#Climate groups

[serialunaliver]

I keep forgetting climate change deniers exist in real life and aren't contained in the facebook comments section

#i'll casually bring up climate change in a group of people at work and someone's like ITS A HOAX

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Greedflation, but for prisoners

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (Apr 21) in TORINO, then Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Today in "Capitalists Hate Capitalism" news: The Appeal has published the first-ever survey of national prison commissary prices, revealing just how badly the prison profiteer system gouges American's all-time, world-record-beating prison population:

https://theappeal.org/locked-in-priced-out-how-much-prison-commissary-prices/

Like every aspect of the prison contracting system, prison commissaries – the stores where prisoners are able to buy food, sundries, toiletries and other items – are dominated by private equity funds that have bought out all the smaller players. Private equity deals always involve gigantic amounts of debt (typically, the first thing PE companies do after acquiring a company is to borrow heavily against it and then pay themselves a hefty dividend).

The need to service this debt drives PE companies to cut quality, squeeze suppliers, and raise prices. That's why PE loves to buy up the kinds of businesses you must spend your money at: dialysis clinics, long-term care facilities, funeral homes, and prison services.

Prisoners, after all, are a literal captive market. Unlike capitalist ventures, which involve the risk that a customer will take their business elsewhere, prison commissary providers have the most airtight of monopolies over prisoners' shopping.

Not that prisoners have a lot of money to spend. The 13th Amendment specifically allows for the enslavement of convicted criminals, and so even though many prisoners are subject to forced labor, they aren't necessarily paid for it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch

Six states ban paying prisoners anything. North Carolina caps prisoners' pay at one dollar per day. Nationally, prisoners earn $0.52/hour, while producing $11b/year in goods and services:

https://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2024/0324bowman.html

So there's a double cruelty to prison commissary price-gouging. Prisoners earn far less than any other kind of worker, and they pay vastly inflated prices for the necessities of life. There's also a triple cruelty: prisoners' families – deprived of an incarcerated breadwinner's earnings – are called upon to make up the difference for jacked up commissary prices out of their own strained finances.

So what does prison profiteering look like, in dollars and sense? Here's the first-of-its-kind database tracking the costs of food, hygiene items and religious items in 46 states:

https://theappeal.org/commissary-database/

Prisoners rely heavily on commissaries for food. Prisons serve spoiled, inedible food, and often there isn't enough to go around – prisoners who rely on the food provided by their institutions literally starve. This is worst in prisons where private equity funds have taken over the cafeteria, which is inevitable accompanied by swingeing cuts to food quality and portions:

https://theappeal.org/prison-food-virginia-fluvanna-correctional-center/

So you have one private equity fund starving prisoners, and another that's gouging them on food. Or sometimes it's the same company. Keefe Group, owned by HIG Capital, provides commissaries to prisons whose cafeterias are managed by other HIG Capital portfolio companies like Trinity Services Group. HIG also owns the prison health-care company Wellpath – so if they give you food poisoning, they get paid twice.

Wellpath delivers "grossly inadequate healthcare":

https://theappeal.org/massachusetts-prisons-wellpath-dentures-teeth/

And Trinity serves "meager portions of inedible food":

https://theappeal.org/clayton-county-jail-sheriff-election/

When prison commissaries gouge on food, no part of the inventory is spared, even the cheapest items. In Florida, a packet of ramen costs $1.06, 300% more inside the prison than it does at the Target down the street:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24444312-fl_doc_combined_commissary_lists#document/p6/a2444049

America's prisoners aren't just hungry, they're also hot. The climate emergency is sending temperatures in America's largely un-air-conditioned prisons soaring to dangerous levels. Commissaries capitalize on this, too: an 8" fan costs $40 in Delaware's Sussex Correctional Institution. In Georgia, that fan goes for $32 (but prisoners are not paid for their labor in Georgia pens). And in scorching Texas, the commissary raised the price of water by 50% last summer:

https://www.tpr.org/criminal-justice/2023-07-20/texas-charges-prisoners-50-more-for-water-for-as-heat-wave-continues

Toiletries are also sold at prices that would make an airport gift-shop blush. Need denture adhesive? That's $12.28 in an Idaho pen, triple the retail price. 15% of America's prisoners are over 55. The Keefe Group – sister company to the "grossly inadequate" healthcare company Wellpath – operates that commissary. In Oregon, the commissary charges a 200% markup on hearing-aid batteries. Vermont charges a 500% markup on reading glasses. Imagine spending decades in prison: toothless, blind, and deaf.

