#government laboratories

[kirby-the-gorb]

#kirby #politics #us politics #daily kirby #my art #digital #hal laboratory #nintendo #please vote if you're able! it may not feel like it's worth much but it's not nothing. #(I got my ballot by mail and already sent it in.) #(some people are not able and that is fine.) #(but if you're able at least take a look at the ballot and vote for things you think are better (and/or less bad)) #(if you'd rather overthrow the government or whatever that's between you and god and I guess the government) #(but we might as well use the power they've already given us access to to make it less bad in the meantime.) #(it does very little harm and it may do very real and concrete good.) #(for example california has a ballot measure to write abortion protections into the state constitution.) #(that's pretty important to vote on!) #if you live in a vote-by-mail state and haven't mailed your ballot yet you can still take it to a drop box to make sure it's counted. #drop box locations are generally available online through the state or county website.

[girlballs]

you have very nice balls.. 💞

thanks i stole them from the president

#asks #anonymous #secret government ball laboratory

[commiepinkofag]

have fun and destroy stuff.”

— SiegedSec

PS… we love our 'gay furry hackers'

#irl catgirls #idaho national laboratory #one percent #1 percent #1% #elon musk #musk #jeff bezos #harlan crow #hobby lobby david green #et al #government #nato #siegedsec #gay #furry #hacktivism #2023

[netheris]

If you ever feel stupid just remember someone once looked at fucking uranium, an extremely radioactive element that can kill you just be existing too close to it, and thought 'I could totally market that to kids'

Aka, The Gilbert Atomic Energy Laboratory, released in 1950.

A toy chemistry set that came with actual FUCKING URANIUM, AND order forms to get MORE FUCKING URANIUM.

The gist of the set was that you could make and watch nuclear reactions with the uranium it came with, measure the radioactivity from said uranium and other ores, and even potentially dig up more uranium outside with a dig kit the set provided for you.

As you can imagine, this act of stupidity was recalled after 1 year, after people realized that maybe irradiating their fucking children was a bad idea.

#stupid #stupidity #fun fact #fun facts #uranium #gilbert energy laboratory #i can't even #also if you did find uranium while digging the government would give you 10k for it #ik it was the 50s but i think that is a bit of a fucking rip off

[elasgottoomuchfreetime]

It feels weird smh that Smoker isn’t there.

It’s nice that Tashigi gets screentime but I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s interesting that Smoker isn’t there given that they usually ALWAYS appear together.

I wonder what that’s about.

#remember how they went to get the kids to a particular government inventors laboratory #mhm #is there a connection? maybe #if he‘s the next one to appear on egghead or somewhere in the era I told you so #though I guess it’s likely that won’t happen #smoker one piece #tashigi one piece #one piece #op chapter 1080 #one piece 1080 #vice admiral smoker #tashigi

[beangods]

does anyone want to hear about my OCs

#we got a medieval sneakerhead/twitter communist #an alien vampire werewolf who possesses a valid mexican passport #a bigfoot conspiracy theorist who is also the second coming of christ #someone who grew up in a combo prissy boarding school/evil top secret government laboratory #The Prophecized Chosen One except theyre prophecised to make deeply terrible comedy rock #and. uh. a depressed male gymnast who holds 5 different degrees despite being illiterate

[sarasa-cat]

Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, is expected to sign a bill in the next few days that would make it immeasurably more difficult for cities in the state to govern themselves. The bill would strip cities of the ability to set standards for local workplaces, to ensure civil rights, and to improve their environments, trampling on the rights of voters who elected local officials to do just that.

The bill, recently approved by the Texas House and Senate, would nullify any city ordinance or regulation that conflicts with existing state policy in those crucial areas, and would give private citizens or businesses the right to sue and seek damages if they believe there is a discrepancy between city and state. That means no city could prohibit discrimination against L.G.B.T.Q. employees, as several Texas cities have done. No city could adopt new rules to limit predatory payday-lending practices. No city could restrict overgrown lots, or unsafe festivals, or inadequate waste storage. Cities would even be banned from enacting local worker protections, including requiring water breaks for laborers in the Texas heat, as Dallas, Austin and other cities have done following multiple deaths and injuries.

