Instead of focusing on the efforts of individual persons and households, I think more effort should be focused on industrial symbiosis - identifying industrial waste and side streams that can be useful inputs into the products of other industries, and connecting those industries.
For example, you might have a local electricity-generating station that takes some of the steam that's created as a side effect of their process, and sends that steam to an oil refinery located next door. The oil refinery has a water hook-up and sends regular water to power station for their power generation, but they also send their treated effluent water for the power plant to use in cleaning as well as stabilizing fly ash, and they also send over their flare gas as an extra energy source for generating power.
The oil refinery could send it's excess gas to a gypsum board manufacturer just down the road; the gypsum board manufacturer could also get most of it's gypsum from the power plant's sulfur dioxide scrubbers.
The power station could also send more of it's excess steam to a nearby pharmaceutical manufacturer; the pharmaceutical manufacturer could send some of the bio-sludge waste it produces to local farms as fertilizer, and the rest of the sludge might get processed into biofuel for the power station. Hot water from the pharmaceutical plant could be sent to the local wastewater treatment plant, which generates sludge, which could be sold to a soil remediation firm.
The power station could use it's excess heat to heat a bunch of local homes, some local greenhouses, and then they could also send some more excess heat to a fish farm. The sludge from the fish farm could be used as fertilizer at local farms.
The power station's fly ash and clinker could be sent to roadbuilders and cement manufacturers, and the oil refinery's recovered sulfur could be sold to a sulfuric acid manufacturer.
Such a theoretical symbiosis could prevent 200,000 tons of fly ash and clinker and 80,000 tons of scrubber sludge from going into a local landfill; 130,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 4,300-5,300 tons of sulfur/sulfur dioxide being released into the air; and 1,000,000 cubic meters of sludge headed to either the landfill or the sea.
Oh, wait - that's not fantasy, that's the Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park in Denmark. It's not 100% recycling, but it's fucking glorious.
Every single person who gave a 1-star review also wrote a note saying the unit was either DOA or failed shortly after arrival. The four reviews are spaced out over time, so this is a consistent problem with the item.
Only one of the people who gave a 4- or 5-Star review left a comment. That review was posted after 3 of the 4 negative reviews were left and it's specifically marked as an "incentivized review". Which means that the seller was trying to take specific action to overcome the previous negative ratings, and would've made damn sure he sent out a working unit.
The other three positive reviews don't have comments and it's impossible to tell if they were verified purchases, straw purchases, fake reviews, or what. But honestly I'd pass on this.
In general, the new shots usually aren't ready until the end of September/beginning of October, so pharmacies may be using the last of last year's stock. I know when I got my spring booster in May, neither NovaVax or Moderna were available, so we went with Pfizer as well.
I'm holding off my fall shot until mid-October, so I'll have maximum effectiveness through the the of February, but it does mean I have to be a bit careful while cases are currently rising in much of the US.
The DoW was renamed to DoD after WWII, and the military-industrial complex followed soon after. Because, as my history teacher explained it, "You can justify spending any amount of money if you're using it for 'defense'."
I think the texture thing with impossible burgers has to do with cooking them a certain way. I've had them at restaurants where the texture was great and others where it was abysmal. I don't bother with them at home.
I'm delighted for more options, though I'm mostly past the point of wanting a substitute for a certain type of meat; I just want more vegetarian options. For decades, the only vegetarian options most restaurants had were salad or pasta tossed with whatever vegetables they had left over in the kitchen, both of which you knew were quick and cheap options for the restaurant and which you'd have to pay close to the same amount as the meat dishes. There were more options for ethnic vegetarian food, but a lot of them don't have much texture (seriously, what is with so much Indian food) or are either bland or over-spiced. The over-spiced thing goes to some of the frozen foods as well - looking at you, Amy's.
Regardless, it's nice to be able to go to a restaurant and have actual options, or go to a grocery store and not being reduced to looking at the tofu and beans again.
