My Five Year Plan Is To Listen To Music

the Guardian

‘Even a freeway is redeemable’: world’s largest wildlife crossing takes shape in Los Angeles

A wildlife crossing across the 101 freeway will connect two parts of the Santa Monica mountains for animals

From the article:

Above the whirring of 300,000 cars each day on Los Angeles’s 101 freeway, an ambitious project is taking shape. The Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing is the largest wildlife bridge in the world at 210ft long and 174ft wide, and this week it’s had help taking shape: soil. “This is the soul of the project,” says Beth Pratt, the regional executive director, California, at the National Wildlife Federation, who has worked on making the crossing become a reality over the last 13 years. She says she’s seen many milestones, like the 26m pounds of concrete poured to create the structure, but this one is special. “To be able to put my hand in that soil and toss it on and know that we’ll be putting milkweed plants that will flourish for monarch butterflies, or picturing the first mountain lion paw print on that soil,” she says, fills her with hope. “It is wonderful to watch this habitat take shape.” The plot is a native wildlife habitat that connects two parts of the Santa Monica mountain range, with the hopes of saving creatures – from the famous local mountain lions, down to frogs and insects – from being crushed by cars on one of the nation’s busiest roadways. With nearly an acre of local plants on either side and thick vegetated sound walls 12ft high to dampen light and noise for nocturnal animals as they slip across, it’s an unprecedented feat of engineering. Imagination, too. The project began in 2022 through a public-private partnership that brought together many organizations to cover the $92m in costs, according to Caltrans, the state transportation department. Research shows that wildlife crossings save money because it limits animal interactions with vehicles.

to plant a garden is to believe in the future 🌱

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c. 1925-1935

The National Museum of Norway

i feel like disabled people are expected to tolerate and put up with things that able-bodied people aren't. (in my experience and from what i've witnessed).

disabled people shouldn't be expected to put up with ableism, rude comments, invasive questions, and just bad faith remarks in general.

we're people with boundaries and emotions, but firstly, we're people. we shouldn't be held to a different standard of what we should think is okay. we don't exist to educate or inform. we're allowed to not answer a question, even if you meant it well.

disabled people aren't mean for setting boundaries or having their caretakers/caregivers set boundaries for them if they are not able to set them themselves.

we're allowed to have privacy.

a thorough inventory of the public spaces in which you are allowed to stand but people will start to get upset if you sit down

Source.

I really don't think a lot of abled and low support needs disabled people realize how many of us rely on the kindness of others to stay alive. Imagine if your entire survival and existence was pinned to being likeable enough.

Mary Oliver, from “I Worried”, Devotions