fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Surreal forest where love found a way I have heard whispers. No one knew except the gentle breeze. The whispers told me something about my land.
By: Neha Tulsyan
Tags: Harmony, Ecology, Nature, Peace, Animals

Surreal forest where love found a way



I have heard whispers. No one knew except the gentle breeze. The whispers told me something about my land. Neha Tulsyan Jun 2·3 min read

This concrete jungle was a rocky waterfall 300 years ago. A few miles east, there was a small cliff in a forest. You could look down and see the entire valley covered with different trees. On this cliff was a huge tree with a thick trunk and fluttering leaves. A huge fruit or two would hang on its trunk. The hugeness could not be missed.

There was a nagging question in my mind about this tree - why were the fruits on this tree so bulky? Why not a guava or a pear? Why do trees bear jackfruit? Did the heavy fruits not feel like a burden to the tree and who is going to eat these?

As I was busy contemplating, I did not notice the setting sun. I looked behind and there was my answer.

Walking towards the cliff was a bear. It had walked miles to come to this place. The bear was guided by the outline of fluttering leaves in the moonlight. He walked up and down the terrain, in the direction of this tree, never taking his eyes off the distorted outlines from far. With a slow, steady and gentle pace, the bear had reached his destination. He walked confidently toward the tree as the outline of his hairy body and that of the tree shone in the milky moonlight.

The journey of the bear had ended fruitfully, after walking in the darkness, after following the inconspicuous visuals which slightly nudged him to follow. And so he did obediently, faithfully. Not doubting these subtle instincts for once.

For a moment, he just stood there fixated. What was the meaning of this journey? What was this attraction which led him miles into the forest to the particular tree? What was this game of nature?

The bear did not have to wait to find this. He caught hold of a jackfruit and smashed it open with his strong paws. He carried the pieces with him to a low branch, where he devoured some of the jackfruit through the moonlit night. As he looked up at the sky, I do not know what the bear felt. Gratitude, peace, harmony. Is it these feelings which make this story frozen in time?

I do not know any of that. But the bear lay lazily on a branch as it was nearing dawn. It was time to sleep. Truly, the jackfruit tree had found its heaven sent match. Its companion was just as huge as itself. And the forest felt mesmerized with the peace and harmony for an eternity.

Such is nature. Love is out there. And it’s also hidden in our hearts. When we follow the heart, we’ll find love on a dark moonlit night. We will be led through a twisted path in the moonlight where love awaits! So listen closely.
I am completely aligned with a (re)invention of capital as a predicate for some new iteration of a…
By: Gunther Sonnenfeld
Tags: Economics, Universal Basic Income, Ecology, Decentralization, Society

I am completely aligned with a (re)invention of capital as a predicate for some new iteration of a basic living income.

Over a 12–15 year period, I’ve spoken directly with the architects of UBI projects, such as Mincome, as well as many folks who have been involved in complementary currency projects, such as BNotes and Hudson Valley Current. Based on those conversations and related data (much of which hasn’t been properly coordinated and publicly disclosed), we need participatory levers for three very critical elements for any such project to sustain itself:

The proper stewardship of resources that can be regenerated — food, land, energy, water, etc. such that subsidies or entitlements and currencies alike can be stabilized/collateralized/self-sustaining; Emerging skills development for that stewardship/resource management in domains like entrepreneurship, ecosystem design, adaptive governance, distributed leadership and encrypted technology; A ledgered system for tax revenues (not sales or income taxes, but on the assets themselves) regenerated by said resources and said participation (labor) such that supply and demand dynamics can be managed through what I call non-flationary baselines.

The economic backdrop for this is based on two primary things we saw across every UBI and complementary currency project that, in part, led to their failure or discontinuance (the ones that did) — a rate adjustable fiat currency that would inevitably accrue more debt and therefore higher tax rates thereby hindering reinvestment back into the programs, and, a lack of new resources backing the local economy such that jobs and currencies could be sustained. Ultimately, government expansion with a progressive tax program is not an answer — and I know you’re not suggesting that. Here’s what a decentralized, redistributed model looks like through the lens of non-flationary value.
Candidate musings #1 — On Why I’m Running
By: Colin Murphy
Tags: Economics, Environment, Ecology, Socialism, Climate Change

For me, socialism is about much more than organizing a mass working class movement to overthrow capitalists, though that’s critical. Socialism also means envisioning the goal — the regenerative economy and culture based on ecological design and social justice that we’re advocating for — in all its nuance and complexity.

As an active member with the Climate & Environmental Justice Caucus as well as DSA National Ecosocialist Working Group, I would use my At-Large position to energize critical, big picture conversations about Just Transition, the under-discussed ecological crises beyond climate, and what it means for us socialists to do our due diligence around environmental justice.

A lithium mine in West Australia. Renewable energy technologies have significant environmental impacts.

