#and i have no resources to address it nor money to find solutions so

[rwbyconversations]

Rooster Teeth Glassdoor Crunch/Overtime Accusations #AnimatorsFirst

EDIT: Georden Whitman, former creator of Nomad of Nowhere, has come out and publicly confirmed the Glassdoor reviews are true.

Original story:

Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor reviews have recently made serious allegations against the company, with people who work for the company claiming that the company engages in practices involving heavy crunch periods, a resistance to providing benefits, eighty hour work weeks, a management team trying to justify crunch and unpaid overtime that, according to some, led to as much as a third of RWBY and gen;LOCK’s recent seasons being made effectively for free. 

Below are screencaps and exact quotes from the pages. Any emphasis made is done by me.

From May 23rd this year, as written by an employee with three years experience at RT:

Cons

Program scheduling department has no idea how to time budget for animation, has resulted in unnecessary, preventable crunch Company takes on projects that are too big for it to manage effectively Not the highest pay compared to Anim Guild standards Open office space, gets noisy

Advice to Management

Management has been using a weird method to try and deescalate hard feelings about crunch. They’re acting like counselors who are “there to talk” and to try and find “coping mechanisms” to deal with crunch. This is a terrible idea considering that none of them are trained counselors as far as I’m aware, but more-so, they’re obviously going to be biased in favor of what they want from us. It makes me want to communicate with them even less. This past review, my manager criticized me for having “negative energy” during a terrible crunch period where we were working over 80 hrs s week, and told me I should “look for the silver lining” which is just bad advice. Advice to management is to stop pretending you know anything about mental health and also be less passive - fight harder for your team.

From May 13th, an employee with a year’s experience at Rooster Teeth:

Cons

The management is terrible. Artists are lead on with the promises of "full time employment and benefits" dangled in front of them without ever being addressed and ultimately are never given, there is no paid overtime, artists had to fight for their right to time off between productions, and good luck getting any form of benefits despite them being plastered on the wall.

Advice to Management

You're not a group of guys playing halo in your apartment anymore. Please run your business and look at what's happened to it.

From June 11th this year, from an employee who has been working at the company for five years:

Cons

- Extremely poor management (Some of it is negligence, some of it is just accidental from the sheer amount of work. Upper management is also extreme bro/friends club.) - Insanely high expectations (animate a 10-14 min episode in 2 weeks) - Very low compensation (I've worked here for years and make entry pay. Some people have gone MULTIPLE years with no raise) - No overtime pay (Every season of RWBY and GL gets about 1/3 or less made for 'free' because no one gets paid over time and it's not uncommon to work hundreds of hours of overtime) - Toxic work environment (there are a lot of cliques, complaining and even making fun of other people and depts here. It never gets punished so it always happens. Not professional)  - You know something is going right when after many complaints HR reminds everyone you have "unlimited" mental health doctor appointments... I could honestly go on and on like an emo on Myspace in 2007 but I'll reign it in. I'll leave it at this since I've seen many fans read these and be skeptical. It's not great. You can deny it but there is a lot of evidence if you just accept it. And the reason you work here is cus you get stuck and are promised "It'll get better". The work is low quality (hard to get jobs elsewhere), pay is low (can't save money) and life/work balance is a joke. We have a bit of balance now but it's only for a couple months out of the year when production isn't in full swing. Then it's back in the meat grinder.

Advice to Management

You NEED to listen to the workers and make hard decisions and actually fight for better conditions. It's been far far too long of "it'll get better" or "we know what to do next year". This isn't sustainable and I think we all know it. But someone has to be the guy to say "no" when things aren't good enough. If you don’t say no, hundreds of people suffer. Please.

From May 18th:

Cons

Crunch has gotten to an unacceptable level. Productions have been completed with over half of total hours unpaid overtime, especially impacting the comp and editing department. Management cares more about their ego than the quality of the work they put out— letting the crunch caused by their irresponsible decisions fall solely on the shoulders of the artists while they enjoy a forty hour work week. Pay is laughable compared with the amount of mandated, unpaid hours of labor. No career advancement, and contract workers are given empty promises of full time employment before being shown the door once production is done.

Advice to Management

Stop saying the crunch issue is “getting better” or that you’re “working on it”, and start actually owning up to your mistakes.

From May 19th:

Cons

-A lot of employees brought on, if not all, before the last development cycle were promised permanent positions after a 90 day trial period. As those dates approached those artists saw no change, asking their leads what was going on. The guidance from higher ups was vague at best, and some felt like they had been forced to lie to employees during the interview process. - A lot of processes went over-scope due to poor planning. -Lack of actual production experience in the management side of things is no longer something that can be glossed over as the company tries to take on more industry vetted employees. -Crunch is extreme and overtime is not compensated for, nor is that time given back in any fair amount.

