#publicpolicy — Public Fediverse posts

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'mental health is the stepsister of the healthcare system. It’s not right. But because we cant see it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And the medical healthcare system doesn’t want to recognize and pay for mental healthcare apart from giving out drugs to make them go away'

#mentalHealth #publicPolicy #publicHealth

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/05/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-retrial

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

The Global Cybersecurity Alliance is calling for immediate government action in response to a surge in AI-driven cyber attacks. Read the full article for recommended policy measures, international coordination priorities, and practical steps for strengthening national defenses: https://wix.to/WYUe4We

#InfoSec
#GovTech
#PublicPolicy
#Cybersecurity
#RiskManagement
#ArtificialIntelligence

there's such a profound discord bw how i perceived civic virtue/the public interest/duty of care/pastoral responsibility and our current social formation around technology

i realise these are all distinct but the wholesale normalisation of ai (particularly into education and public service) intersects them all and i honestly believe this unreflective adoption (clearly perceived to be an essential engine of economic growth and competitive advantage) is symptom of social disease

'New York City’s public school system plans to impose strict limits on artificial intelligence and screen time in classrooms for the upcoming school year, including a blanket ban on generative AI'

#technology #pedagogy #genAI #publicPolicy #evidenceBasedPractice

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-public-schools-to-ban-ai-for-teaching-students-below-9th-grade

RE: https://aus.social/@oscarjiminy/116966632849982993

My local library in Port Philip's always been a real pride of the community. Was designed by a bit of a rockstar architect and it's a kind of keystone community structure in the way that all libraries are but the design really embeds that dynamic in stone and glass.

This place was always, in my memory, really busy. Folks walking the shelves, sitting reading, standing reading, studying etc etc, all the things folks do in libraries.

Lately, someone decided to redesign the layout and part of that redesign was to allocate restricted areas. There is now (I would estimate) about 50% of the seating restricted and if you sit there unknowingly (signage is really minimal) you will be asked to move within about ten minutes of having sat down.

I may be cynical (it's been said before) but it strikes me as pandering to rate payers in an area with a population lousy with renters, though with the massive density developments happening here over the past 20 years I guess we're becoming a minority.

The point is (for me) that libraries can't afford to be alienating their demographic and I can say anecdotally that ever since the layout adjustments the traffic in this library has fallen off a cliff

#publicLibraries #portPhilip #publicPolicy #publicSpaces

Canada’s proposed clean water act needs stronger protections for Indigenous communities
#Indigenous #FirstNations #IndigenousRights #Canada #CleanWater #WaterJustice #DrinkingWater #PublicPolicy #Reconciliation #WaterSecurity #Environment #BillC37
https://the-14.com/canadas-proposed-clean-water-act-needs-stronger-protections-for-indigenous-communities/

The NEW Soylent Green

A Moses-like figure stands before the mic at an NRA convention and thunders, “I will give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”

At the end of the sci-fi film Soylent Green, that same actor implores his detective boss to spread the news, “Soylent Green is people!”

In the movie, as the corpses pile up from an overcrowded, miserable earth, they are carted away in garbage trucks, secretly converted to Soylent Green, and fed back to the living. Soylent Green is better than the old Red and Yellow varieties, but it is scarce, so there are riots. A detective played by Charlton Heston discovers the deception. In a word, humanity has become cannibals, feeding upon itself, in a state-sanctioned system of cyclical violence.

Such is the world created by the NRA. It plays upon the irrational fears of a few to continue to thwart common sense gun legislation. Its largely successful lobbying over the years has distorted the original intention of the Second Amendment so much so that it has become almost impossible to pass laws more in keeping with the Founders’ intent.

When the bodies continue to pile up as a result of gun violence, and there is no legislative change primarily due to the lobbying of the NRA and the like, we are in every sense of the word disrespecting the dead and feeding upon ourselves.

In a state-sanctioned system of cyclical violence.

Like in Soylent Green.

And like the movie, the end result is not very pretty.

But go ahead. Watch the news.

Take another bite.

June 23, 2014

School Kits, Big Impact: Inside El Salvador’s Quiet Education Push

Dear Cherubs, there’s something oddly powerful about a cardboard box that doesn’t contain chaos, delivery delays, or “please assemble yourself” furniture instructions. In El Salvador, it contains something far rarer: opportunity, neatly folded and mildly creased.

Across the country, thousands of children have been receiving full school kits—uniforms, shoes, books, stationery, backpacks, and in some cases digital devices—aimed at reducing the everyday friction that keeps education just out of reach. According to UNICEF, such school supply initiatives are widely used in developing education systems to improve attendance and reduce dropout rates, especially among lower-income families.

