#or that we are actively running out of drinkable water on earth and most of it isnt actually going to bottled water companies | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ausetkmt · 9 months

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Top 26 Assata Shakur Quotes: Wars, Government and People

Assata Olugbala Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), who was convicted of being an accomplice in the first-degree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster. She has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorist list since 2013 as Joanne Deborah Chesimard and was the first woman to be added to this list. Check out some of the top Assata Shakur quotes here.

26 Assata Shakur Quotes That Took the World by the Storm

Assata Shaku Quotes on People

#1. “The only ones who can free us are ourselves.” — Assata Shakur

#2. “At this time, I’d like to say a few words, especially to my sisters. Black people will never be free unless black women participate in every aspect of our struggle, on every level of our struggle.” — Assata Shakur

#3. “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” — Assata Shakur

#4. “People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.” — Assata Shakur

#5. “We had to learn that we’re beautiful. We had to relearn something forcefully taken from us. We had to learn about Black power. People have power if we unite. We learned the importance of coming together and being active.” — Assata Shakur

#6. “When you go through all your life processing and abusing your hair so it will look like the hair of another race of people then you are making a statement and the statement is clear.” — Assata Shakur

#7. “In the long run, the people are our only appeal. The only ones who can free us are ourselves.” — Assata Shakur

#8. “The more you understand what you’re dealing with, the stronger you get. People see fear as a bad thing. Fear is healthy when you’re dealing with Amerika. But when fear controls you, when you’re afraid to struggle, fear is a bad thing. I’m more afraid of what will happen if I don’t struggle, than what will happen if I do.” — Assata Shakur

#9. “People are tried and convicted in the newspapers and on television before they ever see a courtroom.” — Assata Shakur

#10. “I think that the movement against the World Bank, against the globalization process that is happening, is very positive. We need globalization, a globalization of people who are committed to social justice, to economic justice. We need a globalization of people who are committed to saving this earth, to making sure that the water is drinkable, that the air is breathable.” — Assata Shakur

#11. “People are really beginning to see the mechanisms of imperialism. When colonialism existed people could see colonialism. When racial segregation existed in its apartheid form, people could see the whites only signs. But it’s much more difficult to see the structures of neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-slavery.” — Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur Quotes on War

#12. “I hate war, and I hate having to struggle. I honestly do because I wish I had been born into a world where it was unnecessary. This context of struggle and being a warrior and being a struggler has been forced on me by oppression. Otherwise, I would be a sculptor, or a gardener, carpenter. You know, I would be free to be so much more. I guess part of me or a part of who I am, a part of what I do is being a warrior – a reluctant warrior, a reluctant struggler. But I do it, because I’m committed to life.” — Assata Shakur

#13. “I think that the greatest betrayal that a revolutionary can participate in is to become like the people you are struggling against. To become like your persecutors. I think that is a betrayal and a sin.” — Assata Shakur

#14. “I have declared war on the rich who prosper on our poverty, the politicians who lie to us with smiling faces, and all the mindless, heartless, robots who protect them and their property.” — Assata Shakur

#15. “Freedom! You asking me about freedom. I’ll be honest with you. I know a whole more about what freedom isn’t than about what it is, ’cause I’ve never been free. I can only share my vision with you of the future, about what freedom is.” — Assata Shakur

#16. “If you’re deaf, dumb, and blind to what’s happening in the world, you’re under no obligation to do anything. But if you know what’s happening and you don’t do anything but sit on your ass, then you’re nothing but a punk.” — Assata Shakur

#17. “My experience in the United States was living in a society that was very much at war with itself, that was very alienated. People felt not part of a community, but like isolated units that were afraid of interaction, of contact, that were lonely.” — Assata Shakur

#18. “I think that in order to struggle you have to be creative. In my life, creativity has been something that has sustained me; it awoke my spiritual struggle.” — Assata Shakur

#19. “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” — Assata Shakur

#20. “The methods of peaceful protests are not capable of being effective, because in reality most people pay little attention to things that are not abrasive.” — Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur Quotes on Government

#21. “I had to adjust to living in a Third World country, which means that things people in the U.S. take for granted-like hot running water whenever you turn on the tap-are not always available.” — Assata Shakur

#22. “I couldn’t see how we could seriously struggle without having a strong sense of collectivity, without being responsible FOR each other and TO each other.” — Assata Shakur

#23. “I found that people had all kinds of levels of consciousness, all kinds of levels of education, but that Cubans in general were very educated politically. I could go sit in a bus and get into a conversation with someone and that person had a wealth of knowledge. And energy!” — Assata Shakur

#24. “I believe in self-defense and self-determination for Africans and other oppressed people in America.” — Assata Shakur

#25. “Black revolutionaries do not drop from the moon. We are created by our conditions. Shaped by our oppression.” — Assata Shakur

#26. “Are you ready to sacrifice to end world hunger? To sacrifice to end colonialism? To end neocolonialism? To end racism? To end sexism?” — Assata Shakur

Conclusion

Assata Shakur holds a reputation as a militant activist and supporter of the Black Lives Movement. She is a household figure in fighting the wave of sexism and racism. Her words inspire millions today.

#Assata Shakur #Black Revolution #Black Revolutionaries #Black August 2023 #Black August

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anotherpapercut · 3 years

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as someone who eats meat and dairy not because I have to but because I want to, it is genuinely funny to me how people on here are always like "fuck corporations they're evil and they're ruining the planet" but when it comes to the meat and dairy industries and their numerous problems everyones ready to accept the boot on a silver platter if it means owning vegans akdhjssbks

#some if the shit yall post reads like the facebook post of a conservative white man who thinks antifa are going to force him to be vegan #except with weird nonsensical woke buzz words thrown in #like yall know that the reason vegan foods are expensive is because the govt subsidies the meat industry #which allows them to keep their prices artificially low and drown vegan companies in lawsuits to keep their prices high right #and you guys know that its not just vegans but also people with allergies who need those foods right #and you guys also know that veganism amongst black people is actually far more prevalent than white people #and has roots in the black panther movement right #or how about how a bunch of mest companies were just forced to pay a settlement for artificially inflating the price of chicken #thereby violating anti trust laws right #or that we are actively running out of drinkable water on earth and most of it isnt actually going to bottled water companies #its going to industrial agriculture (which includes fruits and veg)#it is possible to criticize industrial agriculture as a whole while still consuming the goods they produce #and this should include meat and dairy as well as fruits and vegetables #because the industry as a whole is guilty of like a lot of human rights violations and is actively killing the planet #i know that its easier for yall to think that all vegans are just evil racist white women but im begging you to use critical thinking #text #personal #also its not weird for someone to not want to wear an animals skin? i get why people like leather and fur but it grosses some people out #its not that deep #and acting sanctimonious about vegan leather actually being plastic is really fucking dumb if any of your clothes contain synthetic fibers #which theres like a 99% chance they do

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life-observed · 3 years

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The Crane Wife

Ten days after I called off my engagement I was supposed to go on a scientific expedition to study the whooping crane on the gulf coast of Texas. Surely, I will cancel this trip, I thought, as I shopped for nylon hiking pants that zipped off at the knee. Surely, a person who calls off a wedding is meant to be sitting sadly at home, reflecting on the enormity of what has transpired and not doing whatever it is I am about to be doing that requires a pair of plastic clogs with drainage holes. Surely, I thought, as I tried on a very large and floppy hat featuring a pull cord that fastened beneath my chin, it would be wrong to even be wearing a hat that looks like this when something in my life has gone so terribly wrong.