Advice to Management

-Clear and concise communication -Re-structure your upper level management

From May 12th:

Cons

Crunch here is out of control. No Paid OT. Expect to work A LOT for free. 70-80 hour work weeks. Mandatory 10-12 hour work days sometimes with no days off. Management is more interested in telling you what you want the hear as opposed to the truth.

Advice to Management

Fix the crunch issue and stop saying 'we're working on it'.... because you're not. Layoffs are certain. Will layoff bad employees and good employees in the same breath, completely eliminating any reason to work as hard as you're required to do. Fix your transparency issue and stop overworking your employees otherwise your reputation will severely suffer.

From April 5th:

Cons

-No paid overtime. -Crunch is a major problem in the animation department due to unrealistic deadlines, poor planning, and indecisiveness. (Mandatory 10 to 12 hour days for multiple months are common.) -Stress levels are often very high due to harsh deadlines -Some of the producers tend to lie. -Promotions are used as a morale booster, not actual career advancement. -Hardly any time for Professional Development -Professionalism can be a bit scarce (for example people would draw penises on the boards throughout the studio)

Advice to Management

-Management needs to seriously figure out how to deal with the crunch issue. A question was asked at an all hands meeting: "How are you going to handle crunch this year?" Instead of giving a clear answer, the head of the RT animation department completely dodged the question. If you don't know how you are going to tackle a problem, try saying, "I don't know. I will get back with you ASAP." Then actually pursue a solution to the problem. Dodging questions makes you look shady and untrustworthy. -Improve production plans and make sure you have enough resources to complete your projects. If you are going to work on two shows at the same time, then you need to double ALL of your teams along the pipeline, not just one. If you can barely get one project done with your current resources, you certainly cannot finish two. If you can't get the resources needed to complete the projects, then it's probably best to keep them small or to simply not do them at all. Pushing your teams beyond the breaking point is not the wisest decision. If you continue with your overambitious ways, it will backfire in the long run. Telltale Games' closure and Bioware's Anthem debacle are examples of what's to come if you do not improve your production practices and get crunch under control. -Get more training on how to manage people. There are plenty of programs out there that can help management understand how to work with various types of personalities. There were some situations where I noticed that some leads and producers simply did not know how to talk to a person when there was a problem. Despite all of the criticism I just wrote, I feel the majority of who work at Rooster Teeth Productions are decent people. However, the management is just terrible. Put some of that ambition you have into fixing your problems internally instead of putting it into meeting those unrealistic deadlines.

From March 25th:

Cons

- Massive amounts of unpaid overtime. All while touting the importance to the company of a life/work balance. They promise to give you the time back, but it will be impossible to take. - Management is just a joke. They can’t schedule or stay on track to save their lives. Total amateur hour. - Zero followthrough on promises made. How about a pizza party? - Pay much lower than standard. Don’t expect real raises. Promotions with increased responsibilities don’t come with comparable pay bumps. - Most promises of advancement and opportunities are hollow wishful thinking. - Almost zero followthrough with meaningful investment in employee education. You can access a Udemy account and that’s about it. - Management will blame the artists instead of taking responsibility and will even through people under the bus to cover themselves. - Internet celebs are more valuable than artists.  - Their awards are called “cockbite of the month/year” and it’s what they call their employees. You may not want to be called that but that’s too bad. It’s their culture. A few guys draw penises everywhere to be funny. - Not very much diversity in management. Feels like you need to be a straight white male to be appreciated.

Advice to Management

Hire some actual seasoned industry professionals to upper management in Animation. And demonstrate there are some consequences for them, instead of taking it out on employees.

From April 11th: 

Cons

-Overtime, and hours will cause any person to slowly become something they don't like. -Management is typically made up of "talent" and treats other employees poorly, not to mention 0 years of previous managerial experience. -Management also blames other employees for the problems they create, and don't show actual leadership. -Echo chambers within management. -Stress levels incredibly high -Lack of professionalism

Advice to Management

-Get rid of "talent" in managerial roles, it's clear they're costing the company serious problems and money. The ones who end up being hurt are the employees who knew and constantly warned about problems ahead of time that were ignored. If the company stays the same a huge incident is bound to follow. -Try to respect creatives that aren't "talent" within the company as well. It's clear management doesn't and goes against the entirety of the company's "core values." those who have had previous industry experience should be listened to and considered instead of being shrugged off and given responses like "Well that's just how we do things." -Collaboration doesnt seem to exist for a majority of managment here. If this one massive change happens the company could really grow far and do much more than create crude content with a lack of care/heart for the final product. -If people are able to sleep and have a normal schedule more thoughtful input will also happen, and your content can only get better. -A multitude of people and lives have been hurt from management at this company, from in house employees being mentally abused to freelancers that are ghosted. So many immature and poor practices have taken place within the animation department I'm amazed a lawsuit has yet to happen. -Management should be leaders not bosses.