The Green New Deal concept shows us that for organized human life to survive, humanity has to change the way it’s doing things radically, and in unprecedented time. But to make a successful transition to a post-carbon society, we must for the sake of future and current generations ask the right questions about what makes sense, who needs what, and what’s possible. I feel well-positioned to do just that.

Thank you for reading. 🌹
Aleph Ambiental. It all started with a third world…
By: Aleph Ambiental
Tags: Ecology, Social

It all started with a third world country with open capitalist politics but some socialist like systems, like a beautifull university that gathered people and, in a learning process and took them trough that country, for free.

At last, nothing is perfect, and the sin of that institution was spoiling themselves, the people, syndicates, groups of power, all for money, all brainwashing and showing no hope but to follow some twisted path called life that doesnt make life at all, it takes it, it craves it, for it can never go back to what is was.

Then, there was hope, in the books, in reality, in waching how, even tough institutions and private corporations look only fot themselves, society thrives. And at least, here, in Mexico, there is still something that keeps it, some kind of resilience, of its people, and of its natural resources. At least thats the hope, thats the dream.

We are just begining, we want to use blockchain techology to give value again to our culture, our nature, going to the future, not as a solution, but as an alternative, or better, a node of alternatives.

We love art and try it, for we know ther are many ways, not only technical ones, to help.

Since October 2020 we´ve been helping get knowledge from the people, to the people, from themes like helping in forest fires, to making compost, our local brids, our local resources, trying to multiply and make stronger the interactions that give resilience to our system. This year planning to make virtual debate tables about local problems (maby an NFT for this hehe), and many other little budget proyects (And some big crypto protocols ideas).

We have a lot of work, for every one has something, we´ll give our free time and passion to what we think is worth it. Our home is worth it.

We are now in Texcoco de Mora, México.

Aleph Ambiental.

TW of some:

Aleph Ambiental

@albaconsol

@hoblayerta

@LuisAngelFC6
Geography and controversy.
By: Effectively Be
Tags: Green Energy, Blockchain Technology, Green Hydrogen, Blockchain, Ecology

Pacific Ring of Fire. The huge length of the ring makes it possible to find the most successful place in the implementation of the green hydrogen project associated with the use of geothermal energy. The criteria for evaluating such a location for a new project are: proven reserves of geothermal energy, availability, proximity to markets, attitude of the local administration, competitive environment, etc. There are not so many locations that meet most of the criteria. The study of each such location, discussion in the specialised community and on discussion platforms, the publication of the results of such studies will allow us to formulate plans for the necessary actions for the practical implementation of the project and determine realistic steps. These are powerful arguments in increasing investor confidence in the project; special attention should be paid to a huge number of digital technology activists who can become the main investment component. Discussion of the potential of each location based on freedom from political preferences, territorial differences. The project as an opportunity to unite the disparate efforts of specialists from many industries, different countries for the practical implementation of a green hydrogen project using geothermal energy and digital technologies.
Just One Drop Of That Wisdom
By: Nanda Jurela
Tags: Nature Writing, Ecology, Nature, Humanity, Relationships

“The basis of knowledge is the fire, rock, water, and green. But when that power was given to man, he used it to twist his own mind. Tunkashila gave man just one drop of that wisdom.”

–Wallace Black Elk, Lakota Elder

“All My Relations, the wisdom disappeared and a thing came in called self-will. Self-will has caused us to run complete riot on our lives because we lack complete wisdom. This causes everyone to be thinking all the time. That is not necessarily good, because often it hampers others from doing good that is needed. We need to seek more prayer and less personal thinking of self. The balance of life starts with getting out of self.”

–Arthur Medicine Eagle-Sonier, Megamaw Elder

✽

I know only one way to release the toxic projections of people and grief from relationships: to be in nature. Sometimes people are unaware of the damage they do to each other, and all of it comes from the indoors mentality — which we all share, because most of us spend our working lives indoors or have been schooled to use the indoors brain -. Being outdoors makes us more honest with each other, gentler, mindful and compassionate. It is the effect nature has on us: everything has its place, everything is accepted; we hear each other better and know how to support each other.

Even the best relationships can be improved by time in nature, shared or apart. Because in nature, our lives fall into the correct proportions. Worry, irritation and anguish disappear, and a quiet confidence returns. It is from nature. Personal will then can serve a bigger goal — love.

People who prefer to live alone find that time in nature balances and de-stresses them and provides inspiration.

The human mind gets twisted when the relationship with the earth is disrupted. Many cultures don’t function anymore for that reason.

27 June 2014
Walking Across the Desert With Mike Fay
By: Andrew Howley
Tags: Walking, Nature Photography, Ecology, Nature, Desert

Saguaro National Park consists of two large parks on either side of Tucson, Arizona. The east is very different from the west, and both are obviously different than the city between them. Still, the same birds, bugs, pollen, wind, and water are swirling about them all. They are all part of the same story.

