Hopepunk - Tumblr Posts
"So I thought it was a good idea to fly by myself with a 2 yr old and a 5 year old 😐 we were standing in line in security, on the verge of tears because Wyatt was screaming and James was exhausted.
Out of the blue, one mom stops the line for security and says “here, jump in front of me! I know how it is!” Wyatt fell asleep and I was trying to carry everyone’s carry-on when another mom jumps out of her place in line and says “hand me everything, I’ve got it”.
When I said thank you to both of them they said “don’t you worry, we’re going to make sure you get on that flight.”
The second woman takes everything and helps me get it through security and, on top of all that, she grabs all of it and walks us to the gate to make sure we get on the flight.
To top it all off, Wyatt starts to scream at take off before he finally falls back to sleep. After about 45 min, this angel 👇🏼 comes to the back and says “you look like you need a break” and holds Wyatt for the rest of the flight AND walks him all the way to baggage claim, hands him to Blake, hugs me and says “merry Christmas!!”"
To me, this is what the spirit of Christmas is.
life has become so much better since deciding to consume media with unbridled joy. i don’t care if people think it’s cringe, i don’t care if there are flaws. i can simultaneously acknowledge these faults while loving and consuming media that brings me joy.
she really is
She’s trying
This. This, everyday, all day, forever. Always hopepunk. Always kindness. Always.
The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk. Pass it on.
I will live
I will love
I will find joy in the little things
I am not here to suffer, and I refuse to do so any longer. No matter what.
so gaze upon this wretched thing and know that it is love
something about how in the wild robot, the golden gate bridge is deep underwater. and yet whales are swimming in the bay above it. something about the idea that climate change has come and yet the world is still alive and thriving, that there was still time to make it better, to fix what we could, to make things right. the bridge is underwater but the whales are alive and back. our cities went underwater but instead of pretending as though nothing had happened we learned to change and care for the planet we had left, realized it was not too late. that there was hope. learned to farm better, preserve what we could. leave the natural world safe. that we didn’t have to be merely aggressors but learned to coexist on our planet. that it will still be okay. something about that man idk.
~an introduction to ecobricking~
hello fellow solarpunks! i've been interested in ecobricking for a while but i recently invested some time into researching them so here's a guide! it's a responsible way to sequester plastic from the environment, but making them is slightly more involved than just stuffing plastic in a bottle, if you want to use them for construction or weight-bearing projects like furniture. I'm mainly using information from GoBrik, which had the most comprehensive guide, but feel free to comment or rb with supplemental information.
FAQ:
Isn't it better to recycle plastic rather than ecobricking?
There are many plastics, such as food wrappers or packaging, that can't be recycled and end up degrading rapidly. Ecobricking sequesters those kinds of plastics from the ecosystem and also reduces the surface area exposed, which limits plastic degredation over time.
How do you use ecobricks?
You can use ecobricks in many applications, from furniture to structures. The long-term environmental impact of using ecobricks is still speculated on, but responsible upkeep mitigates their potential environmental impacts, which are still far less than the impact that plastic would have were it not sequestered.
How To Ecobrick:
Find a plastic bottle. The bottles that you use for ecobricking should all be the same variety, which will help in any building projects that you may choose to use them for.
Find some plastic! Make sure to wash and dry your plastic, as any food residue or moisture could make your brick moldy or structurally unsound. You can cut up larger pieces of plastic, like food packaging (think bags of shredded cheese or frozen berries, or the plastic bags inside cereal boxes)-- just pack em in. If you want to be fancy, GoBrik recommends making the bottom layer of your ecobrick all one color, for aesthetic purposes later on. But it's really up to you. Please avoid putting biodegradable material, such as cardboard or paper, as well as glass or metal, in your ecobrick-- it'll affect the density and preferred composition. Plus, you can recycle those!
Calculate the density! This is the only part that involves math, I swear. You want to aim for a density of about 0.37 grams per milliliter; it shouldn't be under 0.33 g/ml or it'll be structurally unsound. It's also good to aim for a density less than 0.7 g/ml, or your bricks might be too heavy to move comfortably. The equation is just the weight in grams divided by the milliliters of the container you're using, so, for example, if you used a bottle than was 1250 ml, you would be aiming for about 475-500 g of plastic (including the bottle). (a kitchen scale is great for weighing, and you can thrift them pretty easily) Of course, if you're ecobricking to sequester plastic and not necessarily to build, you don't need to worry too much about the density, but if you wanted to donate your ecobricks to a project in the future I would encourage you to try to keep track of density.
Cap your bottle tightly, leaving 1-2 cm at the top of the bottle (basically, you don't want the cap to bulge, because it will make the cap degrade rapidly and crack). Label them with the density of the bottle (if it's relevant) and the date (so you know how long the brick has been around so you can maintain it if needed)-- nail polish works the best. Keep them out of the elements (especially the sun) and off the ground until you plan to use them.
There are tons of ways to use ecobricks! I'll link a few ideas below.
https://ecobricks.org/en/build.php
https://ecobricks.org/en/modules.php
anways, happy bricking! i'll post a picture of my finished ecobrick when it's done (hopefully not soon!)