THE BOX THAT CHANGED THE MORNING ROUTINE

On paper, it sounds simple: give kids the tools they need for school. In practice, it’s a quiet reshaping of daily life. No scrambling for notebooks. No “borrow a pen again?” conversations. Just a child getting ready for school without the background noise of scarcity.

The initiative has been associated with government-led education support programs in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s administration, which has prioritised visible social interventions alongside broader security reforms. As noted by thisclaimer.com in its coverage of public welfare initiatives, such programs often carry a dual effect: practical support for families and a strong symbolic message about inclusion.

One widely shared moment showed a young girl opening her kit and reacting with visible excitement. Not because it was luxurious, but because it was enough. And sometimes, enough is revolutionary in its own quiet, inconvenient way.

DIGNITY, BUT MAKE IT PRACTICAL

Here’s the uncomfortable part: school supplies shouldn’t feel like a headline. They should feel like background noise. Yet in many regions, they still function as a financial barrier disguised as a shopping list.

Critics of large-scale distribution programs often point out logistical challenges and long-term sustainability questions. Fair. But supporters argue that immediate access matters more than theoretical perfection when children are currently sitting in classrooms without basic tools.

And there’s a dry irony here: we live in a world where high-tech solutions for education are debated in conference rooms, while the simplest fix—actually giving kids what they need to learn—still qualifies as a policy achievement.

The emotional centre of this story isn’t political branding or viral clips. It’s a child seeing possibility packaged in a backpack and not having to translate it into something else to understand it.

Whether one views these initiatives as transformative policy or practical optics, the result on the ground is hard to ignore: fewer barriers between a child and a classroom.

And maybe that’s the real headline nobody prints loudly enough: sometimes progress doesn’t arrive as disruption. Sometimes it just arrives on time.

Sources list:
UNICEF — https://www.unicef.org/
World Bank Education Overview — https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education
Government of El Salvador — https://www.presidencia.gob.sv/
BBC News Education Coverage — https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cp7r8vgl2lgt

Upcoming #lecture talk at #UVIC.

From #Forests Frayed to Forests Renewed.
April 16, 2026.

Join us April 16, 2026 at the University of Victoria for a thought-provoking talk with keynote speaker Ben Parfitt as he explores, Forests Frayed to Forests Renewed: The Case for Rezoning BC’s Public Lands.

Ben has covered #forestry and natural resource issues in #BritishColumbia since the 1980s both as a journalist and in his previous role as senior public policy analyst with the now-closed Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office. He is currently a reporter with The Tyee where he covers the forestry and oil and gas industries, among others, and their impacts on critical natural resources like water.

In his talk, Ben will explain the consequences of today’s outdated land use policies and outline how rezoning BC’s public lands can set us on a more desirable course by conserving at-risk primary forests, restore lands scarred by industrialization and support jobs in a refocused, value-oriented forest industry.

Whether you’re an activist, policy maker or someone passionate about environmental preservation this is a talk you won’t want to miss.

University of Victoria – [Lecture Theatre HSD A240]
Tickets: $20
https://bcpolicy.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F35215

#BCpoli #CDNpoli #PublicPolicy #BCForestryReform #StopEcocide #NaturalResources #Degrowth #CarbonFootprint #FossilFuels #environmental #climate #PolicyChange #PolicyReform #WeCantDrinkOil #WeCantBreatheGas #StopDeforestation #WeCantEatDeadForests #YYJ #VictoriaBC

Why Canada needs better data on strikes, unions and other labour issues
#Canada #LabourRelations #Unions #Strikes #Business #WorkplaceConflict #PublicPolicy #StatisticsCanada #Labour #LabourData #TradeUnions #WorkersRights #Unionization #LabourUnions
https://the-14.com/why-canada-needs-better-data-on-strikes-unions-and-other-labour-issues/

Amanhã, 3 de Outubro, em Braga, realiza-se a terceira reunião aberta do Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo do #IN2PAST, sob o tema "Avaliação, selecção, incorporação, tratamento e digitalização da documentação: práticas e desafios".

ENTRADA LIVRE

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/events/avaliacao-seleccao-incorporacao/

#Histodons #Archives #Arquivística #Arquivos #História #HumanidadesDigitais #DigitalHumanities #PublicPolicy #PolíticasPúblicas #ArchivalPractices

Amanhã, 3 de Outubro, em Braga, realiza-se a terceira reunião aberta do Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo do #IN2PAST, sob o tema "Avaliação, selecção, incorporação, tratamento e digitalização da documentação: práticas e desafios".

