you have to outlive donald trump

imagine how funny the internet will be on the day he dies.

Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)

Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.

In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.

We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.

There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).

So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?

FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT THIS

A 2nd trump presidency will basically be one of the last nails in our coffins, as the US, one of the biggest polluters, is going to be no longer have no qualms over fucking over the entire planet.

I get people's immediate priority isn't this, so they aren't talking about it, it's their rights and livelyhoods, it is totally understandable.

But talking to one of my professors today really showed me that the scientific community really is panicking and the planet is on its knees.

HOWEVER,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we cannot lose hope, bc climate doomrism is as bad as climate denial

Take this time, while these issues are fresh on our minds, to educate yourself. Get involved. Share news with others. Call out misinformation. Do everything you can, while we still can.

To add to this, because it is very likely federal epa funding will be cut to nothing, conservationists are going to have to rely on our state governments more and more. Reaching out to state representatives about funding for restoration, education, preservation, etc. projects is possible, and probably more feasible than federal for the next few years.

All that to say, we can still be active and vigilant about communicating threats to the environment in our cities, counties, and states, using social media, petitions, or volunteering. This stupid outcome doesn’t have to be an end-all be-all, where hopefully we can be the kids telling our parents to use their seatbelts, as it were.

I've seen a lot of posts criticizing terminally-online leftists for thinking that not voting will somehow send the Deomcratic party to the left instead of to the center, and while that is true

I haven't seen many pointing out that voting actually works for progressive causes.

Joe Biden moved to the left significantly on climate because the left wing of the party wanted to work with him. The centrists in the party, like Joe Manchin, frustratingly dragged their heels on everything because they weren't that interested in getting things done. But the leftists in the party, like Bernie and AOC, actually engaged in talks and compromises and pulled Biden much, much farther left on climate than where he started. A lot of great green policy came out of the last four years!

There was even a Pod Save America interview a few months ago where one of Biden's cabinet members (very diplomatically) confirmed that the leftwing of the party was so much better to work with than centrists like Joe Manchin. (Probably because leftists actually care about the things they talk about and want to do things besides go to fancy Washington parties and stay in congress for a million years.)

So, I really cannot stress enough that actually showing up and working with people actually does pay off for your cause. You can do more for the things you care about when you are at the table. Your vote actually does create the change you are seeking, even when you are voting for someone who is not 100% aligned with you.

I was going to make my own post about this but might as well do it here:

Obama was the lesser evil in 2008 and 2012.

He did not at first support marriage equality (which I realize might be weird for people who weren't alive back then, but marriage equality was not a popular opinion until extremely recently), but did eventually come out in support of it after a few years in office (and because Biden voiced his support of it and kind of backed him into a corner, lol). He did not lead a national marriage equality initiative or anything, but he did not defend laws like the Defense of Marriage Act (which didn't allow the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages even if it was legal in the state they lived in), allowing it to be struck down. He nominated Supreme Court justices who later voted to recognize marriage equality nationally.

What was the alternative? Well, up until Obama was elected, a sizeable contingent of Republicans wanted to amend the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage nationwide. Governments in multiple states refused to recognize valid marriages performed in other states that did allow them. California alone allowed and then undid marriage equality multiple times (anyone else remember Proposition 8?).

He got the ACA passed. It was not Medicaid for All or pure single-payer like the leftists wanted: the ACA was based on MassHealth, which was instituted in Massachusetts under Mitt Romney, a Republican. There were a lot of concessions to Republicans in it, even though they ended up opposing it anyway. But it prohibited insurance companies from denying coverage to people for pre-existing conditions and allowed people to stay on their parents' health insurance until they turned 26, which was a huge fucking deal.

What was the alternative? Well, do y'all remember that the Republicans spent most of the Trump administration trying to "repeal and replace" the ACA, and were only stopped because John McCain voted to keep it while dying of brain cancer? And that even up until the end of his term, Trump was saying he had a great plan to replace Obamacare, and repeatedly said even up to the last moment that it was going to come out "within two weeks" (it never did), and then handed Lesley Stahl a big binder full of papers and said that was his comprehensive healthcare plan (it was not)? And how Trump just said in his debate with Harris that "he has concepts of a plan" to replace the ACA?

He did not give sweeping amnesty to undocumented immigrants or disband ICE. But he supported DREAMers through an executive action called DACA, which Trump immediately attempted to undo and Biden redid when he got in office (a lawsuit challenging this just had oral arguments in front of the Supreme Court twenty fucking days ago). He did not mass deport millions of people (Trump has repeatedly said that he will on Day 1). He had guidelines for prioritizing certain deportations over low-level ones (deporting a murderer was more important than deporting a shoplifter). Every immigration lawyer I've spoken to has said that it was much easier to negotiate with ICE attorneys under Obama than it was Trump, because ICE under Obama was at least willing to negotiate at all. Under Trump, everything the immigration defense attorneys asked for, no matter how slight, was unilaterally opposed with no negotiation.

He did not end the war in Afghanistan or close Guantanamo Bay. In fact, the use of drones to kill people in multiple foreign countries was expanded tenfold under Obama. But he, along with several other countries, put together and negotiated the Iran Nuclear Deal, an extremely important foreign policy victory that Trump immediately fucking undid the second he was in power.

Electing Obama didn't just hold the status quo: things significantly improved for minorities in a shitload of ways. Not nearly as much as I think I or anyone else here would like, but it wasn't just stopping the drift rightward, it was turning the tide to the left.

Harris isn't going to be the sweeping herald of leftism we'd want her to be. But at least things can improve, which they will not under Trump. They will be worse.

reblog to do this w your mutuals

splatoon 3 lobby while waiting for matches

Here's my anti smartphone zine which is really just about how the world is becoming inaccessible to people who cant afford one :)

for real tho this is part of why i get so mad when things REQUIRE an app to function or do things. there are ppl out there who don't have smartphones! there are ppl whose smartphones are older and can't use that app! (my phone for example can no longer open certain apps even tho i've only had it two years.) and what about when someone has a head injury and can't look at the screen?

and sometimes i simply DON"T WANT TO scan a qr code to look at a menu! paper menus work better!!!

there's a lot more i could add to this but basically people should be able to perform tasks without the damn phone being a requirement.

i want you all to know that today i saw someone with a tuba get into a subaru with the license plate "tubaru"

i cannot BELIEVE the cops that shot and killed breonna taylor are getting away free while her boyfriend gets the blame. for acting in self defense of a perceived intruder. like a lot of gunowning americans would’ve done. this is such racist, dismissive bullshit

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it's time to get silly ;3

available on the yetee until the end of the day sunday!

https://theyetee.com/collections/sweatyfest/products/silly-sorcerors-sip-sweet-tea

five hours remain! after that this silly sorcerer will be teleporting away!

Please don't use the Patreon app on any iPhone. Apple is charging Patreon users an additional 30% fee.

Patreon is the main source of income for many creators and not everyone can afford an extra 30% on top of what they're already paying.

This is 100% corporate greed and it hurts all of us. If you can avoid using the iPhone Patreon please do so.

Hank Green made a video about this kind of thing! But yes, the TL;DW is subscribe to stuff using a browser if at all possible! Otherwise either you or the creator/company you're subscribing to is getting screwed over.

hey what the fuck

Go figure, regressives undermining elections again, shocking.

Texans, check here: