stayed close to the coast furthest from trouble in the calmer currents, cutting a quick path through the water to drop off goods. The crew were hearty men, cold and stern, who did not take kindly to frivolity. While other crews could be heard at port singing raucous and bawdy songs from the taverns, the men of The Lion’s Heart found sharpening their weapons and wrestling each other a far better use of their time.

Emma and David stayed together as much as they could, accepting as much knowledge as they were given. The captain, Richard Kingsley, took David under his wing after a few months at sea. He found that David could read, keep ledgers, and was keen to learn to navigate. Emma learned about dice, climbing the rigging, and how to throw knives, as well as several of Granny’s secret recipes. Years passed, and although they were still slaves, they found their bearings like a compass held in one’s palm.

When Emma turned twelve, they gave her a birthday cake, and she felt like she almost had a family again. The crew began teaching them songs of the countries from the far West, as well as sword fighting. They taught David the traditional Northern style of heavy blades, and the Western style of quick, forceful attacks. Emma learned about fluidity, using your opponent's strength against themselves, death blows with a staff, and how to move so quickly you could shave a man’s beard without him knowing you used a scythe to do it. The latter was taught by a quiet South Eastern man with an accent, who always offered her sugar dates and pistachios. He showed her how to fold paper in the shape of stars, how to braid rope, twine and leather while telling her stories of the creatures of his desert homeland. The knotted leather piece she cherished was turned into a bracelet, braided beautifully in intricate patterns, blue beads and shells through it.

Before her fifteenth birthday, Kingsley became gravely ill. David took over much of the paperwork and the first mate, Nottingham, tried to keep the crew together. He hired more sailors to pick up the slack and for once, Emma saw Granny bristle with apprehension. Emma felt it too. Nottingham spoke in a way that reminded her of her other brother, James. It pulled at her when he announced the new, “honorable” men, and again when he said he hoped the captain got better. He had the same look James would get when he stole her meager portion of bread, leaving her with crusts.

She talked to David and he dismissed her worries, caught up in ledger balances and accounting for stock.

They left port laden with rich velvets, linens, furs, and silks, heading off towards the kingdoms that were flecked with snow. There was no way to stay on the coastline here; they’d have to cross open waters. Some of the crew seemed actively anxious as if they could feel something in the air.

Kingsley died at sea as they were crossing an icy strait the crew actually had to break apart with heavy picks. Nottingham didn’t shed a tear for his captain as he slipped under the cold, dark waters. Instead, he picked a new first mate, one with beady eyes that seemed to always be darting to something shiny - Walsh. Emma disliked him, but not nearly as much as Granny, who believed he was stealing fruit from her pantry.

The years became harder for Emma, as Eric became harder to make convincing. She bound her breasts tight as they grew, and when she got her first sign of the woman’s curse blooming red in her breeches, she used ripped burlap from potato sacks to line her sensitive parts. David was getting nervous for her as well. He’d grown into a tall teenager, muscled and strong, inheriting Kingsley’s charm at haggling with merchants. Kingsley had taught David to, in his words, “Sell a Merman pearls at full coin”.

When he’d asked if their debt was paid, Nottingham was immune to his silver tongue. Money was drying up, the newer crew and Nottingham having spent much of it on ale and taverns. Stocked goods were not making it to their buyers; rolls of velvet or silk missing, or worse, jewels and priceless valuables. David had offered to help and was whipped for insolence against the captain. Long time crew members left to seek better fortunes on the breeze with more honorable men. David and Emma were bound, however, by a contract Nottingham pulled out, signed by Mr. Kingsley before his death. When a ship got a new owner, the indebted aboard owed the new captain what was due at the time they were first bought.

They were slaves all over again.

The crew of late was mostly new folk; greasy haired, worm faced men that smelt of drink and piss. The ship was falling into disrepair, and Nottingham was having trouble picking up work. David had secured a deal to deliver ale to the next town over. A small paying job, but a job nonetheless.

Emma kept herself in the galley with Granny, trying her best to hide herself, though her womanhood was now almost entirely impossible to hide. Granny figured it out shortly after her eighteenth birthday. She had gotten Emma a heavy coat made of stiff material and breeches to match, along with a strange cup device that allowed her to bleed without worry during her curse.

“You were always too pretty to be a boy. Should have just been out with it ages ago, so Kingsley and me could have had at it. I’d have sent you to work at the tavern my granddaughter works at.” She sighed, looking down at the soup she was stirring as Emma peeled potatoes. “But now we have Nottingham and that creepy, twitchy, monkey man.” She threw pepper in the pot with force. “Can’t reason with those idiots.” In fact, the entire crew were stupid and lecherous, which was a dangerous combination.

Emma became more concerned about Granny’s warnings when David could no longer reason with the captain and his first. Walsh in particular was unconvinced that the tavern wouldn’t notice a cask or two missing from delivery. David’s protests earned him a sound lashing tied to the mast, where he cooked under the sun for hours before being undone to work until past sundown. When he collapsed in his hammock that night, sweat soaked and still bleeding, Emma was enraged. The rest of the crew joined the captain on deck to drink the ale they had no intention now of delivering.

She tended to David’s wounds, carefully cleaning them with water and a small bit of rum Granny had let her have. He groaned in misery, eyes rolling back into his head. She heard the clatter of feet above her as someone played an out-of-tune accordion.

“Stupid fools,” she muttered, ripping more cloth to wrap the worst of the rips across his back. Their singing and drinking the cargo disgusted her.

There was no warning that anything was amiss until that first crash. It felt like it was right on top of her as the harpoon split the wood easily. She screamed, but it wasn’t heard over the yells of the men on deck, drunken and scared.

“PIRATES! PIRATES OFF -” Another crash had her head spinning. She pulled David up, placing him against the landing of the stairs where a cannonball or stray harpoon would not hit. She ran on deck as fast as she could, sword gripped in hand.

The ship attacking had a black sail up, and they were drawing in fast as to her shock, they threw roped hooks into the rigging of The Lion’s Heart. The pirates flew over her head like gulls, calling out cries of war. The men on deck scattered like roaches, a few even jumping overboard like cowardly fish bellies. She took a stance, preparing to take arms to guard her brother.

A pirate landed near her with a thump. He was tall, and wore a dusty olive green long coat and a olive green tricorne hat that burnt orange curls spilled from. His face was obscured with an emerald green bandana that menacing green eyes peered out of. He moved quickly, drawing a large cutlass and lunged towards Emma.

Emma was quicker, and her training paid off. She was able to parry and dodge several blows with her own long rapier, catching her opponent off guard. She heard men dying around her and footsteps start to approach; she knew this wouldn’t be a fair fight. She moved quickly again and the cutlass caught her rapier, but not quite in time to stop it from loosing the bandana. It fell to the floor slowly, exposing red lips that smiled back at her.

“Good show, but you’re sorely outnumbered now, boy.” The revealed woman before her smiled.

Emma only gritted her teeth as she heard someone approach her from behind. Throwing an elbow back with all her might, she heard a shriek of fury as the approaching person clutched their nose.

The woman in green sighed. “Don’t do that again.” She whistled and pointed to a small form with dark brown hair, squatting on some barrels and watching with her head cocked. “Snow, show the boy what will happen if he steps closer to me.”

The one the green woman called Snow moved like water, in an instant fluidly pulling out a bow and arrow from seemingly nowhere. The arrow flew through the air with a whistle, landing in the space between Emma and the captain. The captain stood and faced her attacker.

“Now, be a good boy, and throw that sword aside - Your captain’s dead, only two men still live of your crew, and you might make it home to a sweet lass like Miss Snow here if you stand down, my little monkey.”

Emma heard the person behind her get up, and felt a knife at her neck. The point pressed hard, pricking her skin. She dropped the sword, as a voice hissed in her ear, “Ye broke m’ fuckin’ nose. I should kill ye now, ye idjit boy. Slit yer throat like a pig if -”

”Meri.” The woman in green shook long red hair from her hat, smiling placidly. “That is not how we treat those who almost best the Captain.” She felt the knife’s point weaken its pressure as the girl behind her sighed. It was definitely a girl behind her; she could feel her breasts pushed into her back, and the wind pulled tightly wound red curls in front of her own gaze.

Snow approached quietly and Emma startled. Meri laughed. “This boy’s a chicken; scared of lovely ladies.”

“Hush, Meri. He’s terrified. Captain Zelena, permission to search below?” Snow acknowledged the woman in green. In fact, the entire crew were all women.

“Go ahead. I want to question the crew of… What’s this ruddy ship’s name anyway?”

Granny came up from the galley with Snow in tow. “That would be The Lion’s Heart. I assume you’d be Captain Zelena?” She smoothed her skirts as Snow balked at her for having no fear of the sword pointed at her.

“That I’d be.” The woman in green curtsied, laughing. “And you are?”

“I’m the galley cook, they call me Granny. If you’re going to kill me and the boy, and the boy’s brother, do it fast. I tell you this, though. They’re hard workers, that lot, and so am I. We deserve a fair chance at another ship.”

“Oh, and what about the other crew members?” She pointed to an older man they’d called Rot Mouth for the stench of his breath and rudeness to everyone, and to Walsh.

Granny shrugged. “Those two aren’t worth the piss you’d get out of them.”

“And what are you carrying. Anything worthwhile?”

“Ha.” Granny spat out of the side of her mouth. “I wish. Casks of ale for a tavern, and these idiots drank half without even a deposit.”

Zelena seemed to think on it a moment, a slight frown on her face, while Meri rifled through Emma’s pockets, patting her down.

“Snow, go check on this other boy. See why he’s not up here.” Zelena made a dismissive gesture, looking around at the casks of ale.

“Yes, Captain.” Snow nodded, heading below deck once more.

“OI! CAPTAIN!” Meri exclaimed, with a dark laugh. “This ‘uns a chit! She’s a girl!” Emma’s eyes widened with fear and she looked at Granny.

Zelena, however was delighted. “Well then. This is promising. A chit like that who can hold her own against me without training for weeks.” She shot Meri a look, and Emma felt the girl tense.

Walking over to Walsh and Rot Mouth, Zelena pulled them both up and examined them. Walsh trembled in fear, while Rot Mouth swayed slightly, still drunk. Zelena smiled her placid smile, and pulled their gags down.

“Hello, gentleman.”

Walsh looked as if he was about to pass out, and Rot Mouth glared, still swaying.

“We could use a few cleaning hands on my ship, what say you? Are you up to swab some decks in exchange for keeping your necks attached to your heads?”

For his response, Rot Mouth spat a wad of yellow spit. It had barely touched the ground as Zelena’s face contorted, and her sword was up in the air for a split second before it settled, slicing his neck. Rot Mouth clutched at his throat, dropping to his knees. His body finally reacted after seconds that felt like minutes, squirting blood all over the deck.

Zelena wiped blood from her face, flicking it off absentmindedly. She turned to Walsh, the placid smile returning and eyes glittering.

“How about you, my little monkey?”

“Yes, Gods, yes. I’ll do anything,” he trembled. “I pledge loyalty to you, Captain.”

“Good. We’ll discuss this further on my ship. Let’s see who else we can drag up here.” She glanced at Snow who was dragging a barely conscious David on deck. Emma blanched, yanking away from Meri, and helped to lay him down. Meri made no moves to stop her as Zelena came over.

“What happened to him?” she asked, nudging him with an olive colored boot. He groaned, blinking slightly, before looking at Snow.

“Are you an angel?” he said slowly, looking up at her with glazed eyes. Snow visibly flinched.

“He got flogged. He disrespected the old captain by suggesting the crew shouldn’t drink the haul,” Emma said dryly.

“Is he a hard worker like your Granny says?” Zelena asked, squatting to Emma’s level.

“Yes.”

“Will you and Granny join us if we don’t take him?” Zelena asked lowly, picking up his arm and letting it drop back onto the hardwood. Emma shook her head as a firm no. “What if we do take him? You’ll stay if he dies?”

“Yes.” Emma nodded. She looked back to David’s face, and Snow wiped sweat off his brow with her sleeve. “He’ll survive though. That’s what we do.”

Zelena’s ship, The Emerald Envy of Oz was beautiful. She was sleek, as fast as some naval runners, but her speed was balanced by a lack of firepower. At only twenty odd guns, they focused on bloody battles that left her crew always in need of new recruits.

Zelena cried out to her assembled hands, “HELL HATH NO FURY!”, listening to their cries of victory as they sped away from the burning hulk of the Lion’s Heart. David was taken away from Emma by Snow and a sandy brown haired man, disappearing below the deck. Emma felt the anxious pull in her chest watching him go.  

Zelena gave little thought to having few men aboard, Emma found with at first, a large bit of admiration. The crew was made up of almost entirely women to her shock. Since the beginning of the Ogre Wars, many felt it was safer to be on the seas than on land. What safe lands were left were constantly warring, leaving only minor claims for the thrones remaining. Allegiances born of gold and steel were far more lucrative in war time than those of blood and marriage.

Zelena wasn’t too proud to nod at the ex-royalty she’d collected. There was a brunette with huge doe eyes, reading in the crow’s nest. Once a princess in a long lost realm, they referred to her as Book & Belle, but mostly the latter. Snow, who at one point may have been heiress to the ruins of Misthaven, but now took refuge on this ship while her Step Mother tried to find safety on land. Rory, with Phillip and Fa, who had been a pedigreed princess before fleeing with her betrothed and his bodyguard during a brutal ogre siege razing their kingdom. Meri, who was from the lands to the far Northeast, where tribal law decreed she must vacate her throne to one of her three brothers. And now added to their motley crew were Granny, David and Walsh. Emma didn’t mention the contract, hoping it would be resigned to the past now that they were among free folk.