Then there's the religious items. Bibles and Christmas cards are surprisingly reasonable, but a Qaran will run you $26 in Vermont, where a Bible is a mere $4.55. Kufi caps – which cost $3 or less in the free world – go for $12 in Indiana prisons. A Virginia prisoner needs to work for 8 hours to earn enough to buy a commissary Ramadan card (you can buy a Christmas card after three hours' labor).

Prison price-gougers are finally facing a comeuppance. California's new BASIC Act caps prison commissary markups at 35% (California commissaries used to charge 63-200% markups):

https://theappeal.org/price-gouging-in-california-prisons-newsom-signature/

Last year, Nevada banned any markup on hygiene items:

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/10425/Overview

And prison tech monopolist Securus has been driven to the brink of bankruptcy, thanks to the activism of Worth Rises and its coalition partners:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/money-talks/

When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time. Prisons show us how businesses would treat us if they could get away with it.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/20/captive-market/#locked-in

#pluralistic #carceral state #price gouging #greedflation #prisons #the bezzle #captive markets #capitalists hate capitalism #monopolies #the appeal #keefe group #hig capital #guillotine watch #wellpath #trinity services group #sussex correctional institute #cooked alive #air conditioning #climate change #idaho #oregon #freedom of religion #vermont #florida #kentucky #georgia #arkansas #wyoming #missouri #ramen

[drarrily-we-row-along]

All My Dreaming, It's Only Given a Name

Inspired by the Hozier song "To Someone in a Warmer Climate"... I'm fucking obsessed with it. I can't stop listening to it. If you haven't heard it, you simply MUST.

Harry woke up slowly, the room was still dark, his body warm and so content he couldn't be bothered by the ways his muscles twinged with the need to shift.

There was a comforting weight around his shoulders, a hand in his hair, anchoring him to the warm presence beneath him. A second hand had slipped under his shirt, hot palm cupping his side.

Godric, he never wanted to move again.

"Hi," murmured softly against his temple, lips brushing over his forehead in a lazy approximation of a kiss.

His heart swelled and burst, pressing against his ribs, pushing his lungs until he couldn't breathe with it; this easy, gentle affection. A love so full, so gentle that it felt like the tide washing over him and pulling him along. Words seemed to great a feat, so he just pressed his nose into Draco's collarbone, hoped it was enough.

"Hello, darling," whispered soft and sweet into Harry's hair as Draco's fingers carded through the curls there, his other hand drawing Harry even closer, lightly squeezing his side. "It's so early, love."

A low whine escaped Harry's throat, his body pressing closer, stretching out against Draco's until their bodies were aligned.

"That's it," he murmured encouragingly, holding Harry like he was something precious. "Come closer," he added, "close as you like."

"I'd like to crawl inside of your skin," Harry mumbled, then realized how odd that must sound.

Draco just chuckled softly, "I do understand that impulse," he said. "It doesn't ever feel like I can get close enough to you either."

He sighed, let the short-lived worry of being misunderstood fall away. "I used to dream about this, you know?"

"Did you?" he asked, voice warm like honey; indulgent, like he wanted to hear whatever Harry wanted to say no matter how ridiculous it might be.

He shook his head, "Not exactly," he said softly, turning to prop his chin on Draco's chest.

The other man shifted a bit so that he could look down at Harry, chin scrunching up in a way that should be unattractive but that Harry found impossibly endearing.

"My dreams are paltry in comparison to the reality of you," he murmured like a confession.

"Poetic," Draco replied, lips tilting up at the corners to soften his words, to tell Harry he was teasing, that he was feeling shy about being praised.

He hummed, "My whole life," he whispered, "There's this," he broke off, searching for the right word, "ache," he said, tapping his fingers against Draco's breastbone. He shook his head, "There's always been this yearning to be loved, to be held, to be cared for without the expectation of what I'll be able to give."

"Darling," Draco whispered, and Harry could hear the ache reflected in his voice. It was like this sometimes, like Draco took whatever was hurting Harry and held it in his own body, reflecting it back at him with an empathy and tenderness that left Harry elated and terrified all at once.

