Sustainable Luxury

[adobsonartworks]

This is what I hate the most about nearly all online debates. Sometimes opposing sides are NOT equal, and we shouldn’t treat them as if they were.

[jj-wq7]

Love this

[patrickat]

[sunnyandpositive]

"She will take it back some day." -Pink Floyd

[blackqueerblog]

This needs to be known. ‘White’, Western/ European historical sites shouldn’t just be known about.

[myfrogcroaked]

Men Resist Green Behavior as Un-Manly

A surprising reason for resistance to environmental goods and habits

Sexism is literally killing the planet. This article says,“Make the man feel manly, and he’s more likely to go green,” but perhaps men just need to adopt better values?

[tzikeh]

FYI “In conclusion, men are trash” is apparently now also a pun.

[greenhacks-deactivated20241111]

Ouch. Not a great thing to see. To the good, non-toxic men out there, please step up your game. We need your advocacy always.

[snail-sunrise-deactivated202110]

Why don’t we just rebrand it as a survival thing? Then men can feel manly and in control, and women can keep doing their thing. I’m a woman, and this is how I personally look at it anyhow. It’s empowering.

[greenhacks-deactivated20241111]

@bigsky-wildheart I like the way you think. Rock on!

[hand-scape]

The moroccan reader

[sirfrogsworth]

This video is being spread around on social media. It’s often titled “Historian schools billionaires on marginal tax rates” or something similar. 

Rutger Bregman does lay down some truth bombs and it is nice to see him confront all the rich folks at the Davos conference without fear. 

That said, I feel like he is not the star of this video. (And Rutger agrees.)

Some asshat from Yahoo spurted Trump talking points and asks how we can fix things without taxing the rich. Winnie Byanyima gives an amazing response about how we do not track quality jobs for unemployment numbers. Something I have been complaining about for a while now. 

I thought maybe I would try to balance things and give her the credit she deserves. 

Winifred Byanyima is a Ugandan aeronautical engineer, politician, and diplomat. She is the executive director of Oxfam International. She seems like a badass, but I’m not sure that is appropriate to add to her Wikipedia page. 

You can find her here: [ Twitter | Oxfam ]

[worth-the-reblog]

“Don’t tell me about low levels of unemployment. You are counting the wrong things. You’re not counting dignity of people. You’re counting exploited people.” - Winifred Byanyima ; Aeronautical Engineer, Politician, Diplomat, Badass

[quasi-normalcy]

The fact that you can’t raise taxes on billionaires even slightly without them pouring money into fascist political movements is, of itself, evidence that billionaires as a class shouldn’t be allowed to exist in the first place.

[blackjackgabbiani]

You, ah, don’t think it’s unfair to judge people’s morals based on their finances?

[quasi-normalcy]

I, ah, think that it’s perfectly fair to judge people’s morals based on the amount of money they pour into neo-nazi political movements, yeah actually.

[carybear]

And what about the billionaires that don’t? Condemn all billionaires no matter what I guess

[hellanahmean]

There is no ethical way to be a billionaire.

[thewickedbohemian]

But why?

[hellanahmean]

Because there are a limited amount of resources and currency. To have that much wealth you have to exploit others.

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

Do I gotta go find that post that demonstrates exactly how much a billion is? Because it’s a lot more than people think. Like, you know that saying that “a million dollars isn’t what it used to be”? Yeah? Well maybe that’s true for people who have a million dollars, but I still sure as fuck have never seen a million dollars and chances are I never will. Nor will most people. Eat the rich.

[jennifercheckdidnothingwrong]

a million seconds is 12 days

a billion seconds is 32 YEARS

[acti-veg]

Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study

Groundbreaking assessment of all life on Earth reveals humanity’s surprisingly tiny part in it as well as our disproportionate impact

[thinkveganworld]

Article worth reading.

[bobagrub]

“The new work reveals that farmed poultry today makes up 70% of all birds on the planet, with just 30% being wild. The picture is even more stark for mammals – 60% of all mammals on Earth are livestock, mostly cattle and pigs, 36% are human and just 4% are wild animals.”

[ritasdove]

Ok thats kind of misleading because really all that’s saying is that there are are a lot of poultry and livestock in comparison to wild animals

[acti-veg]

How is that misleading? To make this a little easier to visualise:

That fact alone is terrifying, because this is a drastic and radical change to biomass distribution which has mostly occured over the last century, in fact, about half the Earth’s animals are thought to have been lost in the last 50 years, and 60% of this biodiversity loss is caused by meat based diets. This is a direct result of animal agriculture and the demand we as consumers create for it; this represents one of the greatest threats to wild animals and the longterm survival of our environment.

[somnomania]

i’d like to think that factory farms are at fault here, not meat-based diets, since humans have been eating animals for food since the dawn of humans. the problem, as always, is how we industrialize and monetize animals, not the fact that we eat meat. these numbers are sad tho.