It’s almost darkly funny that most of the positives are just “They give you free food on Mondays and the people are nice.” 

But these are all from just the last year alone. Most reviews from before the start of 2019 don’t speak of crunch barring one from April 2018, one from March 2018 and one from June. This is a problem that has been affecting Rooster Teeth for at least an entire year, and since the start of the new year, the problem has magnified tenfold. Most reviews mention that the heads of departments are aware of the crunch and unpaid overtime but refuse to do anything about it beyond offering platitudes or dodging the question on what the company is going to actually do to fix the crunch problem.

Crunch is a problem plaguing many companies, especially in the western hemisphere. In gaming development there’s a story nearly every month about what apathetic upper management think they can get away with by forcing employees to spend dozens of hours every week slaving away on their product. I hoped that Rooster Teeth would not be one of these companies, but I am saddened to see that they were not. 

Crunch’s negative effects on mental and physical health have been well documented, alongside the basic fact that crunch isn’t worth it and doesn’t work. Employees forced to crunch are unable to work as well as employees who are well rested and have time to go home to their families. 

To anyone working these impossible crunch hours at Rooster Teeth right now, I hope your suffering ends soon, that eventually basic human empathy wins out and hours are lessened while you receive your just rewards for your work.

For @roosterteeth? This is appalling and a slap in the face to the fanbase you conned into thinking that you were a company that cared for everyone within as a huge family. Your entire management team should be ashamed of the environment you signed off on. No profit margin is worth the suffering you have subjected your crew to. Shame on you. 

As a fan of RWBY, it disgusts me that a product I enjoy was made through blood, sweat and tears. And as a fan of RWBY, I wish to make a public call to the fanbase, be it on Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter or Youtube. I want to make a public statement to Rooster Teeth that we are willing to wait longer for new shows if it means that they are made ethically. I can’t in good conscience support a product if it was made by putting the workers through hell. Maybe I can’t change anything on my own, maybe ultimately we’ll just be ignored, but I refuse to stand by and stay silent on the matter, maybe even get Rooster Teeth to make changes in their workflow (I won’t say “I hope they respond” because they seem to respond in-house to complaints about crunch without ever actually changing anything) 

I encourage you to share this around as much as you can. Share the accounts of the Glassdoor reviews as far and as wide as you can. We love and enjoy media, we love the people who make it- the animators, editors, writers and voice actors, and we as a community want them to not have to resort to RT’s seemingly unlimited mental health coverage or “find a coping mechanism to deal with crunch.” As much as it pains me to admit, I’d rather see RWBY die instead of seeing continue to be made on the back of crunch.

Thank you for reading. Again, I encourage you to share this around as much as you can. Let your voice be heard if you stand against this. 

#rwby #Rooster Teeth #Genlock #crunch #overtime #glassdoor #georden whitman #nomad of nowhere

[patriotsnet]

What Do Republicans Believe About Climate Change

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-do-republicans-believe-about-climate-change/

What Do Republicans Believe About Climate Change

Senator John Cornyn Republican Of Texas

Why Do Republicans Deny Climate Change Science?

Recently re-elected as Senate Republican whip

Cornyns view on a possible human role in climate change is insinuated for a Republican and doubly so for a Republican from oil country. Which is adamantly not to say he favors emissions regulations.

I am not one that denies that human beings have an impact on the environment, Cornyn said in a phone call with Texas reporters in May. But I am sure not willing to put the federal government in charge of trying to micromanage the environment for the United States of America, nor for us to drive up the price of energy for people on fixed income, like seniors and people of modest means, by putting restrictions in place that other nations are not.

New Caucus New Opportunity

Even broaching the topic with some political conservatives can be challenging, said U.S. Rep. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah.

He compared the reflexive reaction many conservatives have when it comes to climate change to how Democrats feel when they hear about former President Donald Trumps U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Their chest tightens, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

I think climate has been like that for Republicans, right? Just the word climate has all these agendas, the Green New Deal and Al Gore kind of associated with it, and I think thats turned them off.

Last week, Curtis launched the Conservative Climate Caucus – a group in Congress that already boasts a roster of more than 50 Republicans to try to educate colleagues and brainstorm ideas to deal with climate change.

