Do Direct action, And Do It All The Time

Main: En-Seta My documentation of the inherent waste of late-capitalism and the strive towards a low waste/solarpunk future. 5 years dumpster diving. 4 years vegan. Intersectional feminist. Queer. He/him.

[en-seta]

Just wanted to let my followers know I am Still Alive, just focusing on my mental health. Sorry if I made anyone worry. Here’s some art I made recently ✌🏽

[freegan-life]

Hey there, my vet told me it's best to keep kibble and other pet food in its original bag, or to put it in metal or glass containers. Plastic doesn't do well with the food's oils and can develop mold very easily and go rancid faster. Plastic also scratches super easy and bacteria can hide in the scratches, no matter how well you clean it.

Oh wow. Thanks for letting me know, anon.

I’m guessing this is concerning my dumpster diving post about dog kibble

The reason we keep the kibble in those containers is because my neighborhood has a rat/mouse problem, and keeping it out attracts them into the kitchen

I will definitely work with my roommates to see if we can keep the food we buy in the bag and also in the container, and maybe keep a big bag for future dumpster kibble hauls.

Thanks again for the heads up

[ptactwo]

[freegan-life]

(to preface, yes, I understand the original post was in good humor)

Yeah, it’s bad.

Where I live, public transportation is only practical if you live in the metro area/downtown (which is very small in size and population compared to the surrounding suburbs).

For example: there is no transit ride for me to get to work. It doesn’t exist. Not even a bus will get me there.

Another example: to get to my chiropractor in the morning, it will take me exactly 2 extra hours to arrive on time if I take a bus (and like my work, my next Dr appointment also doesn’t have any transit options)

And yes, I could switch to a chiropractor in the metro that I could possibly take a bus or walk to, but that’s not the point.

Most people (in Alabama at least, but I’m sure also every rural state) live in areas where

there is no public transportation

you absolutely must have a car/motorcycle if you are going to get anywhere, because

There is no safe way to walk to where you need to be, on account that most roads do not have sidewalks

And most residential areas are not within walking distance of anywhere worth walking to (grocery store, pharmacy, malls, whatever)

Because of this, people living in poverty drive cars missing headlights, turn signals, bumpers, windows, etc. (I’ve also seen people driving on one or multiple spare tires), all of which is very dangerous for everyone but especially the people driving these cars

and they run these cars until they break down and end up abandoned because it’s not practical to fix a car on its last leg or pay to have a totaled car with no insurance towed

My point is

Many people absolutely do not have any practical option besides driving cars, in poverty or not,

and the solution to this is more public transportation and expanding on places to live in metro areas instead of the suburbs

pretty much, making other options easy, cheap, and widely available

Not shaming people living in this hellhole with no other good choices

[freegan-life]

Leftists, I want y’all to destroy the idea of “laziness” yesterday

Motivation, patience, and energy are limited resources, especially for people with executive dysfunction, mental disabilities, and physical disabilities.

Next time you want to assume you or someone else is being “lazy”, consider the actual reasons behind why there is not enough in them to do the thing.

Left to their own devices, free people are naturally driven to improve their lives and the lives of others,

Right wing arguments’ foundations depends on the assumption that humans are naturally selfish, evil, and “lazy”, and must be controlled by higher powers and punished when they don’t contribute enough (with the insistence that certain groups of people are more deserving of being controlled and punished than others)

Next time you notice you or someone else is struggling to accomplish something, don’t assume “laziness”, instead ask yourself: am I tired? Depleted of patience? In a bad mood? If I keep pushing myself through this, will it really be worth the distress?

Maybe what you need is rest, someone to talk to, mental health support, or to just be safe, with all your needs being met. Maybe we should eliminate “laziness” as an easy explanation and instead consider our needs first.

[daisypath]

Laziness Does Not Exist

Psychological research is clear: when people procrastinate, there's usually a good reason

I hope you don't mind me adding this article. I think it is relevant and it had a hand in shaping my thoughts on the matter.

[stripedroseandsketchpads]

This is much broader but just want to add: as a disabled person almost all leftist ableism I’ve encountered can be boiled down to “You people contribute less/use more resources/help fewer people because you’re lazy and not hard-working, therefor whatever utopian community we’re imagining has no place for you/you’re as bad as the oppressor class/etc”.

