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Debtian News
The swinging darkness of Porcelain Autumn has returned with a new album: Hometown Heresy. After hinting about it on growlr, the band has released their 4th album and 2nd studio album on Wednesday.
The album contains eight songs. While following their established sound of electro-swing and dark cabaret, the band ventures into different sounds in their new album. Drawing inspiration from rock and metal, Hometown Heresy brings a new type of energy to fans that ventures into heavier sounds. Hometown Heresy is now available on streaming and vinyl.
The Urban Canopy Of Gantáay
From DPR, I'm Jeremiah Hawkson. From an aerial view of Gantáay, you might think that the city is overgrown with plants, possibly abandoned, or maybe even confuse it for a very large suburb. This comes from the large amount of plants that are found in the city. Walking through the streets, however, you'll barley see any of it. That is because of Gantáay's extensive green roof system. Atop almost every building in the city is a mini-ecosystem, whether its gardens or grasses or even copses of trees. Rooftop to rooftop serves as a small patch of nature, combining them to form the largest urban forest in the entire Isles.
This project started back in the late 40s. After the Two-Year Vernalis set the Isles on to an eco-friendly path, Gantáay took a unique route. Many cities struggled to greenify their streets, including Gantáay, as result of the Vernalis Refugee Crisis and the costs and demands to house the influx population; buildings became closer, parks were removed to build more housing, and many cities either had to shrink their parks to small grassy areas or entirely relocate them to the edges of their borders where development had not started. While many cities were building out, Gantáay decided to build up, specifically for their parks. The Urban Canopy Project (UCP) was initiated in 1949 under the Magdol Administration, encouraging citizens to create gardens on their rooftops and even offered reduced property taxes for all who participated as an incentive.
In 1951, the program went a step further and would push for the creation of green roofs. These are rooftops that have a vegetative layer growing on its surface, not just in pots or troughs. The Rooftop Forest Initiative (RFI) offered many benefits to both the residents of the buildings as well as to the city itself. First, the plants cooled down the buildings. In cities, the vast majority of sunlight hits city roofs and can make the tops of buildings extremely hotter than the surrounding air. The presence of plants reduce that amount of radiation and make rooftop temperatures similar to the surrounding air. This also helps in cooling the building by reducing the amount of heat that the building absorbs, which saves the city billions in raviolis every year. Following the implementation of RFI, urban heat deaths have been reduced by over 65% as buildings becomes more comfortable to live in.
UCP not only saves the city in both energy costs and human live costs, but also has made city sewers much more ecofriendly. Being located on the Debtian South Coast, it rains a lot in Gantáay and storm runoff has always been an issue for the city. Water that drains away during storms carries away many toxic chemicals found on the roads and buildings and cars of the city and carries those into nearby waterways and the Debtian Sea which pollutes the waters. There is also an occasional overflow of what we flush down the toilet that can flood in to the waters as well, which is more toxic and can pollute the city's drinking water. The implementation of green roofs helps reduce all of this. Green roofs absorb much of the rainfall on the city and prevent it from falling down to the streets and into the drains and instead evaporating later from the plants. By reducing storm water runoff, UCP also reduces the amount of toxins that flow into the nearby bodies of water and prevent human waste overflows. Economically, this makes storm water management, water treatment, and flood damage costs cheaper and saves the city a lot of money.
Alongside the physical benefits that the Urban Canopy has brought, there has also been an improvement for life in general. Just the mere presence of plants has been linked to improved mental health by many groups, and this applies to Gantáay's forests as well. The aesthetic value and improved human interaction with nature through green spaces have been shown to improve physical and mental health for many people as well as their productivity, blood pressure, and even how long they stay in hospitals. As for non-sapients, they have reaped benefits as well. Many rooftops have their own ecosystems with different insects and animals making their homes here. Birds fly from roof to roof visiting different forests and pollinators spread across the city for each roof's flowers. Some rooftops have also developed extensive beehives and help both in pollination and providing some residents with a fresh collection of honey.
