environmental, queer, mental health issues | main acc: @alienbelievertragedy
170 posts
Latest Posts by sustain-the-stain - Page 3
floor time
get on the floor. it will cure you
genuinely so fucking tired of people leveraging the "groomer" argument against people who support sex ed because scientific literature over decades shows that comprehensive sex education starting around kindergarten actually prevents children from being sexually abused and groomed because it teaches children the correct words for their body parts and also teaches them concepts of privacy, personal space, bodily autonomy, the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching, and the fact that sex is something that only adults do. children with this knowledge are not only better equipped to identify abuse and predatory behavior and communicate that its happening to a trusted adult, but also prevent it from happening in the first place by recognizing when something is happening that shouldn't.
sex education does not sexualize children, it prevents children from being sexualized. anyone who is against early foundational sex education and claims they are doing it to protect children is a fucking liar.
This is about Sci-Hub. yeah we get it.. gatekeep knowledge and protect the interests of capital…
Images that make you enter a fugue state
It's Trans Day of Visibility 🥳 Being seen is a wonderful thing in lots of ways, and it's good to celebrate that!
But it's not always safe to put yourself out there, and sometimes you'd just rather keep your head down. So, for anyone who needs to hear this:
You don't owe it to anyone to be out about your transness
"Out" is not a binary - you can be be out in some circumstances and closeted in others and that's OK
However "out" you are, you're still trans
However "out" you are, you're no less a member of our community
You don't need a better reason to wait than, "I don't want to come out yet"
I love you
The fact that the Midwest just got cold enough to kill you in minutes of being outside because of an unprecedented polar vortex means that our planet is now starting to become uninhabitable due to climate change. We’re going to look back on this moment for a long time to come.
WHY IS MEATLESS MONDAYS COOL??
Cutting down on meat = less contribution to climate change (I'll explain CAFOS in another post)
Try a new vegetarian/vegan recipe. I LOVE vegetarian meals, they are freaking bomb. I'm not talking about a salad. I'm talking bout an actual MEAL.
It can boost your heart health bc a lot of meats we get at the grocery store is pumped out with injections and why not from the animals. Eat veggies, beans, and nuts.
It cuts down on energy. Eating meats costs more energy than vegetables because of CAFOS
(CAFOS stands for concentrated animal feeding operation)
I know sometimes it can be hard doing meatless mondays if you really love meat or you are in a family that eats meat based meals. I recommend doing it once a month and see where it takes you, then slowly add another monday in, and BAM you are doing meatless mondays for a whole month!!! Take it slow and easy!! ADD TO THE LIST IF YOU KNOW MORE STUFF I LOVE IT WHEN YOU GUYS DO THAT CAUSE I LEARN FROM YOUR GUYS TOO!!!!!!
No matter what else in going on, climate change should be your first priority.
“Is it possible to turn things around by 2050? The answer is absolutely yes,” says Kai Chan, a professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.
Many scientists have been telling us how the world will look like, if we don’t act now. However, others, like Chan, are tracking what success might look like.
They are not simply day-dreamers either. They aren’t being too optimistic. They are putting together road maps for how to safely get to the planet envisioned in the 2015 Paris Agreement, where temperatures hold at 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than before we started burning fossil fuels, this article from July states.
“Three decades is enough to do a lot of important things. In the next few years—if we get started on them—they will pay dividends in the coming decades,” says Chan, the lead author of the chapter on achieving a sustainable future in a recent UN report that predicted the possible extinction of a million species.
Making these changes won’t mean years of being poor, cold and hungry before things get comfortable again, the scientists insist. They say that if we start acting seriously NOW, we stand a decent chance of transforming society without huge disruption.
No doubt, it will take a massive switch in society’s energy use. But without us noticing, that’s already happening. Not fast enough, maybe, but it is. Solar panels and offshore wind power plummet in price. Iceland and Paraguay have stripped the carbon from their grids, according to a new energy outlook report from Bloomberg. Europe is on track to be 90 per cent carbon-free by 2040. And Ottawa says that Canada is already at 81 per cent, thanks to hydro, nuclear, wind and solar.