Standards of laziness vs what people “should” be able to do to ~contribute socially~ are basically always set based on able bodied and NT people and much of this discourse has ableism baked into its very foundations. If leftists want to combat it they HAVE to get rid of “laziness” and “dependency” as negatives (because we are all interdependent and all have limitations).

[misspiggyforvogueitalia]

yes hello and welcome to my blog!!!!!!!

[scallioncreamcheesebagel]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-14/britney-spears-shines-light-on-america-conservatorship-laws/100605612

here is the article, it’s a good read that does into detail about “ordinary” people’s experiences being forced into a conservatorship. it’s a horribly violent system.

[diaryofandnwoman]

Garden for CLIMATE RESISTENCE.

[climatecalling]

Yes, Actually, Individual Responsibility Is Essential to Solving the Climate Crisis

Personal sacrifices are necessary, and greens should be honest about that

"By waving off the potency of individual action, the climate movement will simply substitute one blind spot for another. A fixation on system change alone opens the door to a kind of cynical self-absolution that divorces personal commitment from political belief. This is its own kind of false consciousness, one that threatens to create a cheapened climate politics incommensurate with this urgent moment."

[patrokleos]

Can we please stop calling it vegan leather? You cannot, by definition, have vegan leather. It’s plastic - if you don’t like that, come up with a different term, but for the love of whatever you consider holy, please stop calling it vegan leather.

[acti-veg]

Can we please stop recycling this exact same post in the vegan tag literally every week? No, vegan leather is not ‘just plastic,’ it’s just anything that isn’t animal fiber and looks a bit like leather. It really isn’t all that complicated. There is pinatex, cork, hemp, pineapple fiber, mushroom fiber, leaf fiber, to name only a few. Hell, there is a company in India making leather from discarded temple flowers.

It’s 2021, and people have been calling non-animal fibers by some variation of the term ‘leather’ since the invention of Naugahyde in 1920. It’s been over a century - do you think it might be time for people to just get over this? The meaning of words can change. The term is not misleading, it isn’t confusing, nobody is buying vegan leather expecting it to be cow’s skin. I promise you that everything will be okay if you just let people refer to fabrics by terms we all already understand.

[solarpunkvegan]

@patrokleos

Leather is a fashion term. Like how “vegetable” is a culinary term. A tomato is a vegetable in culinary terms but a fruit in biological ones. We call it a vegetable because we wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad. We use the word that best helps us describe how and when we use it in cooking. Mushroom leather is leather in fashion terms and mushroom fibers in biological terms. Which term helps me to decide if this cute jacket will go with my outfit:

leather jacket

mushroom jacket

Language evolves. The point of language is to clearly communicate an idea. If I want you to know what the clothing item LOOKS like, and it LOOKS like leather, then I will call it leather. If I want you to know that the item was made without animal exploitation I will call it vegan. If it is both of those things at once? Vegan leather. It’s really that simple.

If you want to know what it’s made of I can just say “vegan mushroom leather”, but it’s still “leather” because that’s what it’s trying to look like. That’s the texture and the feel of the garment.

Why, exactly, do you care if people call things that are not animal skin, leather? Why do you want to police people’s language when it hurts no one?

[thanapo]

Where does one get non plastic vegan leather products? This is the first I’m hearing of this

[vegspoblr]

You can look them up online, there’s plenty of non plastic vegan leather producers. I personally have had really good results with cork leather, which is durable and resistant like animal leather but wayyy more environmentally friendly + humane.

[freegan-life]

Just gonna leave this here since it’s too difficult to use a search engine, apparently.

[edge-effects]

The article above explicitly states that “each material [mentioned] is either made with a mix of plants and polyurethane,” so plastic, “or is plant-based and coated with a plastic-based resin.” Just saying.

[freegan-life]

And each of those manufactures are currently working to formulate durable fabric without petroleum products

90% of leather made after 1958, however, is tanned with chromium, a toxic heavy metal that most often goes untreated to directly pollute water ways

Leather tanned in this way is not biodegradable

Leather can be biodegradable if treated using vegetable tanning,

but that process takes 2 months, and the current global demand for leather wouldn’t be able to keep up

Chinese manufacturers have already been caught using dogs for leather, (and being marketed as cow leather) the demand is so high

So don’t complain about a thin plastic lining when I guarantee most of your wardrobe is either petroleum products or conventionally grown cotton

[patrokleos]

Can we please stop calling it vegan leather? You cannot, by definition, have vegan leather. It’s plastic - if you don’t like that, come up with a different term, but for the love of whatever you consider holy, please stop calling it vegan leather.

