#life under climate crisis
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#ohio#Palestine Ohio#life under climate crisis#kill capitalism#precision scheduled railroading#norfolk
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« To mention the global loss of biodiversity, that is to say, the disappearance of life on our planet, as one of our problems, along with air pollution or ocean acidification, is absurd—like a doctor listing the death of his patient as one symptom among others.
The ecological catastrophe cannot be reduced to the climate crisis. We must think about the disappearance of life in a global way. About two-thirds of insects, wild mammals and trees disappeared in a few years, a few decades and a few millennia, respectively. This mass extinction is not mainly caused by rising temperatures, but by the devastation of natural habitats.
Suppose we managed to invent clean and unlimited energy. This technological feat would be feted by the vast majority of scientists, synonymous in their eyes with a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions. In my opinion, it would lead to an even worse disaster. I am deeply convinced that, given the current state of our appetites and values, this energy would be used to intensify our gigantic project of systemic destruction of planetary life. Isn't that what we've set out to do—replace forests with supermarket parking lots, turn the planet into a landfill? What if, to cap it all, energy was free?
[...C]limate change has emerged as our most important ecological battle [...] because it is one that can perpetuate the delusional idea that we are faced with an engineering problem, in need of technological solutions. At the heart of current political and economic thought lies the idea that an ideal world would be a world in which we could continue to live in the same way, with fewer negative externalities. This is insane on several levels. Firstly because it is impossible. We can't have infinite growth in a finite world. We won't. But also, and more importantly, it is not desirable. Even if it were sustainable, the reality we construct is hell. [...]
It is often said that our Western world is desacralised. In reality, our civilisation treats the technosphere with almost devout reverence. And that's worse. We perceive the totality of reality through the prism of a hegemonic science, convinced that it “says” the only truth.
The problem is that technology is based on a very strange principle, so deeply ingrained in us that it remains unexpressed: no brakes are acceptable, what can be done must be done. We don't even bother to seriously and collectively debate the advisability of such "advances". We are under a spell. And we are avoiding the essential question: is this world in the making, standardised and computed, overbuilt and predictable, stripped of stars and birds, desirable?
To confine science to the search for "solutions" so we can continue down the same path is to lack both imagination and ambition. Because the “problem” we face doesn't seem to me, at this point, to be understood. No hope is possible if we don't start by questioning our assumptions, our values, our appetites, our symbols... [...] Let's stop pretending that the numerous and diverse human societies that have populated this planet did not exist. Certainly, some of them have taken the wrong route. But ours is the first to forge ahead towards guaranteed failure. »
— Aurélien Barrau, particle physicist and philosopher, in an interview in Télérama about his book L'Hypothèse K
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Biology rizz: I'm jealous of your heart because it's pounding inside of you and I am not.
Volcanologist rizz: damn girl are you volcanic ash and spatter? Because you’re intoxicating
Historical rizz: they’ll call me patron of the arts the way I’m paying for furry porn
Econ rizz: baby, I‘ve got the supplies, the question is, do you have the demand.
Environmental science rizz: I must be the climate crisis the way your ignoring me
Physics rizz: looks like you forgot to account for my gravitational pull
Philosophy rizz: I stopped checking for monsters under the bed when I realized society was the monster
Chemistry rizz: Call me Marie curie bc a hug without u would be life ending
#i am the funniest person alive#196#r/196#/r/196#geology memes#shitpost#chemistry#college memes#rizz#history memes#biology memes#environment#physics memes#college
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it's not that I don't think people should volunteer at animal shelters. it's that my friend is framing it as activism. and I.......don't agree
#wings speaks#im the kind of leftist who would gladly throw animal rights under the bus for people#not that im opposed to animal rights#i think theres something to the way a society treats animals can tell you about how they value life but like#only to a point#and if your responce to the desent into faacism and worsening climate crisis is 'cleaning litter boxes of stray cats will help'#youre just....wrong sorry
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Struggling under the rising cost of living and an ever mounting fear of the climate crisis, young Canadians don’t see a positive future for themselves right now, according to a recent national survey.
The survey, which interviewed 1,508 millennials and 1,507 Gen Z adults, found that half of young Canadians live paycheque-to-paycheque and that half also believe that we will see the environmental situation deteriorate in 2024.
One in ten young Canadians said they wouldn’t feel comfortable “bringing children into the world in a climate crisis.”
The results of Leger’s annual Youth Survey were laid out in a report published last week(opens in a new tab), painting a bleak picture of the life that young Canadians are experiencing and anticipating.
"The situation is getting worse with each passing year: Generation Z and millennials lack confidence in the future,” the report stated. [...]
Continue Reading.
Tagging: @vague-humanoid, @politicsofcanada
#cdnpoli#cost of living#neoliberalism#environment#climate change#felt#it's funny cuz Léger's part of the problem with the horrendous treatment of workers and 14$ an hour to get harassed and screamed at#but you didn't hear it from me
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(Below are broad vibes for each of the numbers. They are not meant to represent every opinion one could have within those parameters. Some aspects of the description may apply to you while others won't. If you picked a number with a description that doesn't match your perspective, let us know what your actual perspective is in a reblog comment! Comments in general are nice too, of course 👍)
(You also might notice a bias in favor of 5; or at least a far deeper description of what it would entail when compared against the other four. This is partly just because I wanted to soapbox, but I hope it doesn't detract. I genuinely want to hear the perspectives of the 1s, 2s, and 3s, if you're out there and don't appreciate my potential oversimplification!)
1 — It does not factor in at all. Much of the discourse around green politics is a liberal distraction and/or a roadblock holding us back from organizing for socialism. Economic development and human concerns will always matter more. Capitalism was a necessary/justifiable component in the march of history towards socialism, even if it did have certain negative impacts on the environment. The ideal society looks like Star Trek or fully-automated luxury communism (FALC) — one where we overcome "the state of nature" and become masters of our own fate.
2 — It doesn't factor in much, even if I may recognize the reality of climate change and/or the need for environmental protections. We can solve the biggest climate problems with advancements in green technology or perhaps expanding resource frontiers into outer space. In general, other social issues take priority when building socialism.
3 — I care about combating climate change and solving ecological problems, but I find other issues to be more important in my life and I will leave most discussion of it to people more knowledgeable on the subject. The world could be doing far better on these issues and changes are needed, but most of the modern civilizational infrastructure should remain unchanged (albeit organized under a socialist mode of production).
4 — It is very important to my politics. We can balance socialistic technological development with the dire needs of a planet in crisis. Certain human activities and production methods will have to be curbed or eliminated entirely if we are to find this balance (fossil fuels, widget production, private jets, etc), while others will have to be uplifted (renewable energy, public transportation, shared living, etc). Modern civilization is ultimately redeemable, but it needs to undergo a radical transformation.
