I see a lot of despair out here. I see some people doing stuff about it, too, and I want to highlight that and help people find places in the movement.
I'm a busy person tho and this is a sideblog.
the blogger: white, queer, chronically ill usamerican. late 20s. unemployed, have a masters of environmental science. my experience with leftist issues mostly involves reading & listening, but I've volunteered for a few causes when I have had time/energy.
the blog: i hope to gather resources here that help people be more effective leftists and write some thoughts.
how long and how many days a week do you think ER doctors work. i think they're right to want to just fucking chill. i want a well rested doctor treating me and not one who just pulled a 24 hour shift and then a 12 and another 12 before another 24, with only a few hours of legally mandated breaks inbetween.
Yeah some of us want a 30-hour work week because we've read the experimental research trials. People aren't any less productive and they are happier and less stressed and feel less leisure time pressure.
It turns out that working 40 hours a week is just too much. Full stop, no ifs ands or buts. The tiredness and loss of focus it induces is enough that you're about 25% less productive per hour when you're on a 40-hour work week, and so the extra 10 hours a week cancels out. This effect is a little bit more pronounced for white collar work and a little bit less pronounced for blue collar work, but there's functionally not enough of a difference to care. And people who are working more than that actually become less productive in total.
The thing is that you don't immediately gain the benefits of being fully rested and focused by working less on just one day, or even one week. It can even take months to settle into the pattern of higher productivity per working hour, and that's frankly miraculously quick given that full burnout can take years to recover from. And during that transition you will be less immediately productive. Particularly for people who pride themselves on being hard workers and how much overtime they put in, the notion that working less can get just as much done can feel absurd and even insulting. Because it seems so painfully obvious that you get less done when you do less, and any experiences of being invited to do so feel like they back that up.
But it's true. We are all simply working more than we need to, pointlessly, to no benefit at all. It is an appallingly pointless waste of human life.
The results of several workplace surveys may defy expectations, but the data is clear: shortened work weeks can work for businesses and empl
Also, I don’t actually care if someone is less productive working 30 hours a week or 20 hours a week. We do not need endless productivity and it’s bad for the earth and bad for people. We would be completely fine if everyone was half as productive. Literally we would be better off. It does not matter that a 30 hour work week is as productive as a 40 hour work week. Reject that framing!
fyi the point of fucking up your data patterns isnt to avoid suspicion. it’s to make EVERYONE suspicious. same logic as the bloc, pals. protect your comrades, be suspicious. ESPECIALLY if you aren’t doing anything likely to get you arrested.
the state is less omniscient and significantly more incompetent than you’d think. overextend their resources at every possible opportunity. make them cry wolf repeatedly. run their data analysis agents fucking ragged. and strike. attack.
YES
i’m a postgrad statistics researcher and i can tell you that the state honestly has NO IDEA what to do with the data it collects, it has an obsession with big data but it’s almost impossible to work with in practice. the traditional statistical approaches that are used can’t be scaled up, the adapted approaches are substantially weakened, and the machine learning approaches have the same problems and often tell them nothing. data scientists are only just coming around to these issues too, most still just push on with it anyway - incompetence is the word.
above all this though, like you say, the biggest issue for the state is at the point of data collection. they will NEVER get anything useful if they’re collecting shitty messy data. they will eventually figure out that the real solution is working how to collect accurate and meaningful data, we should make it as difficult as possible for them to do that
Ad Nauseum is an adblocker that stores the ads it blocks and continuously generates fake clicks, fucking with analytics and costing the ad companies money
TrackMeNot automatically does randomly generated searches on a variety of search engines to obscure your real searches and fuck with analytics, and you can set it up to work with anything that has a search bar (including facebook, twitter, amazon, youtube, etc)
WhatCampaign replaces analytics parameters in links with the string “FuckOff”. I thought there was a similar extension that used random strings, but I can’t seem to find it
Privacy Possum is a fork of Privacy Badger with a focus on costing tracking companies as much money as possible, and idk if my limited tech knowledge is enough to understand what it does but the description does say it falsifies some data so that’s good enough for me
Big actions help a fucking ton. But a volume of little actions do too.
none of these situations are hopeless. Many of them are up in the air, undecided. And we can do something about it.
Idk if this is relevant elsewhere, but usamericans - go to 5calls.org
after you enter your zip code, it'll give you a list of issues. Depending on how much time you've got, you can either pick your biggest issue and just call that one, or do a lot to make the most of your calls.
I did one today for one issue and the phone call duration was 48 seconds.
Here's a method I recommend if you have more like 10-15 minutes.
Get a pen and paper, or use your notes app. Pick the issues of importance to you. Make headings for each relevant phone number - usually it'll be your district's congressional representative and your two senators. Might also get some issues directing to your state/local officials.
