Links Worth Exploring

We were never promised a future - we have to make that promise ourselves.

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A lawn is just a garden with one plant, no fruit, and just as much effort.

I always liked the news ticker in the SimCity games.

Never grant responsibility to someone who has never made a mistake.

It is the responsibility of upstanding citizens to seek office.

Support your public library.

Reticulating splines...

There is magic all around for those willing to see it.

We only have one planet (so far).

Internal contradiction: I like the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, but I hate decorative lawns.

Can a website be a wildlife habitat?

Everything radical is thousands of years old, everything traditional was invented in the last 150 years.

Aren't all beverages 'enhanced water?'

Thanks for reading. : )

Resources for a Better World

I might hear you saying, "Hey wait, don't you have a whole main site for this kind of thing?" Yes, I do. Welcome to the second, secret directory. Like the Atlas, this one is ever-growing, but I don't restrict myself by the same rules as I do when deciding what to put on the Atlas. This and the Recommendations tab are whatever I want. You might even see some overlap. Most of what I want for this page are resources designed to change the world - organizations, tools, communities. Save our green-blue planet, friends. We're here to help.

Mossy Earth

Mossy Earth is a really cool organization dedicated to ecological restoration, which is both super important to the planet and super important to me. You can donate them a few USD each month to help their efforts. If you want to see those efforts in action, they have a YouTube channel where they take you through the process of each restoration project.

Freecycle

Freecycle is a network dedicated to passing free stuff to one another. You can sign up for alerts from any town or city (though it might be limited to the USA), and you'll get daily emails with alerts of people giving away free things. I've seen clothes, furniture, a plastic bag full of plastic bags, toys, electronics, concert tickets... it's really a great resource for keeping perfectly good stuff out of landfills. You can even request items, just in case someone has one they're willing to send your way. It's like a more advanced version of the Free section on Craigslist (which I also recommend checking regularly).

Instructables

Instructables is a DIY site that has been around for 20-odd years at this point, and gone through a lot of changes. But the core of the website remains the same: Do-It-Yourself instructions on practically any (legal) topic imaginable. There are dozens of instructions for home-made rain barrels, water purifiers, solar arrays, weather sensors, and of course all sorts of fun little gizmos or knick-knacks that aren't directly related to sustainability (but you can tell where my interests lie).

Seed Library Network

The Seed Library Network is an incredible resource. Not only does it have a searchable, interactive map for finding a seed library near you (and outside the US, even! The US-centric nature of a lot these kinds of resources can be a real bummer sometimes), but it includes all sources of resources for starting and maintaining your own seed library, preserving seeds, and much much more. Honestly, seed libraries are such a wonderful resources and combine so well with similar concepts (little free libraries, freedges, etc.).

Open Source Ecology

Open Source Ecology is extremely solarpunk, if that's a moniker that excites you. Started by a PhD student, OSE designs industrial and agricultural machines that are open-source - meaning the designs are free for anyone to build and use. They've got aquaponics greenhouses, sustainable energy generation, mineral extractors... all sorts of very cool stuff, and all of it is intended to be far cheaper than their commercial counterparts (which can still be pretty pricey, but they do what they can). They have a wiki where you can take a look at the designs yourself. I'm also including a link here to the Open Building Institute, which uses a similar model for designing houses and other structures, because as far as I can tell they've been absorbed by Open Source Ecology.

Beautiful Trouble

Beautiful Trouble is a cool org that provides a lot of resources, from articles to trainings to strategic tools, all dedicated to causing trouble for the dracomanic drivers of terrible systems. I don't have a lot of say beyond that - just give them a look. You'll find some really good stuff.

Ecosia

Ecosia is a search engine (and browser) that uses its ad revenue to plant trees and restore biodiversity around the planet. They're transparent in how they use their money and put out regular financial reports. It's a great idea, though like every other search engine they've succumbed to the siren call of generative AI integration... which seems like a considerable conflict of interests, if not conflict of values. Hopefully enough people complain that they pull the plug on it, because otherwise I think what they're doing is respectable.

iFixit

iFixit is a right-to-repair community that includes free guides to repairing all sorts of things - electronics, appliances, even vehicles. If you aren't familiar with Right to Repair, the idea is simple: people have the right to repair and modify the objects they own. Corporations that make those objects seem to disagree, however; they would prefer that you only use repair services, tools, and parts provided by the corporations, and that's if they don't just want you to chuck the thing and shell out for a new one! It's greedy, it's destroying the planet, and you shouldn't stand for it. Louis Rossmann, a repair technician, has a YouTube channel where he talks about right to repair and consumer rights. He's also (at least partly) responsible for why everyone's PFP is clippy at time of writing.

Recipes For An Off-Grid 'Internet'

Exactly what it sounds like. A big guide to making your own 'internet' and running it on solar.