zoom

(via torturekiller)

fairrosalyn:

Happy 82nd Birthday Clint Eastwood!!  Here’s to many more years! | May 31st, 1930

I love every aspect of the creation of motion pictures and I guess I am committed to it for life.

I hadn’t realised he was 82.

Awesome guy.

(via mikesnosense)

ecocides:

Ten worst ‘ecocides’

From floating plastic islands and orbiting space junk to mountaintop removal and deep-sea mining, the worldwide destruction of ecosystems is worse now than at any other time. 

• Alberta tar sands: Referred to as the most damaging project on the planet. According to Greenpeace, emissions from tar sands extraction could grow to between 127 and 140m tonnes by 2020, exceeding the current emissions of Austria, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark. If proposed expansion proceeds,it will result in the loss of vast tracts of boreal forest and peat bogs of a territory the size of England
• Deep-sea mining: The emerging underwater mineral extraction industry is sounding alarm bells among marine biologists, environmental scientists and campaigners such as Polly Higgins, who predict that mining for gold, silver and copper on the seabed will be the next great ecological disaster. The fragile marine ecosystem of the sea floor is a frontier that we know very little about
• The North Pacific gyre: A swirling island of 100m tonnes of plastic bits and bottle tops, spins clockwise from Hawaii to Japan. Also known as the Pacific trash vortex, it is estimated to be the size of Texas. This picture shows a laysan albatross (Diomedea immutabilis) giving a bottle cap to its chick
• The Niger delta: Fifty years of oil extraction in the Niger delta has scarred the Niger delta. Oil companies operated here for decades with very little environmental supervision and the delta, notoriously beset by conflict and poverty, has been steadily pushed towards ecological disaster. Villagers struggle to live off land and water poisoned by years of oil spills, and crops fail under the acid rain caused by gas flares
• The Dongria Kondh: Members of the Dongria Kondh tribe gather on top of the Niyamgiri mountain, which they worship as their living god, to protest against plans by Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite from that mountain. The mine will destroy the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and threaten the livelihoods of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area. Vedanta denies allegations that the planned mine would violate the rights of thousands of people
• Mountaintop removal: Aerial of mountaintop removal coal mining site in West Virginia. Mountaintop mining involves a highly destructive practice of blasting through hundreds of feet of mountaintop to get at thin but valuable seams of coal
• Linfen, China: The most polluted city on earth. Located at the heart of a 12-mile industrial belt of iron foundries, smelting plants and cement factories, fed by the 50m tonnes of coal mined every year, unregulated because of rapid development
• Toxic dumping by Chevron Texaco in Ecuador: Chevron, formerly Texaco, is alleged to have dumped billions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste waters into the Amazonian jungle over two decades. This oily pond is at the oil production site of Guanta, near the city of Lago Agrio. Ecuador’s recent bill of rights for nature has changed the legal status of nature from being simply property to being a right-bearing entity. Campaigners hope this will stop similar ecological disasters from happening again
• The Amazon: The razing of the Amazonian rainforest, a key stabiliser of the global climate system, by logging, mining, crop planting and beef production. Almost 60% of the region’s forests could be wiped out or severely damaged by 2030
• Space junk: From spent rockets to defunct satellites, the millions of pieces of orbital debris have reached a critical level. A computer-generated image released by the European Space Agency shows an approximation of 12,000 fragments in orbit around the Earth

(via veganfiction)

thedailywhat:

Kids These Days of the Day: (Heads up — video is extremely graphic.)

The latest hobby among bored teens in Saudi Arabia — where strict Muslim customs limit their opportunities to really let loose — is drifting, and it’s all fun and games until someone loses a limb. Or their life:

[It’s] the “sport” of accelerating like you’re trying to break the light barrier and then slamming on the brakes. Doing so creates two possible outcomes: 1) having the vehicle slide around like a crazy-cool doodlebug while the tires ferociously screech and smoke, or 2) prompting a massive car wreck that maims or kills everyone involved, often in the most gruesome way possible.

Obviously, the latter scenario is captured in this video, filmed in Riyadh on May 25. The 2012 Camry was going 125 mph when it flipped; all four occupants died instantly.

[atlanticcities]

krossamig:

Dead Infection - From The Anatomical Deeps 

(via torturekiller)

Bill Gates: The future of meat is Vegan ›

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong: On the heels of recent Humane Society undercover investigations into chicken cruelty, pig cruelty, and Tennessee walking horse cruelty, a Mercy For Animals hidden-camera operation at a livestock auction in L.A. has revealed “an ongoing pattern of cruelty, egregious violence, and severe neglect,” including:

• “Downed” animals — those too sick or injured to even stand or walk on their own — being left to slowly suffer and die without food, water or veterinary care.
• Sick, injured and dying animals being kicked, pushed and dragged into transport trucks to be sold and slaughtered for human consumption.
• Workers throwing, beating, stomping on and kicking animals in the face and body.
• Baby goats being carelessly picked up by their necks and then kicked or tossed around.
• Workers grabbing, dragging and throwing animals by their heads, necks, ears, horns, tails, and legs.
• Birds stuffed into bags and goats, sheep and other animals overcrowded into small pens, forcing animals to stand on and even trample each other.

After reviewing the footage, Temple Grandin, Ph.D., an animal welfare advisor to the USDA, wrote: “The handling was very rough and kicking animals is not acceptable. If this auction had been a federally inspected meat packing plant, they would have suspended inspection and shut them down.”

MFA’s exposé has prompted a further investigation by law enforcement, and seven employees and the auction’s owner have been charged with a total of 21 counts of animal cruelty. The case is ongoing.

(Heads up — footage is graphic.)

[thanks, kat!]

Wow, action is actually being taken. I hope all those sick fucks get locked away.

(via fuckyeahcompassion)

Fuuuck, how are good are Old Man Gloom

I’ve always been a coward.

permatech:

The giant mirror of Viganella built to combat the 83 days of darkness in the year

In amongst the steep mountains of the Italian Alps lies the village of Viganella, a remote commune with a dwindling population of 200. Every year from November 11th to February 2nd, the village is cast under a dark shadow as the sun disappears behind the mountain. The mayor of the village Pierfranco Midali decided to combat this by building a giant mirror on the opposite mountain which would reflect sunlight back into the village. The mirror measures 8 meters by 5 meters and cost 100,000 euros to build and install. The project was such a success that people have began moving back to the village, and the mayor is now regarded as a hero. 

via catrinastewart

(via mindsigh)