The Future belongs to the Youth
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April 1, 2025 - Antifascist Brazilians protested to commemorate 61 years since the US-backed military coup of 1964. The march is an annual event to remember the atrocities committed during Brazil’s military dictatorship and to denounce ongoing state violence. [video]
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Forget about Habibi Funk (white guy owned reissue music label who have been buying up and repackaging retro MENA music for public consumption) and support Sudan Tape Archive instead
Also check out Majazz, a similar Palestinian-run project 🥰
Thank you for the recommendation ❤️
Did you know which pro-Palestine song that Habibi Funk removed from their release?
The song غيفارا غزة (Ghifara Ghazza) from Ferkat al-Ard’s album Oghneya (one of their most famous reissues afaik). It’s listed in the Discogs page for the original album:
https://www.discogs.com/master/889285-فرقة-الأرض-Ferkat-Al-Ard-أغنية
The actual song seems to have been removed from Youtube but here’s a Reddit post that links to the deleted Youtube video:
(via riotbard)
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Hey friends, come follow us on Mastodon @solarpunkpresents@climatejustice.social! We post a lot of content there, and Ariel is a lot more active with replies over there (usually….).
(via solarpunkpresentspodcast)
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@samiraaymaan a mother of four and newborn baby, lost her husband in Gaza’s genocide. She needs $10,000 to feed, clothe, and provide a roof for her family. Please don’t ignore my sister samira campaign and keep up your support and donation to get them out of Gaza.
Vetted by 90-ghost
UPDATE $7,260\$8,000 (3 April)
$740 Away from reaching short-term goal
LAST DONATION WAS 16 HOURS AGO
(via riotbard)
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Uk peeps!! Let’s get this going! 🏳️⚧️🇬🇧
…Non-UK peeps, please reblog for reach ❤️
(via jadegiantess)
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“Claire Cao was only a senior in high school when she saw a vital need in her community — and filled it.
In 2024, the teenager spent her time outside of school volunteering at Blanchet House, a Portland-based nonprofit that serves people experiencing homelessness through food donations, clothing drives, and mental health assistance programs.
As she logged hours as a Blanchet House student ambassador, Cao soon realized how difficult it was for community members to keep track of shelter openings, rotating food service programs, and available mental health resources.
“During one afternoon meal service, I met Dano, an unhoused man who shared his struggles with accessing basic services like food and shelter,” Cao said in a recent press release.
“Left disconnected from essential services, Dano described his struggles of not knowing where to go or which shelters had available beds.”
Combining her love for technology, law, and public policy, Cao pulled available resources into a database and created the ShelterBridge app, which connects users to shelters and services in their area.
“ShelterBridge wasn’t simply inspired by Dano — it was inspired by the realization that access to resources is a fundamental need that we, as a community, can do a better job of providing,” Cao emphasized.
“I wanted to use my skills to build something that could bridge that gap, ensuring that no one falls through the cracks simply because they don’t know where to turn for help.”
In addition to linking users to services in their area, the app also has a rating system similar to Yelp. This system allows people to leave star ratings and reviews on shelters, food services, hotlines, and legal aid.
The ratings not only help users differentiate between services in their area — but they also provide invaluable feedback to the nonprofits, organizations, and government programs that service them.
“We’ve been asking for an app like this for a number of years now,” Scott Kerman, executive director of Blanchet House, told Portland news station KGW.
In mid-January, Cao won the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Oregon’s First District for her work with ShelterBridge — outcompeting 12,682 student submissions.
Since the app first launched, Cao and her growing ShelterBridge team — which includes enterprising high schoolers and college students from across the nation — have expanded services to California, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, and North Carolina.
“Claire and the team she’s working with deserve all the credit in the world because they’re doing something that frankly nobody else has really stepped up to do,” Kerman said.
“To have the kind of technology that we use every day with hotels and other kinds of reservations [to] help people get into safe, supportive and dignified shelter would be a game changer for our community.”
Although the app started as a class project, Cao said ShelterBridge’s success has far surpassed her expectations.
“I do hope to keep it up,” she told Oregon outlet KOIN 6 News, as she looked ahead to college and beyond. “I’ve made a lot of efforts to expand it to other cities as well — and it’s something I can mostly do from a computer or my laptop at home.”
-via GoodGoodGood, March 21, 2025
(via bumblebeeappletree)
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ALTThey won’t bring this energy to school shooters, rapists, anyone on the epstein list, or even child predators.
Shows exactly where the government’s priorities are.
He hasn’t even had a trial, and they already want him to have a guilty verdict.
All because he proved that CEOs bleed just like everyone else.
First of all, we should not have the death penalty. At all. Period.
