what

Yo! I read an article this morning and it really, really reassured me. I know some of us have been feeling a little worried about them with all the gigs and the heat, and I have definitely had those worries too, but this one put me SO much at ease.

We gotta remember that although they're kind of new to us, these guys have been playing music for many many Earth years and they know what they're doing, they have obviously got really clear boundaries and have REALLY strong morals. It sounds like they've turned down loads of big labels and things that would probably make them loads of money because it doesn't align with their values and they want to keep it fun, sustainable, and DIY.

Once Running Out of Water, San Diego Now Manages Their Water So Well They Can Assist Other States

Image and information from this New York Times article:

After spending half a decade ravaged by drought, San Diego has invested significant time and money in decreasing its reliance on water imports. By building desalination plants, strategically acquiring water rights, boosting dam storage--and increasing water use efficiency even to the point of now recycling sewage water--they have now thoroughly accomplished that goal.

That's not a New York Times article, it's the Wall Street Journal. Here's an archive link!

I didn't even realize we had a desalinization plant. This sounds great. Maybe the Colorado Delta and the Gulf of California and the Salton Sea and the people of Imperial Valley aren't... as doomed?

"Pending federal and other approvals, Arizona, Nevada and other Colorado River users could strike water-transfer deals with the San Diego utility. No water is literally shipped; rather, the parties would trade access rights to water sources. States would fund much of the estimated 56,000 acre-feet of water that the desalination plant produces annually in exchange for San Diego’s share of the Colorado River. The agreement could supply enough water for some 500,000 people."

Ah, good! We have no excuse to be using water from the Colorado. Having it travel across the desert is fucking batshit. But I'm worried 'cause this doesn't really increase their supply of water either and it might just be used as an excuse for cities in Nevada and Arizona to build shit that they can't sustain. And... Utah? Damn, I forgot where the Colorado starts....

[link]

Mia Tarney (British Artist, born 1973)

"Duchess Peony", 2007.

Oil on Linen, 137.2 × 152.4 cm.

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy last month released 147 brush-tailed bettongs on to its sanctuary at Mount Gibson, Perth. Eight threatened native mammal species, including bilbies, numbats, quolls and phascogales, all once locally extinct, have successfully been reintroduced over the past decade since the conservancy bought the 130,000-hectare (321,200-acre) former sheep property in 2000 - Photograph: Jane Palmer/Australian Wildlife Conservancy