Tipping Point: Venezuela's Lost Glacier
Jan. 31st, 2025 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHumboldt Glacier’s Demise
Venezuela is the first postglacial nation in the Andes, as its last substantial patch of ice is now considered too small to flow under its own weight.
Every lost glacier is a tipping point for the ecosystem and watershed that depended on it. When they stop chilling the air and releasing substantial meltwater, then species that relied on those supports will have to move if they can, or more likely, die out. Once a glacier disappears, it cannot be replaced in current conditions.
The loss of individual glaciers plays into the overall loss of ice worldwide. This leads toward a planetary tipping point of glacier loss. Less ice means lower albedo, further accelerating climate change.
120 ways to combat climate change
Venezuela is the first postglacial nation in the Andes, as its last substantial patch of ice is now considered too small to flow under its own weight.
Every lost glacier is a tipping point for the ecosystem and watershed that depended on it. When they stop chilling the air and releasing substantial meltwater, then species that relied on those supports will have to move if they can, or more likely, die out. Once a glacier disappears, it cannot be replaced in current conditions.
The loss of individual glaciers plays into the overall loss of ice worldwide. This leads toward a planetary tipping point of glacier loss. Less ice means lower albedo, further accelerating climate change.
120 ways to combat climate change
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-01 04:48 am (UTC)I also saw this earlier today (Australian time) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idBdAw5PuTI&t=20s
So, as hopeless as I feel reading about the Humboldt Glacier's demise, and as hopeless as I see the state of our environment, there is action we all must take...
Actively join or form local resistances of the type as suggested in FilmDis' Patreon post.
Or, for those who are freaked out by joining groups (like I can be), maybe think up some not-quite-illegal direct actions, like buying an LED printer and a box of 1/3 A4 adhesive label sheets to print action advice stickers for bus stops and railway stations, or sending a non-return-addressed and carefully packed (to avoid breakage in transit) jar of motor oil to local politicians.
Handwrite nothing. Do not be seen posting it or placing the labels. Find ways to communicate that are untraceable. Signal is secure enough for barely legal, non-violent resistance and organisation. Apple to Apple communications are inherently secure... for the moment, but I trust them less and less as the state of the world gets worse and worse. Tim Cook is just another wealthy CEO, afterall.
Feel free to hide or delete this comment if it's not where you are at yet. Thank you if you do leave it here.
Thoughts
Date: 2025-02-01 10:18 am (UTC)*laugh* I've been using my writing to stab people in the goals all along.
>> Actively join or form local resistances of the type as suggested in FilmDis' Patreon post. <<
In America, see Strong Towns. Overseas it's Transition Towns.
>> Or, for those who are freaked out by joining groups (like I can be), maybe think up some not-quite-illegal direct actions, like buying an LED printer and a box of 1/3 A4 adhesive label sheets to print action advice stickers for bus stops and railway stations,<<
Flyers are less likely to provoke aggression, plus have the advantage that people can take them home instead of needing to copy the information. You can easily "lose" them almost anywhere. I've left "No Means No" flyers in the bathrooms at medical offices because medics are so terrible with boundary violations.
Another good option is seed bombs. They make it easy to sow native species and/or food plants anywhere.
For people who don't want to risk confrontation, there are many many options. Join a cooperative of any kind. Teach peacework skills. Cultivate multicultural relationships. When the establishment is this fucked up, it really is like shooting at the broad side of a barn ... from inside a barn.
>> Feel free to hide or delete this comment if it's not where you are at yet. Thank you if you do leave it here.<<
I'm hippiespawn. I've been an activist as soon as I could talk.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2025-02-01 12:14 pm (UTC)I love this! I wouldn't say that I'm descended from hippies but the politics are definitely aligned in our respective lines, I'm realising.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2025-02-02 10:27 am (UTC)Among my earlier memories are hanging flyers on doorknobs and helping paint protest signs. I was 5 when I walked my first picket. Some hapless reporter thought he could get a cute quote from the cute kid. He was so not expecting me to have memorized most of the spiel. Well hell, I'd been hearing it all summer before the strike went off at the beginning of the school year.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-02 02:16 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2025-02-02 02:41 am (UTC)If you want to make a flyer that can be reproduced easily for a huge number of times, have it made up as a stamp. For smaller runs, moveable-type stamps will work. Or look for an old mimeograph machine, which is a mechanical printer. Many older machines are reviving popularity precisely because they can't be hacked and don't contain spyware.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2025-02-02 03:19 am (UTC)Basicly a slab of gelatin in a holder. Write/draw whatever using carbon paper (of multiple colors even!) The original gets pressed against the gelatin for a bit, and then you press the gelatin against sheets of paper to make copies. When it fades too much you press another original against it.
I'm sure there are details I've forgotten (it's been 60+ years) but that's the general idea.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2025-02-02 03:34 am (UTC)*ponder* It's possible to create a gun in a blacksmith shop or to 3D print one, which will not have a serial number. So logically, it should be possible to create a printer or copier that will not place espionage markings on its output.
Oh, and any screw press can be used as a printing press -- they're commonly sold as cheese presses now. It gives a cleaner imprint than a hand stamp.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-02 01:33 pm (UTC)(*venture capitalists invested in tech.)
>> any screw press can be used as a printing press...
Hmm, slower, but practical. A good use for some of my older filament rolls, perhaps. A simple paint and roller press and 0.4mm (2 layer) 3D printed templates. One of the cool things about highly open-sourced, highly modified 3D printers is they're open source, if there were anything traceable, it'd show up in the issues. My Ender 3s are so unstock as to pretty much only look like Ender 3s until closer inspection.
Thank you for the ideas and cautions.
Thoughts
Date: 2025-02-03 09:40 am (UTC)(*venture capitalists invested in tech.) <<
I expect it's something that the government demanded. 3D printing is a good workaround.
By the way, if you want paint that won't fade at all, use earth pigments. Ochre's good for tens of thousands of years.
>> My Ender 3s are so unstock as to pretty much only look like Ender 3s until closer inspection.<<
Go you!
>>Thank you for the ideas and cautions.<<
"We must all hang together, or we will assuredly all hang separately."
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-01 12:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-02 01:49 pm (UTC)(It certainly is sad but those of us who fight the demise to the bitter end will have at least the pride in the fact that we tried)
Yes ...
Date: 2025-02-02 07:41 pm (UTC)