"But then there was you," he continued. "And all of my dreaming, it seems like a shadow compared to the reality of being loved by you. All of my longing, my yearning; the restless pursuit of something I never thought I could actually have-" he broke off, eyes stinging.

Draco's thumb brushed away a tear and lightly traced his cheekbone.

"I found all of the things I'd dreamt of in you," he managed. "And more," he added. "This is the fulfillment of everything I've ever wanted; a simple, cozy love. A shared bed, a shared home. Dinner together and evenings on the sofa, weekends attached at the hip. Someone to hold me gently, to kiss me tenderly. Someone who will let me hold them and love them with my love that's too big and never sufficient all at once."

"Darling," Draco murmured again. "You're not too much and you are enough," he assured. "I don't need anything more."

Harry nodded, snuggled back under Draco's arm, resting his head on his shoulder once more. "You make everything better."

"I love you," Draco breathed in that way of his, wondering and helpless, like the way he loved Harry was something that he found immense pleasure in. Godric, Harry loved it when he said it like that. "I love you so much," he repeated. "You make everything better too, darling."

"I love you too," Harry said softly, the simplest thing he knew. The truest thing he knew.

"Do you want to sleep a little more?" Draco asked through a yawn of his own.

He shrugged a shoulder, "Maybe," he said, "I do want to stay like this, even if I can't sleep any more."

"Alright," he agreed, dropping a kiss to the top of Harry's head. "Do you mind if I go back to sleep for a while?"

"Of course not," he said, squeezing Draco's ribs and kissing his collarbone.

Draco hummed, squeezed Harry a little tighter. "You're alright?"

Harry nodded, "Better than," he replied truthfully.

"Kay," Draco whispered, then as though sleeping was as easy for him as breathing, he dropped back off to sleep.

He lay there, listening to his beloved breathe, and couldn't fathom how his life had turned out sweeter than his very best dreams.

--------------------

(Read more of my fics, if you'd like)

#drarry #love #soft #fluff #short and sweet #one shot #Inspired by Hozier's Song “To Someone in a Warmer Climate” #That song is soooooo good. Seriously. Go listen to it. #is Harry Ace? Probably. But not explicitly stated. #“embracetheace” is the hashtag I've been trying to get trending in my friend groups. using that here too

[fjordfolk]

Way too much focus on designer breeds that should not be, not enough on the dogs history failed to breed-ify. like the Soviet Space Dog

#perfect size #near indestructible #great off switch #selectively bred to fit in a space suit #political climate triggers attempts to recoin the breed as Astrohund in Europe - AKC accidentally puts it in the hound group #lengthy debates about whether its ok to breed individuals with fear of fireworks as that seems incompatible with the breeds original purpose #(being launched into the sky on a rocket)

[vibinwiththefrogs]

Does anyone know of any posts, essays, articles, etc. on topics related to radical hope, combatting climate nihilism, imagining brighter futures, and how small groups focused on specific things tend to have the greatest impact?

#I'm writing a paper on imagining a brighter future in spite of *gestures broadly* but i need some inspiration/sources #i remember reading about how small groups and projects tend to be at the forefront of conservation and climate action but i need examples #solarpunk #climate action #hopepunk #climate activism #radical hope #i have a handful of posts in mind but I don't know how to find them

[sailforvalinor]

OtGW girlies it’s just about that time again! Out of curiosity, how do y’all usually time your watches? Like, I’ll probably watch it all in one go on Halloween, but I might watch it at the beginning of October too idk

#I watched it for the first time around this time last year but it felt too soon it was still SO summery #but where I am the climate doesn’t get that chilly so idk if that matters this time lol #I might group it with some other fall-vibey movies this year (but not Halloween ones for some reason I don’t like Halloween movies) #dead poets society is on the list and I’m watching twilight with my roommate (I will laugh through the whole thing should be a fun time) #over the garden wall #otgw

[nimbus-tatze]

every day, literally every fckg day, somewhere a scientist has to stop themselves from following their urge to grab a rock and hit people over the head with it. If I was a climate scientist and saw this headline I'd just not stop my urge. Rocks for everyone, Oprah style.

