[reasonsforhope]

If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

Explainer: what is citizen science?

Public participation in science is increasing, and citizen science has a central part in this. It is a contribution by the public to researc

The Conversation

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.

--

I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.

[enbycrip]

Yup, these are actually *really* important. And a small bit of work helps, so it’s doable even if you’re snowed under with survival work or in too much pain to concentrate for longer periods.

It’s multiply-checked by more than one person, so don’t worry about fucking it up because your concentration is fucked. Your input is valuable but not the only input.

I find Zooniverse very good, and it does Citizen Historian work too - I spent time digitising concentration camp records because a) families still don’t know what happened to some of their loved ones b) this makes the records available for historians without travelling to archives in person, which I can testify is *invaluable* for disabled historians and helps cut the need for overseas travel to do vital historical work.

It unexpectedly helped me with learning how to decipher premodern handwriting too, which proved really useful in my academic stuff. You *will* pick up valuable skills doing this. Put it on your CV.

[reasonsforhope]

Other places you can go to do citizen science, from the notes

(Thanks to everyone who left these in the notes! If you know more, put them in the notes, and I might add them! And ty @enbycrip for the fantastic addition that covered a bunch of details I didn't get to)

Apps/Websites

• eBird (birds
• Merlin (birds)
• citizenscience.gov (big project database, US-based)
• iNaturalist (nature)
• MapSwipe (collaboration between several Red Cross organizations and Doctors Without Borders, update vital geospatial data)
  Smithsonian archives (transcriptions, many subjects)
• Cornell Bird Lab (birds)
• FoldIt (folding proteins)
• Fathomverse (sea animals)
• Project Monarch (butterflies)

In person

• Bioblitz (nature)
  Species watch (species)
  Audobon Society (birds)

Also:

Even if you don't have time to spend, but do have some processor cycles to spare, check out the projects available at BOINC's Compute for Science: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/

[reasonsforhope]

Bringing this back for the inauguration.

Don't spiral or doomscroll. Take a breath.

Then do something to help - both the world and yourself.

[notyonatto]

Hi! conservation scientist here! These are extremely helpful, especially the projects where you help ID species in camera traps! This can greatly help field sites work with local authorities to try to protect the land. By providing evidence of how diverse and active of an ecosystem there is living in a space (ESPECIALLY if one or more endangered species congregates), field scientists, local community environmentalists, and conservation minded politicians are able to better work together to try to protect natural spaces on a GLOBAL scale!

And you can do this with no background in conservation! We are all dying to get the public more involved in conservation (it takes all of us!) and these programs almost all have trainings on how to use them!

[bronweathanharthad]

- The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #52

[mediumsizetexart]

Lie To The Cops!

For my wife on the occasion of our Silver Anniversary, a reminder from the Bishop of Digne that Jesus would definitely want you to lie to the cops to help someone in need.

Deviantart version here.

[aca-ttacka]

i have always held the belief that enjolras has this bizarre form of social anxiety where if u put him in front of a crowd he is incredibly persuasive and charming and charismatic. like public speaking is his calling . but the second u attempt to start regular conversations with him he starts internally flipping out and doesn't know what to do with himself. and people are always surprised by the fact that hes a secret endearing weirdo in person for a bit if they know him from public speaking and maybe think hes being cool. there are 4 million things happening in his head before he can answer the question 'how are you'

[voltaspistol]

Not an invitation to cocoon yourself in a self-care bubble for four years, but a reminder to the 24/7 worriers that you can literally write "To Do on Monday: Worry about ________" on a post-it note and stop worrying about it for one day while you recharge.

[quasi-normalcy]

Another point: Both your mental health and your ability to resist will be improved by finding a community. A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved. And apes together strong.

[bauliya]

unfriendly reminder to open a pension fund/retirement account.