[acti-veg]

Can we please stop recycling this exact same post in the vegan tag literally every week? No, vegan leather is not ‘just plastic,’ it’s just anything that isn’t animal fiber and looks a bit like leather. It really isn’t all that complicated. There is pinatex, cork, hemp, pineapple fiber, mushroom fiber, leaf fiber, to name only a few. Hell, there is a company in India making leather from discarded temple flowers.

It’s 2021, and people have been calling non-animal fibers by some variation of the term ‘leather’ since the invention of Naugahyde in 1920. It’s been over a century - do you think it might be time for people to just get over this? The meaning of words can change. The term is not misleading, it isn’t confusing, nobody is buying vegan leather expecting it to be cow’s skin. I promise you that everything will be okay if you just let people refer to fabrics by terms we all already understand.

[solarpunkvegan]

@patrokleos

Leather is a fashion term. Like how “vegetable” is a culinary term. A tomato is a vegetable in culinary terms but a fruit in biological ones. We call it a vegetable because we wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad. We use the word that best helps us describe how and when we use it in cooking. Mushroom leather is leather in fashion terms and mushroom fibers in biological terms. Which term helps me to decide if this cute jacket will go with my outfit:

leather jacket

mushroom jacket

Language evolves. The point of language is to clearly communicate an idea. If I want you to know what the clothing item LOOKS like, and it LOOKS like leather, then I will call it leather. If I want you to know that the item was made without animal exploitation I will call it vegan. If it is both of those things at once? Vegan leather. It’s really that simple.

If you want to know what it’s made of I can just say “vegan mushroom leather”, but it’s still “leather” because that’s what it’s trying to look like. That’s the texture and the feel of the garment.

Why, exactly, do you care if people call things that are not animal skin, leather? Why do you want to police people’s language when it hurts no one?

[thanapo]

Where does one get non plastic vegan leather products? This is the first I’m hearing of this

[vegspoblr]

You can look them up online, there’s plenty of non plastic vegan leather producers. I personally have had really good results with cork leather, which is durable and resistant like animal leather but wayyy more environmentally friendly + humane.

[freegan-life]

Just gonna leave this here since it’s too difficult to use a search engine, apparently.

[autisticbeecas-deactivated20220]

Ya allah this is sick

They’re distroying graves to build a museum and an amusement park.

museum of tolerance

Independence amusement park

it’s just —-

graves are sacred, people are in there, ancestors , there is so much. This is so disrespectful to the dead and to their families and to the whole country .

i just -

why

[autisticbeecas-deactivated20220]

Donation links for Palestinian cause :

donate by watching a YouTube video ( you can mute it and play it in the background and do your work )

To donate food

Help Gaza

To support Palestine

if you have any more donation links please do share and remember that prayers matter too

[number1broccoli-king]

god-teir vegans suspend their veganism to eat the rich

[modern-politics111]

[mishafletcher]

[image id: a series of tweets by twitter user jamie ford.

image 1:  Defund the police? Here’s an example that you’re benefiting from right now. 1/9 [photo: a group of people, mostly black men, standing in front of an ambulance. two men are holding children; many of the men are wearing what appear to be either EMT or police uniforms.]

image 2:  Until the 70s, ambulance services were generally run by local police and fire departments. There was no law requiring medical training beyond basic first-aid and in many cases the assignment of ambulance duty was used as a form of punishment. 2/9

image 3:  As you can imagine, throwing people with medical emergencies into the back of a paddy wagon produced less than spectacular health outcomes. Now imagine how much worse it became when disgruntled white police officers were demoted to ambulance duty in black neighborhoods. 3/9 [photo: a late-50s ford panel truck that’s been restored to look like a police van. it says ‘paddy wagon’ in large letters on the side panel, and the doors have ‘to serve and protect’ and a seal that says ‘city police’ on them.]

image 4:  The response was so problematic that in 1967, black leaders in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, created Freedom House Ambulance Services and approached Peter Safar, a doctor at the University of Pittsburgh, who had lost his 12-year-old daughter to an acute asthma crisis. 4/9 [photo: a group of people, a mix of genders and races. some of the men appear to be medical professionals and have stethoscopes hanging around their necks; the rest of the group is wearing a spectrum of clothing that ranges from nice casual to business suits.]

