This is quite a long text, but you don’t need to read the chapters in order and each chapter is on a different urban experiment. It looks at “radical municipalism” or a communities taking back power of their city and rebuilding it into what they want to make of it. The rebel cities are:...
I am working off not enough sleep, so this may already exist or be a bad idea, but this thread got me thinking and so I posted this idea on Mastodon:...
Yeah, @PotjiePig raised some good points about potential problems. But it’s no impossible in theory. Like you say, I’d love to see something from the FOSS world that could take on Amazon. Amazon is a bully and a design thief.
Those are great points, too. I know a few sellers and have noticed their complaints about Amazon have increased in recent years at the same time my satisfaction with the platform as a buyer has been going down. You have all given me a lot ot think through. Greatly appreciated!
anything on reddit gets shit on by 13 year olds who don’t know anything besides constant adaption to change.
That comment and this thread reminds me of this line from Cory Doctorow’s book Walkaway:
Anything invented before you were eighteen was there all along. Anything invented before you’re 30 is exciting and will change the world forever. Anything invented after that is an abomination and should be banned.
The tracking, the crap algorithms—they’re bad for user experience and they’re bad for society as a whole. But there is good stuff, too. I think that things like RSS (something old that is still amazingly supported but not consciously used enough), ActivityPub, and others can empower us to break free from the bad stuff while embracing the good.
Separate the content from how the content is viewed and we’ll change the incentives for (and power held by) for those who have turned it to such garbage.
Exactly. I’m a dual national. The problem here in the UK is Middle England and other fuddy-duddies. They’re myopic more than conspiratorial, although immigration is an area where they can sometimes venture into fantasy. The MAGA cult in the US is thoroughly unhinged.
Does anyone have any recommendations for CBD oil (for sublingual use, not vaping) in the UK? I want to pick up something, but I know that quality/accuracy can be an issue with the stuff you can get in shops without a prescription.
About 15-20 years ago, a friend of mine who teaches communication at a university told me of a study that I think of every time I’m in a store and see vague sustainability messaging on a product. The study had two types of milk containers, each with the same milk from the same producer, but one had a standard label and cap, while the other had green-coloured labelling and a meaningless phrase along the lines of “for a better tomorrow”. The milk in the green, meaningless labels outsold the other one, even without making any actual claims. I think years of greenwashing BS have made people not trust claims of sustainability or eco-friendliness.
Another issue is hyperbolic discounting. Even if a more sustainable option saves money of the long run, people are generally bad at factoring in future savings.
It can work, but I still think degrowth is bad branding. Rather than focusing on what is done away with (growth as an objective), the focus should be on the fact that the policies would create a more stable, inclusive, and fulfilling economy and society. I’m not sure what term or phrase would work better, but some marketing folks should sit down with a thesaurus and do some focus group testing.
“Never again should a major cultivated species be molded into such uniformity that it is so universally vulnerable to attack by a pathogen,” wrote plant pathologist Arnold John Ullstrup in a review of the matter published in 1972.
And yet, today, genetic uniformity is one of the main features of most large-scale agricultural systems, leading some scientists to warn that conditions are ripe for more major outbreaks of plant disease.
“I think we have all the conditions for a pandemic in agricultural systems to occur,” said agricologist Miguel Altieri, a professor emeritus from the University of California, Berkeley. Hunger and economic hardship would likely ensue.
I started reading Ministry for the Future during last year’s horrible heat wave in Britain. My wife is a care worker and we were worried she’d arrive at people’s homes to find them dead. I had to stop reading because it was too real at the time. Thankfully non of her clients died during the heatwave.
As for mass causualty events, we’ve already had them—they just aren’t reported as such. Until these deaths are explicity reported as such in real time, people (survivors) will still feel disconnected. Just look at how long it took to attribute this girl’s death to air pollution.
Just sharing a book recommendation for explaining the topic to kids. I highly recommend the book Climate Change and How We’ll Fix It by Alice Harman. I got it last year for my 8-year-old and was very impressed with it. I’d even say its approach would work well for explaining things to adults who aren’t very informed on or...