Curtis said he envisions field trips to look at electric vehicle manufacturing or forest fire damage, a big worry in the western United States right now.

But hes not keen on virtually eliminating use of fossil fuels – something scientists say is crucial to limiting dangerous warming – instead preferring a switch to cleaner ones.

I think theres a role for fossil fuels, he said. If were able to export U.S. natural gas to China and it displaced coal, that would have dramatic impacts on worldwide carbon emissions.

Curtis acknowledged that among a certain set of conservative voters, winning heart and minds on climate change will take much more work.

Figure 9 Party Breakdown Of Opinions On Mitigation Policies On Which The Majorities Of Democrats And Of Republicans Disagree

On the other policies included in the survey, majorities of Democrats and of Republicans do not agree. Minorities of Republicans and majorities of Democrats favor carbon pricing policies and increased gasoline taxes. In general, majorities of Democrats and minorities of Republicans believe that federal stimulus packages should include provisions to invest in the development of new technologies and in maintenance to reduce future emissions.

Don’t Miss: Senate Partisan Breakdown

Same Problem Different Solution

Young conservatives like Smith and Diaz say the existence of climate change isnt up for debate.;Democrats proposed solutions to the climate;change;is where they begin to;diverge.;;

Republicans;say policies like the Green New Deal and the Biden Administrations climate plan are not effective or realistic methods to combat climate change.;

Theres a lot of enthusiasm to talk about it, Smith said. At the end of the day its really performative and it is pointless if the solutions theyre offering arent viable. They need to be ensuring that the United States makes the transition away from fossil fuels in a way that is fiscally viable for the American people.;

In line with Bidens climate plan, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a moderate Democrat,;signed an executive order in November 2020 creating the Climate Initiatives Task Force, aimed at making the state carbon neutral by 2050. But Smith called the task force;money down the;drain. He said the task force is funding research already conducted by other administrations and a;performative action.;

Its very much the case of John Bel kicking the can down the road. The task force is saying theyre going to show us the results in five years, Smith said. But itll be too late at that point.;

The House GOP recently;formed;a Republican-led group on climate change.;;

You think the guys driving a Lamborghini are getting hurt? he;said. Noits the person taking the bus.;

Senator Roy Blunt Republican Of Missouri

Recently re-elected as vice-chairman of the Senate Republican conference

Blunt has acknowledged that climate change exists and said we have a social responsibility to help the environment. He also has said, however, that the human role in climate change is unclear. understands that any energy policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gases should be carefully considered in the context of Americas already fragile economy, a spokesman for Blunt told the Springfield News-Leader in 2011. The worst outcome is that we pass policies so onerous that we drive jobs overseas to countries where they dont care as much about what comes out of their smokestacks as we do.

Recommended Reading: Republicans Wear Red

Why Republicans Still Dont Care About Climate Change

Mary Nichols has been part of the struggle to prevent catastrophic climate change for about as long as anyone in American life. For years, shes directed Californias pathbreaking efforts to reduce carbon emissions as the chair of the California Air Resources Boarda position she held first in the 1970s before taking it up again in 2007. Nichols has also served at the federal level, working as the chief regulator for air pollution at the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. And yet even Nichols has never seen anything that crystallizes the dangers of climate change more clearly than the historic outbreak of wildfires scorching California and other western states this year.

Yes, absolutely, she told me earlier this week, when I asked her whether this years fires are the most tangible danger to California that shes seen from climate change. Its not suddenly going to reverse itself to years when theres no fire season, or its not going to happen until October. The changes are going to be real, and they are going to be long-lasting.

What we have now is the absolute environmental demonstration or evidence of just how dramatic the impact of climate change is going to be. This is not going to stop, Browner told me. There is going to be something next year, and the year after, if we dont get on it.

Fundamental Beliefs And Attitudes

For 14 out of 21 survey questions posed to American respondents about fundamental beliefs and attitudes regarding global warming, majorities of Democrats and Republicans alike hold green opinions in 2020.

For example, 94% of Democrats believe global warming has been happening, as do 67% of Republicans. 94% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans think warming will continue in the future if nothing is done to address it. 94% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans believe that if warming has been happening, human actions have been responsible for causing it.

Majorities of Democrats and of Republicans also agree about the likely effects of global warming98% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans believe global warming will be a very or somewhat serious problem for the US if nothing is done to address it. Some 97% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans believe that global warming will be a very or somewhat serious problem for the world if nothing is done to address it.