Already the state won’t let cities ban discrimination against low-income renters, and it prohibits them from cutting their police budgets. Dozens of other bills have been introduced to restrict election reforms by Texas cities and counties, including one that would let an official, most likely a Republican, overturn election results in a single place: largely Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston. “The bill is undemocratic,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio told The Texas Tribune. “It is probably the most undemocratic thing the Legislature has done, and that list is getting very long. Local voters have created city charters, and I can’t imagine that they will be pleased to have their decisions usurped by lawmakers.”

…

Link above has an embedded unlock code that should slip you past the paywall for the rest of it.

The link above isn’t just about Texas but all of the states purposefully changing laws to roll back any progress or protective measures that have already been passed by voters or to disenfranchise the voice of voters in the near future.

#us politics #texas government #US states as #laboratories of fascism #pre-emotion laws

[oflgtfol]

theres also all the small islands out east and they have such loaded histories like theres plum island which has/had the fucking animal experimentation lab there and has been the subject of so many local conspiracy theories and superstitions and then theres shelter island which is just. a normal suburb i guess but theres no way to access it by car?? ive never been there for that reason i have no idea how you actually get there but well people live there apparently. and then theres so many other small scattered islands that are either private government property or like, actual private rich people islands. if you ever take the ferry from orient point to connecticut then you pass by all these islands in the distance and its such a surreal experience knowing that this is the closest you’re ever allowed to get to those islands and its not even that its trespassing if you were to go onto this restricted land, its that you literally have no possible way of even getting there at all so you’re entirely limited to those distant glimpses of them. Anyway

#brot posts #lawng island babey #i mean i guess if you owned a private boat you could just take a ride over #but like. the average person does not have their own boat 💜 #and i have heard that anyone who lands on those islands does get charged with trespassing like as soon as they land #so whatever #idk its just one thing to me to have like RESTRICTED PROPERTY signs on a fence on the main land #and its another thing to say this entire fucking landmass. off limits. just so weird #especially with plum island then with all the rumors of fucked up animal experimentation #this Forbidden Island in the distance … okay ! #i mean i truly believe theyre just rumors heightened by the fact that its a Forbidden Island For Secret Government Laboratories #but i mean. like. its literally a Forbidden Island For Secret Government Laboratories … can you blame people

[equusspirit]

Lab Test Regulation

I am a Medical Technologist, or more commonly known as a lab rat. I worked hard for the title. Essentially, I did pre-med coursework as an undergraduate student, then put in more time in college to acquire the necessary skills and training to be able to take the tests to be able to call myself first a Medical Laboratory Technician, then a Medical Technologist. I did my clinical training at both…

View On WordPress

#DNA #FDA #government #laboratory #oversight #rules & regulations #testing

[scientificitservices]

Optimizing Your Scientific Workflow With Data And Informatics Consulting

Do you want to optimize your scientific workflow? It can be a daunting task, but with the help of data and informatics consulting, it doesn't have to be. Data and informatics consulting provides the expertise and experience you need to ensure your research is as efficient and effective as possible. In this article, we'll explore how data and informatics consulting can help streamline your scientific workflow.

Data and informatics consulting involves using technology to analyze data quickly and accurately. With the right tools, consultants can identify patterns in large datasets that might otherwise go unnoticed. This means they can spot potential problems before they become major issues, saving time and money in the process. Furthermore, these professionals have an in-depth understanding of how different systems interact with one another, allowing them to develop optimal solutions for complex processes.

Finally, data and informatics consulting can provide invaluable insights into ways to improve your scientific workflow. From identifying areas where efficiency improvements can be made to finding new ways to save time on complex tasks, these professionals are essential for any research team looking to streamline their operations. So don't hesitate - leverage the power of data and informatics consulting today!

Definition Of Scientific Workflow

Scientific workflows involve the combination of data and techniques to create new knowledge. It's an iterative process that starts with a research question, then moves through data collection and analysis, to finally ends with presenting findings. Each step of the workflow requires careful planning and execution.

Data management is integral to scientific workflows. Data must be collected, organized, analyzed, stored, and shared in order for meaningful results to be obtained. This means that efficient data management practices must be used throughout the workflow process. In addition, data must be kept secure and protected from unauthorized access or manipulation.

Informatics consulting can help optimize a scientific workflow by providing expertise in data management, analysis techniques, software tools, and more. With the right team of experts on board, scientists can streamline their workflows and gain insights faster than ever before.

Benefits Of Optimizing It

Now that we have a clear understanding of what scientific workflow is, let's explore the advantages of optimizing it.