UCP does not come without its shortcomings and criticisms, however. Originally, UCP was almost rejected by the city council due to the cost of implementing it. The installation and maintenance of green roofs, from the fertilization to irrigation to weed control and replanting, were too high for much of the council, especially with the Vernalis Refugee Crisis drawing much of the city's resources and attention. Back and forth would happen for two years until the council narrowly voted in favor of the Urban Canopy Project. Today, the costs of the implementation of green roofs has been greater passed by the benefits. Today the city is 4 degrees cooler in Fahrenheit than it was in the 1940s, greatly reduce energy and flooding costs, and has become a tourist attraction for the city. Many tall buildings offer tourists the ability to look out across the canopy that has developed atop buildings and small plane and helicopter services offer the same service.
Jeremiah Hawkson, DPR News
Rising Tides, Quieter Skies
The Isles Compact has announced a new policy of restrictions involving shipping travel and underwater resource extraction. The program, called the Energy Curtailment Health Operation (ECHO), seeks to reduce the amount of noise that is produced by sapients on the ocean. Isles Compact researchers have studied the effects of synthetic noise on the surrounding waters of the Isles and report higher levels of stress, reduced and altered migratory patterns and routes, and sometimes death of aquatic life as result of the noises we produce.
Cavitation, the noise that is produced from ship propellers while spinning underwater, is one of the largest sources of synthetic noise that affect ocean life in the Isles and one of the main noises that ECHO seeks to reduce. ECHO requires that Debtian ships have installed noise-muffling propellers and insulated engines, as well as lifting engines off the base floor of the ship. Ships will be given a year to make these modifications and will face fines if they do not comply. However, that is not the only economic incentive made by ECHO. Following the leads of port cities like Sdlaga'Láanaa and Gantáay, ECHO also reward ships, both domestic and international, that integrate noise reduction methods with reduced harbor tax rates by up to 49% reduction. Another policy regarding harbors is also the docking process. Whereas ships usually arrive to a port at full speed and will wait outside until a dock is available, ECHO encourages ships to instead slow down their ships and travel slower into the harbor, with slower speeds creating less noise.
ECHO has also placed restrictions on both sonar testing and seismic surveying, both of which have detrimental effects on marine life, specially animals like dolphins and whale that rely on sonar and noise navigation. Sonar will be limited in its use and seismic surveying will be reduced in prevalence by making greater use of multi-client surveys instead of single-client surveys so that certain sea areas are only surveyed once.
ECHO also has banned the use of air guns in seismic surveys of the ocean floor in search of oil and other natural resources. Air guns have been shown to have devastating effects on marine life, from driving away fish stocks to killing large swaths of plankton and other microbial life. Air guns can be replaced with underwater vibrators that create a smaller sound footprint and operate at a lower peak pressure, reducing the chance of injury to marine life.
While hailed by environmental activists and fishing unions, ECHO has received backlash from the shipping industry as well as resource-extraction and energy industries who view the requirements as too short in the allotted time to transition. They also warn about high economic costs, both in the cost of modifying ships as well as the profit loss of their ships being in shipyards and unable to trade.
The Ghoul Child Trend
From Debtian Public Radio, I'm Jeremiah Hawkson. A note of warning before going into this, the story is quite disturbing.
What happens when you become too goth? A disturbing new trend has been rising here in the Isles and that is known as the "Ghoul Child" Trend. The trend refers to women becoming pregnant with men who have recently died in order to produce a child who has conceived from a living woman and a dead man and thus, by their definition, are a ghoul. To clarify on this, this is not referring to sperm that was gathered before death and injected after, but explicitly gathered after the man's death. Police have arrested over 19 people involved in this, from women who chose to be a host and to men and women who assisted in acquiring the sperm, although it is believed there are more. While most of the perpetrators would collect the sperm and impregnate through artificial insemination, there have been 2 instances of women who engaged in penetrative sex with the deceased men. In a reverse, there has also been one instance of acquiring an egg from a deceased woman and fertilizing it with sperm from an alive male and putting it in an artificial womb.
The trend is believed to be tied to a recent dark romance novel published in the Isles called "Wicker Room" that contains a story of a child that was conceived under these circumstances. As result of these instances, the book has both gone up in sales and been receiving calls to ban it due to it leading to necrophiliac actions.
Jeremiah Hawkson, DPR News
The Bewitching Appeal of Covens
From Debtian Public Radio, I'm Marilyn Louis Kennedy.
