An every day, everyday nature blog.

Because not everyone gets to live in a national park, but we all breath air, drink water, and interact with the environment, whether we realize it or not. Here's to realizing it.

[hotdamn5sos]

[nizzlekicks]

When you broke but you woke

[thresholdofzero-deactivated2018]

Wait… Guys what?

Is this what you guys think it means when GMO comes up in conversation?

Do you know what else is a GMO?

Dogs. Literally ALL dogs have had their genetics modified to make them more docile, loyal, trusting, energetic, obedient ect.

Ears of corn used to be the size of your thumb. Through selective ‘breeding’ we chose the strains of corn that were the biggest, fastest growing, most resilient ect. Ect.

THAT is a GMO. I don’t know where the idea that genetic modification meant they’re injecting your food stuffs with chemicals to change its DNA. That’s not how it works.

However, they ARE spraying your veggies with pesticides and that is something you should be worried about.

Companies like Monsanto are evil. But not because they are breeding crops to feed more people. But because they’re monopolizing the farming market, sueing farmers who share a geographic area and have some of the same strains of crops in their fields because of unavoidable cross pollination and lying about their business practices.

[sigistoneshield-deactivated2021]

bolded.

[whatarenature]

While the process of genetic modification is different than selective breeding, it is not, in my opinion, inherently bad for you or the environment. There are several types of genetic modification that do different things, such as create resistance to pesticides, diseases, insects, drought, and even add vitamins. It's the moral and ethical actions of companies like Monsanto that I have the biggest problem with.

[entergalacticlove]

California will run out of water very soon.

According to NASA’s new report, California only has enough water to get it through the next year. People are under strict water-saving measures; farmers are struggling to keep their crops alive. Yet, Nestlé is bottling water from at least ten natural springs throughout California, including from some of the most drought-stricken areas of the state, and selling it for profit. In places like Sacramento, it’s paying less than $0.14 per gallon. This is bananas.

Sign the petition to Nestlé: stop taking water from drought-stricken areas.

[tempestttossed-deactivated20170]

Oh look something that’s actually FOCUSING ON THE FUCKING PROBLEM rather than telling me to check for leaks in my faucet.

[sandandglass]

President Obama with his anger translator at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner

[markruffalo]

Sustainable City pLAn

It’s no secret that California has been at the mercy of a terrible drought. Some small lifestyle changes can make a big, positive environmental impact if we all do it. If you’re a resident of Los Angeles, I urge you to #AdoptthepLAn. You can do so here: http://plan.lamayor.org/

[scishow]

Turning Your Leftovers Into Fuel

Even if you don’t want to eat them, your apple cores still have plenty of energy left to give. SciShow explores how cities are capturing that energy and turning it into fuel. This episode was produced in collaboration with and sponsored by Emerson.

[mayrahr-art]

“Just as the Cicada dies singing, I want to die singing too.”

mayrahr.tumblr.com

[whatarefears]

I love the stylistic choice here with the spiraling sketch lines to form the body and wings- if there was ever a line that looked the way a cicada sounded, that would be it.

[thalassarche]

Quinoa may deliver a complete protein—all of the amino acids you require—in a compact package, but rice and beans together actually do better. And like goji berries, blueberries and strawberries are packed with phytochemicals. The only problem is that lacking an exotic back story, food marketers can’t wring as exorbitant a markup from these staples: The domestic blueberry, for example, is periodically (and justifiably) marketed as a superfood, and in 2012, products featuring blueberries as a primary ingredient saw their sales nearly quadruple. But they only raked in $3.5 million—less than 2 percent of açaí-based product sales.

Tom Philpott, "Are Quinoa, Chia Seeds, and other ‘Superfoods’ a Scam?" (from Mother Jones)

Also worth highlighting is this section:

“Worse than superfoods’ origin myths, though, are their effects on the people in their native regions. In 2009, at the height of the açaí berry hype, Bloomberg News reported that the fruit’s wholesale price had jumped 60-fold since the early 2000s, pricing the Amazonian villagers who rely on it out of the market. In the Andes, where quinoa has been cultivated since the time of the Incas, price spikes have turned a one-time staple into a luxury, and quinoa monocrops are crowding out the more sustainable traditional methods.” (emphasis mine)

So not only are the markets for “superfoods” putting the foods out of reach of the people who relied on them as a dietary staple, but there are foods easily accessible to us that deliver all the nutrition at a fraction of the cost, both to our grocery bill and to the social/environmental toll.

