Copperfingertips - Represent The Human Race

#TheFutureIsAccessible #TFiA

http://bonfire.com/thefutureisaccessible

[Image Description: indoors, Annie is sitting in a power chair front of an elevator wearing sunglasses, wrist/thumb braces, and a black t-shirt with text that reads, “The future is accessible”]

Self Sufficiency, 1970s

We have the right to good jobs and a liveable future.

A lot of people are really scared and angry because of the results of the newest climate change reports — as they should be. But I’m already seeing a lot of posts and news reports like “HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING” and bizarrely enough, the answers are never like “weed out climate change deniers from your government, impose strict new rules for the corporations that are  creating most of the emissions, pour government resources into alternate forms of fuel, etc.” It’s always like “carpool to work!”

Look. Of course you should be working to reduce waste in your own life. But let’s not fucking pretend that consumers are the ones who made this mess. You know what another recent study found? Just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. If the rest of us stopped ALL WASTE and fucking ascended to a higher plane of existence that no longer requires consumption of any kind, the world would still be absolutely fucked if those 100 companies keep on as they do.

I hate this personal responsibility model when it comes to conservation. By ignoring the actual source of the problem and focusing on individuals instead, guess who gets targeted? The absolute most vulnerable individuals on the planet. When people advocate personal responsibility, somehow they’re never talking about billionaires and their private jets. They’re creating straw bans that will make life more dangerous for people with disabilities. They’re shaming women for using disposable menstrual products. They’re criticizing the poor and destitute for using “wasteful” products because they’re all they can afford. They’re making vaguely eugenic statements about getting people in “third world countries” to stop ~breeding~ so much. It’s monstrous.

Stop shaming consumers for the sins of corporations and their powerful investors. Stop placing the blame at the feet of the people who already have the hardest time getting through life. Do something, and by “do something” I mean buy a reusable coffee cup on the way to fucking vote. Go to a protest. Call a representative. Demand accountability from the people who got us into this mess.

[Top left: Green onion seedlings. Bottom left: Baby basil seedlings. Right: A jungle of thyme.]

I’ve been growing some veggies indoors for a while now (almost a year?) and we finally got the lighting right for the plants. These little guys are completely solarpunk/lunarpunk. I live out in the country and for some reason that wasn’t known to us until after we bought our house there is a ban on all veggie growing and structure building. So we couldn’t even build an outdoor greenhouse. These little guys are growing in a legit solarpunk recycled diy’d greenhouse structure inside my garage. Eventually we are going to try and go with completely heirloom non-gmo organic seedlings but until then these little guys are fighting unjust zoning regulations, fighting our ever increasing dystopian reality (I have a yard and I can’t plant things!), and living it up #solarpunk style.

Did I mention our neighbors are bending these rules too? :) I’m not the only solarpunk in my area. My neighbor plants mint and strawberries in their flowerbeds and planted a plum tree right between our property lines so that when it matures no one can say it was theirs or that the regulation people didn’t know about it. It’s been there for years people. I’ve also started some mint and lavender bushes myself. They can ask me all they want about what they are… I’ll just tell them they’re decorative. 

Now, I’m not saying that people should do these things. Bending the rules can get you into trouble. But my area is poor and people are hungry, local food pantries have been closing too and without these solarpunk guerrilla gardening tactics people would go hungry. I only know three of my neighbors because everyone keeps loosing their homes. Neighbors last about a year here and then are forced to leave. 

At my old town just 20 min away from where I live now, we grew grapes and apples and let whoever was hungry have them. Our neighbors sometimes foraged. There were wild apple trees, grapes, and mulberries and people knew where they were and when they were ready to be picked. It helped a lot of people who wouldn’t have had anything to eat otherwise. banning food sources is what should be illegal. Not tending to gardens. Gardens and plants should never be banned. We live on a living planet, it’s what kept us alive all these centuries. Why are we turning our back on it now?

Shit No One Told Me About My Period

I knew the basics before I got it, but I had no clue…

* The blood wouldn’t necessarily be red. When I first got my period, I spent a few min looking at my underwear wondering how I shit myself. I didn’t know the blood could look brown, or be thick.

* That tampons weren’t a good idea yet. I was 10 or 11 when I got my first period and physically smaller than an adult woman. My first attempt at inserting a tampon was very painful and unsuccessful. I wouldn’t use them until I was around 14 or so.

* That when you use pads the blood can get on your bottom and I’d have to occasionally clean off the toilet seat after using it.

* That getting your first period DOES NOT mean you’re fully developed and fully able to bear children. I could have technically gotten pregnant at that age, but I was still a child and pregnancy would have put my life in danger because I was still physically immature.

* That it wouldn’t be regular for another few years.

* That very painful cramping is NOT NORMAL once you reach your 20s and is cause for concern.

* That the blood and tissue you pass can look chunky or stringy and not like blood from a cut.

* That stress can halt your period for months BUT

* That doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant

Feel free to add your own

Meet the Women Behind California’s First Open-Water Seaweed Farm

They’re on a quest for a delicious solution to global food insecurity

Tessa Emmer, Catherine O’Hare, and Avery Resor constitute the all-female braintrust behind Salt Point Seaweed, a fledgling Bay Area company that launched last June. They’ve been harvesting wild seaweed off the coast of Mendocino County, located a few hours north of San Francisco, for two years and selling it to chefs at local restaurants, seafood CSAs, and at retail. Now, they’re striving to become the first West Coast seaweed farming operation to establish an active, open-water farm.

The idea to launch a sustainable seaweed syndicate came to Emmer, O’Hare, and Resor after living in East Africa and witnessing the burgeoning role of seaweed in those communities—as local fishing stock dwindled, resourceful women had found a reliable replacement in seaweed. Seaweed grows rapidly and easily without help from external inputs. Emmer and Resor, who share a background in natural resource management, drew inspiration from a hardscrabble female aquafarming operation in Zanzibar. “There were so many women farmers using it as an alternative revenue model in declining fisheries environments,” says Emmer. “We started wondering why it wasn’t happening in California.”

(via Meet the Women Behind California’s First Open-Water Seaweed Farm | Sierra Club)

Salt Point Seaweed is a three-woman team - Tessa Emmer, Catherine O'Hare, and Avery Resor - living in the Bay Area and working throughout California.

Tessa and Catherine met as undergraduates at Oberlin College and have spent many days exploring the Pacific Ocean from Oahu, Hawaii, to Mendocino, California. Tessa fell in love with the coastal and riparian ecosystems of the Pacific coast when she came out to California for a restoration internship with the Presidio of San Francisco. Her drive to work at the intersection of ecological conservation, economic development, and climate adaptation led her to pursue a master in sustainable development at UC Berkeley, where she met Avery.

Catherine has a background in coastal ecology and sustainable agriculture. She grew up next to the ocean, splashing around the sunny tide pools of southern California. After graduating with a Biology degree from Oberlin College, she worked for small scale organic farms and a small food business, solidifying her passion for local food, regenerative food systems, and health.

Avery grew up living and working on a cattle ranch and has been working in sustainable agriculture ever since. At Duke University Marine Lab, she studied marine biology and environmental science and was captivated by the parallels between aquaculture and land-based agriculture. She is integrating her agriculture experience with 10 years of professional cooking experience to bring farm-to-table culinary expertise to our team.

Avery, Catherine, and Tessa are all committed to using business as a force for environmental protection, community development, and food system transformation.

https://www.saltpointseaweed.com/about

You can find out more / follow them on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/saltpointseaweed/

Floating A-frame, submitted by Martino

How to build a solar greenhouse heater using old beer cans