Ten days earlier I had cried and I had yelled and I had packed up my dog and driven away from the upstate New York house with two willow trees I had bought with my fiancé.

Ten days later and I didn’t want to do anything I was supposed to do.

I went to Texas to study the whooping crane because I was researching a novel. In my novel there were biologists doing field research about birds and I had no idea what field research actually looked like and so the scientists in my novel draft did things like shuffle around great stacks of papers and frown. The good people of the Earthwatch organization assured me I was welcome on the trip and would get to participate in “real science” during my time on the gulf. But as I waited to be picked up by my team in Corpus Christi, I was nervous—I imagined everyone else would be a scientist or a birder and have daunting binoculars.

The biologist running the trip rolled up in in a large white van with a boat hitch and the words BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES stenciled across the side. Jeff was forty-ish, and wore sunglasses and a backward baseball cap. He had a winter beard and a neon-green cast on his left arm. He’d broken his arm playing hockey with his sons a week before. The first thing Jeff said was, “We’ll head back to camp, but I hope you don’t mind we run by the liquor store first.” I felt more optimistic about my suitability for science.

Not long before I’d called off my engagement it was Christmas.

The woman who was supposed to be my mother-in-law was a wildly talented quilter and made stockings with Beatrix Potter characters on them for every family member. The previous Christmas she had asked me what character I wanted to be (my fiancé was Benjamin Bunny). I agonized over the decision. It felt important, like whichever character I chose would represent my role in this new family. I chose Squirrel Nutkin, a squirrel with a blazing red tail—an epic, adventuresome figure who ultimately loses his tail as the price for his daring and pride.

I arrived in Ohio that Christmas and looked to the banister to see where my squirrel had found his place. Instead, I found a mouse. A mouse in a pink dress and apron. A mouse holding a broom and dustpan, serious about sweeping. A mouse named Hunca Munca. The woman who was supposed to become my mother-in-law said, “I was going to do the squirrel but then I thought, that just isn’t CJ. This is CJ.”

What she was offering was so nice. She was so nice. I thanked her and felt ungrateful for having wanted a stocking, but not this stocking. Who was I to be choosy? To say that this nice thing she was offering wasn’t a thing I wanted?

When I looked at that mouse with her broom, I wondered which one of us was wrong about who I was.

The whooping crane is one of the oldest living bird species on earth. Our expedition was housed at an old fish camp on the Gulf Coast next to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where three hundred of the only six hundred whooping cranes left in the world spend their winters. Our trip was a data-collecting expedition to study behavior and gather data about the resources available to the cranes at Aransas.

The ladies bunkhouse was small and smelled woody and the rows of single beds were made up with quilts. Lindsay, the only other scientist, was a grad student in her early twenties from Wisconsin who loved birds so much that when she told you about them she made the shapes of their necks and beaks with her hands—a pantomime of bird life. Jan, another participant, was a retired geophysicist who had worked for oil companies and now taught high school chemistry. Jan was extremely fit and extremely tan and extremely competent. Jan was not a lifelong birder. She was a woman who had spent two years nursing her mother and her best friend through cancer. They had both recently died and she had lost herself in caring for them, she said. She wanted a week to be herself. Not a teacher or a mother or a wife. This trip was the thing she was giving herself after their passing.

At five o’clock there was a knock on the bunk door and a very old man walked in, followed by Jeff.

“Is it time for cocktail hour?” Warren asked.

Warren was an eighty-four-year-old bachelor from Minnesota. He could not do most of the physical activities required by the trip, but had been on ninety-five Earthwatch expeditions, including this one once before.Warren liked birds okay. What Warren really loved was cocktail hour.

When he came for cocktail hour that first night, his thin, silver hair was damp from the shower and he smelled of shampoo. He was wearing a fresh collared shirt and carrying a bottle of impossibly good scotch.

Jeff took in Warren and Jan and me. “This is a weird group,” Jeff said.

“I like it,” Lindsay said.

In the year leading up to calling off my wedding, I often cried or yelled or reasoned or pleaded with my fiancé to tell me that he loved me. To be nice to me. To notice things about how I was living.

One particular time, I had put on a favorite red dress for a wedding. I exploded from the bathroom to show him. He stared at his phone. I wanted him to tell me I looked nice, so I shimmied and squeezed his shoulders and said, “You look nice! Tell me I look nice!” He said, “I told you that you looked nice when you wore that dress last summer. It’s reasonable to assume I still think you look nice in it now.”

Another time he gave me a birthday card with a sticky note inside that said BIRTHDAY. After giving it to me, he explained that because he hadn’t written in it, the card was still in good condition. He took off the sticky and put the unblemished card into our filing cabinet.

I need you to know: I hated that I needed more than this from him. There is nothing more humiliating to me than my own desires. Nothing that makes me hate myself more than being burdensome and less than self-sufficient. I did not want to feel like the kind of nagging woman who might exist in a sit-com.

These were small things, and I told myself it was stupid to feel disappointed by them. I had arrived in my thirties believing that to need things from others made you weak. I think this is true for lots of people but I think it is especially true for women. When men desire things they are “passionate.” When they feel they have not received something they need they are “deprived,” or even “emasculated,” and given permission for all sorts of behavior. But when a woman needs she is needy. She is meant to contain within her own self everything necessary to be happy.

That I wanted someone to articulate that they loved me, that they saw me, was a personal failing and I tried to overcome it.

When I found out that he’d slept with our mutual friend a few weeks after we’d first started seeing each other, he told me we hadn’t officially been dating yet so I shouldn’t mind. I decided he was right. When I found out that he’d kissed another girl on New Year’s Eve months after that, he said that we hadn’t officially discussed monogamy yet, and so I shouldn’t mind. I decided he was right.

I asked to discuss monogamy and, in an effort to be the sort of cool girl who does not have so many inconvenient needs, I said that I didn’t need it. He said he thought we should be monogamous.