[rosesforwildwitches]

*If* my wage keeps up pace with inflation (historically not the case in the US for multiple decades), and I save 11% of my income every month until I'm 67 and never have an emergency at all that requires that money before I'm 60 (also unlikely given my family history and my current social circle), I can *maybe* retire at 67 and live an extremely budgeted life where I never travel and I only live in the cheapest housing. I also can't depend on the Social Security system helping out at all, because it's been slated to run out of savings by 2035 for years now, and it's gonna have to reduce benefits and taper them off starting then unless the federal government starts putting more money into it consistently and immediately (also unlikely given the priorities current administration). Saving up for a decent-ish retirement with a 401k would require me to save 25% of my income each month for the rest of my working life on my own, and hope that the stock market doesn't tank and make me lose money from that fund. I'm just never going to get to retire whatsoever, even if I budget hard and try my very best.

[bauliya]

I don’t know how to tell you this but having an extremely budgeted life at 67 is better than being homeless and disabled, you don’t have to actually quit ur job to benefit from retirement funds, if you’re based in a first world country you are not going to face Societal Collapse™ and COUNTRIES OTHER THAN THE US EXIST! this dommerist fear mongering is self-obsessed, ahistoric, and dangerous. people have survived through shit you cannot imagine and will never confront for you to throw up your hands. most retirement funds internationally have compound interest, which really adds up over decades.

[jorgeborges]

sorry gonna add some US specific info bc i had a straight up horrifying conversation with a 35 year old the other day who should have known better.

if you are in the US and contribute money to a pension fund/especially to a 401k, go log in and ENSURE the money is not just sitting there collecting minor interest. it is in your best interest to make sure it is in the market. yes. even if the stock market crashes tomorrow. we are talking about periods of time measured in decades, at which point your savings absolutely will have grown past the rate of inflation, often outpacing it by close to triple that rate. (US inflation usually holds around 2.5%, while the S&P 500's annual rate of return has, on average, been 10.13% since 1957. 10.13 - 2.5 > 0. you also dont have to invest only in the US -- you can choose funds that are global, or even excluding the US.)

nothing is guaranteed ever in life, but there are bets you would be dumb not to make.

[ms-demeanor]

Let us say that you are 45, you want to retire at 67, you put your money into an extremely conservative fund with a predictable 5% interest, you make $12,000 a year and save 10% of your income ($100 a month) and start with $1000 in the fund.

In that time you would have *saved* $27,400 and you have $23,590 built in interest. Is $50k enough to survive on for retirement? Absolutely not. Will it keep you more housed and fed and cared for than $27,400? YES.

Let us say that you are 35 and you are just letting your money from your 401K sit at a low interest of 1.5%; you are saving for 32 years to retire at 67, you start with $1000 and you save 10% of your income (same as above, $1200 a year).

In that time you have saved $39,400 and gained $11,500 in interest. Is that better than not saving? Yes. Is it going to be enough to survive on for retirement? Absolutely not.

Now, let's say that you're doing everything exactly the same as the 35 year old in the above example except you put your money into an index fund with a very modest return of 7%.

THAT'S A LOT FUCKING BETTER. You've still saved $39,400 but the interest is now $112K. THAT'S MUCH BETTER.

Now: same example - you start with $1000, you make $12,000 a year and put $1200 a year into your 401k, you invest in a fund with an average over time of 7%, but you are 25 and you are saving 42 years to retire at 67.

You have only saved about $11k more, but you have collected over a quarter million dollars in interest. Is $320k enough to survive on? Well, let's say you expect to live to 87, almost 20 years after retirement. You get $16,000 a year, which is more than you were making during your working years in this example.

Now. Let's say you're 25 and you're broke as fuck, you don't have a thousand dollars a month income, you don't have a hundred dollars a month to put in the fund. What happens if you just do twenty dollars a month with no padding up front at 7% interest for 42 years?

You ended up with more than the 45 year old who saved for 22 years at 5% interest, more than the 35 year old who saved for 32 years at 1.5% interest by saving at a rate of $240 a year.

Now, let's say you're thirty, you're making $35k a year, you are going to be saving for 37 years, and we'll still be cautious and say you're getting 9% interest. You're contributing about 5% of your income, $145 a month, paid directly to your 401K automatically from your paycheck, before it ever hits your bank account, because that's what "pay yourself first" means.

