Notices by Lee 🌏 (mrlee@aus.social)

@mastomememakers
I feel like #Fediverse need some killer app to really kick on. That may be just a slicker, more focused version of #Mastodon. Otherwise all the other small great projects happening here, will over time, add up to make a big community.

@mastomememakers
Yeh, that's the slow, steady outcome.
But who knows, perhaps #loops from @dansup will hit that sweet spot.

@TheWarOnCars
I hoped this would happen after the election was over.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/nyregion/congestion-pricing-nine-dollars.html

#Capitalism is crumbling

Whatever happens in these Elections, we can all see Fascism has arrived in the USA and that means the end of #Capitalism as we know it is not far behind.
So now is perhaps a good time to look at what that #PostCapitalism world may look like. #USpol
https://mayflybooks.org/future-for-all-a-vision-for-2048/

#CarBloat #TheWarOnCar #FuckCars #Urbanism #bike

🚨 THE WORLD'S LARGEST DEFORESTATION PROJECT HAS BEGUN. Amid the paradise forests of #Papua, #Indonesia, a business consortium has started destroying what will eventually be 20,000 square kilometers slated for the "Meruake Intergrated Food and Energy Development Area." That’s 112 times the size of Washington, DC.

The company, PT Global Papua Abadi and partners like Sulaidy (linked to First Resources Ltd.) are destroying habitat for endangered tree kangaroos and birds of paradise. The land was allotted to the companies without seeming concern for the Indigenous communities who live on it.

The photo below is of the latest shipment of 264 excavators bought from China. It's part of a mind-boggling order of 2000 land-clearing machines. This is likely the largest single deforestation project in the world…and it makes no sense.

Although the stated rationale is that the project will provide climate resilience and food security, the reality is the opposite: this level of deforestation will pump about a billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere and bulldoze local food gardens to make room for mono-culture sugar and rice plantations. Much of the sugar won't go to food, but rather ethanol to be burned in gas tanks. Simply put, it is a disaster.

It follows previous failed efforts to establish state-backed plantation agriculture: the "Mega-Rice Project" on Borneo's peatland rainforest resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres of degraded land…but no permanent rice (rice doesn't grow well on peat). This project seems likely to end in similar failure.

The tragedy is that this project would also single-handedly undermine Indonesia's greatest climate success: reducing the rate of commodity deforestation by an amazing 90%.

I hope that President Jokowi, incoming President Prabowo, and Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurubaya will examine the project to see if the companies involved are actually delivering on its purposes – or are instead breaking the government's legal commitments.

There is reason for hope: the government recently took the brave step of stopping another company's threat to forests: Mayawana Persada’s destruction of more than 90,000 acres in Borneo. They acted acted because the destruction undermined the government’s nationally determined climate commitments (NDCs): to restore 2 million hectares of peatland and 12 million of degraded land.

The Merauke project is about 50 times as big as Mayawana Persada’s: It's hard to understand how it passes legal muster or contributes to the country’s admirable goals.

Indonesia’s forest success has been a signal accomplishment of the Jokowi administration – and an example for the world. As the administration comes to a close, the President and his successor have the opportunity to secure one of Indonesia’s greatest examples of international leadership into the future.
#deforestation #Climate #climatechange #biodiversity #PolyCrises
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sugarcane-megaproject-poses-latest-threat-to-papuas-forests-communities/

This quote from the recent Dot Social Podcast was worthy of its own meme.
@jaz @mike
#Mastodon #Fediverse #SocialMedia

#Urbanism #ClimateChange

@arstechnica
If keeping people poor is supposed to motivate them to work harder. Then how about we take all Elons money away as motivation for him?

@BeAware

@BeAware @mike
If that's your angle, then I think you should enjoy the podcast. It is possible to have a bias, work towards a goal, and still take time to listen to all parties and empathise with their position.

@BeAware
Really enjoyed this podcast with Ryan from Bridgy.fed & @mike
Really shows how difficult this is to get right.
https://pca.st/episode/94af1736-427a-431b-844e-0eefd001a09e

@BeAware
I agree, I am being lazy 😁

Are their plans for making Search better in #Fediverse #Mastodon ? Particularly people.
I'm trying to find a favourite illustrator account on Mastodon (who I am following) and it's a right palaver.

@BeAware
The idea of a global "town square" where everyone can meet and people get to say and do whatever they want without restriction is complete an utter BS. It's a myth, a lie.

@arstechnica
Advertising ICE cars in a Climate Crisis is irresponsible.

#threads #activitypub #meta #fediverse
https://www.engadget.com/meta-previews-fediverse-sharing-for-threads-001632698.html?src=rss

@verge
If there is one thing I really hope some software developer does with #ActivityPub #Fediverse is develop a great way to integrate music purchasing, direct from the artist. No middle men. All the money going direct to the artist.
Spotify really should not exist. Ripping off artists and then giving their money to @$$*!××%# like Joe Rogan.

👏👏👏 @TheWarOnCars @Naparstek
You always do such a good job in finding the human interest story in #urbanism. This episode is excellent.
The Future of Transportation Has Arrived With Your Pad Thai
https://pca.st/episode/44e5b615-8a77-4429-bfd2-1bfc6a46e667