Here is what I learned once I began studying whooping cranes: only a small part of studying them has anything to do with the birds. Instead we counted berries. Counted crabs. Measured water salinity. Stood in the mud. Measured the speed of the wind.

It turns out, if you want to save a species, you don’t spend your time staring at the bird you want to save. You look at the things it relies on to live instead. You ask if there is enough to eat and drink. You ask if there is a safe place to sleep. Is there enough here to survive?

Wading through the muck of the Aransas Reserve I understood that every chance for food matters. Every pool of drinkable water matters. Every wolfberry dangling from a twig, in Texas, in January, matters. The difference between sustaining life and not having enough was that small.

If there were a kind of rehab for people ashamed to have needs, maybe this was it. You will go to the gulf. You will count every wolfberry. You will measure the depth of each puddle.

More than once I’d said to my fiancé, How am I supposed to know you love me if you’re never affectionate or say nice things or say that you love me.

He reminded me that he’d said “I love you” once or twice before. Why couldn’t I just know that he did in perpetuity?

I told him this was like us going on a hiking trip and him telling me he had water in his backpack but not ever giving it to me and then wondering why I was still thirsty.

He told me water wasn’t like love, and he was right.

There are worse things than not receiving love. There are sadder stories than this. There are species going extinct, and a planet warming. I told myself: who are you to complain, you with these frivolous extracurricular needs?

On the gulf, I lost myself in the work. I watched the cranes through binoculars and recorded their behavior patterns and I loved their long necks and splashes of red. The cranes looked elegant and ferocious as they contorted their bodies to preen themselves. From the outside, they did not look like a species fighting to survive.

In the mornings we made each other sandwiches and in the evenings we laughed and lent each other fresh socks. We gave each other space in the bathroom. Forgave each other for telling the same stories over and over again. We helped Warren when he had trouble walking. What I am saying is that we took care of each other. What I am saying is we took pleasure in doing so. It’s hard to confess, but the week after I called off my wedding, the week I spent dirty and tired on the gulf, I was happy.

On our way out of the reserve, we often saw wild pigs, black and pink bristly mothers and their young, scurrying through the scrub and rolling in the dust among the cacti. In the van each night, we made bets on how many wild pigs we might see on our drive home.

One night, halfway through the trip, I bet reasonably. We usually saw four, I hoped for five, but I bet three because I figured it was the most that could be expected.

Warren bet wildly, optimistically, too high.

“Twenty pigs,” Warren said. He rested his interlaced fingers on his soft chest.

We laughed and slapped the vinyl van seats at this boldness.

But the thing is, we saw twenty pigs on the drive home that night. And in the thick of our celebrations, I realized how sad it was that I’d bet so low. That I wouldn’t even let myself imagine receiving as much as I’d hoped for.

What I learned to do, in my relationship with my fiancé, was to survive on less. At what should have been the breaking point but wasn’t, I learned that he had cheated on me. The woman he’d been sleeping with was a friend of his I’d initially wanted to be friends with, too, but who did not seem to like me, and who he’d gaslit me into being jealous of, and then gaslit me into feeling crazy for being jealous of.

The full course of the gaslighting took a year, so by the time I truly found out what had happened, the infidelity was already a year in the past.

It was new news to me but old news to my fiancé.

Logically, he said, it doesn’t matter anymore.

It had happened a year ago. Why was I getting worked up over ancient history?

I did the mental gymnastics required.

I convinced myself that I was a logical woman who could consider this information about having been cheated on, about his not wearing a condom, and I could separate it from the current reality of our life together.

Why did I need to know that we’d been monogamous? Why did I need to have and discuss inconvenient feelings about this ancient history?

I would not be a woman who needed these things, I decided.

I would need less. And less.

I got very good at this.

“The Crane Wife” is a story from Japanese folklore. I found a copy in the reserve’s gift shop among the baseball caps and bumper stickers that said GIVE A WHOOP. In the story, there is a crane who tricks a man into thinking she is a woman so she can marry him. She loves him, but knows that he will not love her if she is a crane so she spends every night plucking out all of her feathers with her beak. She hopes that he will not see what she really is: a bird who must be cared for, a bird capable of flight, a creature, with creature needs. Every morning, the crane-wife is exhausted, but she is a woman again. To keep becoming a woman is so much self-erasing work. She never sleeps. She plucks out all her feathers, one by one.

One night on the gulf, we bought a sack of oysters off a passing fishing boat. We’d spent so long on the water that day I felt like I was still bobbing up and down in the current as I sat in my camp chair. We ate the oysters and drank. Jan took the shucking knife away from me because it kept slipping into my palm. Feral cats trolled the shucked shells and pleaded with us for scraps.

Jeff was playing with the sighting scope we used to watch the birds, and I asked, “What are you looking for in the middle of the night?” He gestured me over and when I looked through the sight the moon swam up close.

I think I was afraid that if I called off my wedding I was going to ruin myself. That doing it would disfigure the story of my life in some irredeemable way. I had experienced worse things than this, but none threatened my American understanding of a life as much as a called-off wedding did. What I understood on the other side of my decision, on the gulf, was that there was no such thing as ruining yourself. There are ways to be wounded and ways to survive those wounds, but no one can survive denying their own needs. To be a crane-wife is unsustainable.

I had never seen the moon so up-close before. What struck me most was how battered she looked. How textured and pocked by impacts. There was a whole story written on her face—her face, which from a distance looked perfect.

It’s easy to say that I left my fiancé because he cheated on me. It’s harder to explain the truth. The truth is that I didn’t leave him when I found out. Not even for one night.

I found out about the cheating before we got engaged and I still said yes when he proposed in the park on a day we were meant to be celebrating a job I’d just gotten that morning. Said yes even though I’d told him I was politically opposed to the diamonds he’d convinced me were necessary. Said yes even though he turned our proposal into a joke by making a Bachelor reference and giving me a rose. I am ashamed of all of this.

He hadn’t said one specific thing about me or us during the proposal, and on the long trail walk out of the park I felt robbed of the kind of special declaration I’d hoped a proposal would entail, and, in spite of hating myself for wanting this, hating myself more for fishing for it, I asked him, “Why do you love me? Why do you think we should get married? Really?”

He said he wanted to be with me because I wasn’t annoying or needy. Because I liked beer. Because I was low-maintenance.

I didn’t say anything. A little further down the road he added that he thought I’d make a good mother.

This wasn’t what I hoped he would say. But it was what was being offered. And who was I to want more?

I didn’t leave when he said that the woman he had cheated on me with had told him over the phone that she thought it was unfair that I didn’t want them to be friends anymore, and could they still?

I didn’t leave when he wanted to invite her to our wedding. Or when, after I said she could not come to our wedding, he got frustrated and asked what he was supposed to do when his mother and his friends asked why she wasn’t there.

Reader, I almost married him.

