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This is amazing
When self-described “ocean custodian” Boyan Slat took the stage at TED 2025 in Vancouver this week, he showed viewers a reality many of us are already heartbreakingly familiar with: There is a lot of trash in the ocean.
“If we allow current trends to continue, the amount of plastic that’s entering the ocean is actually set to double by 2060,” Slat said in his TED Talk, which will be published online at a later date.
Plus, once plastic is in the ocean, it accumulates in “giant circular currents” called gyres, which Slat said operate a lot like the drain of the bathtub, meaning that plastic can enter these currents but cannot leave.
That’s how we get enormous build-ups like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant collection of plastic pollution in the ocean that is roughly twice the size of Texas.
As the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Slat’s goal is to return our oceans to their original, clean state before 2040. To accomplish this, two things must be done.
First: Stop more plastic from entering the ocean. Second: Clean up the “legacy” pollution that is already out there and doesn’t go away by itself.
And Slat is well on his way.
Pictured: Kingston Harbour in Jamaica. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup Project
When Slat’s first TEDx Talk went viral in 2012, he was able to organize research teams to create the first-ever map of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. From there, they created a technology to collect plastic from the most garbage-heavy areas in the ocean.
“We imagined a very long, u-shaped barrier … that would be pushed by wind and waves,” Slat explained in his Talk.
This barrier would act as a funnel to collect garbage and be emptied out for recycling.
But there was a problem.
“We took it out in the ocean, and deployed it, and it didn’t collect plastic,” Slat said, “which is a pretty important requirement for an ocean cleanup system.”
Soon after, this first system broke into two. But a few days later, his team was already back to the drawing board.
From here, they added vessels that would tow the system forward, allowing it to sweep a larger area and move more methodically through the water. Mesh attached to the barrier would gather plastic and guide it to a retention area, where it would be extracted and loaded onto a ship for sorting, processing, and recycling.
It worked.
“For 60 years, humanity had been putting plastic into the ocean, but from that day onwards, we were also taking it back out again,” Slat said, with a video of the technology in action playing on screen behind him.
To applause, he said: “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, honestly.”
Over the years, Ocean Cleanup has scaled up this cleanup barrier, now measuring almost 2.5 kilometers — or about 1.5 miles — in length. And it cleans up an area of the ocean the size of a football field every five seconds.
Pictured: The Ocean Cleanup's System 002 deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup
The system is designed to be safe for marine life, and once plastic is brought to land, it is recycled into new products, like sunglasses, accessories for electric vehicles, and even Coldplay’s latest vinyl record, according to Slat.
These products fund the continuation of the cleanup. The next step of the project is to use drones to target areas of the ocean that have the highest plastic concentration.
In September 2024, Ocean Cleanup predicted the Patch would be cleaned up within 10 years.
However, on April 8, Slat estimated “that this fleet of systems can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in as little as five years’ time.”
With ongoing support from MCS, a Netherlands-based Nokia company, Ocean Cleanup can quickly scale its reliable, real-time data and video communication to best target the problem.
It’s the largest ocean cleanup in history.
But what about the plastic pollution coming into the ocean through rivers across the world? Ocean Cleanup is working on that, too.
To study plastic pollution in other waterways, Ocean Cleanup attached AI cameras to bridges, measuring the flow of trash in dozens of rivers around the world, creating the first global model to predict where plastic is entering oceans.
“We discovered: Just 1% of the world’s rivers are responsible for about 80% of the plastic entering our oceans,” Slat said.
His team found that coastal cities in middle-income countries were primarily responsible, as people living in these areas have enough wealth to buy things packaged in plastic, but governments can’t afford robust waste management infrastructure.
Ocean Cleanup now tackles those 1% of rivers to capture the plastic before it reaches oceans.
Pictured: Interceptor 007 in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup
“It’s not a replacement for the slow but important work that’s being done to fix a broken system upstream,” Slat said. “But we believe that tackling this 1% of rivers provides us with the only way to rapidly close the gap.”
To clean up plastic waste in rivers, Ocean Cleanup has implemented technology called “interceptors,” which include solar-powered trash collectors and mobile systems in eight countries worldwide.
In Guatemala, an interceptor captured 1.4 million kilograms (or over 3 million pounds) of trash in under two hours. Now, this kind of collection happens up to three times a week.
“All of that would have ended up in the sea,” Slat said.