#climate #i'd go feral foaming at the mouth attacking the people that do this shit #whadya want scientists to do? Find a marginalized group to blame? Are you gonna listen then?! howwwww do they fail to communicate when it's #YOU who doesn't listen? #do you need scientists to commit hatecrimes? #actually you know what maybe they should commit hatecrimes against the rich #like #rocks #rocks for everyone #i am losing it and i'm not even in the field of climate

[canadianartjunkie]

View On WordPress

#climate change #environmental art #Group of Seven #kim dorland #wildfire art

[fiapple]

for such a small fandom, the moral orel community really does have a huge fucking problem with woobification of the adult cast.

it's gross.

#this isn't about liking characters this is however about using that as an excuse to pretend they are not horrible people. #like literally the only decent adult in moralton is stephanie- others may have their moments but overall? just her. #& that's thematically fucking important! like the fact that the only good person in a town suffocated by it's own rigid adherence to WASP #social norms is a visually non-conforming lesbian? yeah that kinda fucking means something! that was a pointed writing choice! #also before anyone mentions officer papermouth hes a cop. moreover he's a cop in a town where several characters are canonically racist. #& its a town where people are known to mostly hold the same views on social issues due to the aforementioned strict adherence to WASP norms #do not “officer papermouth seems like a good guy.” me i will chuck your kneecaps into a river. #but enough with the uwu cutesy headcanons about characters who are canonically racist/homophobic/abusive/misogynistic! #enough with the blaming literally every character except your personal favourite for the climate of the town! #enough with blaming only one parent for the puppington family dynamic! #enough with acting like characters don't have faults because you happen to find a clay figurine unreasonably attractive! #you're missing the fucking point! #enough enough enough enough! learn how to actually analyze & interact with the media you consume please! #moral orel #also: #proshippers dni #you lot are the worst of the fucking bunch & your approach to media as a group is horrific. fuck off.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Contrary to what is often believed, affinity between comrades does not depend on sympathy or sentiment. To have affinity means to have knowledge of the other, to know how they think on social issues, and how they think they can intervene in the social clash. This deepening of knowledge between comrades is an aspect that is often neglected, impeding effective action.

One of the most difficult problems anarchists have had to face throughout their history is what form of organisation to adopt in the struggle.

At the two ends of the spectrum we find on the one hand the individualists who refuse any kind of stable relationship; on the other those who support a permanent organisation which acts on a programme established at the moment of its constitution.

Both of the forms sketched out here have characteristics that are criticizable from an insurrectional point of view.

In fact, when individualists single out and strike the class enemy they are sometimes far ahead of the most combative of the class components of the time, and their action is not understood. On the contrary, those who support the need for a permanent organisation often wait until there is already a considerable number of exploited indicating how and when to strike the class enemy. The former carry out actions that turn out to be too far ahead of the level of the struggle, the latter too far behind.

One of the reasons for this deficiency is in our opinion lack of perspective.

Clearly no one has a sure recipe that contains no defects, we can however point out the limitations we see in certain kinds of organisation, and indicate possible alternatives.

One of these is known as “affinity groups”.

The term requires an explanation.

Affinity is often confused with sentiment. Although not distinctly separate, the two terms should not be considered synonymous. There could be comrades with whom we consider we have an affinity, but whom we do not find sympathetic and vice versa.

Basically, to have an affinity with a comrade means to know them, to have deepened one’s knowledge of them. As that knowledge grows, the affinity can increase to the point of making an action together possible, but it can also diminish to the point of making it practically impossible.

Knowledge of another is an infinite process which can stop at any level according to the circumstances and objectives one wants to reach together. One could therefore have an affinity for doing some things and not others. It becomes obvious that when one speaks of knowledge that does not mean it is necessary to discuss one’s personal problems, although these can become important when they interfere with the process of deepening knowledge of one another.

In this sense having knowledge of the other does not necessarily mean having an intimate relationship. What it is necessary to know is how the comrade thinks concerning the social problems which the class struggle confronts him with, how he thinks he can intervene, what methods he thinks should be used in given situations, etc.

The first step in the deepening of knowledge between comrades is discussion. It is preferable to have a clarifying premise, such as something written, so the various problems can be gone into well.