5 — It is among the most important factors in my politics. I take influence from eco-socialism, social ecology, degrowth, post-civ, anti-civ, deep ecology, or any number of other political perspectives which are ecologically-focused. Locally-organized economies; drastic reductions in working hours and energy throughput; rewilding of the land; emphasis on non-consumptive forms of leisure; an end to consumerism, growth-based economic metrics, and imperial conceptions of "development"; agroecology and polyculture as core methods for obtaining food; and a vast deconstruction of much of the civilizational edifice are all pieces to this puzzle and are required if we are going to have a habitable planet for the generations to come. The ideal society looks like a Miyazaki film, that yogurt commercial, or lightly-automated comfortable ecological socialism (LACES) — one where we "don't seek to become larger within socialism, but rather more realized" (Joel Kovel).
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time for the obligatory post about what episodes I want to see in the upcoming leverage season(s)
(for reference, I made this similar post in 2020 after the reboot was announced. I'm pasting some from that post bc I still want them to happen lol)
new ideas:
I mentioned a date night episode in the last post (apollo really did bless me with foresight for the date night job on that one) but for considerment: ot3 date night. possibly their first date night after they all get together. breanna and sophie know it's happening (harry is, like, peripherally aware) and some crime hijinks are going down and the three of them are frantically trying to stop bad things from happening that are going to interfere with the date. I want to see them going through it behind the metaphorical curtain. I want to see breanna fighting for her life trying to out-hack the hacker that is going to ruin their ten-part itineraried date. harry has to get in a fistfight and eliot is so proud about it when he finds out after everything is over
tree law episode. harry has been frothing at the mouth about it since it was made. his life has been moving him towards this penultimate moment. breanna thinks it's HILARIOUS and cheers him on 100% of the way. she is VERY enthusiastic about this con
I'm not going to mention certain things because I've seen jrogers posting on bluesky social and I know he might be already writing some of those plots
con that the food trucks have plot-relevance. like, one of his food truck stations is being harassed /victimized by, like, a local gang or something that takes advantage of food truck/cart workers and the team steps in. the actual (veteran) food truck workers get involved in the con. leverage international might just have gained a few retainer members
quinn should come back for an episode. I know the actor is friends with ckane. they should make it happen because it would be iconic and I said so
on a similar note, ckane is friends with jensen ackles and. guys. wouldn't it- wouldn't it be extremely funny if a flame from eliot's past named sean sylvester who is a rugged drifter with a questionable past
episode where tara or maggie (or BOTH, can you imagine how powerful that would be???) come back and there is slight flirting with sophie possibly??? that or very obvious chemistry from a past tryst. sophie has slept with both of them, I know it in my heart of hearts. bonus points if tara and maggie fall in love (I think it would be funny. maggie's taste in men is canonically atrocious, I think she deserves someone like tara at this point)
I just want a lot of side characters to come back, okay? sue me I miss them
gonna put the rest under the cut since this post has become obscenely long
not episode-specific, but I want more mentions of the korean leverage team. and all the other teams too! we know that in canon there is the south korean one, the nigerian one, and one in london (I think that's it for mentions so far, but correct me if I'm wrong!)
episodes addressing issues with american imperialism and its effects on minorities and marginalized communities, specifically within this country (there aren't a lot of episodes where they are actively out of country)
dear fucking god take a more abolitionist stance on policing I'm begging. would it KILL you to not be weird about cops? pls just punch some more cops. take down white supremacist cops, I'm sure you can scrounge something up bffrrn
women's rights episodes. I know it's kind of recent, but episodes about accessibility of stuff like birth control, abortion access, etc. y'all are capable of making excellent episodes on that I know it
more climate crisis-related episodes. god knows you're feeling it in the deep south
taking down a corrupt megachurch pastor (although lbr, there is no ethical megachurch anything and you can fight me on this)
something to do with ace rights bc I think it would be really cool to see the team advocate for that stuff, especially since breanna is canon ace
helping a polycule that is being victimized by X organization/entity (maybe a housing association or medical or something???). breanna is bombastic side-eyeing the ot3 the entire time. it is making hardison sweat. sophie thinks it's hilarious
taking down 'writers' that use ai and self-publish AND/OR people that take original/fan works off of like ao3 and wattpad and publish them for personal profits without the author's consent. breanna would have a field day with this (god herself could try to convince me that girl does not read/write fanfic and I wouldn't believe it)
episode about underfunded public schools. we saw corrupt private schools in the fairy godparents job but I want an episode that would make abbot elementary writers proud
episode addressing native/indigenous. eliot is from oklahoma, I'm sure he is well aware of the health/job/economic/etc disparities on reservations. I will email jrogers about it myself if I have to- it anyone can get people going about native rights through a tv show it would be leverage.
I sent an ask to wil wheaton once asking if he was open to returning to leverage and I think he said he would be down for it. but chaos either has to be a reluctant ally to leverage international and is being handled by quinn as a hitter OR he is just. in jail. bc he sucks.
bpas and/or pfas episode. breanna has mentioned microplastics before but I want more
the team tears the shit out of conversion therapy camp owners and plants the seeds for legislation that will punish parents that try to send their kids to those hellscapes
while we're at it, I'd love to see an ep where they tackle the trans bathroom issue. god knows the news doesn't talk about it nearly enough
something to do with foster care. they end up starting some sort of foster care network that past clients/allies can take part in. maybe a mentorship program for kids that want to do what they do one day (they are very reluctant to encourage kids to participate in crime BUT if that is the avenue that they are going to inevitably go towards, they guide them in the right direction). nana makes an appearance (*insert 'everybody liked that' meme*)
prison industrial complex episode. I KNOW we had the jailhouse job BUT we really need this in our year of 2024
another episode on corrupt influencers. maybe influencer parents? dear god pls take them down a notch
ep where there is an underlying message that tells you how to avoid becoming victim to scams or something, or like is a tutorial for how to identify scams you might fall victim to (sorry, I just have to say this after two separate people tried to pig butcher me in less than two (2) weeks))
not to say I want them to do an ep calling out cop city, but it would feel really good to watch the leverage team rip that concept to SHREDS
the minimum wage job. need I say more? we deserve the catharsis
pls go after goodwill execs, esp the ones in the pnw that have their sector as for-profit and have become millionaires+ because of it while paying their staff (especially disabled staff) fucking pennies
while we're on the topic, pls call out salvation army (the corporation)
I can probably go on for like five hours so I'll stop here
ep that we get to see harry and his daughter bond :)
job where they get to lower the price of insulin (and other drugs)
actually, you know what? an episode where the crew annihilates big pharma and terrible insurance companies
I think that breanna should be able to go off about mass/over consumption as a treat. I 100% believe she has Thoughts about it. like, she will absolutely call out the corporations that are responsible for these trends, but also she should be allowed to mention our tendency for overconsumption as a society. obviously there are a few corporations that are doing most of the world's pollution/ecological damage, but we should be doing our part too and I KNOW it would be in-character for her to go off on it
I bet she has a LOT to say about influencers, tbh. obviously not all influencers are bad, but there are sooooo many problematic ones and problems within the influencer industry