image 5:  With a shared purpose of improving emergency medical response, Safar trained 25 black men from that neglected community––many of whom did not have a high school diploma––as emergency medical technicians, skilled in this new thing called CPR. 5/9 [photo: an ambulance with its back doors open. two black men are dressed as EMTs and are providing what looks like CPR to someone on a stretcher. the man doing the chest compressions is looking straight ahead, meeting the eyes of the three white women and one black woman are watching him. the women are well dressed and look concerned.]

image 6:  With two donated police vehicles, Freedom House Ambulance Services began to save lives at such a rate, that they became the gold standard for emergency response training in the US and the model for EMTs we now take for granted in every community. 6/9 [photo one: two black men and one white man in the back of an ambulance. photo two: a black man and a white woman inside a freedom house ambulance, seemingly caring for someone on a stretcher.]

image 7:  Freedom House paramedics were so dynamic in their ability to respond to the critically ill that the Pittsburgh police often called them for high acuity cases in white neighborhoods. 7/9 [photo: two black men wearing shirts with ‘ambulance attendant trainee’ badges on their sleeves and a black woman with a stethoscope are gathered around a white woman on a hospital bed. one of the men is holding what looks like an oxygen mask; the woman looks like she might be taking the patient’s blood pressure]

image 8:  Despite the success of FHAS, police and fire departments resisted retraining their personnel, so the city reallocated funds to create a separate EMT service. (A new mayor cut funding to Freedom House in 1975 and seized their assets, but that’s another story). 8/9 [photo: a white man (possibly peter flaherty, mayor of pittsburgh from 1970 to 1977) wearing a suit, his hand on his head.]

image 9:  When people think defunding the police will lead to anarchy, they’re not understanding that change rarely happens from within, and that resources reallocated to community-based services can not only improve neglected neighborhoods, but create innovations that help us all. 9/9 [photo: a timeline from ems.gov of the progression of ems systems in the united states]

the last tweet in the thread, which isn’t included in this post, reads ‘Here’s a trailer for a documentary about Freedom House Ambulance Service. #KnowYourHistory’ [link to video]

[freegan-life]

Just saw a post about how rich people pat themselves on the back for using green washed products, (and that buying used should be priority)

which is a great observation

But it also ignored the fact that things wear out, deteriorate, or just shouldn’t be bought used. (Underwear, just one example)

Plus, there are lots of things in everyday life that just gets used up too fast to buy used all the time

So, yes, buying used should be your first choice.

But when it comes to stuff like soap, food, and necessary single use items….

Yes

Buying organic, small, biodegradable, etc. should also be priority for those who can afford it*

*not everything low waste is more expensive.

For example

Soap nuts are biodegradable and work great as laundry detergent. They’re not expensive, use 0 plastic, and don’t require extra time or effort beyond using hot water for your laundry.

And that’s just one example I can think of at the top of my head, there are many swaps you can make in your life that are actually less expensive, if you are willing/able to put in the effort

[freegan-life]

More examples:

Buying in food dry/in bulk is much cheaper than most other options. Some foods like beans take a little extra effort to pre-soak, but it’s worth the extra savings.

For people with periods, you can make your own pads out of scrap fabric, there are plenty of tutorials online/youtube

For people with periods (continued) silicone period cups are reusable and last for years

Gardening (no, you do not have to spend top dollar on supplies)

Buying soap in bar form (not just hand soap or body wash but dish soap, shampoo, and conditioner as well)

No, you don’t have to feel guilty about taking showers

Yes, you can reduce your waste without access to recycling

It takes research, creativity, and most importantly, each other, but we absolutely can and must make changes if we are going to see a better world in our lifetime.

Do not be fooled that we can save the world without making changes ourselves, be the example you want to see in this world

[freegan-life]

Just saw a post about how rich people pat themselves on the back for using green washed products, (and that buying used should be priority)

which is a great observation

But it also ignored the fact that things wear out, deteriorate, or just shouldn’t be bought used. (Underwear, just one example)

Plus, there are lots of things in everyday life that just gets used up too fast to buy used all the time

So, yes, buying used should be your first choice.

But when it comes to stuff like soap, food, and necessary single use items….

Yes

Buying organic, small, biodegradable, etc. should also be priority for those who can afford it*

*not everything low waste is more expensive.