Now, interceptors are being brought to 30 cities around the world, targeting waterways that bring the most trash into our oceans. GPS trackers also mimic the flow of the plastic to help strategically deploy the systems for the most impact.
“We can already stop up to one-third of all the plastic entering our oceans once these are deployed,” Slat said.
And as soon as he finished his Talk on the TED stage, Slat was told that TED’s Audacious Project would be funding the deployment of Ocean Cleanup’s efforts in those 30 cities as part of the organization’s next cohort of grantees.
While it is unclear how much support Ocean Cleanup will receive from the Audacious Project, Head of TED Chris Anderson told Slat: “We’re inspired. We’re determined in this community to raise the money you need to make that 30-city project happen.”
And Slat himself is determined to clean the oceans for good.
“For humanity to thrive, we need to be optimistic about the future,” Slat said, closing out his Talk.
“Once the oceans are clean again, it can be this example of how, through hard work and ingenuity, we can solve the big problems of our time.”
-via GoodGoodGood, April 9, 2025
An Essay on Nihilism and Ennui
Maybe the world is doomed. Maybe you can’t do anything about it. Maybe you were born on a train that had run of our track, long after we shot the engineers and burned the plans to lay track anew. The conductors barricaded the engine room where they hold hostage generations of coal miners who are forced to keep full steam ahead lest they be shoved into the incinerators themselves.
Maybe we can’t change any of that. I’d like to hope we can. Unfortunately hope isn’t the thing that drags your ass out of the cave you’ve collapsed into constructed of pizza boxes and soiled sheets. Drive is. Action is. Curiosity is.
Suppose we’re stuck on this train. It will crash. We will all die in a horrible fiery explosion, or succumb to the fumes first. What are you going to do in the meantime?
Here’s the thing: Life sucks and we’re all going to die. We don’t know when, we don’t know how. It feels impossible to plan for a future we have little data to prove will exist. What we do have is the interim. We can sit around and doom-scroll on our phones, or we can live life while we have it.
Plant a garden out of old coffee cans. Invite your friends over to fingerpaint on cardboard. Kiss the people you think about when you lay in bed at night. Chase an unrealistic dream, not because you believe it is possible, but because you can’t live with yourself if you never try.
That’s what you’re doing when you ingest endless content. You are simultaneously looking for the thing that will complete you, and desperately running from the voice inside that asks “what if there’s more?”
Stop. Running. Turn around. Look at the voice headlong. Dare to ask it back: “What more do I want there to be?”
Then go find it.
I wanted to reblog this to say, it's gotten better. Of course nothing is perfect and this specific situation is more of a long term thing but it's gotten so much easier to manage both physically and mentally. Treating myself with kindness and gentleness through it all helps, it makes it so you can build urself back up with much less burnout. Take all the time you need, you are loved.
I'm going through and absurdly difficult time right now, I'll be ok. Everyone will be, and whatever happens is for the best. I don't need to handle it gracefully it jsut will happen. It's ok if I don't do my 10 step skincare or haircare routines, it's ok to do the bare minimum. Try to brush ur teeth once in the day it doesn't havw to be at night or the morning. It's ok that work is eating you alive and you wish you could enjoy it, focus on one task and try to get through it. Take breaks every hour, or every 30 minutes. It won't all fall apart. No one hates you or thinks you're incompetent, and even if they do it's not the end of the world. People know you and know what you can do. You don't owe anyone an explanation just do your best, even if it's ugly or bad. These opportunities are amazing even when done poorly, good things are not wasted just because they're happening now. Just get through it. As you've always done, and will continue to do.
“People are inherently terrible” no!!! Have you ever seen a child wait for their friend while they tie their shoelaces? Have you ever known someone who would bring hurt squirrels and rabbits and mice to the nearest vet just so it doesn’t suffer? Have you seen someone grieve? Have you ever read something that hit your heart like a freight train? Have you looked at the stars and felt an unexplainable joy? Have you ever baked bread? Have you shared a meal with a friend? Have you not seen it? All the love? All the good? I know it’s hard to see sometimes, I know there’s pain everywhere. But look, there’s a child helping another up after a hard fall. Look, there’s someone giving their umbrella to a stranger. Look, there’s someone admiring the spring flowers. Look, there’s good, there’s good, there’s good. Look!!!!
Today (or yesterday at 11 pm technically) I reached a hundred days clean of my self-harm addiction.