[acti-veg]

We’d all like to think that, but as convenient as it is to be able to just blame factory farms, we are all responsible. Humans have indeed eaten animals since we were recognisably human, but our hunter gatherer ancestors who killed for survival are in no way comparable to modern humans, to industrially raise and slaughter trillions of animals to satisfy our appetite for animal products. Grass fed animals actually require even more land and even more resources than factory farmed animals do, particularly in the case of cattle; that’s why we started intensive operations in the first place. The truth is that there are far too many humans eating far too much meat to ever be sustainable, and that’s without even considering the grossly unethical nature of the way we view and treat animals.

[amroyounes]

8 vegetables that you can regrow again and again.

Scallions

You can regrow scallions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.

Garlic

When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a mild flavor than garlic and can be added to salads, pasta and other dishes.

Bok Choy

Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks , you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.

Carrots

Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill.  You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads. 

Basil

Put clippings from basil with 3 to 4-inch stems in a glass of water and place it in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 2 inches long, plant them in pots to and in time it will grow a full basil plant.

Celery

Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Leaves will begin to thicken and grow in the middle of the base, then transfer the celery to soil. 

Romaine Lettuce

Put romaine lettuce stumps in a ½ inch of water. Re-water to keep water level at ½ inch. After a few days, roots and new leaves will appear and you can transplant it into soil.

Cilantro

The stems of cilantro will grown when placed in a glass of water. Once the roots are long enough, plant them in a pot in a well-lit room. You will have a full plant in a few months.

[robosnotart]

Get your infinite food exploit out of here you cheater. People like you ruin the survival horror experience.

[dor-gon-ite-deactivated20190507]

Awesome!❤😍

[endangered-justice-seeker]

 the only criticism of millennials l accept

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

Constructive Criticism

[janzanato]

Versailles - The Mill

[pigeonmiu]

Happy Earth Day! Let’s take good care of this beautiful planet we call home, today and everyday 🌿

[maxofs2d]

[chiisai-fukurou]

And the original reason I went to Kobe (^-^)

The Takenaka Carpentry Museum (Daikukan :) I’ve been wanting to visit this place for a long time and going there was very interesting :3 I also had a nice run in with a women who was organising things there and when I told her that I forged my own carving tools and also do some woodworking she introduced me to the people in their lab (which is like a place for Daiku (carpenters :) to try out tools and trying to preserve the way different tools are being used :) It has a truly terrific selection of different examples of architectural pieces which is awesome to behold :3 The quality of the woodworking is sublime :3 The true value of this museum is that it shows examples of the various steps necessary to complete the work and rather then putting the tools in the spotlight it is focussing on the use of the tool on display which is so much more valuable to the person visiting this museum :) Similarly it is also focusing on the use of a joint rather than the joint itself :) It is a different way of thinking that is very Japanese :) Quite often in Museums in Europe on the implements are shown or the finished results but the process of making them is entirely left out…

It also shows what a wonderful quality of wood is available in Japan ꒰ღ˘‿˘ற꒱⃛ The quality of wood (or materials in general) that I can get in Germany is garbage… Because Germans don’t care about quality and just about fast growth and fast cutting to wood twists and warps terribly, is full of knots and cat bear much stress (-_-) It is painful to see this waste of life (;_;) Also in most cases a hobbyist like me can’t buy materials because I don’t own a business and if I did have one I would have a lot of work and hassle to deal with just for buying supplies. In Japan I can just go to the seller and pick up better tools, materials and get literature on these topics more easily… Sorry for this rant (>_<;)

This museum made me happy ꒰ღ˘‿˘ற꒱⃛

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams and not too many obstacles while creating something you like :)

[lesbianrey]

good job everyone

[jturn]

we’re doing great guys keep it up

[rowdyholtzy]

Society: Capitalism and the free market is great because it lets customers CHOOSE who’s the best company and then that company makes all the money while lesser companies have to improve or die.

Millenials: *boycott companies that benefit off exploitation of people and natural resources*

Society: WAIT NO NOT LIKE THAT

[patrickat]

Conservatives: Let the free market decide!

Millenials:

[inahiddenplace]

I love kids they’re all like.. “when i grow up i’m gonna be an astronaut and a chef and a doctor and an olympic swimmer” like that self confidence! That drive! That optimism! Where does it go

[alexundefined]

It gets destroyed by adults not believing in you and telling you to pick a realistic career. And by society creating all these obstacles to the point that you’re too tired to try.

[thechargrey]

But they’re not really unrealistic, SOMEBODY is going to be an olympic swimmer and it might as well be you.

[thechargrey]

Actually I want to talk about this a little more than I did, because olympic swimming is incredible and works perfectly to talk about attaining goals.