A full moon, lit candles, and a gathering of the mysterious. These are what may come to mind when one hears the term "witchcraft" or "coven". For decades now, many in the Isles have shunned the idea of magic and the esoteric, fearing any negative ramifications that it could bring. However, not everyone feels fear or anger when they think of these. One group in the nation of Dléigunaakée known as The People's Coven have been leading a campaign to challenge the image of the witch in the public mind. Through outreach programs, public relations, and advertising, The People's Coven have been introducing the idea that a witch is not something to fear but something to embrace.
"Witches are not some demon that is going to eat your kid." That is Megan Tarneqi, spokesperson for The People's Coven. "We are regular people. We are your neighbors, your grocers, your family members. We are part of the community and want what everyone else wants of a nice and kind life."
Operating out of Dléigunaakée, The People's Coven is technically an illegal group. While witchcraft was never outlawed, covens have been illegal in the nation since 1946, with lawmakers fearing gatherings of magic users and esoterics. This has been one of the biggest challenges of witches in the Isles, including The People's Coven who are working to try and overturn that law.
After much work, that is exactly what happened. A bill to decriminalize covens was put forward by representative Jim Harbern and is supported by The People's Coven. The bill would allow for the creation of covens, maintaining of covens, and, most importantly, the ability to public invite people to join the coven. Solicitation is a major hurdle for witches in the Isles, with solicitation being one of the most common charges against witches by law enforcement.
"We want to be able to grow as a coven, to find people with similar interests as us. However, we can't do that because the law effectively makes it illegal to even talk about it. Many witches are arrested on solicitation charges just for mentioning covens, not even inviting people to join. The idea of positively talking about coven is so horrific to law enforcement that they throw us into police cars just for that."
The bill has attracted a lot of attention and has some loud opposition. "The encouraging of covens would bring about the end of the Isles". That's Gregory Picair, a member of Debtian Families, an anti-esotericism group that operates throughout the Debtian Isles. The group formed shortly after the Vernalis to stand in opposition to all things magic and esoteric. "Magic is why the Vernalis occurred and brought the Isles to its knees. If we allow covens to form, that will only encourage more magic use and is a slippery slope to causing another Vernalis. Families were lost to witchcraft and continue to be today and I can't allow for that to increase."
While organized groups have come out against it, there is also a significant amount of individuals against the bill. Many people tell their stories about their personal encounters with witchcraft. Laura Petersons, a stay at home mother, had this to say; "When I was a child, my brother got involved with witchcraft and it took him down a dark path. He became aggressive, distant, and even physically attacked our dad. He ran away from home and I haven't been in contact with him since."
The bill is expected to be on the floor in the coming and will decide whether covens will be decriminalized or continue to operate in the shadows. Marilyn Louis Kennedy, DPR News
Running a campaign can be a very expensive procedure, with even local elections costing up to a million raviolis. A new form of campaigning, however, may alleviate some of that economic burden. Legislators in the Debtian state of Eechyéisʼ have passed a new bill that have set up an official website for those running in elections across the state. The website, www.elections.tl, allows voters to enter in their residential and voting information that'll allow them to know every candidate that are running in elections that voters can vote on. This includes state elections, county elections, city and municipality elections, party primaries, even neighborhood association elections. We now go to Grant Hudson for more.
Grant Hudson: The step towards internet campaigning has been increasing in recent years, with more and more candidates having both a physical and digital presence to reach all demographics. Young voters have expressed support for this, like 22 year old Dale Brigham.
"The first time I could vote, there were so many candidates that I couldn't find anything about anywhere. The election website is great for helping in that"
The website being a central location for candidate information also allows people who cannot afford the expenses of campaigning to have a better chance. Local activist, Oliver Flaks, announced his campaign for mayor of his city after the bill was passed,
"I am a working class guy and I can't afford the million dollars needed to campaign in a city. But with this government website offering all this information, I can reach more people than I could before."
However, not everyone supports this bill. The law requires all candidates to be registered on the website, with some believing that this impedes on their freedom of choice, like Shéséet City Council Member Barbra Talsmin.
"I should be able to campaign however I like; going to events, shaking hands, having conversations, putting signs up, that's how you campaign. I shouldn't be forced to be online"
Other dissenters come from more rural areas, like farmer John Carson who has never been on a computer in his life,
"My family doesn't care for newer technologies like computers. Now I have to use one just to know who I'm voting for? This is ridiculous. Soon everything is gonna be online and I won't be able to know anything without going to my library that's miles away."
From DPR News, I'm Grant Hudson.