sizing discrimination in the modeling/clothing industry. let eliot talk about how there are no perfect bodies. also while I'm on the subject, can we PLS have more body-diverse background actors on the show? I know this is nitpicky but I'd really love to see some more people that look like me, even if they are just in the background
a thinly veiled writers' rights episode (I'm looking at you media execs and the stupid amount of time it took for you to comply to the WGA demands)
something to do with media companies making entire movies/tv shows and then fucking cancelling them/not releasing them and using them as tax write-offs. every time it happens it baffles me. that is cartoonishly stupid villain shit. I can't imagine lovingly working on a project for a year plus and then the company just going, nah, we aren't going to release it because you suck and it's a good business move
ai art and ai in general. please. let it BURN
okay now I'm done
ideas from the previous post that I still want:
comicon job. I said it before and I will say it again- we deserve it!!! come on, it's the age of the geek after all!!! (in the last post I also said a ren faire ep, but I will let the card game job count for that)
summer camp ep? I saw a tumblr fic about it and I think it could be cute. it could kinda be like the fairy godparents job- eliot in charge of some type of sports (archery, fencing, etc), hardison would be in charge of arts and crafts (this boy might be a genius with tech and in general tbh, but the show did such a good job of showing that he’s also very talented with the arts- sculpting the statue for the miracle job, forging the old diary in the king george job, etc), parker would LOVE to be in charge of a high ropes course. breanna would totally be down for some sort of nerdy kid robotics or simple, traditional camp games (can't go wrong with the classics. everyone loves making bracelets!) I feel like it's too stereotypical to have sophie have kids put on a play but we all know that's exactly what she would do. idk for harry? I think he has the same traditional camp activities vibe as breanna. he's in it for the nostalgia. OR something to do with videogames
please, please, please, please, please make an episode where they take down a cult, im begging. that would be such a good episode. definitely a mindfuck episode like the experimental job (4x11). I’ve seen a few posts about a job dealing with a cult (here’s one) and I think it would be really interesting
MORE STERLING being DONE with leverage shenanigans!!! give me feral!sterling like in the frame-up job (5x10)!!! give me sterling that protests every step of the way but conveniently looks away and “whoops, the team just disappeared, I have no idea how that happened!!! diddly dang darn it, they got away again!!! sorry guys!!!” bonus points if mcsweeten is there too and also participates in intervening hijinks
the team takes down a circus that is still using and abusing wild animals!!! because first I’d LOVE to see acrobat!parker swinging up in the air like a pro and being in her element, but also because those places are the fucking worst and need to Go Down. give me eliot having to pose as an animal trainer with deep sympathy for the animals being abused, quietly talking soothing words to them when he thinks no one is around (correction: hardison is, in fact, around, and filming his boyfriend’s softness to save for later). give me charismatic hardison playing the role of ringmaster, running and flaunting about and being passive-aggressive to the circus master. give me eliot freeing the animals from their chains when they are finally able to shut the place down and relocate the animals to sanctuaries (his hands shaking just a little as twists the key in the lock, because he too was once an abused, caged animal in his own right and he knows how liberating it is to finally be free).
#i have SO much to say about native rights and I'd give a kidney to be able to have it shown for all on a wide reaching show#for the love of god it's the least we can do#sorry yall im just. really passionate about native rights. I made myself a nuisance to all of my hs history professors talking about it#every chance i got. if the textbooks won't talk about it i will make my presentation about it and educate my peers my goddam self if i have#to#anyway. i will get off the soap box now. but yeah educate yourself on native/indigenous rights (based off where you live too)#episode ideas#leverage redemption#leverage redemption s3#speculation#mine#parker#alec hardison#eliot spencer#leverage ot3#parker x hardison x eliot#sophie devereaux#harry wilson#breanna casey#mr quinn#quinn#side characters#leverage international#tara cole#maggie collins#jim sterling#recurring characters#sophie x maggie#sophie x tara#maggie x tara
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To my folks who experience climate grief:
Over the last few days I've been obsessed with a game called Half Earth Socialism:
[ID: opening screen for the game Half Earth Socialism. From top to bottom: there's an image of the earth encircled in a design that looks like wrapped wheat. Both are colored pink. The title of the game is below, along with the tagline "A Planetary Crisis Planning Game." Under that, there is a menu with options for New Game, Sound toggle off or on, and Credits. There is a hyperlink at the very bottom that says "Read the book: Half-Earth Socialism." end ID]
The game was created by Drew Pendergrass andTroy Vettesse, the authors of the book Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics. I read the book last year, but didn't play the game until recently.
The premise is that a socialist revolution sweeps the world, and you play as a lead planner who must 1) lower emissions and therefore the temperature below 1ºC, 2) reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, 3) keep people around the world happy, 4) use political capital to implement policies and gain allies in parliament, and 5) avoid production shortages of electricity, fuel, and food.
It's very challenging to beat the game because of all those factors. Sometimes I'd do well in one planning stage on some of those areas but fail in others, and they all have an impact on your political capital and public approval. Seeing headlines within the game about environmental disasters, species extinction, pandemics, etc. if I wasn't doing well was really upsetting. In the first planning stage of the game, they're inevitable because your plans can take many in-game years to actually start improving things. I found myself skipping those after a time. But, as I figured out the mechanics and how and when and in what combinations to prioritize policies, I felt excited about headlines like "polinators are flourishing," "people are making their own gardens," "the quality of life in the Global South is improving." I finally got to the best win state earlier today after trying one or two dozen times.
Aside from lifting my mood and sense of hope, I also learned a lot about proposed and existing technologies meant to address climate change: biochar, carbon capture, electric grids, energy quotas, etc. Also, it helped me feel impactful, even though I knew it was just a game. For example, one of the policies I tended to implement in the first planning cycle was granting indigenous sovereignty. I loved being able to do that in basically one fell swoop.
Even when I had critiques of the game, I found those meaningful because I started thinking about points the developers missed and what else would be needed to create a just transition. That's super important because no one person is going to think of everything.
Obviously, your capabilities and decision making processes in the game are oversimplified for the point of educating and simulating. And the game reflects certain biases of the developers. For example, the idea of one central body organizing every policy and process in the world, with most of the decisions coming from one person, does not sound to me like it would work well. Even so, I think instilling that sense of capability is so important, especially since so many everyday people feel defeated and like they can't change anything right now.
Suffice it to say, I enjoyed this game, and I recommend it highly! The game is in English, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazilian and from Portugal).
#long post#games#video games#climate change#climate grief#simulation#half-earth socialism#half-earth
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We need, quite literally, a revolution. And every revolution, lest we forget, is an architectural revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought about the dawn of modernism; the Russian Revolution initially saw the demise of bourgeois opulence in favor of Constructivism. The French revolutionaries looked upon the palace of Versailles with disgust, for it represented everything loathsome about monarchist French society: inequality, waste, and excessive filigree. So, too, under increasingly dire material conditions spurred by climate change and intersecting political catastrophes, will we look upon the McMansion. Maybe sooner than we think.