However, the partisans diverge on whether specific temperature changes have been or will be bad. Whereas 88% of Democrats believe that the warming that has happened over the past 100 years was bad, only 40% of Republicans believe that. And whereas 84% of Democrats believe that a 5-degree Fahrenheit increase in world temperature over the next 75 years would be bad, only 50% of Republicans agree.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are Registered In The Us

Only 25 Per Cent Of Republicans Believe Climate Change Is A Very Serious Problem

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

A majority of Republicans now admit that climate change does exist, according to a new poll.

The Monmouth University survey revealing a growing number of Americans acknowledge climate change is happening, and that most of them believe its becoming an issue.

Almost two-thirds of Republicans, 64 per cent, believe global warming exists. That number has increased from 49 per cent three years ago.

Climate Change Critics Lack A Consistent Message

Has Marco Rubio flip-flopped on climate change?

Those who have criticized climate change are all over the place. You have those who say were going through global cooling, or that theres nothing going on different with the weather at all, or that any changes occurring are natural, not human-made, or its the fault of other countries.

With such an inconsistent message, its no wonder that the AP-NORC poll showed only nine percent of Americans are climate deniers. While 19 percent say they are unsure, the remaining 70+ percent not only recognize the climate is changing, but most of them also trust the science that says human activity is contributing greatly to this. If climate change becomes an election issue in 2020, it doesnt look so good for the GOP and Donald Trump.

Read Also: What Year Did The Democrats And Republicans Switch

Don’t Miss: How Many Americans Are Registered Republicans

Its All In A Name: Global Warming Versus Climate Change

More people believe in climate change than in global warming, according to a University of Michigan study published in Public Opinion Quarterly. Wording matters, says Jonathon Schuldt, a Ph.D. candidate in the U-M Department of Psychology who co-authored the study with ISR researchers Sara Konrath and Norbert Schwarz.

For the research, Schuldt, Konrath and Schwarz conducted a question wording experiment in the American Life Panel, an online survey conducted by RAND, with a national sample of 2,267 U.S. adults. Participants were asked to report their level of certainty about whether global climate change is a serious problem.

The good news is that Americans may not be as polarized on the issue as previously thought. The extent of the partisan divide on this issue depends heavily on question wording, says Schwarz.. When the issue is framed as global warming, the partisan divide is nearly 42 percentage points. But when the frame is climate change, the partisan divide drops to about 26 percentage points.

Congressman John Boehner Republican Of Ohio

Speaker of the House

Boehner reliably pleads ignorance to punt on climate change. Listen, Im not qualified to debate the science over climate change, Boehner said in May. But I am astute enough to understand that every proposal that has come out of this administration to deal with climate change involves hurting our economy and killing American jobs. That cant be the prescription for dealing with changes in our climate.

Boehner called the US-China deal the latest example of the presidents crusade against affordable, reliable energy that is already hurting jobs and squeezing middle-class families.

Also Check: How Many Registered Republicans In Texas

Figure 10 Party Breakdown Of Opinions On Federal Stimulus Policies On Which The Majorities Of Democrats And Of Republicans Disagree

Majorities of Democrats and minorities of Republicans favor three policies put into place by President Obama that have been rolled back by President Trump: a mandate to power plants to cut carbon emissions from the electric sector by more than 30% relative to 2005 levels; a plan for the federal government to reduce its own emissions; and a mandate to increase fuel efficiency standards of all new cars and trucks made in the United States to get at least 55 miles per gallon by 2025.

Climate Deniers In The 117th Congress

According to new analysis from the Center for American Progress, there are still 139 elected officials in the 117th Congress, including 109 representatives and 30 senators, who refuse to acknowledge the scientific evidence of human-caused climate change. All 139 of these climate-denying elected officials have made recent statements casting doubt on the clear, established scientific consensus that the world is warmingand that human activity is to blame. These same 139 climate-denying members have received more than $61 million in lifetime contributions from the coal, oil, and gas industries.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Want To Get Rid Of The Epa

Democrats And Republicans Divided On Climate Change

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks as Senator Ed Markey, a… Democrat from Massachusetts, right, listens during a news conference announcing Green New Deal legislation in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

How serious an issue is climate change and what should be done about it? It is not surprising that Democrats and Republicans have different views about these questions as they do about so many issues today. But what is significant now is the depth of their differences on climate change and how much those differences have grown over time. In the April issue of AEIs Political Report, we examined partisans views in recent polls and trends.

When Quinnipiac University asked registered voters in December 2018 about the extreme weather events over the past few years, 90% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans said they were related to climate change. In a similar question asked by Economist/YouGov pollstersin March 2019, 76% of Democrats said the severity of recent weather events were the result of climate change, compared to 17% of Republicans. Seventy-four percent of Republicans said these kinds of events just happen from time to time.