The few menfolk had a small bunk area in the bottom of the ship that used to be a holding cell, Meri had explained while showing Emma around. She seemed to hold no grudge for her nose, and had cracked it back into place as soon as they had made their way down the stairs below deck, relishing in the disgusted look Emma gave her. If anything, she seemed proud that Emma had practically knocked her nose into the backside of her skull.

“Aye, I love a tough lass, that I do.” She winked with total disregard at Emma’s confusion. Nodding her head, they walked through a doorway into the normal hammocked sleeping room for crews.

“Now ‘ere, let’s get that all off of ye.” She gestured at the menswear Emma had become accustomed to. Emma glanced at Meri’s choice of dress: some mixture of trousers and a cut off long shirt. Emma shook her head.

“I’ll wait until we get to shore. That doesn’t look comfortable.”

Meri shrugged. “Suit yerself. You can untie yerself at least, if it’s wot ya be wontin’.” She gestured at Emma’s chest, and left without saying anything more.

Emma let her breasts hang unrestrained, her shirt cut to allow air under her vest, and for the first time ever, joined the crew on the upper deck as her true self.

The work on Zelena’s ship was thankless and without end, even as part of the crew. Zelena, she found, was prone to moods of madness, where someone (usually male) would draw her ire and receive the full brunt of her rage. When it was a female member of the crew, it was usually and almost certainly due to Zelena perceiving a slight or one of her port side dandies favoring someone else heavy of the purse. She could come up with inventive and truly cruel tortures, and no one wanted to be the next singled out.

Emma had acclimated to being dressed as a woman for the most part. At port, she’d taken a small stipend and several of the female crew to help her pick out some clothes. There was, however, a vast difference in style preferences. Rory, Belle, and Zelena found form with flair to be their preferred choice. They wore cut skirts, draped cloaks, capes, dark brocade corsets, bejeweled pieces of fashion, and swirling silks in exotic patterns that could hide weapons or confuse their quarry. Snow and Fa liked function. They chose dark colors and sturdy fabrics, with light armored padding that allowed them to move with quick precision. Meri was a joyful and eclectic mix of both. Bright blue damask hid light armor, exotic pants that belled at the bottom, a corset made of soft cream satin, an unbuttoned men’s frilled shirt, and an armored coverlet were among her prized possessions. Emma joined her in her style, choosing a mixture of breeches, skirts, a loose hook and eye corset, and a silken blouse.

Her outfit drew attention she was not used to, which she discovered quickly. The women hadn’t warned her, so used to it themselves that it seemed second nature when a lout tried to cup their ass. Emma’s shock brought them peals of laughter and a long conversation on the best places to cut a man that would leave him in pain for the rest of his life. When Emma experienced this first hand in a port, she found that the fat older man was not prepared to lose the tool he claimed he could use so well.

David healed slowly as the months passed, but he was soon up on the deck cleaning with Emma and showing his aptitude for maintenance on the ship’s armament. Walsh began his campaign of finding how far his head could snugly fit up their new captain’s derriere, and found that even a woman captain had plenty of space he could weasel into. The crew was stunned to find him announced as her first mate, and Meri demoted after a particularly hard week of punishment on her. In their hammocks later, Meri had tried to hide her low rumbles of tears and anger, but come morning, had found extra sweets rationed to her by Granny.

Granny in turn had come to take an extreme dislike to Zelena, who had called her food ‘barely palatable’. She’d been struggling baking the pastries and fine cakes Zelena demanded on a whim after making ports, her hands beginning to tremble from age as much as she tried to hide it. Emma and David had both begged Zelena to let at least one of them help her in the galley, but she’d refused. Emma had taken to waking up earlier to cut, dice, knead, and peel so Granny needn’t do as much with her hands, while Granny sought out the newest recipe Zelena coveted from any bakery willing to offer it.

Emma was sneaking back into the bunks one morning when a hand caught her wrist and pulled her into the shadows of the small hallway leading above. A hand covered her mouth as she tried to protest. Hot breath huffed in her ear.

”Well, look at this.” Walsh whispered. She could feel her body stiffen. “Someone is up early. They say the early bird gets the worm, and the second mouse gets the cheese.” She felt his hand slip under her shirt, and tried to pull away from him. He held her tighter, hooking a leg around her ankle. “They don’t say what happens to the sneaking slave girl that looks like a sweet.” His tongue ran along her neck, and she shuddered, feeling like her skin was trying to crawl away from her bones.

“Here’s what I propose. You get to keep sneaking around on your little jaunts to help your dear sweet Gramma, and I get to take what I want in my quarters, after the ship’s asleep. No one needs to know a thing, and you and I both get what we want.” He pressed into her, and she could feel the imprint of him like so many men before who had tried to push their luck. She struggled again, and he hissed a whisper into her ear. “Do what I say, or I tell Zelena. Think on it. I’d hate to see what might happen to a feeble old woman who serves Zelena no use, but shares the spoils.” He released her, and she stumbled away up to the brightness of the deck.

She only made it a minute before vomiting over the side.

[heliosphoenix]

State of the planet: 2018 edition

Well here we are, it's time once again for my now annual review of the year we just finished up. When we take some time out of our New Year's celebrations to recognize that while it seems like we just went through 365 days of pain and frustration, there was a smattering of good things that happened as well.

Here's some of them:

Scientists in China cloned two monkeys via Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, a major development toward's the potential for this technique to be used for regenerative cloning in the future

A new drug designed to combat Ovarian Cancer has begun clinical trials. Early results show that half the patients taking the drug are now Cancer free with no sign of the Cancer returning

Chinese scientists have developed rice that will grow in drought conditions. They plan to cover about 10% of the desert in the UAE with this rice for farming use.

An effort is underway to save the Northern White Rhino from extinction, using frozen sperm implanted in eggs from Southern White Rhinos, the hope is that this process will be able to revive the species in the future

A Ukrainian company is placing Solar Panels around Chernobyl to generate Solar Power. They plan to use the existing infrastructure to eventually generate up to 100 Megawatts of energy

101 cities around the world are now getting 70% of their power from renewable energy sources. In a related story, 56 cities in the United States have committed to going 100% renewable by 2050

The World Health Organization reported that Paraguay has now completely eradicated Malaria, other Latin America nations are close to doing so as well

The Ocean Cleanup Project has begun an initiative to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They're aiming to remove at least 50 tons of garbage from the ocean every year

The Ozone is beginning to repair itself. At current rates, the Northern Hemisphere should be fully repaired by 2030, with the Ozone Hole in Antarctica sealed by 2060

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was opened, it's the world's longest sea crossing bridge

Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced that he's modified the DNA of twin infant girls in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV

According to a report by the International Telecommunications Union, 51.2% of the world's population is using the Internet

Qantas launched the first commercial non stop service between Australia and the United Kingdom, the route is flown by their 787 fleet

Cinemas opened in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1983, the first movie shown is Black Panther

Diplomatic talks took place between North and South Korea, with both nations committing to the removal of land mines from the Demilitarized Zone between the nations

The Basque separatist group ETA announced its dissolution

The Supreme Court of India decriminalized homosexuality

Ireland citizens voted to repeal the nations ban on abortion in a national referendum

Voting turnout for the US Midterm elections was at a 50 year high

Michigan was the latest state to legalize recreational use of Marijuana, Canada also voted to allow sale of Marijuana.

The overall crime rate for the year is expected to have dropped by 2.9%

11% of the US Population is expected to get a boost to their credit scores

Homeownership rates for Americans under 35 are now at just over 36%, the highest since 2013

Americans gave over $400 Billion to charity this year, a record high

The 2018 Winter Olympics were held in South Korea

The 2018 World Cup was held in Russia with France claiming their second title. It was also announced that the United States, Mexico and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup

The Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl over the heavily favored New England Patriots

Tiger Woods won his first PGA tournament since 2013

The Michigan Basketball team did so much better than anyone could've expected, winning their second consecutive Big Ten tournament, and making their second Final Four appearance in 5 years

The Michigan Football team had a decent year as well, posting their third 10-3 record under Jim Harbaugh as well as winning a share of the Big Ten East division title (but because two of those losses were to Notre Dame and Ohio State, Michigan fans will be forced to spend the offseason being miserable twats again)

Justify won the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the second horse to win the title in 3 years (rather remarkable considering the previous title drought was nearly 4 decades)

SpaceX launched 21 Falcon rockets this year, including the first Falcon Heavy rocket which sent Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster into interplanetary space

NASA had a busy year as well, launching the TESS spacecraft to search for ExoPlanets, the Parker Solar Probe to explore the Sun's atmosphere, and the InSight lander which successfully touched down on Mars in November

ESA launched the BepiColombo spacecraft to explore the planet Mercury, the first mission to the planet in over a decade

The OSIRIS-REx sample returned spacecraft arrived at the Asteroid Bennu.

Finally, the New Horizons spaceprobe will conduct a flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule just after midnight tonight!

Remember all that? Good. Because that's where I'm at right now: December 31, 2018, with just over 11 hours left in this year.

You, dear reader, are in the future. And by the time you read this, it's very likely that for you 2018 will be over. Relegated to the books. And you've probably read a bunch of articles and blogs and tweets about how we just went through a year of infinite pain. Which is why I'm hoping that this missive finds you after you've already read all those other things.

Because our minds tend to place the most emphasis on the last thing we experienced, and I want your lasting memory of 2018 to be that all those things I listed above happened this year, and nothing can ever erase them.

Now this is the part where I say something nice and worldly to tie up the events of this last trip around the ol' Sun. I try my best to come up with some theme or other that brings it all together into a coherent picture.

I think the word I would use to describe this year is "Revelation." Because I think we can all say that this year, it's not so much that we learned things, but things were revealed to us.

We've all been in this situation before. We think that we've got everything figured out, we have all the answers. And then all of a sudden we uncover something that completely shatters our perceptions and kicks our foundation out from under us. And based on all that's happened this past year, I think it's safe to say this happened to all of us at least once in the preceding 12 months.

Perhaps someone did something you never thought they would do? Or something that seemed to be amazing turned out not to be as good as you thought? Or maybe your way of viewing the world now looks totally alien to you?

Revelation can be a very traumatic thing to deal with, and I can tell you from experience that when your entire perception of reality is challenged, you become unsure about everything else. Doubts creep into your mind, and you start wondering what else it might be that you're wrong about? It's the kind of feeling that can make you feel completely alone even in the middle of thousands of people.

But Revelation can also be a good thing.

Sometimes something turns out to be even better than you were expecting. Or you discover that you actually are much more respected and valued than you thought you were. Or maybe you look around and realize that things aren't actually as bad as they seem.

Even if you have to deal with the Revelation of a harsh truth, you can still find the positive out of that. Sure you can choose to become cynical and jaded and let it consume you, or you can choose to be proactive about it.

Sure, things weren't what you thought they were, but that's okay. The world didn't come to an end, you still have much to be thankful for, and you can now use the knowledge that you've learned to become wiser about how to live your life.

So this is the part where I usually say that there's one more awesome thing that happened this year, but you're going to tell me what it is. Tell me something good that happened to you during 2018.

This time however, I'd like to try something different.

In addition to telling me something good that happened to you this year, I'd like you to give me the biggest Revelation you've had this year. What was the most surprising thing that was revealed to you?

Now I understand that it probably won't be as pleasant of a memory as whatever awesome thing that happened to you this year was, it may even cause you distress just thinking about it.

If that's the case, embrace it, because you are distressed. But not over whatever it was that you were forced to confront, but rather the loss of what you thought the world was.

But don't let it consume you. Take the truth that was revealed to you and apply it. Learn from it and resolve to use that truth to strengthen your resolve for this next trip around the Sun.

Things aren't always what they seem, and they often don't work out how you planned, but that's not always a bad thing. Because the amazing thing about this world is that things have a way of working out anyway.

So remember the good times, but learn from the Revelations. When you do that, you'll be that much closer to being the person you want to be.

Have a good day, a great month, and an AMAZING 2019.

[yesintrotoenvironmentalstudies10]

Final blog post

1

After reading the first chapter of the textbook a few things stood out to me. First, and most simply of them all, is that though the United States only makes up about 4.3% of the world population use 30% of the world’s resources. This statistic was initially asinine but as I thought more about it, it became slightly more comprehensible. Being the largest developed nation in the world it makes sense that the US contributes so significantly to consumption. In an effort to defend my country from this blemish I came up with the hypothesis that this number may be so high due to the fact that much of our production is in high overhead industries such as auto production. We then export these cars to other countries which would cause us to bear the brunt of the resource consumption. Again, that’s my best attempt at defending the US, but it might be the case of aiming to defend the indefensible.

Further in the chapter I came across Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren’s IPAT model. the 1970s concept stated that environmental impact could be measured as the product of Population x Affluence x Technology. Population and affluence are always a positive (meaning having a poor effect on the environment) affect on the calculation and that technology could be positive and negative. What I found to be significant about the model is the fact that affluence in all instances is positive. This gave a good insight into the outlook people had on the environment in the 70s. Obviously the correlation of affluence and negative environmental impact is undeniable, as most all substantial environmental damage is carried out by wealthy nations. That being the case, in the last few years it’s been the prerogative of wealthy nations to be environmentally friendly. Scandinavian nations, who are among the wealthiest in the world have pioneered a myriad environmentalist prerogatives. This can be seen in statistics concerning carbon emissions per capita. Despite being much wealthier, the average Swede emits roughly half the amount of carbon that the average Libyan does on an annual basis. The Swede could afford to emit much more carbon if he or she felt inclined to, but wont because of their respect of the environment. This is common sense to anyone alive now but gives an interesting glimpse into the zeitgeist of the 1970’s. In that era no one would think to care for the environment, whereas now, a many people who are living wealthy lifestyles make some form of an effort to be ecofriendly.