Firstly, optimizing your scientific workflow can help you save time. This is because data and informatics consulting services can help you simplify complex processes and increase the accuracy of analysis results. By having an efficient workflow, scientists are able to quickly identify trends in their data and generate actionable insights. Furthermore, they can automate tedious tasks that would otherwise take up valuable time and resources. This allows them to focus more on important projects and research goals.

Secondly, it helps to improve collaboration among scientists. Data and informatics consulting services allow teams to share information easily and securely, which increases the efficiency of communication between members. Additionally, it provides teams with a better way to track progress on their projects since everyone is working off the same platform. All this leads to greater engagement among team members, leading to better results overall.

Finally, it also helps reduce errors in data processing. Data and informatics consulting services provide access to advanced tools that make it easier for scientists to spot discrepancies or inaccuracies in their data sets before making decisions based on them. This ensures that all data used for analysis is accurate and reliable, leading to improved outcomes from experiments or studies. Ultimately, by using these services, scientists can be confident in the accuracy of their findings while also reducing the risk of mistakes being made due to inaccurate data processing.

The Role Of Data And Informatics Consulting

Data and informatics consulting can play an invaluable role in optimizing scientific workflows. Their expertise can help streamline processes, leading to greater efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness. Firms specializing in this field have the experience and understanding of the latest technology to ensure that scientists are able to utilize their data effectively.

They can advise on a range of issues from data collection to storage, analysis, visualization, and reporting. Additionally, they provide guidance for the implementation of analytics tools such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. Ultimately, this helps scientists make more informed decisions based on deeper insights into their data sets.

Data and informatics consulting firms are also well-positioned to create custom solutions tailored to an organization's specific needs. By leveraging their knowledge of data science methods and technologies, these consultants are able to develop innovative solutions that enable organizations to maximize their data’s potential. This allows scientific teams to focus on research objectives rather than dealing with tedious technical tasks related to managing data.

The right data and informatics consulting partner can be a powerful ally in optimizing workflows for any scientific organization or team. With their help, organizations can improve their efficiency while gaining deeper insight into their datasets and making better decisions based on this information.

Analyzing Your Current Workflows

Now that you understand the role of data and informformatics consulting in optimizing your scientific workflow, it's time to analyze your current workflows. Understanding how you currently approach research and what processes are working is key to understanding where improvements can be made.

The first step in analyzing your current workflows is to document all the steps involved in each project. This will help identify which steps are crucial to a successful outcome and which could use some optimization. After documenting the process, assess how much time each step takes and look for any redundancies or areas where processes can be streamlined. Once you have identified those areas, determine if automation could save time and improve productivity.

Finally, evaluate how secure your existing systems are by looking at access controls and data security protocols. With this information, you'll be able to create a plan for improving your overall efficiency while still maintaining important security measures.

Identifying Opportunities For Improvement

The first step in optimizing your scientific workflow with data and informatics consulting is to identify opportunities for improvement. To do this, you must analyze your current methods and processes, create an inventory of key tools and technologies, and assess the effectiveness of each component.

When evaluating your existing workflow, look for areas where processes are inefficient or outdated. Are there steps that can be automated? Is there a need to integrate additional software solutions or new data sources? Are there any manual processes that could be streamlined? Make a list of any issues that need to be addressed and prioritize them according to their importance.

Once you have identified potential improvements, it’s time to start implementing solutions. Develop a plan for making changes, such as introducing new technologies or streamlining existing processes. Outline the resources required for each step and set realistic timelines for completion. By taking the time to identify opportunities for improvement and develop an actionable plan, you can ensure your scientific workflow is optimized for success.

Automating Processes

Having identified where improvements can be made, the next step is to consider how to automate processes in order to optimize your scientific workflow. Automation has the potential to reduce cost and time while increasing efficiency and accuracy.

To begin automating processes, it is important to understand what types of tasks are best suited for automation. Tasks that involve repetitive processes, such as data entry or data analysis, are good candidates for automation as they require minimal human intervention. Additionally, tasks that involve complex calculations or other computational processes may also be suitable for automation.

Once tasks have been identified, the next step is to determine which tools and technologies can help automate these processes. Data and informatics consulting can assist in this process by providing insights into the most effective technologies for automating specific tasks. These insights can include recommendations on software solutions and hardware platforms, as well as advice on how to configure systems for optimal performance. Automating processes with the right tools can ultimately lead to significant improvements in efficiency and cost savings.