Then, for each phone number, list the issues, how you want your reps to vote/act on them, and why it's important to you. The scripts are a good starting point. Once you're ready, place your calls.
And ask your friends to make some calls too!! We need voices heard. Even if you make one call about one single issue, you've done something. You've helped, and thrown sand into the gears of evil. Please, do what you can.
China has achieved significant ecological improvements across the Yellow River basin through comprehensive conservation efforts, marked by restored wetlands, rebounding biodiversity, and enhanced soil preservation over decades-long initiatives.
Li Qun, deputy head of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, made the remarks while addressing the High-Level International Seminar on SDG 6 Progress of ACD Member Countries, which was held in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, on Tuesday.
The event was organized by the International Economic and Technical Cooperation and Exchange Center, an affiliate of the ministry.
With availability of water resources an important factor to be taken into consideration for urban development, land use, population growth and industrial development, the withdrawal of water from the Yellow River was subjected to stringent permit management, he noted.
A market-driven water rights trading system now governs usage quotas in the basin, he added.
He also highlighted real-time flow adjustments in the basin, which happen thanks to a centralized flow scheduling network. This has helped maintain uninterrupted flows through the entire mainstream of the Yellow River for 26 straight years, he disclosed.
Following 18 years of consistent efforts to replenish water to the Yellow River Delta wetland in Dongying, Shandong province, he said the area has experienced remarkable ecological improvement.
"The area of reed marshes in the estuary wetland has been increasing year by year. The number of bird species in the wetland has increased from 187 in the 1990s to 380 now," he said.
Major sandy areas in the Yellow River basin now boast 60 percent vegetation compared to about 30 percent in the 1980s. "The dominant color of the Loess Plateau has changed from yellow to green," he said.
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Per capita CO2 emissions from primary energy consumption decrease
Per capita CO2 emissions from primary energy consumption decreased in every state from 2005 to 2023, according to recently released data in our State Energy Data System. Total energy-related CO2 emissions in the United States fell 20% over that time, and the population grew by 14%, leading to a 30% decrease in per capita CO2 emissions.Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data System. Data values: Per capita CO2 emissions from energy consumption.
CO2 emissions across the country primarily declined because less coal was burned in the electric power sector. Increased electricity generation from natural gas, which releases about half as many CO2 emissions per unit of energy when combusted as coal, and from non-CO2-emitting wind and solar generation offset the decrease in coal generation. Looking ahead, our Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts a slight 1% increase in U.S. total CO2 emissions in 2025, in part because of more recent increased fossil fuel consumption for crude oil production and electricity generation growth.
Our state energy-related CO2 data represent emissions from primary energy consumption of fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal) for all sectors. We count CO2 emissions released at power plants in the state where they are located, even if the electricity generated is sent across the grid for use in other states or countries. Similarly, we account for transportation CO2 emissions in the state where fuels are sold to end users, even if the vehicles, boats, or planes later travel across state or international lines.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data System. Data values: Per capita CO2 emissions from energy consumption.
Maryland led all states with a 49% reduction in per capita CO2 emissions from energy consumption between 2005 and 2023, as the state’s total CO2 emissions fell 43% and population grew 11%. In 2023, Maryland had the lowest per capita CO2 emissions of any state, at 7.8 metric tons of CO2 (mtCO2), which is the second lowest in recorded data beginning in 1960. The District of Columbia has lower per capita CO2 emissions than any state and tied its record low of 3.6 mtCO2 in 2023.
In Maryland, coal and natural gas accounted for 56% and 4%, respectively, of in-state electricity generation in 2005, but coal and natural gas shares nearly reversed to 5% and 41%, respectively, in 2023. During the same period, new solar and wind generation came online, and the combined generation mix shift resulted in a 74% reduction in Maryland’s total electric power sector CO2 emissions. Similar coal retirement and replacement trends occurred in each of the states with the largest reductions in per capita CO2 emissions from 2005 to 2023.
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data System. Data values: Total CO2 emissions estimates from energy consumption by sector, 2023.
Sector emissions
In 2023, the transportation sector accounted for the largest share of CO2 emissions from energy consumption in 28 states. For 14 of those 28 states, the transportation sector overtook the electric power sector after 2005, largely because of decreased coal use for electric power and relatively flat petroleum use for transportation. In 2005, the electric power sector accounted for the largest share of emissions in 31 states, while the transportation sector made up the largest share of emissions in 17 states.
The transportation sector had the most CO2 emissions in almost all states along the east and west coasts of the contiguous United States in 2023. These states are generally more densely populated and have more road and air travel. Many of these coastal states also do not consume coal for electricity generation anymore, meaning electric power sector CO2 emissions have declined since 2005.