Even now I hear the words as shameful: Thirsty. Needy. The worst things a woman can be. Some days I still tell myself to take what is offered, because if it isn’t enough, it is I who wants too much. I am ashamed to be writing about this instead of writing about the whooping cranes, or literal famines, or any of the truer needs of the world.

But what I want to tell you is that I left my fiancé when it was almost too late. And I tell people the story of being cheated on because that story is simple. People know how it goes. But it’s harder to tell the story of how I convinced myself I didn’t need what was necessary to survive. How I convinced myself it was my lack of needs that made me worthy of love.

After cocktail hour one night, in the cabin’s kitchen, I told Lindsay about how I’d blown up my life the week before. I told her because I’d just received a voice mail saying I could get a partial refund for my high-necked wedding gown. The refund would be partial because they had already made the base of the dress but had not done any of the beadwork yet. They said the pieces of the dress could still be unstitched and used for something else. I had caught them just in time.

I told Lindsay because she was beautiful and kind and patient and loved good things like birds and I wondered what she would say back to me. What would every good person I knew say to me when I told them that the wedding to which they’d RSVP’d was off and that the life I’d been building for three years was going to be unstitched and repurposed?

Lindsay said it was brave not to do a thing just because everyone expected you to do it.

Jeff was sitting outside in front of the cabin with Warren as Lindsay and I talked, tilting the sighting scope so it pointed toward the moon. The screen door was open and I knew he’d heard me, but he never said anything about my confession.

What he did do was let me drive the boat.

The next day it was just him and me and Lindsay on the water. We were cruising fast and loud. “You drive,” Jeff shouted over the motor. Lindsay grinned and nodded. I had never driven a boat before. “What do I do?” I shouted. Jeff shrugged. I took the wheel. We cruised past small islands, families of pink roseate spoonbills, garbage tankers swarmed by seagulls, fields of grass and wolfberries, and I realized it was not that remarkable for a person to understand what another person needed.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/

#CJ Hauser #The crane wife #Essay #story #self #love #relAtionship #break up #grief #marriage #true story #storytelling #paris review #gaslighting

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verumking · 5 years

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⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆HEADCANON : REPLICA EARTH, THE WORLD OF VERUM REX

I’ve finally wrote down my headcanons for YOZORA’S WORLD, inspired by the Square Enix Character Prototype trailer released a few months before KH3 came out. This will also be my point of reference when threading any scenes in Yozora’s MAIN VERSE. This will obviously be expanded upon over time, and of course, if we find anything more about Verum Rex. So without further ado:

ONE. ┆ THE FALL OF THE OLD WORLD

Humanity’s greatest skill is its own destruction, and it was true of the world they once inhabited. With dwindling food supplies, the constant outbreak of war, and environments overrun with pollution, Earth was becoming more and more uninhabitable. With the world’s population decreasing rapidly at the hands of famine, disease and murder, the survivors resorted to evacuation.

Gigas Corporation was a small yet intuitive research institute who developed humanoid machines, originally to manoeuvre buildings fallen to war or disrepair. The world leaders saw the Gigas’ potential to forge new worlds as opposed to piece them back together. The Gigas’ founding father strongly agreed.

TWO. ┆ THE GENESIS OF REPLICA EARTH

Under the direction of Gigas Corporation, the machines were built on mass scale-- but it was an arduous process. There simply wasn’t enough resources to build the machines, let alone a new world. And moreover, the Gigas units were operated manually by humans. At the expense of millions of lives through decades of labour, humanity finally pieced together their new home. Replica Earth.

Whilst mankind built their space colony with complete control over the Gigas, the Gigas creator soon made his machines autonomous with the invention of the astral core-- the ‘heart’ of the machine that can harness the celestial energy so abundant in the stars around them. The Gigas are indeed responsible for keeping Replica Earth functioning: but their creator wanted more for them and the humans he deems worthy.

THREE. ┆ THE THIRTEEN ARKS

Replica Earth is a space colony consisting of a cluster of “Arks”. These Arks were created in the image of the Old World’s major cities: Replica Tokyo, Replica London, Replica-NYC (New York City), Replica Sydney, and so on. There are thirteen Arks in total, all which gravitate around the remains of the Old World. Each Ark has a designated political leader and government, but the maintenance of Replica Earth lies with Gigas Corporation.

Humans can travel between the Arks via the shuttles that continuously orbit Replica Earth, like an asteroid belt. Each Ark has a designated shuttle tower, which consists of a docking station and other facilities akin to the airports of the Old World.

FOUR. ┆ LIFE ON REPLICA EARTH

There are no forests, fields or oceans on Replica Earth. Replica Earth is largely urban, and almost entirely synthetic. Even the plants that line the streets are artificial. Underground botanists, however, managed to salvage some seeds from the Old World, and cultivate and sell plants for a hefty sum. The likes of daisies and tomatoes were traded at the price of silver or gold.

Nourishment is artificially produced to replicate the natural flavours of the Old World. The rich could afford meals that almost looks and tastes identical to those consumed in the Old World, and even receiving fresh harvestables of their own if they are connected to the black market. The poorer survived on gelatinous fluid similar to space food, with a putrid taste.

Each Ark mimics the climate of their Old World counterparts through temperature control technology. Clouds accumulate and form rain due to the industrial pollution still prominent even on Replica Earth. Most of this is rain is acidic however, and is unsuitable for consumption. Snow, hail and other extreme weather conditions only exist within simulation domes, created by the Gigas as a reminder of what humanity left behind. The qualities of seasons are rarely seen.

FIVE. ┆ ALL ARKS NEED TO FLOAT

As they can no longer rely on fossil fuels, humanity turned to the stars as their energy source. Almost everything runs on electricity, generated by solar energy from the surrounding stars. The Gigas creator drew inspiration from this to fuel his own machines, tapping into Old World magic to harness astral energy.

Physical substance such as metal was much harder to come by. Much of Replica Earth was forged using material recycled from the Old World. Even some buildings which remained intact before humanity’s evacuation was dismantled and reforged on Replica Earth. Gigas units harvest materials from space, such as from asteroids or dwarf planets, or from what was left of humanity’s former home.

Metal was not the only substance harvested from asteroids-- water was in extremely high demand. The Gigas drilled ice from the interstellar rock, melting it into water tanks stationed onto each Ark. The Gigas’ creator saw humanity’s greatest weakness to be their need for drinkable water, and researched ways to remedy this. One: to tap into arcane energy, to forge ice from their fingertips rather than to scavenge galactic debris. Gigas Corporation succeeded in manufacturing such mages capable of manipulating ice. Magia, one of Yozora’s closest friends, was one of these mages. These vessels were eventually tasked with sustaining what was left of humanity.

The other solution of course, was to eradicate humanity altogether.