I used to be a varsity swimmer, and I was damn good, but I was forced into it by my parents and completely lost my love for it and therein my drive. But in high school I was swimming against such talented swimmers like Olympic Swimmer Missy Franklin. I’ve met her, and the main difference between her and me was that I was strong but had no passion, but she was strong BECAUSE she had passion. 

And I could have been good, really good, maybe even Olympic good. I even have the predisposition for it, been swimming since I was 2 years old, have a mom who was almost an olympic swimmer. Missy didn’t have either of those things, she just wanted it, loved it, had been doing it for a long time, and decided she was going to kick ass at it.

Right, that’s great and all, but I completely missed my opportunity to be an olympic swimmer, yeah? and can never achieve those dreams I had as a kid? No, not even though. There was this whole thought that female athletes peak when they’re 17 years old and lose their skills quickly after that, and male athletes peak around 19. But then Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres shows up. She was an olympic swimmer when she was 17, 21 and 25. Pretty normal age for retirement. She had a few kids. She kicked butt at being a mom. 

And then at 33 years old she decides she’s bored or something gets back in shape and kicks so much ass at the trials that she lands herself on the Olympic Team ONCE AGAIN. And then 8 years later, she decides, heck I’m 41 now, no one has ever made the olympic swim team as old as I am, I want to get in shape yet again and teach these children how sports work.

And she still has the record for oldest US Olympic Swimmer, not even any men have beat out that record.

So basically what I’m saying is you could be an olympic swimmer, you really could be. And there are obviously a lot of things stopping you and trying to get in your way: your brain, society, too much chocolate cake for example. But if you really dedicate yourself to it and love it with all of your heart you could, you really could.

And lets say olympic swimming isn’t your jam? That’s cool too. There isn’t a single skill in this world that you can’t learn if you absolutely love it and want to. Any skill you want is going to take time. There are countless famous people who started learning a skill after 20, 30, 40, or even 50. Not a single person has even been president under age 35 (most likely because you’re not allowed to be, but there’s a reason for that). Whatever you want to do you’re probably going to be bad at first, and I’m talking really shitty.

Van Gogh got started in his 20′s and was thought to have no artistic talent at first and was forced to sit in the back of classrooms where the worst artists in the class sat. So yeah you’ll probably be bad, like really bad and everyone including you will think you’re bad. If you stick with it though, if you’re willing to work for years and years, if you keep loving it after all the pain it’s given you, 

then you might just paint Starry Night.

[ooksaidthelibrarian]

#looks like there’s still time for me to learn how to draw … YES. As someone who started drawing at 35 and who always was like: ‘eh, I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life, but I would love to be able to’ this is near and dear to my heart. If you want to draw, start drawing. Keep drawing. Be shit at drawing at first. Keep it up, doodle things on scraps but also draw stuff you don’t think you can draw. Challenge yourself, you will be surprised what you can do. It will be frustrating at times, but it will also be awesome. It is SO much a matter of practice and dedication, not talent.

[arialerendeair]

This applies for writing, too.  

Don’t ever think for a second that it doesn’t!  Want to start writing?  Then write!  You will get better the more you write, the more often, and you will improve, all of the time, as long as you dedicate yourself.  

[lauraannegilman]

The worst lie we tell ourselves is “it’s too late.”

[boodlesandtonicplz-deactivated2]

[chiisai-fukurou]

More details of the structure of Kanazawa castle :3

To me seeing this feels so nice :3 The creators of this place must have felt like the people who were being there would appreciate the refinement and quality of the workmanship :3 This is also something, that I feel like it could never exist outside of Japan as almost every place I’ve been to has a far too destructive and abusive habit of treating other peoples hard work and passion badly.

I especially liked the angled tenons that followed the lines of the stairs frame :3

The display showing the makeup of the walls were one of my favourites on site :3 There were so many steps involved in making them :3 Every single one of them requiring a lot of skill, patience and perseverance. I greatly admire people doing this kind of work and achieving this level of skill.

I was also fascinated by this hornet eating a cicada… It didn’t seem to mind anything around it and just continued to eat (^-^;) It was kind of creepy but also quite interesting…

Castles in Japan are quite interesting as they do not have as much hidden joinery as other structures in Japan so they are a treasure trove for anyone wanting to study different kinds of joinery :3

One of the most fun things to me is imagining how I would go about laying out the joinery and how I would go about cutting that joint :) I also enjoy thinking about how the load gets distributed under different conditions like an earthquake or heavy snow :3

Thank you for reading this somewhat derailed article (^-^;) My head is circling on a thought someone put into my head which makes me worry a lot more about a minor issue that is completely irrelevant if it wouldn’t involve someone I like a lot (>_<;)

I hope I can have some clear and focussed thoughts again very soon (^-^;)

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams (^-^)/