The present crisis surrounding the depleted Colorado River, owing to overconsumption and a world-historic megadrought plaguing the Southwest since the 2000s, will be the first real test of the McMansion way of life, the life of endless plenty. If the recession saw entire suburban developments reduced to eerie ghost towns, imagine what water rationing will do to golf courses in Phoenix, Arizona. Already, the nearby city of Scottsdale has cut off the wealthy suburb of Rio Verde from the municipal water service, leaving residents holding the bag. When the resources of the commons no longer subsidize the whimsies of the rich, when there is truly nothing left to drink or burn in the tank, then, and only then, will we be able to look at the McMansion in retrospect.
Kate Wagner, Bad Manors: The McMansion as harbinger of the American apocalypse
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in my head (series)
Chapter Six: Warm Sapphires
Larissa Weems x f!reader
previous chapter | next chapter | series page
words: ~2.6k, ao3 link
chapter-specific warnings: none
chapter summary: With the Rave'N quickly approaching, preparations are in full swing. What will it be - will the two of you dance around your feelings for each other? Or will you finally dance with each other?
Larissa could feel her heartbeat in her throat the entire way to her quarters. She went about her nighttime routine in a daze, thoughts continually drifting back to your evening together. Soon, Larissa found herself standing at the foot of her bed, grinning like a fool at the memory of your little protective streak at dinner. She shook her head lightly, unable to stop the blush rising in her cheeks, and climbed into bed.
Larissa didn’t have to be a mind reader to realize that you’d wanted her to join you in your quarters when you’d gotten back to Nevermore. She could see it in the awkward shuffling of your feet, in your blown pupils, in the way you subtly and subconsciously bit the inside of your cheek. And, oh, how she’d wanted to.
But something had held Larissa back, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. A feeling which she tried with all the strength she had within her to push down - a feeling that the sex meant more to her than it did to you. And, more importantly, a feeling that her feelings were taking on a life of their own.
What had started off as a way to blow off steam from her demanding career (with the added bonus of Larissa finding you extremely desirable, of course), had turned into something more. It had turned into something that Larissa couldn’t quite name - didn’t dare name.
What had once been a throbbing between her legs at the sight of you had morphed into a quickening of her pulse and a fluttering in her tummy. What had once been a burning hunger to see you unravel beneath her had turned into a desire for your bright smile to be directed at her, for your hand to warm her own.
Larissa felt frozen in time, wanting to make a move but so hopelessly unsure of herself. She wished she could read your mind, to catch a glimpse of the nature of your own feelings - what an unfair advantage you had. Could you see the parts of herself that Larissa was trying desperately to hide? Did you already know of her feelings, simply choosing not to say anything to spare her dignity?
Larissa was unable to stop her mind from racing, her thoughts circling in an endless loop until, sometime shortly before dawn, her body finally won and she fell into a fitful sleep.
~~~
Marilyn stood outside your classroom door with a binder tucked under her arm, greeting your kids as they filtered out of your classroom. When the stream of students had dissipated, she entered the room and strode over to your desk with a bright smile.
“Principal Weems told me you’d be helping me with the Rave’N?” The redhead was practically vibrating with excitement and you bit back the grin spreading across your own face.
“Y/N L/N, at your service,” you teased, giving her a salute.
“Do you have a minute to go over some details?”
You nodded and Marilyn pulled a chair up to your desk, setting the binder in front of you.
“So what’s the theme?” you asked as Marilyn began to rifle through the papers.
“Climate crisis meets extinction event.” She grinned and you shot her a quizzical glance, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t be so skeptical - it’ll be fun! Let me show you what I have so far.”
Marilyn took you through her ideas for the dance - music, food and drinks, decorations - all outlined meticulously in separate sections with colorful sample sketches and detailed descriptions.
She asked for your input on different ideas she’d come up with and the two of you spent the afternoon settling on the specifics. Minutes turned into hours but by the end of your meeting, you were happy with the outcome - hopefully Larissa would be just as pleased, you thought.
Marilyn stood to leave. “I’ll set up a meeting later this week with Principal Weems to present her with the final plans.” For a moment, she seemed worried, shifting from foot to foot and biting her lip. “We still need her seal of approval.”
You stood as well, placing your hand on her arm in a soothing gesture. “Don’t worry so much. I’m sure she’ll love it.”
Marilyn smiled hesitantly. “I hope you’re right.”
“I know Larissa, I’m pretty sure she’s just thrilled she doesn’t have this on her plate as well.”
“If you say so.” A knowing smirk crossed Marilyn’s face and, for a moment, you wondered if what you’d said could somehow be misinterpreted. You shook the thoughts from your head as Marilyn pulled you into a quick hug and bid you farewell.
~~~
Later that week you found yourself in Larissa’s office, sitting across from her at her desk with Marilyn by your side. The redhead took the lead, energetically presenting your plans to the principal while you tried your hardest to focus on what was being said - though focus, apparently, did not come easy to you whenever Larissa was around.
“And you’ve already booked the DJ?” Larissa’s eyes flicked between you and Marilyn, though her gaze lingered on your own for a brief moment. A lovely blush colored her face, so faint you would’ve missed it if you didn’t know Larissa as well as you did.
“Yes, of course,” Marilyn nodded emphatically, smiling smugly at Larissa’s praise. If she noticed the blush, she chose not to comment.
“Well, consider me impressed, Ms. Thornhill, Ms. Y/L/N. You seem to have everything under control.” Larissa slid a paper across the desk listing the names of a few other faculty members. “I hope you don’t mind, I thought you might use some extra help - I’ve taken the liberty of enlisting a few more volunteers for the set-up before the Rave’N.”
“Oh! Thank you - you didn’t have to do that,” you said, reaching out for the paper. Your fingertips brushed against hers and you glanced up at her shyly, your cheeks slowly turning crimson at the dazzling smile she gave you in return. You quickly dropped your gaze to scan the list, pointedly avoiding Larissa’s eyes.
What you completely missed as you stared fixedly down at the paper was the way Larissa’s gaze softened as she caught your blush, and the way Marilyn glanced between the two of you as if watching a tennis match.
Finally, Marilyn cleared her throat, and both your face and Larissa’s face snapped up to look at her at in perfect time. “If the two of you are done…” she raised an eyebrow and your face burned even brighter. “I should get going, I have a lesson to prepare. Thank you for your time, Principal Weems, I appreciate your support!” She plucked the paper from your hands, tucking it into her binder and rising from her chair.
You glanced at Larissa whose expression was unreadable as she fixed her gaze on your colleague.
“Thank you, Ms. Thornhill. I can’t wait to see how everything comes together.” Larissa smiled, her voice every ounce the professional she was, avoiding your eyes as she spoke with Marilyn.
The other woman began to walk towards the door. “Y/N, are you coming?”
You fidgeted in your chair, taking just a bit longer to answer than was appropriate. “Uh, yeah, I’m coming.” You offered Larissa a shy smile. “I’ll see you later.” Larissa simply nodded, mirroring your own smile and watching as you stood and followed Marilyn out of the office.
~~~
With the Rave’N quickly approaching, the decoration of Nevermore’s great hall had begun. Some of the other volunteer teachers were carrying in small, round tables and silver, straight-backed chairs, putting them into position as per the chart Marilyn had, of course, created for them.
You took to setting up the long buffet table at the far end of the room and Marilyn sidled up next to you to supervise.