I don’t know what anything will hold in store
I’m not too scared about that or even stressed
I still believe I’ll get worse again but at the moment, I’m okay
hey hey heyo vro im one of ur mutuals and i wanted 2 tell u ur awesome OKOK have a good day
Ow wow thank you inconspicuous moot!! Havs a great rest of ur day too!!! ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
013125
the galaxy inside my heart is so brilliant because you exist in it.
011225
I dream of sleeping.
I’m in a small apartment space where the light of a gray morning seeps into old windows.
My love came early in the morning and together, we made breakfast. After cleaning up our dishes, we sit on my couch.
Though it’s small, it holds us both well.
He kisses me gently. Butterflies swarm our every thought until we soon find ourselves unable to keep our eyes open.
Sleep has come to visit us, to cradle us in its gentle arms.
We have no worries in our hearts.
As we sleep, it’s pleasant. It’s dreamless, but only because we already are in a dream together.
I dream of sleep with the one i love, to rest in his arms as he rests in mine.
I pray I never awaken.
眠る夢を見る。
古い窓に灰色の朝の光が差し込む、小さなアパートの一室にいる。
朝早く愛しい人がやってきて、一緒に朝食を作った。食器を片付けた後、私のソファに座る。
小さなソファだが、私たちふたりをしっかりと支えてくれる。
彼は私に優しくキスをする。蝶が私たちのあらゆる思考に群がり、やがて私たちは目を開けていられなくなる。
眠りが私たちを訪れ、その優しい腕の中で私たちを揺り動かす。
私たちの心には何の心配もない。
眠りは心地よい。夢はないが、それは私たちがすでに夢の中にいるからにほかならない。
私は愛する人と眠る夢を見る。彼が私の腕の中で休むように、私も彼の腕の中で休む。
私は決して目覚めないことを祈る。
010125
The sounds of dancing and singing echo through the home that belongs to my friends. Flashes of green red and blue streak across the living room that has already been lit by fairy lights and Christmas tree lights.
He sits beside me and embraces me as I laugh at the joy before me.
It is almost the new year.
Songs go by, and the minutes turn into hours that I’ve been lost in time. The heaviness of sleeping begins to weigh on me.
Tomorrow will be a battle I never thought I’d have to face.
As we all head outside for the last minutes of the old year, he keeps me close. And the winter night, I can hear his heartbeat. We climb up a tree so that we may get to the rooftop.
Scoured upon the roof are our friends, each laughing about memory or talking about things that will be treasured for a lifetime.
He and I lie on our backs, staring at the stars.
We confess our New Year’s resolutions, and start to talk about the idea that maybe one day, we won’t have to part for the night.
I’m so overflowing with love for him. A wonderful future exists so brightly before us, and with him I feel I can do anything.
The outside becomes more quiet as each, and every one of our friends leave for the inside warmth.
We both remain outside, counting down the minutes that are left.
2024 was not kind of me. I have lived a life of travesty and despair. Many people think it’s quite strange, but never once did it seem like I’ve gotten a break from what life throws from me.
But I never been given what was dealt, then I would’ve never met him.
My beloved.
He’s a shining star that sings to me when I cannot speak or breathe. He’s a heart that laughs with me when I have joy to share. Arms that hold me, hands that dry my tears that seldom come.
He is that I wish come true, though I have suffered, I am blessed to know that I love him and that I am loved by him.
Midnight comes and he looks me in the eyes.
He whispers a gentle Happy New Year, cupping my face. The both of us become closer and in the first moment of 2025, we share a kiss—my first kiss.
All of my tears and heartache make sense to me. All of the pain and sorrow, though I have peace of my own, feel as if I was meant for this moment with him.
The love in my soul for him keeps overflowing.
I don’t know what this year has to hold before us. There are bound to be beautiful memories alongside painful ones. Not everything will be easy now that 2024 is dead and gone. But I pray for love, peace, hope and happiness. I pray that I grow more into who I am meant to be and that I am able to see they joy that was always set before me. I pray that he is my last first kiss for all time, and that God above blesses us as much as I have been blessed all of my life. I pray my friends are aware of how much love I have for them, so they may fall asleep never feeling as if they have no one who loves and cares for them.
I pray for you all as well, readers. May your years of tears and laughter find you in 2025 and offer you the beauty of this wonderful world.