Utilizing Cloud-Based Solutions

Cloud-based solutions are becoming increasingly popular for managing data and informatics in the scientific workflow. They offer a range of advantages that can help optimize the entire process. Firstly, cloud-based solutions offer a secure storage platform that is easily accessible from any device connected to the internet. It also helps eliminate the need for expensive hardware and IT support costs, as cloud-based solutions are typically priced on a monthly subscription basis with high scalability depending on your needs. Finally, they provide an easy way to share data with collaborators securely, enabling easy collaboration within research teams.

Data and informatics consulting can help organizations make the most of cloud-based solutions by providing expertise in areas such as setting up cloud infrastructure, migrating existing data, and implementing security measures to protect sensitive information. This kind of consulting is especially useful for companies looking to transition from traditional computing models to more modern methods of data management. Additionally, it can help streamline processes and ensure maximum efficiency for scientific workflows.

Cloud-based solutions provide many benefits which can be used to improve scientific workflow processes. Through careful planning and expert consultation, organizations can take advantage of these tools to maximize their productivity and achieve their goals more quickly and efficiently.

Leveraging Big Data Analytics

Data and informatics consulting can help streamline your workflow by leveraging big data analytics. This type of consultative approach can be used to identify trends, assess risks, and plan for more effective outcomes. With big data analytics, you get the insights you need to make decisions that will have an impact on the success of your scientific research.

The first step in leveraging big data analytics is to gather relevant data from multiple sources. This could include records from online databases, surveys, questionnaires, interviews and much more. Once this information is collected, it must be analyzed to uncover patterns or correlations that may exist between different factors. Using advanced algorithms and statistical methods, consultants can discover correlations between variables and gain insight into the underlying causes of certain phenomena.

This analysis of large datasets can enable researchers to determine which strategies are most effective in their research efforts. By combining this knowledge with predictive modeling techniques, scientists can develop strategies that maximize efficiency while minimizing costs and effort invested in their projects. In addition to this, big data analytics also provides detailed visualizations which allow researchers to monitor changes in their research over time and gain deeper understanding into the dynamics at play within their research studies.

System Testing And Validation

Having explored the potential of big data analytics, it's time to turn our attention to system testing and validation. To ensure that systems are functioning properly and producing accurate results, they must be tested extensively and verified with rigorous standards. This requires developing a comprehensive test plan that addresses all aspects of the system's functionality.

Systems should be tested in multiple environments, including development, staging, and production. Testing should include both functional and non-functional tests such as performance, scalability, security, reliability, usability, and compatibility tests. Additionally, automated tests can be used to supplement manual tests and identify any issues with system performance or data accuracy.

Once testing is complete and the system is validated for proper functioning, it can then be deployed for use. This process helps to ensure that systems are reliable and trustworthy before being put into active use. If done correctly, this process can optimize your workflow by eliminating any unforeseen errors or inaccuracies from occurring during production runs.

Continuous Monitoring And Maintenance

Continuous monitoring and maintenance of data and informatics systems is essential to ensure their efficient operation. Keeping these systems up-to-date with the latest software, hardware, and security patches can prevent costly issues down the road. There are a few steps that need to be taken to ensure that your scientific workflow is properly maintained.

First, data should be regularly backed up in order to protect it from potential loss or corruption. Regular backups also make it easier to restore data if any issues arise. Second, access control systems should be monitored closely so that users only have access to the information they need. Finally, system health checks should be conducted on a regular basis to identify any potential issues that could affect performance.

When done correctly, these steps can help guarantee smooth operation of data and informatics systems in your scientific workflow. Regular monitoring and maintenance also provides peace of mind knowing that your data is secure and performing optimally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, optimizing your scientific workflow with data and informatics consulting can be a great asset to any organization. It helps you identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to keep up with the ever-changing field of science. By utilizing cloud-based solutions, leveraging big data analytics, conducting system testing and validation, and continuously monitoring and maintaining these systems, you can ensure that your scientific workflow is effective and efficient. With the help of an experienced data and informatics consultant, you can create a streamlined workflow that will save time, money, and energy while producing top-notch results. So if you're looking to get the most out of your scientific workflows, don't hesitate to contact a data and informatics consultant today!