Before you go out and spend a lot of money on stuff, check local resources - tool library, your neighbor, estate sales, etc. You'll still want your own stuff eventually, but setting up your first home is expensive and there's going to be hundreds of things you need to pick up. Borrow what you can, pick up what you can't borrow or will need regularly as inexpensively as possible.
First day or two move-in pack, packed completely separately from everything else, and preferably moves with you in the car so you know where it is: two full sets of clothes, plus nightwear. Cash - for pizza, or tipping, or whatever else might come up. Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, comb. Shower curtain, washcloth, towels. Shampoo and body wash. Soap for the bathroom sink. Paper towels. Flashlights. Phone chargers. An assortment of bandaids. Sharpie. Packing tape, garbage bags. Drinks. I'm another bag: pillows and one set of bedding.
The most basic toolbox: regular and Phillips screwdrivers, both small and large bits. Hammer. Vice grip, a couple of adjustable wrenches (large and medium), pinch nose pliers.
My best advice: buy a box of heavy-duty quart and gallon sized Ziplocs and a sharpie. As you put things together, you're going to have parts left over ("if installing on a wall, use mounting plate A; if installing on a ceiling, use mounting plate B", etc). Every time you have leftover pieces, even if it's just a couple screws, put them in a separate Ziploc, and label it with a description and the model number of the item: "hoover vacuum, model xyz345", "phillippe cat door, model 17b", etc. Get a decent sized box and all those spare parts go live there together. When you need it, it's in the box, kept separate by the Ziploc, and labeled. And every five years or so, to through the box and, if you no longer have the item, either get rid of it or move it to general use (is, the spare screws).
many of the communities that rely most heavily on federal dollars are in Republican-led states, which tend to spend less on education and often have higher child poverty rates.
Sounds like socialism, which Republicans hate. Good on them for sticking by their principles! ... Oh, wait ...
“We don’t have a problem with the federal Department of Education being dissolved,” said Dr. Willingham, a Republican. “We have a problem with funding being taken from our children.”
So you want the money with no oversight? Didn't you guys just take a chainsaw to the federal government because of "waste and fraud"? How do you think money without oversight is going to work out?
Is the issue time spent prepping food, or being bored while you're prepping food? I prep my lunches on Sunday night. Sunday night, I sit in front of the tv, with one of those folding tray tables in front of me, and I make 10 salads, one for lunch and one for dinner for the next five days. I'm very heavy on the veggies and moderately light on the lettuce, so they're pretty filling.
I vary things among the salads so it doesn't get boring: I'll toss bits of apple or some raisins, off maybe split one of those single-serve fruit cups among a few; toss different cheeses or hard-boiled eggs or bits of meat in others, etc. The veggies and stuff go in the bottom, lettuce on top so it doesn't get crushed during the week. Salad dressing goes in an old pill bottle on the side. Anything I was too keep crunchy - croutons, tortilla bits, etc - goes in a Ziploc on the side. Takes me less than half an hour to make 10 salads.
If there's leftover veggies, I'll make snack bags: veggies in a Ziploc, sometimes plain, sometimes with a pill or other bottle of dip-able flavoring: dressing or dip or peanut butter.
You could do the same kind of in-front-of-tv prep for homemade soup mixes (add hot water and let sit) or overnight oats (do the dry ingredients into your eating container, cut up any fruit into a separate bowl, then add the fruit and dairy the night before), etc.
Right now, their "declining" support is based solely on the Epstein files. Which means that they'll continue to support fascists as soon as Rogan, Peterson, etc al, can convince them that the Epstein files have been released and were never that interesting, or that maybe we'll never see the Epstein files but that's old news and something else is way more important now.
My bet is on the latter, since that's just a matter of less time spent talking about the Epstein files and more time spent talking about [distraction].