“You know I always wished my high school prom had been more extravagant,” Marilyn sighed wistfully. “I guess this is my way of giving these kids what I wish I’d had. With some extra Outcast flair, of course.”
You smiled ruefully. “I didn’t have the best time at my own Rave’N either…”
“What was your Rave’N like?”
“Horrible,” you chuckled darkly. “My girlfriend broke up with me a whole two days beforehand. We got into a huge fight and… I don't know. I didn’t want to go but my roommate forced me to - something about life going on? Anyway, it was awful, I just kept bumping into my ex and I ended up leaving halfway through.”
“Y/N, I’m sorry,” Marilyn looked regretful, but you simply shrugged.
“It was a long time ago, I’m not hung up on it or anything. I never liked school dances or big crowds to begin with anyway, so that made it worse, you know?”
“You deserve a do-over.”
You laughed. “What are you suggesting?”
“You should ask Larissa to be your date.”
You froze, your heart hammering in your chest. “Marilyn!” You hissed as your eyes widened in shock, keeping your voice low in fear that another teacher would pass by and hear you. “She’s my boss.”
Marilyn’s returning smirk was almost predatory. “So? That never stopped you from sleeping with her.”
Your eyes nearly bulged out of your head at her statement. “Marilyn!” you screeched, pure panic overriding any sense of subtlety.
The redhead rolled her eyes and snorted. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, the two of you are about as subtle as a brick.”
“You still don’t have to broadcast it to the whole school! You don’t think anyone else has caught on, do you?” You began to worry your bottom lip between your teeth, ice sluicing through your veins at the thought of your colleagues finding out and losing respect for Larissa, after how hard she worked to keep up her reputation.
Marilyn’s smirk morphed into a kind smile as she noted your genuine fear. “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone has read into it as much as I have. It’s just… we’re friends, you know? You can’t hide your feelings from me. You do know how Larissa looks at you?”
You froze.
“H-how does she look at me?” You could feel your heartbeat in your throat as you waited for Marilyn to respond.
She grinned, her voice dropping to a soft whisper. “You really can’t tell, can you?” She chuckled. “She looks at you as if you hung the stars in the sky.”
Your pulse quickened as you thought back to the one time you’d read Marilyn’s mind, after coming back to your quarters in the middle of the night. When Larissa had looked out over the quad after the Poe Cup… she couldn’t have been looking at you, could she?
You swallowed thickly as a blush crept up your neck, spreading a lovely pink hue across your cheeks and climbing like ivy up to the tips of your ears. Marilyn’s grin only widened as she clocked the epiphany that had dawned upon you.
“What… what do I do?” Your voice sounded foreign to your own ears - your mind was miles away, replaying every interaction you’d had with the woman in the past weeks and zeroing in on the carefree smiles gracing Larissa’s face whenever you were around, the rosy tint to her cheeks in the moments where you seemed to fluster her with a sweet gesture or a suggestive comment, the increasing tenderness in her kisses and her touches as of late.
Had you really just been that stupid all along, not noticing the signs that were right in front of you? Like when she hadn’t corrected the receptionist at the spa who thought you were a couple? But. But - she’d been adamant to call you a ‘friend’. She’d never made any move to advance your relationship. Your thoughts warred with one another, no clear winner in sight.
Marilyn scoffed. “You get your girl, that’s what you do.”
“But what if I’m reading into things that aren’t there?” You’d be sick at the desperation in your own voice if you weren’t so focused on tamping down all your hopes, afraid of getting your heart stomped on as it had been too often in the past.
“Listen to me, Y/N. You might be… close with Larissa, but I’ve worked here much longer than you have and I’ve seen my fair share. She’s… relaxed a whole lot in the past few months. Not to mention I’ve never seen her blush before - she only seems to do that when you’re around.” Marilyn laughed. “The two of you act like teenagers around each other. It would almost be cute if I didn’t have to spend all day around teenagers as is.”
The lighthearted gibe made you chuckle in spite of yourself - and it had given you a lot to think about. Perhaps it was time you asked Larissa out - properly.
~~~
The Rave’N had come together quite nicely - seeing Marilyn’s vision slowly unfold with your own eyes and seeing how enthusiastic she was about the whole ordeal flooded you with affection for your friend, even managing to get you a bit excited for the evening.
You finished your final sweep of the great hall, ensuring nothing was out of place, a pleased smile on your face - you couldn’t decide what you liked the most; the ice sculpture centerpieces, jutting out like jagged crystals on each of the little round tables; the fog machines blasting an icy smoke that hung low over the dance floor; the glint of the disco ball in the white and baby blue strobe lights. Probably, though, it was the DJ booth that looked like it was carved out of ice, giving way to a massive ice sculpture of a yeti. Marilyn’s idea, of course.
You still had ample time to get ready for the evening, and for that you were sincerely grateful. You took your time showering and curling your hair, putting on a bit of makeup - just enough to accentuate your features - you wanted to pull out all the stops. You’d managed to find time to do some shopping in Burlington earlier in the week and you were glad for it - the suit you’d opted for accentuated your figure in all the right places, making you look powerful and put-together - a far cry from the anxiety that was seeping into your bones, making them feel like lead under your skin.
After a final once-over in the mirror, your eyes fell to the single red camellia on your desk - courtesy of Marilyn, who’d graciously allowed you to take one from her greenhouse.
You hadn’t had a chance to formally ask Larissa to accompany you to the Rave’N - she seemed to be having a horribly busy week and every time you’d stopped by to say hello, you worried you were being a bother and your throat had closed before you were able to get the words out. God, you thought. Marilyn was right, I’m behaving like a teenager.
Every step towards the great hall felt as though you were treading through water. You almost lost your nerve several times but your legs somehow carried you forward, until you stood at the entrance to the dance, taking a moment to breathe deeply and smooth your blazer. You stepped over the threshold to the room, where music was blaring and the mingling of the students and select faculty was already in full swing.
There, in all her ethereal glory, stood Larissa Weems - hair perfectly coiffed with even more elaborate loops than usual, soft curves wrapped in a tasteful silver dress that was so very Larissa that it made a grin spread across your face, hands - god those hands - hidden by a pair of elegant white gloves. The picture of glamor and sensuality. Your eyes raked slowly over her form and, as they landed on her face, she turned her head towards you, her eyes widening and her plump red lips parting.
Your brain ceased all function as your breath caught in your throat. The only thing that existed for you in that moment was Larissa.
Larissa and her warm sapphires, glued to your own.
x
A/N: what do we think?! is reader gonna have the guts to ask Larissa to dance?
also I really struggled with this chapter for some reason, I hope it isn't too obvious.
#larissa weems x reader#larissa weems#larissa x reader#principal weems x reader#principal weems#in my head#in my head series
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#capitalism is going to kill us all#capitalist system#capitalism kills#ohio#norfolk#man made disasters#life under climate crisis#palestine ohio
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The Best News of Last Week
Welcome to Feel Good News! Each week, I scour the web to bring you a collection of uplifting and positive news stories. My goal is to provide you with a dose of inspiration and hope to start your week off on the right foot.