#Scientific workflow #Data management #Informatics consulting #Research efficiency #Data analysis #Data visualization #Research collaboration #Data security #Laboratory automation #Data integration #Scientific reproducibility #Cloud computing #High-performance computing #Machine learning #Research data governance.

[fawfulydoo]

29 years ago today, dexter's laboratory started airing! (the pilot did, anyway) also it's my birthday too!!! my government assigned show!!!!

#fawfulanimates #dexter's laboratory #gendy tartakovsky #cartoon network #2d animation #animated gif #toon boom harmony #dexter #dee dee

[medusas-graveyard]

Uh,, no one knows au where Danny is essentially 'dead' in Amity. He's under a new identity, adopted by Bruce Wayne— or rather, Batman, himself. But he doesn't talk about the past he left behind—no, the past that tried to kill him and wage war to a whole nother dimension. There was no more 'Phantom', either. There was only 'Charon', an enigma of a 'hero' who helps the living and guides the dead.

He doesn't say anything about ghosts, the ghost zone, anti-ecto laws, Amity Park, the truth behind his biology, and more importantly, ectoplasm. A dead man tells no tales, after all.

So when his father showed pictures of a government laboratory filled with glowing organs, cores, and green green green—

Save us

My lord, save us!

Save us!

Show us mercy

Save us

Save us save us save us save us save us save us save us save us save—

&—

"Charon?" Superman's abrupt voice interrupts whatever it is he was explaining to the league. He looks at the man in question as he looked to another concerned, standing up from his seat abruptly.

He turns to his ward; standing behind with the rest of young justice, his face shadowed by the hood he's wearing. He's mumbling something under his breath.

He looks up with resignation and emptiness in his eyes, his hood pulled down revealing his whispy white hair.

His posture shifts.

A crown like ornament with star tips appear on his head, the bottom tips of his robe connected to his hood becomes lit by green fire, and a large shadowy figure suddenly appear behind him, a silhouette of an armor and sword made itself known.

"Five minutes. Give me a reason to not annihilate this planet to the ground."

#danny phantom #dp x dc #batfam #danny fenton #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #dpxdc #dpxdc prompts #dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #justice league #young justice

[smbhax]

Operating the whole project still took more energy and it was all very expensive to boot, so there's still a long way to go before we're all roasting our fusion burgers, but the results "exceeded expectations," and "advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in 'a few decades' rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected."

#government and politics #fusion #physics #particle physics #science #Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory #us government #nuclear physics #lasers

[reasonsforhope]

"A 2019 sighting by five witnesses indicates that the long-extinct Javan tiger may still be alive, a new study suggests.

A single strand of hair recovered from that encounter is a close genetic match to hair from a Javan tiger pelt from 1930 kept at a museum, the study shows.

“Through this research, we have determined that the Javan tiger still exists in the wild,” says Wirdateti, a government researcher and lead author of the study.

The Javan tiger was believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared as such in 2008...

Ripi Yanuar Fajar and his four friends say they’ll never forget that evening after Indonesia’s Independence Day celebration in 2019 when they encountered a big cat roaming a community plantation in Sukabumi, West Java province.

Immediately after the brief encounter, Ripi, who happens to be a local conservationist, reached out to Kalih Raksasewu, a researcher at the country’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), saying he and his friends had seen either a Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas), a critically endangered animal, or a Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), a subspecies believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared so in 2008.

About 10 days later, Kalih visited the site of the encounter with Ripi and his friends. There, Kalih found a strand of hair snagged on a plantation fence that the unknown creature was believed to have jumped over. She also recorded footprints and claw marks that she thought resembled those of a tiger.

Kalih then sent the hair sample and other records to the West Java provincial conservation agency, or BKSDA, for further investigation. She also sent a formal letter to the provincial government to follow up on the investigation request. The matter eventually landed at BRIN, where a team of researchers ran genetic analyses to compare the single strand of hair with known samples of other tiger subspecies, such as the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and a nearly century-old Javan tiger pelt kept at a museum in the West Java city of Bogor.

“After going through various process of laboratory tests, the results showed that the hair sample had 97.8% similarities to the Javan tiger,” Wirdateti, a researcher with BRIN’s Biosystemic and Evolutionary Research Center, said at an online discussion hosted by Mongabay Indonesia on March 28.