ENTRADA LIVRE

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/events/avaliacao-seleccao-incorporacao/

#Histodons #Archives #Arquivística #Arquivos #História #HumanidadesDigitais #DigitalHumanities #PublicPolicy #PolíticasPúblicas #ArchivalPractices

Amanhã, 3 de Outubro, em Braga, realiza-se a terceira reunião aberta do Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo do #IN2PAST, sob o tema "Avaliação, selecção, incorporação, tratamento e digitalização da documentação: práticas e desafios".

ENTRADA LIVRE

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/events/avaliacao-seleccao-incorporacao/

#Histodons #Archives #Arquivística #Arquivos #História #HumanidadesDigitais #DigitalHumanities #PublicPolicy #PolíticasPúblicas #ArchivalPractices

Amanhã, 3 de Outubro, em Braga, realiza-se a terceira reunião aberta do Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo do #IN2PAST, sob o tema "Avaliação, selecção, incorporação, tratamento e digitalização da documentação: práticas e desafios".

ENTRADA LIVRE

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/events/avaliacao-seleccao-incorporacao/

#Histodons #Archives #Arquivística #Arquivos #História #HumanidadesDigitais #DigitalHumanities #PublicPolicy #PolíticasPúblicas #ArchivalPractices

Amanhã, 3 de Outubro, em Braga, realiza-se a terceira reunião aberta do Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo do #IN2PAST, sob o tema "Avaliação, selecção, incorporação, tratamento e digitalização da documentação: práticas e desafios".

ENTRADA LIVRE

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/events/avaliacao-seleccao-incorporacao/

#Histodons #Archives #Arquivística #Arquivos #História #HumanidadesDigitais #DigitalHumanities #PublicPolicy #PolíticasPúblicas #ArchivalPractices

The Politics of Food Insecurity in Canada and the United Kingdom

Featured in 2025 CAFS Social, Book Launch and Awards Ceremony
When: June 3, 2025, 7:00-9:30 pm
Where: And/Ore, 1040 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H7

Early Bird Ticket Prices Available until Friday April 11, 2025

Details and tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2025-cafs-social-book-launch-and-awards-ceremony-tickets-1278375047179?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

#CongreSSH #FoodStudies #Toronto #CAFS2025 #ACEA2025

#Capitalism #FoodBanks #FoodCharity #FoodInsecurity #FoodPoverty #Politics #PoliticalEconomy #PublicPolicy #Socialism

The Politics of Food Insecurity in Canada and the United Kingdom

Addressing a neglected area in academic research, media coverage and public understanding, this book takes a critical political economy approach to understanding food insecurity in Canada and the UK.

Featured in 2025 CAFS Social, Book Launch and Awards Ceremony

https://foodstudies.info/news-conferences/upcoming-conference/

#CAFS2025 #ACEA2025

#Capitalism #FoodBanks #FoodDiversion #FoodCharity #FoodInsecurity #FoodPoverty #PoliticalEconomy #PublicPolicy #Socialism

The 2023 US 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model - Overview And Implications
--
https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science/2023-national-seismic-hazard-model-whats-shaking <-- USGS technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1177/87552930231215428 <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #earthquake #seismichazard #risk #hazard #shakemap #cost #economics #geology #engineeringgeology #hazardmodel #model #modeling #seismicity #faultruptures #groundmotions #probabilistic #probability #geostatistics #engineering #planning #management #mitigation #NSHM #forecast #infrastructure #publicsafety #hazardassessment #fault #faulting #structuralgeology #intensity #mercalli #buildingcode #design #publicpolicy #shakemap #engineeringrisk #future
@USGS @FEMA

"Noticing who isn't in the room is the first step. Next you can ask, What would it take to change this?" --Anna Zivarts, author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency.

https://islandpress.org/books/when-driving-not-option#desc

#transportation #planning #UrbanPlanning #Urbanists #PublicPolicy #PublicHealth #PoliSci #sociology #disability #accessibility #MoveEquity #MobilityJustice #EBikes #transit #micromobility #BikeTooter #inclusion #equity #CarCulture #nondrivers #WeekWithoutDriving

I'm DEVOURING Anna Zivarts' book When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency.
People teaching public policy, transportation planning, public health, social work, sociology, political science, on and on--please assign this book in your classes! + buy copies to give school board, city council, other decision makers.
https://islandpress.org/books/when-driving-not-option#desc
#transportation #planning #PublicPolicy #PublicHealth #PoliSci #sociology #disability #accessibility #MoveEquity #MobilityJustice