This week, I have stories about individuals who are making a difference in their communities, companies that are doing good in the world, and much more. I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoyed putting this newsletter together.
Let’s start with:
1. FDA Plans to Allow More Gay, Bisexual Men to Donate Blood
Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood without abstaining from sex under guidelines being drafted by the Food and Drug Administration, people familiar with the plans said.
The change would be a departure from U.S. policy that for many years barred men who have sex with men from donating blood. The FDA policy originated in the 1980s during the AIDS epidemic, when tests for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, weren’t considered sensitive enough to protect the blood supply.
2. Biden-Harris Administration Makes $50 Million Available to Clean Up Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells on Tribal Lands
There are several thousand orphaned oil and gas wells on Tribal lands, jeopardizing public health and safety by contaminating groundwater, seeping toxic chemicals, emitting harmful pollutants including methane, and harming wildlife. Some of these wells are underwater, which creates an especially high risk of adverse impacts.
3. Golden bandicoots 'breeding rapidly' in the NSW outback 100 years after becoming locally extinct
The first golden bandicoots have been born in NSW's far north-west in 100 years, after formerly being extinct in the region.
Golden bandicoots have been breeding rapidly in Sturt National Park since being introduced to as part of the Wild Deserts project. There are initiatives in place as part of the project to protect native fauna from feral animals. More native species are set be reintroduced to the area and will be confirmed next year.
Cue the Crash Bandicoot references :D
4. Toledo Zoo welcomes twin polar bear cubs
Twin polar bear cubs were born at the Toledo Zoo, the zoo announced Thursday. The parents of the twin cubs are 24-year-old female, Crystal, and 18-year-old male, Nuka.
Crystal’s eighth and ninth cubs’ genders are unknown at this time. They are estimated to make their public exhibit debut in the spring of 2023.
Watch the video of the announcement here:
Feel Good News by Erica @feelgoodnwsToledo Zoo welcomes twin polar bear cubs
5. A Philadelphia woman collects thousands of stuffed animals and brings them to seniors who are in need of a Christmas gift
Santa Claus isn't the only person who travels around with a vehicle full of toys. Every holiday season, Patricia Gallagher fills her car with stuffed animals and drives around Philadelphia. She doesn't give them to kids, she gives them to seniors.
"Who would think that elderly veterans would want stuffed animals? But they did," Patricia Gallagher said of the project.
6. 150 sea turtles saved from the cold. An aquarium in Boston has been treating "cold-stunned" sea turtles stranded on US beaches.
An aquarium in Boston has been treating "cold-stunned" sea turtles stranded on US beaches. Experts urge the public not to return stranded animals into the water.
Over 150 sea turtles have received treatment this season for "life-threatening medical conditions" prompted by hypothermia in the New England Aquarium, based in the US city of Boston.
7. 'No K-pop on a dead planet': Meet the K-pop stans taking on the climate crisis
What does Kpop4planet do?
Nurul a 23 year old fan from Indonesia and her colleagues have channeled most of their energy into six different climate campaigns. Over 33,000 fans from 170 countries have taken part in them.
The most successful of these has been ‘No K-pop on a dead planet’. It called for K-pop albums to go green by selling digital rather than physical albums, minimizing the packaging and encouraging low carbon performances.
The movement has proved popular with the fandom. For Kpop4planet work two full-time employees along with 20 volunteer ambassadors from nine countries. The group is funded by Action Speaks Louder, a charity registered in Australia who lobby to hold big companies accountable for their climate change promises.
. . .
That’s it for this week. If you liked this post you can support this newsletter with a small kofi donation:
Buy me a coffee ❤️
Have a great week ahead :)
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Quiet quitting is one of the most bizarre things to me to be discussed in 2022.
It’s mostly bizarre to me, because of the entitlement older generations have towards younger generations and the ignorance they enforce upon my generation, especially in Germany, where I grew up.
You have older generations, usually the generation of my parents, calling us lazy, unable to work well under pressure, etc. I’d like to give insight into the fact that our school system was designed to recreate a work-like state from the age of six. You go to school, learn stuff, go home, do unpaid labor, called “homework”, which has to be good, otherwise you’re labeled as stupid and unable to keep up and have to repeat a year in school. I partially had a workload of 12 hours per day, not because I was poorly structured, but because I had four school subjects per day, with four different kinds of homework which all required at least 30, if not 90 minutes of investment, to do homework properly. Add to that my dyslexia and you get at least 30 minutes more than others. But even non dyslexic students sat there for hours doing homework. I even had my mother do my homework for me, because the work load was too much. Let that sink in.
Then you have a system that rewards pupils who are never sick, by pointing out how there is one kid in class with the most sick days, as though it is their fault that they get sick. Meanwhile you have underpaid and overworked school staff who cannot handle instances of bullying accordingly, resulting in pupils being more sick, especially mentally due to continuous bullying. You create a place that is literally designed to be hostile to human nature, by forcing people to sit still for multiple hours a day, move during breaks to „prevent health problems“ in the future, but give so much homework that hobbies and personal interests can barely be done, and usually if one performs bad at school they have to quit their hobbies because they need to focus more on school or they have their parents cancel their hobbies for them (if they could afford a hobby to begin with), resulting in more stress, because of less possibilities to destress. Then you have heavy school bags that literally fuck up people‘s backs for life, because they have to carry like 10-20kgs of books and folders per day (this was my reality, I kid you not). Then we had no proper food at our cafeteria (for the first four years we had no cafeteria at all, but had to go to school until 3 or 4pm, with no proper food).
Then you have weird power dynamics with teachers who bully you and abuse their power and give you bad grades, just because they think a person with dyslexia should not get the chance to go to university, thereby giving them bad grades, by not answering any of their questions during exams (also something that happened to me and other students as well). And if it’s not dyslexia there is another aspect that a teacher will hate about you and mock you for and treat you like you’re less than a human being than others.
Then we entered a school system that was changed by graduating one year earlier to go to university sooner in Germany, but the school books were not ready for that so we had to carry two books per subject at times, because the subjects we discussed required two books of two school grades. We had no coherent teachings and had to read a lot of stuff at home, by our selves, because the curriculum to teach us properly was not yet developed. And we were asked to understand it all and there was never time for any questions.
Then we finish with a degree, have terrible payments, cannot afford a reasonable lifestyle and are forced to suck it up. Then we have shortages in almost every area, a pandemic we went through a financial crisis, a war that effects the economy and destabilizes a lot in other countries, we have a climate crisis which no politican seems to take seriously enough to do proper change, basically my generaiton in Germany will not have any rent and no positive prospects for the future. Far right extremism seems to be on the rise world wide.
I had my first burn-out in fourth grade and had to go to therapy, because school life was so tough and nobody did anything. I had a parent at home who created immense pressure and guilt if I failed, who regularly assaulted me verbally.
And now our “generation is just lazy”? That shoe just doesn’t fit.
#2022#quiet quitting#capitalism#anti capitalism#school#childhood trauma#school life#growing up#exhausting#Stress#personal#education#school system#gen z#gen y#Future#climate crisis#pandemic#economic crisis
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According to a new survey, lawmakers are playing an increasingly important role in holding corporations and governments accountable for failures to tackle the climate crisis.