As part of the 2011 BioBlitz in Saguaro, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence (and University of Arizona alum) J. Michael Fay walked some 70 miles over the course of seven days on a transect across both parts of the park and the city between them, noting the first time he saw each plant species in an area, and identifying and tallying every bird he saw or heard along the way.

The photos below take you along moment by moment through open landscapes and close-up details. They show many of the park rangers and local scientists who accompanied Mike for a few miles or days at a time, and they reveal highlights of the experiences and knowledge they shared.

Learn more about Mike Fay’s philosophy of transecting in this archived post on nationalgeographic.org and in Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Walking.”
TrustSwap and SaveTheWorld Partner to Raise Donations for Eden Reforestation Project
Tags: Trees, Charity, Blockchain, Ecology, Cryptocurrency

TrustSwap and SaveTheWorld Partner to Raise Donations for Eden Reforestation Project TrustSwap Jun 1·2 min read

There can never be too many trees. And cryptocurrencies overall are often blamed for significant environmental damage, no matter the progress already being made in that arena. Making the world a greener place hasn’t been a once-in-a-while, bombastic shot for TrustSwap but more of a continuous, evergreen effort. Our partnership with the Eden Reforestation Project has been one of the ways to support this cause.

Eden Reforestation Projects is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that started in 2005 with a simple mission: Plant Trees. Save Lives.

Eden has developed an effective model for reforestation with nurseries established in Madagascar, Haiti, Nepal, Indonesia, Mozambique, Kenya, Nicaragua, and Honduras and planted more than 500 million trees across its project nations with approximately 20 million trees added each month!

They accomplish this by using the donations they receive to open nurseries in deforested regions and pay impoverished communities a living wage to plant seedlings of native trees and nurse them to maturity (~10 years). This synergistic cycle helps nurture and revive both the forests and the communities that depend on them.

Today we are excited to announce a brand-new level of support for Eden. Every month, the SaveTheWorld project will host a charity livestream for Eden and donate BNB on behalf of TrustSwap to the Eden Reforestation Project. With a cost of only ten cents per tree, we are guaranteeing an on-going effort to continually plant trees and raise them to full maturity while also employing people in developing areas. The deal is being inked for the next twelve months and we can’t wait to publish the amount trees planted by this time next year!

Click here to watch Jeff’s interview with the SaveTheWorld team and the first donation of 6 BNB

SaveTheWorld ($SAVE) is a hyper-deflationary charity token that allows for frictionless rewards while taxing and generating fees per transaction. For each transaction, a 10% tax is charged. 2% will be distributed amongst SaveTheWorld token holders providing frictionless yield rewards and the remaining 8% goes to liquidity.

50% of liquidity generated will be removed each day with 100% of the $BNB going to charity and 100% of the $SAVE tokens being burned forever. SaveTheWorld is using a Gnosis Multi-Signature Wallet to handle the donations in a transparent way.

Please read more about Eden Reforestation Project and learn how you can get involved or donate directly at: https://edenprojects.org/.

To know more about the SaveTheWorld charity initiative powered by the $SAVE token, visit savetheworld.health.
Resilience of Novel Ecosystem Under Global Change — Series 1
By: Akika Takada
Tags: Global Change, Resilience, Ecology, Novel Ecosystem

Abstract

Proliferating novel ecosystems caused by global change has made an urgent call for rethinking the ecosystem management of resilience. Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to maintain its structure and function. With the acknowledgement of the importance and value of novel ecosystems, resilience of novel ecosystems has been found to be context-dependent through the examination of three case studies: Tussock grassland in New Zealand, temperate kelp forest in Western Australia and pine beetle outbreaks in Western North America. To manage resilience in novel ecosystems, four key elements of resilience were identified, including biological diversity, critical ecological processes with keystone process species, temporal and spatial cross-scale interactions and connectivity. Measurement of resilience is necessary for identifying the current state of resilience in stability domain of an ecosystem. There are several direct and indirect methods, however, an efficient universal approach is still under development. The management strategy will be determined through a management framework. It is particularly difficult in classifying an ecosystem to different state due to the arguable definition, but it is necessary to form adequate management goals. An example of novel rangeland was used to demonstrate that how to apply the concept into practice. Management practice is still at its early stage and need more examinations. Besides, the losses and unknown of its nature cannot be ignored. Adaptive management is, therefore, required to prevent the unexpected consequences. The understanding of resilience of novel ecosystems not only contribute to ecosystem management under global change but also has important implications for restoration. Further research is needed for measurement approaches of the domain of attraction and the continuous monitoring is needed to improve the adaptive ecosystem management in response to global changes.
One Planet Universe
By: Nia Schimnoski
Tags: Ecology, The Schim, Art, Computer Science

Elongated post-amble:

Voidulem is a natural resource that can be converted into anything by the player character (the player characters are a race of beings known as: "Voiduliens").

Matter that is "destroyed" (things can be “destroyed" by certain attacks) is converted into voidulem. Taking voidulem from the edge of space: shrinks the universe.

