I Am An Atheist.I Am Angry And Bitter.

I am an atheist. I am angry and bitter.

But I am not angry and bitter "because I'm an atheist".

I am angry and bitter, because I WAS a christian, and because what was done to me during that time by my abusers and my community has had awful and far-reaching consequences that I am unable to undo.

I'm much happier in other ways.

I no longer have to hate myself, and hate humanity in general, on behalf of an immoral god who displays all the markers of an abuser; for whom I'm compelled to try to do mental gymnastics in order to explain or defend them in the face of perfectly reasonable critiques.

I don't have to walk around with the CONSTANT anxiousness that that capricious and "unknowable" god inspired.

I no longer have to fear hell.

I can accept myself as a full person now; instead of demonizing my libido levels, my femininity, my curiosity, or even my creativity: assuming that being a woman should be a curse, and that a woman with a high libido is somehow a disgrace, and that people who think (and who question!) outside of the box are somehow dangerous or defective when they are neither lying, nor causing any harm.

I don't have to be afraid to Love myself -- whether literally or figuratively.

I certainly don't have to LOATHE myself on behalf of my "betters".

I defend myself far better, now that I don't believe that I'm supposed to be some insensate piece of property that fathers and husbands get to trade between themselves, expressly for them to use, control, and torture.

I am even able to scrape together moments of joy and purpose, as well as hope for a better future for humanity -- even if a better future has been denied me, personally, as an individual, via the disabling neglect and suppression of opportunities of my "husband"; and, before him, the purposeful isolation and suppression of opportunities by my father.

Being miserable is a given, considering what I have gone through. Anger is a perfectly reasonable response to their lies, cruelty, mistreatment, and dismantling behaviors.

But atheism has only bought to me a light and a clarity that exists DESPITE the miseries I've been saddled with, and it provides tools that aid my struggle to overcome in whatever ways that I still can.

Atheism is fine. Atheism is a joy.

It is RELIGION that has caused my sorrow.

Tatler Asia

From mycelium floors to fruit peel lamps: The sustainable materials shaping eco-friendly design

From bio-based flooring to recycled fruit lamps, these eco-friendly designers are embracing innovative sustainable materials around the worl

When we think of sustainable materials, bamboo, cork, recycled stone and reclaimed teak often come to mind. These building and surface materials are used extensively in both residential and commercial projects, enough to solidify them as the eco-friendly future of established architectural practices.

But what if we went even further? Creative and experimental designers worldwide are embracing much more unusual sustainable materials in a wide range of projects, be these sturdy floorboards and insulating panels, or small-scale decorative elements such as lamps, trays, vases and other furnishings. With designs hailing from Singapore and Indonesia, as well as distant studios in Italy and Palestine, here are the materials of tomorrow.

Mogu’s mycelium floor tiles

Mushroom filaments may not seem like the sturdiest base for hardwearing floors, but the Italian designers behind Mogu would argue otherwise. Transformed into resilient tiles appropriate for luxury residences and even commercial spaces, the mycelium structure is topped with a layer of bio-based resin, granting it resistance to scratches and abrasions rivalling traditional flooring materials.

Orange peel and pine needles make up the sustainable lampshades by Caracara Collective

Turning orange peel into useable furnishings and décor pieces is no small feat, yet the people behind the circularity-focused Caracara Collective in Finland have mastered this singular art. Inspired by the abundance of the natural, inherently sustainable materials around them, the designers created a series of lampshades made of orange peel, as well as pine needles from discarded Christmas trees.

As the collective puts it: “It takes around 20 squeezed oranges to create one lampshade. In other words, each lampshade is the by-product of someone drinking two litres of orange juice.”

Markos Design’s Ostra lamp, made of discarded oyster shells

Discarded oyster shells are similarly repurposed on the island of Cyprus, transformed by Markos Design into Ostra, a ceramic-like biomaterial. Ostra is worked into statement lamp designs, naturally hardwearing thanks to the oysters’ high concentration of calcium carbonate, which also lends cement and concrete considerable strength.

Part of what finally snapped me out of my belief:

If god is the most intelligent and wise of all possible geniuses, then what's written in the bible should blow the efforts of scientists and philosophers completely out of the water.

The works of scientists should seem like the striving of toddlers in comparison to the bible.

It doesn't.

And if god is the source of absolute and perfect morality, then incredibly difficult moral quandaries should have been solved brilliantly in those pages...

I should never feel as if know right from wrong better than the god character.

And yet, with dismay, I frequently felt that way, while reading the bible.

I can't tell you how many hours I spent in desperate prayer, asking for revelation and clarity, on what was, ultimately, already clear:

The bible has no divine origin...and therefore, has no power to reveal anything that humans have yet to reveal; no ability to imbue one with a morality or a wisdom greater than what humans can construct; and no capacity to save you from what you yourself or another human or another animal or a stroke of sheer random chance couldn't save you from.

Reminder:

Transphobia hurts all women, including cis women.

Statistics show that harassment and violence against cis women have increased ever since transphobes started to intensify discrimination against our trans sisters, trans brothers, and trans siblings...

This is because, as people have been encouraged to police and persecute trans folk, it has increased the ways in which people police the bodies, rights, and behaviors of women, and to demonize femininity, across the board.

Look it up.

Little cis girls have been harassed on sports fields, in schools, and on playgrounds for being tomboys and "appearing" to be trans; and some cis women have even been murdered on the mere suspicion of being trans.

The solution is NOT to be even more transphobic and find "better" ways to discriminate. 🙄 That is TRASH.

The solution is to stand firmly against the sexism that stands at the ROOT of homophobia, transphobia, and queerphobia to begin with; by standing against transphobia and discrimination against trans people.

The gender binary isn't real, bioesentiallism blows (not in the good way), and patriarchal structures are not worth defending.

Let people be whatever hue and color and texture of gender they are, stop policing them about it!

Reasons to be Cheerful

How a Colombian City Cooled Dramatically in Just Three Years

With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures -- and could become five degrees coole

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

A man doesn't have to be poor to have a poor wife. It doesn't get talked about nearly enough.

A lot of these "stable" and even "rich" men that women are encouraged to seek out on dating advice columns, in romances, and in fairy tales; will buy gifts and show out BEFORE the marriage, and then deeply restrict household spending -- even to the point of closing you out of accounts or cutting off your access to healthcare or other services that he has on lock, under HIS name -- AFTER the marriage.

There are many women who literally wind up physically disabled, and therefore dependent on their abusers, due to the *purposeful* long-term medical neglect of these men.

Hell: my father, despite enjoying himself with daily steaks and new car after new car; still had my mother so financially shut down, that she was compelled to pattern and sew the curtains in order to keep me clothed throughout elementary school.

Wives of middle and upper class men do not necessarily share in their husband's wealth or opportunities. We're just told that they do, to help romanticize the idea of women "marrying up".