The textbook soon addressed the issue of the large swaths of the developing world soon becoming much wealthier and the negative impact that will have on the environment. I found this to be a bit of an ethical timebomb as well as an ecological one. When places like Sub-Saharan Africa become wealthy are we, as Westerners really going to have the right to lecture them on why they should buy a Nissan Leaf over a Mercedes AMG. We have indulged ourselves in many luxuries that are unsustainable and some of us have worked at tapering back on some luxuries. That being the case, are people in the developing world supposed to bypass the window of hedonistic, reckless environmental abandon that many Westerners were able to enjoy. Maybe it’s the responsibility of the West to create green alternatives to those luxuries, so that people would not be forced to choose environmental consciousness over quality of experience.

Based on my ecological footprint quiz, there would need to be 7 Earths to sustain my living habits. My carbon footprint accounted for nearly 60% of my total ecological footprint. I feel that this number may be particularly high due to the fact that I fly quite often. My first blog post had a fairly callous response, explaining how I felt apathetic about the situation. As the semester has progressed my feeling is closer to actionable guilt, rather than apathy. I have learned so much in term of what is causing ecological damage, and what measures I can take to cut back at the damage that I am doing.

 Q: What is the easiest way to a have a significant impact on your ecological footprint?

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

“Where in the World Do People Emit the Most CO2?” Our World in Data, ourworldindata.org/per-capita-co2.

  .

          2

My science education has been quite weak. I haven’t taken a science since being at Fordham and in high school I avoided taking any advanced sciences classes. I, for whatever reason always seemed to be sure that I wouldn’t pursue any future in science, a self-fulfilling prophecy. My years of pigheadedness came to an end, culminating in an “environmentalistic” type catharsis which occurred this summer. Sparing superfluous details, I decided that in my senior year I should take a science class to help remedy my scientific illiteracy. This was necessary given my mounting frustration from my inability to make sense of scientific journals that I had attempted to read.

My training in as a finance major has taught me two somewhat unique ways of approaching situations, first of which is to be open to any given outcome. Being rooted or making emotional type decisions can skew decision making and result in error. The other means of approaching problems that is taught to finance majors is leveraging data. The multiple statistics and calculus math classes we take train us to trust data over intuition. These heuristics are important in both science and finance. This is all to say that when approaching chapter 2, a scientific chapter I did not feel ill-equipped.

The first thing in chapter 2 that stuck with me was the excerpt about Easter Island. When I took biology in high school, I distinctly remember being taught the story of how the Polynesians, shortsightedly, used all of their natural resources at an unstainable rate until their island was uninhabitable. My teacher used this as a parable (of sorts) of the dependence humans have on fossil fuels and how it’ll eventually be our undoing. The textbooks clarification of the situation was shocking. I found it unbelievable that scientists were off about what point the island was colonized by 2,100 years. I was also shocked that the island was populated 800 years ago, and that this there is no records of this. It is unnerving how easy it was for portions of history to be completely lost through the eradication of the native people. For me, this narrative perfectly exemplifies how the bias of the era, can affect scientific thought. The old theory did not entertain the fact that European settlers could have contributed to the destruction of the island. It seems like a pretty easy conclusion to make when you look at the European effect on the Natives of North America. It has been widely understood for some time now that the diseases carried by the settlers contributed to the demise of many of the native populations. I suspect willful ignorance allowed narrative of the demise the Ester Island people to remain incorrect for so long.

I don’t know where I heard the joke, but I do remember at some point someone saying somewhere that the most environmentally friendly thing you could ever do is die. Though said in jest, it’s true (especially given the fact that there would need to be over 7 earths for the earth’s population to afford to live like me). This issue concerning population growth and environmental health was first championed by Thomas Malthus, who noted that human population seems to grow exponentially, while food production capacity seems to grow linearly. Though food production is no longer the most pressing threat as Malthus thought it would be in 1798, human population growth is as big of a threat to the future of humanity as it has ever been. As chapter 6 notes, through our use of technology, humans have essentially broken through any carrying capacity that we would naturally have. This has resulted in our rigorous growth since the scientific revolution. As things such as vertical farming and laboratory grown meat become more viable, it would be foolish to out any cap on the capacity of the human population. That being said, 82% of the world’s population live in “developing countries” and a billion people live on about $1.25 a day. The coming years may cause us to grapple with allowing the population to grow, when so many live in squalor.  

Population growth poses a significant threat, as the developing world becomes more numerous and wealthier. Demand for things such as cars and energy grows as these places become wealthier. Recalling my ecological footprint quiz, I now understand how environmentally unsustainable it would be if the entire world lived as I do (granted I am worse than most of the developed world).

The textbook gave detailed information into the nuances of population growth concerning all relevant factors. It did not, however, comment on the ethical issues encountered in the population problem. The textbook makes it abundantly clear that the population growth in the developed world will wreak havoc on the environment, but what I wondered is what can be done about this? It almost seems as if the advancement of the quality of life of the 82% of the earth’s population comes at the cost of the health of the environment. I feel that the crux of environmental science should be focusing on reconciling these seemingly mutually exclusive options.

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

           3

Not knowing that it was a Big History book, I had finished Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari this summer and thoroughly enjoyed it (enough to buy Harari’s next book). The book followed the history of humanity, weaving in modern developments in biology, anthropology, economics, environmental studies, geology and many other contemporary disciplines. The result was a 640 page book that chronicled the first Homo animals to present day. Big History allows for the reader to gain a sort of perspective that cannot be achieved using the traditional method of historical writing. Very rarely in Big History does the narrative get entrenched in a specific event, unless that event can be used to convey a more significant zeitgeist. This causes the reader to comprehend a more thematic feel for any given period rather than date specific or event specific narrative. Sapiens taught me not only new facts, but it also taught me new ways to think about time as well as gave me wide perspective on humanity and our choices.

In looking at some of the criticisms of Big History I see that many of them have qualms with the lack of humanism in its recounting. Frank Furedi, an outward critic of Big History takes issue of the scope of the study. In his 2013 essay ‘Big History’: the annihilation of human agency Furedi takes aim at the scientific lens that Big History implements. He argues, “You won’t only encounter humanity, in fact; Christian (a prominent Big Historian) is proud of the fact that on his Big History course the species Homo sapiens is not even mentioned until halfway through. Is this really humanist? It looks to me more like the reduction of humanity to a biological species, and a sign that we are becoming increasingly estranged from ideas of civilization, culture and community” Furedi invokes Hegel’s understanding of what makes history in saying that history, “begins at the point where rationality begins to enter into worldly existence’. He said the point of departure of history is when events begin to be interpreted and recorded as history. He said history requires concepts of individuality, rights and law, a ‘universally binding directive’, institutionalized through the State.” I had never thought too much into what really comprises a history, but now when confronted with two irreconcilable positions I find myself defending the perspective of Big History. Furedi, in his attack on the discipline, argues that Big History “self-consciously eradicates the conceptual distinction between nature and culture, between the material and the spiritual, between the human and the non-human.” and I agree with him. Big History aims to tell the history of time, irrespective of how Homo Sapiens find themselves weaving in and out it. Furedi’s qualms seems to be an amalgamation of the seemingly automatic reaction that one would have to removing the importance of humanity in terms of time, as well as a healthy skepticism of the sciences that are necessary in constructing a factually correct Big History. History, as we were all taught in school, is a telling of events from a perspective, that helps us come to a common understanding on an event. Young children in most the United States are taught that the United States Civil War was fought to end Slavery. Very rarely, but definitely in some instances, Students are taught that the war was fought on the grounds of states rights, and the Northern States being too aggressive with their Southern contemporaries. When this same event is taught with those different perspectives at the fulcrum, there can be friction when the subject is discussed between members of each camp. The two won’t disagree on the date of the Appomattox or the wording of the Emancipation Proclamation, but they will disagree on the fundamental grounds of the war. This problem highlights some issues that History has. When the answers can’t aren’t empirical, politics seeps in adds an opaqueness to something that we all wish to be binary. I see Big History as a means of overcoming the seemingly inherent need for politics in history. In reading Sapiens I realized that Harari rarely finds himself needing to take a political stance on any given event, but rather allows the massive amount of context and perspective of human respect to allow him to avoid taking political stances. He can say, with impunity, that the United States Civil War was a horrible blemish on the nation as well as evoke the context of the European humanist/ abolitionist movement to explain the war. Harari can also use statistics about the industrial development in the North vs the South as well as context of the state of the world trade economy and how that may have impacted the starting of the war. This Big History perspective allows for minimal political input as well as keeps a narrative flowing. The United States Civil War, though important to those in this country, is a relatively small blip in the history of the Earth. Knowing how the war fits into the history of everything is as important as knowing the details of the war itself. As our scientific capacity improve, and we are able to learn more about the events that happened in the “pre-historical” era of time, I see Big History becoming much more relevant. As improvements in carbon-dating and other sciences that aid in discovery of the past expand we will no longer be beholden to the fallibility of written history but will be allowed to know empirically about what has happened on the Earth.

 Q: Will big history ever become a commonly taught in public schools?

“Big History.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_History.

Furedi, Frank. “'Big History': the Annihilation of Human Agency.” Spiked Big History the Annihilation of Human Agency Comments, 24 July 2013, www.spiked-online.com/2013/07/24/big-history-the-annihilation-of-human-agency/.

Harari, Yuval Noaḥ. Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind. Harper Perennial, 2018.

      4

Understanding environmental worldviews are important because everyone falls into a view, and that view will dictate their decision making. Chapter 25 breaks down worldviews starting with a Human-Centered Environmental worldviews. These views focus primarily on the needs and wants of people and are predicated on the belief that the earth exists for our benefit. The book specified this worldview further into four subcategories: The No-problem School, The Free-market School, The Spaceship-earth School and The Stewardship Worldview. The No-problem school looks to take as little agency as possible for environmental damage because technology will take care of the problems later. The Free-market School believes that decision making should be conducted through the willing transactions between individuals with only regard for those participating in those markets. Since trees and dolphins don’t participate in the exchange of capital, their interests are neglected (unless market participants act on their behalf). The Spaceship-earth school takes on the belief that that the Earth is like a spaceship that we can learn to master and “provide a good life for everyone without overloading natural systems.” The Stewardship worldview has humans taking environmental responsibility for the planet. American farmer, philosopher, and poet Wendell Berry took issue with this view because as he believed, the earth doesn’t need saving. He, along with other scholars believe that the earth has flourished for 3.8 billion years despite many environmental fluctuations. To those who share Berry’s view “what needs saving and reform is the current human civilization that is degrading its life-support system and threatening up to half of the world’s species with extinction.” These Human Centric views, on their face seem to be the anthesis of environmentalism but I don’t see any reason to right ALL them off as inherently detrimental to the environment. The Spaceship Earth worldview seemed attractive to those who believe that our technologies will allow us to conquer nature completely. Based on human history, and our rapid technological growth in the last 400 odd years, I see no reason to believe that humans will not be able to wrangle the amount of carbon we emit and stop the damage done by our developed population. The key question is how quickly science will allow for this, and what will the ramifications of untreated pollution for years do on the natural environment as well as our health. Chapter 25 also takes on Life Centered and Earth Centered views. A Life Centered view believes “we have an ethical responsibility to avoid hastening the extinction of species through our activities. Those with an earth-centered worldview believe “that we have an ethical responsibility to take a wider view and preserve the earth’s biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the functioning of its life-support systems for the benefit of the earth’s life, now and in the future” A subcategory of the Earth-centered worldview would be the environmental wisdom worldview which takes the opposite stance of the Spaceship view in the way that it sees humans as animals who are beholden to the earth just the same any other creature. It seeks us work with nature rather than conquer it, as a means for preserving the natural world. I find this worldview to completely disregarding the nature of animals. Animals always seek to dominate the world around them to suit themselves. Beavers make damns woodpeckers ruin trees, early sapiens would burn down fields to find animals hiding within. The spaceship view makes sense to me because it doesn’t compromise progress/ growth for the sake of the environment, but rather seeks to reconcile the two. In researching Leopold’s Land Ethic (the hyperlink wouldn’t work but I went to a website devoted to his work), I found his concepts to be interesting. According to his website, land ethic is the belief that “the relationships between people and land are intertwined: care for people cannot be separated from care for the land. A land ethic is a moral code of conduct that grows out of these interconnected caring relationships.” I think this concept can be easily incorporated into the concept of full cost pricing. Because the abuse of land ends up being a direct affront to everyone else in form of negative externalities, Leopold’s concept can be enacted through the means of full-cost pricing.

 Q: What would it look like if everyone running for president had to give their environmental world view?