And what about the Green New Deal? In the limited number of polls that we have at this point, most Americans are not very familiar with it. Among those who have an opinion, Democrats are more positive than Republicans.

Figure 11 Party Breakdown Of Opinions On Obama

Of the 24 policies, 17 are favored by a majority of Independents, including the 7 that are favored by majorities of Republicans and of Democrats.

Of the seven policies favored by a minority of Independents, two are also favored by minorities of Republicans and Democrats: tax breaks to encourage nuclear power plant construction and increased consumer taxes on electricity.

Four of the other five policies favored by a minority of Independents are: increasing consumer taxes on gasoline, helping companies prevent leaks and pollution from pipelines, spending stimulus money to advance manufacturing of all-electric cars, and installing charging stations for electric cars. For the proposed policy of helping companies make batteries that are smaller and last longer, 50% of Independents were in favor.

For two policies more Republicans than Democrats are in favor, by margins of 13 and 11 percentage points respectively.

Of the remaining 22 policies, more Democrats than Republicans are in favor by margins ranging from 18 to 58 percentage points and averaging 37 percentage points.

In sum, Democrats are generally more supportive of emissions reduction policies than Republicans, and Independents are generally in between those two groups. And although majorities of both Republicans and Democrats agree with one another about some policies, they disagreed on most.

You May Like: How Many Republicans In United States

Young Republicans See Shift In Gop: ‘from Outright Denial To Climate Caucus’

Twenty-four-year-old Republican Danielle Butcher is watching with anticipation as GOP leaders move from outright denial to now having a climate caucus a move she sees as the first step in integrating climate action into formal party policy.

Butcher, the executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition , spoke to The Hills Equilibrium on Tuesday, just a week after Rep. John Curtis ;launched the Conservative Climate Caucus and the same day that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

The partys progress is huge, when you apply the context, Butcher said.; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

This is an excellent first step, she continued. The first thing you have to do in achieving climate action is start talking about these problems.

To Butcher, integrating climate action into Republican politics speaks to her partys historic conservation core the GOP with a deep-seated, rural heritage, was responsible for creation of the National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency under former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon.

I also see this as us reclaiming our heritage, she said.

But with two-thirds of Americans indicating that the government should do more on climate change a stance that Butcher observed is especially true among young people” she said Republicans need to be talking about these issues and involving the younger generation in the discussions.

The GOP has notoriously struggled with young people, she added.

Climate Insights : Partisan Divide

Meet the Conservatives Lobbying Lawmakers to Act on Climate Change

A breakdown of survey results by party shows that although the views of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents differ, they also converge in ways that may be unexpected.

Report byBo MacInnis and Jon A. Krosnick75 minute read Oct. 13, 2020

Also Check: Who Are The Two Republicans Running Against Trump

Republicans Are Not A Monolith On Climate Change

Republican lawmakers have been attacking the Biden Administrations actions to address the climate crisis. However, not all Republicans align. The party is split and the recent mass power outages during a severe storm in Texas may drive a deeper wedge into the party as Republican lawmakers were seen as having failed their constituents. In Florida, the GOP recently released a $100M+ plan to address flooding caused by climate change, although nothing to halt or reverse climate change itself. Recent polls show the fissure among Republican voters is generational and there is a substantial chasm between Democrat and Republican voters when it comes to understanding the causes and risks of climate change.

No matter what direction the political winds blow, the planet continues on its dangerous path of warming as humans continue to burn fossil fuels at an alarming rate. Scientists are increasingly warning that to avoid catastrophic impacts from climate change, the worlds governments must implement massive reductions of warming emissions and begin a drawdown of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere over the decade ahead.

For a safe and healthy future for all, endorse the;Climate-Safe California Platform;to implement scalable solutions that can reverse the climate crisis.

To learn more about how to vote for the climate, or read below.

[lotusawareshare]

The Medication Roulette Debacle

As a person who has experienced the ins and outs of the mental illness systems, I can confidently say that the issue of mental illness and how medication applies is one that is rooted in deep systemic dysfunction. This is not so farfetched when you consider the main motivation of those running the mental health industry. It is important to analyze the intent of anything (be it person, industry, etc.) when trying to determine The Why of the way things are. As will become apparent if not already, I am a huge advocate for understanding the why in order to begin implementing desired changes.

In the case of the mental illness industry (yes, it is an industry), we first need to examine the intent of what they’re trying to accomplish - which in the case of most industries, is to generate profit. Why is this problematic for those of us trying to improve our mental health? Let’s look at the different cogs of the mental illness industry machine and how they fit together.