(via elenilote)

[theonion]

Keystone Veto Buys Environment At Least 3 Or 4 More Hours 

[revealnews]

In California, earthquakes always have been relatively common, but in Oklahoma, they were much more rare – at least until 2009. Our new time lapse shows how Oklahoma now has way more earthquakes than California. And researchers say fracking-related activities could be responsible.

[npr]

Great data visualization from the Center for Investigative Reporting. -Tajha

[faeleverte]

I want everyone to look very carefully at this. And then ask yourself how breaking apart the very bedrock of the Earth was ever thought to be a good idea.

[ultrafacts]

Pando, also known as The Trembling Giant, is a clonal colony of a single quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) determined to be a single living organism by identical genetic markers and assumed to have one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000,000 kg (6,600 short tons). The root system of Pando, at an estimated 80,000 years old, is among the oldest known living organisms. Pando is located 1 mile southwest of Fish Lake on Utah’s Route 25, in the Fremont River Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest, at the western edge of the Colorado Plateau in South-Central Utah,

(Fact Source/Read more about it HERE)

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

[worsethandetroit]

When it hit above 43 degrees celsius in Sydney, weird things started happening. And by weird, I mean that bats. Just. Die. They can’t regulate their heat anymore. They just fall down and die. Loads of them. Birds stop singing, because it’s too hot to sing. The world just goes quiet.And there’s me, standing there, thinking: well, more people need to know about this. There’s the abstract effect of climate change, but there’s that back of the neck chill, that absolute atavistic *fear* that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong when *the birds don’t sing anymore*.That’s what climate change is. Yes, yes, sea levels rising, increased instability due to food security and everything else.But it’s going to get too hot for the birds to sing.That should scare the fuck out of you. 

Dan Hon (via worsethandetroit)

[spread-hope-inspire]

Saving dauphins is expected, but this guy saves a shark!!! Thank you sir, for showing us there’s still some hope for humanity!

more amazing people«

[camwyn]

I had a look at the original video and news articles about this. Apparently the man was fishing and accidentally hooked the great white shark, but cut it loose; then he realized the poor thing was beached. What you don’t see here is what’s possibly the most awesome part: he realized the shark still had his hook in its mouth and went to the effort of removing the hook.

From the mouth of a live, distressed great white shark.

Which he then got back into the water and set free.

His name’s Shane Cox, and he’s a pretty damn awesome Australian for that.

[tattoolost-deactivated20150610]

[rhamphotheca]

Help Our Turtle Friends!!!

[sassenach-kiss]

NO NO NO NO

WRONG

SO VERY WRONG

LISTEN ALL MY FELLOW FRIENDS: I’VE VOLUNTEERED AT THE NEW ENGLAND WILDLIFE CENTER, A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TRAVEL TO INTERN AT, FOR MORE THAN YEAR AND THIS IS SO VERY WRONG

IN CASE YA’LL DIDN’T KNOW, TURTLE ARE CONNECTED TO THEIR SHELLS, AND PICKING THEM UP LIKE IS SHOWN IN THE PICTURE CAN SEVERELY DAMAGE THEIR SPINE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU JERK THEM AROUND

SO LET ME TELL YOU A THING

IF YOU SEE A TURTLE IN THE ROAD, STOP YOUR CAR FAR ENOUGH AWAY THAT THE TURTLE CAN STILL BE SEEN THROUGH YOUR WINDSHIELD.

IF YOU’RE ON A NON-BUSY ROAD AND/OR THE TURTLE ISN’T FLIPPED ON IT’S SHELL (WHICH BY THE WAY WHAT THE FUCK TURTLE DON’T ACTUALLY FALL ON THEIR BACKS LIKE THAT PRETTY MUCH EVER ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THAT PICTURE) GET A STICK OR JUST USE YOUR FOOT TO GENTLY NUDGE THE TURTLE’S REAR IN THE DIRECTION IT’S GOING IN. THOSE FUCKERS ARE FAST WHEN THEY WANT TO BE.

IF PICKING UP THE TURTLE IS NECESSARY, APPROACH IT FROM THE SIDE, MAKE SURE IT SEES YOU, THEN GO AROUND THE BACK. ALL TURTLES HAVE JAWS LIKE THE VIRGIN ASSHOLE OF SATAN, EVEN IF IT’S NOT A SNAPPER, AND YOU DO NOT WANT THOSE CLAMPERS ON YOUR HAND OR ARM. BELIEVE ME.