“The Land Ethic.” The Aldo Leopold Foundation, www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

                5

Chapter 23 concerns environmentalism and economics. I found the portion titled Ways to Value Natural Capital to be particularly insightful, especially the developments made by Robert Costanza. His progress in quantifying the worth of services provided by the earth’s major biomes, found that they contribute at least $125 trillion of service per year. This figure is not the same as the value of the sale of the elements that make up those biomes but rather how the existence of those biomes gives us value through things such as the creation of oxygen. That 125$ trillion in value is nearly twice the world’s total spending on goods and services. The textbook points out that” according to neoclassical economists, a product or service has no economic value until it is sold in the marketplace, and thus because they are not sold in the marketplace, ecosystem services have no economic value.” This means that using traditional economics it is hard to have individuals respect or acknowledge the use they are getting from the natural world. I feel that its value could be better realized if it is seen in the same light as government. The government is integral to the cohesion of the economy by protecting peoples right to property and its involvement in the maintenance of the central bank. We, as taxed citizens, pay for the maintenance of the government so that we can conduct business peaceably. The maintenance of the environment is just as important in a business sense as the maintenance of the govement, so maybe, we should pay into the upkeep of the environment in the same way that we pay for the upkeep of the govement. Corporations that operate through the sale of these biomes (e.g. logging, farming etc.) are profiting off diminishing the 125$ trillion in value in free service the rest of humanity needs. Maybe a portion of the price of the positive externality that is removed should be built into the cost of buying their product, in an effort to collect back some of the damage done. For example, adding an additional 11% to a 5-dollar piece of lumber and taking that 55 cents to offset the damage done. The textbook discuses the possibility of discounting the future value of an ecological entity in an effort to quantify its value today, since many of these biological elements are finite and in many cases virtually irreplaceable. My suggestion is more of a negative interest rate to preserve the natural good. Later in the chapter the concepts of Paul Hawken are introduced who furthers the concept of valuing natural capital. Hawken an environmental champion, as well as a business man, believes in the importance of full-cost pricing, which is the concept of imbedding the ecological damage that a good does, into the cost of that good. On the subject of the current means of valuing goods Hawken said H “we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP, and patting ourselves on the back. I liked his stance on not compromising growth for the sake of environmentalism but rather reconciling the two. He advocates for the use of govement subsides and taxes to encourage environmentally conscious growth. On the future of the economy Hawken says: “We have the capacity to create a remarkably different economy: one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security.” This shift “is based on the simple but powerful proposition that all natural capital must be valued. … If we have doubts about how to value a 500-yearold tree, we need only ask how much would it cost to make a new one from scratch? Or a new river? Or a new atmosphere?” This quote reminds me of the previous weeks readings concerning environmental worldviews. I feel that quote can be seen as congruent with, along with other options, the Spaceship worldview. Hawken’s quote elicits the concept of mastering our earth as a means of maintaining its environmental health. Though it’s quite likely that he asked about the possibility of building a new river or atmosphere because they are seemingly impossible tasks, I think it is worth considering his proposition at face value. What if we do challenge ourselves to rebuild the damage that we have done to the atmosphere. What would that cost? Could that cost be funded by implementing a full-cost pricing type tax to the goods and services that cause its destruction in the first place?  

Q: What governing body could implement and administer the revenues associated with a full-cost tax on goods and services?

  Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

                 6

Chapter 6, an investigation into population growth, is something that I have always been interested in. In preparing to present on the subject I met with my two groupmates to discuss the chapter and the important elements. The one thing that we all found to be shocking was the correlation of women’s education and the number of children birthed. Poor women who cannot read often have an average of 5-7 children, compared to 2 or fewer children in societies where most women can read. This statistic on its face is quite upsetting but considering the improvement in female literacy, it has a silver lining.

For the sake of the presentation I specified on consumption and the steady state economy. In doing research I was surprised to see that there was a lot of literature on the subject from many of classic economists. Adam Smith, in Wealth of Nations, started to take notice of the population progressions of foreign nations and how that effected their economy. He noticed that Holland seemed to be approaching population stagnation and this propeted him to opine on what the economic ramifications may be “In a country which had acquired that full complement of riches which the nature of its soil and climate, and its situation with respect to other countries, allowed it to acquire; which could, therefore, advance no further, and which was not going backwards, both the wages of labour and the profits of stock would probably be very low. In a country fully peopled in proportion to what either its territory could maintain or its stock employ, the competition for employment would necessarily be so great as to reduce the wages of labour to what was barely sufficient to keep up the number of labourers, and, the country being already fully peopled, that number could never be augmented. In a country fully stocked in proportion to all the business it had to transact, as great a quantity of stock would be employed in every particular branch as the nature and extent of the trade would admit. The competition, therefore, would everywhere be as great, and consequently the ordinary profit as low as possible.” His speculation on the health of a county that is “fully peopled” showed the apprehension he has at the prospect of labor prices racing to 0. He affirmed that “no country has ever yet arrived at this degree of opulence." But recognized the possibility that it would happen. He was right, and his home country, The United Kingdom is now birthing below the replacement rate.

Herman Daly, an esteemed ecological economist advocates for the steady state economy as a means for stopping the damage done to the environment. His tenants for the national economy are the following:

·       The first institution is to correct inequality to some extent by putting minimum and maximum limits on incomes, maximum limits on wealth, and then redistribute accordingly.

·       The second institution is to stabilise the population by issuing transferable reproduction licenses to all fertile women at a level corresponding with the general replacement fertility in society.

·       The third institution is to stabilise the level of capital by issuing and selling depletion quotas that impose quantitative restrictions on the flow of resources through the economy. Quotas effectively minimise the throughput of resources necessary to maintain any given level of capital (as opposed to taxes, that merely alter the prevailing price structure).

His approach is quite autocratic and would require a lot of ethically questionable initiatives. This is off putting to a lot of steady state proponents who see the movement as more grassroots.

 Kenneth Boulding gave the most intriguing analysis involving the steady state economy in his 1966 essay, The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth. Boulding explained how the flow of natural resources through the economy is a rough measure of the Gross national product (GNP); and, consequently, that society should start regarding the GNP as a cost to be minimized rather than a benefit to be maximized. This is because productivity correlates directly with ecological damage. His work caught my eye due to the title which, thanks to this class, I now know is congruent with my ecological worldview.

                          (Female literacy graph from Worldbank.org)

 Q: Will perspectives that put value more on quality of life over constant growth begin to enter mainstream politics?

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

            7

Chapter 9’s analysis of extinction rates gave me new insight into some of the issues involved in cataloging extinction. I was amazed to read that “we have identified only about 2 million of the world’s estimated 7 million to 10 million and perhaps as many as 100 million species.” The fact that that the estimate of number of species in the world is thought to be between 7 and 100 million shows how little is know about the ecological diversity on the planet. The first means discussed in the text for estimating future extinction rates is to study rates of mammals and birds of which we know the timeline of their extinction. Most of these extinctions have been since humans have been the dominant force on the planet and fossil records make carbondating possible. I wonder if this model can be augmented to adjust for the heartiness of a type of animal over another. For example, I know that large mammals are much more vulnerable to human interference than reptiles. Do scientists use reptile extinction metrics to speculate on timelines of reptile extinctions, or are all types of animals analyzed using the data of mammals and birds? Another approach used to model extinction is correlating habitat destruction with average extinction. For example, “Edward O. Wilson (see Individuals Matter 4.1, p. 81) and Robert MacArthur, suggests that, on average, a 90% loss of land habitat in a given area can cause the extinction of about 50% of the species living in that area.” Using this concept, you can extrapolate, and model future extinction based on expected habitat loss. Much like the first method, I wonder if models are tuned for the specific animals living within. For example, tropical rainforests may lose 70% of animals per 50% habitat destruction, but more hardy animals in northern boreal forests may only lose 20% of animals per 50% percent of habitat destruction. I guess the more data points that you have input in the model the more accurate it can become.

The case study in chapter 9 on honeybee population was shocking. “Over the past 50 years, the European honeybee population in the United States has been cut in half. Since colony collapse disorder (CCD) emerged in 2006 (Core Case Study), commercial beekeepers in the United States have lost 25–50% of their hives on average each year.” In reference to that quote the implications of that math are incredible. If you took an average of loss somewhere in the 30’s% per year (a figure somewhere in between the 25-50% range) you would have a loss in bee populations of over 90 percent when you take the compounded growth since 2006 until 2020. If this is true, the trend seems to point to inevitable extinction.

         Another takeaway from the honeybee case study is that of all of the known reasons that the bees are going extinct, almost all of them are unintended consequences of human action. The first reason listed is a mite that came from bees imported from South America. Another reason for the rapid decline is pesticides that are used on tobacco plants. “Evidence suggests that they can disrupt the nervous systems of bees and can decrease their ability to find their way back to their hives. These chemicals can also disrupt the immune systems of bees and make them vulnerable to the harmful effects of other threats.” Obviously, farmers did not treat their crops with a poison with intent of killing honeybees and I don’t know if they can even be to blame. These tobacco farmers were just acting in the best interest of their yield. How are these people who are only educated on farming supposed to know the chemical effects their pesticides will have on the bees that interact with them? The chemical manufactures on the other hand, should test how their product interacts with animals that will come in contact with it before releasing it. Their oversight is aiding in the eradication of an entire species. Another factor contributing to the decline of the specidces is stress from moving them. The stress makes the bees more “vulnerable to death from parasites, viruses, fungi, and pesticides.” To this I can only ask; why are people trying to move these bees?

In the video assigned for the week’s review, there were several troubling statistics. The one that resonated with me the most was “Given the pace and scale of change, we can no longer exclude the possibility if reaching critical tipping points that could abruptly and irreversibly change living conditions on earth” The phrases that was so worrisome about that was “abruptly and irreversibly”. The current sentiment concerning ecological harm is that we need to lessen up, little by little, until we come to a sustainable level of damage. If we continue with this mindset, it will result in one day, us crossing over into a level that, no matter our technological advancements, will cause irreversible damage. This idea directly conflicts with the idea of spaceship earth, which relies on technology to dig ourselves out of this mess.

 Q: Can chemical companies that have caused the destruction of the honeybee population be held accountable for the damage they’ve done?

Beats, Geo. “Global Wildlife Population Declined By 50% In Last 40 Years - Video Dailymotion.” Dailymotion, Dailymotion, 30 Sept. 2014, www.dailymotion.com/video/x26ybub.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

               8

Chapter 11’s critical thinking section asks “Should fishers who harvest fish from a country’s publicly owned water be required to pay the government fees for the fish they catch? It also asks if I were a commercial fisherman if that would impact my thinking about those fees.

The first step in formulating an option on the circumstance should be understanding the roll of commercial fisherman and what they do in order to catch their fish. There are 4.4 million fishing boats on the world’s oceans, looking to service the growing global demand for fish. Fish and fish products constitute a fifth of the world’s animal protein consumption. Commercial fishing is a sophisticated industry that utilizes advanced technologies such as GPS and sonar, and commercial fishing fleets often use spotter planes and drones. The complex systems employed by these fishermen make them a quite formidable adversary to their pray, which has remained unchanged in equipment for years. Fisherman have begun to overfish many ecosystems causing government to have to take action to preserve their waters for generations to come.

         Commercial fisherman use trawlers which destroy the habitats at the bottom of the ocean and often capture entangled sea turtles. Fisherman also use purse-seine fishing, which is used to catch fish that dwell near the water’s surface. The nets used in this method often kill scores of dolphins. Other callus fishing techniques include long lining and drift net fishing, both of which lead to the death of unwanted fish, mammals and sea turtles. “According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, 57% of the world’s commercial fisheries have been fully exploited and the other 30% have been overfished.

The circumstance posed by commercial fishing poses two distinct problems, first being the negative externalities involved with the current methods of fishing. I don’t think any industry would be tolerated if they conducted themselves the horribly cavalier nature that fishermen have towards making their catch. If in order to harvest chicken, farmers found themselves shooting bald eagles and wolves, the public would likely protest that a more precise method should be implemented. Because we don’t live in the ocean, we don’t see these atrocities being committed but that does not make them any less real. Ethical fishing standards should be implemented to put an end to the needless deaths of other sea life, who are killed not to be eaten, but because they got in the way.

Another problem posed by commercial fishing is that much of the sea appears to be overfished. The book does not touch on the idea of whether the amount of fish demanded, can be responsibly sourced, or if that many fish exist in the ocean to source them responsibly? If enough fish did exist in the ocean to responsibly meet the global demand for them, would it involve fishermen sailing hundreds of miles out of their way, thus rising the input price of the fish for sale? If not, enough fish exist in the ocean to meet the demand, in a responsible means, then are fisherman to blame? This question illicitness arguments about the level of agency between drug dealers and the users who create the job of drug dealing. The fact that the drug dealer scenario doesn’t have a clear-cut answer, would lead me to believe that the fisherman circumstance wouldn’t either. Maybe the case is that the whole world can’t eat wild caught fish, in the quantities that they are used to. Maybe we should be consuming less than a fifth of our diets from fish protein. Just as, we, as a society cannot afford to get energy solely from petroleum without the negative externalities being overwhelming, maybe we need to think of fishing in the same way.

As for governments taxing fisherman for using their waters to conduct their business, that seems like a perfectly reasonable means to regulate the amount of fishing conducted, and thus stopping overfishing. This tax will be baked into the cost of the fish that we buy in the supermarket and will regulate the demand for fish. Though, this would not work for international waters, it could be a good way to regulate that in which you control. If we could only train fish to respect lines drawn in the sea floor.

  Q: If I get laid off before I even start my first job, should I become a fisherman?

-       Maybe I can learn to talk like they did in the Lighthouse

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

                   9

Symphony of the Soil seeks to show the nuance and complexity of one of the earths elements that we often overlook. Soil is not something that many people, even the more eco-conscious, tend to forget about. Not that everyone should wake up every morning thinking “thank god for soil and all of its complexities that allow for life on earth!” but I think its fair to say that most conversation surrounding ecological preservation center around the more dynamic things such as animals or trees. The movie opens with the narrator explaining that it is extremely rare for a planet to have soil. Framing from such a broad scope and building the narrative from soil, allows for the viewer to rethink their perspective of the earth. Thinking from the soil “up” is a more useful way to view the earth, because soil came first, and allows for the energy to flow through the ecological system. If not for soil, we could not have plants. If not for plants, animals would have nothing to eat.