Decarbonizing the whole economy is within grasp. We can do this.
“If we have five years of really sustained efforts, making sure we reorient our businesses and our governments toward sustainability, then from that point on, this transition will seem quite seamless. Because it will just be this gradual reshaping of options,” Chan says, adding: “All these things seem very natural when the system is changing around you.”
Stanford’s second solar generating plant went online this month, completing the university’s years-long transition to 100 percent renewable electricity and marking a major milestone in its larger journey to reach net zero carbon emissions on campus.
Stanford Solar Generating Station #2 (SSGS2), Stanford’s portion of a larger solar and energy storage project called Slate, began commercial operation in mid-March. (Image credit: Goldman Sachs Renewable Energy)
Stanford Solar Generating Station #2 (SSGS2), Stanford’s portion of a larger solar and energy storage project called Slate, began commercial operation in mid-March. The 63-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant sits on approximately 420 acres in Central California, near Lemoore.
The station serves as the final component in the Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI), a complete redesign and transition of Stanford University’s energy system from a 100 percent fossil fuel-based, combined heat and power plant to grid-sourced electricity and a more efficient electric heat recovery system.
Continue Reading.
Transphobes always want to talk abouthow hrt or puberty blockers will cause"irreversible changes" to trans kids bodies and "kids aren't old enough to make that decision" Meanwhile, I know 3 people who've ended up permanently disabled or dead because of high school (or earlier) sports but no one's fear mongering about that.
And I gotta say I was much more informed about the "risks" of hrt then I ever was about the risks of any of the sports I played.
ETSY STRIKE INFO
I know it’s not my normal content but I’ve shared things about my Etsy shop on here before so I wanted to post about the Etsy strike going on from April 11-18.
We are striking because Etsy has continued to increase fees for shop owners and are increasing their transaction fee from 5% to 6.5%. Myself and many of my fellow shop owners are using Etsy as a primary source of income and this increase would mean we would make even less than we already do.
On top of transaction fees etsy takes .20 per listing posted, .20 to auto-renew a listing (which happens every three months or so), and a payment fee of 3% + .25 per sale.
We are making more demands of Etsy like ending the star seller program, cracking down on resellers, and removing roadblocks between shop owners and their earnings (including their infamously shitty shop support system). Please do more research on your own and educate yourself about the demands and issues in this matter.
I will be participating and putting my shop in vacation mode and we ask that you don’t purchase from Etsy during that time.
Obviously not everyone will be able to participate in the strike but we ask that you support those striking and not purchase on Etsy during those days. If you would like to buy from an Etsy seller during that time contact them directly.
Give your money to artists not corporations.
To read more about the strike go here
Articles about it are here and here
Sign the petition here
*Starts beat-boxing to ease your woes*
Turning red being relatable to teen/tween girls and more specifically those from the early 2000s like me because:
- those friendship bracelets made of colorful yarn (do you younglings still have those? I’ve had at least one on 24/7 for several years)
- filming yourself and your friends while doing stupid stuff and thinking it’s the most hilarious thing in the world (and not posting it anywhere)
- and making elaborate choreographies/singing numbers
- boysbands… (for me it was 1D… can’t escape it)
- everyone in the gang having their boy from the band (and calling them your husbands)
- the fact that teen girls can and will run a succesfull buisness if they want to (universal to all generations)
- and that no teacher ever will find out (we had a whole underground pokemon cards trading system)
- PERIODS
- Lots of plastic jewelry, headbands, hair clips and big colorful earings
- Questionable and a little cringe fashion with lots of colorful makeup and accessories (not universal sadly - can we go back to that plz? Allow teens to be teens and to discover new ways of dressing up and being a little too mismatched and cringe but not caring and not asking them to look like adults and to be attractive. Plz let teens be teens and stop sexualizing them. I don’t want to see 13 years old dressed like 19 years old anymore)
- the vampire/werewolf phase (I was team Jacob)
- freaking tamagotchis (although it was more popular with the generation before me)
- not just for girls but having braces (do not miss those)
- that one cd Miriam copied for Mei - with the drawings made with a sharpie and everything (absolutely not legally made I can assure you - my dad was always making me copies of movies on blank cds like that; simpler times)
- having crushes. Talking about crushes. Comparing crushes. Having a new crush every week or so. Judging other people’s crush. Crushes.
