Yeah, no doubt it’s grim, but they were always going to try this shit. They’re also attacking cis women or anyone else with a uterus, minorities, etc. Folks see the writing on the wall.

The other saving grace is that we have a better alternative to offer. We have the labor movement, and that legit has the chance to unify people. We have a common cause to rally around.

Yeah, it’s certainly a scary time, but the way I see it, those people were always going to find an excuse to hate us and try to kill us. It’s probably morbid, but I made peace with that a long time ago. Realistically though, this could also be like every other American mass shooting: a statistic and forgotten within a week.

No, I didn’t say they’ve died. They have definitely changed, but the same seeds we planted at still out there blooming.

Let’s be realistic about this: Bullshit wedge issues like this make very loud, very horrible people money. They give politicians easy distractions. There are a lot of people who have a good reason to gin this shit up. But just because bigots are loud doesn’t mean that’s who we are or how it’s always going to be. This fight has always been ugly, but it’s not hopeless.

It does show in culture. At least from what I’ve seen and experienced. It absolutely sucks that conservatives have decided to use us as the new scapegoat, but we now have representation and acceptance I never dreamed of when I was a kid. I openly wept the day I finally admitted who I was to myself because I was convinced no one would ever know what being non-binary is and no one would ever love a non-binary person, and now we have non-binary politicians, non-binary romance on popular shows, allies willing to fight alongside us, etc. The Govenor of Kentucky vetoed an anti-trans bill. Kentucky. 10 years ago, I would have called you insane for even suggesting that possibility.

This shit lost them 2022, and based on the polls, it’s about to lose them 2024 the same way. Way too many people now know out LGBTQ folks or have LGBTQ family members. These assholes have been exploiting a broken system for decades. They were exactly this deadly and hateful to every other minority who’s been in their sights. Americans are tired of it. You Americans especially. Even their own supporters — the real people, not the bots and grifters — are starting to recognize that this shit is a distraction.

Oh, 1000% but that also goes for a lot of groups, you know? I wouldn’t call the cops for basically any reason unless I was fully comfortable with people dying, myself very much included. Unfortunately, that’s in issue in blue states as well.

I grew up in a red state and live part of my time in a deep red area. Respectfully, they do matter. Before this manufactured culture war bullshit, Trans people, my community, made huge inroads towards public acceptance and equal rights through deep listening and outreach. I like to think that the echoes of that effort remain. The more the culture warriors pull this dangerous, pointless and cruel nonsense, the more independents they lose and the worse their chances of a full takeover get. If you’re a Republican and can’t get above 35% approval of your bullshit in Mississippi or Alabama? You fucked up.

I’m not saying there’s not danger. Obviously I feel it more than most. But it’s also important that we recognize the other side of the culture war: Us dehumanizing everyone who lives in an area we aren’t part of because a map says so. In reality, there are good people everywhere just like there are bigots everywhere, and there are far, far fewer bigots than they would have us believe. That’s important to remember.

Maybe. Did you see that recent study about LGBTQ support across all states though? On average, 80% of the US approves of gay rights and protections. Even in the South, no state dipped below 65%.

There are still people who love us and people who will fight for us. The genocidal maniacs haven’t won yet.

I mean, depending on the type, oaks don’t live longer than a few centuries normally. Their normal lifespans are 100-300, with some as short as 50 and others as long as 600. Trees are like other living things: They age and die.

There are some interesting studies on the impact of longer growing seasons. The extended growing seasons may make up for slower growth during increasingly common droughts, and they might also help store more carbon.

https://environment.ec.europa.eu/news/climate-change-warming-may-extend-some-tree-growing-seasons-and-compensate-reduced-carbon-uptake-2022-11-30_en

The biggest visible impact climate change will have on forests (outside of wildfires) will be seen in forest composition as species more acclimated to warmer temps take over. It’s not like trees die and then nothing takes their place. Even coastal ghost forests see shifts in species. The great northern forests likely won’t vanish; they’ll change how they look. Funny enough, that might mean more oak and hickory in some places.

It doesn’t mean the stuff’s not being ingested by other animals, unfortunately.

There’s a lot of action being taken, though I completely get how it doesn’t look like it. There’s a huge focus on habitat and population conservation, for example, but really, this is tied to the larger efforts we collectively make. If we want to save our oceans, we have to stabilize our planet or at least mitigate the damage. Preaching to the choir, I know.

This is why our fishing seasons have been so heavily impacted. It’s a huge loss for coastal communities, both from an economic standpoint and from a cultural standpoint, especially for Tribes in our region. It’s extremely sad. I was in a conversation with an elder Alaskan Native who said that her Tribe doesn’t expect to be able to fish their traditional waters this year or possibly ever again.

No time like the present to start building it out while we work on cutting emmissions, right?

Regenerative ag isn’t just composting. It’s an entire sector that involves a ton of research and a number of different conservation methods. There have been a lot of claims made, especially in the last 8 years or so, about holistic management/regenerative ag greatly improving production and carbon sequestration that don’t really add up or end up falling apart under greater scrutiny. Less tilling also leads to more invasive species, which some farmers then compensate for by using more herbicides and pesticide. There are still ag chem businesses worming their way in by offering quick kill chemicals at the end of harvests to compensate for the lack of tillage, because you need to work the land year round to turn a profit. That sort of thing.

That said, we are moving away from fertilizers and overworking the soil. There’s way more focus on soil conservation methods, bioengineered crops that can better work with regenerative ag practices, and those methods I listed above. It’s just more complicated than returning to composting and calling it good.

Using human feces as fertilizer leads to major disease outbreaks, not just via the plants but in drinking water when it leeches into the soil. It has to be processed and treated, which then leads to more energy use and more chemicals.

That’s why we’re working on helpful fungi and modified plants to resist pests and help prevent blight. Hydroponics also takes away the soil issue, but it’s much more expensive to set up.

It’s important to note that regenerative agriculture encompasses a many different conservation focused techniques. Most of them are currently being implemented, but some of the bolder soil regeneration claims haven’t been reproduced or show to work at scale.

That said, the industry as a whole is producing some pretty amazing work. Hydroponics, agrivoltaics, and dry farming are my favorites.

Honestly, it does fit with a lot of the weirder stuff they keep saying.

Well, sure. They also live in healthcare deserts. Rural areas in the US have a stunning lack of accessible mental healthcare options. It’s a serious problem.