Lots of people are feeling hopeless and upset right now, and for good reason. It’s normal to feel like no matter what you do, things are going to get much worse for a lot of people. Blame, despair and anger are natural reactions, but as the shock of the situation dulls, what’s your plan going forward?

Call me naive, but seeing hate have a resurgence makes me want to do more to help the people that are going to suffer the most. I’m going to make a plan to volunteer more of my time and resources to help organizations that need it. I’m going to see if my friends can organize with me to sponsor a migrant family. I may not be able to do much, but my personal way of coping with shitty situations is to try to make the world a little less shitty.

I’m going to try to be kinder and more forgiving with people, and be a better role model for my kids. And I’m going to resist and fight back against hate when I see it.

Lastly, I’m going to be a more supportive friend to the people in my life. And to anyone reading this that feels like this world’s gone insane, and you’re all alone: you’re not. We’re still in this together, and I appreciate everything you’re doing.

    • TehBamski@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      6 days ago

      Oh heck yeah! Help fellow editor. =)

      Come join us if you haven’t. Even if you only have 10-15 minutes to do something, it all helps in the end. There are plenty of things to do and no pressure for you to do all of them or even most of them.

      https://www.openstreetmap.org

      • WhyAUsername_1@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 days ago

        Can you please ELI5 how I could contribute?

        I want to atleast give inputs about my own apartment building and various office/friends place where I frequently travel.

        • bob_lemon@feddit.org
          9·
          6 days ago

          I think the easiest way to get started is StreetComplete: https://streetcomplete.app/

          It will show you places in your vicinity where information is missing, like opening hours of shops, or the existence of ramps at stairs, and you can provide them in a really simple interface. You can filter out questions you don’t like to answer as well.

            • TehBamski@lemmy.worldEnglish
              3·
              6 days ago

              To verify, yes.

              It’s against Google Maps’ ToS (Terms of Service) however to use its exact coordinates for anything outside of Google Maps. This is mostly to prevent others from using exact information (map or otherwise,) and then compete against them.

        • TehBamski@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          6 days ago

          Sure thing.

          On OpenStreetMap (OSM) there are four main things you can do.

          1. Mapping: Trace features like roads, buildings, waterways, and land use from satellite imagery

          2. Editing: Update existing map data to reflect changes, such as new roads or buildings.

          3. Validation: Check and correct errors in the map data to ensure accuracy and completeness.

          4. Tagging: Add detailed information to map features, such as names, types, and other attributes.

          All of these can be achieved via OSM’s web app.

          Here is the Beginners’ guide if you want more info.

          I’d be willing to answer your questions if you had any. And I’m sure others that map edit for OSM would be willing to do the same.

  • AnonymousCoward@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    392·
    7 days ago

    No longer letting my family member rants about [insert today’s Russian propaganda] go unchallenged.

    • Crime is going up. Oh no, can you show me a chart with a source? Can’t be just something you find on the internet (they’re always ranting that you can’t trust the internet).
    • You can’t trust the weather reports. They’re just using the internet to make all that stuff up. Explain how the internet allows for a 100 fold increase in sensors that can report back to a centralized meteorology facility for number crunching
    • Ukraine shot first Explain a timeline of the Ukraine war
    • Moon landing was faked. (I actually like this argument the best because it’s been so thoroughly debunked)
    • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
      191·
      7 days ago

      On the weather front (lol) one of project 2025s goals is to break up the NOAA. They want to do it specifically to hamper the ability for anyone to show the ongoing effects of climate change. If anyone thinks this is a conspiracy theory, it’s an actual conspiracy, and here is the direct quote from project 2025.

      Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful func- tions. It should be broken up and downsized.

      • AnonymousCoward@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        91·
        7 days ago

        Stop weather data collection in one part of the planet. That’ll stop the global warming believers. /s

        Crops grow faster if you decree the weather is perfect. The best weather.

        • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
          5·
          7 days ago

          Weather is global, so agencies like the NOAA collect data from satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, buoys, etc. all over the world. NOAA’s data is a bit like GPS: paid for by US taxpayers, but used for the common good across the globe. Shutting them down wouldn’t just hurt weather prediction in the US, it would hurt everyone. Other developed countries can absolutely predict their own weather, but if they can’t include the volume of data generated by the US, their accuracy will suffer (and obviously likewise if the US couldn’t use EU data or whatever).

    • lordnikon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      7 days ago

      I do like the the moon landing one since I always say the government payed Stanley Kubrick to film the moon landing but he demanded to shoot on location.

  • neomachino@lemmy.world
    12·
    6 days ago

    My toddler and I have been bringing a trash bag to the park and cleaning the place up. It’s always a mess and it makes me sad to see because it’s my sons favorite park.