Second of all, Luigi is innocent! He is not the killer! He’s being framed! We all know the lengths the police and the government will go to pin the blame on someone even if they can’t find the real culprit. They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again!
And if that doesn’t work, they’ll kill them out on the streets like they did with MLK.
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“In an unprecedented transformation of China’s arid landscapes, large-scale solar installations are turning barren deserts into unexpected havens of biodiversity, according to groundbreaking research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study reveals that solar farms are not only generating clean energy but also catalyzing remarkable ecological restoration in some of the country’s most inhospitable regions.
The research, examining 40 photovoltaic (PV) plants across northern China’s deserts, found that vegetation cover increased by up to 74% in areas with solar installations, even in locations using only natural restoration measures. This unexpected environmental dividend comes as China cements its position as the global leader in solar energy, having added 106 gigawatts of new installations in 2022 alone.
“Artificial ecological measures in the PV plants can reduce environmental damage and promote the condition of fragile desert ecosystems,” says Dr. Benli Liu, lead researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This yields both ecological and economic benefits.”
The economic implications are substantial. “We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in how we view desert solar installations,” says Professor Zhang Wei, environmental economist at Beijing Normal University. “Our cost-benefit analysis shows that while initial ecological construction costs average $1.5 million per square kilometer, the long-term environmental benefits outweigh these investments by a factor of six within just a decade.” …
“Soil organic carbon content increased by 37.2% in areas under solar panels, and nitrogen levels rose by 24.8%,” reports Dr. Sarah Chen, soil scientist involved in the project. “These improvements are crucial indicators of ecosystem health and sustainability.”
…Climate data from the study sites reveals significant microclimate modifications:
- Average wind speeds reduced by 41.3% under panel arrays
- Soil moisture retention increased by 32.7%
- Ground surface temperature fluctuations decreased by 85%
- Dust storm frequency reduced by 52% in solar farm areas…
The scale of China’s desert solar initiative is staggering. As of 2023, the country has installed over 350 gigawatts of solar capacity, with 30% located in desert regions. These installations cover approximately 6,000 square kilometers of desert terrain, an area larger than Delaware.
“The most surprising finding,” notes Dr. Wang Liu of the Desert Research Institute, “is the exponential increase in insect and bird species. We’ve documented a 312% increase in arthropod diversity and identified 27 new bird species nesting within the solar farms between 2020 and 2023.”
Dr. Yimeng Wang, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This study provides evidence for evaluating the ecological benefit and planning of large-scale PV farms in deserts.”
The solar installations’ positive impact stems from several factors. The panels act as windbreaks, reducing erosion and creating microhabitats with lower evaporation rates. Perhaps most surprisingly, the routine maintenance of these facilities plays a crucial role in the ecosystem’s revival.
“The periodic cleaning of solar panels, occurring 7-8 times annually, creates consistent water drip lines beneath the panels,” explains Wang. “This inadvertent irrigation system promotes vegetation growth and the development of biological soil crusts, essential for soil stability.” …
Recent economic analysis reveals broader benefits:
- Job creation: 4.7 local jobs per megawatt of installed capacity
- Tourism potential: 12 desert solar sites now offer educational tours
- Agricultural integration: 23% of sites successfully pilot desert agriculture beneath panels
- Carbon reduction: 1.2 million tons CO2 equivalent avoided per gigawatt annually
Dr. Maya Patel, visiting researcher from the International Renewable Energy Agency, emphasizes the global implications: “China’s desert solar model could be replicated in similar environments worldwide. The Sahara alone could theoretically host enough solar capacity to meet global electricity demand four times over while potentially greening up to 20% of the desert.”
The Chinese government has responded by implementing policies promoting “solar energy + sand control” and “solar energy + ecological restoration” initiatives. These efforts have shown promising results, with over 92% of PV plants constructed since 2017 incorporating at least one ecological construction mode.
Studies at facilities like the Qinghai Gonghe Photovoltaic Park demonstrate that areas under solar panels score significantly better in environmental assessments compared to surrounding regions, indicating positive effects on local microclimates.
As the world grapples with dual climate and biodiversity crises, China’s desert solar experiment offers a compelling model for sustainable development. The findings suggest that renewable energy infrastructure, when thoughtfully implemented, can serve as a catalyst for environmental regeneration, potentially transforming the world’s deserts from barren wastelands into productive, life-supporting ecosystems.
“This is no longer just about energy production,” concludes Dr. Liu. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new approach to ecosystem rehabilitation that could transform how we think about desert landscapes globally. The next decade will be crucial as we scale these solutions to meet both our climate and biodiversity goals.””
-via Green Fingers, January 13, 2025
(via hope-for-the-planet)
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Fucking lol.
Elon Musk is possibly ‘exiting’ the cabinet and will be reduced to an informal advisor.
Hmmmm
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