[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Collagen craze drives deforestation and rights abuses

For the first time an investigation has linked collagen powder to violence against Indigenous peoples in Brazilian forests

The stench arrives before the lorries do. They are carrying skins that were stripped from cattle carcasses days ago. Flies are everywhere.

The lorries’ destination is Amparo, a small industrial town in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Here, Rousselot, a company owned by the Texan business Darling Ingredients, extracts collagen – the active ingredient in health supplements at the centre of a global wellness craze.

But while collagen’s most evangelical users claim the protein can improve hair, skin, nails and joints, slowing the ageing process, it has a dubious effect on the health of the planet. Collagen can be extracted from fish, pig and cattle skin, but behind the wildly popular “bovine” variety in particular lies an opaque industry driving the destruction of tropical forests and fuelling violence and human rights abuses in the Brazilian Amazon.

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Guardian, ITV and O Joio e O Trigo has found that tens of thousands of cattle raised on farms damaging tropical forests were processed at abattoirs connected to international collagen supply chains.

Some of this collagen can be traced all the way to Nestlé-owned Vital Proteins, a major producer of collagen supplements championed by the actress Jennifer Aniston. Vital Proteins is sold globally – including online on Amazon, in Walmart stores in the US, in Holland & Barrett and Boots in the UK and in Costco in both countries.

The investigation – the first to connect bovine collagen with tropical forest loss and violence against Indigenous peoples – found at least 2,600 sq km of deforestation linked to the supply chains of two Brazil-based collagen operations with connections to Darling: Rousselot and Gelnex, which is in the process of being acquired by Darling for $1.2bn. It is unclear how much of this deforestation, which was calculated by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis, is linked to Vital Proteins.

Continue reading.

[thepersonalwords]

““When was the last time anyone ever told you how important you are?” - Maya Angelou”

—

[panatmansam]

Bodhi, the Buddha' First Awakening

Bodhi means “to be awake” in the Pali language. It is often translated into the English word “enlightenment” which is a word predating the discovery of Buddhism by the West. Enlightenment is a word that has connotations of one bringing wisdom or knowledge to an ignorant world, something the Buddha certainly did but it is not the meaning of bodhi. Bodhi is his awakening. It is seeing things “as they truly are”.

Now, of course to many Westerners this has led to no end of confusion, especially with so many other words bantered about seeming to refer to the same event. Even the ancients in the East were confused, so they invented various distinctions of “awakening” down through the ages to distinguish between  between the attainments of the various practitioners of the past.

To be awake is to be a Buddha. Bodhi is the root of the word Buddha.  I am going to rely upon the suttas for the rest. The Buddha had his first “awakening” not under the Bodhi tree but under another tree as he watch a competition between farmers as a boy.  As the plow passed he saw the farmer labor with sweat and the rows of the field were filled with the broken bodies of worms and insects and the young prince was struck with the futility of existence. The lad sat himself down under a wood apple (jambu) tree and thought deeply until he fell into a deep trance where he saw many wondrous things which presaged his later awakening under the Bodhi tree.

The point is my fellow Buddhists is that even Siddhartha had more than one awakening. These awakenings were private within himself and nobody knows what he saw. He was not magic, a God, or even a saint. Just a wise man who figured something out and tried to teach it to us.

[thepersonalwords]

““Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle - maybe there is none.” - Franz Kafka”

—

[sunnibits]

Hot take but I don’t think “Hetero” couples in fiction are boring actually I just think they’re boring because we see the same m/f couples every single time.

Allow me to elaborate:

Usually every m/f couple we see in media consists of two conventionally attractive, young, skinny, allosexual, cishet, gender conforming, often white people. And you can always see the relationship coming a mile away.

Imagine how much better it would feel if you saw more of THESE kinds of m/f couples in media:

Fat characters involved in the relationship, and not made into a joke

Disabled characters involved in the relationship, and not made into a joke

A man happily in love with a gnc or masculine woman

A woman happily in love with a gnc or feminine man

Bisexual or pansexual men and women in love with the opposite sex (and bi for bi, Pan for Pan couples)

A man happily in love with a trans woman

A woman happily in love with a trans man

Trans for trans m/f couples

Asexual and gray-sexual people in romantic relationships and being respected in those relationships

Two middle aged people entering a new relationship, with the same attention and slow burn and tension as any young pairing (because middle aged and elder people have love lives too, and can fall in love again even if they’ve been married before!! See Kane/Abby in the 100.)

More POC x POC relationships!

A man who stays at home and takes care of kids x a working woman who isn’t criticized for not being home enough

Supportive parents to queer kids

Punk/alternative/goth m/f couples and parents (bc I just think that’s cool)

Couples who get together and then realize they’re better as friends, and have a healthy breakup while staying super close (and not creating secret drama)

Neurodivergent people involved in the relationship (adhd/autistic men and women infodumping to their supportive partner... happy stimming after a cute interaction with their crush.. it’s just so good) and not made into a joke or infantilized!

BUFF STRONK WOMAN x LIDDOL MAN VERY IN LOVE WITH HIS WIFE

People who aren’t conventionally attractive in a loving relationship, and there isn’t any drama or weird side plot about “learning to love someone for what’s on the inside!!”

and so many more I could think of!!!

Just something to think on. (And remember, not all m/f couples are “hetero”. If you’re still saying “ew heteros!!” every time you see a straight couple, now is the time to stop.)

[shitiunderline]

“Sometimes I think that in not wanting children, I’m preparing for my old age. I know what I want my old age to look like, more than I know almost anything else: a simple home, a simple life, no one needing me for anything, and not needing anyone the way I do now. If a person has children, there is worry till death. Or jealousy over their young lives - someone to compare yourself to. As my mother once said to me, about me, ‘No one else makes me feel so old.’”

— Sheila Heti, Motherhood

[panatmansam]

The Spiritual Meaning of the Lotus Flower

Buddhism:  With its roots in the mud, the lotus rises through the murky water to blossom clean and bright, symbolizing to the Buddhist purity, resurrection and the enlightened being who emerges undefiled from the chaos and illusion of the world.  The eight-petalled lotus that is used in Buddhist mandalas symbolizes cosmic harmony, and the thousand-petalled lotus represents spiritual illumination.

 Hinduism:  The Hindus of India noted that the ungerminated seeds of the lotus contain perfectly formed leaves, a blueprint for the future plant. Thus to the Hindu, the lotus represents divine ideation passing from abstract into concrete form.   In addition in Hindu mythology, the lotus flower is associated with Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wisdom and generosity. She is often portrayed as sitting on a completely blossomed lotus that gives a sense of purity to her form.  

Ancient Egyptian:  The lotus is featured prominently in Egyptian art and architecture, especially in connection with Egypt’s temples. In Egyptian mythology, the lotus was associated with the sun, because it blooms by day and closes by night. The lotus also symbolized rebirth, since one Egyptian creation myth tells of the newborn sun god rising out of a floating lotus. The blue lotus was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, who valued it not only for its rich perfume but also for its narcotic ability to produce heightened awareness and tranquillity.

Native American:  Certain tribes found all parts of the American lotus edible, the flower symbolized the sun’s power to transform energy into food. The seeds were once an especially important part of the Native American diet; in fact, the genus name Nelumbo means “sacred bean.”

Taoism:  The lotus is also highly esteemed by Taoists. Among the Eight Immortals of Taoism is Ho Hsien Ku, her symbol the open lotus blossom, signifying openness and wisdom. The lotus flower is a favorite of Taoist artists, who paint it to remind us of the miracle of beauty, light and life, and to communicate an understanding of the Tao and of our place in the world.

China:  A feature of the lotus plant that has found its way into Chinese poetry is its stalk, which is easy to bend but difficult to break because of its many strong fibres. Poets liken this quality to the bonds between lovers or family members.

India:  According to the Indian culture the lotus flower denotes prosperity knowledge and learning, fruitfulness and illumination

.

[lifeinpoetry]

“She imagines creating an audio collage of every time he says “I love you”—not passionately, but hurried and casual, often no more than as a substitute for good bye—because that’s what 33 years of marriage is, a study in redundancy and variation, and so much love there is no need to fixate on any particular moment of it.”

— — Dodie Bellamy, from “Bee Reaved,” Bee Reaved

[stillhand]

the moon & venus

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

“I feel as if I have once more begun to experience the throbbing pain of a wound I had forgotten.”

— Takuboku Ishikawa, from “Romaji Diary & Sad Toys,” published c. 1985

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

“Am I not losing interest in everything? To lose interest in everything is to be abandoned by everything.”

— Takuboku Ishikawa, from “Romaji Diary & Sad Toys,” published c. 1985

[fromthelighthouse]

Love destroyed too.

Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway.

[thequotejournals]

There are no more tracks on how many loops around the world I’ve done at this time to act as if I was a traveler from another dimension, brought to lift shoulders and steal pain from palms that chose not their fate. As someone who feels deeply, outside of this epiphany - on the writings - dedicated to souls on their backs and stuck expressions with tall tales, I can’t help the want to grasp their face and achingly ask why. It is something I can’t figure out myself, but I can see the hope in some of their eyes that it will be seen. That person isn’t me, you know - to save them. Although I will help along the way. The secret is this… Eyes that focus with love and desire, can save just about anything, maybe even anyone. Even if you are looking in mirrors.

awinterkissx | your reflection on my frames.

[wnq-writers]

I couldn’t take another sip of his lips, they tasted like poison, so I dived in. I was too far gone to go back to my state of sanity, I was drowning, he swallowed me whole, into a universe of the most pleasurable pain.

theforestsecrets (via wnq-writers)

[wnq-writers]

Ironically, when he met her, he had given up on love.

Puran Chand (via wnq-writers)

[culturenlifestyle]

Stunning Abstract Mountain Paintings by Conrad Jon Godly

Swiss painter Conrad Jon Godly effortlessly manages to capture the terrain and texture of the Swiss Alps with the use of oil paint, turpentine and incredible skill. By mixing the turpentine with oil paint, Godly is able to apply thick and rugged brushstrokes, which beautifully drop from the canvas.

Although the art of painting usually makes reality seem two-dimensional, Godly has depicted the true texture, roughness and concave of the mountainous landscape in every brush stroke. Overall his skill lends itself beautifully to one’s of nature’s grandest bodies. By carefully combining the colors, blue, black and white, Godly creates what seems to be a photograph. 

[organiccats]

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