友人たちの家に、ダンスと歌声が響き渡る。すでにフェアリーライトやクリスマスツリーのイルミネーションで彩られたリビングルームに、緑と赤と青の閃光が走る。
彼は私の横に座り、目の前の喜びに笑う私を抱きしめた。
もうすぐ新年だ。
歌は過ぎ去り、数分が数時間に変わり、私は時を忘れていた。眠ることの重苦しさが私にのしかかる。
明日は思いもよらない戦いが待っている。
旧年の最後の数分間、私たち全員が外に出るとき、彼は私をそばに置いてくれた。冬の夜、彼の鼓動が聞こえる。私たちは木に登り、屋上に出る。
屋上には私たちの友人たちが集まり、思い出話に花を咲かせたり、一生の宝物について語り合ったりしている。
彼と私は仰向けになり、星空を見つめる。
私たちは新年の抱負を告白し、いつか一晩の別れをしなくて済む日が来るかもしれないという考えを話し始める。
私は彼への愛に溢れている。素晴らしい未来が目の前に広がっていて、彼と一緒なら何でもできる気がする。
友人たちが一人、また一人と暖かい屋内へと去っていく中、外は静まり返っている。
私たちは外に残り、残された時間をカウントダウンする。
2024年は私にとって不運な年だった。私は茶番と絶望の人生を送ってきた。多くの人が奇妙に思うだろうが、私は人生から投げかけられたものから解放されたことがない。
しかし、もし私に与えられたものがなければ、彼に出会うことはなかっただろう。
私の最愛の人。
彼は、私が話すことも息をすることもできないときに歌ってくれる輝く星。私が喜びを分かち合うとき、一緒に笑ってくれる心。彼は私を抱きしめてくれる腕であり、めったに出てこない涙を乾かしてくれる手である。
彼は私の願いをかなえてくれる。私は苦しんだが、私が彼を愛し、彼が私を愛していることを知ることができ、私は恵まれている。
真夜中が訪れ、彼は私の目を見つめた。
彼は私の顔を腕で包み込み、新年おめでとうと優しくささやいた。そして2025年の最初の瞬間、私たちは最初のキスを交わした。
私の涙と心の痛みは、すべて私に理解された。私自身の平安はあるにせよ、すべての痛みと悲しみは彼とのこの瞬間のためにあったように感じる。
私の魂の中の彼への愛は溢れ続けている。
今年は何が待ち受けているかわからない。辛い思い出とともに美しい思い出もあるはずで、2024年が終わった今、すべてが容易ではないだろう。でも、愛と平和と希望と幸福を祈ります。私は、私がなるべき自分にもっと成長し、私の前にいつも定められていた喜びを見ることができるように祈ります。彼が私の人生最後のファーストキスであることを願い、私が人生で祝福されたように、上の神が私たちを祝福してくださるよう祈ります。私の友人たちが、私がどれだけ彼らを愛しているかを知り、彼らを愛し、気にかけてくれる人が誰もいないかのように感じることなく眠りにつくことができるよう祈ります。
読者の皆さんのためにも祈ります。涙と笑いの歳月が2025年にあなたを見つけ、この素晴らしい世界の美しさをあなたに提供しますように。
122524
With all the love within me, I wish you all a merry Christmas. May the hearts of those who weep be cradled gently in peace. May the lonely, lost and weary rest in the light of hope.
You are beautiful and worth more than all the silver and gold of the season. May you all be blessed and cherished.
私の中にあるすべての愛を込めて、皆さんにメリークリスマス。泣いている人の心が、平和の中で優しく揺り動かされますように。孤独な人、迷った人、疲れた人が希望の光の中で休めますように。
あなたは美しく、この季節のすべての銀や金よりも価値がある。皆さんが祝福され、大切にされますように。
122223
Oh, my love, it's so late into the night. The moment you see me, you pull me into your sanctuary. In your arms, I don't lose myself.
Your eyes capture me in the scene of a still ocean, I wish on every glistening shell.
You have a voice that loves to elevate, but when you're with me, it's soft as a spring breeze. Each tender word of affection reaches me like flowers in the wind. I'm colored by your kindness.
I lost my tears so long ago, but you still have so many in your precious heart. I'll collect them all like stars and wish to keep them dear for the rest of my life.
Your kisses are trees, ever-growing and deeply rooted in love. I pray this forest of your gentle proclamations remain steadfast through the ages.
There is future I pray for, my love. If you'd have me, I want to hold your hand through every tempest. I want to watch your dreams bloom into a garden everyone will marvel at. I want to be with you until I cannot recall a life without you.
"Just for tonight." Oh, darling, may "tonight" be forever.
