There’s more that makes this weird. We also know some things about how pre-civlized societies handled narcissism. Surprisingly often, these societies actually had a dedicated word for these people. The exact translation and connotation of the word varied from one population to the next, but the stories that they told were basically the same. (For reference, we learned this by interviewing members of indigenous societies that had not yet been heavily influenced by civilization. Some of these societies still existed as recently as a century ago - now there are almost none left.) These were the people who were ‘unteachable’, ‘lazy’, ‘troublemakers’ - they caused drama while contributing next to nothing. When these people didn’t improve their behavior (or they did something heinous like commit murder or rape), they were exiled or killed. (Check out literature on ‘rape-free’ societies if you want to read more about this.) These individuals were pretty rare - around 1% of the population - so what little violence was necessary to keep the peace would not account for the evidence that we see from post-agricultural societies. We’ve no reason to believe that these pre-civilized societies suddenly stopped policing themselves when they were pushed into agriculture by the drought (and there’s even some evidence that they did not - again, see “Civilized to Death”), yet the vast majority of us now live in a society where such a penalty for mere narcissism would be unthinkable.

I recently learned that zombification (check the transcript) using drugs, as a form of slavery, was used by some indigenous people as a punishment of such assholes instead of execution or exile.

Tankies are conservatives acting on a social level instead of an economic level (from what you describe). This makes more sense if you think of military hierarchies and advancement in them.

Locals noted that the $16 million project is meant for flooding or rain water issues (heavy rainfall can come off the mountain and accumulate in town), instead of ocean water problems eyed by the Army Corps plans.

So they’re climate change deniers…?

“77% of the people voted against the floodwall project.

Wow.

But opposition has mounted with residents concerned about how the cost would affect property taxes, the fact they’d have to cover the cost to maintain the floodwall as well as effects the barrier would have on beach views or access to the shore.

Alrighty then, enjoy watching house values drop and people abandon the area, leading to lower tax revenue and higher taxes.

“Long story short, it comes down to the fact that they’re looking to just roll it into our taxes, roll it into our responsibility,” said Longo, whose family has lived in Highlands since the 1950s.

It’s interesting that people who don’t live in a communist society expect others to bail them out.

Always have been. What is going on in the Amazon rain forest now is what went on a few centuries ago in North America: settler-colonialists invading with cows and horses, wiping out forests, native herbivores, and, of course, indigenous people.

We’re seeing it happen now, it’s not in history. It’s happening IN REAL TIME.

Mongabay has more articles like this:

Rainforest cowboys: Rodeo culture sweeps the Amazon

Here’s a related documentary interview for context: Can the Amazon Rainforest be saved? with Richard Mosse - YouTube

Trailer of sorts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CmeqMe48MQ

This week we talk to photographer, filmmaker and artist Richard Mosse, who spent two years documenting the desctruction of one of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the world, the Amazon Rainforest. Using infrared film, GIS mapping technologies, and ultraviolet cameras, Mosse explores every scale of the rainforest, from miscroscopic organisms to hectares of cleared land. On the human level, the film follows both the indigenous people who are trying to hold on to their way of life and the loggers, ranchers, and miners who are trying to carve out a living at the edge of the world. The result is an immersive, unflinching multichannel film called Broken Spectre

https://jackshainman.com/exhibitions/richard_mosse_broken_spectre

…

And now to read the article…

It’s a common lament in the Amazon ranching community, and one that helps to explain why populist politicians such as the former president Jair Bolsonaro and the US president, Donald Trump, have such an appeal. It taps straight into the existential debate about the role of frontier men and women – farmers, miners, oil workers – in a world where wide-open spaces are increasingly constrained by environmental limits.

It’s not a “wide-open” space. The Amazon is a forest ecosystem that has been “nudged” by indigenous people for a very long time. It’s not an open space, it belongs to the indigenous people there.

He is referring to plans – promised by JBS – the world’s largest meat producer, which is the majority buyer from ranchers in the Amazon – for a new birth-to-abattoir tracking system that will, supposedly by the end of this year, tag and trace every head of cattle in the Amazon to ensure none of them are raised in areas that have been deforested. An investigation by the Guardian and its partners suggests this deadline will be missed. JBS told the Guardian that it respectfully contested the conclusions of the investigation, but added that “while the sector-wide challenges are significant and larger than any one company can solve on its own, we believe JBS has an in-depth and robust series of integrated policies, systems, and investments that are making a material and positive impact on reducing deforestation risks”.

JBS can’t be trusted: Brazilian Amazon ‘cattle laundering’ taints JBS & Frigol supply chains: Report

Ah, they mention it too.

And rather than clean up, many in the beef industry have simply found loopholes that allow them to carry on with the old ways. “Cattle laundering”, which hides the origins of livestock from environmentally embargoed ranches, is so widespread that few farmers bother to hide what they are doing.