Well, let's see, you've closed planned parenthood and outlawed abortion, so more women have to carry sicker babies to term. You've gutted Medicaid and lower-cost health insurance, so women can't afford to get themselves or their babies treated when they become sick. You've gutted reproductive services, women's health services, and prenatal services, so even women carrying healthy babies who can afford healthcare will be generally less healthy. The pandemic reduced the overall number of qualified medical staff in all fields, making access to care even harder to get, and you've made that even harder by offering some of the lowest wages in the nation and enacting laws that are hostile, to medical providers, to women, to parents and families, and to public health. Your state is, and has been for decades, the literal definition of social murder.
So now you're worried and have declared a "public health emergency", great. What exact, explicit, concrete steps are you going to take to reverse that trend?
“Oh, we need to release them. I have no problem releasing it, but you’ve got to go through the judicial,” Collins responded.
By which he means the grand jury testimony, which is not going to be released because grand jury testimony is pretty much never released. Anything referring to the grand jury testimony is a red herring, and anyone trying to pass that off as a serious answer should not be trusted.
I'm sorry about the depression; I very much understand that!
Try googling "csa [your country]" or "community supported agriculture [your country]". I did a very quick search on each of the three Nordics, and they each have some efforts underway. For example
Norway, 2023: "NIBIO researcher Anna Birgitte Milford has analysed the response forms from 390 cooperative owners in 45 different CSAs in Norway."
Finland: has at least one CSA called Rekola Farm (they've been operating for over 50 years), and there's apparently a Finnish CSA umbrella association. Their posts are mostly in Finnish so I don't understand many of the details, but the group is called Suomen Kumppanuusmaataloudet ry, and they seem to have a decent-but-not-overwhelming Facebook group going.
Sweden: andelsjordbruksverige.se says "It is estimated that around 100 CSA farms exist in Sweden today although there are no official statistics."
Anyway ... I don't know if any of the farms are anywhere near you (though check: some places have local drop-off locations, or will bring it to the farmers market), I don't know if the price will work for you, I don't know if you'll decide it's too much effort. But there may be options near you.
If you do decide to get a share, you might see if you know anyone who might split it with you. The first year or so can be overwhelming.
Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful life, with much joy and less depression :)
Instead of focusing on the efforts of individual persons and households, I think more effort should be focused on industrial symbiosis - identifying industrial waste and side streams that can be useful inputs into the products of other industries, and connecting those industries.
For example, you might have a local electricity-generating station that takes some of the steam that's created as a side effect of their process, and sends that steam to an oil refinery located next door. The oil refinery has a water hook-up and sends regular water to power station for their power generation, but they also send their treated effluent water for the power plant to use in cleaning as well as stabilizing fly ash, and they also send over their flare gas as an extra energy source for generating power.
The oil refinery could send it's excess gas to a gypsum board manufacturer just down the road; the gypsum board manufacturer could also get most of it's gypsum from the power plant's sulfur dioxide scrubbers.
The power station could also send more of it's excess steam to a nearby pharmaceutical manufacturer; the pharmaceutical manufacturer could send some of the bio-sludge waste it produces to local farms as fertilizer, and the rest of the sludge might get processed into biofuel for the power station. Hot water from the pharmaceutical plant could be sent to the local wastewater treatment plant, which generates sludge, which could be sold to a soil remediation firm.
The power station could use it's excess heat to heat a bunch of local homes, some local greenhouses, and then they could also send some more excess heat to a fish farm. The sludge from the fish farm could be used as fertilizer at local farms.
The power station's fly ash and clinker could be sent to roadbuilders and cement manufacturers, and the oil refinery's recovered sulfur could be sold to a sulfuric acid manufacturer.
Such a theoretical symbiosis could prevent 200,000 tons of fly ash and clinker and 80,000 tons of scrubber sludge from going into a local landfill; 130,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 4,300-5,300 tons of sulfur/sulfur dioxide being released into the air; and 1,000,000 cubic meters of sludge headed to either the landfill or the sea.
Oh, wait - that's not fantasy, that's the Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park in Denmark. It's not 100% recycling, but it's fucking glorious.