Like another commenter said, attracting insects can help, by providing food for pollinators and other bugs which also help feed smaller animals which then feed larger animals etc. Never ever use herbicide/pesticide, or artificial fertilizer. (For example, anything with glyphosate in it will kill anything with permeable skin in the area. Salamanders will die from levels even below EPA standards of safe drinking water.) If you need fertilizer use compost.

Even better: kill your lawn. Let native wildflower species take over. If it all turns to clover, you don’t even have to mow it.

The main problem is our economic system which demands infinite, unsustainable profit and expansion, so at the very least get the conversation going on that. I know it’s impossible for an individual to fight the whole world, but that’s why organizing is important. You must build a large enough group to become a force for change.

In the meantime, since we aren’t ready to kill capitalism, make your own space as much of a sanctuary as it can be.

https://archive.ph/OLGDp paywall

At first I was like wtf is with this author. I’m millenial/gen z and even I remember what we did. TV, books, and calling your friends on your wired phone attached to the wall.

But as I read the article, I kinda get it. There was a ton of down time and boredom. However, I disagree that the nothingness was this horrible thing. I think the “nothing ever happens” is what our brains handle much better than “there’s too much happening.”

Our brains literally can’t process the firehose of information streaming into our eyeballs 24/7 365. It starts to go in your eyes and right out your ears. My memory is shit now. I’m forgetting important stuff because it keeps getting deleted to make room for more garbage data like endless dank memes and posts. I think the nothingness, along with REM sleep (which is also disrupted by screens), is what’s needed to help process and therefore retain new information.

I’m trying to spend less time on screens because it feels like dementia and it’s freaking me out.

How’s the healthcare over there?

Glad they sorted out the air, but I hope that those who were affected can get help for the lung damage sustained after all those years of breathing it in.