If you take away all the voidulem, then the entire in-game universe will look something like a hall of mirrors and the sky above the northpole of your world: will directly touch the sky above the south pole of your world.

This is because voidulem seperates 27 identical planetoids [in 3D space], and the game takes place in/on/around the central planetoid.

The outer 26 planetoids are just mirror worlds which perfectly mimic the central world.

When you try to land on or enter the atmosphere of: a mirror world [in this game]: you are teleported to the identical relative position within the central world.

At the start of the game a certain ammount of stuff in your game’s world is comprised of voidulem.

You can colonize the empty space of the voidulem, or you can harvest it.

Blocks that move: displace other blocks.

Most creatures need to use a “move" to displace any blocks.

A “move" or “moves” are abilities which cost “energy".

“energy" is a unit of currency derived from putting items in an inventory or in a stomach, or in a xylem; and then choosing to actively “convert" objects into their respective ammount of energy, once this energy is spent: it is “set-free" and becomes a creature-like object which can pass through all obstacles except for: living obstacles.

So, if a creature/character uses a move to shoot a fireball in a given direction, and then the fireball hits a wall and is destroyed: the energy used to create the fireball will be “set-free" and a “creature-like" yellow cube with energy in its inventory will travel in the direction indefinitely, until it collides with a living creature, upon that moment: it will cease to exist, and it’s inventory contents will be transfered into the inventory of the creature that it collided with.
Wednesday~Seas & CT’s
By: John Allen
Tags: Global Warming, Cancer, Oceans, Ecology, Health

“Our oceans are at risk of becoming death zones, and if they die so do we. Carbon Dioxide is the prime ingredient of ocean acidification which dissolves the calcium in countless shells of marine animals. They are at risk of dying off and CO2 emissions are the reason why.” J Allen

Edit: I’m adding something of interest as to the climate change were all are hearing about these days. Yesterday in Albuquerque, New Mexico we set a record high of 96F for September 8th. Today we are going to set a record low of 48-50F for our high. A 48–50F difference in one day! So tell me our climate isn’t totally unstable. Congress? Chirp, chirp…. I found an article about the fires in California today. We have also had some forest fires here in NM. From CounterPunch \/ link

Continuing On…\/

Seas & CT’s

Well today I go get a special CT scan to map out my chest cavity for my upcoming radiation therapy, an effort to stem the new cancerous growth in my right lung. I already have had half my left lung removed back in November of ’08. I am unable to undergo another surgery, I probably wouldn’t survive the ordeal this time around. It was unequivocally the most unpleasant, painful event in my life. I wouldn’t wish this ordeal on anyone. Such is the risk one takes by smoking cigarettes. My health is faltering. So are Earth’s oceans, the focus of my short report today. We collectively are also causing the oceans ill health. By — imagine that — burning fossil fuels. To power our industrial society.

Smoking kills. Either on an individual scale, such as myself, or the world’s oceans as CO2 emissions change the ocean’s chemistry for the worse. Lungs or oceans the chemistry is affected by smoking. Either way is a loss.

I found a good story about ocean acidification the killer of our oceans. So the seas give us life. They give us oxygen. The coral reefs are fully 25% of the shallows of the world’s oceans. And they are dying off. Equivalent to losing all the forests of North, Central, and South America combined. So I leave you inquiring folks with the link to a fine story on our oceans. And I’ll get scanned and mapped for my radiation therapy. Stay safe, Peace, The Ol’ Hippy \/link
Lake Winnipeg. In a wide-ranging interview Hank Venema…
By: Bramwell Ryan
Tags: Co Creation, Journalism, Ecology, Lake Winnipeg, Hank Venema

In a wide-ranging interview Hank Venema starts with how we got in to this mess in the first place. If we hadn’t moved heaven and earth (literally) to get water off the prairie as fast as possible, we might not have the same levels of eutrophication in Lake Winnipeg. But there’s no point in blaming our ancestors. Nothing can be done about what was done. Instead, says Venema, who is a water resources engineer with a doctorate in systems design engineering, we have to look forward and innovate.

Hank Venema

Hugely expensive engineering projects might not be the answer. Instead, what if we put a price on phosphate and reduced the amount that ends up in the lake. Couple that with ongoing efforts to — essentially — return the prairie to something like its original condition, and we might have the workings of a solution.

Whatever happens, there’s no time to waste. Climate change, an overdue multi-year drought and continued bad practices mean that the future looks dark for the lake.

This is the fourth full interview I am posting as this co-creation continues. Why am I publishing this? I figure that if others listen to what Venema has to say it will help identify the key insights needed to build this story. Let me know what stands out for you.

Don’t miss the earlier interviews with Vicki Burns, Bill Barlow and Les McEwan.
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
By: Charissa Nasrallah Soful
Tags: Economy, Ecology, Corona, Love, Pandemic

I teach Biology with a passionate for Ecology,

and just before my lessons about Epidemiology,

The schools closed with concerns over Virology.