You retire with half a million dollars.

Let's say you get a tax return every year, and you take $300 of that tax return and put it in your retirement account.

Let's say you're 25, like the person up there who is convinced they won't ever be able to retire, and you have 47 years to save. You figure out a way to save $50 a month for retirement and you put $200 of your annual tax return into your 401k, which has a 9% yield:

I am begging/pleading: PUT SOME FUCKING MONEY INTO YOUR 401K AND INVEST IT IN AN INDEX FUND THAT IS SYNCED TO THE YEAR YOU PLAN TO RETIRE.

THIS IS NOT LIKE THE BOOMERS SAYING YOU COULD BUY A HOUSE IF NOT FOR THE AVOCADO TOAST, THIS IS PLANNING FOR LATE LIFE HOUSING AND CARE FOR THE COST OF ONE FAST FOOD MEAL, SPOTIFY, NETFLIX, AND GOING TO THE LIBRARY INSTEAD OF THE MOVIES OR THE BOOKSTORE.

You already don't do any of those things? Cool, this is about 1/8th what you can make selling plasma per month put into a retirement fund to make sure you aren't homeless when you're older.

I am a big believer in mutual aid and not trusting the government. You know what's going to enable you to help more people later in life? If you don't have to rely on your younger family members to support you in your old age. If you make 35k a year (which you might not now, but may in 5 years) 5% of your income means having the means to continue helping your family, and helping your community, and not relying on community resources that other people might need because you put your oxygen mask on first.

I know fifty bucks a month is hard. I know twenty bucks a month is hard. But it's not as hard as leaving your home when you can't afford it at 70 or becoming a walmart greeter at 75 would be.

Also "Social security is going to run out of money" is a pretty egregious oversimplification; if no changes are made by 2035 social security beneficiaries will only receive 83% of the benefit that they would have if it had been fully funded. Here's how a financial advisor describes that (while advising that you invest for retirement):

It's likely that Social Security will be around when you retire. However, you may not receive the full benefit offered to current retirees. The Social Security Administration's 2024 annual report found that the program is likely to be able to pay 100% of the current benefits through 2035. After that, retirees would receive 83% of their scheduled benefits.
What could that look like? As of January 2025, the average Social Security payout is $1,976 per month. If you were to receive 83% of that, it would drop to $1,640 per month.

Being an anarchocommunist does not absolve you of the responsibility to do some planning for the future. I know you want to give to every support post that comes across your dash and that is something that you should plan for and budget for. And you should plan to treat your own retirement savings as though you are a 70 year old writing a post on tumblr to try to raise money for rent

Part of recognizing that a better world is possible is recognizing that you have to have some agency in making that better world and nobody wants to do a revolution with people who don't have the ability to do basic math or plan for the future.

Save for retirement now so that the money people would have used to support you can go to strike funds, or can provide dental care for low income families, or can be used to provide housing for someone who wasn't able to work, or who DID have some disaster that wiped out all their savings.

And then fuck it if you want, plan on dying at 80 (or using less of your income annually after retirement) when you retire and give fifty grand to someone to put a down payment on a house or to pay for two years of rent for a family that needs help.

I'm in my late 30s now and I deeply regret not setting up better savings in my 20s or early 30s because it's *HARD* to catch up. If you're young, and you're reading this, and you have twenty dollars a month that you can put into a 401K I am speaking directly to you. Don't be me. Be smarter than I was. Please please please please just invest and provide a stable senior situation for yourself, or at least do what you can to make that situation more stable.

[bauliya]

and by the way you can open a Roth IRA account (as long as you have a W2 form) if you’re an immigrant and it will still be there for you if you leave the US and don’t contribute to it, collecting interest.

[thefloralmenace]

FEDERAL WORKERS: CHECK YOUR EMAIL RIGHT NOW - 2/23/25.

Hey, I know I haven't been on here in over a week, and I owe a lot of people responses, but last night an email went out to many federal employees asking them to reply with five things they accomplished that week, copy their supervisors, and do so before Monday with a nonresponse considered equivalent to resignation.