- and drawing/writting cringy/horny/romantic things in notebooks (yes it’s true)
- mothers being cringe in public (at least from your point of view) (universal but to different degrees; tho I hope no mom ever goes to the extent Ming went)
- so. Many. Emotions. All the time. (And every little mishap feeling like the end of the world)
- your friends becoming the center of your world because talking to your parents feels like a reboot of the tower of babel
That’s all I can think of for now but I’m 100% sure I missed some (also I know like 50% of those applies to all generations and not just the early 2000s but what can I say I got out of control)
Food AND lawns
Very much in agreement with this post that says that people who don't have time/spoons/resources to turn their lawns into a food garden shouldn't feel obliged to do so, and I didn't want to derail it by making this comment under the post, so I'm here making a new one of my own.
Sometimes you don't want to dig up your lawn and start market gardening because it's a fuckton of work and honestly a second job all in itself.
But what if you don't have time to do all that, but you do still want to grow at least some food?
Perennials are the way to go.
Perennials are plants that you plant once and then they just carry on growing and getting bigger without you having to do much, if anything to them.
Say you've got a small garden with a lawn and a few flower beds. What can you do to grow food without changing the format of the garden at all?
Plant a couple of fruit/nut trees. Your plum/cherry/pear/peach/whatever trees will be covered in pink blossom in the spring. Your neighbours and your local pollinators will love you.
Don't worry about the tree getting too big - plant a dwarf variety and when it reaches a height you like, prune it back to that height every year.
In your flower beds, plant
globe artichokes (very decorative, have lovely flowers and sculptural foliage.)
rhubarb (colourful edible stems.)
wild garlic (edible cloves and leaves, beautiful white star shaped flowers)
walking onions
perennial kale
chard
perennial salad plants such as Salad Burnet, Miner's lettuce etc
Jerusalem artichoke
Mashua (a perennial relative of the nasturtium - you can eat the tubers like potatoes and the leaves in salad. Has lovely red nasturtium like flowers.)
Yakon (small sunflower-like flowers, big tubers that taste faintly of pear.)
Potatoes (honestly, they have lovely white flowers and as long as you don't dig all of them up this year, more will grow next year.)
Fennel (lovely lacy edible foliage and the root is also edible.)
any other perennial plant that might grow well in your area.
Remember that all of these plants will come back every year bigger than they were the year before. You should only need to plant them once and then leave them to get on with it.
There are loads of obscure perennial vegetables and fruits you can discover with a bit of research.
I recommend How to grow Perennial Vegetables by Martin Crawford as a great book to start with. It's a huge list of edible perennials, with details of where they like to grow, what you harvest from them, potential problems, and how to cook them
Also in your flower beds, plant
fruit bushes and fruit vines on pergolas (raspberry, blueberry, goji-berry, kiwi etc)
Now you've got some vegetables, salads, nuts and fruits growing in your flowerbeds, you can think about what to do to improve your lawn.
The lawn
The great thing about getting an eco-friendly lawn is that it all involves inaction - doing less work
Stop weedkilling
Stop watering the lawn. If it survives, great! If it doesn't survive, replace with native grasses that can.
Get some native wildflower plug plants and plant them into the lawn, or
Get some native wildflower seeds and oversow the lawn with them.
This will give you a lawn full of native plants that will support your local pollinators.
Take part in No Mow May to allow your wildflowers to flower, or if you can get away with it, stop mowing altogether except for a single hay cut once a year at the peak of the flowering season.