I’m submitting this as evidence God writes comedy.

This pandemic has shut down my town & most others,

social distancing is now an administrative order,

to block the pathway of a pathogen that knows no borders

one of our density dependent limiting factors.

Research implies there is a higher mortality

among those in society that are sick or elderly,

so I’ll stay walled away with my family,

and slip into almost certain insanity.

How long can we make it with out any food?

I’ll freely admit we don’t garden so good.

And if I could forage enough mushrooms and roots,

I’d probably already live in the woods.

I know isolation stops the spread of disease,

but there is a debate about how much we need.

Pestilence has plagued us throughout our history.

Now its collapsing our economy.

Are we doing to little or doing to much?

I don’t have all the answers, nobody does.

COVID mutates, it’s not what it was.

The best we can do is hygienically love.
The basic idea of ​​ecological design.
By: Sarah Calderon
Tags: Writing, Ecology, Nature, Writer, Design

Did you know that Ecodesign is very important for the world? And what are the real concepts of this world system?

Ecodesign is a broad process covering all environmental aspects where the main objective is to reduce non-renewable resources and minimize the environmental impact. It takes a deep analysis of the place and the resources available to define the action — Always thinking about recycling and reuse. ♻

So this is just nature?

Not! Ecodesign is much more, it encompasses everything that is part of the land and homo sapiens also enters this dance.

The objective is to practice sustainability in its three pillars:

- Economic; 💲

- Social; 🤝

- Environmental.🌱

It does not help us a system where products are made through slavery or a totally ecological world where only a select group can join it. Just as all the money in the world is of no use to us, if the quality of environmental life is precarious.

Your idea needs to be sustainable and accessible.

Perhaps some people believe that this is impossible because of what society has presented us in recent years with technology. But at the bottom of this system that we are used to something is changing even if slowly; as people become more aware they can produce fantastic materials that have the potential to help us. It may be that many small companies that today start with this philosophy of life are not so famous so that we can see that this is already happening. But if we look carefully, we can see that the impossible is already happening.
The essence of “our movement”
By: Steven Welzer
Tags: Ecology, Greening Movement, Community

There is increasing resonance for our movement. On some level people have some sense that important requisites for a good quality of life are lacking. Too many aspects of our present social reality and current modes of living are felt to be unsatisfactory.

I don’t think the essence of the problems and the solutions is yet well understood. But I do notice more and more articles and expressions along the lines of the one I cited yesterday:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/05/in-a-divided-country-communal-living-redefines-togetherness

The themes there are: A better way of life. Less isolation. More relating. More support.

Most of the people who gravitate toward those co-living and cohousing and other communitarian initiatives are just seeking a better quality of life, and that’s surely understandable. But for some there’s a social change aspect, a sense of being part of a movement.



It’s a movement for a restoration of sane lifeways.

Erich Fromm:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40717990-the-sane-society

Social changers should recognize that we’re not just struggling against injustice, against capitalism. Most of what the left critiques should be seen as symptomatic. The roots of the problems go deeper.

The aberrant turn toward modern society drove humanity a little crazy. The symptoms are: alienation from nature, militarism, inequality, patriarchy, hyper-exploitation, mass commercialism, leviathan-scale institutions and technologies. And the need is not for some new system. The need is for restoration. To get back to lifeways that are sustainable and as satisfying as human lifeways are able to be (there’s no nirvana … the unique human characteristic called ‘consciousness’ subjects us all to idiosyncratic psychological and social issues).

Our movement should put forward a positive vision: restoration of ecological balances; rejuvenation of local community life. Such could elicit majority support.

The movement’s banner could simply read: Ecology and Community
Lake Winnipeg | Bill Barlow
By: Bramwell Ryan
Tags: Co Creation, Journalism, Bill Barlow, Ecology, Lake Winnipeg

William (Bill) Barlow was involved in small town politics for decades. He also served on bigger stages and for years was the chair of the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board. That group was tasked by Manitoba’s Minister of Water Stewardship to produce a report about the state of the lake, which was presented in December 2006. It was a hard hitting document with 135 recommendations, all of which were quickly accepted by the provincial government.

Barlow is a director with the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium and chair of Gimli’s Lake Winnipeg Visitor Centre committee

But not much happened. So, three years later, Barlow’s board wrote a follow-up. If you translated that second report from its careful diplomatic language, what it was saying was: “what the hell…?”. In what passes as strong language from a careful politician like Barlow, he concluded the Message from the Chair of the second report in an unambiguous statement. “It’s time to go further than just thinking about action; the time for implementing action is now. We’ve only just begun to reverse what we have done.”

Like a time capsule from the past, here are some of the alarms about Lake Winnipeg from the initial report published 14 years ago. Sadly, most of these cautions are still relevant today.

