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Sim Kern

@sim_kern

3 Jul

If any of you are under the impression that our billionaires might succeed in "escaping" to space, while the world burns, let me put those fears to rest with what I know from being the spouse of a NASA flight controller. 🧵

For a half-dozen people to exist up on the ISS, it takes a ground team of thousands of people, constantly problem-solving how to keep them alive. Their quality of life is bouncing around in a narrow tube with the same 5 people who can't really bathe for months. /

Every minute of their day is micromanaged so they can survive. They follow strict exercise regimens to keep their bones from turning to goo. They spend a ton of time studying systems and conducting repairs on equipment that's continually breaking because SPACE WANTS TO KILL YOU /

Read 18 tweets

Sim Kern

@sim_kern

19 Jun

I don't know who needs to hear this, but:

Punishment doesn't work.

Like every type, for every age of person. No exceptions. We have over a century of research proving this.

And the younger a kid is, the more devastating the long-term impacts on their mental health will be.

Prompted by hearing about someone who gives their 2yo time-outs multiple times a day for developmentally appropriate behaviors. 😡

Allow natural consequences to occur. Talk to your kids about why you don't want them to do X behavior. Redirect them from destructive and unsafe behaviors. If they're too young to talk to, sorry, you just have to wait until they grow up.

Read 22 tweets

Sim Kern

@sim_kern

9 Oct 20

Y'all were interested in eco-fascism yesterday, so let's talk about the ways in which US society is already creeping towards eco-fascism. Underlying philosophies that could someday rationalize climate-motivated human rights abuses & even genocide are already mainstream here 1/

In an eco-fascist society, the most marginalized people will bear the heaviest sacrifices for the climate. Any time you see the government or polluting corporations sending a message that "it's all up to you" as an individual to address climate change, that's a red flag 2/

We can only halt climate change by drastically curtailing carbon emissions by major industrial polluters. When the people in power, who are supposed to represent you, fail in this duty & blame you instead? That's gaslighting, paving the way for eco-fascism. 3/

Read 13 tweets

Sim Kern

@sim_kern

31 Mar 20

If teachers are assigning grades right now, what they are grading is PRIVILEGE. Without the equalizing force of the school-building and its services, limited as they are, teachers are grading on access to technology, wifi, food and housing security, and ableism. 1/

School districts have a moral obligation to promise right now that everyone will be promoted to the next grade. Otherwise, they will only be punishing poverty and neurodiversity, needlessly heaping anxiety onto already struggling children.

Holding back every kid who won't succeed at online learning will not only be a logistical nightmare, it will further stratify class, racial, and ableist differences in our ed system, leaving an entire generation of our less-privileged students traumatized.

Read 10 tweets

Sim Kern

@sim_kern

18 Mar 20

To all the folks trying to recreate school at home, with highly structured schedules & worksheets: we teach that way in schools because of CROWD CONTROL, not because it's the best way to learn. Kids have a rare opportunity here to engage in deep, authentic learning instead. 1/

So here's some ideas of what this could look like instead. For science, take nature walks in a park/bike path, and talk about the water cycle, ecoystems, and biological processes you see. Start a garden. Collect bugs. Set up a science experiment.

English class? Just read, obviously, but also--challenge your kid to write a book! If they're little--draw a picture book. If they're big, write an entire novel. Help them edit it and query an agent for it when they're done.

Read 26 tweets

Sim Kern

@sim_kern

4 Mar 20

So many people casting a vote for planetary suicide. Biden gets an F on climate change. He’s millions in debt to fossil fuels. We have TEN YEARS to avoid mass extinction. My daughter is just two years old, what kind of future is she gonna have? How could you?

You haven’t just betrayed your party, the values of FDR: support the workers, build the social safety net. You haven’t just betrayed your class and county, handing it back to the rich. You’ve betrayed your SPECIES. Not even that. The ENTIRE BIOSPHERE, the future of life!

You’ve betrayed the future. All our children and grandchildren, bees on the brink of extinction, birds on the brink of extinction, all pollinators, every biosphere on earth in catastrophic decline, you vote for the guy in the oil industry’s pocket. Man, FUCK your centrist vote.

Read 16 tweets

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