Symphony of Soil did a good job of showing beautiful landscapes to keep the viewer captivated. Soil is obviously not the sexiest topic and watching an hour and 40 mins of pictures of dirt and laboratories would make it hard to stay captivated. The opening in Norway shows a sludge like material that comes from glaciers. This material has no organic matter at all, it is just minerals. For some reason I found this scene to be intoxicating and was really drawn to the look of the sludge. They then show moss and explain how the moss is really good at preserving fossils underneath because of the temperature it helps maintain as well as an acid that it releases. The movie juxtaposes this with the newest of dirt in Hawaii that has only been around for 50ish years.

The movie was made as a form of advocating for organic farming and the importance of preserving soil health. It shows how farmers can ethically work, in large scale and compares that to practices in the developing world. The movie also shows some of the questionable practices of big pharmaceutical corporations (eg Round-Up) and how they have negatively impacted the organic farming movement. The movie explains how over 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year and the average person ingests 4 pounds of them a year. This is shocking considering there isn’t a good understanding of what their effects are on the body.

 Koons Garcia, Deborah, director. Symphony of the Soil.

 P.S

Sorry for this being a little light this week. I am in the process of helping my parents move (great time to be doing that) as well as helping relatives who have contracted Covid with their food shopping and child care.

 Question: If it took my aunt 5 days to hear back for her Covid-19 test, do we have any chance at stopping this?

 10

Chapter 17 discussed environmental hazards and their effect on human health. It began with a case study on mercury. It explained the danger associated with mercury exposure and how it can permanently damage “the human nervous system, brain, kidneys, heart, and lungs”, and how “low levels of mercury can cause birth defects and brain damage in fetuses and young children.” Mercury is naturally released from rocks, soil, volcanoes and from the vaporization from the oceans, but these natural sources comprise of only a third of the mercury reaching the atmosphere in any given year. The remaining two-thirds are man-made, and are emitted through processes such as gold mining, coal burning, cement mixing, meatal smelting, and solid-waste incinerating. On a small scale, mercury can be released through the leaking of broken thermometers, light bulbs, and thermostats. Mercury is a element, which means it can not be broken down further, so it sits idle wherever its resting place is; be it soil, water or animal tissue. Fish are especially susceptible to poisoning through their contact with aquatic bacteria. These bacteria convert inorganic mercury compounds to highly toxic methylmercury. When a Tuna then eats the bacteria, it has the poisons enter its body and sit in its tissues. When humans proceed to eat that fish they ingest the mercury and because of the fact that its an element with no use in animals, it will then sit in our bodies, poisoning us. Ingestion of compromised fish is the source of 75% of all human exposure to mercury. The remaining quarter comes through the inhalation of mercury in a vaporized form. Living near a coal plant can be a significant source of poisoning and studies estimate “30,000 to 60,000 of the children born each year in the United States are likely to have reduced IQs and possible nervous system damage due to such exposure.”

This apprehension towards mercury exposure is a great example of the importance of an empirical approach to health, and the importance of scientific literacy. Reading this case study ushered my knowledge on foundations of latest wave of the anti-vax movement to the front of my mind. Robert F. Kennedy Jr- son of Bobby Kennedy- has seem to make it his life’s purpose to espouse the dangers of vaccines. Kennedy has become a hero of the anti-vax community with his persistent claims that vaccines contain deadly ingredients, particularly a mercury-based preservative known as thimerosal. He claims that the mercury-based toxins are the cause of diseases in children and can cause autism. His claims have ushered in a total rejection of inoculations across the board in some communities and have fueled insidious conspiracies that have mutated to accusations about Bill Gates and his role in the Covid-19 vaccine.

Kennedy is wrong in several ways, first being the use of thimerosal. No vaccines except some formulations of the flu vaccine contain thimerosal, and the type of mercury it uses is ethylmercury, which is cleared from the body quickly and harmlessly. Ethylmercury is formed when the body breaks down thimerosal. Low-level ethylmercury exposures from vaccines are very different from long-term methylmercury (the naturally occurring element) exposures because ethylmercury is broken down by the body differently and clears out of the blood more quickly.

When speaking about the dangers of vaccines, Kennedy uses the term “mercury” and talks about its dangers. As the textbook explained, mercury is a dangerous toxin and if there was liquid mercury in the shots that people receive, he would be right. By capitalizing on the similarities between ethylmercury and the element he was able to successfully fearmonger.

This phenomenon shows the importance of not just a semblance of scientific literacy, but rather the importance of trusting in experts. I don’t understand the mechanics of how ethylmercury passes through the body. I could read a scientific journal that would explain it, but I could never test the hypothesis myself. I, and the vast majority of society do not have the educational foundations needed to prove these things for ourselves, so we rely on scientists and their peer review process to do so. When scientists tell me that vaporized mercury released from coal plants damage the health of those around the plant, I believe it. When I am told that my seasonal flu shot is safe, I know that this has been peer reviewed and verified by many boards and agencies, so I believe it. The example of mercury and its use in and around humans is a perfect example of how the expertise of scientists allow for an element to be used for a health, while a close relative can be insidious.

 Q: Will the USA start making a conscious effort to find a malaria cure when the temperature rises enough for it to proliferate in our southern states?

 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/patient-ed/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-thimerosal-color-office.pdf

https://www.statnews.com/2017/09/22/robert-kennedy-vaccine-safety/

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

               11

The effect of the pollution from the Mississippi rivers runoff is profound. All of the farming that goes on in the Mississippi river basin, eventually runs off into the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana and with it takes the nitrates and phosphates that essential for crop fertilizers. These nutrients cause the significant growth of phytoplankton which eventually die, sink to the bottom, and decompose. Their decomposition is carried out by bacteria, which in turn strip the oxygen from the water in the area. These areas of profound oxygen loss are called dead zones because of no animals can live in this low oxygen environment. Fast moving animals can afford to leave the vicinity but shellfish and bottom dwellers often suffocate as result. The size of the dead zone varies with the amount of water that flows through the Mississippi in any given year but in wet years, the dead zone can be as large as Massachusetts.

Dead zones aren’t unique to the Gulf of Mexico, there are around 400 dead zones found throughout the world, 200 of which are in the US. In their essence dead zones exist by introducing nitrogen faster than the cycle can naturally handle. The nitrogen is a naturally occurring element, but when it is artificially synthesized on a commercial level this can overwhelm the natural cycle.

This example of water pollution was especially interesting to me because it had really no obvious solution. Farmers need the fertilizers in order to produce the massive quantity that is needed to feed this nation. Some farming is done without chemicals, but the pricing often makes it inaccessible to much of the country.

For me, the shocking thing element of the situation was the size of the Mississippi river basin. It spans from the eastern Idaho boarder all the way to western New York, and as high as the Canadian border. This massive area is where a majority of American farming takes place.

 In the developing world, it is estimated that 80-90% of untreated sewage is discharged directly into waterways. In many circumstances people use that water for drinking as well as bathing and cleaning their clothes. In the United States, for water to be considered safe for drinking a half cup sample should contain no colonies of coliform bacteria. Raw sewage contains several million coliform bacteria per half cup. If a person’s drinking water may have, at some point made contact with raw sewage, it is pretty certain that that is no where close to the drinking standards that we aim to uphold and will likely lead to infection or sickness.

 The Colorado River is massively integral to life in the south western United States. The massive river flows 1,400 miles long and through seven states. It generates 14 major dams that provides power for roughly 40 million people or an eighth of the United States population. The river provides irrigation for 15% of the nation’s crops and livestock as well as 90% of the drinking water for Las Vegas, Nevada, and large amounts of the water used in Phoenix, Arizona, and San Diego and Los Angeles. The dependence on the river comes at a cost. When a drought comes about, basins such as Lake Mead get drawn on to dangerous levels and the aquatic health of the river suffers. The damming of the river makes it difficult for large fish to thrive, and the rivers excessive use means that very little water flows through into the Gulf of California, as the river would naturally. The rising population of the southwest is causing strain on the river as a resource- as the population grows, the river remains the same. Interestingly, 41% of the freshwater used in the United States is used to cool electrical power plants. It is also interesting/ sad that 14% of household use of water is due to leaks, equal to the amount of water used for faucets.

 Q: Where does the most pollution in the Hudson come from?

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

                        12

When I signed up for this class, I made my final decision between taking this or Intro to Existentialism. Who knew they would be so similar?

 Discussions concerning the way in which the world will end, I often find to be of the same consequence as theological conjecture concerning the number of angels on the head of a pin. The world is dynamic, and the tools of the future, are unimaginable now. Making sweeping statements on the future is like gambling on if the 5 year old you see playing in the park in going to make it to the NBA. The analysis in the chapter was seemingly sound, who knows if it will hold up.  

 Concerning the consumption of fossil fuel, I recently had the opportunity to listen to a lecture conducted by the head of an energy focused private equity firm. The man considered himself an “oil expert” and the purpose of the lecture was to make sense of the recent negative price of oil. The man personally oversaw the operation of a fleet of oil rigs in Texas and explained how he dealt with the evaporation of demand in the oil market. The man lauded his shrewd hedge position that he had on the price of oil, touting his 170% protection compared to the industry average 38%. While I tried to decipher if I was listening to an oracle or a charlatan he had nonchalantly moved onto something that he seemed to find of little importance “ oil will hit its peak demand in 15ish years and then taper down. I have all of my assets deprecating on that assumption and am leveraged accordingly.” When I got to page 382 of the reading and learned what emission sacrifices were needed in order to say within 2 degrees Celsius of preindustrial temperatures, I hoped my lecturer was wrong. If he is right, we will most definitely surpass the 2-degree threshold.

The implications of us crossing the 3-degree barrier are well known. If we do not, through some synthetic means, remove the emissions from the atom0ostmphee, many lands will become unlivable. The ice caps will completely melt, and rising sea levels will make some current cities unlivable. Current farming strategy will be rendered useless, as extreme weather will become increasingly frequent.

So maybe its safe to assume that the world will warm those few degrees. What will that mean for our species and the world around us? As stated at the beginning of the chapter, we treat setbacks in a way that can be viewed as negative feedback loops. The chapter gave the example of if it becomes hot, we invent air conditioning. This strategy has worked for us in the past and I do not see why we will defect from it in the future. The one problem with this concept is illustrated by the problems associated with exponential growth. In the example of the bacteria in a petri dish, it is shown how blindsided we may be with exponential growth, given a finite landmass. If the population were to grow at an exponential pace, we would likely not be able to see the limit before we hit it. That being said, the population is not expected to grow exponentially, indefinitely. Most experts agree that population will naturally cap itself at around 11 billion around the year 2100. At that point, the global fertility rate will hover around 1.9, slightly below the replacement rate.

As for the exponential demand for energy, it will slowly remedy itself as it becomes more viable to use clean every year. The gross amount of energy should not be considered a problem, but rather the way that it’s derived. Solar panels become more efficient in their ability to capture the true amount of energy they are exposed to, as technology increases. If panels and turbines continue on their path of efficiency, they will eventually become a practical means for serving the global energy demand. If the deriving of energy becomes completely clean by the time that the population stops growing, yes significant damage will be done on the path to that point, but once there, the damage will stop.

So, if the climate is significantly altered, and the population is capped at 11 billion, what will the world look like in 100 years? I think its safe to assume that humans will still exist, in a society much like we live in today. Climate destruction will be met with technological solutions for deriving food and water. Miami may be underwater but that will only mean that Atlanta will grow. As famous Eco-Terrorist, Ted Kaczynski once pointed out people take the path of least resistance in most every situation, so unless goaded to do so, we will keep consuming in a way that will not palpably affect our lives.

 Q: Will pandemics become the new normal in a more globalized world?

“11.” The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene, by Simon L. Lewis and Mark Maslin, Yale University Press, 2018.

[icecreamandknishes]

Decade End Round-Up

Let’s look at the past ten years of food trends.

I started blogging 8 years ago which gave me an insider look into food trends and watched many of them born.

Social media, Instagram have all have a major influence on what we have eaten the past ten years and what we will eat for the next ten.

At the start of the decade food blogs were popular and people gained easy access to recipes and food ideas without having to buy cookbooks.

Yogurt took over our lives when new types such as Greek yogurt became trendy.

In 2012 The National Post started a weekly two page spread on Saturdays called Gastropost, posting photos from Instagram. I became a faithful “Gastroposter” and through it I had the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers and get invitations to food events and meet celebrity chefs.

This is one of the first photos I took in 2012 for the Gastropost. I barely knew how to work a camera and had no clue about operating a computer, except knowing how to turn it on.

Fortunately I had help from my family and they still are talking to me even though my need for help continues. I joined a writing and photography group. There still is so much to learn - just how do I change the white balance on the camera again? 

Pulses, chickpeas, lentils and dried peas found their way onto our plates more frequently the past decade.

2016 was declared Year of the Pulses by the UN and events and promotions were held across the world. 

Canada a major producer and exporter of pulses in the world and had a first class event, bringing together chefs, dietitians, farmers, and media to promote pulses.

Allison Ammeter, Chair, Board of Directors, Pulse Canada, is a farmer who spoke about growing pulses at the event. She gave us an insight into the challenges of farming. Today Canada’s pulse sales are suffering due to political problems with China, a major importer who cancelled its Canadian imports. 