Result
Now you have a garden where you don't need to do anything except mow once or twice a year, compost/mulch once a year, and pick the produce, and it will still look (more or less) like a normal suburban garden.
SUSTAINABILITY HACKS THAT ANYONE CAN DO EASILY
- stop using paper towels. buy a swedish dishcloth instead and/or un-paper towels or just cut up old clothing to make rags if you can’t afford to buy those
- stop purchasing most cleaning products! i rarely buy cleaning products anymore. what i do is i dilute 3 parts water and 1 part white vinegar and use that to clean most of my surfaces and floors and even the sink, toilet, and shower! i usually put that in a spray bottle and it makes life easier
- stop buying most things new, unless its absolutely essential: things like toothbrush, socks, and underwear usually have to be bought new and my advice for you is choose a more sustainable option meaning maybe invest in higher quality socks and undergarments that last longer, buy from a company that uses sustainable materials and pays their workers a living wage, etc. Bamboo toothbrushes are also an option, they are much better for the earth. but the most important thing is to use what you already have first!
- buy things in bulk when/if possible. for example, i buy bar shampoo and conditioner as well as bar dish soap from a specific company i adore online. what i do is i usually stock up on these items and buy multiple at once to last me 6 months - 1 year instead of ordering multiple times continuously. buying things in bulk is often also cheaper – especially items that are non perishable! it is less packaging waste a lot of the time and can be used to refill your containers for certain items.
- if you need something specific, check facebook marketplace, thrift shops, depop, ebay, and see if you can find it secondhand first. even buying something brand new from a sustainable company isn’t always the most sustainable option. using something already made that someone else doesn’t need anymore is more sustainable than buying a brand new one
- do things digitally! send online invites, submit hw online (if its an option), buy digital copies of books instead of hardcopies, find required textbook PDFs online instead of buying the physical copy
- buy secondhand gifts! again, through thrift-shops or online, avoid one time gifts like balloons, maybe get a secondhand book from an online website or the thrift shop, if you know they collect (x) items, find them online if you can! or maybe they would appreciate a belt? perhaps a watch, or an antique clock? or even a nice pair of wool socks!
-invest in a bidet attachment. these can be attached to your current toilet and are around $40 online, and then you may even be able to install them yourself if you look at youtube videos (its not hard at all) or hire someone to install them! saves so much toilet paper
- FIX THINGS. REPAIR ITEMS AND CLOTHING. don’t throw things out when they’re broken or ripped. try fixing them first
- recycle your (worthless) electronics, you can do this at bestbuy, microcenter, and other places. things like smart watches that are dead, old/broken phones and computers, cords, reusable batteries etc. make sure to call ahead and ask if they will take that certain item – my microcenter store takes everything except for very old monitors and tvs and lithium batteries
- SELL YOUR CLOTHES/OTHER ITEMS! did you know most of the things donated at thrift shops end up in a landfill anyway? if you have stuff worth selling, you should sell them! if they aren’t worth selling, try seeing if a friend or family member would like them for free. posting on fb marketplace for free can also work – sometimes people will come pick it up on the same day! if all else fails, repurpose it into a rag for cleaning or something else!
- buy less overall. this is one sure way to be more sustainable. i care about each and every single item that i own and before buying something else, i ask myself if i truly would want it or if its just an impulse buy. i’ve gotten to the point now after many years where upwards of 50% of my closet is thrifted/secondhand, but this did not happen overnight!
Three things to always do in rich neighborhoods when you're poor:
Thrifting
Yard sale browsing
Dumpster diving
~i never met nobody like you~
click for better quality because tumblr hates me
Turning Red was so freaking cuuuute and fun!! ✨💕
Ugh, as if the early 2000's nostalgia didn't have me in a chokehold enough already..
We love animated movies about abolishing generational trauma 💅🏽
People: *debating whether Turning Red is about generational trauma or the silencing and demonization of female self-expression and sexuality*
Me: ...movies can be about two things
Things I would like non-wheelchair people to know
Do not touch my chair. Unless I’ve lost control of my chair and am rolling into traffic, if I have not given you explicit permission, that is a huge violation of my personal space. Think of grabbing my push handles like grabbing someone’s shoulders. That’s not a thing you just do to people.