SIX. ┆ REPLICA JAPAN

Yozora’s birthplace and primary headquarters of Gigas Corporation. Most of Replica Japan remained true to its Old World counterpart, recreating the more renowned landmarks such as Tokyo Tower and Shibuya Crossing. The lesser known districts were lost to history, whispers of traditional Japan still prevalent amongst underground crime rings, or those who could afford ancient artefacts from the Old World.

With the imbalance of supply and demand for nourishment, Replica Japan was ridden with areas of deprivation. It were the slums of the Japanese Ark which Gigas Corporation exploited, to gather ‘test subjects’ for decades of experimentation. Yozora, of course, being one of them.

SEVEN. ┆ PLATFORM 2

Difficulty: ★★★ “A mysterious scenic platform floating in the [ ??? ] waters of Tokyo Bay near the [ ??? ] site. According to rumors, it [ ??? ] that [ ??? ] is being built to conduct secret experiments.”

An industrial site on the edge of Replica Tokyo. Once a Gigas factory, the site had since been decommissioned and seemingly vacated by humans. The “water” that surrounds the platform was in fact mostly crude oil drained from the original Gigas units. Now powered by the stars, the iron giants no longer required fuel from the Old World.

The occasional boat was spotted travelling back and forth between mainland Tokyo and the desolate factory. The site was in fact actively used by Gigas Corporation, to conduct Project Night Sky experiments on unwilling participants. The most abhorrent of machines were born and raised within rusted iron walls.

#( djfhjdfhjdhfjdh i'm tired so this will do for now..... i'll probably add more later )#( me: a space colony would be such a cool world pls consider )#( me @ me: but where are they gonna get water from )#( me: ...... s h i t )#⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆a synthetic heart bled dry by the hands of fate. ❪ headcanons ❫

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enst1000bk · 5 years

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Water You Doing to Our Water Supply?!

Now, I know I’ve started blog posts with something similar to “This week’s topic is about one of the most important things on Earth because…” but this time, I think it really is the most important resource on Earth. That’s right, we’re talking about water! Everyone’s favorite drink! Well… it should be at least. There’s nothing more refreshing in the morning than an ice cold glass of water to get your day started. Well, in my opinion anyway. To start, we’re going to take a look at something called a water footprint. A water footprint, similar to an ecological footprint, is a summary of the amount of fresh water used to make a specific product or service. You’d be surprised how much water it takes to do almost anything! For instance, did you know that the average pair of jeans uses nearly 11,000 liters of water? That’s nearly 3,000 gallons!!

In this case, the business is me and the product or service is just my daily living for a year. My yearly water footprint is about 943.2 m³ per year, and that’s not even including all of the water that I drink! I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what number I was expecting but this activity definitely makes me want to cut down on my water waste!

Speaking of water waste, why does it matter? We have so much water on Earth we’re never gonna run out! Right? While it may be true that we have a lot of water on our planet, we don’t have access to all of it. Water covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, but only approximately 0.009-0.024% of it is drinkable liquid water. 97% of the water on earth is in the ocean, meaning it is too salty for human use and consumption (National Geographic, 2017). The other water is either in sheets of ice, or underground freshwater deposits. Clearly, this means most of the water we see is unusable to us. Bummer! However, we have ways of working around it. In fact, some of the most important water resources we have are underground! That’s right, the majority of the water we use for everyday production comes from groundwater, water that moves from high elevation and pressure to lower points of elevation and pressure mostly due to gravity. Water seeps into cracks in soil, gravel, and rocks and works its way into the ground until a layer of impenetrable rock prevents it from moving any farther. The water pools in underground layers called aquifers, underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel, or rock that water flows through underground. Underground caverns have been known to host underground rivers and streams where the water moves freely, but the porous sand and gravel keep the water more stationary. Because all of this water is fresh water, it makes it a pretty well sought after resource. But it’s underground! So how do we get to it? We use pumps! The pumps bring the water to the surface, and the groundwater is usually replenished naturally thanks to precipitation and run off percolating to the aquifers. Once we use the water, nature takes care of recycling it through the hydrologic cycle. The hydrologic cycle is responsible for recycling and cleaning water that has been used, distributing the now clean water, and gathering dirty water that needs to be cleaned and redistributed. The three major steps in the water or hydrologic cycle are evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. The cycle works like a charm! That is, unless we pollute the water or take from natural water sources too excessively before they have an opportunity to refill themselves… but we’ll get into that soon. One of the biggest issues with pumping water is that we’re pumping heavily excessive amounts of water. The gigantic Ogallala aquifer, located in the Midwest and going as far south as Texas (yeah, that’s REALLY big!), supplies water for almost a third of the United States! This aquifer is the biggest in the entire world and supplies seemingly endless supplies of water (key word being seemingly, obviously). The biggest issue with the Ogallala aquifer is that it has a really slow natural recharge rate, so it takes a REALLY long time for the aquifer to refill itself, it’s essentially a one time supply for the way humans use water in our lifetimes. The Ogallala Aquifer is being pumped at a rate of 10-40 times faster than the recharge rate, meaning that eventually, humans are going to suck this aquifer dry and future generations will not be able to use this. Another factor that depletes the available amount of water for human consumption is pollution, which is our next topic.

When water becomes polluted it is contaminated with chemicals that make it unfit for human consumption. Funny enough, humans are the ones that cause pollution so we are literally just wasting precious water! We know that we have a finite amount of water on this planet but we continue to do activities, in the U.S. and worldwide, that dirties our water and makes it unclean to ever use again! It’s baffling to me, but I guess that’s beside the point. Water pollution falls under two categories: point and nonpoint sources. Point sources of pollution are easy to identify because you can see exactly where the pollutants are coming from. Some point sources include drainpipes or sewer lines. Nonpoint sources are harder to trace back to the origin because they spread pollution over large areas. An example of a nonpoint water pollution source would be run off from crops and farmlands that contain chemicals like DEET and other pesticides. There has been much greater success in controlling pollution from point sources, because it is expensive to identify and fix pollution from nonpoint sources.

The majority of the world suffers from not having enough access to clean water. Sometimes, I think people from the US may not be sensitive to this issue because we live our everyday lives without ever having to even think about what it would be like to experience that. However, recently (or maybe not recently now, unfortunately) this has been tested here in our home country in Flint, Michigan, where their drinking water has been not only unusable but also dangerous (causing rashes, increase in lead blood levels, and hair loss) for more than five years at this point. The crisis started in 2014 when the city decided to change its’ water source from the Detroit system to the Flint River in order to save money. However, prior to this the Flint River acted as a waste dumping facility for businesses and families alike, so the river itself was already in bad shape. When Flint decided to switch over to the river as their new water source, they also decided to skip on some of the rules and regulations for clean water as well as the procedures used to actually clean the water, meaning the water wasn’t being cleaned. Five years later and the residents of Flint still don’t have clean water but yeah…. Let’s continue to focus on whatever idiotic thing the president has to say about immigrants next, instead of focusing on real issues in the country.