Who Runs The Game

When we consider who “the Boss” is in any given scenario of this wonderful biased-market-competition-impersonating-as-capitalist country we have, it is usually the person/people with the most resources and subsequently, power. In the case of mental health, we’ve got our market powerhouses - the Pharmaceutical Companies and the Healthcare Industry - here we will be focusing on the mental health end of healthcare, so this means inpatient/outpatient facilities and the people who run them.

For the next attraction we have your average ride on the mental health systems tour of horrors carousel. (For those who are not so interested in participating in my whimsical backdrop-painted story telling, feel free to skip to the next paragraph for the cut-to-the chase points.) It consists of spending 72 hours in a hospital psych ward. During these 72 hours, patients are isolated from family/loved ones so they’re alone and easier to harvest. Once the rounding psychiatrist has had a two to seven minute interview with the patient, it is then determined whether they will be released with the plan of follow-up at an outpatient program or psychiatrist or transferred to an inpatient facility for further harvesting. Those who do not have health insurance are more likely to be released home after the 72 hour period than those who do. (You connect the dots with that one, it’s not rocket science). Stays at your average inpatient clinic range from four days to two weeks, depending on how much shit your insurance is willing to cover. During your stay at this lovely negative-four star blood-sucking facility, you will meet a plethora of doctors and social workers, all the while, being heavily medicated to distract you from the organs they’re funneling into their pockets. As soon as they’ve got every last drop of money - I mean, blood, milked from you, you’re passed on to an outpatient facility for a longer, extended program (read: further harvesting) or what ever psychiatrist has got connections with the facility. The purpose here is to get as much as you can from every patient (read: victim) as quickly as possible. Oh, and you’ll be billed for this later.

The primary goal of the Pharma companies and inpatient/outpatient mental health facilities is, again, to turn a profit. As a business how do you ensure that occurs?

The number one way to guarantee the continuous influx of money is demand - there have to be consumers that want the product - in this case, medication and healthcare services. The mental illness market is a bit dicey to navigate because individuals who live with these mental health challenges are often vulnerable and struggling. Most of us don’t have in-depth, applicable knowledge of mental health simply because it is not something we are taught. The help we need is then outsourced to people in power who we believe can and want to help us “get better” - this would be our Psychiatrists. (Therapy is a part of the system as well but it does not directly influence the medication aspects, we will get to that at another time.) We give our trust to doctors in power to hold our well-being and healing as a priority. Now I am not saying by any means that all doctors are corrupt, profit-driven, money-mongers, but we do have to acknowledge that this field is their career-path and their livelihood.

The problem occurs when the motivation of these pseudo-psychiatrists is rooted in money rather than the well-being and recovery of patients.

Why Big Pharma & Pseudo-psychiatrists Control The Medication Market

Let’s examine this issue logically. If a company wants to make money, it is imperative to have a large consumer base and to make sure those consumers keep coming back for your services/products. Understanding this rationale shows us why the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries never address the underlying problems of mental illness. Medications are not a cure to any mental health issue - don’t get me wrong, it can help to treat the symptoms, but medication is not the quick-fix cure that it is strategically advertised and marketed to be. It is simply a bandaid. The key is to keep the patients coming back for more.

Before we go any further, let me first state that I am not a mental health professional and that my views are based on my experiences and personal research - what worked for me may not necessary work for another person. That being said, take from this any aspects that may be relative to you and leave the rest.

At one point in my journey with mental health, I was on a cocktail of eight different medications. This was after trying countless different brands, various types of medications - SSRIs, SNRIs, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, SARIs, mood stabilizers. After three hospitalizations, completing numerous outpatient programs, 15 rounds of electroconvulsive therapy, and several years of playing medication roulette, I was struck with the realization that none of these things were actually helping the state of my mental wellbeing.

Every time I would attempt to discuss this with my psychiatrist, the answer was to switch up the meds. The medication was no longer helping, nor was it an effective bandaid for wounds that had been festering for years. I decided I wanted to get off my medication cocktail, and I was determined not be cajoled into another round of trying new medications. As with any new subject matter, my approach was to research the shit out of it. I did my research on how to safely taper off the various medications I was taking, and went to my biweekly scheduled appointment to present my plan and findings.

At this point I had already made up my mind that the medications’ adverse effects far outweighed its limited (and that’s being generous) benefits. What I wanted from my psychiatrist was her healthcare provider stamp of approval and her expertise and supervision of my decision. I had done my research, had a sound plan in place - all I needed now was the support to help me achieve my goal. My psychiatrist made it very clear that she did not agree with my decision (as is her right as a medical health professional). She even went so far as refusing to help me, stating that if I no longer wanted to be on medication, I would have to see another doctor.