The discussion centered on a study published March 21 in the journal Oryx in which Wirdateti and colleagues presented their findings that suggested that the long-extinct Javan tiger may somehow — miraculously — still be prowling parts of one of the most densely populated islands on Earth.

Their testing compared the Sukabumi hair sample with hair from the museum specimen collected in 1930, as well as with other tigers, Javan leopards and several sequences from GenBank, a publicly accessible database of genetic sequences overseen by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The study noted that the supposed tiger hair had a sequence similarity of 97.06% with Sumatran tigers and 96.87% with Bengal tigers. Wirdateti also conducted additional interviews with Ripi and his friends about the encounter they’d had.

“I wanted to emphasize that this wasn’t just about finding a strand of hair, but an encounter with the Javan tiger in which five people saw it,” Kalih said.

“There’s still a possibility that the Javan tiger is in the Sukabumi forest,” she added. “If it’s coming down to the village or community plantation, it could be because its habitat has been disturbed. In 2019, when the hair was found, the Sukabumi region had been affected by drought for almost a year.” ...

Didik Raharyono, a Javan tiger expert who wasn’t involved in the study but has conducted voluntary expeditions with local wildlife awareness groups since 1997, said the number of previous reported sightings coupled with the new scientific findings must be taken seriously. He called on the environment ministry to draft and issue a policy on measures to find and conserve the Javan tiger.

“What’s most important is the next steps that we take in the future,” Didik said."

-via Mongabay, April 4, 2024

#tigers #tiger #endangered species #extinction #conservation #environment #extinct animals #de extinction #indonesia #java #big cats #wild animals #good news #hope

[fatehbaz]

Despite its green image, Ireland has surprisingly little forest. [...] [M]ore than 80% of the island of Ireland was [once] covered in trees. [...] [O]f that 11% of the Republic of Ireland that is [now] forested, the vast majority (9% of the country) is planted with [non-native] spruces like the Sitka spruce [in commercial plantations], a fast growing conifer originally from Alaska which can be harvested after just 15 years. Just 2% of Ireland is covered with native broadleaf trees.

Text by: Martha O’Hagan Luff. “Ireland has lost almost all of its native forests - here’s how to bring them back.” The Conversation. 24 February 2023. [Emphasis added.]

---

[I]ndustrial [...] oil palm plantations [...] have proliferated in tropical regions in many parts of the world, often built at the expense of mangrove and humid forest lands, with the aim to transform them from 'worthless swamp' to agro-industrial complexes [...]. Another clear case [...] comes from the southernmost area in the Colombian Pacific [...]. Here, since the early 1980s, the forest has been destroyed and communities displaced to give way to oil palm plantations. Inexistent in the 1970s, by the mid-1990s they had expanded to over 30,000 hectares. The monotony of the plantation - row after row of palm as far as you can see, a green desert of sorts - replaced the diverse, heterogenous and entangled world of forest and communities.

Text by: Arturo Escobar. "Thinking-Feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South." Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana Volume 11 Issue 1. 2016. [Emphasis added.]

---

But efforts to increase global tree cover to limit climate change have skewed towards erecting plantations of fast-growing trees [...] [because] planting trees can demonstrate results a lot quicker than natural forest restoration. [...] [But] ill-advised tree planting can unleash invasive species [...]. [In India] [t]o maximize how much timber these forests yielded, British foresters planted pines from Europe and North America in extensive plantations in the Himalayan region [...] and introduced acacia trees from Australia [...]. One of these species, wattle (Acacia mearnsii) [...] was planted in [...] the Western Ghats. This area is what scientists all a biodiversity hotspot – a globally rare ecosystem replete with species. Wattle has since become invasive and taken over much of the region’s mountainous grasslands. Similarly, pine has spread over much of the Himalayas and displaced native oak trees while teak has replaced sal, a native hardwood, in central India. Both oak and sal are valued for [...] fertiliser, medicine and oil. Their loss [...] impoverished many [local and Indigenous people]. [...]