At this point, I just want to live long enough to see these takers deal with the Amazon Desert that they’re birthing into existence. I mean:

A keynote speaker at this Encontro dos Pecuaristas (meeting of the Livestock Farmers) is the lawyer and land-owner Vinicius Borba, a slim man with a thin beard and a sharp turn of phrase. Borba says he represents rural producers in the indigenous territory of Apyterewa. Before the meeting, he had spoken defiantly about his own environmental penalties and accusations of wrongdoing, which he blamed on the government’s failure to legitimise his property. “I am called a land-grabber, an invader, a deforester, but it is not my fault,” he said. “I have a property that we have occupied for over 20 years, and to this day the government has not given me the title … Since the regularisation never comes, I end up becoming a statistic, another land-grabber.”

and

All the same, she says, change is coming, whether ranchers like it or not. “Unfortunately, the environmental issue is here to stay,” she says, of the growing pressure for transparent tracking systems to eradicate deforestation from supply chains. “If we don’t wake up, we will be left out of rural production.”

This should be treated as confessions to crimes.

I guess I’m a ghost, having been vegan for so long. If this is the afterlife, people like you must be why it’s Hell, as you’re spreading egg industry misinformation about choline - a substance which, in those animal-based regular concentrated doses, is correlated with a greater risk of cancers 1 2 3. Also heart disease.

Despite large parts of the population being under the “adequate intake”, a common worry for choline deficiency is about dementia. If plants were so low in choline, you’d expect AD to be a big issue for those who ate more plant-based (as a spectrum) than animal-based food.

Effects of intensive lifestyle changes on the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: a randomized, controlled clinical trial | Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy | Full Text

Here’s a trial with an intervention of:

This lifestyle intervention includes (1) a whole foods, minimally processed plant-based diet low in harmful fats and low in refined carbohydrates and sweeteners with selected supplements; (2) moderate exercise; (3) stress management techniques; and (4) support groups.

and the conclusion:

in persons with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, comprehensive lifestyle changes may improve cognition and function in several standard measures after 20 weeks.

Too short? Perhaps something on the Mediterranean diet, which is a heavily plant-based diet (if you don’t know what the MD score is, look it up):

Mediterranean diet adherence is associated with lower dementia risk, independent of genetic predisposition: findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study | BMC Medicine | Full Text

We used Cox proportional hazard regression models to explore the associations between MedDiet adherence, defined using two different scores (Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener [MEDAS] continuous and Mediterranean diet Pyramid [PYRAMID] scores), and incident all-cause dementia risk in 60,298 participants from UK Biobank, followed for an average 9.1 years. The interaction between diet and polygenic risk for dementia was also tested.

…

In this large population-based prospective cohort study, higher adherence to a MedDiet was associated with reduced dementia risk.

Is the MD bad in this way?

Frontiers | Dietary adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern in a randomized clinical trial of patients with quiescent ulcerative colitis

Results: Participants’ diets were analyzed (MDP n = 15, CHD n = 13). The MDP (n = 10, 67%) achieved a high level of adherence (MDSS score between 16 and 24) vs. CHD (n = 3), (p = 0.030). HEI-2015 significantly increased from baseline to week 12 (p = 0.007) in the MDP and was significantly higher at week 12 compared to the CHD (p = 0.0001). The SIBDQ (bowel domain) showed reductions in the passage of large amounts of gas (p = 0.01) and improvements in tenesmus (p = 0.03) in the MDP. Despite enhanced diet quality and adherence in the MDP, females had inadequate intakes of calcium, iron, vitamin D, vitamin E, and choline and males had inadequate intakes of fiber, vitamin D, vitamin E, and choline. No adverse events were reported.

You’ll find that studies on dementia and diets tend to recommend more plant-centered diets.

Hmmmm… if you actually check the literature for choline, it’s an “Adequate Intake” recommendation, not an RDA. There isn’t enough data for it.

Dietary intake and food sources of choline in European populations | British Journal of Nutrition | Cambridge Core

In most of the population groups considered, the average choline intake was found to be below the AI set in 1998 by the IOM in the USA. Given the definition of AI, no conclusion can be drawn regarding the adequacy of choline intake.

It can be called “energy security” now. And “food security” probably.

Anarchism and a moneyless economy | The Anarchist Library

Charity is always a patch and a simulacrum for what’s really needed.

Knew it. My bullshit detector is finely tuned.

The animal agriculture industry hired scientists to produce industry-friendly emissions reports and challenge individual action, influenced public discourse around dietary change, and created a front group, the Food Facts Coalition, with a mission to defend the industry against ‘anti-cow arguments’. The animal agriculture industry’s response to individual dietary change illustrates a unique form of climate obstruction and suggests that an industry’s approach to personal responsibility is context-dependent and action-specific.

It’s not even the usual scam disinformation, they get into fascist fantasies, as made clear with the “alt” right types, Jordan Peterson and others. They treat beef as a better “masculinity” supplement than injecting testosterone or taking ED pills. Yet another nightmare forming fantastic narrative unleashed to protect a capital sector that’s destroying the world.

The animal agriculture industry’s opposition to dietary change contrasts with the oil and gas industry’s support for individual energy reduction and shows that industry attitudes towards individual action are context-dependent and action-specific.

