Wildlife

Jan. 2nd, 2026 02:23 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Missing for 200 Years, the Galapagos Rail Reappears Following Floreana Island Restoration

Centuries after they were made famous by Charles Darwin, and a century after they had become plagued by invasive rats and cats, the Galapagos Islands are well on their way to recovery.

Few events could better capture that recovery than the recent reappearance of the beautiful blue Galapagos rail, a bird which hadn’t been seen on Floreana island for 200 years.

After almost a decade of preparatory work, invasive rats, avian vampire flies, and domesticated cats were eradicated from the island thanks to the close coordination of several conservation groups from around the world working alongside the Galapagos National Park Directorate.



Restoration projects often foster the revival of rare species, or those believed to be extirpated or extinct. It's not often this dramatic, so this is exciting news.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Permacomputing (noun)

Permacomputing is both a concept and a community of practice oriented around issues of resilience and regenerativity in computer and network technology inspired by permaculture.

There are huge environmental and societal issues in today's computing, and permacomputing specifically wants to challenge them in the same way as permaculture has challenged industrial agriculture. With that said, permacomputing is an anti-capitalist political project. It is driven by several strands of anarchism, decoloniality, intersectional feminism, post-marxism, degrowth, ecologism.

Permacomputing is also a utopian ideal that needs a lot of rethinking, rebuilding and technical design work to put in practice. This is why a lot of material on this wiki is highly technical
.

Activism

Dec. 29th, 2025 09:41 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Be careful with each other

How activist groups can build trust, care, and sustainability in a world of capitalism and oppression.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
This poem came out of the January 2, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "When You're Smiling" square in my 1-1-24 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the Foster Fiasco thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] fuzzyred, [personal profile] see_also_friend, and [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Put me down!" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the Fortressa thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
The City That Refused to Stay Dying

This Indiana city is no longer defined by what it lost, but by what its residents are building today.

Instead of waiting for a master plan or a single catalytic investment, Keen began assembling homes and vacant parcels one by one. He helped launch the Portage Midtown Initiative and the South Bend GreenHouse, restored neglected homes, cultivated community gardens, and supported local builders learning to tackle small projects themselves. He often refers to these lots collectively as his “farm.”



This approach can work in many cities.

ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
This poem is spillover from the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] siliconshaman, [personal profile] fuzzyred, [personal profile] mama_kestrel , and [personal profile] see_also_friend. It also fills the "Fairies" square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the Big One thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Food

Dec. 24th, 2025 01:48 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
What you eat could decide the planet’s future

What we put on our plates may matter more for the climate than we realize. Researchers found that most people, especially in wealthy countries, are exceeding a “food emissions budget” needed to keep global warming below 2°C. Beef alone accounts for nearly half of food-related emissions in Canada. Small changes—less waste, smaller portions, and fewer steaks—could add up to a big climate win.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
This poem came out of the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] mama_kestrel and [personal profile] see_also_friend. It also fills the "Violent Behavior" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] gothfvck and [personal profile] see_also_friend. It also fills the "Resist Oppression" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with [personal profile] fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
What Would It Take to Approve a Housing Permit in 24 Hours?

In its Housing-Ready City Toolkit, Strong Towns recommended a 24-hour turnaround for permits. That's not an exaggeration.


Before reading onward in the article, here's how I would set it up...

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Climate change, resistance, and doing the right thing now

No amount of intellectualising is going to change the fact that our climate is thermodynamically fucked.

That humans are economic toast.



Largely true.

Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Coffee-driven deforestation is making it harder to grow coffee, watchdog group says

Scientists have shown how deforestation leads to less rainfall in tropical rainforests. That's because the trees there soak up and release moisture, which rises to create clouds and more rain. Cutting down trees disrupts the cycle, reducing rainfall and leading to drought.

Drought, of course, makes it harder to grow coffee.

"When you kill the forest, you're actually also killing the rains, which is exactly what your crop needs to thrive in the long run," Higonnet says. "Even for people who don't much care about climate change and mass extinction, if they drink coffee and care about having coffee in the long run, this should be very scary for them."


Read more... )

Gaming

Dec. 10th, 2025 12:01 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
How a Board Game Exposed Barriers to Local Investment & Inspired Change

After facing constant roadblocks in opening a neighborhood cafe, an artist in Savannah, Georgia, created a board game that mimics the frustration of small-scale development. It was a wake-up call for local officials.


Games aren't just entertainment. They can be powerful tools for education and change.

Activism

Dec. 5th, 2025 08:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Equality matters

When we say that we want equality, what do we mean? Same pay for everyone? Same caloric intake? Same size of house? Same amount of electricity consumed every day? Same amount of household waste? Same amount of political power, influence, or fame?

Read more... )

Economics

Dec. 5th, 2025 07:59 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
A Founder Got Fed Up With Potential Hires Using AI to ‘Fake It.’

Mollion says some job candidates have always misrepresented themselves, but AI has made the gap between presentation and reality even wider—making interviews and written materials even less reliable.

“On top of that, traditional interviews simply don’t reveal real skill, work style, responsiveness, or judgment,” Mollion told me. “People can say all the right things in an interview, but none of that guarantees how they actually perform on the job.”



I've been saying for years that brief resumes, college degrees, and office interviews offer very little indication of an applicant's actual ability to do a job.

Read more... )

Activism

Dec. 4th, 2025 05:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Four countries announce Eurovision 2026 boycott after Israel allowed to compete

Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have all said they won't be taking part in next year's contest.


You can play along at home by skipping Eurovision 2026 to purchase songs from countries who have taken a stand against genocide -- or buy Palestinian music.

Yule

Dec. 3rd, 2025 02:36 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] twistedchick has posted a terrific Yule Prayer for Resistance calling to Aphrodite. 
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
Today is Giving Tuesday. This holiday is about charity in all its forms. You can give money, time, goods or services, whatever you have to share.

Giving Tuesday banner with hands holding a heart

Read more... )

Profile

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 2 3
4 5 678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags