OtherRambles

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May I present to you, nationalclothing.org?

And So It Begins

Title card! This took way too long to make by hand. Hope it is okay. Ill draw on the comic once im done with my 4 days of 12 hr shifts

I used to draw Sonic a lot but it was way too hard to draw so I stopped. Well I stared at some sonic characters and figured out a shortcut for myself. So here are the designs of the sonic adults and Sonic’s siblings on Aleena’s side. Yes, Nicky is not Sonic in this au. Tania is a bit special but I will share that if anyone wants to know about it.

something i struggle with these days, as a millenial who has lived through greenwashing and carbon credits- is hope an op? are we getting peddled idealism and hope to cover for us being well and truly screwed?

i love this blog so much and i want to have optimism but i’m also so, so scared that this is a dupe, another shell (not u but like in general)

how do you combat that? how do you push past that?

Hi Anon,

This is a great question and definitely a not-uncommon feeling. I do sometimes get the not-so-nice version of this sentiment expressed at me in angry asks accusing me of lying or being paid to say the things I say.

I think that a confluence of factors, including the manufactured climate denial that got us where we are now, has understandably made a lot of people suspicious of hope in general. That if someone disagrees that everything is irredeemably broken beyond the point of trying to fix it, that if they say good things can happen sometimes, they are complicit in letting everything that is problematic and awful and unfair in our world off the hook.

Comic by Tom Gauld

While there is certainly old-fashioned climate denialism still out there, many entities with a vested interest in stalling climate action have switched their narrative to “it’s too late to be worth doing anything”. They’ve changed from blind, passive optimism to blind, passive pessimism, but it has the same impact of suppressing action. Dr. Simon Clark has a great in-depth video about this.

One quick test for possible manipulation is to think about what tangible action a message is likely to encourage and who that would benefit. Hope, or at least the kind of hope I try to promote on this blog, is not “things will get better no matter what we do”—that is blind optimism. Hope is “we can make things better through our actions”.

I’ve gotten many asks from folks telling me this blog inspired them to start environmental careers or volunteering that they previously felt too hopeless to pursue—and from people who felt the good news helped them pull out of a mental health spiral and get back to their lives. Dr. Hannah Ritchie, a climate change sustainability researcher at Oxford and Our World in Data, nearly did not go into the environmental field because she felt so overwhelmed by doomerism. I do not think hope prompts the kind of actions that the people who would dupe us and stall climate action are going for.

That being said, I do very much understand that knee-jerk, wary feeling. A dear family member recently got me the book How to Fall in Love With the Future by climate activist Rob Hopkins, which imagines various hopeful futures that could exist when we take positive environmental action and discusses how doing so can help us commit to fighting for those futures. Some of these radically hopeful futures made me so uncomfortable that I had to take a break from reading. Something about imagining things going really well felt unsafe or irresponsible, like it was too painful to open myself up to hoping for something so good.

Engaging with hope and the imperfect, complicated work of trying to make things better comes with uncertainty and uncertainty is scary. Sometimes certainty feels safer and more in-control even if it’s a negative certainty. I don't have any easy tips for getting over that hump, but I do think it helps to acknowledge that the hump is there and that it comes from a place of understandable fear and pain. Give yourself space and patience in letting those emotions run their course. It's a process for me as well.

Something I can say with complete certainty is that the future will be better than it otherwise would have been if we believe we have the power to make it better.

I hope this helps you trust the hope at least a little more, Anon. <3

I bought a stainless steel waterbottle for 16 euros, haven't bought any plastic water bottles since.

I repair my clothes that I already own and if I want new ones I thrift or go to clothing swap events or buy it off vinted.

I sell the stuff I don't want anymore on vinted, not throw it away.

You don't need to buy cutlery for traveling, just wrap the one you have at home in a napkin.

Take the bus, the train, any public transport instead of driving.

Buy metal straws once and carry them around.

Buy clothes made of natural materials, even if it costs more, it'll be good for even longer. Then repair.

Reuse jars to carry around for coffee (you can actually give that to the barista and they'll make it in it for you instead of a plastic cup. Or at least goes like this where I live).

Organize!!!! Join a community or a movement if you can if they align mostly with your values. If not this, organize your own community. Start with something that benefits everyone, and take accessibility to mind.

Research where you eat. If the place is a branch of a big corporation, choose a local place.

Avoid eating meat or at least reduce your meat intake.

I think this is obvious on my blog, but don't use AI. None of it. Turn it off where you can.

Go to your public library!!!! Even more chances to find community and get informed. (Sincerely, a library science student.)

Rewear outfits!!! Thought this was basic knowledge but dude the amount of people I see crashing out over wearing the same outfit is concerning.

Go to protests (stay safe out there)

Stay informed and inform your friends. YOU can make change, and if they see you make change, they will too.

Use your tech until they can't be used anymore, don't buy new ones for the fun of it.

Eco bricks!

Start owning your media.

Make more useful or personal gifts, make them yourself!!

Finish what you already have, don't restock unless you run out.

Start now, figure the rest out later.

undertale fangame made for the nes specifically so error has to go and learn assembly just to get rid of it

cant even have a heroes vs villains showdown without the multiversal police coming to crash it smh

Hmm… the only one that comes to mind is @daysleftofsecondterm. It’s not the only thing they cover and repost but I’ve definitely gotten some good news from them!

Those glasses arms ain’t doin crap bruh