Word Count: 1,210 Blog Question: What would be the most effective way to help the citizens of Flint? How can we possibly reverse what has already been done?

Works Cited

Competing for Clean Water Has Led to a Crisis. (2017, January 27). Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/

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electricoutdoors · 5 years

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How to Purify Water After a Nuclear Attack – What You Need to Know

Purifying Water After a Nuclear Attack

Surviving a nuclear attack is something I think about from time to time. One thing I don’t really see being discussed is how you’re supposed to get clean water after you survive the initial detonation…

How do you purify water after a nuclear attack? There are 5 ways that radiation is normally removed from a water source:

Reverse Osmosis

Activated Carbon and Ion Exchange

Distillation

Lime Softening

Filtration (Through Carbon or Soil)

These may seem like they’re too scientific or beyond your ability to do at home, but that’s just not the case. We’ll discuss some of the best ways to get clean drinking water after a nuclear attack as we go through the article. [wc_toggle title=“Table of Contents” padding=“” border_width=“” class=“” layout=“box”]

Purifying Water After a Nuclear Attack

Getting Clean Drinking Water After a Nuclear Attack

Distilling Water to Remove Radioactive Contamination

Removing Radiation Through Settling

Removing Radioactive Contamination with Filtration

Reverse Osmosis and Manufactured Filters

How to Prepare Ahead of Time

What Happens If You Drink Radioactive Contaminated Water?

Similar Questions

Can you boil radiation out of water? No, boiling water kills living organisms in the water that may be harmful, but it doesn’t remove radiation from the water. To successfully remove the radiation, you would need to collect the steam and condense it back to water.

Can you purify radioactive water? There are 5 ways that radiation is normally removed from a water source:

Reverse Osmosis

Activated Carbon and Ion Exchange

Distillation

Lime Softening

Filtration (Through Carbon or Soil)

The post How to Purify Water After a Nuclear Attack – What You Need to Know was originally published on: ready lifestyle

How to Purify Water After a Nuclear Attack – What You Need to Know published first on https://readylifesytle.tumblr.com

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bonniebbb-blog1 · 6 years

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Last English Essay

The First Wave In Protecting Freshwater

Our planet is covered by mostly water, and more than 97 percent of this water is saltwater. Only about 2.5 percent of water is freshwater, and more than two thirds of this water is still in the glaciers, snow, and permafrost. The rest comes from freshwater lakes and rivers, underwater reserves or aquifers, and rainfall (Water Pollution). All of these sources have been impacted to some extent by water pollution. This pollution has a critical and detrimental impact on the world’s finite supply of drinkable water. We need to protect the little bit of fresh water we have by educating and informing people of the problem, showing them how they individually impact it, and helping them see the steps we have and are continuing to take to fix the problem.

There is a problem with how much freshwater we have let, and the impacts that we have on this supply of water. All our freshwater gets used repeatedly with the help of mother nature's cycles to help cleanse it and put it back where it started to be reused, but sometimes we can overload how much mother nature can clean and filter. We contaminate our water to the point where our water is still contaminated by the time mother nature has cleansed it and put it back where it started. Our freshwater supply is being mostly affected by three types of pollution: industrial pollution, agricultural pollution, sewage and household pollution.

Around twenty percent of our freshwater supply is affected by industrial pollution (Water Pollution). Industrial pollution is the contamination of the environment by businesses, particularly plants and factories, that dump waste products into the air and water. Many water pollution problems are created by manufacturing centers, including chemical and oil plants; wood, pulp, and paper mills; factory food processing; and textile, metal, and other factories. One example of industrial pollution affecting our freshwater was in 2014, where “7,000 gallons of a toxic chemical leaked from tanks belonging to the Eastman Chemical Company into the Elk River, contaminating the drinking water of Charleston, West Virginia. More than 300,000 residents were unable to consume or bathe using their water for a week.”(Water Pollution, Opposing Viewpoints). Industrial pollution includes dumping waste into waterways, or the improper containment of waste, which can cause leakage into groundwater and waterways. Industrial pollution can also impact air quality, and it can enter the soil, causing widespread environmental problems including a major role in water pollution. Industrial pollution is just as bad or even worse than agricultural pollution when it comes to the contamination of our freshwater.

Roughly seventy percent of our freshwater is used for agricultural activity (Sources and Solutions). Agriculture contributes to water pollution because it is both cause and victim of water pollution. “It is a cause through its discharge of pollutants and sediment to surface, through net loss of soil by poor agricultural practices, and through salinization and waterlogging of irrigated land.”(Sources and Solution). Many of the chemicals farmers use on their land and crops, including fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides help give their crops and fields nutrients and keep pests off them. However, these chemicals are bad because they cause runoff and contaminate rivers, lakes, and groundwater supplies. Industrial or factory farming of livestock, poultry, and fish has also been identified as a significant source of water pollution, as rainfall can cause runoff from animal waste products into groundwater and other water systems. The process of agricultural pollution prevents the natural movement of water, aquatic animals and nutrients to other fertile areas. Animals are not the only ones who contaminate the water through their waste, there’s also human sewage and waste products that contribute to freshwater water pollution.

Another type of pollution that affects our freshwater supply is sewage and household pollution. Water pollution can include problems caused by untreated sewage and human waste. Sewage is the term used for wastewater that often contains feces, urine and laundry waste. There are billions of people on Earth, so treating sewage is a big deal. In the United States and other developed nations, almost one hundred percent of the population has access to improved or treated water and sanitation facilities. However, billions of people in developing nations around the world do not have access to good sanitation, and over six hundred million people do not have access to treated water. “In many developing countries, human and animal waste is simply flushed away into rivers and lakes; for this reason, many rivers near major cities resemble open sewers.”(The Role of Water). Even though this disposal is efficient and quick, it is not sustainable. The contaminated water contributes to infectious diseases that kill millions of people each year. Even within the United States, thousands of spills of raw sewage occur every year, often when overburdened or poorly maintained treatment plants malfunction or sewage pipes burst. There are a lot of ways humans impact our freshwater supply; which means there are a lot of ways we can hurt or help the amount of pollution in our freshwater supply.

Every person individually impacts our freshwater pollution. Some environmentalists argue that simply relying on the federal government to regulate and enforce water pollution is not enough to address the problem entirely; individuals can take many steps to reduce water pollution themselves. The first steps any individual can take may include taking a look to see what they can do outside their house to help, what they can do inside their house to help, and decreasing the amount of wastewater that they use.