ああ、愛しい人よ、こんな夜更けに。私を見た瞬間、あなたは私を聖域に引きずり込む。あなたの腕の中で、私は自分を見失わない。
あなたの瞳は、静まり返った海の情景に私をとらえ、私は輝く貝殻のひとつひとつに願いをかける。
あなたの声は高揚感を好むが、私といるときは春風のように柔らかい。優しい愛情の言葉ひとつひとつが、風にそよぐ花のように私に届く。私はあなたの優しさに彩られている。
私はずいぶん前に涙をなくしてしまったけれど、あなたの大切な心にはまだたくさんの涙が残っている。私はそれらを星のように集め、残りの人生を大切にしたいと願う。
あなたのキスは木々であり、常に成長し、愛に深く根ざしている。あなたの優しい宣言のこの森が、時代を経ても揺るがないことを祈ります。
祈る未来がある、愛しい人よ。もしあなたが私を必要としてくれるなら、私はどんな嵐の中でもあなたの手を握っていたい。あなたの夢が花開き、誰もが感嘆するような庭になるのを見届けたい。あなたのいない人生を思い出せなくなるまで、あなたと一緒にいたい。
"今夜だけ" ああ、ダーリン、"今夜 "が永遠でありますように。
121924
I’m sitting in my work’s break room, eating a piece of cheesecake. Someone made this.
Was it a labor of love?
I wonder if the cake was made with tears or laughter.
I wake up and ponder if my work looks like love or survival. I’m not where I want to be, not at all. But is it helping me live even just a little?
I dream of mornings with fried eggs and toast. Days off, I watch him smile as he write and I illustrate. When I sleep, I squeeze tight the plushes I bought myself on good and bad days.
I love, I breathe, I hope. I was made to love and hope, not to throw my heart away for survival.
Perhaps, though I don’t want to be here forever, this job of mine is helping me to have little memories. Maybe this work of mine is leading me to where I want to be.
But maybe I am allowed to embrace the desire for something more.
Walking in the diamond ocean, the sound of waves calling me home. The humming of his heartbeat as he sways in dance with me. The scent flowers from millions of mothers, the glittering of a million stars, the taste of a creamy cake lightly dipped in strawberry perfection—I was made for beautiful things.
All of our beautiful souls were made for beautiful things, so never give up on what makes your heart beat with love.
職場の休憩室でチーズケーキを食べている。誰かが作ったものだ。
愛の結晶だろうか。
このケーキは涙を流して作ったのだろうか、それとも笑って作ったのだろうか。
目が覚めると、自分の仕事が愛に見えるのか、サバイバルに見えるのか、考え込んでしまう。私は自分の望むところにはいない。でも、少しでも生きる助けになっているだろうか？
目玉焼きとトーストの朝を夢見る。休みの日は、彼が書き、私がイラストを描きながら微笑むのを見る。寝るときは、良い日も悪い日も自分で買ったぬいぐるみをぎゅっと握りしめる。
私は愛し、呼吸し、願う。私は愛し、希望を抱くために作られたのであって、生きるために心を投げ出すために作られたのではない。
もしかしたら、ずっとここにいたいとは思わないけれど、私のこの仕事は、小さな思い出を持つことを助けてくれているのかもしれない。もしかしたら、私のこの仕事は、私が望む場所に私を導いてくれているのかもしれない。
でも、私はもっと何かを求めてもいいのかもしれない。
ダイヤモンドの海を歩き、波の音が私を家に呼ぶ。私とダンスをしながら揺れる彼の鼓動。何百万もの母親から届く花の香り、100万もの星のきらめき、イチゴの完璧な味に軽く浸されたクリームケーキの味......。
私たちの美しい魂は皆、美しいもののために作られているのだから、自分の心を愛で鼓動させるものを決してあきらめてはいけない。
we were meant to live slowly!!!! we were meant to savor moments and feel unabashedly lazy and frolic and smell the flowers and laugh with our entire hearts and love with our entire souls!!!!! don’t ever feel guilty for resting!!!!!! don’t ever feel guilty for slowing down!!!!!! enjoying life shouldn’t be something you’re ashamed of
121524
It’s Sunday afternoon. A grey covering scrapes across a pale blue sky. I’m just outside the city, where the trees are watercolored in reds, oranges, yellows and browns guard the local lake.
I’m in his home, in his arms. It’s been cloudy, so I have a headache partnered with some weariness. He keeps me close, asking how I’m feeling as I close my weary eyes.