In 2023, the electric power sector was the leading source of CO2 emissions in 18 states. Most of these states, such as Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Wyoming, are net electricity suppliers to other states. Many of these states also generate a large share of their electricity from coal. West Virginia, Wyoming, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Dakota each generated over half of their in-state electricity from coal in 2023.
The industrial sector, which includes manufacturing and agriculture, accounted for the largest share of CO2 emissions in four states in 2023. Large oil, natural gas, and refining industries in Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska and large agriculture and biofuels production industries in Iowa contribute to higher industrial emissions in these states. U.S. industrial sector CO2 emissions are concentrated in a handful of states. The five states with the highest industrial CO2 emissions accounted for over half of the U.S. total in 2023.
Nationwide, the electric power sector accounted for the largest share of CO2 emissions in the United States until 2016, when the transportation sector surpassed it. U.S. total CO2 emissions peaked for both the electric power and transportation sectors in 2007. CO2 emissions in the electric power sector have declined faster than in the transportation sector since 2007 because the electricity generation fuel mix has shifted away from coal and toward natural gas, wind, and solar. Since 2007, the transportation fuel mix has remained relatively steady despite increased electric vehicle sales and less petroleum transportation fuel demand since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Principal contributors: Mickey Francis, Brett Marohl
how do we flex about our ideals? about living our lives to the fullest, and not limiting ourselves?
especially about doing stuff the right/christofascism considers morally wrong?
I want to relish in the combination of privilege, life organizing skills, courage, and resourcefulness that's currently allowing me to not have a job/serve capital and survive without guilt. I want to brag that I feel awesome spending an above average amount of time doing unproductive and pleasurable things like blogging, sleeping, smoking weed*, and masturbating, because all of these actions are harmless* and enrich my life! this is a time of great healing for me!
(*ok the weed isnt 100% harmless to my health and i admit that. but I'm def not hurting any other humans, wasting limited resources, or polluting the earth by doing it.)
but I don't want to say, "hell yeah I'm an unemployed degenerate." people have been trying to reclaim that word... but it's not worth reclaiming. It has too fucking much nasty nazi ideology in tow.
I am not about to call myself a "pleasure activist" because 1. that's corny as fuck and we already look cringe and 2. activist kind of implies that I'm taking action to increase others' ability to access these pleasures, and I'm really not.
but, fellow life enjoyers, how do you talk about, encourage, and promote simple sensual pleasures? How do you get your stressed out coworkers to not feel guilty for taking a fucking five? when people talk about depriving themselves (especially for vague "moral" reasons), how do you let self-martyring Harder-Working-Than-Thou folks know that the suffering they're creating for themself really is meaningless and unnecessary?
this is kind of a basic 101 level feminism thought, but...
I see more (cishet) men wearing 'traditionally'/currently-coded-as feminine clothes lately! yes the occasional skirt, but most commonly nail polish, shorter shorts, leggings for athletic activity. This is a good thing! Men feeling comfortable expressing themselves through more types of clothing shows an increase in gender-freedom, societally.
With this, I also see an uptick in sentiment from these men along the lines of "someone criticised me for my leggings :( if the roles were reversed, it would be a whole nother situation!", esp on reddit. and there is a lot to be said about the policing that women still very much do receive on their bodies and clothes - especially from other women - but that's not what this post is about.
I wish I could inject the following sentiment directly into those mens' brains:
Women used to get much more pushback, or even punishment, for dressing masculine. Those who continued doing it anyway, against that societal pressure, are now considered revolutionary. if you're cool enough to be on the frontlines of breaking norms, you gotta be cool enough to realize that the work you're doing now will pave the way for future men to dress as they please, if you're brave. Other people dressing as they want to are your comrades & foremothers of aesthetic freedom, not your enemies.
When americans talk about socialized medicine being lousy, they always bring up Canada as their "gotcha". Probably because of proximity, cause many of us know someone who's visited the Great White North, especially for its natural beauty, had something happen, and need emergency care.
I think that a good rhetorical move here is to pivot the conversation away from Canada. It's not an apt comparison - there are more people in California than Canada and there's a doctor shortage up there too. It's like if an NFL team played a regional high school champions team.
A better comparison would be Germany, or the EU as a whole. They're also economic powerhouses who have large and diverse populations. There are still problems with both systems, yes, but only one of them regularly bankrupts people.
I've seen a few posts about "woke" and its watering-down over these past few years and I'm wondering. how do we keep stuff like this from happening? the right loves to disarm its enemies by taking concepts that get brought to public consciousness, and turning them into jokes or cringe fodder. that's like their top strat. how do we stop getting meme'd on?
