#environment science

For one thing, it's just one measurement. There's no "milli"s or "kilo"s it's just °Celsius which makes it easier. For another there's a tactile, sensory connection you can make when you look up the weather for the day and then step outside. That also makes it easier.

But more importantly I think it's good to learn Celsius as part of climate study/advocacy. Over the summer I was talking with my sister about really really high temperatures in Egypt and her response was "is that a lot?" Because Celsius measurements don't mean anything to her. When most of the world uses Celsius, it's very very important that YOU be able to use Celsius when talking about a global issue such as climate change. Sure, you can look up a conversion, but when you're scrolling on your phone and you see an article telling you temperatures are in the 40s, maybe you'll just scroll by if you don't realize how high that is.

LOOKIT. I WORKED SO HARD AND IM SO PROUD OF IT.

This design features:

Hawaiian Hoary Bats

The genuine notes to Music of the Night

The microphones are real bat monitoring equipment that I've worked with before! AND

Those lines under the words are what bat calls actually look like when you record with that kind of equipment! HOW COOL IS THIS

And into the first week of school starting back up...

In our society, when a person dies either he or she is buried under the ground or they are cremated in some cultures. But there is a better alternative to it, Italian designers have developed a Capsula Mundi. It is an egg-shaped biodegradable casket. Once you die, you body is bury inside it. Bacteria break down the biodegradable shell and your body provides nutrients to a tree planted above it…

Throughout my growing years, our textbooks gave us the details of global warming, ozone layer degeneration, soil erosion, water scarcity and poverty, melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, oil spills, poaching of wildlife and how we are slowly but surely killing everyone on this planet including ourselves. And that was fine. Kids do deserve to know what is going on in this world. They have every right to.

But I have a huge problem with how every goddamn school textbook presented this entire climate crisis as the fault of middle and lower class citizens. Not once did the books mention about the politicians and corporations and billionaires and industries who have never cared about the well-being of the planet and just want to make a quick and cheap buck and speed off.

It's the way they placed the entire... sort of responsibility on us. Little kids. Eight or nine year olds. Even the teachers said stuff like, "do this and it'll help earth! Stop eating/drinking/doing/buying that! You're harming the planet."

And I internalized every single thing. It has messed me up so much that I can't enjoy a night of junk food and watching TV or look at my phone without feeling guilty. I keep trying to resist buying stuff for myself. I look at my feed and am held by this wave of despair that I'm helpless. I can't watch wildlife documentaries without flinching at the statistics. All those textbook tricks never made an impact because there were already people out there who could've done something but they are actively refusing to do so.

And with the pandemic, it's worse. My country is in utter hell and all I can do is sit at home and watch it all happen. I can't do a thing. The fucking Prime Minister of the country absolved himself of all responsibilities and placed the blame and onus on common citizens and state governments. Literal kids are doing more than our central government, who just want more profit and more votes in the upcoming elections.

Please, please, if you have kids or even younger siblings, teach them to recognize manipulative language in their school materials.

So I will be writing a speculative fiction novel this November for NaNoWriMo, and I would like things to not be too unrealistic, within the framework of my premise. Part of the book is set in a society which strongly prioritizes the environment over human convenience and even lives. Given those priorities, I would love advice on how that society’s government is most likely to accomplish the following things:

Communication - recycled paper? Intranet and e-texts? A combination of the two?

Transportation - electric cars? Bikes / kinetic-powered? Riding animals?

Long-distance / overseas transportation - ships? Airplanes? Just give up and have no overseas travel?

Lighting (LED?)

How energy is powered in general (solar? something else? Give up and turn off the electric grid?)

Again, I’m not looking for reasonable real-world solutions so much as what would be best for the environment if price, time, safety, and convenience were not considerations in the slightest.