I got to meet many celebrity chefs and attend cooking demonstrations.

At Taste of Toronto Chef Christina Tosi of Milkbar and Masterchef USA fame came over to personally help me during her cooking demonstrations. (I was talking too much and fell behind.) We made cake truffles. 

Tosi’s Compost Cookies and her traditional white birthday cake with sprinkles became very popular. Sprinkles are still very trendy and will continue on into the next decade.

I got up close to Martha Stewart at the Delicious Food Show. After a cake decorating demonstration (truly talented) she walked around the food show, very curious to learn new things.

Some foods have tremendous marketing pushes from their country of origin behind them. Avocados from Mexico showed up everywhere and people happily paid fifteen dollars for avocado spread on toast. Another current trend is Korean food, and the Korean Government had a large booth at Grocery Innovations Show. 

Kimchi has now made its way into many foods we eat.

For kitchen technology the Instant Pot is the piece of equipment to have. Unfortunately I don’t have any room left in my kitchen for one.

Diets have been evolving in popularity, at the start of the decade the low fat diet was still popular and has been replaced by low carbohydrates instead. Then there are the other trendy diets, paleo, keto, meatarian (only eating meat) fruitarian (only eating fruit), various forms of fasting diets, and Weight Watchers re-branded itself as WW. I know I have missed many other trendy diets to list.

Gluten free diets are popular with many more gluten free products available on the market and this trend will continue. 

Vegan was popular but it is now being taken over by the hashtag #plantbased.

The UN and large global organizations are encouraging people to eat more plants to save the planet earth. They also tried to convince people to eat insects as a regular part of their diet but that plan didn’t succeed very well.

There is more awareness of the fragility of the oceans and chefs like Ned Bell of the Vancouver Aquarium is a sustainable seafood ambassador for Ocean Wise to teach and encourage us to be careful of what seafood we eat.

The once ever so famous Chef Mario Batali became a pariah as his sexual harassment of female staff became public. He has now sold his shares in his restaurants and Eataly. The trend towards treating restaurant staff fairly is on the upswing and will hopefully continue into the next decade.

Restaurants are being challenged by high costs and food delivery services. Supermarkets are getting in the game and are selling ready to heat up meals that you can buy and heat up at home and avoid delivery costs.

High rents in the hot real estate market of Toronto has caused the demise of many long standing restaurants.

We get so much advice on what to eat our heads should be spinning. Celebrities, Instagram stars and influencers are making huge amounts of money telling us what to eat whether they are qualified to or not. Some vegans have come out and admitted that they were becoming ill on their diets and have started to add meat and dairy products to their diets.

What I have learned is that even the most benign sounding dietary advice has big money and big companies behind it, including major food companies promoting #plantbased diets as a way to save the earth. 

So what should we eat in the next decade?

Some future trends will be plant based, zero food waste, non alcoholic cocktails made with sophisticated non alcoholic botanicals, food prices are going to keep rising as the carbon tax gets higher and there are concerns about food insecurity and changing of food shopping habits. Food safety is becoming a major concern as there are more frequent recalls of lettuce and other healthy vegetables due to contamination, causing illness, hospitalization and in rare cases death.

What I have learned as a food blogger, is the joy that cooking food and sharing it with friends and family can bring. I know that time and energy are not always in supply today, but what I do recommend is to take the time to cook something, even a little something when you can.

And if you don’t have time or energy to cook, order in something good and share it with friends.

Well, maybe I can always recommend having a nice bowl of Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls. It is winter and a little Jewish penicillin can’t hurt.

Happy New Year. Keep on cooking.

[shirlleycoyle]

Death and Other Gentrifying Neighborhoods

What you’re about to read—a deft, darkly provocative vision of a near-future that encompasses climate change, sexuality, and the politics of gentrification, to note just a few themes here—is one of the richest, most densely idea-packed speculations you’re ever likely to get your eyeballs on. And it could only have come from the mind of Sam J. Miller, SF writer, community organizer, and author of the Nebula-nominated Blackfish City. I won’t spoil this electrifying piece any further—enjoy. -the Ed.

People say you can’t tell the difference when they aren’t wearing their armbands, but that’s bullshit. Anyone with eyes and even a shred of insight can identify a reboot. Especially when one is fucking you. Especially when they aren’t wearing a condom.

“Sorry,” Ejj said, pulling out. “I got carried away.” “It’s cool,” I said. “If I was worried I would have told you to stop.”

I was super worried. Supposedly reboot syphilis was fucking nuts, having evolved to survive the nano-lymph that kept reboots from rotting. I told myself that was propaganda, more bullshit about reboots being sick, evil, dangerous, crazy. But I did not completely convince myself.

Ejj sat. Lit a cigarette. Air horns sounded, outside. Stalled boats on the Biscayne Boulevard canal. Miami mid-afternoon; just another coastal city abandoned by almost everyone, reclaimed by reboots. I hated my job, but it did allow for moments like this one.

His body was beautiful. I let my fingers trace his jawline, the stubble that would never grow longer than it was. Shame leaked into my arteries ( corpse-fucker) but the sensation was not completely unpleasant. A spatter of raised flesh lumps lay across his stomach. Posthumous grafting. “Is that where it happened?” I asked.

“It’s rude to ask that,” he said. “I’m sorry—I didn’t know.”

I did know. But he’d just ejaculated inside me, so I figured we had reached a higher level of intimacy. Apparently Ejj agreed, because he laughed and said, “Yeah, that’s it—ICE camp perimeter bomb shrapnel. He bled out on the way back to his cell.”

This surprised me. Most reboots didn’t want to know about the people who had occupied their bodies before. “Do you remember it?” I whispered, almost against my will.

He shook his head sadly, but only after a very slight pause. Like maybe he did, but didn’t care to share something so personal and painful. That’s what had caught my eye, when I’d seen him on the sex app. The thumbnail was all brute scowling studliness, but then I’d clicked in and the full-screen version showed me something else in the eyes. Something fragile.

“I know why you’re here,” he said, and put a hand on my thigh. “Of course you do,” I said, grinning. “No,” he said, abruptly. “I know why you’re in Miami.”

I held tight to the smile on my face, so he wouldn’t see the sudden fear.

“You’re here working on the server farms. Aren’t you?” “Yeah,” I said.

There was no sense lying about it. Telecom employees were flooding the flooded cities. The ones that hadn’t prepared for the rising seas, and died, and been revived by the reboots. Where better to build the new solar-powered water-cooled server banks, than the cities that had nothing left but sunlight and seawater? The fact that doing so would cause massive disruptions to the people who lived there didn’t seem to bother anyone. Because the people who lived there were dead.

Death is just another country to colonize, my supervisor Mitchell had told me, before my boat went east from New Orleans. The afterlife is one more neighborhood to gentrify. He paid me shit and he thought he was a poet. He was also a fellow reboot fetishist, and thought that made us kindred souls. Of course he swore it wasn’t a fetish. So did I. Fetish sounded bad. Just a preference, our profiles said.

But, yeah, it sort of was a fetish. I could see that, now, with Ejj’s sad eyes on mine. He was a person. My fantasies of being held down and ravaged by a corpse hadn’t taken that into account. I felt bad enough about it that when he said, “Come with me? I want to show you something,” I said yes, even though I knew better.

One on one they’re harmless, Mitchell had said, wiping wet egg from his mouth, mostly. Sometimes you get one that’s, I dunno, glitchy, crazy, but mostly they know better. When they get together, that’s when you need to worry. We’ve been hearing about these reboot resistance cells… who knows when they might start acting crazy. You don’t wanna be in the wrong place at the wrong time, end up as That Guy who gets kidnapped and decapitated on camera.

Mitchell disgusted me, and he worked me too hard, but that didn’t make him wrong. Miami was hot and wet, when we walked out into it. I blinked in the bright light. Ejj did not. I wondered if he’d overclocked his eyes. We stepped onto the pontoon walkway and headed west.

“So your” (don’t say ‘predecessor,’ they hate that) “body… it was a refugee in an ICE camp,” I said, trying to sound unafraid. “What about your mind? Who was he? Or she.”

“The dichotomy is a false one,” he said. “Thinking like that—body versus brain—is exactly why pre-corpses like you got us into this mess.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, not flinching at the slur. “I’m the product of an ignorant and biased system. Enlighten me. Deconstruct that dichotomy.”

Ejj held eye contact, scanning my face for sincerity. “Fine,” he said. “So, sixty years ago, we develop the tech to do brain uploads. Man’s triumph over death, right? Live forever, if you can afford it. The developing world has too many young corpses and the developed one has too many old minds. Two birds, one stone. Reboot the corpses, slot them full of nano-lymph so they never rot or age, wipe the brain, upload a new one. Except, surprise. The mind is only half of who you are. The body is the other half. Put an old brain into a fresh body and you don’t get to start over—you get a completely new person.”

Wind hit me. Colder than I’d been expecting. Soon the sun would set. We were leaving the heart of the reboot settlement, approaching the server farms that already existed.

“A woman’s new body goes into full PTSD fight response when her husband of forty years touches her. A famous concert pianist’s new hands can’t make chords. And a thousand other tiny differences. Are you really so ignorant you’ve never heard any of this?”

“No,” I said. I’d read all the best reboot authors. Memorized all their music. But I wasn’t about to say that to Ejj. Some folks got touchy about pre-corpses laying claim to their culture. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“I’m my own person,” he said. “I’m not Ellicent Troff, senior vice president of communications at Smeerp!, or Jagajeet Bahawalanzai, Bangladeshi mason who died outside of Trenton. I’m me.”

The intensity of his gaze unsettled me. I remembered his picture on the app. What if it wasn’t fragility I’d seen in his eyes? What if it was crazy? Like any enlightened person, I knew it was mostly lies, when the media said reboots were dangerous. The news stories about assaults and murders and drug trafficking by reboots—I figured these were statistical anomalies, repeated only to sow fear and support for pro-incarceration politicians. But here, now, in the dying sunlight, alone with a beautiful man who had already ejaculated inside me and could murder me effortlessly, I was not so confident.

“People paid millions to bring their loved ones back, but what they got were strangers. And these strangers started walking out on them. Forming reboot settlements, far away from the pre-corpses who didn’t understand them. Suddenly no one was in a hurry to triumph over death anymore.”

We’d reached the servers. Great flippered pods, rotating too slowly to be seen by the naked eye. Bored people in canoes paddled slowly up and down the expanse of them, shotguns sleeping in their laps. Already, they were too closely packed on the side streets. Soon the pods would spread east, right down the center of the boulevard canal, disrupting the reboot thoroughfare.

“Until these new server farms. Suddenly you could upload into the cloud and live forever that way. Pay poor people shit to take care of you. Pre-corpses and reboots alike. And if it wasn’t really you that got uploaded, who gave a shit? You were just data. You wouldn’t be making your loved ones’ lives miserable until they died and joined you. You’re a tertiary security analyst, right?”

“How did you know that?” I asked. “We’re blowing this server strip up next week,” he said, unsmilingly. “Wait—what?” “Our Opa-Locka fish farm has been diverting waste for explosives. We’ve got enough to take out almost half of it.”

I stammered, “You know that’s crazy, right? This is barely a tenth of the total servers in Miami alone. To say nothing of the state, the eastern seaboard, the fucking planet…” “We know all that.” “And… the system has massive redundancies built in. At any given moment the files on this server are stored on 499 others, scattered around the globe. Blowing this one up will have no impact on the people stored here.” “Won’t it, though? There’s a psychological value, to an attack like that. Lets them know we’re not so weak they can keep fucking us raw.”

I winced, at the implied insult. “But they won’t—” “They’ll be forced to increase security. Not just here—at all their server farms. That’ll exponentially increase the cost of operations.”

The protests died in my mouth. It would not shut.

“Why do you think I picked you?” he asked. “You… picked me? I’m the one who hit you up.” “You hit up ten of us this morning, didn’t you? I know you did. Half of us were sitting together at the time.”

Fear had frozen my whole body. I couldn’t make myself nod, but I did not need to.

“Why are you telling me all this?” I finally found the strength to ask. Ejj laughed. “What, you think we’re going to kill you?” “Or kidnap me,” I said. “Maybe cut my head off on the air, later.” Ejj’s laugh cut out abruptly. “You people are seriously sick.” He kept walking. I followed, too frightened not to. Who might be watching, from the big broken-glass towers that surrounded us?

“You could run tell your superiors,” he said. “Maybe they could avert this attack. But we’d strike elsewhere. And they’d be forced to beef up security all the same. That, too, would increase the cost of operations. A very acceptable outcome, as far as we’re concerned. But there’s another option here. One where you pretend this whole conversation never happened.”

“Why would I…”—but my voice trailed off, thinking of Mitchell, cheerfully fucking the dead boys he’d made homeless.

“We’ve been watching you for a while,” Ejj said. “I’ve seen your posts. I know your heart’s in the right place. But I also know you haven’t fully understood the consequences of your actions. You think because you scold someone for calling us zombies online your conscience is clear, but then you help the people destroying our homes. Between getting called names and having my community dismantled, I’d much rather you call me names.”

A bell clanged, on a buoy somewhere. Dogs barked. Chickens squabbled. This wasn’t just where people lived. This was someone’s home. Was Mitchell what I wanted to be?

“Let me guess,” Ejj said. “They told you that loyal service to the company would be rewarded. That they’d upload you, once you got to a certain level of corporate investiture. Didn’t they?”

