Bethany McKinney Fox

I'm not on here anymore, Author of: Disability and the Way of Jesus,

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

.@innocence @the_mip client #MarcellusWilliams will be executed on Sept. 24 for a crime he didn't commit if @GovParsonMO does not step in. Join me in calling him now: 417-373-3400 https://t.co/iLJd10I0jm

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

Check out this thoughtful assessment of Down for Love, a new dating show following people with Down's syndrome on @netflix

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees:

1. Temperature Control

One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%.

2. Noise Reduction

Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas filled with the sound of cars, construction, sirens, aeroplanes, and music, trees are essentially the best way to block noise and keep cities — along with the homes and workplaces in them — quieter.

3. Air Purity

Trees remove an astonishing amount of harmful pollutants and toxins from the air. In urban areas air quality is often disastrously bad — with severe consequences for our health. Trees make the air we breathe much cleaner.

4. Oxygen

And, while absorbing all those pollutants, trees also put more oxygen back into the urban environment. Oxygen levels are significantly lower in cities compared to the countryside; trees help to solve that problem.

5. Water Management

Trees do more than just shelter us and our buildings from rain — which is, in fact, extremely important. They also absorb huge quantities of water, reduce run-off, neutralise the severity of flooding, and make flooding more unlikely altogether. Not to forget that their roots absorb pollutants and prevent them from feeding back into a city's water supply.

6. Psychological Health

Studies have proven what we instinctively know to be true: that human beings are significantly happier when surrounded by nature rather than sterile urban environments. Our emotions, behaviour, and thoughts are shaped by the places we spend time — and trees have a profoundly positive effect on our psychology. The consequential benefits of being happier and more peaceful — as individuals and as a society — are immense.

7. Physical Health

Beyond all the other ways in which trees improve air quality and the urban environment, much to the benefit of our health, they also encourage people to go outside. Cycling, running, and walking are all more common in urban areas with plenty of trees. A knock-on effect of people spending more time outdoors is also social integration and stronger communities.

8. Privacy

A simple point, but not inconsequential, is that trees provide privacy.

9. Economics

The total economic benefit of urban trees is hard to calculate. There are costs, of course, including the repair of infrastructure damaged by roots and maintaining the trees themselves. But the total economic benefit — a consequence of everything else in this list and more — far outweighs the expenditure. Trees make cities wealthier.

10. Wildlife

Trees are miniature cities all of their own, serving as a habitat for hundreds of different species, including birds and mammals and insects.

11. Light Pollution

Trees don't only block the light shining down, therefore keeping us and our cities cooler — they also disrupt light shining up, from street lighting, cars, houses, and billboards. Skies are clearer in cities with more trees.

12. Aesthetics

And, finally, trees are beautiful. They break up the potential monotony of urban environments — the sharp geometry, the greyscale roads and buildings, the endless rows of cars — with their trunks, boughs, canopies, and flowers.

Just think: the gold and red of falling leaves in autumn, the white and pink blossom of spring, the vast green canopies of summer, and the branches lined with hoar-frost in winter. Every single tree is a myriad of intricacy and texture, of colour and scent, of dappled light on the pavement, mottled bark, knotted roots, of clustered leaves and delicate petals and stern boughs.

Few streets would not be improved by the kaleidoscopic aesthetic delights of a tree, not to mention the many different species of tree, all over the world, whether willow, oak, lime, cherry, aspen, maple, birch, horse chestnut, dogwood, hornbeam, ash, sycamore... the list goes on.

There are some drawbacks to urban trees, most of them context-specific, and they are not — of course — universally appropriate. But it seems fair to say that many cities would benefit from at least a few more trees here and there.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@austintfischer @KatelynBeaty Also, how great it would be if books like this one could be written in as accessible a way as Joel Osteen's books so that more people actually could and would read them?

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

New Substack! To Love a Feral Cat is to See the Face of God. https://t.co/K25cCHtqIO

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

An Asian American scholar said how since AA folks are taught to respect authority, white spaces need to invite and honor noncompliance to get honest AA voices and perspectives. Thinking about parallels to ppl with intellectual disabilities, and how to learn from AAPI movements.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

I've been reading Church of the Wild (highly recommend), and something I'm trying to practice from it is regarding the living nature around me as subjects and not objects. It's genuinely perspective shifting and I'm here for it.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@LaSonya_Wilson My heart broke for that young boy. I hope he's found some healing since, and is doing OK now.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@JustinBerkobien Happy Anniversary! 🎉

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@richardpropes Welcome to the party! 🎉 If you'd ever be interested in being part of the PDC, you can email for more info.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

Clergy and members of the PC(USA): Did you know we have people available to answer accessibility questions and support your connection to disability resources? I'm now the consultant for Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities - there are ones for vision, hearing, mobility too.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

We're listed here, along with amazing members of the Presbyterians for Disability Concerns. Reach out if there's a way we can be a sounding board or share some ideas on accessibility needs for you or in your PC(USA) context!
https://t.co/Tm54xlrK2K

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@SJessicaJohnson It's so natural to long to be chosen and wanted and have people be attracted to us. And while I am near certain this will happen for you in time, it doesn't make the sting of it not happening yet (and seeing it happen all around you) feel any better. It sucks. ❤️

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

Growing up as a fat girl gave me a different relationship with purity culture than what I hear some women talk about now. Is this true for others who were not "conventionally attractive", too? I wasn't afraid of making someone stumble, instead I was afraid I never could.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@JReidenouer Also I think I've run into your spouse in some online fat spaces, based on your last name. Small world! 😊

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@JReidenouer That sounds about right. I wonder what her experience was with that in actual peer interactions.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@psychedlit That's awesome that your parents affirmed you well. Even if maybe stuff with peers felt less affirming. Nice to have that bedrock of acceptance.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@MartinElfert It really is. Perfectly said.

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@tiptuptig ❤️ It's hard not to feel isolation when certain teachings imply everyone's experience is the same, or that broad sexual desirability is indicative of being worthy. Solidarity!

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@sparklystefka It's a whole big mess for sure. Strength for the journey! 💕

[Bethany McKinney Fox @mcbethany77]

@MotherDiva @SarahPa69612621 Oof, yeah, it's so essentializing and toxic.