There is an urgency surrounding the recommendations contained in this report. Algal blooms on Lake Winnipeg continue to increase in frequency, duration, and intensity, an ominous sign that the lake is not well. By far, not enough is happening in the watershed that might first initiate a slow-down, and secondly a reduction, of nutrient loading to the lake to restore the health of Lake Winnipeg. Now is the time to accept our collective responsibility, and to support a commitment to action for the benefit of Lake Winnipeg. We cannot wait. The time for action is now! … must not delay the implementation of the plan, since there is enough information and experience at hand to begin the task What we have seen on Lake Winnipeg in recent years demands our immediate attention. We all share responsibility for the future of the lake and as such, must make a commitment to restore its health. There is a sense of urgency in what we must do. We cannot afford to wait.

From Reducing Nutrient Loading to Lake Winnipeg and its Watershed Our Collective Responsibility and Commitment to Action Report to the Minister of Water Stewardship by the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board, December 2006

This is the second of several full interviews I’ll be posting as this co-creation continues. Why am I putting this out? I figure that if others listen to what Barlow has to say it will help identify the key insights needed to build this story. Let me know what stands out for you.

Don’t miss the interview with Vicki Burns.
Let’s Get Serious About ECO-GRIEF
By: Adreena Carr
Tags: Mental Health, Psychology, Ecology, Eco Grief, Climate Change

Okay so we all know the world is taking a turn for the downside. Most of us can agree on that.

Being an overly optimistic person when it comes to the environment comes with it’s down falls. For one, you have to start acknowledging a thing called “eco-grief”. What the heck is eco-grief you may wonder. Well according to Dr. Kriss Kevokian :

“ eco-grief is the grief reaction stemming from the disconnected and relational loss from our natural word.”

Similarly, you could expereince environmental grief which is the reaction towards man made and natural events resulting in the loss of natural systems. Both definitions can be found on Dr. Kevokian’s website. https://drkkevorkian.com/ecological-environmental-grief/

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

The next reaction to occur is you beginning to realize that you are experiencing a suppression of eco-grief created by high tech-low conscious culture and must now learn how to cope with it. This is where S**T really hits the fan and we start asking all the why and how questions.

Though eco-grief isn’t a bad thing, in fact it’s quite natural to experience, I’ve noticed a rise within my personal community favoring a dystopian perspective on climate change and climate culture.

A common phrase being thrown around is, “it’s not my problem.” Another classic example of chosen ignorance is, “I can’t see it, so why should I care.” Oh boy… but this last one does it for me. Time and time again I’ve heard, “I’m here for a good time, not a long one.”

Now taken in the context of life, we’ve all heard that saying tossed around one situation to the next. We as a species crave adventure and adrenaline pumping experiences or for some, experiences so good we won’t remember them the next morning.
Farming is ready. Are you?
Tags: Ecology, Crypto, Green, Cryptocurrency

Let’s get to the point: our farm is ready. After several weeks of waiting, we are happy to present our first version of what will later be the first eco-friendly Crypto hub.

You can access our pools here: https://pools.greenfi.co/

5 Green Pools

GreenFi: 2,400,000 million GRNFI to be earned over a 90 day period. This pool represents 40% of the total rewards.

WBNB: 900,000 GRNFI to be earned over a 90 day period. This pool represents 15% of total rewards. A 2% fee will be collected to fund the planting of trees and offset the carbon impact of the transactions.

BUSD: 900,000 GRNFI to be earned over a 90-day period. This pool represents 15% of total rewards. A 2% fee will be collected to fund the tree planting and offset the carbon impact of the transactions.

EWT: $900,000 GRNFI to be earned over a 90-day period. This pool represents 15% of total rewards. A 2% fee will be collected to fund the planting of trees and offset the carbon impact of the transactions. You can bridge your EWT from Energy Web Chain here: https://bridge.carbonswap.exchange/

BTCB (BTC on BSC): 900,000 GRNFI to be earned over a 90-day period. This pool represents 15% of the total rewards. A 2% fee will be collected to fund tree planting and offset the carbon impact of the transactions.

Start of the farming period

The launch of the pools will be effective at block #10900100. Here is a timer to follow the arrival of the block in real time: https://bscscan.com/block/countdown/10900100

You can already deposit your tokens but the rewards will be distributed from this block, not before.

Thanks a lot for your patience. We hope you’ll like this first version as much as we do. Now, let’s work on EWC integration and our upcoming launchpad!
Indonesia’s Face of Bioconversion and Waste Reduction
By: Yoanna Koleva
Tags: Bio, Ecology, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Impact

The fact is, the amount of household and organic trash, as well as industrial waste, are increasing tenfold daily. We are still experiencing limitations on participation in reducing environmental impacts on Earth through proper production and consumption patterns. This trend undoubtedly contributes to the overall community knowledge ignorance on how to overcome the problem and exacerbates existing issues.