I just finished listening to The Santiago Boys podcast about the attempts to use cybernetics to run the Chilean economy under Allende in the early 70s. It was very interesting and got me wondering what kinds of technology (hardware or software) that you have come across that you think would be good for managing resources/efforts...
Machine Learning has huge potential. I am more interested in seeing it used to inform decisions and highlight things that may get overlooked than deciding actual allocation.
Thanks, that’s a great response. I think I’ll try the Reader to start and then see where I feel pulled next based on that. Your breakdown is very helpful.
I was thinking recently that it could be possible to make a portable allotment by making planter boxes like this out of old pallets and they could be “installed” on unused land and then moved if challenged without disturbing the plants too much. Maybe drill two holes at the top on each end and loop rope through for handles to make them easier to carry.
Commercial Building Sustainability Recommendations
Does anyone have any recommendations for books, websites, podcasts, and/or videos regarding sustainability solutions for commercial buildings?...
Scientists successfully replicate historic nuclear fusion breakthrough three times (www.cnn.com)
Does Nuclear count as Green Energy? I feel like it should, since it doesn’t really pollute and lasts a lot.
Part One: Kissinger - Behind the Bastards (www.iheart.com)
Rebel Cities: Radical Municipalism (theanarchistlibrary.org)
This is quite a long text, but you don’t need to read the chapters in order and each chapter is on a different urban experiment. It looks at “radical municipalism” or a communities taking back power of their city and rebuilding it into what they want to make of it. The rebel cities are:...
The "3.5% rule" needs protesting (www.theneweuropean.co.uk)
A note of caution about the 3.5% rule that has received a lot of focus in recent years:...
Shipping pallets are a free way to create wooden planters (slrpnk.net)
Just be sure to check if your pallet has been treated with any harmful chemicals if you intend to grow an edible garden....
An Old Idea or a Bad Idea?
I am working off not enough sleep, so this may already exist or be a bad idea, but this thread got me thinking and so I posted this idea on Mastodon:...
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will give a speech this week in which he is expected to delay some of the government's policies to reach net zero emissions by 2050 (www.reuters.com)
Archived copy
What are y'all's critique of Bookchin?
Bookchin prefigured many ideas in solarpunk and degrowth before these things were even coined. But what are your critiques of him?
CBD Oil in UK
Does anyone have any recommendations for CBD oil (for sublingual use, not vaping) in the UK? I want to pick up something, but I know that quality/accuracy can be an issue with the stuff you can get in shops without a prescription.
Shoppers say they want sustainable goods, but won't pay more (www.reuters.com)
Figures. 🙄
Nature: Degrowth can work (www.nature.com)
Climate crisis could contribute to a global food shortage by 2050, US special envoy on food security warns (www.theguardian.com)
A Massive Heatwave is Forecast for Western Europe Again - Unseasonably High Temperatures develop under the Heat Dome as we head into the first week of September 2023 (www.severe-weather.eu)
Police forces across Europe are increasingly cracking down on climate protesters (www.energymonitor.ai)
Children's Book Recommendation
Just sharing a book recommendation for explaining the topic to kids. I highly recommend the book Climate Change and How We’ll Fix It by Alice Harman. I got it last year for my 8-year-old and was very impressed with it. I’d even say its approach would work well for explaining things to adults who aren’t very informed on or...
Technology to Manage a New Society
I just finished listening to The Santiago Boys podcast about the attempts to use cybernetics to run the Chilean economy under Allende in the early 70s. It was very interesting and got me wondering what kinds of technology (hardware or software) that you have come across that you think would be good for managing resources/efforts...
Introduction to Bookchin's Writings/Philosophy
What would you folks recommend as a good introduction to Murray Bookchin’s ideas?...
Anarchists’ Unlikely Tool for Fighting Climate Change: Farming (www.thedailybeast.com)