That was the last appointment I had with a psychiatrist.

This interaction with my psychiatrist (and numerous others) is an exemplary portrait of how the mental illness industry seeks to keep consumers within their grasp. The thought process behind her refusal to advise me was likely - if this patient wants to stop taking medication, I will lose this patient (read: profit) anyway, may as well nip the problem in the bud, because then there is also plausible deniability if the patient gets off the medication and ends up hospitalized again or worse yet, dead. While I understand the covering-your-own-ass logic behind that action, refusing help to patients who want to get off their medications safely and responsibly is its own special kind of malpractice in my book.

Psychiatry’s Love Affair With Happy Pills Gone Wrong

In this country, we rely heavily on pharmaceuticals to treat various health conditions. There are many benefits to life-saving medications - I am not disputing that.

BUT, where it applies to mental health, medications more often than not, only mask the symptoms of the deeper issues in play.

Medications can be useful, IF used in conjunction with a combination of other therapies. The problem occurs when medication is used as a one-size-fits-all blanket solution to be “happy". Until we get to the point of medication therapy that is tailored to each individual’s biochemistry, it is incredibly inane to think that the medications we have now are suitable treatment for mental health conditions, especially because the nature of these conditions is highly variable from person to person.

The Problem With Diagnoses-Centered Treatment

Take an individual diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder for example, we’ll call her Jane. Jane has a history of childhood trauma and abuse, suffers panic attacks on a daily basis, and has a career she finds detestable and monotonous. Jane sees several healthcare professionals and is advised to try an antidepressant. Another individual, we’ll call him Dave, receives the same diagnoses and is put on the same antidepressant. Dave has a history of rheumatoid arthritis that negatively impacts his quality of life, a toxic marriage, and Dave’s mother has recently passed away.

Different events, especially those that cause stress and are closely tied to emotional response, will alter a person’s brain chemistry. No two people have the same brain chemistry, including identical twins. All the experiences we have continuously shape and change our brain development and all the complex biochemistry going on in there. When we look at the individual nature of each person’s experience and biology, it is impossible not to recognize the expectation that medications are going to work the same across the board as absolutely ludicrous and ineffective. We can go further and say that it is incredibly dangerous and possibly detrimental to prescribe medications like candy when we don’t know how they will effect each person.

In the case of Dave and Jane, it is sound logic to assume their issues are vastly different even though they have received the same diagnoses and medication. The medication may help Jane, but affect Dave in a negative manner. Jane may benefit greatly from medication used in conjunction with ongoing cognitive behavioral therapy. Dave however may find that therapy short-term to deal with the grieving process and a healthier lifestyle to help with his autoimmune disorder may be more effective.

The take-away from our imaginary case-study is that treatment that is tailored to the individual must be prioritized, rather than expecting a universal happy pill (or class of medications) to sufficiently heal a person’s mental state.

The Medication Trap

What does medication do? It alters the brain chemistry and the way our brains process these chemicals we have floating around.

The idea of taking medication can trick us into thinking “this will fix me/my problems/how I am feeling”. We then don’t take any further action to address the root cause of the problem because we are relying on medication to do the heavy lifting - when the medication is simply a tool to manage the symptoms, NOT a solution addressing the cause. That last bit, my friend, would be your responsibility to yourself.

We as a society too often outsource the responsibility for our well-being, physical and emotional, to other people and things. Of course there will be the need to consult professionals who specialize in certain fields, but it is important not to trust blindly and to be informed. If it is an area that you have limited knowledge in, then GET INFORMED. With the ease of obtaining information just one click, one finger-tap away, there are no more excuses people!

Mental health professionals can be crucial allies to have along the journey, but your discernment in what is right for you is crucial.

Illness Industry Over Culture of Health

The mental illness industry is a system that was supposedly designed to help people heal and yet, it has become so heavily corrupted with dysfunction and greed. Close friends who I hold near and dear to my heart who have gone through similar experiences are also baffled and outraged at the incongruence of the broadcasted intent, to heal, and the actual motivation, to capitalize and profit. There is nothing wrong with individuals in the field trying to be successful and make a living. However, we must acknowledge that there is something direly wrong with the system in place when a person/industry places their monetary success over the wellbeing of millions, and proceeds to masquerade as supporters of mental health, while capitalizing on our “illness” behind the scenes.

#mental health #mental health awareness #mental health support #awareshare #positive mental attitude #positive mental health #spreading awareness #mentally ill #lotusawareshare #mental illness #writers on tumblr #writers community #writing blog #mental disorder #depression #anxiety #bipolar #psychology