Intentionally sent on 6PM on a Saturday.

Don't make it easy. Go check your email and respond before tomorrow. I know someone personally who received the email, and as stated above, it's more than about targeted groups now because he is just a straight cis white man who has been saying no to orders and trying to protect people in his department.

[awheckery]

NO

NO

DO NOT RESPOND UNLESS YOU RECEIVE GUIDANCE FROM YOUR ORGANIZATION SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTING YOU TO DO SO WITH SUGGESTED VERBIAGE

this email is not targeted, we all got it

and furthermore, the only indication that there would be adverse consequences in not replying was in a tweet made by elon musk; the email itself doesn't contain threats against anyone's continuing employment, and as of right now, the OPM doesn't have the power or authority to remove anyone from service

multiple government agencies have issued their own internal guidance to disregard the email, including the DoD and the FBI, and per the newest email from the NTEU, received Sunday, February 23rd at 6:34 pm CST:

"Each federal agency is approaching responding to the email differently. Some are awaiting guidance from the departmental level. Others have issued guidance directing employees to respond.

If you have no guidance from your agency, wait for further instructions. Some agencies have indicated that they will issue guidance tomorrow (Monday) morning.

If your agency says you do not need to respond, then do not respond to the email.

If your agency instructs you to respond to the OPM email, you should follow their instructions."

do not obey in advance.

hold the line.

[thefloralmenace]

This is better. Reblog this version. All I have is info from one federal employee who told me this over dinner. It may have gone out differently to different departments or he may not have told me the full story.

From what he said, it sounded like the intent was to create grounds to dismiss anyone who didn't comply over the weekend (I'm against advanced compliance, but it didn't sound like people were going to get a chance for it to be "advanced").

I'm happy to know many department heads ARE holding the line and refusing to act on the email. It sounded like his were not going to, and I apologize if trying to spread the word did more harm than good.

[marxism-sjwism]

btw… important PSA: cutting off the mold on the surface of food does nothing. you can only see the spores on the surface, but mold itself has spread and grown roots into the food. by the time you can actually *see* the spores, that piece of food is completely full of it. youre still eating mold. 

many of which are poisonous and have been shown to cause cancer. youre not even supposed to sniff it, because that can get spores into your lungs. like if you look up the health and safety guidelines for mold they barely stop short of telling you to put on a hazmat suit. 

like produce is okay as long as you cut around it at least an inch, but cooked foods? you gonna die. stop eating mold people 

[animeismybestfriend104]

does that include bread

[realkremlinhours]

yes

[realkremlinhours]

[lovelesssupremeshirts]

Here’s the USDA mold chart

[rayclubs]

MOLD WILL ALSO LIVE ON YOUR PLASTIC CONTAINERS. If you put something in a plastic container and it gets moldy, either clean the container with potent acids or just throw the whole thing away. DO NOT PUT NON-MOLDY FOOD IN A CONTAINER THAT HAD MOLD IN IT. It will get moldy too. Afaik glass and metal are fine but wash them with hot water for extra safety.

[mylittleredgirl]

mercy seems like a long shot here, so my prayer for inauguration day 2025: may they be incompetent. may they just be really bad at implementation. may their egos choke their effectiveness. may they drown themselves week by week with infighting and selfish posturing. may they be easily distracted. may the very governors and senators and agencies and religious leaders that the new administration expects to be friendly force endless stalemates to preserve their own power. may every delay turn into a three ring blame circus so chaotic that no one remembers what they were doing. may the good and necessary parts of government be too boring to draw attention and keep running quietly in the background. may the next four years be full of sound and fury and signify nothing.

[jupitersmusings]

good things will happen 🧿

things that are meant to be will fall into place 🧿

[passionate-lovely-soul]

THIS ONE FUCKING WORKS. REBLOG IT.

[tiny-kt]

this for real fucking works

[scroll-of-thought]

Apparently this one fuckin works, and who am I to argue with the collective agreement of tumblr. Will report back if good things happen.