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Feels like a bit of a bad news whatsit this week, doesn't it. So the world is probably definitely going to end pretty soon (but we already knew that). Chin up; there are still humans being wonderful to each other. Let's keep it up. Some happy climate survival stuff: Appropriate responses to the bush fires. (Also, yesterday I saw an old guy in the street wearing a T-shirt that said "raving inner-city lunatic". YASSSS!) We need to keep pushing politicians, but we can also just get on with doing stuff like this: Suburban Australians are disrupting the power industry by storing and sharing solar power across local networks. I'm in love with my newly installed air quality forecasting app. I just followed Beautiful News Daily on instagram. Also, this podcast cuts through the climate change overwhelm with inspiring interviews about positive action. OKAY FRIDAY TIME NOW. Other podcasts I'm currently into: Life is Short (Justin Long interviews people who are more famous than him) and Where Should We Begin (relationship expert Esther Perel gives couples counselling sessions IRL). I still haven't participated in the cultural phenomenon that is Fleabag Season 2 (I know, I feel hopelessly out of touch), but I really enjoyed this interview with Phoebe Waller-Bridge. This is awesome! New Indigemoji app features emojis based on Indigenous cultural symbols. My husband was away last weekend so I obviously binged half of the new season of The Crown on Netflix. This piece on the hats of season three is an important read. Humans of New York is full of sad stories, but this one made me weep subtly in a cafe in a good way. Books to find at the library this weekend: The First Time Lauren Pailing Died: one of those books that deals with dark themes in such a way that you just really love every character and feel warm inside. I read this in a weekend. Nothing to Envy: Interviews about life in North Korea, conducted with people after they defected. So compelling! There were a lot of similarities with stories I've read from communist china (Wild Swans, Mao's Last Dancer, Colours of the Mountain), but if you've never read anything like that, you MUST read this. It's a type of society than we in the West have no frame of reference for. I LOVE YOU ALL LET'S STICK TOGETHER. xx K P.S. Please don't get sucked into Black Friday sales. Read my thing about Christmas gifting for un-consumers instead.
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TL;DR: This is the ultimate Christmas gift guide for un-consumers! With principles for eco-friendly gift buying, links to sustainable products and lots of ideas.
TL;DR This post could also be named "how your period can change the world"; in which I gush about the life-changing magic of ditching pads and tampons forever; also some ideas for how we can use our privilege to serve women who don't have access to fancy sanitary items, and how empowering women helps fix the climate crisis. SO MANY WINS IN THIS POST YOU GUYS.
TL;DR: What we need is not a NEW way of living, it's a return to the time before we were all dependent on plastic and planes; you can take inspiration from any fictional figure you like, but today I'm looking to my imaginary BFF, Anne of Green Gables; these tips are not silly they are totally legit.
Friday!
Okay, I've been slack with helpful climate content lately (it's fine the world is burning while I procrastinate whatever) cause I got my wisdom teeth pulled out and I'm writing this PhD thing. My best news this week is that I can now eat weetbix again. Also, when you have a bunch of stitches inside your mouth, and then one morning you wake up and they're not there any more, where did they go? Asking for a friend. Given the renewed feeling of emergency this week, this was encouraging: the economics researcher who conducted the 2008 and 2011 climate reviews for the Australian government says that reducing emissions will cost much less than previously thought, and Australia has an unparalleled economic opportunity in a post-carbon world. Also, this week we hit a milestone and met 50% of electricity demand in Australia from renewable sources for a period on Wednesday. In response to this week's declaration signed by 11,000 scientists that the climate emergency is upon us and accelerating faster than predicted, several organisations have announced they're stepping up pressure on our federal government. If you'd like to take material action in support of these campaigns, you could make a quick one-off donation right now - take a look at what the Climate Council and Greenpeace have got going on. Okay! We are now entering the non-climate good news zone! After a 10-year-old McDonalds burger on display in Iceland got a lot of media buzz, these Aussie legends topped it with a 25-year-old Big Mac they've been saving for a friend. ""It's as hard as a rock," said [co-owner] Mr Dean, adding that it has never smelt at all." I know we've seen it before but this video of a dog meeting its favourite toy IRL is just one of the best things out there. Also: this collection of thoughts of Dog! The love of dogs for humans is so pure. And funny. (Thanks Daniel and Leesa for tagging this on facebook.) Also: everything is terrible so I googled "dogs being interviewed" and it helped. I recently took up running (I feel like this is super out of character for me but nobody else thinks so?) but for the past three years I've been a happy half-marathon widow. So much YES to this lovely piece that captures the magic of not running marathons while somebody else does. "When somebody recognises you in a grocery store nod briefly and become a cabbage" ...is maybe the most relatable line of poetry I've ever read. Here's the whole poem, which perfectly captures how I feel in this current season of my life. (Sorry and thank you to everybody who is actually, somehow, still my friend.) We try not to buy new stuff ever, but some essentials are trickier to get second hand - like undies. Just discovered Le Buns, a Melbourne-based sustainable underwear and swimwear brand that sells its seconds at half-price and has free shipping within Australia. I haven't tried them yet so if you do, let me know how it goes! Book recs from my bedside reading stack this week: A Life Less Throwaway - why and how to buy things that will last for your whole life The Bear and the Nightingale - wintry fairytale; Russian names that are fun to say out loud Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - New Year's Eve, New York City, 1984. Sassy 85-year-old lady goes for a long walk, meets a bunch of people and reminisces about her former life as the highest-paid woman in Mad Men-era advertising. Related: this is the real-life "Subway Vigilante" incident that forms part of the background setting of the book. TV update: I'm in Glee season 3 and The Office season 4. Let your enthusiastic debriefing in my facebook comments commence. Happy weekend, friends. "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." (Nelson Mandela but it totally sounds like something Dumbledore would say, right?) xx Kamina |
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