ˏˋuni first yearˎˊ˗‏

Vegan katsu curry with tofu

Six talking points to use when debunking the myth that overpopulation is the root of the environmental crisis:

1. Rates of population growth are declining: Between 1950 and 2000, the world population grew at a rate of 1.76%. However, between 2000 and 2050, the rate of growth is expected to decline to 0.77%.

2. Overpopulation is defined by numbers of people, not their behaviors: Industrialized countries, who make up only 20% of the world’s population, are responsible for 80% of the carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere. The United States is the worst offender, with 20 tons of carbon emission per person. Therefore, it is not the amount of people that leads to degradation, but what they are doing. Permaculture design illustrates how humans can have a positive impact on the health of our ecosystems, bringing greater health and equity.

3. Overpopulation justifies the scapegoating and human rights violations of poor people, women, people of color, and immigrant communities: Often times the subtext of “too many people” translates to too many poor people, people of color, and immigrants. This idea has been used to justify such practices as the forced sterilization of 35% of women of childbearing age in 1970′s Puerto Rico, under the control of and with funding from the US government. This is a human and reproductive rights violation. 

4. Overpopulation points the finger at individuals, not systems: This lets the real culprits off the hook. When we look at the true causes of environmental destruction and poverty, it is often social, political and economic systems, not individuals. We see militaries and the toxic legacy of war, corrupt governments, and a capitalist economic system that puts profit over people and the environment.

5. Supports a degenerative mental model of scarcity: Much of this ideology was created by Thomas Robert Malthus, an 19th century English scholar. Malthus gave us the erroneous idea that the reason there is famine is because there are too many mouths to feed. This hides the reality that we have a distribution problem, not a scarcity problem. Malthus’s work has been used as the philosophical bedrock to justify many human rights violations throughout history.

Well I guess my workspace’s account has been forgotten  ; A ; . But I’m back now hahaha

Like if you want to study/work in here!

Attenuate - v - Reduce the force, effect or value of.

Indefeasible - adj - Not subject to being lost, annulled or overturned.

Dereliction - n - the state of having been abandoned and become dilapidated.

Cognisance - n - knowledge or awareness.

Ingratiate - v - bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them.

Pneumatic - adj - containing or operated by air or gas under pressure.

Gregarious - adj - Fond of company. Sociable.

Imprudent - adj - Not showing care for the consequences of an action; rash.

Nostrum - n - A medicine prepared by an unqualified person, especially one that is not considered effective.

This is how I cram when I have to (spoiler, very often). Disclaimer, it’s not healthy, it’s desperation taking over and I would not recommend it unless you really need to do it.

Plan of action

Take five minutes to make a plan. This is how mine usually goes:

Make a lisf of all your topics/units (with little boxes)

Whatever you’ve already studied gets crossed off.

Whatever you remember from class gets ticked.

Topics your prof went over quickly and kind of implied weren’t that important, put a cross in their box

Essential topics get an exclamation mark in the box.

Count the hours until your exam

Substract 2-4 hours for sleeping per day (adjust this to whatever amount of sleep you know you can function on). You don’t need to use these, but it’s good to set some time aside in case you crash.

Substract 15-30 minutes for each meal until your exam (yes, you’re gonna have to put a timer on when you have them)

-10 minutes for showering if you have to

- 30 minutes for getting ready in the morning + however long it takes you to get to where you’ll be taking your exam

Divide the hours you’ve calculated between the non crossed/ticked topics. You’ll have to set a timer while you’re studying these too.

Start with the ones that have an exclamation mark

If after you’re done with those, you have some time left, start with the topics with ticked boxes, continue with the ones with crosses and lastly go over the crossed out ones.

Tips

Ditch color coding - actually if you can, ditch highlighting altogether. Otherwise, keep it to one color.

Use mnemonics as a super fast way to memorize lists - identify the most important word of each item in it, make a word out of of all these letters and then make up a sentence with the topic of the list (so for ‘characteristics of the peptidic bond, you’d just pick ‘peptidic bond’) and the word you’ve just made

As you go along, write down details, figures and stuff that seems like key info on a sticky note and stick those on a page one after another. This is just like making a cheat sheet but you can make the info stand out more without any need for prettyfying. Warning - you’ll be using a shitload of sticky notes. You can see an example here. This way you can review all the crucial facts right before your exam.

Doing a one minute workout each hour at night will keep you alert if you’re not sleeping enough

Ok so now that you’ve read this (probably on your phone), turn it off and put it in a drawer in the room furthest away from you. This is critical for success. Any other distractions? Laptop, food, TV? Sell it, tell your roommate to take it for a walk, lock it in the bathroom, I do not care, get rid of it. Godspeed my fellow procrastinators

More posts

How To Stop Procrastinating

Skincare 101

How To Stop Skipping Class

Memorization Tips

Random College Tips

The endings of nouns can help us figure out their gender (there are always exceptions)

Feminine:

-ade e.g. la salade/une promenade

-aison e.g. la maison/la raison/la livraison

-ce e.g. la chance/la méfiance

-tion/sion e.g. la tradition/la télévision

-ité/tié e.g. la quantité/la moitié

-rie e.g. chérie/une série

-ise e.g. une chemise/la valise

-itude e.g. l’attitude/une étude

-esse e.g. la gentillesse/la liesse

-ette e.g. une coquette/une chaussette

-ienne e.g. une australienne/une pharmacienne

-ière e.g. la première/la lumière

-ée e.g. la vallée/une araignée (exception: le lycée)

-ure e.g. l’allure/la température

Masculine:

-oir e.g. le tiroir

-é e.g. le café/le canapé

-eau e.g. le bateau/le manteau (exceptions: l’eau (f)/la peau etc.)

-ment e.g. le gouvernement/le commencement (exception: la jument)

-in e.g. le bassin/le magasin (exception: la fin)

-on e.g. le garçon/le pantalon (exception: la maison)

-ier e.g. le cahier/l’évier 

-er e.g. le boucher/le boulanger

-eur e.g. l’aspirateur/le moteur (exceptions: la douleur/la chaleur)

-o e.g. le zéro/le vélo

-ège  e.g. le manège/un arpège (exception: la Norvège)

-age  e.g. le village/le mariage (lots of exceptions: la nage/la plage etc.)

There are lots of exceptions but this is a good guideline!

Eight Ways to Remember Anything by Alex Lickerman M.D.

Here’s some weapons for your essay writing arsenal!

Hemingway Editor Calmly Writer  The Most Dangerous Writing App Purdue O.W.L. One Look Thesaurus JSTOR Google Scholar