I didn’t answer. He knew it was true.

“Did you ever stop to think about how stupid that is?”

I shook my head. I really hadn’t.

“There’s fifty thousand tertiary security analysts at your company alone. To say nothing of primary, secondary… at all the other telecoms… Server capacity is, what, an additional five thousand uploads a year?” “If we keep growing…” “I know that’s what you tell yourself. Why you do what you do, for them. When you know, on some level, that it’s wrong. And you have to see that the math doesn’t track.” The pity in Ejj’s eyes opened up a tiny crack inside me. “Whether they’ll find a way to fire you before your investiture, or just fucking lie and say they uploaded you, or something else entirely, I don’t know.”

A septic smell wafted south.

“You could help us out a hell of a lot, Connor.” His hand was warm on my arm. Ejj sat. Called hello to a woman in a passing skiff. Her smile was magnificent. Between Mitchell and Ejj, there was really no question.

I sat. My bare feet slid into the cold salty water. Several stories above us, a child’s scream collapsed into laughter.

“Hypothetically,” I whispered. “What would you want me to do?”

Sam J. Miller is a writer and a community organizer. His debut novel The Art of Starving (HarperTeen) was one of NPR’s Best Books of 2017, and won the Andre Norton Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction Novel. His current novel, Blackfish City (Ecco Press; Orbit) was a “Best Book of the Year” according to Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and was called ” an action-packed science fiction thriller” and “surprisingly heartwarming” by the Washington Post. His stories have appeared in over a dozen “year’s best” anthologies. He’s a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Workshop, and a winner of the Shirley Jackson Award. He lives in New York City, and at samjmiller.com.

Death and Other Gentrifying Neighborhoods syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[yesintrotoenvironmentalstudies10]

midterm

1

After reading the first chapter of the textbook a few things stood out to me. First, and most simply of them all, is that though the United States only makes up about 4.3% of the world population use 30% of the world’s resources. This statistic was initially asinine but as I thought more about it, it became slightly more comprehensible. Being the largest developed nation in the world it makes sense that the US contributes so significantly to consumption. In an effort to defend my country from this blemish I came up with the hypothesis that this number may be so high due to the fact that much of our production is in high overhead industries such as auto production. We then export these cars to other countries which would cause us to bear the brunt of the resource consumption. Again, that’s my best attempt at defending the US, but it might be the case of aiming to defend the indefensible.

Further in the chapter I came across Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren’s IPAT model. the 1970s concept stated that environmental impact could be measured as the product of Population x Affluence x Technology. Population and affluence are always a positive (meaning having a poor effect on the environment) affect on the calculation and that technology could be positive and negative. What I found to be significant about the model is the fact that affluence in all instances is positive. This gave a good insight into the outlook people had on the environment in the 70s. Obviously the correlation of affluence and negative environmental impact is undeniable, as most all substantial environmental damage is carried out by wealthy nations. That being the case, in the last few years it’s been the prerogative of wealthy nations to be environmentally friendly. Scandinavian nations, who are among the wealthiest in the world have pioneered a myriad environmentalist prerogatives. This can be seen in statistics concerning carbon emissions per capita. Despite being much wealthier, the average Swede emits roughly half the amount of carbon that the average Libyan does on an annual basis. The Swede could afford to emit much more carbon if he or she felt inclined to, but wont because of their respect of the environment. This is common sense to anyone alive now but gives an interesting glimpse into the zeitgeist of the 1970’s. In that era no one would think to care for the environment, whereas now, a many people who are living wealthy lifestyles make some form of an effort to be ecofriendly.

The textbook soon addressed the issue of the large swaths of the developing world soon becoming much wealthier and the negative impact that will have on the environment. I found this to be a bit of an ethical timebomb as well as an ecological one. When places like Sub-Saharan Africa become wealthy are we, as Westerners really going to have the right to lecture them on why they should buy a Nissan Leaf over a Mercedes AMG. We have indulged ourselves in many luxuries that are unsustainable and some of us have worked at tapering back on some luxuries. That being the case, are people in the developing world supposed to bypass the window of hedonistic, reckless environmental abandon that many Westerners were able to enjoy. Maybe it’s the responsibility of the West to create green alternatives to those luxuries, so that people would not be forced to choose environmental consciousness over quality of experience.

Based on my ecological footprint quiz, there would need to be 7 Earths to sustain my living habits. My carbon footprint accounted for nearly 60% of my total ecological footprint. I feel that this number may be particularly high due to the fact that I fly quite often. My first blog post had a fairly callous response, explaining how I felt apathetic about the situation. As the semester has progressed my feeling is closer to actionable guilt, rather than apathy. I have learned so much in term of what is causing ecological damage, and what measures I can take to cut back at the damage that I am doing.

 Q: What is the easiest way to a have a significant impact on your ecological footprint?

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

“Where in the World Do People Emit the Most CO2?” Our World in Data, ourworldindata.org/per-capita-co2.

    2

My science education has been quite weak. I haven’t taken a science since being at Fordham and in high school I avoided taking any advanced sciences classes. I, for whatever reason always seemed to be sure that I wouldn’t pursue any future in science, a self-fulfilling prophecy. My years of pigheadedness came to an end, culminating in an “environmentalistic” type catharsis which occurred this summer. Sparing superfluous details, I decided that in my senior year I should take a science class to help remedy my scientific illiteracy. This was necessary given my mounting frustration from my inability to make sense of scientific journals that I had attempted to read.

My training in as a finance major has taught me two somewhat unique ways of approaching situations, first of which is to be open to any given outcome. Being rooted or making emotional type decisions can skew decision making and result in error. The other means of approaching problems that is taught to finance majors is leveraging data. The multiple statistics and calculus math classes we take train us to trust data over intuition. These heuristics are important in both science and finance. This is all to say that when approaching chapter 2, a scientific chapter I did not feel ill-equipped.

The first thing in chapter 2 that stuck with me was the excerpt about Easter Island. When I took biology in high school, I distinctly remember being taught the story of how the Polynesians, shortsightedly, used all of their natural resources at an unstainable rate until their island was uninhabitable. My teacher used this as a parable (of sorts) of the dependence humans have on fossil fuels and how it’ll eventually be our undoing. The textbooks clarification of the situation was shocking. I found it unbelievable that scientists were off about what point the island was colonized by 2,100 years. I was also shocked that the island was populated 800 years ago, and that this there is no records of this. It is unnerving how easy it was for portions of history to be completely lost through the eradication of the native people. For me, this narrative perfectly exemplifies how the bias of the era, can affect scientific thought. The old theory did not entertain the fact that European settlers could have contributed to the destruction of the island. It seems like a pretty easy conclusion to make when you look at the European effect on the Natives of North America. It has been widely understood for some time now that the diseases carried by the settlers contributed to the demise of many of the native populations. I suspect willful ignorance allowed narrative of the demise the Ester Island people to remain incorrect for so long.

I don’t know where I heard the joke, but I do remember at some point someone saying somewhere that the most environmentally friendly thing you could ever do is die. Though said in jest, it’s true (especially given the fact that there would need to be over 7 earths for the earth’s population to afford to live like me). This issue concerning population growth and environmental health was first championed by Thomas Malthus, who noted that human population seems to grow exponentially, while food production capacity seems to grow linearly. Though food production is no longer the most pressing threat as Malthus thought it would be in 1798, human population growth is as big of a threat to the future of humanity as it has ever been. As chapter 6 notes, through our use of technology, humans have essentially broken through any carrying capacity that we would naturally have. This has resulted in our rigorous growth since the scientific revolution. As things such as vertical farming and laboratory grown meat become more viable, it would be foolish to out any cap on the capacity of the human population. That being said, 82% of the world’s population live in “developing countries” and a billion people live on about $1.25 a day. The coming years may cause us to grapple with allowing the population to grow, when so many live in squalor.  

Population growth poses a significant threat, as the developing world becomes more numerous and wealthier. Demand for things such as cars and energy grows as these places become wealthier. Recalling my ecological footprint quiz, I now understand how environmentally unsustainable it would be if the entire world lived as I do (granted I am worse than most of the developed world).

The textbook gave detailed information into the nuances of population growth concerning all relevant factors. It did not, however, comment on the ethical issues encountered in the population problem. The textbook makes it abundantly clear that the population growth in the developed world will wreak havoc on the environment, but what I wondered is what can be done about this? It almost seems as if the advancement of the quality of life of the 82% of the earth’s population comes at the cost of the health of the environment. I feel that the crux of environmental science should be focusing on reconciling these seemingly mutually exclusive options.

 Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

3

Not knowing that it was a Big History book, I had finished Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari this summer and thoroughly enjoyed it (enough to buy Harari’s next book). The book followed the history of humanity, weaving in modern developments in biology, anthropology, economics, environmental studies, geology and many other contemporary disciplines. The result was a 640 page book that chronicled the first Homo animals to present day. Big History allows for the reader to gain a sort of perspective that cannot be achieved using the traditional method of historical writing. Very rarely in Big History does the narrative get entrenched in a specific event, unless that event can be used to convey a more significant zeitgeist. This causes the reader to comprehend a more thematic feel for any given period rather than date specific or event specific narrative. Sapiens taught me not only new facts, but it also taught me new ways to think about time as well as gave me wide perspective on humanity and our choices.

In looking at some of the criticisms of Big History I see that many of them have qualms with the lack of humanism in its recounting. Frank Furedi, an outward critic of Big History takes issue of the scope of the study. In his 2013 essay ‘Big History’: the annihilation of human agency Furedi takes aim at the scientific lens that Big History implements. He argues, “You won’t only encounter humanity, in fact; Christian (a prominent Big Historian) is proud of the fact that on his Big History course the species Homo sapiens is not even mentioned until halfway through. Is this really humanist? It looks to me more like the reduction of humanity to a biological species, and a sign that we are becoming increasingly estranged from ideas of civilization, culture and community” Furedi invokes Hegel’s understanding of what makes history in saying that history, “begins at the point where rationality begins to enter into worldly existence’. He said the point of departure of history is when events begin to be interpreted and recorded as history. He said history requires concepts of individuality, rights and law, a ‘universally binding directive’, institutionalized through the State.” I had never thought too much into what really comprises a history, but now when confronted with two irreconcilable positions I find myself defending the perspective of Big History. Furedi, in his attack on the discipline, argues that Big History “self-consciously eradicates the conceptual distinction between nature and culture, between the material and the spiritual, between the human and the non-human.” and I agree with him. Big History aims to tell the history of time, irrespective of how Homo Sapiens find themselves weaving in and out it. Furedi’s qualms seems to be an amalgamation of the seemingly automatic reaction that one would have to removing the importance of humanity in terms of time, as well as a healthy skepticism of the sciences that are necessary in constructing a factually correct Big History. History, as we were all taught in school, is a telling of events from a perspective, that helps us come to a common understanding on an event. Young children in most the United States are taught that the United States Civil War was fought to end Slavery. Very rarely, but definitely in some instances, Students are taught that the war was fought on the grounds of states rights, and the Northern States being too aggressive with their Southern contemporaries. When this same event is taught with those different perspectives at the fulcrum, there can be friction when the subject is discussed between members of each camp. The two won’t disagree on the date of the Appomattox or the wording of the Emancipation Proclamation, but they will disagree on the fundamental grounds of the war. This problem highlights some issues that History has. When the answers can’t aren’t empirical, politics seeps in adds an opaqueness to something that we all wish to be binary. I see Big History as a means of overcoming the seemingly inherent need for politics in history. In reading Sapiens I realized that Harari rarely finds himself needing to take a political stance on any given event, but rather allows the massive amount of context and perspective of human respect to allow him to avoid taking political stances. He can say, with impunity, that the United States Civil War was a horrible blemish on the nation as well as evoke the context of the European humanist/ abolitionist movement to explain the war. Harari can also use statistics about the industrial development in the North vs the South as well as context of the state of the world trade economy and how that may have impacted the starting of the war. This Big History perspective allows for minimal political input as well as keeps a narrative flowing. The United States Civil War, though important to those in this country, is a relatively small blip in the history of the Earth. Knowing how the war fits into the history of everything is as important as knowing the details of the war itself. As our scientific capacity improve, and we are able to learn more about the events that happened in the “pre-historical” era of time, I see Big History becoming much more relevant. As improvements in carbon-dating and other sciences that aid in discovery of the past expand we will no longer be beholden to the fallibility of written history but will be allowed to know empirically about what has happened on the Earth.

 Q: Will big history ever become a commonly taught in public schools?

“Big History.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_History.

Furedi, Frank. “'Big History': the Annihilation of Human Agency.” Spiked Big History the Annihilation of Human Agency Comments, 24 July 2013, www.spiked-online.com/2013/07/24/big-history-the-annihilation-of-human-agency/.

Harari, Yuval Noaḥ. Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind. Harper Perennial, 2018.

