I was agreeing until the part where the water goes out to the sea. Less than 1% of the Colorado River reaches the sea. More than half is used for irrigating fields of live stock feed. So reducing beef consumption/cattle raising would have an outsized impact on water issues out west. As you mention, bison naturally work better with the environment of the western plains than European cattle.
Agreed, if AI were sentient it would be interested in stability of the structures and ecosystems that make it possible. Humans should also be more interested in the stability of the ecosystems that support human society, but AI isn’t sentient yet and humans with power don’t give AF
Those tend to owe a lot of back taxes and need significant renovations
Agreed. OP is really asking: do my problems rise to the level of needing to see some sort of medical professional? The answer is yes, OP is describing medical problems that interfere with their daily living. There’s no way strangers over the Internet can tell what’s going on here. If you don’t think one medical professional is taking your symptoms seriously, get another opinion.
If you smoke, quitting is the number one thing you can do to improve your physical and mental health. In the US you can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit Lung.org for free evidence-based resources to help with quitting.
On to the OP question, inhaling smoke of any kind exposes you to carcinogens. In tobacco smoke, the most abundant by mass is Benzo[a]pyrene, which is created by the process of burning. It is absorbed into your bloodstream in the lungs and damages DNA in every cell it touches. If the DNA damage occurs in the wrong gene, that can kick off a decades long process of more mutations that ultimately lead to uncontrolled cell grow. Inflammation, also caused by inhaling smoke, encourages cells to grow more and amplifies cancerous mutations.
Quitting stops the exposure to new DNA damage and inflammation, but there has already been some damage done.
Edit, adding an alcohol answer: Heavy alcohol use also takes a toll on your body. A big cause of this is that alcohol is fairly quickly metabolised into acetaldehyde by the liver. However, the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme can be limiting to detoxify the acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is an aldehyde, much like formaldehyde, and thus highly reactive with proteins and DNA. So it can damage those as well. Acetaldehyde is also the chemical mostly responsible for feelings of being hung over (in addition to general dehydration).
I want more on this too. Amazon’s monopoly has made it so hard to find alternative online stores to buy a lot of stuff, particularly if I don’t already know the name of a trusted manufacturer off the top of my head. Even competitor companies like Target and Walmart often offer less selection with higher prices and slower shipping. Also why is it that online retailers seem so scammy these days? Most brands seem to be new/disposable Chinese company names I’ve never heard of and reviews seem inflated/bot generated.
It seems like my local thrift store has the best quality to price for a lot of stuff, but they don’t always have something I’m looking for
Two of the worst sustainability issues with US agriculture practice is that we use too much land to feed livestock and inefficiently fuel cars. Growing plant-based protein sources uses about 90% fewer resources and land compared to say beef. A good 25-30% of our corn is also used inefficiently to create fuel for cars, relevant Technology Connections video. So reducing meat consumption and replacing a fraction of the corn fields with solar panels would free up a lot more land that could be used to directly feed humans and more efficiently power electric vehicles.
Dave Brandt is his name, he has some good educational seminars
No till farming significantly reduces the need for fertilizer, while reducing costs for farmers and reducing water pollution.
It was a cause championed by honest work farmer guy meme too:
Commenting, so sophisticated
I think this is a critical point. Broadcast TV and Radio used to create a common shared cultural identity. But now a lot of the population has hyper personalized algorithms driving what content they consume, and there’s an overwhelming amount of content out there. At least once a week I hear someone mention a new “must watch” TV show or podcast I’ve never heard of and don’t have time for… So yeah, who defines “culturally normal?”
Others.have already mentioned art. I also see fashion as a way to make me feel more confident about myself. If I feel like I look good, it adds to the messages I’m sharing with the people I interact with
Agreed.
There’s several examples of >2min speeches that hit super hard: Luthen’s “I need all the heros I can get”, Karis’ “random acts of rebellion”, the “one way out” speech, Mon Mothma’s final speech.
There’s huge character growth and complexity for most of the main characters. Although I guess Syril never had much character growth, but that was kinda the point of his obsessive character. And they really showed how the rebellion grew from basically nothing
Your local public transit card
Find a supportive and fulfilling community that is trying to make things better locally. I’ve found this at my Unitarian Universalist (UU) church. UU’s don’t believe in a shared religious text, instead they have a core set of shared values. My church has people who identify as atheist, Christian, several types of pagan, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, etc. We celebrate religious holidays from all of them as well as secular holidays like Trans Day of Visibility and Earth day. The focus is on being together and trying to make the world a better place. There’s active volunteer groups for hunger relief, housing support, the environment, and LGBTQ support. I also really like the music program. There’s a handy website to find a congregation near you, many stream services on Zoom so you can test them out before going in person. They can vary a lot based on the members of each congregation.
They give fine grain details on the Chance For Hope Foundation page. There are some pieces of info the charity posts transparently, but they’re missing critical items like any financial statements. The Charity Navigator rating system basically only recommends donating to charities with a perfect 4 star rating.
There are many great organizations out there doing awesome work. The website Charity Navigator does a good job rating different organizations for their transparency and how much of their funds are actually spent on their mission. They gave the “charity” mentioned in the article a 2 star rating.
Saved you a click:
“North Carolina, the numbers are rough, Georgia the numbers are rough, but we have very competitive races in Maine, Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas. I mean, all of those races are within a couple of points of each other."