For example

Soap nuts are biodegradable and work great as laundry detergent. They’re not expensive, use 0 plastic, and don’t require extra time or effort beyond using hot water for your laundry.

And that’s just one example I can think of at the top of my head, there are many swaps you can make in your life that are actually less expensive, if you are willing/able to put in the effort

[daffy-dork-deactivated20220129]

Okay, but seriously, everybody go and follow Aotearoa Liberation League. They’re a Maori intersectional vegan group that advocate for both animal rights and indigenous issues and talk about the connections between indigenity, decolonisation and veganism. They have some great resources and I applaud their work. 

https://www.all.org.nz/

https://www.facebook.com/aotearoaliberationleague

https://www.instagram.com/aotearoaliberation/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmujqnvEG2O_U21zf6PYnTA

Indigenous vegans are constantly ignored and talked over in leftist spaces (by non-indigenous anti vegans especially) and leftists constantly pit indigenous issues and veganism against each other and frame the two as incompatible so to see groups like ALL give me hope and they need all the support they can get. 

[maa-iingan]

HELP BRING RYAN HOME‼️MISSING NATIVE CHILD!, organized by Kailey Marlette

My little brother Ryan has been missing for a week.. He is now across stat… Kailey Marlette needs your support for HELP BRING RYAN HOME‼️MIS

‼️‼️PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY LITTLE BROTHER!! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY‼️‼️

He’s a missing native child and at EXTREME RISK! The cops aren’t doing SHIT!

BOOST, DONATE, & SHARE

[whatevergreen]

Ongoing as of October 30th 2021

[freegan-life]

you got any tips on winter gardening?

First things first I’ll admit I am not an experienced gardener. I’ve fucked around with plants before but 2020 was my first year to actually get a harvest.

That being said, the first step you should take is research! Look up cold weather crops, which plant hardiness zone you live in, your local frost dates, the temperature required to germinate and harvest these crops (broccoli germinates in the warmth and thrives in the cold, but many crops won’t germinate above 70° F), and write all this shit down. Temperature and timing is key here!

(Winter crops include artichoke, arugula, asparagus, beet, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, cilantro, collards, fennel, garlic, kale, lettuce, mustard, onion, peas, potatoes, spinach, radish, and turnips)

Second, and this applies to all gardening, do not spend top dollar on supplies!

1: Seeds are cheap to produce, are being disposed of en masse around this time of year, and you can probably find cheap or free seeds from your local seed library using this locator or by searching “seed library” + your location (on DuckDuckGo.com , instead of Shmoogle, of course).

2: Compost can be found for free or cheap at municipalities that accept compost from residents (only one town in my area does this, but for one pickup truck full of compost is $30, vs maybe 3 or 4 bags of compost from retailers for the same price)

3: wood chips make great mulch, which will protect your plants from the cold, help retain moisture, and enrich the soil over time. Do Not Buy Woodchips! Arborists consistently produce wood chips as a byproduct of removing trees, and will gladly let you have as much as you want for free, considering the alternative is paying landfills to take them. Call your local arborists and see if they will let you pick them up or better yet, if they deliver!

4: if you want to make raised beds, do not buy new wood! Get that shit for free from the back of any big box store, they always have have piles of wood pallets. OR ask any place that sells wood if you can have their off-cuts OR buy majorly discounted wood in packs OR check fa.cebo.ok/cra.iglist for free wood

5: talk about it! Let everyone from your grandpappy to your friend’s fam know that your gardening. people who have gardened in the past will have have all kinds of supplies they don’t use anymore that could be useful to you. And you don’t know until you talk about it!

That’s all I can think of for now. Happy gardening!

[anarchopuppy]

ChipDrop is a service that lets you order free wood chips from local arborists, dropped off right on your lawn

[turtlesandfrogs]

Great advice, and just adding on a couple things:

If you're in the US, connect with your local university extension office/master gardener program. These are great resources that exist to help hinder gardeners be successful and they have localized knowledge which is very useful.

Secondly, if you hear an arborist working in your neighborhood, ask them for their chips. They have to get rid of them, and usually they're quite happy to get rid of them in nearby yards. We've gotten 4 loads this way.

Definitely mulch! It'll help protect plants from cold, reduce weeding, and reduce watering needs while improving soil fertility.

Also look into cold frames- they're pretty easy to make from old windows/ glass doors, and can make a huge difference.