Yeah, that’s because the fossil fuel industry knows that people are dependent on their products, like addicts. The carbon footprint (per capita GHG emissions) is like a reminder of who the dealer is, who has the power.

The meat industry tries to sponsor science that claims that eating meat is not just necessary, but nearly confers superpowers. That’s compensating for the fact that consuming meat is not necessary. While they may have addicts based on hyperpalatable high-fat meat, it’s not the same as the dependency on fossil fuels.

While asserting that its products do not cause climate change and changing one’s diet will not make a difference (e.g. Wright, Citation2009) and that emphasis on individual responsibility ‘distracts from the problem’ (Mitloehner, Citation2020), the animal agriculture industry has simultaneously made a series of products and claims aimed at climate-conscious consumers. For example, the Oregon-based dairy company Neutral claims to be carbon neutral and states on its packaging: ‘This milk fights climate change’ (Hamlett, Citation2023). Tyson Foods, the largest US meat company, introduced ‘Brazen Beef’, which it claims emits 10 percent fewer GHGs (Samuelson, Citation2021). JBS USA, part of the largest meat company in the world, has made many climate-related claims, including that the company will reach net-zero by 2040, which led to a lawsuit by the Attorney General of New York alleging that JBS USA has repeatedly misled consumers (Gelles & Andreoni, Citation2024). This paradox is reminiscent of the tobacco industry, which, in the 1950s, began funding a large network to challenge the causal link between smoking and cancer while they also started manufacturing filtered cigarettes that they claimed removed tar and nicotine (Proctor, Citation2012; Whiteside, Citation1963). If smoking does not cause cancer, why was a filter necessary? Likewise, if meat and dairy do not contribute to climate change and/or dietary change is insignificant, why produce Neutral milk or Brazen Beef, or commit to net-zero?

The meat cartels are all too rich from various subsidies too. Like the fossil industry, they have a big “war chest” to spread disinformation and attack opponents.

As for civil society groups, the evidence presented here that the industry has fought even modest forms of dietary change is reason alone to suggest that dietary change is an effective climate intervention and should be part of climate action and advocacy.

It’s going to get worse under the Trump regime and that RFK Jr.

Ah, yes, doing the same thing while waiting for “better options” as a moral position. That’s called moral opportunism! Congrats, capitalism’s ideal man: “rational self-interest man”.

Many rich economies such as the UK have made big strides in cleaning up their power supply, but their populations still live high-carbon lifestyles. Unlike less wealthy peers still working towards a coal-free grid, this cluster of mostly European nations now faces a new challenge: persuading the public to live differently.

fossil fascists have entered the chat

“What Noaa provides is an infrastructure of facilities that produce the data — satellites, ships, weather buoys — that the insurance industry doesn’t have,” Nutter said.

Well, the insurance companies better start investing in all of those EO capabilities. That’s how the “Free Market” forces work, right? The insurance company with the best data wins. 🍿

, it was just ~20% after accounting for the longer life of the cattle due to unpredicted slower mass gain with the supplement.

Unpredicted is wrong there, there are many substances, additives, and outright plants that can be added to ruminant diets to reduce GHG emissions and that usually has consequences. The animal farmers have known about these for a long time as it’s part of the “technology”; sometimes the additives reduce weight gain, sometimes they cause harms; sometimes the plants taint the meat or milk.

They had hoped for no changes to development of the cattle and around 80% or higher emissions cut.

Yes, it’s a huge failure.

a great starting point and a strong show of the value proposition

It’s not. This has been going on for years.

Here’s a long article: https://etcgroup.org/content/seaweed-delusion

Australian trial of seaweed cow feed fails to achieve hoped-for methane cuts | Environment | The Guardian (2023)

stop the greenwashing

Winner of subsidies and wasted opportunities. The winner is Rosatom (Putin) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

The cost is everything.

And I posted a different comment here: https://slrpnk.net/post/18679785/13966072

You’re not getting the fact that those feedstocks have their own feedstocks.

Using waste is also misleading, the goal needs to be to reduce waste, not make the waste a co-product. Cooking oil waste isn’t something that’s going to be some reliable feedstock either. In the context of economic “drama”, you can expect restaurants to close down much more or to reuse that oil a lot more times. Even too much: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil The biodiesel processors won’t be able to rely on that source, there’s going to be a growing need for the virgin feedstocks.

Your position is essentially the same one as the meat and dairy industries, who are the competitor for that feedstock feed. That includes ‘waste’.

My concern with that is that it creates a choice between:

• feeding airplanes (or cars)
• feeding humans

It’s not as obvious with international markets for agriculture inputs and overproduction, but it’s happening right now if you understand how inputs and land work. It’s the same with meat and dairy. This is going to become more obvious if climate chaos (or other problems) create unstable conditions for agriculture, leading to lower yields and the end of decades of overproduction.

Here’s a documentary like podcast on these topics if you want to get a solid intro to the problems. /u/photon_echo@slrpnk.net

What is it made of?