The research was done by Columbia Law School, and was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It revealed that the number of climate-related court cases has more than doubled since 2017 and is steadily rising around the world.
Their report confirms a trend highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023, which claimed that individuals and environmental organizations were, more and more, turning to the law, as it became clear that the pace of transition to net-zero emissions was too slow.
“Climate litigation is increasing and concerns about emissions under-reporting and greenwashing have triggered calls for new regulatory oversight for the transition to net zero,” the Forum report said.
The UNEP report catalogues a number of high-profile court cases which have succeeded in enforcing climate action. In 2017, when climate case numbers were last counted, 884 legal actions had been brought. Today the total stands at 2,180.
The majority of climate cases to this date (1,522) have been brought in the US, followed by Australia, the UK, and the EU. The report notes that the number of legal actions in developing countries is growing, now at 17% of the total.
Climate litigation is also giving a voice to vulnerable groups who are being hard hit by climate change. The report says that, globally, 34 cases have been brought by children and young people, including two by girls aged seven and nine in Pakistan and India.
Here are five of the climate breakthroughs achieved by legal action so far.
1. Torres Strait Islanders Vs Australia
In September 2022, indigenous people living on islands in the Torres Strait between northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea won a landmark ruling that their human rights were being violated by the failure of the Australian government to take effective climate action.
The UN Human Rights Committee ruling established the principle that a country could be in breach of international human rights law over climate inaction. They ruled that Australia's poor climate record was a violation of the islanders’ right to family life and culture.
2. The Paris Agreement is a human rights treaty
In July 2022, Brazil's supreme court ruled that the Paris climate agreement is legally a human rights treaty which, it said, meant that it automatically overruled any domestic laws which conflicted with the country’s climate obligations.
The ruling ordered the government to reopen its national climate mitigation fund, which had been established under the Paris Agreement.
3. Climate inaction is a breach of human rights
Upholding an earlier court ruling that greenhouse emissions must be cut by 25% by 2020, the Netherlands Supreme Court ruled that failure to curb emissions was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The December 2019 ruling stated that, although it was up to politicians to decide how to make the emission cuts, failure to do so would be a breach of Articles 2 and 8 of the Convention which affirm the right to life and respect for private and family life.
4. Companies are bound by the Paris accord
Corporations, and not just governments, must abide by the emissions reductions agreed in the Paris climate treaty. This principle was established by a 2021 ruling in the Netherlands brought by environmentalists against energy group Royal Dutch Shell.
The court ordered Shell to cut its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 bringing them in line with Paris climate targets. The judge was reported as saying there was "worldwide agreement" that a 45% reduction was needed, adding: "This applies to the entire world, so also to Shell”.
5. Courts overturn state climate plans
Up until now, three European governments have been defeated in the courts over their climate plans.
In March 2021, Germany’s highest court struck down a climate law requiring 55% emissions by 2030 cuts, ruling it did not do enough to protect citizens’ rights to life and health. The same year, the French government was ordered to take “immediate and concrete action” to comply with its climate commitments. And in 2022, the UK’s climate strategy was ruled unlawful for failing to spell out how emissions cuts would be made.
#climate change#climate#hope#good news#more to come#climate emergency#news#climate justice#hopeful#positive news#long post#important#good post#links#for future reference#law#climate law#paris agreement#paris climate agreement#government#democracy#politicians#economics#politics
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I keep thinking about which machines belonged to which countries. Which sides of the war. Who controlled them, especially.
A lot of the time in robot media robots are humanized, given wills and personalities and dreams. And while that's not necessarily untrue for Ultrakill, the flashes of personality V1 shows and how V2 acts and how the Mindflayers chose and wanted their own forms and weren't programmed to, sometimes it does hit you that they were all made to be weapons.
Very few had purposes outside of combat. Very few could be repurposed when peace was reached until they discovered hell.
I've seen people point out which countries each weapon belongs to, which languages each has printed on them. I've seen attempts and have done some myself to compare each machine to a certain real life weapon.
Before the end of the war, were there factories pumping out machines non stop? Had they repurposed factories where guns were mass produced and used them to make machine parts and weapons once human soldiers became obsolete?
How many were produced? How many made it to full scale conflict only to fall to the ground, adding to the pollution of earth that blotted out the skies?
Weapons caused the climate crisis, and this version of humanity had only ever known conflict for so long that the only way they could think to solve it was more weapons.
A facsimile of flamethrower soldiers, made to purify the air it's predecessors had tainted.
A peacekeeper to protect humans who had the same design as their most cutting edge war machine who never made it to combat.
A giant, beautiful and horrible machine that could level cities being the last resort for humanity to live on.
Humanity seemed to have recovered from the Final War and several terminal entries had mentioned peace being established after the war and, like mentioned earlier, even attempts to purify the air. One specific terminal entry says it succeeded and the earth learned to breathe again.
I have to wonder what happened for humanity to finally die off afterwards. They'd reached peace, right? They'd repurposed their machines for peace, and under their control they wouldn't be able to deviate from that, right?
Minos points out the machines crimes against humanity, and I do not know if he means the Final War itself or if the machines were the downfall of humanity.
Or if something else took control of humanity's weaponry.
I mean, it could teleport husks into human bases right?
It took humanities weaponry and grafted them onto their own, right?
It took control of old mining equipment humanity left behind, right?
It could control the terminals, right?
It was inspired by humanity, right?
It wants to be entertained, right?
A S I F H U M A N I T Y H A D A C H O I C E
#ultrakill spoilers#hhh this is probably stupid and nothing and just reiterating things in the story but i wanted to talk abt the new layer. :]#i also HAVE been really curious about what exactly caused humanity to die out if they reached peace#very very very excited to learn more context about the downfall of humanity! hope my special little guy is there#Y O U K N O W W H O
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"We live in a time of crisis. Consider three interwoven ones.
First, climate change. Every year brings more forest fires and less breathable air, the result of an economic system predicated on burning fossil fuels and working long hours to fuel energy-intensive consumption.
Second, overwhelmed families. Even though people in the Global North live in the richest societies the world has ever known, the majority still find themselves overworked and overwhelmed. Practically every family, especially with young kids, is stressed and strained, struggling to balance the unbalanceable demands of care with no support and work with no flexibility.
Third, millions of poor and working-class people are profoundly unfree in that they have no time for anything but the constant scramble to stay ahead of the bills. In Europe, the average woman in a couple with children works a massive seventy-one hours per week when you include her unpaid care labor. In New York, a single mother on minimum wage would need to labor for an astounding (and impossible) 117 hours every week to meet her basic needs. We live in an epidemic of time poverty, where compulsory overwork defers dreams and crushes aspirations under the relentlessness of Sisyphean toil.
Imagine, for a moment, a different kind of society where the standard job was part-time, but also a good job, offering decent pay and benefits as well as flexibility and career advancement. Public provision of essential services would provide a background of economic security: from health care to childcare, pensions to transit (and, ideally, a basic income as well). With their basic needs met, individuals wouldn’t have to rely on their jobs nearly as much to get by — and working substantially less than forty hours would be something to be desired rather than feared.