If I don’t know you, nothing about my chair, my body, my situation, or what I’m doing is any of your gods damned business. Think of commenting on these things to a stranger like catcalling. (If I know you it’s probably fine, as long as you’re respectful. Just like any other personal topic you might ask someone about.)
If I decline an offer of help, do not insist. I know what things I need help with a lot better than you do. (Nothing wrong with offering, help is definitely welcome sometimes, just respect my response.)
Okay, things that should be obvious out of the way, here’s what the post is actually about:
I still prefer the terms “walking” and “running” for the ways I get around. I might say “rolling” or “wheeling” if the distinction is relevant for some reason, since I am ambulatory some of the time, but in general I prefer the same words as you tall people.
I need a much wider space to turn, or especially to turn around, than I do just to pass through a space.
Ask me, rather than assuming you know whether or not I can do something. I would love to go hiking with you, actually, if the trail is light and friendly enough to wheels. No, I can’t ice skate, but I’d still rather you ask if I want to come along than assume I don’t want to be included.
Which activities are notably more difficult is often not obvious. Popping a wheelie to get over a small amount of difficult terrain or even climbing a single step (if I have something to pull myself up with) can actually be pretty easy. A long stretch of ground tilted slightly to the left or right takes a ton of effort. Carrying anything that fits in my lap is trivially easy, but transporting anything that doesn’t fit in my lap is quite hard (though I recently discovered my vacuum fits nicely on my footplate if I wrap my legs around it a little which is cool.) I am constantly surprised by little things that are or aren’t harder than I thought they’d be, or are actually easier than before because I’m sitting.
If you are in my path, you moving suddenly is actually really unpleasant for me. I know you’re there, I’m not going to run you over. If you’re in my way, please do move! But jerking suddenly makes you unpredictable and I might have to stop suddenly to be certain everyone is safe while I process the change, just like if I were driving a car. Also like driving a car, stopping suddenly is unpleasant and a lot of effort, but the small adjustment to my direction I was planning to make is very easy. (Same goes for bikes honestly, or any other vehicle. That’s what the chair is, a vehicle.)
If we’re walking around together and need to get past some stairs, it’s nice if you come with me on the ramp, especially if that ramp is out of the way. It can be really isolating to have to go a different way than everyone else.
If we need to walk close together for whatever reason, you walking directly in front of me is best avoided if possible. Bumping into your heel with my metal footplate is going to be a lot more unpleasant for both of us than it would be if I were on my feet.
In general, you should let me speak for myself. It’s my joints that don’t work, not my brain or my voice. But. If someone else is being disrespectful, your voice is likely much more impactful than mine in that situation. Use it.
I’m not expecting anyone to memorize these things; as long as you’re treating disabled people like people, that’s enough. And if you want to do more than that but don’t know how, respectful questions are generally welcome. I just wanted to share these thoughts, for people who don’t live with them all the time. There are a lot of little differences to being seated all the time that you just don’t think about until you’re there.
Also, while I think most of this is generally true for anyone in a wheelchair, obligatory reminder that I speak only for myself.
Bioswales my beloved <3 <3 <3
Reduces stress on the water collection systems, especially during storms!
Stops street flooding!!
Filters contaminants so your groundwater isn't as polluted!
Creates little pockets of life in the city where native flora and fauna can flourish!
Costs almost nothing to build and maintain (bc it's self sustaining)!
LOOKS GORGEOUS!!! TAKE A GANDER AT THESE BAD BOIS!!
Snow day means time to do the tasks inside I keep putting off. Dried sage and dill finally stored and I definitely didn't spill any dill on the floor.
I got a new job!! Most of it is in a lab (which is the end goal after college) but some of it is in this beautiful greenhouse.
imagine how fucking great it would be if hozier wrote a song about Patroclus and Achilles........