PICK THAT SHELLED CUTENESS UP LIKE A HAMBURGER, ONE HAND ON EACH SIDE OF THE SHELL HALFWAY BETWEEN FRONT AND BACK LEGS, FINGERS ON THE BOTTOM SHELL, THUMBS ON THE TOP SHELL. KEEP THE TURTLE AS HORIZONTAL AS YOU CAN AS YOU CARRY IT TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT BRING THE TURTLE TO A “SAFE HABITAT.” DISPLACING ANY SPECIES OF WILDLIFE LOWERS THEIR CHANCE OF SURVIVAL DUE TO NOT KNOWING WHERE THE FUCK THEY ARE. MAKE SURE THE TURTLE IS SOMEWHERE AROUND TEN PACES AWAY FROM ANY KIND OF HUMAN CONTRAPTION, INCLUDING HOUSES AND SIDEWALKS, AND THEN LEAVE HIM TO HIS DEVICES. THEY’RE NOT STUPID, THEY’RE NOT GONNA TURN AROUND AND WALK RIGHT BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

-DON’T PICK UP BY THE TAIL. IT CAN BREAK THE SPINE.

-DON’T MOVE TO ANOTHER HABITAT.

-DON’T TAKE ‘EM HOME. THAT’S ACTUALLY ILLEGAL IN MOST STATES.

-DON’T PUT YOUR HANDS ANYWHERE NEAR THE MOUTH.

-BE WARY OF THEIR FEET, THEIR CLAWS CAN BE SHARP.

-WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER, REPTILES CAN CARRY SALMONELLA AND WHILE IT’S PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTRACT IT UNLESS YOU SUCK ON THEIR CLOACA IT’S BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.

-DON’T MOVE THE TURTLE TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD THEY JUST CAME FROM. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT. THEY WANT TO GO THE WAY THEY WERE GOING, GENIUS.

-IF THE TURTLE IS ON A HIGHWAY, IT’S PROBABLY BEST TO PICK THEM UP- AS DESCRIBED ABOVE- AND PUT THEM IN A BOX FOR TRANSPORT SINCE THEY’RE SQUIRMY LITTLE BITCHES.

-SNAPPERS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS OTHER TURTLES, DON’T IGNORE THEM BECAUSE THEY LOOK LIKE DEMON CHILD OF A T-REX AND BOX TURTLE. NO MATTER HOW BUSY THE ROAD IS, THOUGH, THE RULE OF THUMB IS DON’T PICK THEM UP IF THEY’RE BIGGER THAN YOUR HEAD. STOP TRAFFIC AND NUDGE THEM ALONG. PEOPLE MAY BE PISSED AT YOU, BUT AT LEAST YOU’LL KEEP YOUR FINGERS.

WIELD YOUR NEW FOUND KNOWLEDGE FREQUENTLY, MY FELLOW TURTLE SAVIORS.

[ninjanaomi]

it is important that you read this shining example of wildlife safety literature all the way through to fully appreciate its radiance and learn the ways of turtle protection.

[fishingboatproceeds]

On conservation and permanence.

[onychophorawesome]

Biologists call a small male fish who darts in to fertilize eggs a “sneaker,”, a medium male who resembles a female a “female mimic,”, and a large aggressive territorial male a “parental,” to place a positive spin of his egg guarding. Both the sneaker and the female mimic are “sexual parasites” of the parental male’s “investment” in nest construction and territorial defense. The sneaker and the female mimic are said to express a gene for “cuckoldry,” as though the parental male were married to a female in his territory and victimized by her unfaithfulness. In fact, a territorial male and the female who is temporarily in his territory are not pair-bonded. Scientists sneak gender stereotypes into the primary literature and corrupt its objectivity. Are these descriptions only harmless words? No. The words affect the view of nature that emerges from biology.

Joan Roughgarden (2004) Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, University of California Press, Berkley (via 420-catnip)

[whatarenature]

Back on Campus

So on the UNC campus there are lots of cicadas which make a loud buzzing noise, but there also bugs that make this weird clicking noise in the trees, and I don't know what they are, and I thought that was interesting.  

[adteachings-deactivated20220125]

[misspelledlife]

SLAAAAY TORONTO IM SO PROUD OF THIS

[jonnovstheinternet]

I’m starting to think Canadians are the best people ever