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecobricks
https://ecobricks.org/en/how.php
Good News - June 8-14
Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $Kaybarr1735! And if you tip me and give me a way to contact you, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week!
1. Rare foal born on estate for first time in 100 years
“The Food Museum at Abbot's Hall in Stowmarket, Suffolk, is home to a small number of Suffolk Punch horses - a breed considered critically endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. A female foal was born on Saturday and has been named Abbots Juno to honour the last horse born at the museum in 1924. [...] Juno is just one of 12 fillies born so far this year in the country and she could potentially help produce more of the breed in the future.”
2. The cement that could turn your house into a giant battery
“[Scientists] at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way of creating an energy storage device known as a supercapacitor from three basic, cheap materials – water, cement and a soot-like substance called carbon black. [... Supercapacitators] can charge much more quickly than a lithium ion battery and don't suffer from the same levels of degradation in performance. [... Future applications of this concrete might include] roads that store solar energy and then release it to recharge electric cars wirelessly as they drive along a road [... and] energy-storing foundations of houses.”
3. New road lights, fewer dead insects—insect-friendly lighting successfully tested
“Tailored and shielded road lights make the light source almost invisible outside the illuminated area and significantly reduces the lethal attraction for flying insects in different environments. [...] The new LED luminaires deliver more focused light, reduce spill light, and are shielded above and to the side to minimize light pollution. [... In contrast,] dimming the conventional lights by a factor of 5 had no significant effect on insect attraction.”
4. When LGBTQ health is at stake, patient navigators are ready to help
“[S]ome health care systems have begun to offer guides, or navigators, to get people the help they need. [... W]hether they're just looking for a new doctor or taking the first step toward getting gender-affirming care, "a lot of our patients really benefit from having someone like me who is there to make sure that they are getting connected with a person who is immediately going to provide a safe environment for them." [... A navigator] also connects people with LGBTQ community organizations, social groups and peer support groups.”
5. Tech company to help tackle invasive plant species
“Himalayan balsam has very sugary nectar which tempts bees and other pollinators away from native plants, thereby preventing them from producing seed. It outcompetes native plant species for resources such as sunlight, space and nutrients. [...] The volunteer scheme is open to all GWT WilderGlos users who have a smartphone and can download the Crowdorsa app, where they can then earn up to 25p per square meter of Balsam removed.”
6. [Fish & Wildlife] Service Provides Over $14 Million to Benefit Local Communities, Clean Waterways and Recreational Boaters
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is distributing more than $14 million in Clean Vessel Act grants to improve water quality and increase opportunities for fishing, shellfish harvests and safe swimming in the nation’s waterways. By helping recreational boaters properly dispose of sewage, this year’s grants will improve conditions for local communities, wildlife and recreational boaters in 18 states and Guam.”
7. Bornean clouded leopard family filmed in wild for first time ever
“Camera traps in Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Borneo have captured a Bornean clouded leopard mother and her two cubs wandering through a forest. It's the first time a family of these endangered leopards has been caught on camera in the wild, according [to] staff from the Orangutan Foundation who placed camera traps throughout the forest to learn more about the elusive species.”
8. Toy library helps parents save money 'and the planet'
“Started in 2015 by Annie Berry, South Bristol's toy library aims to reduce waste and allow more children access to more - and sometimes expensive - toys. [...] Ms Berry partnered with the St Philips recycling centre on a pilot project to rescue items back from landfill, bringing more toys into the library. [...] [P]eople use it to support the environment, take out toys that they might not have the space for at home or be able to afford, and allow children to pick non-gender specific toys.”
9. Chicago Receives $3M Grant to Inventory Its Trees and Create Plan to Manage City’s Urban Forest
“The Chicago Park District received a $1.48 million grant [“made available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act”] to complete a 100% inventory of its estimated 250,000 trees, develop an urban forestry management plan and plant 200 trees in disadvantaged areas with the highest need. As with the city, development of the management plan is expected to involve significant community input.”
10. Strong Public Support for Indigenous Co-Stewardship Plan for Bears Ears National Monument
“[The NFW has a] plan to collaboratively steward Bears Ears National Monument to safeguard wildlife, protect cultural resources, and better manage outdoor recreation. The plan was the result of a two-year collaboration among the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and upholds Tribal sovereignty, incorporates Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and responsibly manages the monument for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation while ensuring the continued health of the ecosystem.”
June 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)
Anyway, not-so-friendly reminder that nihilism/doomerism/accelerationism is a conspiracy theory meant to keep people complacent and docile in the event of an authoritarian regime, and the online Left really needs to start shunning these groups with the same vehemence that we shun radfem/terf groups.
The biggest threat to systemic evil is hope, and this nonsense “the world will never get better, so why bother trying to make it better” ideology literally exists to serve those systems. The doomerism movement is pro-capitalist, pro-fascist, pro-authoritarianism, etc. because they accept these systems as inherent to the nature of humanity, unable to be changed… which is exactly what the fascists running the system want. After all, why resist the rise of evil if evil is always inevitable? Why fight to make the world a better place if the world is just going to end soon anyway? Why not just stand aside and let the authoritarians do their thing? It doesn’t even matter anyway, right?
The point is, the Left is far too tolerant of doomerism, and it’s driving me insane.