There are a lot of things one may do to help freshwater pollution right outside one’s house. First of all you have to understand all water that gets used outside travels through the ground into aquifers or runs into creeks or ponds. There are many little things one can do to help keep this water cleaner. Some examples include reducing the amount of fertilizers used in gardens and lawns, picking up after one’s pets and flushing the waste down the toilet, and not using storm drains as places to dispose of trash. Also be careful not to dispose or spill chemicals such as paint or cleaners on one’s lawn, as they will end up mixing with our water. Another thing to remember is that stormwater flows across hard materials, like concrete or asphalt, and into storm drains, which may bring all the dirty stuff and hazardous waste it picked up along the way. “Stop these pollution streams on your own property by using gravel, paver stones, wood, or other porous materials whenever possible. If a hard surface is unavoidable, like a driveway, dig a shallow trench along the border and add plants or gravel to catch the runoff before it travels too far.”(Earth's Water Supply). Lastly, be a more careful car owner. Good maintenance can reduce the leaking of oil, coolant, antifreeze, and other nasty liquids that are carried by rainwater down driveways or through parking lots and then seep into groundwater supplies. Go a step further by “always choosing a car wash over hosing down your ride yourself. The pros are required to drain their wastewater into sewer systems, where the water is treated for all the bad stuff before being discharged. Many even recycle that water.”(Andrew Postman). Individually making a change in water pollution outside one’s house is just as important as inside one’s house.

Anyone can start to make a change on how they handle water pollution inside their house. There are many things you can do to decrease water pollution in your home. Some examples include using the minimum amount of detergent or bleach when you are washing clothes or dishes, using only phosphate free soaps and detergents, and avoiding the use of your garbage disposal. Keep solid wastes solid. Make a compost pile from vegetable scraps. Most people don’t realise that anything they put down their sink or toilet will end up in the ground, and will start to make its way to bigger water sources. This means don’t pour fat from cooking or any other type of fat, oil, or grease down the sink. Keep a jar under the sink to collect the fat and discard in the solid waste when full. Also don’t dispose of household chemicals or cleaning agents down the sink or toilet. One’s toilet is not a wastebasket, so don’t flush pills, liquid or powder medications or drugs down the toilet. Other than making a change on how one affects water pollution inside and outside one’s house one can also make a change by decreasing the amount of wastewater they use.

Cutting back on the amount of wastewater one uses on a daily basis can make an individual difference in our freshwater pollution. There are many ways one can cut back on one’s wastewater. Some examples include turning off the water when brushing one’s teeth, only doing full loads of laundry, only running the dishwasher when it is full, and even installing water efficient toilets. Individually one can make a difference in our freshwater pollution, but there are also bigger steps we can take together as people to help this problem.

Fixing our freshwater pollution problem is going to take some time depending on how big of steps we take in the right direction. This may include expanding a little more than just individual changes in how we handle freshwater pollution. We have tried to take these steps in the past by creating laws, acts, and amendments. Out of all the work and progress we have made over the years in decreasing water pollution there are three major steps we have already taken and are continuing to take in the right direction. These include the federal water pollution control act of 1948, the water pollution amendments made in 1972, and the great lakes critical programs act of 1990 (Water Pollution).

The federal water pollution control act of 1948 was the first major U.S. law to address water pollution. Before the federal water pollution act of 1948 there were only minor laws that dealt with water pollution that didn’t really accomplish much. “Legislators had made numerous attempts, totaling over 100 bills, to pass legislation over the previous half century, but without success. By 1948 industrial and urban growth fueled by World War II had led to obvious, and often notorious, pollution of the country's rivers, streams, and lakes, impelling Congress finally to confront the issue.” (Federal Water Pollution). In the beginning this act did not generally prohibit pollution, yet gave only limited authority to the federal government, and provided an extremely cumbersome enforcement mechanism. Thankfully over the years this act has been rewrote and is constantly being improved, and is now called the clean water act, also known as the CWA. The clean water act helped grow public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution, and led to sweeping amendments in 1972 (Federal Water Pollution).

The water pollution amendments made in 1972 have made a major difference, and has accomplished a lot. They established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States. They gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. They maintained existing requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. They funded the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction grants program. These amendments “made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions. And they recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by nonpoint source pollution.” (History of Clean Water). The amendments made in 1972 dealing with water pollution led to the modification of other laws and amendments, and most importantly it led to changes creating the Title I of the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990.

The Title I of the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990 is the most recent big change and effort we have made towards our freshwater pollution. Title I of the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990 was put into place parts of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, signed by the U.S. and Canada, where the two nations agreed to reduce certain toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes. That law required EPA to establish water quality criteria for the Great Lakes addressing 29 toxic pollutants with maximum levels that are safe for humans, wildlife, and aquatic life. “It also required EPA to help the States implement the criteria on a specific schedule.” (History of Clean Water). This programs act of 1990 made it so that states had to follow certain rules and guidelines specifically created to help reduce our freshwater pollution. Imagine what new laws and amendments we could create, that could even be state monitored, that would help us reduce freshwater pollution majorly throughout the U.S.

Reducing our freshwater pollution is something we have to do in order to preserve and replenish our already small supply our freshwater. Less than 2.5 percent of water on earth is freshwater, but only less than one third of this water we have access to and use. We need to protect and make a bigger effort and impact as people to accomplish having clean freshwater for our people and generations to come. Some say that humans don’t affect water pollution, and that we will always have an infinite supply of freshwater (Water Pollution). This is why educating and informing people of the problem, showing them how they individually impact it, and helping them see the steps we have and are continuing to take to fix the problem only scratches the surface of our almost irreversible problem of freshwater pollution. Making changes starts with just one person and this can start a wave if handled correctly to a nation’s change for the better, and hopefully one day we will make a magnificent force of a tsunami difference in our worldwide change for preserving a cleaner freshwater supply.

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thecoroutfitters · 7 years

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It’s almost that time of year again – time to set out your plants and get that beautiful garden growing! But, one of the biggest problems that many of us face is that we grow our own food to avoid chemicals, but we need fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to really get the most out of our labor.

Don’t worry – there are excellent organic options to help your garden grow.

Read the article below to discover them!

Seeds

You’re not going to grow anything of quality if you don’t start with good seeds. It’s easy to go the cheap route and buy seeds at the dollar store, but do your research. This isn’t the place that you want to skimp because if you do it right, you’ll only have to buy seeds once because next year, you’ll use ones that you harvest from your own crop.

Now, you’ve likely heard of GMO, which stands for “genetically modified organism.” Scientists literally modify the DNA of the plant to make it “better.” Of course, we know that actually means, “more profitable,” not “more healthy.”

Because science tinkered with the natural structure of the plant, the seeds are unreliable. You may get great results by replanting them, or none of them may grow. Besides, GMO have been linked to several different illnesses. Skip them.