4

Understanding environmental worldviews are important because everyone falls into a view, and that view will dictate their decision making. Chapter 25 breaks down worldviews starting with a Human-Centered Environmental worldviews. These views focus primarily on the needs and wants of people and are predicated on the belief that the earth exists for our benefit. The book specified this worldview further into four subcategories: The No-problem School, The Free-market School, The Spaceship-earth School and The Stewardship Worldview. The No-problem school looks to take as little agency as possible for environmental damage because technology will take care of the problems later. The Free-market School believes that decision making should be conducted through the willing transactions between individuals with only regard for those participating in those markets. Since trees and dolphins don’t participate in the exchange of capital, their interests are neglected (unless market participants act on their behalf). The Spaceship-earth school takes on the belief that that the Earth is like a spaceship that we can learn to master and “provide a good life for everyone without overloading natural systems.” The Stewardship worldview has humans taking environmental responsibility for the planet. American farmer, philosopher, and poet Wendell Berry took issue with this view because as he believed, the earth doesn’t need saving. He, along with other scholars believe that the earth has flourished for 3.8 billion years despite many environmental fluctuations. To those who share Berry’s view “what needs saving and reform is the current human civilization that is degrading its life-support system and threatening up to half of the world’s species with extinction.” These Human Centric views, on their face seem to be the anthesis of environmentalism but I don’t see any reason to right ALL them off as inherently detrimental to the environment. The Spaceship Earth worldview seemed attractive to those who believe that our technologies will allow us to conquer nature completely. Based on human history, and our rapid technological growth in the last 400 odd years, I see no reason to believe that humans will not be able to wrangle the amount of carbon we emit and stop the damage done by our developed population. The key question is how quickly science will allow for this, and what will the ramifications of untreated pollution for years do on the natural environment as well as our health. Chapter 25 also takes on Life Centered and Earth Centered views. A Life Centered view believes “we have an ethical responsibility to avoid hastening the extinction of species through our activities. Those with an earth-centered worldview believe “that we have an ethical responsibility to take a wider view and preserve the earth’s biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the functioning of its life-support systems for the benefit of the earth’s life, now and in the future” A subcategory of the Earth-centered worldview would be the environmental wisdom worldview which takes the opposite stance of the Spaceship view in the way that it sees humans as animals who are beholden to the earth just the same any other creature. It seeks us work with nature rather than conquer it, as a means for preserving the natural world. I find this worldview to completely disregarding the nature of animals. Animals always seek to dominate the world around them to suit themselves. Beavers make damns woodpeckers ruin trees, early sapiens would burn down fields to find animals hiding within. The spaceship view makes sense to me because it doesn’t compromise progress/ growth for the sake of the environment, but rather seeks to reconcile the two. In researching Leopold’s Land Ethic (the hyperlink wouldn’t work but I went to a website devoted to his work), I found his concepts to be interesting. According to his website, land ethic is the belief that “the relationships between people and land are intertwined: care for people cannot be separated from care for the land. A land ethic is a moral code of conduct that grows out of these interconnected caring relationships.” I think this concept can be easily incorporated into the concept of full cost pricing. Because the abuse of land ends up being a direct affront to everyone else in form of negative externalities, Leopold’s concept can be enacted through the means of full-cost pricing.

 Q: What would it look like if everyone running for president had to give their environmental world view?

“The Land Ethic.” The Aldo Leopold Foundation, www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

   5

Chapter 23 concerns environmentalism and economics. I found the portion titled Ways to Value Natural Capital to be particularly insightful, especially the developments made by Robert Costanza. His progress in quantifying the worth of services provided by the earth’s major biomes, found that they contribute at least $125 trillion of service per year. This figure is not the same as the value of the sale of the elements that make up those biomes but rather how the existence of those biomes gives us value through things such as the creation of oxygen. That 125$ trillion in value is nearly twice the world’s total spending on goods and services. The textbook points out that” according to neoclassical economists, a product or service has no economic value until it is sold in the marketplace, and thus because they are not sold in the marketplace, ecosystem services have no economic value.” This means that using traditional economics it is hard to have individuals respect or acknowledge the use they are getting from the natural world. I feel that its value could be better realized if it is seen in the same light as government. The government is integral to the cohesion of the economy by protecting peoples right to property and its involvement in the maintenance of the central bank. We, as taxed citizens, pay for the maintenance of the government so that we can conduct business peaceably. The maintenance of the environment is just as important in a business sense as the maintenance of the govement, so maybe, we should pay into the upkeep of the environment in the same way that we pay for the upkeep of the govement. Corporations that operate through the sale of these biomes (e.g. logging, farming etc.) are profiting off diminishing the 125$ trillion in value in free service the rest of humanity needs. Maybe a portion of the price of the positive externality that is removed should be built into the cost of buying their product, in an effort to collect back some of the damage done. For example, adding an additional 11% to a 5-dollar piece of lumber and taking that 55 cents to offset the damage done. The textbook discuses the possibility of discounting the future value of an ecological entity in an effort to quantify its value today, since many of these biological elements are finite and in many cases virtually irreplaceable. My suggestion is more of a negative interest rate to preserve the natural good. Later in the chapter the concepts of Paul Hawken are introduced who furthers the concept of valuing natural capital. Hawken an environmental champion, as well as a business man, believes in the importance of full-cost pricing, which is the concept of imbedding the ecological damage that a good does, into the cost of that good. On the subject of the current means of valuing goods Hawken said H “we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP, and patting ourselves on the back. I liked his stance on not compromising growth for the sake of environmentalism but rather reconciling the two. He advocates for the use of govement subsides and taxes to encourage environmentally conscious growth. On the future of the economy Hawken says: “We have the capacity to create a remarkably different economy: one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security.” This shift “is based on the simple but powerful proposition that all natural capital must be valued. … If we have doubts about how to value a 500-yearold tree, we need only ask how much would it cost to make a new one from scratch? Or a new river? Or a new atmosphere?” This quote reminds me of the previous weeks readings concerning environmental worldviews. I feel that quote can be seen as congruent with, along with other options, the Spaceship worldview. Hawken’s quote elicits the concept of mastering our earth as a means of maintaining its environmental health. Though it’s quite likely that he asked about the possibility of building a new river or atmosphere because they are seemingly impossible tasks, I think it is worth considering his proposition at face value. What if we do challenge ourselves to rebuild the damage that we have done to the atmosphere. What would that cost? Could that cost be funded by implementing a full-cost pricing type tax to the goods and services that cause its destruction in the first place?  

Q: What governing body could implement and administer the revenues associated with a full-cost tax on goods and services?

  Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

  6

Chapter 6, an investigation into population growth, is something that I have always been interested in. In preparing to present on the subject I met with my two groupmates to discuss the chapter and the important elements. The one thing that we all found to be shocking was the correlation of women’s education and the number of children birthed. Poor women who cannot read often have an average of 5-7 children, compared to 2 or fewer children in societies where most women can read. This statistic on its face is quite upsetting but considering the improvement in female literacy, it has a silver lining.

For the sake of the presentation I specified on consumption and the steady state economy. In doing research I was surprised to see that there was a lot of literature on the subject from many of classic economists. Adam Smith, in Wealth of Nations, started to take notice of the population progressions of foreign nations and how that effected their economy. He noticed that Holland seemed to be approaching population stagnation and this propeted him to opine on what the economic ramifications may be “In a country which had acquired that full complement of riches which the nature of its soil and climate, and its situation with respect to other countries, allowed it to acquire; which could, therefore, advance no further, and which was not going backwards, both the wages of labour and the profits of stock would probably be very low. In a country fully peopled in proportion to what either its territory could maintain or its stock employ, the competition for employment would necessarily be so great as to reduce the wages of labour to what was barely sufficient to keep up the number of labourers, and, the country being already fully peopled, that number could never be augmented. In a country fully stocked in proportion to all the business it had to transact, as great a quantity of stock would be employed in every particular branch as the nature and extent of the trade would admit. The competition, therefore, would everywhere be as great, and consequently the ordinary profit as low as possible.” His speculation on the health of a county that is “fully peopled” showed the apprehension he has at the prospect of labor prices racing to 0. He affirmed that “no country has ever yet arrived at this degree of opulence." But recognized the possibility that it would happen. He was right, and his home country, The United Kingdom is now birthing below the replacement rate.

Herman Daly, an esteemed ecological economist advocates for the steady state economy as a means for stopping the damage done to the environment. His tenants for the national economy are the following:

·       The first institution is to correct inequality to some extent by putting minimum and maximum limits on incomes, maximum limits on wealth, and then redistribute accordingly.

·       The second institution is to stabilise the population by issuing transferable reproduction licenses to all fertile women at a level corresponding with the general replacement fertility in society.

·       The third institution is to stabilise the level of capital by issuing and selling depletion quotas that impose quantitative restrictions on the flow of resources through the economy. Quotas effectively minimise the throughput of resources necessary to maintain any given level of capital (as opposed to taxes, that merely alter the prevailing price structure).

His approach is quite autocratic and would require a lot of ethically questionable initiatives. This is off putting to a lot of steady state proponents who see the movement as more grassroots.

 Kenneth Boulding gave the most intriguing analysis involving the steady state economy in his 1966 essay, The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth. Boulding explained how the flow of natural resources through the economy is a rough measure of the Gross national product (GNP); and, consequently, that society should start regarding the GNP as a cost to be minimized rather than a benefit to be maximized. This is because productivity correlates directly with ecological damage. His work caught my eye due to the title which, thanks to this class, I now know is congruent with my ecological worldview.

                          (Female literacy graph from Worldbank.org)

 Q: Will perspectives that put value more on quality of life over constant growth begin to enter mainstream politics?

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

  7

Chapter 9’s analysis of extinction rates gave me new insight into some of the issues involved in cataloging extinction. I was amazed to read that “we have identified only about 2 million of the world’s estimated 7 million to 10 million and perhaps as many as 100 million species.” The fact that that the estimate of number of species in the world is thought to be between 7 and 100 million shows how little is know about the ecological diversity on the planet. The first means discussed in the text for estimating future extinction rates is to study rates of mammals and birds of which we know the timeline of their extinction. Most of these extinctions have been since humans have been the dominant force on the planet and fossil records make carbondating possible. I wonder if this model can be augmented to adjust for the heartiness of a type of animal over another. For example, I know that large mammals are much more vulnerable to human interference than reptiles. Do scientists use reptile extinction metrics to speculate on timelines of reptile extinctions, or are all types of animals analyzed using the data of mammals and birds? Another approach used to model extinction is correlating habitat destruction with average extinction. For example, “Edward O. Wilson (see Individuals Matter 4.1, p. 81) and Robert MacArthur, suggests that, on average, a 90% loss of land habitat in a given area can cause the extinction of about 50% of the species living in that area.” Using this concept, you can extrapolate, and model future extinction based on expected habitat loss. Much like the first method, I wonder if models are tuned for the specific animals living within. For example, tropical rainforests may lose 70% of animals per 50% habitat destruction, but more hardy animals in northern boreal forests may only lose 20% of animals per 50% percent of habitat destruction. I guess the more data points that you have input in the model the more accurate it can become.

The case study in chapter 9 on honeybee population was shocking. “Over the past 50 years, the European honeybee population in the United States has been cut in half. Since colony collapse disorder (CCD) emerged in 2006 (Core Case Study), commercial beekeepers in the United States have lost 25–50% of their hives on average each year.” In reference to that quote the implications of that math are incredible. If you took an average of loss somewhere in the 30’s% per year (a figure somewhere in between the 25-50% range) you would have a loss in bee populations of over 90 percent when you take the compounded growth since 2006 until 2020. If this is true, the trend seems to point to inevitable extinction.

           Another takeaway from the honeybee case study is that of all of the known reasons that the bees are going extinct, almost all of them are unintended consequences of human action. The first reason listed is a mite that came from bees imported from South America. Another reason for the rapid decline is pesticides that are used on tobacco plants. “Evidence suggests that they can disrupt the nervous systems of bees and can decrease their ability to find their way back to their hives. These chemicals can also disrupt the immune systems of bees and make them vulnerable to the harmful effects of other threats.” Obviously, farmers did not treat their crops with a poison with intent of killing honeybees and I don’t know if they can even be to blame. These tobacco farmers were just acting in the best interest of their yield. How are these people who are only educated on farming supposed to know the chemical effects their pesticides will have on the bees that interact with them? The chemical manufactures on the other hand, should test how their product interacts with animals that will come in contact with it before releasing it. Their oversight is aiding in the eradication of an entire species. Another factor contributing to the decline of the specidces is stress from moving them. The stress makes the bees more “vulnerable to death from parasites, viruses, fungi, and pesticides.” To this I can only ask; why are people trying to move these bees?

In the video assigned for the week’s review, there were several troubling statistics. The one that resonated with me the most was “Given the pace and scale of change, we can no longer exclude the possibility if reaching critical tipping points that could abruptly and irreversibly change living conditions on earth” The phrases that was so worrisome about that was “abruptly and irreversibly”. The current sentiment concerning ecological harm is that we need to lessen up, little by little, until we come to a sustainable level of damage. If we continue with this mindset, it will result in one day, us crossing over into a level that, no matter our technological advancements, will cause irreversible damage. This idea directly conflicts with the idea of spaceship earth, which relies on technology to dig ourselves out of this mess.

 Q: Can chemical companies that have caused the destruction of the honeybee population be held accountable for the damage they’ve done?

Beats, Geo. “Global Wildlife Population Declined By 50% In Last 40 Years - Video Dailymotion.” Dailymotion, Dailymotion, 30 Sept. 2014, www.dailymotion.com/video/x26ybub.

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2018.

    Practicum:

My practicum project will consist of a self environmental audit. I am currently taking 5 classes, all of which meet once a week, as well as studying for a governmental exam that I will need to have before graduation in order to begin work as my contract stipulates. The preparation for this exam is arduous and in addition to my classes has made it difficult to do any form of extracurricular. I have begun preparing for the audit by taking note of my weekly eating habits and tracking where my food comes from. I have recently learned that the juice that I buy weekly comes from Egypt which is ecologically propitious. I will also attempt to model how my post-grad lifestyle will differ from the ecological footprint that I currently have and what steps I can take to be more ecologically neutral