The Research on Part-Time Work
Recent scholarly evidence shows that slashing work hours is key to confronting climate change. For example, Jonas Nässén and Jörgen Larsson find that “a decrease in working time by 1% may reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by about 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.” David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot find that if the United States were to slash its working hours to Western European levels, energy consumption would drop by 20 percent. The most rigorous study to date is probably that of Jared Fitzgerald and colleagues, who performed a longitudinal study on fifty-two countries. They confirmed the results of other studies that more working time leads to more energy consumption, and that this relationship is intensifying over time for both rich and poor countries.
We know that under regular conditions, capitalist economies grow and grow, but so far only by producing more and more emissions. Global emissions have only fallen four times over the last sixty years — 1981, 1992, 2009, and 2020 — precisely when the world was in the throes of economic recession. This is the cold reality of neoliberal capitalism: it forces us to choose between environmental destruction or the social misery of mass unemployment.
Good part-time work offers us a structural escape hatch — a new model to immediately reduce emissions without putting people out of work.
Of course, part-time work isn’t enough by itself. A pro-worker climate agenda must also include national and global agreements on carbon caps, a Green New Deal that unleashes massive state investment fueling decarbonization (for instance, shifting toward clean energy and building new public transit infrastructure), and so on. But good part-time work is a necessary, if insufficient condition, for preventing ecological disaster.
In terms of work-life balance, the evidence is even stronger. The academic literature finds again and again that bringing down work hours alleviates family stress and strain. To cite one of many examples, Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette report in a 2006 paper that in every one of the five countries they studied, “working hours were the most significant predictor of work-life conflict.”
We also know that free time is foundational for individual freedom. To live the life one wants, free time is essential to devise and accomplish any of one’s life goals. One cannot be deeply engaged with family, friends, art, activism, sport, music, education, or any of the variegated projects that animate people’s aspirations if one is always on the clock.
The US vs. Western Europe
For hundreds of years, a vibrant strand of socialism has aspired to build a world with substantial freedom from toil — a world where machines do much of the work so humans don’t have to, freeing us to pursue our aims, develop our capabilities, and flourish in whatever directions we see fit. This is a world where artificial intelligence and robots actually make human life better and easier, rather than ushering in unemployment, fear, and inequality.
But is good part-time work really possible?
For those of us living in North America, part-time employment usually means poorly paid and precarious, with few benefits and even less autonomy. However, there’s nothing inevitable about this. Western European examples show that it’s completely possible to transform crappy part-time jobs into good, secure jobs.
In Denmark, for example, part-time work is usually good work. Whereas the hourly wage gap between full-time and part-time women is more than 20 percent in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, in Denmark, it is about zero. Danish part-timers also enjoy robust benefits and pensions; a person who works part-time at 75 percent for ten years then full-time for the rest of their career, will end up with a pension worth 98 percent as much as someone who worked full-time their whole career.
A single mother working at the lowest wage (there is no official minimum wage in Denmark, since wages are set through collective bargaining) for thirty hours per week earns €27,600, while the living wage is roughly €15,000. Danish part-timers appear to be very happy with their situation. The percentage of part-time women who say they are “dissatisfied” with their job is only 4 percent, and the percentage of part-time workers who are dissatisfied with their life as a whole is just 0.4 percent.
The Netherlands is another illuminating example. It is the world’s first so-called “part-time economy,” with the highest proportion of part-time jobs in the world. Amazingly, close to 50 percent of the entire labor force works part-time (compared to only 18 percent in the EU27).
Since implementing the Equal Treatment (Working Hours) Act in 1996, it has been illegal for Dutch employers to discriminate between full- and part-time workers in the provision of pay, benefits, holidays, and employment opportunities. Part-time jobs are mostly open-ended contracts, not a precarious form of nonstandard employment — part-timers are not significantly more likely to work unsocial hours like evenings, nights, or weekends — and the country boasts the highest proportion of firms in Europe with part-time positions at high levels of qualification (47 percent). The result is that the gap between hourly part-time and full-time wages is only about 5 percent, with very little part-time work being involuntary (only 5 percent of female and 10 percent of male part-timers would prefer to be full-time).
Crucially, the cluster of policies boosting part-time work exists against a background of relatively robust economic security. The country’s National Old Age Pension guarantees every citizen a flat-rate pension by sixty-five, regardless of previous employment or earnings. A living wage for a single mother in the Netherlands is today about €15,000, whereas her income from working thirty hours per week on minimum wage is roughly €19,000. A family with two adults, both working thirty-hour weeks, earns a median income of roughly €60,000 — easily surpassing the living wage floor for the whole family (two adults, two kids) of €43,000. Part-time work, in other words, is perfectly feasible for everyone.
Things could hardly be more different in the United States.
In California, a living wage for a four-person family is roughly $110,000. If both adults worked part-time (thirty hours per week) the family would take in a median income of just $70,000. If part-time work is unattractive for the bottom half of the population, the situation is far worse for the poorest. A single mother in Los Angeles working thirty hours per week at a minimum wage job will bring in only $24,180 — pitifully short of a living wage, which for such a family is more than three-times greater, at over $80,000.
The reason the living wage in the United States is so much higher than in Europe is because social democratic welfare states provide their citizens with free or subsidized health care, childcare, transport, housing, etc. The amount of private money that anyone needs to acquire their basic needs (the “living wage”) is therefore much less. A good life based on part-time work is completely feasible in many parts of Europe.
Germany is another example. Although the country has many fewer part-time jobs than the Netherlands, they have done an excellent job of shrinking the number of hours worked in standard full-time jobs. Germany currently has the shortest working hours in the world — an average of 1,341 a year — which is, remarkably, 26 percent, or the equivalent of eleven full working weeks, shorter than in the United States. In Berlin, a living wage today is about €15,000 — within reach of anyone on a part-time income, since even a minimum-wage part-time worker makes €18,720.
A Transformative Demand
The bottom line is that constructing an economic system where part-time jobs are both good and widely available is possible. Doing so requires the standard social democratic tools of unions, high taxes, and progressive governments willing to regulate the market on behalf of workers. None of this is easy to achieve, particularly in countries with as weak a labor movement and as powerful a business class as the United States. But political will, not technical feasibility, is what is standing in the way of a good life for the majority.
In these times of crisis, it is easy to feel dispirited and hopeless. And when hope departs, cynicism grows. The vision of a freer society built around good part-time work is one antidote to such cynicism. It is a bold, feasible demand — at once radical and realistic in the medium term. The elements that are required already exist in various places around the world.
The result would not be a utopia. It would not solve all our problems. But it could transform our lives."
- Tom Malleson, from "We Should All Be Working Part Time for Full-Time Pay." Jacobin, 22 November 2023.
#tom malleson#quote#quotations#work life balance#leisure#economics#democratic socialism#overwork#adulting#climate change#climate crisis#capitalism#jobs#neoliberalism
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