You want to go with heirloom seeds because they’ve been carefully cultivated from one type of plant for generations. They’re reliable and safe. To learn more about the different types of seeds, check out this article.

These lessons of yesterday will teach you the basic skills for survival cooking!

Organic Fertilizer

In the event SHTF, you might not be able to run down to the garden center and pick up a bag of Miracle Gro. Why would you want to even when you can? You can make your own fertilizer at home that’s every bit as good as the store-bought stuff, and you know exactly what’s in it.

But what if your tomato plants grow just fine? I’ll be rude and answer a question with a question. How do you know that they’re growing fine? Sure, they may be growing and producing, but here’s the thing – our soil is depleted.

That means that what passes for a tomato today likely only has a fraction of the nutrients that it had 100 years ago. Too many seasons of constant planting without a break has sucked all the nutrients out of the soil, and if there’s none in the soil, well, there’s none in the plant.

So you need fertilizer. Your compost is going to be a huge part of that, but you can also add nutrients in other ways, such as by mixing Epsom salt around your tomatoes and peppers or by mixing a bit of diluted vinegar in if your soil isn’t acidic enough. Check out this article for more tips for fertilizer, but don’t skip it, whatever you do!

Video first seen on GrowVeg.

Compost

This is probably the most proactive step you can take for a healthy garden, but to do it right, you’re going to need to do it right. You can put many things, from food scraps to paper and ash in it, but there are definitely some no-nos.

Now, before you start saying that you can’t have a compost pile because you don’t have a big enough area, let me stop you because you only need an area the size of a bin to have a compost pile … err, bin.

Oh, and you can have liquid manure compost – aka manure tea – too. It’s exceptionally good for plants that require extra nitrogen. Manure tea is exactly what it sounds like – manure that’s been steeped in water. It’s a bit involved and takes some time, but it’s well worth the end result. It’s especially good for plants with deep roots.

Herbicides

Oh, those nasty weeds. Of course, if you’re container gardening, it’s not such a hassle, but if you have a traditional garden, it’s a real pain, literally and figuratively. And if you opt to use commercial herbicides, you’re often defeating one of the purposes of growing your own garden by using chemicals on your food.

Fortunately, you have many natural options that will work just as well as harmful chemicals. First, mulch is an excellent idea for several reasons. It helps keep the weeds to a minimum, it holds the moisture in the soil, and it acts as a natural fertilizer when it breaks down. That’s assuming you make your own mulch, which is cheap (or free), or buy organic mulch, which is NOT cheap or free.

Another option that isn’t exactly an herbicide but works as well as one is to use landscape fabric, which you can also make yourself from recycled sheets, feed sacks, etc. Or, you can buy it. It prevents weeds from growing by blocking out the sunlight. A natural result of this is that it helps hold moisture in the soil as well.

Boiling water works, too. It’ll kill a weed quick, but this isn’t particularly effective if you’re treating your entire garden.

Borax, bleach, vinegar, and salt water are also effective herbicides though you may need to repeat the process. Add a little liquid dish detergent to each for an extra boost. Be sure to spray these only on the leaves of the plants that you want to kill because none of them discriminate.

Be careful not to saturate the soil because all of them alter the pH and can have catastrophic effects on your plants.

Video first seen on Grow Your Heirlooms.

Insecticides

This is the big bad of the chemicals that most people consider necessary to growing a healthy, productive garden. And it’s true – nothing will wipe out a garden faster that a horde of hungry aphids, beetles, or other flying or crawling creatures.

Fortunately, you have options here, too, and some of them, such as dish detergent, serve double duty and kill weeds, too.

Neem is probably the most effective. It’s been used for centuries and has more than 50 natural insecticides. Since it’s safe for you, your pets, and your plants, you can use it without worrying about damage. The only problem is that the bug has to actually eat the plant to die, so if you have an infestation of something, you may have some losses before you win the battle.

Himalayan salt kills spider mites. Just mix 2 Tbsp. of salt in 1 gallon of water and mist onto infested areas.

Chrysanthemum flower spray is lethal to insects because it paralyzes their nervous systems and immobilizes them. Just boil 3.5 ounces of flowers with a liter of water into a tea and spray directly on the plant. The spray stores for up to 2 months. Add some neem oil to give it an extra boost.

I call this the pizza spray – it’s made of 1 clove minced garlic, 1 medium sliced onion, and 1 tsp. cayenne pepper. Add them to a quart of water and let it soak for an hour. You don’t want to cook it; just let it soak. Add a tablespoon of liquid soap and spray directly onto the plant. This will stay potent for a week or better in the fridge.

Grind a couple of handfuls of dried chilis and add to a cup of diatomaceous Earth, then add 2 liters of water. Let it soak overnight, then shake it up and apply.

Other natural pesticides include orange oil, citrus oil. Eucalyptus oil, soap, and mineral oil. Dilute them with water and spray directly onto the plant.

Note that, with the exception of the soap, all of these concoctions are drinkable (though I don’t imagine that you’d want to) so you’re not going to poison yourself.

Critters

Bunnies and deers are really cute until you find them eating your carrots and corn. Then, not so much. As a matter of fact, so may say that they’d look delicious on a plate side-by-side with said veggies after they’re busted dining on your labors.

I once lost an entire crop of cherries overnight because apparently the birds had been waiting for them to be perfect just as I had, but they were up earlier than I was. Two words – bird netting.

But, they do have minds of their own and aren’t easily deterred. Some good ideas that may help you keep from feeding the neighborhood wildlife instead of saving it all for yourself are as follows:

Marigolds. Rabbits, deer, and other wildlife hate the smell of them so plant them around your perimeter. You can also build chicken wire fences around your garden, or around the plants that you’re worried about.

Raccoons and some other animals hate the smell of Epsom salt – which, by the way, isn’t a salt so it won’t kill your plants. Just sprinkle it around the perimeter of the garden. It also increases the magnesium in your soil, so your plants may thank you.

Solar motion-activated lights may help scare them off, especially if you relocate them regularly so that the animals don’t get used to them.

Finally, you can cover your plants at night using tulle netting – that gauzy stuff that a bride’s veil is made of. For that matter, if you’re only covering it at night, you can use light sheets or other fabric that won’t break the plants.

We’ve covered most of the ways that you can grow a healthy, delicious garden without worrying about chemicals leeching into your foods. Plus, most of these suggestions are free or super cheap, so it’s a win in all directions!

Do you wonder what are the secrets that helped our grandparents grow their own food to survive during harsh times?

Click the banner bellow and uncover them!

If you have any more ideas about organic remedies to keep your survival garden healthy, share them in the comments section below. Happy gardening!

This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.

from Survivopedia Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

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