join our insect nation!

Lots of us already knew that goldfish--a type of carp--wreak havoc when released into ecosystems they aren't native to. This recent study enumerates the specifics of the damage:

"The damage was quick and extensive. The Journal of Animal Ecology study found that water clarity dropped almost instantly in nutrient-rich conditions as goldfish stirred up sediment from the lake bottom. Populations of snails, amphipods, and zooplankton the small invertebrates that are the base of healthy aquatic food webs crashed through direct consumption and habitat destruction. Native fish exhibited declining body condition, an early warning indicator of long-term population health."

Defenders of invasive animals often claim that the introduced species aren't really causing harm, or that they're just accelerating evolution. (There's also the appeal to emotion that the animals didn't choose to be there, and therefore we should leave them alone.) But whether it's goldfish and European starlings in the US, Sitka spruce in Europe, rabbits in Australia, or hippos in Colombia, the facts show that non-native species have a deleterious effect on ecosystems they're introduced to, taking up space and other resources needed by native species.

The article also got me thinking about the irresponsible attitude many people have toward "disposable" pets like inexpensive fish. When I lived on the coast, I had a 60 gallon aquarium with a variety of tropical fish. Before I moved back to Portland, I rehomed all the inhabitants minus the bladder snails (which are thriving in a jar with my marimo moss balls). I very easily could have just walked a hundred yards to the lake behind my coastal home and dropped the platies and cardinal tetras in there; instead I took the time to find them new homes with other people.

I get that people don't want to euthanize unwanted pets, even goldfish. And there aren't as many rescues that take pets that aren't furry or feathered. But the answer is not to dump these animals in the wild and hope they can survive; this is how we end up with lakes full of giant yellow carp, and domestic rabbits spreading diseases to wild rabbit populations. It also leaves a lot of these poor creatures to slow, lingering deaths from exposure or starvation, assuming they don't end up as predator food.

Responsibility toward nature includes properly caring for those we have domesticated or tamed, to include ethical care from beginning to end, and responsible breeding practices. Unfortunately as long as there is a profit to be made, there will be those facilities--and that is the best name for them--that will churn out large quantities of high-demand, inexpensive animals to meet the pet trade without taking any responsibility for where they end up. While an ethical breeder of dogs, for example, will always take back one of the dogs they've bred at any age, you can't just return your goldfish once you realize you can't house a two foot long carp.

A herd of common aquatic springtails (Sminthurides aquaticus) in Hertfordshire, UK

Dumpster diving is something that tons of people do for one reason for another. It is a great way to get a lot of stuff for free, even expensive things, and even be able to resell them in order to make money.

I make some money by doing this. I have heard of a couple of people who have even done this full time, making enough money to pay all of their bills. So this is a great way to be sustainable, and also to make money, which is becoming harder and harder in this crap Capitalism-dominated world. 

So what are some things that you can do to help to look through the dumpster safely?

1. If you do not have to go inside the dumpster, don’t!

I have been dumpster diving since I was 13 years old, and I am almost 30 now. I have never in my life climbed into a dumpster, and it will make solid gold bricks to get me in one. 

Instead, get a grabbing tool. For me, this tool is a bent hanger. This works for about 95% of everything I have found of value thus far. Then again, I mainly deal in clothing. So consider buying a specific tool for this called a grabber. I recommend purchasing one on Ebay, or on a site like Poshmark. Just make sure you buy it used for the most sustainability. 

2. Hit before you look

Animals love dumpsters. They often have free food for them. So if you are afraid to confront an animal, who may not retaliate out of fear, hit the side of the dumpster softy to scare them out first. The last you want is to look through a dumpster only to be confronted with a stray cat or a squirrel. 

3. Do not trespass

This should go without saying. If a dumpster has a fence around it, it is off limits. Do not trespass just to get some stuff out of the trash. Jail is never worth whatever you are going to find in there. 

4. Wash up

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

you love chubby springtails.

you love them. you have to.

Common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius

With serrated hinged terrapin Pelusios sinuatus, on adult hippo, and Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus, around juvenile hippo