A Living Seed Bank Is Preserving the Amazon’s Incredible Plants

If the Amazon rainforest were to have a department store, this is what it might look like

Within the sprawling, 130-hectare “living seed bank” at Camino Verde, a project in the richly biodiverse region of Madre de Dios in Peru, there are over 400 species of native trees and plants with often incredible properties little-known to science.

The Heliconia flower, nicknamed the Lobster Claw.
The Heliconia flower, nicknamed the Lobster Claw. Credit: Peter Yeung

There are “dragon’s blood” trees with thick red sap that heal wounds quickly; there’s Flemingia (wild hops), a leafy shrub that has the rare ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, making it more fertile; there are towering, thick trunks of ironwood, one of the strongest timbers in the world. Meanwhile, the bark of the tawari tree produces “killer T-cells” that fight cancer. All of these are coexisting in this great, Avatar-esque library of natural wonders.

Source: A Living Seed Bank Is Preserving the Amazon’s Incredible Plants

Only the Brave – ore de drum

Sigüenza, 2020

O catedrală mult prea mare pentru un oraș atât de mic, de numai patru mii patru sute de locuitori, la ce bun ? mă întreb.

S-au strâns multe averi în Sigüenza din 1124 încoace, când francezul Bernard d’Agen, recucerind cetatea de la mauri, a pus temelia catedralei ridicată după un plan cistercian pe ruinele unui lăcaș vizigot sau mozarab și ispravită în 1495.

Succedându-i, cărturarii perindați pe scaunele episcopale au știut cum să-i convingă pe suverani să le acorde mărinimia lor, așa că au tocmit cei mai iscusiți meșteșteri și artizani ca să desăvârșească opera închinată Sfintei Marii, ocrotitoarea cetății.

Source: Only the Brave – ore de drum

Sociopath: a Memoir Review + Surviving Sue by Dr. Vicki Atkinson – Happiness Between Tails by da-AL

Cover of Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, PhD

Got people for whom avarice, jealousy, and self-interest eclipse their care for your well-being? Sociopath, psychopath, narcissist, shark, snake; you say pota-toe, I say pata-ta? Seriously though, beyond the fact that I’m a wordsmith (about my books here), knowing who and what we’re dealing with can aid us in getting along with different types of people and, more importantly, to protect ourselves.

When holier-than-thou individuals boo-hoo, “It breaks my heart that so-and-so’s people never call or visit them,” I’m the cynic who retorts, “Did you stop to consider that maybe, behind doors, they’re so thoroughly hateful that they’re lucky they’re not treated worse?”

Forgiveness, to my mind, isn’t a cure-all. Not when acceptance is what’s truly called for.

It can take a shattering of dreams to accept the reality that some people are out-and-out poison. Some venoms, at low doses, are tolerable. Others necessitate a hazmat suit. Better yet, full avoidance. In a perfect world, toxic people would wear labels with dosage instructions, side effect warnings, and drawings of x-d out skulls.

In Sociopath: A Memoir, Ph.D. Patric Gagne lets us in on how we’re all born with varying degrees of emotional capacity. Those genetically unencumbered by empathy and guilt should be acknowledged. Social stigmatization, she reasons, only contorts sociopaths like her into relieving frustration by committing bad deeds. Her bonus note is that those who stress over hurting people would do well to let a little sociopath-ness rub off. Many of our culture’s favorite characters are narcissists who dashingly barrel through life without a care.

Source: Sociopath: a Memoir Review + Surviving Sue by Dr. Vicki Atkinson – Happiness Between Tails by da-AL

Open Thread | President Biden’s Pro-Environment Actions | 3CHICSPOLITICO

If you care about the environment, then you need to be supporting President Joe Biden.

chris evans (@notcapnamerica) posted at 7:48 PM on Wed, Jun 05, 2024:
85 pro-environment actions Biden has taken while in office with Republicans blocking everything they can:

1. Rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement
2. Hosted the Leaders Summit on Climate
3. Committed to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030
4. Pledged to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050
5. Established the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy
6. Appointed John Kerry as the first-ever U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
7. Directed federal agencies to procure carbon-free electricity and zero-emission vehicles
8. Launched the American Jobs Plan with significant investments in clean energy and infrastructure
9. Proposed the Build Back Better plan with substantial climate and environmental provisions
10. Paused new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters
11. Directed federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies
12. Restored and strengthened vehicle fuel efficiency standards
13. Set a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030
14. Committed to conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030
15. Restored protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monuments
16. Revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline
17. Halted oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
18. Reversed rollbacks to the National Environmental Policy Act
19. Reinstated the ban on logging and road construction in the Tongass National Forest
20. Proposed stronger standards for methane emissions from oil and gas operations
21. Initiated the process to reverse rollbacks of the Clean Water Act
22. Supported the PFAS Action Act to address “forever chemicals”
23. Proposed funding for clean energy research and development
24. Directed agencies to incorporate climate change into national security considerations
25. Reestablished the federal flood risk management standard
26. Reinstated California’s authority to set stricter vehicle emission standards
27. Committed to electrifying the federal vehicle fleet
28. Proposed plans to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations
29. Accelerated the permitting of clean energy projects on federal lands
30. Launched a government-wide environmental justice initiative
31. Established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
32. Pledged to deliver 40% of clean energy investment benefits to disadvantaged communities
33. Proposed funding for energy efficiency and clean energy in low-income households
34. Launched the Justice40 initiative
35. Signed an executive order on tackling the climate crisis domestically and abroad
36. Established the Civilian Climate Corps
37. Initiated development of new emissions standards for cars, light trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles
38. Directed U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to prioritize climate in investments
39. Committed to ending international financing of carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy
40. Pledged to work with Congress to eliminate fossil fuel tax preferences
41. Directed agencies to identify new opportunities to spur innovation in clean energy technologies
42. Established an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities
43. Launched the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act to phase down hydrofluorocarbons
44. Reversed Trump-era rollbacks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protections
45. Initiated the process to establish national limits on PFAS in drinking water
46. Proposed the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan
47. Launched a government-wide strategy for advancing nature-based solutions to climate change
48. Committed to creating a new multi-agency scientific integrity task force
49. Started development of new energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances
50. Established the first-ever White House Office of Climate Policy

Source: Open Thread | President Biden’s Pro-Environment Actions | 3CHICSPOLITICO

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