#texas and california

[inkskinned]

one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.

the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.

like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.

but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.

so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.

i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?

but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?

sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?

and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.

nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.

the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!

and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.

[antoinemaillard]

Sketch book of my trip in USA on Fall 2022. San Francisco, Portland, Austin

[reasonsforhope]

"Solar accounted for most of the capacity the nation added to its electric grids last year. That feat marks the first time since World War II, when hydropower was booming, that a renewable power source has comprised more than half of the nation’s energy additions.  

“It’s really monumental,” said Shawn Rumery, senior director of research at the Solar Energy Industries Association, or SEIA. The trade group announced the 2023 numbers in a report released today [March 6, 2024] with analytics firm Wood MacKenzie. The 32.4 gigawatts that came online in the United States last year shattered the previous high of 23.6 gigawatts recorded in 2021 and accounted for 53 percent of new capacity. Natural gas was next in line at a distant 18 percent. 

SEIA called 2023 the best year for renewables since the Second World War. Texas and California led a solar surge driven mostly by utility-scale installations, which jumped 77 percent year-over-year to 22.5 gigawatts. The residential and commercial sectors also reached new milestones. Only the relatively nascent community solar market missed its previous mark, though not by much, said Rumery. Overall he called it an “almost record setting year across the industry.”

...Experts generally expect renewable energy to keep on its torrent trajectory. 

“It’s very likely to continue because solar and wind are now very well established,” said Rob Stoner, director of the MIT Energy Initiative. “Solar costs continue to fall far below where we ever thought they would.”"

-via Grist, March 6, 2024

[council-of-beetroot]

I'm curious USians! How many of you live in one of the top ten most populated states

Please reblog if you'd like 😘

[ts-sarahwilson]

Trans do it better 💦💪🍒🍓

[tsavivas]

Who care about been nauthy together with me kindly send a Dm 🏳️‍⚧️❤️💋👅

[relaxedstyles]

[goldengay49]

California, 1848, by a river: ooh shiny rocks

California, 2024, in a hippy store: ooh shiny rocks

[whenweallvote]

Happy birthday to the one, the ONLY: Beyonce! 👑 

In honor of Queen 🐝’s special day, we’re dropping this reminder: “we gotta keep the faith, and vote!"

Turn on your favorite COWBOY CARTER track, and check your voter registration now at WeAll.Vote/register.

[hibiscuslynx]

got into yaelokre a week or so ago and then next thing i knew they were on my screen. california grizzly & texas longhorn, of course

[nudityandnerdery]

Hey, a thing about headlines like this.

A move like this- or something like starting a big PAC to donate to a political candidate? Takes time to plan. It's not done on a whim or something. It's been in the works for a while.

An opportunistic individual, however, will jump on things like this to get more support for what they're doing. People who oppose bills like the one Newsom signed will see this as Musk being an ally of theirs and making big sacrifices to support their cause, and will cheer and support him for it.

Really? Sure, he probably agrees with them, his transphobic behavior tracks with that. But this is not something he decided on a whim. It's something he was always going to do. He's just pandering to a particular crowd by announcing it at this time, pretending that it has something to do with anything other than taxes and regulatory statutes of the state in question.

He's making the move to benefit himself, and using it to convince the easily tricked into thinking he's a hero for it.

[emmarosela]

Come suck on em daddy 🍒🍓💦💦💦

[dailymothanon]

It's cold out, Texas... better watch your back there, buddy, Balto don't play no games out here 👿Can't you see the evil in his eyes??? A little Snoopy snowdog... Did you know the World Ice Art Championships take place in Alaska??? I think that's cool, perhaps Alaska ain't too bad at it himself 😌

[iwasforcedtomakethisbytum]

Since it's pride month i really wanted to do something related to it, haven't drawn texacali in a while so i thought "eh why not" and made this

This is so removed from canon it's not even funny

Texas has blue eyeshadow and California has rainbow glasses!!! Yes!!!

I like how i made texas look vaguely uncomfortable

[mur-art]

I swear I’ll be back with *actual* fanart soon but for now here’s the Silly Guys as ferrets.

Thanks @aceasadhd and @theywhoshantbenamed for inspiring this 😂

Pretend it’s Greg holding them

Ref under the cut:

Link to OP

[poison-marshmellow]

Hear me out on TexYorks ship name being ‘Guns N' Roses’