India’s national forest policy [...] aims for trees on 33% of the country’s area. Schemes under this policy include plantations consisting of a single species such as eucalyptus or bamboo which grow fast and can increase tree cover quickly, demonstrating success according to this dubious measure. Sometimes these trees are planted in grasslands and other ecosystems where tree cover is naturally low. [...] The success of forest restoration efforts cannot be measured by tree cover alone. The Indian government’s definition of “forest” still encompasses plantations of a single tree species, orchards and even bamboo, which actually belongs to the grass family. This means that biennial forest surveys cannot quantify how much natural forest has been restored, or convey the consequences of displacing native trees with competitive plantation species or identify if these exotic trees have invaded natural grasslands which have then been falsely recorded as restored forests. [...] Planting trees does not necessarily mean a forest is being restored. And reviving ecosystems in which trees are scarce is important too.

Text by: Dhanapal Govindarajulu. "India was a tree planting laboratory for 200 years - here are the results." The Conversation. 10 August 2023. [Emphasis added.]

---

Nations and companies are competing to appropriate the last piece of available “untapped” forest that can provide the most amount of “environmental services.” [...] When British Empire forestry was first established as a disciplinary practice in India, [...] it proscribed private interests and initiated a new system of forest management based on a logic of utilitarian [extraction] [...]. Rather than the actual survival of plants or animals, the goal of this forestry was focused on preventing the exhaustion of resource extraction. [...]

Text by: Daniel Fernandez and Alon Schwabe. "The Offsetted." e-flux Architecture (Positions). November 2013. [Emphasis added.]

---

At first glance, the statistics tell a hopeful story: Chile’s forests are expanding. […] On the ground, however, a different scene plays out: monocultures have replaced diverse natural forests [...]. At the crux of these [...] narratives is the definition of a single word: “forest.” [...] Pinochet’s wave of [...] [laws] included Forest Ordinance 701, passed in 1974, which subsidized the expansion of tree plantations [...] and gave the National Forestry Corporation control of Mapuche lands. This law set in motion an enormous expansion in fiber-farms, which are vast expanses of monoculture plantations Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus species grown for paper manufacturing and timber. [T]hese new plantations replaced native forests […]. According to a recent study in Landscape and Urban Planning, timber plantations expanded by a factor of ten from 1975 to 2007, and now occupy 43 percent of the South-central Chilean landscape. [...] While the confusion surrounding the definition of “forest” may appear to be an issue of semantics, Dr. Francis Putz [...] warns otherwise in a recent review published in Biotropica. […] Monoculture plantations are optimized for a single product, whereas native forests offer [...] water regulation, hosting biodiversity, and building soil fertility. [...][A]ccording to Putz, the distinction between plantations and native forests needs to be made clear. “[...] [A]nd the point that plantations are NOT forests needs to be made repeatedly [...]."

Text by: Julian Moll-Rocek. “When forests aren’t really forests: the high cost of Chile’s tree plantations.” Mongabay. 18 August 2014. [Emphasis added.]

#abolition #ecology #imperial #colonial

[taviamoth]

Palestine Action activists destroyed a 1914 painting of Arthur James Balfour, the colonial administrator and signatory of the Balfour Declaration.

Palestine Action stated, "An activist slashed the homage and sprayed the artwork with red paint, symbolising the bloodshed of the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917. "

"Arthur Balfour, then UK Foreign secretary, issued a declaration which promised to build “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, where the majority of the indigenous population were not Jewish. He gave away the Palestinians homeland — a land that wasn’t his to give away."

"After the Declaration, until 1948, the British burnt down indigenous villages to prepare the way; with this came arbitrary killings, arrests, torture, sexual violence including rape against women and men, the use of human shields and the introduction of home demolitions as collective punishment to repress Palestinian resistance."

"The British were initiating the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, fulfilling the Zionist aim to build their ‘home’ over the top of what were Palestinian communities, towns, villages, farms and ancestral land, rich in heritage, culture and ancient archeological history."

"In the past 154 days of genocide in Gaza, Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, injured over 72,000 and displaced over 1.9million — 80% of the Gaza population."

"Britain’s support for the continued colonisation of Palestine hasn’t wavered since 1917.

"Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms supplier, who use captive Palestinians in Gaza as a human laboratory to develop their weapons, use Britain as a manufacturing outpost. The Israeli weapons maker build weaponry in factories across the country and work closely with the British government.

"Palestine Action vows to continue their direct campaign until Elbit is shut down and British complicity with the colonisation of Palestine ends. "

#palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #israel #jerusalem #tel aviv #gaza strip #yemen #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #joe biden #benjamin netanyahu #britain #uk #arthur james balfour #balfour declaration #palestine action