Once the essentials are clarified the affinity group or groups are practically formed. The deepening of knowledge between comrades continues in relation to their action as a group and the latter’s encounter with reality as a whole. While this process is taking place their knowledge often widens and strong bonds between comrades often emerge. This however is a consequence of the affinity, not its primal aim.

It often happens that comrades go about things the other way round, beginning some kind of activity and only proceeding to the necessary clarifications later, without ever having assessed the level of affinity required to do anything together. Things are left to chance, as though some kind of clarity were automatically to emerge from the group simply by its formation. Of course this does not happen: the group either stagnates because there is no clear road for it to take, or it follows the tendency of the comrade or comrades who have the clearest ideas as to what they want to do while others allow themselves to be pulled along, often with little enthusiasm or real engagement.

The affinity group on the other hand finds it has great potential and is immediately addressed towards action, basing itself not on the quantity of its adherents, but on the qualitative strength of a number of individuals working together in a projectuality that they develop together as they go along.

From being a specific structure of the anarchist movement and the whole arc of activity that this presents — propaganda, direct action, perhaps producing a paper, working within an informal organisation — it can also look outwards to forming a base nucleus or some other mass structure and thus intervene more effectively in the social clash.

#affinity groups #organization #community organizing #community building #practical anarchy #practical anarchism #anarchist society #practical #revolution #anarchism #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #grassroots #grass roots #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues #economy #economics #climate change #climate crisis #climate #ecology #anarchy works #environmentalism #environment

[smiletolerantly]

I'm in that "If I had a Death Note, I could absolutely change society for the better" mood 💕

#alternatively a radicalized group of armed friends (in Minecraft) #death note #light yagami #politics #climate change #social policy #wealth gap #eat the rich

[angeltannis]

Every time someone asks for more canon Overwatch lore the monkey’s paw curls and we get some shit like Reaper was a Cop or The Omnic Crisis Started Because Humans Are the Real Disease and the Omnics Were Trying to Stop Climate Change

#it feels like in the last year or so they’ve tried to HARD pivot toward making omnics 100% sympathetic victims #which is stupid because it was ALWAYS a very morally grey issue #which is why it didn’t work as a racism allegory despite them pushing that angle so hard #they killed MILLIONS of people lol #and now when they’ve got a ‘rebel group’ of omnics fighting humans it’s STILL being portrayed as not their fault bc Ramattra is- #-physically controlling their bodies #idk robot uprisings in general are so overdone in sci fi that I’m not sure they could have come up with Anything new or groundbreaking there #but ‘they were trying to stop climate change by wiping out humans’ feels particularly stupid- #-ESPECIALLY bc Overwatch’s futurism has always been optimistic and hopeful #humans still denying climate change feels SO out of place there

[morningmask27]

it is currently midnight, I have a somewhat busy day waiting for me technically today already. I can wake up a bit later, and that's my only saving grace, BUT I am on the edge of falling into a Deep rabbithole to work out exactly how the climate is going to work both on a grander scale in my world, but also in a few important cities in particular. I know I will regret doing a full, long night, but I Want To.

#morningtalks #god the occasional nerd moment to worldbuild and thus start researching how climate works in specific places #so I have to look up examples that ressemble it in real life to understand the gimmicks #and even then sometimes things are different; mountains can have a huge impact and the presence of mountains or not can make approximations #very wonky so I have to chek that out too. I'll probs also work with altitudes in my world soon. I have a mountain range sitting there spli #in two seemingly (for story reasons) so I have That but I want to plan out how High the rest will be #one of my groups lives by the coast mostly so that's not too hard but then I have the other groups in different places and even the coastal #group doesn't just live next to the coast but also spreads out a bit inlands #so it's going to be chaotic; I'll enjoy it a lot but nonetheless it's 1 not going to be relevant in an actual story i'm creating and #2 I will lose sleep to this endeavor sooner or later #and I want to ride this wave of motivation now before I lose interest in this stuff #I still want to finish mapping out the coastal group's capital; it's really fun but I've been neglecting it a bit lately #But First the climates! #I'm off guys #byeeeeeeeeee

[tumbl-census]

#Animal shelter is charitable org I assume #Local climate change group is political or in your community I guess that’s up to you #tumblr census #poll #question taken from q24 of the 2022 irish census