Radio (Silence)☠️ @RadioAngel@sunbeam.city

If I ever get the chance to help out a solarpunk community in real life I'm gonna be bouncing from fermentation to bioplastics & design to creating a plastics upcycling station to tending a small garden at a minimum. ... It's gonna be interesting.

California water shortages are so bad they are planning on giving people only 55 gallons a day.

'The past two years have been the driest back-to-back years in Northern California since 1976-77, leaving major reservoirs at record-low levels. Lake Oroville, in Butte County, the second-largest reservoir in the state and the largest in the State Water Project, was just 30% full Wednesday.'

'The total the state expects to deliver of such “health and safety” water is 340,000 acre-feet. By comparison, all cities and farm districts have state contracts for 4.2 million acre-feet.'

'Baker said the Santa Clara Valley Water District will use local groundwater, conservation and purchases from farm agencies in the Sacramento Valley with senior water rights to avoid severe shortages. Its 10 local reservoirs are only 11% full now.'

Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/12/01/california-drought-state-water-project-will-deliver-no-water-next-year/

Getting ready to start reading this today for review. 'Our Shared Storm: A Novel Of Five Climate Futures' by Andrew Dana Hudson.

Taking most of today off. Might make a few pieces of paper later but other than that nothing til my new agar gets here tomorrow.

Took a small bit of my bioplastic and dried it in the dehydrator to speed up the process. It is definitely plastic! Also the gold shimmer is cool!

Some of the stuff i collected for my bioplastics. Also got 3 pieces of paper done! The deckle is a miracle worker. :)

Just checked my gelatin bioplastic. I made it clear but swirls gold ink in it. It's beautiful. Still very flubber like but the edges had dried and had the consistency of a thin plastic bag! So, in a few days it should hopefully be ready. :)

This website shows you how to grow mycofoam materials. The cool thing is it can be shaped into anything and once it's growing it will eventually sprout edible mushrooms. Can you imagine a restauraunt with a myco-wall where they grow fresh mushrooms? That would be pretty cool! https://grow.bio/

Photo from today's walk in the woods harvesting plants and seedpods.

Went to the woods and snagged some invasive seed pods and local plants. My area is the northern most region untouched by glaciers so a lot of plant life here, generally grows much further south.

You don't want to make bioplastic that continues the same disposable thinking patterns that we have today. You want it to solve deeper problems like medical grade plastics, something to replace pvc pipes, barrels, glasses frames etc.That's where I want to see bioplastics used.

It's one of the reasons why I like the idea of a bioplastic water resistant rain coat. It solves the problem of replacing plastics or heavy canvas coated in beeswax with a lightweight material.

But what other things can we use it for? How can it replace things that are more difficult to actually replace?

The big thing I have trouble wrapping my mind around is how to use biodegradable plastics that doesn't cause more work for the people who create it.

A lot of the issues bioplastics tend to solve are disposables. Which in a sustainable society, wouldn't exist in the first place.

Bioplastics for disposable bags, silverware, etc. These aren't necessarily big issues. I mean, a wooden spoon does the same thing.

What we need to actually look at is how can bioplastics replace things that we use every day that can't be replaced with sustainable alternatives easily.

In the process of making it now. It's already solidified to a sticky rubbery state. Once it's easier to move I may put it in the dehydrator to speed up the drying process.

You remember my failed paper experiment? Turns out that's the begining of papercrete. You form a paper slurry, let the water evaporate, and add a bit of concrete to it.

Gelatin Plastic:

2.7 tsp of glycerin
1cup water
9.6 teaspoons gelatin

Today I'm gonna work on a different type of plastic and swirl gold in it. We'll see how it goes.

In my desperation to get a product out of cut agar agar last night i made something weird... It's cold and slimy it honestly feels like flubber or one of those weird sticky hands you throw against the glass. ... Not useful for my project, but pretty interesting.

To the kind person who just saved my project... Thank you so much. Got it ordered. It will be here Thursday. Takes two days to dry. If i work fast enough, it will be done right on time.