  • sibachian@lemmy.mlEnglish
    12·
    6 days ago

    I keep extinct in the wild and critically endangered species of fish in my aquariums and am a member of a couple of fish focused associations who work with universities for the goal of preservation of species. been considering getting into red listed frogs and cactus, but the communities are smaller (so less access to species) and space is a premium when living in an apartment.

    i wish there was more exposure of this hobby because it’s such an affordable, easy and “low effort” thing to do, but a lot of people who care about the environment and animals basically get offended when you keep animals “locked up” in an aquarium. in my opinion, serious aquarists (not the pet store furniture mentality) are invaluable, as a lot of species has been saved from extinction through aquarist efforts and university collaboration to reintroduce them to their native ranges after restoration work is completed (at least Lenoardo DiCaprio made a little bit of social media impact for one of the associations in 2022).

    I should add, overfishing is not the leading cause for extinction in freshwater fish, it’s pollution from agriculture, as the vast majority of fish threatened with extinction have no utility to us (or bright enough colors to benefit the commercial pet trade - brightly colored species are generally not even found in the wild, and have their colors from decades of selective breeding by dedicated aquarists).

  • Cadenza@lemmy.world
    9·
    6 days ago

    My current activities : -Finding caring doctors for an elderly woman

    -Counsel colleagues at my work about mental health and/or unionization

    -Help two refugees friends for their paperwork for citizenship.

    I wish I could do more, but on top of work, I’m already exhausted.

  • ChihuahuaOfDoom@lemmy.world
    16·
    7 days ago

    I’ll just keep volunteering to be honest, I’m a volunteer EMT a few times a month right now but I’m thinking of volunteering with the local theater and possibly the warming center as we enter the colder months.

  • tailiat@lemmy.mlEnglish
    10·
    6 days ago

    It’s a small thing I started doing years ago: whenever I see a loose nail or screw in the street I’ll always pick it up and put it in the nearest trash so nobody gets a flat tire or steps on it. Small, but hopefully saves some potential misery for someone.

  • Eczpurt@lemmy.world
    13·
    7 days ago

    Real small relative to the other comments but if a loose cart is nearby in the grocery parking lot, I’ll go out of my way to return it. I know I hate seeing an “empty space” and there being a cart in the way and in that case it’ll likely never get moved.

  • wellDuuh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    6 days ago

    Pick up any trash that I touch/step on/kick and dispose of it into the nearest bin.

    This started from the bottles and soda cans kicking, I just loved how they sound when kicked to the max. I still do to this day :)

    My dad hated it so much. He probably smacked my young tush once or twice for that. So i would pick the dirty bottles and cans if he’s in the vicinity and kick them hard out far back. Yap, I know how silly this is. He still heard the kick sounds, tho LoL

    So he came with a truce: “You wanna kick bottles? Fine. You kick a bottle, you ensure a proper disposal of it on the bin.”

    He even gave me a tactic to kick them higher up that day LoL, thanks, dad.

  • rickrolled767@ttrpg.network
    9·
    7 days ago

    I want to participate more with the food banks in my area.

    My parents struggled when I was growing up. They’d bend over backwards to make sure my siblings and I always had food on our plates and clothes on our backs. While they’re better off now, I still remember the times when they wouldn’t eat to make sure there was some for us.

    I used to be more active as a teen when I was in the boy scouts, but now that I’m working full time, I want to get more involved again.

    If nothing else, people should never have to go hungry

  • Poogona [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    7 days ago

    I have very few resources to offer anyone in need, as it’s really only by my basic unfair privileges as a cis white man that I even have a place to sleep, but I’m just trying to make it clear to the people I know that I have the space to house them/feed them if they are in crisis. Without much else to support them with it feels like the best I can do.

  • ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de
    6·
    6 days ago

    I started the tradition with my parents and brother of saving money over the year for charity. We put up a jar at my parents house and whenever we visit and have money to spare (which for me is a fixed amount that I put aside every month), it goes into the jar. On christmas the money is split evenly among us and everyone tells which cause/organization they are going to donate their part to.

    The jar thing is not ideal because I rarely have cash on me so I always have to go to the bank first and then when it’s time to donate, the cash money has to go back into the bank. But it’s nice to look at and it doesn’t tell exactly how much is in it from a glance, so it’s a bit of a mystery until Christmas. I might propose to go digital for next year though.

    • tetris11@lemmy.ml
      4·
      6 days ago

      I miss having spare change. Everything is so much more convenient with a card and as a result I have no coins on me at any time. The hardest hit are the homeless, and you see them outside the stations really struggling to get anything

  • lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    101·
    7 days ago

    I guess I’ll keep trying to get out of the house, despite my anxiety about that now. That way, the folks in my community will be able to say they personally know (of) at least one trans person, which will hopefully inspire them to oppose any anti-trans policies that come up.

    I also want to be a role model for all the eggs out there who might otherwise be too scared to come out.