Light peers into the windows, but not nearly enough to overcome us. Like a cathedral, parts of his jacket are stained with a gentle light. I cannot see his face, but I know he’s shining.
Within slow, shifting moments, our bodies turn and he embraces me. His gentle arms take my whole body in, and my back is secured in his hold. My arms reach from under his, and my fingers tangle in his long curly hair.
In a steady yet tender voice, he whispers that he loves me.
I want to love. I want to die. I want to love him until I die. Love and death, aren’t they one and the same somehow? After all, you lose a part of you in both of these things.
I haven’t loved so deeply in such a long time.
I have no mother or father to tell about him. But to anyone else, my friends, loved ones, and this small corner where I write, I want to say how much I love the boy who made my frozen heart bloom again.
日曜日の午後。淡い青空に灰色の覆いがかかっている。赤、オレンジ、黄色、茶色で彩られた木々が地元の湖を守っている。
私は彼の家で、彼の腕の中にいる。曇り空なので、私は頭痛と倦怠感に悩まされている。私が疲れた目を閉じると、彼は私のそばに寄り添い、気分はどうかと尋ねてくる。
窓から光が差し込むが、私たちを圧倒するほどではない。大聖堂のように、彼の上着の一部が優しい光で染まっている。彼の顔は見えないが、輝いているのはわかる。
ゆっくりと移り変わる瞬間のうちに、私たちの体は回転し、彼は私を抱きしめる。彼の優しい腕が私の全身を包み込み、私の背中は彼のホールドに固定される。私の腕は彼の下から伸び、私の指は彼の長い巻き毛に絡まる。
安定した、しかし優しい声で、彼は私を愛しているとささやく。
愛したい。死にたい。死ぬまで彼を愛したい。愛と死、それはどこか同じものではないだろうか。結局、どちらも自分の一部を失うのだから。
こんなに深く愛したのは久しぶりだ。
私には彼のことを語る母も父もいない。しかし、他の誰に対しても、私の友人や愛する人たち、そして私がこの文章を書いているこの小さなコーナーに対して、私の凍りついた心に再び花を咲かせた少年をどれほど愛しているかを伝えたい。
How to begin a sustainable way of life
This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.
Do not tell people what to do—help them do it!
Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life.
“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts.
“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes.
“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes
“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own.
“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden.
“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial.
“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?”
You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled.
If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it?
Do not act alone—act with others!
Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?”
“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”
You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors
Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel.
Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other.
Simply spending time with someone influences them for good
Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media.
Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful.
A garden is the source of many gifts
If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects.
More on gift-giving
Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them.
It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else.
When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you.
When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press.
If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade.
Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things
Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits.
Use the front yard for gardening
Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community.
Grow staple foods
Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.
Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew
Be sure to send them home with leftovers.
Grow plants for baskets
Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets.
If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves
If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree.
Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line
In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space.
Give others the freedom to wander
Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.
The power of the hand-made sign
If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?
Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you?
So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you?
Someone has to do it for society to change
Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you.
take me out of this town!
If you are trans I need you to stay alive.
Stay alive for every other trans person fighting, stay alive for every trans person who is no longer here, and most importantly stay alive for yourself.
They don’t get to erase us! They don’t get to take away our rights, and treat us as less than human. Don’t let them erase us, and don’t let them make you a statistic. Don’t let them win.
Stay alive
If you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for others. Do it out of spite.
My friends gift to me a glimmer of hope occasionally; and when they do, all I can think about is how badly I want to see and know the adult versions of them. I think about how nice it would be to have an extra room, or maybe a pullout couch, at the disposal of any friend looking for a warm bed and an ear to listen. I think about them coming to my house just to ask for a cigarette, and to talk about their troubles while we sit on the porch. I think about how I’ll attend (and cry at) their weddings, and I think about how I’ll be with them through messy breakups, and all the inbetweens. I think about how I’ll have their favorite snacks in my cupboard, and how I’ll make sure there’s always an extra toothbrush for them. I think about how I’ll have toys stored away for their potential kids when they visit, and I think about how I’ll get to watch all of us grow up.
I often times think the only thing stopping me from ending it is fear, but I think a little harder about the people I love, and suddenly it feels like my heart is trying to claw through my chest, and grasp onto any hope for the future.
I want to be there to love those around me until I can no longer leave my bed, and my last breaths are be spent cherishing their names.
be kind to yourself ♡