“One Of The Biggest Reasons Our Personal Lifestyle Choices Matter When It Comes To The Climate Crisis

Direct air carbon capture is the most egregious bullshit green capitalism has tried to come up with and the fact that anyone who's taken a middle school science class falls for it is astonishing to me

Like, let's just imagine we can build magic carbon capture machines that are made of children's wishes and run on pixie dust and are 100% efficient. It pulls off the scheme carbon capture companies are going after - taking carbon out of the air and turning it into fuel, which is then burned, releasing the carbon back into the air. Even this impossible version of the technology is, at best, carbon neutral

But in the real world, carbon capture needs to use materials, energy, and infrastructure that actually exists, which means that it will always, unavoidably be carbon positive. Unless it breaks the laws of thermodynamics, it can literally never be a solution to the problem

And no matter what kinds of excuses you come up with, no matter how eloquently you argue for different forms of carbon capture and how good you make them sound, none of it fucking matters because we don't need to invent carbon capture. The best way to sequester carbon is to utilize the systems that are doing that already, by restoring ecosystems, restoring soil, and composting. We simply cannot ever be more efficient than nature

But nobody profits off of dirt or prairies, so they've gotta sell you machines that do it instead

what is permaculture? an illustrated introduction // maddieraithby.co.uk

Yes, climate change can be beaten by 2050. Here's how.

A carbon-free world can be a reality. What would that mean for our jobs, homes and lives?

“Is it possible to turn things around by 2050? The answer is absolutely yes,” says Kai Chan, a professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

Many scientists have been telling us how the world will look like, if we don’t act now. However, others, like Chan, are tracking what success might look like.

They are not simply day-dreamers either. They aren’t being too optimistic. They are putting together road maps for how to safely get to the planet envisioned in the 2015 Paris Agreement, where temperatures hold at 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than before we started burning fossil fuels, this article from July states.

“Three decades is enough to do a lot of important things. In the next few years—if we get started on them—they will pay dividends in the coming decades,” says Chan, the lead author of the chapter on achieving a sustainable future in a recent UN report that predicted the possible extinction of a million species.

Making these changes won’t mean years of being poor, cold and hungry before things get comfortable again, the scientists insist. They say that if we start acting seriously NOW, we stand a decent chance of transforming society without huge disruption. 

No doubt, it will take a massive switch in society’s energy use. But without us noticing, that’s already happening. Not fast enough, maybe, but it is. Solar panels and offshore wind power plummet in price.  Iceland and Paraguay have stripped the carbon from their grids, according to a new energy outlook report from Bloomberg. Europe is on track to be 90 per cent carbon-free by 2040. And Ottawa says that Canada is already at 81 per cent, thanks to hydro, nuclear, wind and solar. 

Decarbonizing the whole economy is within grasp. We can do this.

“If we have five years of really sustained efforts, making sure we reorient our businesses and our governments toward sustainability, then from that point on, this transition will seem quite seamless. Because it will just be this gradual reshaping of options,” Chan says, adding: “All these things seem very natural when the system is changing around you.”

so i just heard about solarpunk today and i LOVE the idea. 

Does the vertical garden in Milan count as something you could call “solarpunk”?

sustainability as a concept done on an individual basis shouldn’t be framed as planet saving because it’s. not. you can’t save the earth by planting your own tomatoes, because the destruction of the earth is due to corporations

what you CAN do is use individual sustainability to gain a level of independence from capitalism for yourself and for your community through things like sharing grown food

3-D printed bionic skin. It’s not science fiction.

follow @the-future-now

A green beginning

There are tons of benefits to having a community garden: stronger sense of community, promoting healthy eating, learning what it really takes to grow your food. It’s also a great way to make gardening a possibility for those living in urban homes with less yard room, and to create a healthy town center for citizens of all ages.

But where should you start if you’d like a community garden of your own? We chatted with Rodney Spencer, the executive director of City Slicker Farms, which provides community gardens for West Oakland residents, to hear his top tips on how to get started.

no, listen, when I say I want to integrate more specific solarpunk stuff in my life, i don’t mean to ask for yet again new “aesthetic” clothes that now you have to buy or make to show your support of the movement (screw that i’m consuming enough as it is), or more posts about impossible house goals, or whatever, I’m asking you what my options to build a portable and eco friendly phone charger are, im asking you viable tiny-appartment edible plants growing tricks on a budget,  im asking tips to slow down when my mind and society tell me im not fast enough, i don’t need more rich art nouveau amateurs aesthetics or pristine but cold venus project, okay, i know i should joins associations where I am tho i’m constantly on the move, thanks for that, just, you know, can we get a bit more practical ??? how do I hack my temporary flat into going off the grid for the time i’m here