Makes Me Smile.

Capitalism and Consumerism are destroying this planet 🌍 [IS ACTUALLY THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE ]. It is also the end of us as a dominant species.

Oh my god I'm sooooo mad right now

So. I have no business telling people not to collect wild plants/materials.

I do it all the time.

However.

The words "wildcrafted," and "foraged," even "sustainably harvested," are terrifying to see in an ad on Etsy or Instagram

There is a such thing as the honorable harvest where you ASK the plant if it is okay to take, with the intention of listening if the answer is NO. Robin Wall Kimmerer talked about this, She did not make it up, it is an ancient and basic guideline of treating the plants with respect.

Basically it is not wrong to use plants and other living things, even if this means taking their life. But you are not the main character. You have to reflect on your knowledge of the organism's life cycle and its role in the ecosystem, so you can know you are not damaging the ecosystem. You have to only take what you need and avoid depleting the population.

Mary Siisip Geniusz also talked about it in an enlightening way in her book Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do is Ask. She gave an example of a woman who was on an island and needed to use a medicinal herb to heal her injured leg or she would not survive the winter. In that situation she had to use up all of the plant that was on the island. This was permissible, even though it eliminated the local population, because she had to do it to save her life. But in return the woman had the responsibility to later return to the island and plant seeds of that plant.

And what makes me absolutely furious, is that there are a bunch of people online who have vaguely copied this philosophy of sustainability in a false and insulting way, saying "wildcrafted" or "foraged" materials to be all trendy and cool and in touch with nature, when it is actually just poaching.

If you are from a capitalistic culture the honorable harvest is very hard and unintuitive to learn to practice. I am not very good at it still. This is why it is suspicious if someone is confident that they can ethically and respectfully harvest wild materials with money involved.

So there's this lichen that is often called "reindeer moss." It looks like this:

It grows only a few millimeters a year.

This is "preserved" reindeer moss.

It is from Etsy, similar is also sold in many other online shops, many of which have the audacity to describe it as a "plant" for decorations and terrariums that needs no maintenance.

It is not maintenance-free, it is dead. It has been spray-painted a horrible shade of green. The people buying it clearly don't even know what it is. It is a popular crafting material for "fairy houses," whatever the hell those are. So is moss, also dead, spray-painted, and wild-harvested. Supposedly reindeer moss is harvested sustainably in Finland, where it is abundant, for the craft industry. However poaching of lichens and mosses is absolutely rampant.

It's even more upsetting because there's hardly any articles drawing attention to the problem. This one is from 1999. And the poaching is still going on.

There is a "moss" section on Etsy, and it is so upsetting

These mosses and lichens were collected from the wild. Most of the shops are in the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia, which are the major locations of moss and lichen poaching. There are some shops based in Appalachia selling "foraged" reindeer moss.

Reindeer moss may be abundant in Finland, but in Appalachia it should NOT be harvested to be sold on Etsy as craft supplies! Moss doesn't grow quickly. Big, healthy colonies like this took years to grow. Some of these shops have thousands of sales, all of bags and bags of moss and lichen, and thinking of how much moss and lichen that must be, I am filled with horror.

Clubmosses do not transplant well, and these ones have no roots. The buyers do not realize they have bought a dead plant because clubmoss stays green and pliable after it is dead.

This is especially awful because in Mary Siisip Geniusz's book she talked about clubmosses being poached so much for Christmas wreaths that they had almost disappeared from a lot of forests.

I don't even know if this is illegal if it's not a formally endangered species so I don't know if I can report them I'm just. really sad and angry

The light was incredible this morning.

ABSOLUTELY

Reblog if you think public libraries are important and should be maintained.

Oh you mean publicly funded child grooming centers?

The scary thing. The really scary thing is there are millions of people who believe that that is exactly what libraries are.

But let me turn that on it’s head, and embrace it. They are child grooming centers. Because they are a place where children can be groomed not to learn what to read and what not to read, but to read. Groomed not to learn what to think and what not to think, but to think. Groomed not to learn what to believe and what not to believe, but to question. Groomed not to condone or condemn the ideas, believes, and lifestyles of other people, but to understand they exist.

Because once a child learns to read, think, question, and understand they can grow to become a dangerously intelligent and formidable adult. And if there is one thing that scares the shit out of governments and institutions it is exactly what this nation needs more of; dangerously intelligent and formidable adults.

And on a personal note, if you think libraries are places where kids go to get groomed to be molested, become drag queens, gay, communists, fornicators, or God knows what else your Jack in the Box fucked up mind can come up with, you’re kinda a dipshit. And you clearly don’t spend much, if any, time in public libraries.

Librarians are not gatekeepers or groomers. They only caretake information so that you can use YOUR OWN MIND/BRAIN to make your own informed decisions.

You do have a brain……..right. .? Why not give it a try. ?

Librarians are awesome!!

HA,!

Rebloging to get the #miserable bastards registered. !

ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ABSOLUTELY

In the most 1776 manner, Do Not Tread On My/Any Library 🐍

SANCTUARIES AND REPOSITORIES OF KNOWLEDGE MUST EXIST !

Because Library is a safe place.

Trying out Artsy view of morning sunrise.

When the mace

Doesn’t smash your face

That’s amoreè

I go into the woods and trails and DO NOT ! ! ! Want to hear your music. The woods and trails have their own voices. That’s what I want to hear.

I will find you if you are disturbing the trees, critters (fur or feathers) or ME. I will first ask politely for you to stop the noise you are producing. The next steps are to be determined, but that noise should stop.

This action - granted to DOGE - is absolutely illegal ! It is NOT a government entity. It is wholly made up by an EO. Which are not law. !

Your data is now in the hands people which will be used against you in nefarious situations and ways.

Hear us now. Believe later to your peril.