The Shifting Sands of Wonderland

Valid, though.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/12/29/the-japanese-micro-forest-method-is-transforming-cities

The Japanese ‘micro-forest’ method is transforming cities

"More than 420 million hectares of forest have been lost to other uses since 1990, according to the UN’s 2020 State of the World’s Forests Report.

With more than 85 per cent of the global population living in urban areas, micro-forests in cities offer an essential opportunity to combat deforestation. 

The Miyawaki Forest Technique, invented by Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert Professor Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s, is the inspiration for micro-forests worldwide. 

These diverse, organic small forests can be created on sites as small as nine square metres, and only use native species that would otherwise grow naturally in the planting area. They grow up to 10 times faster than monoculture forests, in just two to three decades. 

Since Miyawaki’s work began, more than 280 micro-forests have been planted."

...

"In polluted urban areas, micro-forests can help to restore soil, water and air quality, according to the Woodland Trust. 

Their small size allows plantation in relatively limited urban space, often taking advantage of unused spaces such as school playgrounds, cemeteries, and near metro stations. They can also help to reduce the impact of heavy rainfall, and to keep towns and cities cooler. 

Micro-forests can create more habitats for wildlife in cities, such as blackbirds or hedgehogs.  When planted in distinct layers, they can also develop plant communities of smaller shrubs and herbs, which allow the micro-forests to become self-sustaining after just three to five years of growth. 

“Our pocket forests offer a myriad of benefits” says Elise Van Middelem, Founder and CEO of SUGi.

“Perhaps most importantly, they can support the positive well-being of communities. From a psychological perspective, interacting with nature reduces physical stress and can improve symptoms of mental ill health, including anxiety or depression.”

The link provided doesn't really go over the method, so I looked into it a bit more. The key is planting a bunch of native trees close together. Like, 2ft tall trees, 2 ft apart. The overall garden can be just 3ftx3ft, any is fine really. By planting the trees close together, they grow upwards faster (rather than out sideways). Additionally, they make sure to prepare/improve the soil in advance to hold lots of water, and to apply lots of mulch over the top. You water it tons and weed it in the first two years or so, then it goes on by itself without maintenance.

The more diversity in native trees you can plant, the better. I think this @jstor blog post on the jstor website has a nice overview and some info on how the technique is being utilized around the world: https://daily.jstor.org/the-miyawaki-method-a-better-way-to-build-forests/

Here is your mission.

TSLA hit its all time high of $488.50 on 15 DEC 2024. To reach of a price of $114.00 would be a 76.7% drop. That's huge, right?

Yeah well, when I checked the price just now (12 MAR 2025 @ 1:31 PM EDT), TSLA is currently trading at $250.85. That's down 48.6% from the high.

Babes, we're already nearly two-thirds of the way there.

TSLA $114.00. I believe this is where I say 'like to charge, reblog to cast.'

every kind of fish is real

EVERY kind of fish

The relevant issues here -

They needed to declare some kinds of bees as endangered species. The law didn't specifically mention insects. BUT!

Bugs are invertebrates.

So endangered bugs are legally fish.

Oh no. No one tell the Pope!

We're curing HIV.

I ... I don't have words for how much that hits me like a blow to the sternum, every single time.

Every single time.

I never thought we'd be here, but here we are.

i hope ronald reagan is doing fucking backflips in his grave knowing that despite the hell on earth he put queer people through, we are still here, we are alive and thriving, and we are FINALLY curing the disease he allowed to kill millions of americans

Oliver then proceeded to detail how with $50 and knowledge of the law he was able to successfully apply online to create a debt buying company named “Central Asset Recovery Professionals,” or as Oliver put it, “CARP” named after “a bottom-feeding fish.”

After setting up a rudimentary website for CARP, the satirical, but still real company was offered a $15 million package of medical debt for $60,000.

Oliver explained that the debt was out of statute, which means it is the kind of debt that a collector can only continue to collect, but not sue the debtor for.

Then, instead of chasing down the 9,000 debtors in the debt package as a normal collection agency would, Oliver decided to stage the largest one-time giveaway in television history and work with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to forgive the $15 million with no consequences for the debtors.

Okay but now I know what I want to do of I get rich?

You dont have to be rich to do a bit of this actually

RIP Medical Debt is a charity (and therefore takes donations). They buy the rights to medical debt and then forgive them. So far they’ve forgiven over 1B in medical debt.

So a little ray of hope for someone out there today.

Donating $10 buys $1,000 of medical debt. This is real, it works, and we’ve done it ourselves. You can too.