Credit: Mitra Desa Indonesia

Bioconversion /ˈbʌɪəʊk(ə)nˌvəːʃ(ə)n/ noun the conversion of one chemical compound, or one form of energy, into another by living organisms.

Hari Agustinus comes from Indonesia and is the CEO and Founder of Mitra Desa Indonesia — Mitra Desa Indonesia is a co-organization under the umbrella of the Cendekia Mitra Indonesia Foundation which aims at mutual progress through the promotion of Community Sustainable Integrated Farming. By facilitating actions through a community-building level chain of business, Mitra Desa believes that they can contribute to much more than just bioconversion.

Credit: Mitra Desa Indonesia

How is Bioconversion promoted?

1. Building community-scale chicken farms, fish farms, and Hydroponics Farming along with building black Soldier Fly Farms.

2. Providing garbage bins (containers) for households to put Maggot larva in as a means of bioconversion.

3. Encouraging the community to collect and process household trash and organics garbage.

4. Connecting industry (in this case it is the leather processing export industry) to the community for processing industrial waste with maggot larva.

5. Facilitating the community to create cooperative sustainable integrated farming management to handle the business.

6. Connecting the community to emerging and existing markets.

Speaking to Hari, he pointed out to Global Impact Network how seeing the behavioral change in the community’s mindset is inspiring, helping them to generate income and provide them with problem-solving ideas for the leather industrial waste, as this had been a problem for the industry for years.

“The community started to get familiar with reduce, reuse and recycle. For example, they modified plastic bottles which became plantation pots and started using them to plant vegetables.’

By simply showing up, we are the facilitators of bringing powerful change to existing behaviors. Because people watch, act, and learn accordingly.

In Indonesia there are at least 12 leather processing industries, not to mention hundreds of small scale processing industries. Each big industry produces up to 3000 kg of waste daily.

We are fascinated by Hari’s efforts to combat existing issues with waste production and his willingness to contribute to bioconversion with his organization and we are proud to announce Hari Agustinus as one of our First 100 Global Impact Ambassadors.
8 Eco-friendly Products To Help Save The Environment
By: Toetra Shop
Tags: Ecology, Eco Friendly Products, Womens Health, Zero Waste

Today plastic pollution and destruction of our environment is a problem we cannot ignore. It’s 91% of plastic that is not recycled and so, that is spread all over the earth.

Because it takes the first step to trigger the change, we combined a list of eco-friendly products that you can use in your daily life to reduce waste and help saving the environment.

1. Ecological Bamboo Toothbrush

Toothbrushes have been mainly produced in plastic for decades. Alternative are rising now and one of the best options in our opinion is the ecological bamboo toothbrush.

2. Reusable Silicone Cotton Swab

Plastic cotton swab is definitely a major problem in the pollution of the ocean and the environment. There’s different alternative that exists but we selected this one for those of you who are used to the classical cotton swab. This reusable Cotton Swab is made of silicone and is washable.

3. Bamboo Paper Towels

Most type of wipes contain tiny plastic fiber which harm fish and other marine life. Bamboo Paper Towels can be washed and reused up to 65 times.

4. Beeswax Food Wraps

You can now trade your aluminium and plastic wraps for beeswax food wraps. 100% biodegradable and reusable up to a 150 times.

5. Water Bobble Hydration Filter Bottle

Plastic water bottles play a consistent part in the pollution of the environment. The water bobble hydration filter bottle will allow you to drink tap water wherever you are going. It filters up to 150L of water.

6. Silicone Menstrual Cup

Women use between 11 000 and 16 000 tampons and pads in their lifetime, products full of toxic chemicals. And that is without mentioning the cost of if. One of the alternative to that is the silicone menstrual cup that is washable, reusable and last up to 8 years.

7. Sanitary Pad Panty Liner

Another alternative for women is the sanitary pad panty liner. It is made with organic cotton, it is washable, reusable and last up to 2 years.

8. Reusable Bamboo Cotton Pads

Finally, these cotton pads are washable and reusable. You can use them between 300 and 500 times.

We hope this list of eco-friendly products gave you insights on how small changes in your daily life can affect the environment. If you want to try any of these products or find out more Check out Toetra Shop.
How we migrated our design team to Figma
By: Alexander Fandén
Tags: Designops, Figma, UI, Sketch, Tools

Credit Karma has one Design Systems Team in Figma with separate projects for assets, components, layouts, OS devices, and more.

Each component is divided into an individual Figma file, where everything about that component is documented in detail — all research, iterations, symbols, states, and dos and don’ts can be found here.

This approach allows for easier versioning, less risk of braking components, and more documentation per component without making it overwhelming. But it also means that designers have to link a large number of libraries to every project (one per component).

Shopify has embedded a checklist in their working files on Figma to help designers cover all the bases as they are designing on different features.

To speed up work and to keep designers aligned, some larger design organizations take it a step further and build their own plugins and extensions.

Uber built these nifty Mac OS extensions which include icons, assets, spacings, branding guidelines, and more. Updates can be sent via push notifications to the whole team.