As of June 29, 2024, the charity is still active under a new name, Undue Medical Debt

Signal Boost!!!

If you’re Catholic this is a great thing to do for the Jubilee year by the way. Forgive debts and set captives free!

Now renamed as Undue Medical Debt:

I got a letter recently letting me know that a $3k medical bill from an emergency room visit in 2018 had been purchased by Undue Medical Debt and destroyed. Gone forever. They were very clear that I didn’t have to do anything, but they would appreciate it if I would talk to people about it to spread the word about what they were doing. Fucking phenomenal.

Always a good time to remember that Undue Medical Debt exists.

Didn't have "see your political action philosophy expressed by Jorts the cat" on my 2025 bingo card.

All cats are anarchists.

Probably like 80% of cat owners are also anarchists.

Fill ever drawer in the U.S. Treasury with glitter and a note that says Go to Hell.

be creative. get in the way.

Get in the way. Lie. Fuck Elon and his posse of evil losers. I would LOVE to look them in the face and lie about all kinds of shit.

I fully believe some people are doing these things, but if they're smart at all, they are keeping their mouth shut and not even telling their spouse and only those of us young enough to be here in 25 years will learn of it.

Former Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, who was blacklisted from the league for standing up for marriage equality, speaks at a city council meeting where he calls Trump a Nazi. He is subsequently arrested and carried out by police.

I just want to clarify a few things, because I have a feeling some people may share this without watching the video in full and/or getting further details from related news articles:

(this is a good thing, if that's not clear; I feel like too many people have forgotten about the tactical use of arrests by activists, especially during the Civil Rights era, to highlight injustice or disrupt a media narrative)

Anyway, kudos to Mr Kluwe for this, I hope more public figures will follow suit.

me, unloading a fitted sheet from the dryer: *squinting* what's that you've got in your mouth

fitted sheet: nothing :)))))))

me, prying open its twisted jaws: na-ah!!! give it to me RIGHT now!!

fitted sheet: *resentfully spits out a wad of 3 very damp dishtowels, a pillowcase, and a pathetically sodden washcloth*

The 'all lives matter' MAGA pro-lifers are a Christofascist eugenics movement.

Three tweets from Nicole Lee Schroeder, PhD (@Nicole_Lee_Sch) Hey all of these things are examples of a eugenics playbook in action: 1) Normalizing epidemic diseases 2) Removing proven drug therapies fro market 3) Claiming disabled people can "work out" to restore health 4) Institutionalizing ppl in "health" camps 5) Cutting back SNAP 6) Targeting IEPs and disability service coordinators in ed 7) Refusing to track disease outbreak 8) Firing healthcare professionals 9) Claiming some disabilities should be eradicated (like autism) 10) Cutting clinical trial research in progress

The current admin has done all these in the last two weeks. You need to see it for what it is - it IS eugenics. They ARE framing disabled people as unfit for resources, education, employment, and care.

(And side note: if you are posting disability rights stuff without alt text, fix your hearts. Much like wearing a mask, it is the bare minimum you can do right now.)

The cruelty of racist white men.

Does anyone else remember when Elon was like "if anyone knows how to end world hunger for 6 billion USD, I'll fund it" and UNICEF was like "we're going to spend a month to make a plan to end world hunger for 6 billion USD and Elon is going to fund it" and Elon was like "actually, nah" and then bought Twitter instead?

I think that was one of the worst things I'll ever see in my life.

I still think that should be the thing for which he's the most famous. It should be brought up every time he's mentioned. In any news article, any interview, any history book. "Elon Musk, who was offered a chance to end world hunger and turned it down." Put it on his fucking gravestone.

I am begging the FDA to require that companies CANNOT just put "spices" as an ingredient but have to label the spices.

"Spices" can mean "this has some oregano and black pepper in it" or it can mean "this has cumin cayenne and paprika and if you eat this you will be sick in bed in pain for a week" for me.

Seriously, this is an allergy issue and a huge oversight on the part of corporations.

Require detailed labeling of spices used in packaged foods NOW.

Yeah okay, I'll reblog that!

I don't even have food allergies and I get annoyed when the ingredients list is vague

And stereotypical people are just like "why are you worried about it" like wtf is in this what do you mean spice

"someone who allows you to rest" is the relationship dynamic of all time

A parent that welcomes you back home after things have fallen apart. A best friend whose voice alone who can make you relax. A spouse who convinces you to stay in bed an extra hour and leave the dishes for later. A stranger who sees you tired and gives up their seat on the train. Augh. The humanity of it