At Agoda, we built a Sketch plugin to populate our designs with hotel names, facilities, airport codes, room photos, and more. As a part of the migration, we’re currently rebuilding this plugin for Figma.

This might not be worth the efforts in smaller teams, but in teams of 50+ designers, this can prove to be a real time-saver in the long run.

For each product, Spotify has a dedicated project where they host all their specs — the source of truth for that product. This makes for a clear separation between the live product and works in progress.

Getting a glimpse of how other design teams work with Figma provided us a wealth of ideas to explore. To be able to explore these ideas and do so in an organized manner, we decided to establish a formal working group.

Establish a working group with clear responsibilities

What started as a small team of designers from one of our product teams quickly expanded to a working group with designers from different product teams across our organization — Consumer and supply product designers working on both web and app were represented in the working group. So were designers from our design systems teams.

With designers from a wide range of products involved, we could challenge each problem from many different angles and split the responsibilities better. For some of us, this was the first time we had an opportunity to work together with other designers across different teams — exciting times!

We divided the work into the following workstreams and assigned an owner for each:

Organization and setup

Team, Project and file structure

Design System and UI libraries

Workflows

General workflows

Master file management (our source of truth)

Communication and governance

Communication channels and contact persons

Maintenance plans

We could now diverge and dive deeper into each focus area. To keep aligned and share learnings we created a private slack channel. To stay focused and move fast we had weekly syncs with clear action items and follow-ups.
A small journey into madness creating complex variants in Figma
By: Luke Cardoni
Tags: Figma, UI, Design Systems, Product Design, UX

Wait — Is that a Nested Variant?!

Notice in fig. 8 that the middle component is actually a Variant in and of itself. Nesting a variant, in this case, adds to the scalability and future-proofing of this component. If, somewhere down the line, brand colors or decisions made around interaction styles were to change, they need only be adjusted at this single point within the Variant, within the master component. Nesting Variants can also be used to extend individual pieces of the master component, as long as they occupy similar slots and function in the final presentation.

fig. 9 — Converting the error messaging component into a Variant to include warning and success styles for form feedback.

While I was working on this, there were still some decisions being made elsewhere within the system for positive and warning validation styles, color, and iconography. Once those decisions are finalized, using the nested Variant approach, I plan to convert the error component into a Variant to include positive and warning feedback (fig 9). Those styles would then be available to the master component.

Now that I had a master component to work from, it was time to revisit the 7 properties and associated values for Text Input (fig 10). With those, I set up a workspace to begin building out the many permutations this component could take.

fig. 10 — Planning properties and values for the Text Input Variant

Setting up the property matrix

A property matrix requires a bit of math, but is essentially a grid system through which all possible combinations of properties and values are represented. To get started, create a table where each cell represents the values of one property. Next, duplicate the table for each value of the next property on the opposite axis. This process of duplicating and alternating axes continues until all properties are represented in the table. Doing so will ensure that a space is defined for each possible combination of values for all properties.

When preparing to do this, I would suggest strategically sorting your properties (fig. 11) so that you can work in larger and larger batches as you progress — starting with the property with the most values to the least values, or organizing by state, theme, etc. When combined as Variants, those properties and values can be re-ordered in the builder panel, so don’t stress too much.

fig. 11 — Demonstrating the creation of a property matrix using the properties and values of Text Input

For Text Input, I began with a single row table with 5 columns, one for each value in the “Icon” property. I then duplicated that row for each of the 3 values in the “Text” property. I then duplicated that set for all values in the “Required” property, and then again for “Helpers”, “Size”, “State”, and finally “Background Color”.
Designing micro-interactions with Figma interactive components
By: Rodrigo Osornio
Tags: Figma, UI, User Interface, Prototyping, UX

During the last days I have been exploring the new beta feature of Figma, ‘Interactive Components’. This feature is a great tool for the product designers, it offers new advantages and possibilities. In this post I show some of the explorations I have been doing, mostly on micro-interactions.

First, here’s what I think…

This feature may not be totally new on the product design software environment. I have already used a very similar feature some months ago in other apps like XD. However, it is true that at this moment Figma is The Tool. Adding this feature makes it even more cool. From my experience using this in other applications, this beta seems like a great implementation. The interactive components, together with the variants, the powerful auto-layout and the multi-player, place Figma in a better position.

Having the interactions saved on a design library makes it easier to create more realistic and more complete prototypes. This is a great asset for the initial design research and pre-MVP testing. As this area becomes more advanced, some people mention that soon we will be creating MVP’s directly from Figma. I think that this might be true someday, but at this moment achieving the cleanliness and scalability of the code feels far away.

In the field of the design systems, this tool will make easier to design the micro-interaction and motion of the different components and screens. In terms of documentation, it will also help to communicate this information with the development teams. The scalability and parametrization of the UI kits will also be a great advantage.